Friday Happenings

The cold weather is no excuse for you not to get out!

Human Dogsledding
No kidding. The 8th annual National Human Dog Sled Competition will start today in Lowell. You can learn more about other Lowell Winterfest events, which sound like fun. However, for Bostonist, it is all about the human dogsledding--and teams usually wear costumes. Challenger rounds will be tonight at 6:45 and 10:00 pm, and championship rounds will be tomorrow at 3:30 and 6:30 pm. Get more details at the Lowell Winterfest site.

Books
James McBride will read from Song Yet Sung. Read Bostonist's interview with McBride and review of the book, which Bostonist calls "a unique and fascinating historical novel that says as much about the present as it does about the past." St. James Episcopal Church (via Porter Square Books), 1991 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 7:00 pm, free.

Music
Many critics have gone loopy over Liars. Alas, their live show might be more subdued since their frontman, Angus Andrew, threw his back out while picking up a pillow. Who would have thought a pillow would take down a rock star? At least Angus is picking off the feathers, and the band will be at the Paradise, 8:00 pm. Watch for a review of the show over the weekend.

Booze
The Boston Wine Expo starts today at the Seaport World Trade Center. Read Bostonist's interview with Jonathon Alsop, founder of the Boston Wine School, to see how to do the Expo up right. Three key words: "Good spit discipline."

Pointy Medicine
Back to Balance Acupuncture is the first Hub clinic to offer acupuncture on a sliding scale. The goal is to provide acupuncture -- a luxury for many -- to the poor and working class at affordable rates. The clinic offers an open house today and tomorrow with free treatments for everybody. Get poked. Back to Balance Acupuncture, 5 High Street, Medford. More details.

Theater
Loki Arts, those crazy kids who dared to bring Reefer Madness - The Musical to Arlington, presents an all-new revue, A Tribute to Broken Hearts and Those Who Break Them. It's a heartwarming evening of twisted love songs, breakup tunes, and power ballads for the heartbroken, from the worlds of broadway, pop, and more. Friday and Saturday night at Arlington Center for the Arts. Feb 8 and 9.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The MFA will screen a documentary about Christo and Jeanne-Claude's recent Central Park masterpiece The Gates followed by a discussion with the artists. Museum of Fine Arts, 7:30 pm. Free.

Saturday Morning Movies
The dark side of My Three Sons. Sitcom dad Fred MacMurray leads opposite Barbara Stanwyck in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity. Shot from a script by Raymond Chandler and censored by the Hays Office, the film is the bedrock of the genre. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge. 11:00 am Saturday. Free.

Rick Sawyer contributed to this post.