Music fest returns to Lowell
Remember what it’s like to sprawl out on a blanket and listen to tunes by top bands? Refresh your memory at the Lowell Folk Festival, July 29-31. The free festival welcomes about 20 performers on four stages in downtown Lowell, with the festival dance stage on Arcand Drive, a larger Market Street Stage, the main stage at Boarding House Park on French Street, and St. Anne’s Stage on Merrimack Street. Performances feature blues, polka, Cajun, and more than a dozen other types of traditional music. See Dale Anne Bradley (bluegrass), Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy (blues), and Los Pleneros de la 21 (bombo and plena). Also watch master craftspeople offering demos on playing and building instruments. Full music lineup will be released soon. lowellfolkfestival.org.
Two dozen people will leap from rooftop platforms into Boston Harbor during a cliff-diving competition June 4. The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series launches its season in Boston — the only North American stop in the series — and then heads to Paris, Copenhagen, Sydney, and four other international cities. The top 12 men and top 12 women cliff-diving athletes will leap from temporary platforms on the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Cliff diving combines aerial, acrobatic freefalls and dives from 70 feet (for women) to 90 feet (men) above the water. Athletes can hit the water at speeds of up to 53 miles per hour — or more. Doors open at noon and the show begins at 2 p.m. To attend, you must order your free ticket through www.eventbrite.com.
Few have captured the beauty of the natural world better Ansel Adams, whose iconic black-and-white photographs have inspired viewers worldwide. Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry unveils a new traveling exhibit on May 28 called “Ansel Adams: Masterworks,” featuring 48 images considered some of the best of his career. See Adams’ photos of El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, Monument Valley, and wildflowers on Mount Rainier. Attend an online event with Ansel Adams’ son, Dr. Michael Adams, who worked with his father for many years, June 22, 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, $10. Admission to Adams’ exhibit included with regular MOHAI admission: free for 14 and under, $22 for ages 15 and older; discounts available; free to all the first Thursday of each month, 5-8 p.m. 206-324-1126 mohai.org.
Take time for this wellness fest
Attend the 25th annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival June 10-13 and explore how social health and well-being help shape our sense of community. The festival includes more than 30 presentations and workshops, with experts addressing anxiety and mental health, psychedelic-assisted therapy, financial wellness, intimacy, and trauma therapy, among other topics. See talks by Nora McInerny (host of the award-winning podcast “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,”), Ellen Vora, a holistic psychiatrist and author of “The Anatomy of Anxiety,” and cardiologist Alejandro Junger, an expert in detox and clean eating. Also enjoy holistic hiking adventures and mountain meditations, and wander through the free outdoor Experience Park, which hosts yoga and movement classes, music, and food vendors. $95 for Virtual Festival Pass to $925 for all speaker events, classes, workshops, and receptions, numerous meals, and virtual access. www.sunvalleywellness.org.
A digital tool for creative types
If you like to doodle and draw while traveling, consider getting Xencelabs’ Pen Tablet Small. This lightweight drawing tablet comes with two pens that let you create digital sketches and graphics, edit text, fine-tune travel photos, and more. The different size pens have customizable buttons, a digital eraser, and replaceable nibs. Program each pen to function as a paintbrush, pencil, marker, or piece of chalk and then start creating. Make digital postcards to send to your friends, create a travel journal, touch up vacation photos, or make sketches of scenes from your adventures and then easily post them online. A wireless Quick Keys device (sold separately, $99.99) has a customizable dial that lets you quickly adjust brush size or zoom in and out, for instance, and eight keys that can be programmed from a selection of 40 shortcut commands (cut, paste, or create a layer, for example). $199.99. www.xencelabs.com.
Try this smart portable speaker
Listen to music or podcasts, make hands-free phone calls, and enjoy top-quality audio during Zoom meetings using beyerdynamic’s SPACE. This wireless Bluetooth speakerphone weighs 12 ounces and measures 5.2 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches tall, meaning it easily slips into a travel bag and takes up little desk space. It quickly connects to a smartphone, tablet, or laptop via Bluetooth for calls and music (pair it with two devices at once). Or connect it to a computer or laptop using the USB-C cord — or the handy USB-C to USB-A adapter. The speaker offers crisp and robust sound and has easy-to-access touch controls with lights on top. Its 360-degree smart mic technology tunes into voices from any direction — so you can walk around and clearly be heard — and filters out unwanted external noise. $179. north-america.beyerdynamic.com.
Work at Boston Globe Media