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Edited by Nina MacLaughlin
Friday, April 1 - Wednesday, April 6
Friday, April 8 - Thursday, April 14
Friday, April 15 - Tuesday, April 19
Friday, April 22 - Thursday, April 28
Friday, April 29 - Thursday, May 5
Friday, May 6 - Tuesday, May 10
Friday, May 13 - Wednesday, May 18
Friday, May 20 - Tuesday, May 31
FRIDAY, APRIL 1
ROCK
By this point, everyone's heard how Ray LaMontagne sounds like Van Morrison and Al Green. And everyone's heard how he was raised among a litter of brothers and sisters in cars and converted chicken coops. For us, his dusky, dusty songs are more Nick Drake than Van Morrison, more Sam Beam and Cat Stevens. This thirtysomething Mainer and former shoe-factory worker sings with solemn sincerity, and his voice aches over simple words of love and hurt. He's at Avalon, 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston, at 7 p.m., and tickets are $17; call (617) 262-2424.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 2
BIG TOP
Degas painted balletic trapeze artists in a gauzy glow. Toulouse-Lautrec gave the circus a bright and bawdy feel; Picasso's circus pictures had sad-faced jesters wearing blue and pink. The circus has long inspired artists, and now the artists are inspiring the circus back. NYC's one ringer, the Big Apple Circus, presents "Picturesque," with Barry "Grandma" Lubin, a pair of women trapezers called the Mongolian Angels, aerial acrobatics by the Russian Kovgar Troupe, vase balancing by GuiMing Meng, and who knows what from the rest of the globetrotting, gravity-defying cast. They pitch their tent at the Bayside Expo Center, 200 Mount Vernon Street in Boston, through May 8, and tickets are $13 to $53; call (617) 931-ARTS.
BOOKS
Steve Almond likes sex and candy. Or so we've learned from his two previous books, My Life in Heavy Metal and Candyfreak. The Phoenix contributor reads from his latest collection of short stories, The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories (Algonquin Books), at 7 p.m. at the Attic Bar, 107 R Union Street in Newton, and it's free; call Newtonville Books at (617) 244-6619.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 3
ART
Infected rats, corpses on the street, pus-filled buboes, weeping lesions, disease, death - it's the bubonic plague, and the Worcester Art Museum launches what it's billing as the "first major exhibition outside Europe" to deal with art's role during the Black Death. "Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800" includes works by Tintoretto, Canaletto, Mignard, Sweerts, and Van Dyck, the work ranging from the devotional and spiritual to the gruesome and grim. It runs through September 25, the museum is at 55 Salisbury Street in Worcester, and admission is $8, $6 for students and seniors; call (508) 799-4406.
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MONDAY, APRIL 4
ROCK
The fivesome Dogs Die in Hot Cars grew up in St. Andrews, the same Scottish town that spawned the Beta Band and James Yorkston, before moving to Glasgow to seek their fortune. With their peppy ska rhythms and gleaming pop, they're more XTC than Franz Ferdinand, and they play the Paradise at 7 p.m. joined by French foursome Phoenix. That's at 967 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and the cover is $14; call (617) 562-8800.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
FILM
The Coolidge Corner Theatre honors Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro with the second annual Coolidge Award, which goes to "a selected film artist whose work advances the spirit of original and challenging filmmaking." Storaro was behind the camera on Apocalypse Now, which has some of the most haunting shots in 20th-century cinema, as well as Last Tango in Paris, Il conformista/The Conformist, and The Last Emperor. The gala ceremony includes testimonials by filmmakers and scholars, screenings of selected scenes, and live music and dancing. That's at 8 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner, 290 Harvard Street in Brookline, and tickets are $25; call (617) 734-501.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 8
OPERA
It's the 17th century, and hysteria has metastasized around the town of Salem. Witches, witches everywhere. Opera Boston presents Robert Ward's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Crucible, which is based on Arthur Miller's parable about the McCarthy era and its attendant bigotry and fear. It's OB's final production this season, and there are just two performances, tonight at 7:30 p.m. and April 10 at 3 p.m., at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street in the Theater District. Tickets are $30 to $90; call (800) 233-3123.
DANCE
The Cambridge-based Moving Laboratory is to dance as the Berwick Institute is to art: both serve as incubators for artists to innovate, experiment, and learn. One of the Lab's goals is to help revitalize the Boston dance scene. In "Surfacing. Awakening.", three of the Lab's founding choreographers - Joy Madden, Deborah Butler, and Malinda Allen - are joined by three other local, boundary-pushing movement makers: Fadayz, Nathan Andary, and Anne Zuerner. That's tonight and April 9 at 8 p.m. and April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Tickets are $15; call (617) 931-2000.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 9
ART
Octogenarian Fay Chandler has been creating art for more than 40 years. She's also the founder, at age 72, of the Art Connection, an organization that places art in non-profit organizations around the city. Her paintings are buttery blends of colors and figures; her whimsical and weird sculptures - "objects" as she calls them - are made of discarded items she finds. She's exhibiting work from the past 10 years at the Boston Center for the Arts' Cyclorama, in a show that opens today with a reception from 3 to 6 p.m. and runs through April 27. That's at 539 Tremont Street in the South End, and it's free; call (617) 426-5000.
ACROBATICS
The National Acrobats of Taiwan, a 40-member troupe from the National Fu Hsing Dramatic Arts Academy, do a whole lot of wacky body bending and furniture tossing and juggling. They spin platters, balance bowls and chairs and tables, and do handstands on stools stacked 30 feet in the air. Presented by the Bank of America Celebrity Series, they're at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $32 to $55; call (617) 482-6661.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 10
ROCK
It's sex on stage. Except that VV and Hotel, the rock couple who make up the Kills, are both fully clothed and almost never touching. The pair - he with his deep-set eyes and roaring guitar, she all junkie gaunt and beautiful, purring, yowling - blast raw attraction and revulsion. Their fierce blues-punk songs, aided by a drum machine, are made up of all the best divides: love-hate, sex-death, break-up-make-up. They're on tour in support of their latest, No Wow, which they wrote in a little less than a month holed up in an abandoned building in Benton Harbor, Michigan. (They never left the building, according to VV, a scary thought indeed.) And they play the Paradise joined by menacing sexpot Scout Niblett and the Archie Bronson Outfit. That's at 967 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and the cover is $12; call (617) 562-8800.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 12
ROCK
Phoenix contributor Mac Randall called . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead punk intellectuals, a term you could consider synonymous with an older era's art rock. Of Conrad Keely, Trail of Dead's guitarist/drummer/vocalist, Randall wrote that he's got "both his tongue in his cheek and his heart on his sleeve." The Austin band are unlikely label mates of the likes of U2 and Eminem on Interscope, and they bring their relentless force and grandiosity to Axis, 13 Lansdowne Street in Boston, where they'll be joined by the Sword, who also hail from Austin, and the Black. That's at 8 p.m., and tickets are $15; call (617) 423-NEXT.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
BOOKS
Jeannette Winterson, who grew up in Northern England and was booted from her adoptive parents' home at age 16 for getting involved with another woman, has been critically hailed and reviled. Author of seven novels including Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Sexing the Cherry, Winterson is extravagant and experimental. Harvard Book Store is presenting her at the Boston Public Library, where she'll read from her latest novel, Lighthousing, in which an orphan on Scotland's coast is taken in by a blind lighthouse keeper. That's 6 p.m. at 700 Boylston Street in Copley Square, and admission is free; call (617) 661-1515.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 14
ROCK
If Conor Oberst is, as so many seem to be saying, the next Bob Dylan, then Magnolia Electric Co.'s Jason Molina, another Midwesterner who sings dark and creaky songs about middle-of-the-country sadness, is the next Neil Young. Both have voices that come from a nasally depth. Both sing dirgy songs in the same accent. Molina retired band name Songs: Ohia after releasing Magnolia Electric Co.; now Magnolia Electric Co. are releasing their first full-length album, What Comes After the Blues. And at 8 p.m., they play the Museum of Fine Arts' Remis Auditorium, 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $15, $12 for students and seniors; call (617) 369-3306.
CLASSICAL
Soviet realism and Austrian mysticism aren't exactly soul mates, so it'll be interesting to see what Kurt Masur, who was here in February with the Orchestral National de France, makes of the program he's chosen for his Boston Symphony Orchestra guest appearance: Dmitri Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, with Vadim Repin, and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 (Romantic). Performances are tonight at 8, April 15 at 1:30 p.m., and April 16 and 19 at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $27 to $105; call (617) 266-1200.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 15
WORLD
African singer Malouma combines West African, Arab, and Berber sounds, and she's influenced as much by American blues as by Moorish tradition: her nine-member Sahel Hawl blues band play electric guitar as well as the lute-like tidinit. She brings her Afropop to Boston for the first time at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. Tickets are $25; call (617) 876-4275.
DYLAN
Not to be dire or grim, but these days, you never know what might be the last chance you'll have to catch Bob Dylan in concert. The poet performs at the Orpheum tonight and April 16 at 7:30 p.m. and April 17 at 7 p.m. with the mighty Merle Haggard and 27-year-old Philadelphian Amos Lee, whose soul-folk Blue Note debut, Amos Lee, came out in March. That's at 1 Hamilton Place in Boston, and tickets are $48.50 to $68.50; call (617) 931-2000.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 16
AMBIANCE
Moby continues to explore and transcend genre like few others. His fifth and latest studio album, a double CD called Hotel (V2), is his first entirely sample-free project. With the exception of drums, he plays every instrument on the album, and it's got poppy substance and ambient warmth. He plays Avalon, 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston, at 7 p.m., and tickets are $22.50; call (617) 228-6000.
CLASSICAL
Russian-born pianist Sergey Schepkin performs the world premiere of a Bank of America Celebrity Series commission, The Rainbow Hexameron, which includes the work of six Boston-area composers: Daniel Pinkham, Julia Carey, Michael Gandolfi, Christopher Trapani, Julia Carey, Joseph Johnson, and Alan Fletcher. The program also includes the second set of Debussy's Images and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. That's at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street in Boston, and tickets are $25 to $35; call (617) 482-6661.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 17
AUTHORS
A dozen New England writers get honored at the Boston Public Library's annual "Literary Lights" black-tie-dinner gala. This year's honorees include the technologically skeptical Bill McKibben, arch-critic (and now novelist) James Wood, poet Jorie Graham, Ada Louise Huxtable, Noam Chomsky, Amy Bloom, Ashley Bryan, Michael Ignatieff, Gunther Schuller, Edmund Morgan, and Claire Messud. Each is introduced by a past Light; that line-up will include Margot Livesey, Howard Zinn, Rosanna Warren, and Samantha Power. Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker gives the keynote speech. The evening begins at 6 p.m. at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, 64 Arlington Street in Boston, and tickets are $250, with proceeds to benefit the library; call (617) 536-3886.
ROCK
It seems that Garbage are not disposable. Set to release Bleed like Me, a follow-up to 2001's Beautiful Garbage and their first album in more than three years, the band are on tour, and they arrive at Avalon tonight. On disc, Garbage get help from Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, plus Matt Walker of the Smashing Pumpkins and bassist Justin Meldel Johnson, who's played by Beck's side. Expect the usual sneering delivery from Scot beauty Shirley Manson while Butch Vig bangs on drums. That's at 7 p.m. at 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston, and tickets are $30; call (617) 228-6000.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 19
DANCE
Stopping in at the Wang Theatre for its usual seven-performance April run, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater gives us the Boston premieres of Judith Jamison's Love Stories (in collaboration with Robert Battle and Rennie Harris) with music by Stevie Wonder and David Parsons's Shining Star with music by Earth Wind & Fire, excerpts from Ailey's Charlie Parker tribute For "Bird" - With Love, the Ailey centerpiece Revelations, which has been performed for more than 40 years, and much more. The Wang is at 270 Tremont Street in the Theater District, and tickets are $37 to $67; call (617) 482-9393.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 22
ART
Brainy Boston never finds itself with a lack of nerd pride - even the artists get to explore their science side. The fourth annual Boston Cyberarts Festival, which runs through May 8 at 35 venues around the city, celebrates artists who use the mouse as much as the paintbrush, who program as much as they photograph, who click as much as they sculpt. The opening weekend includes a day-long gaming symposium, a series of performances based on the intersection of dance and technology, and an installation called "The Thoughtbody Experiment: Toward a Model for an Electrochemical Computer" that we have to admit scares our pocket protectors off. Call (617) 524-2109, or visit www.bostoncyberarts.org.
DANCE
You won't see the performers of Big Time nibbling on celery sticks before they go on stage. The full-bodied group, including Kelley Donavan, Leslie and the Lys, Raquel Evita Seidel, the Phat Fly Girls ("keeping the hips in hip-hop"), and Ms. Deeds, present "a larger-than-life off-the-scale dance and performance extravaganza" tonight and April 23 at the Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Tickets are $15; visit www.bigmoves.org.
METAL
The annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, a legendary smash of underground metal, runs this year from April 22 through 24 at the Palladium in Worcester. Hatebreed, Unearth, and Obituary play tonight; Nightwish, Chimaira, and Cryptopsy play tomorrow; King Diamond, Nile, and Soilwork play Sunday. You can also catch A Life Once Lost, As I Lay Dying, Black Dahlia Murder, Darkest Hour, Full Blown Chaos, Red Chord, and many more. That's 261 Main Street in Worcester, and tickets are $35 per day, or $99 for a three-day pass; call (800) 477-6849.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 23
COUNTRY/FOLK
He gets Grammys for folk, but that's limiting the scope of his talent and range. John Prine, a singer-songwriter who's as at home with tender ballads as he is with angry anthems, has been making records for about 35 years that span country, folk, and rockabilly. He plays Symphony Hall with Leon Redbone and Leon's mumbling reinterpretations of Depression-era ragtime and jazz. That's at 8 p.m. at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, and tickets are $34.50 to $44.50; call (617) 266-1200.
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SUNDAY, APRIL 24
WORLD
Septuagenarian Latin American folk hero Simón Díaz upholds the campesina tradition of his native Venezuela, and his followers include Caetano Veloso, Plácido Domingo, and the Gipsy Kings, who reworked one of his songs into "Bamboleo." He makes his Boston debut at 8 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $30 to $40; call (617) 876-4275.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27
OPERA
Boston Lyric Opera presents the East Coast premiere of Jonathan Dove's airport comedy Flight, an overnight flight in an electrical storm with honeymooners, horny flight attendants, an older woman on her way to meet a much younger lover, an immigration officer, a refugee, and a pregnant woman that also includes an on-stage birth scene (an operatic first?) and off-stage sex. It's at the Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont Street in the Theater District, for performances tonight, April 29, May 3, May 6, and May 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 1 and 8 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $34 to $105; call (800) 447-7400.
CLASSICAL
Boston isn't the only town with a high-profile symphony-orchestra conductor, but James Levine might be the only one who can sit down at the piano and match fingers with keyboard virtuoso Evgeny Kissin. They'll be playing a Schubert program: the Fantasie in F minor D.940, Allegro in A minor D.947, and Sonata in C D.812. That's at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, and tickets are $27 to $95; call (617) 266-1200.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 28
CLASSICAL
Ben Zander and the Boston Philharmonic tie up their season with Krzysztof Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Frank Bridge's Oration, and Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5. They give the usual three performances: tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street in Harvard Square, April 30 at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street in Boston, and then May 1 at 3 p.m. back at Sanders. Tickets are $15 to $69; call (617) 236-0999 extension 20.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 29
ROCK
Nick Zammuto grew up in Boston and went to Williams College. He plays guitar. Paul de Jong is from Rotterdam and lives in New York City. He plays cello. Together they're the Books, and they make acoustic instruments - that cello, that guitar, a banjo, a voice - sound ambient, kaleidoscopic, eerie, upbeat. The rhythms tumble unpredictably so you can't quite snap to them. And the voices, mostly sampled, sometimes sing, sometimes speak, often in little repetitive, nonsensical phrases and hooks. Their third album, Lost and Safe, follows their two previous Tomlab releases, Thought for Food and Lemon of Pink, and they come to the Museum of Fine Arts' Remis Auditorium, 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15, $12 for students and seniors; call (617) 369-3306.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 30
ART
"Annual Exhibition" hardly does justice to the DeCordova's yearly New England-artist round-up, which has always been one of the area's best such events. Ten artists were invited this year, including Brookline's Milan Klic, Jamaica Plain's Michael Lewy and Sally Moore, and Boston's Lalla A. Essaydi and Nao Tomii. The museum is launching the show a month earlier than usual because it'll be closing down for a month in August so the building's façade can be revamped. "Annual Exhibition" runs through July 31, with a reception on May 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. That's 51 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln, and admission is $9, $6 for students and seniors; call (781) 259-8355.
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SUNDAY, MAY 1
VIOLIN
We remember Itzhak Perlman, who turns 60 this year, from his appearances on Sesame Street - he's one of the few contemporary classical musicians who's a household name in non-classical households. As of press time, his Bank of America Celebrity Series recital program had yet to be announced, but we'll take him on trust when he plays at 3 p.m. at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $37 to $70; call (617) 482-6661.
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MONDAY, MAY 2
ROCK
"It's not complicated," Sebastian Grainger of Death from Above, 1979 told the Phoenix's Mikael Wood. "It's riff-driven rock that is played at a danceable pace, you know? It's steady, and I'm singing about things that most people can relate to." The Toronto-based bass-drum noise-rock duo play downstairs at the Middle East with Controller, Controller. That's at 480 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square, and the cover is $12; call (617) 864-EAST.
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TUESDAY, MAY 3
CLASSICAL
The last time American pianist Stephen Kovacevich (formerly Stephen Bishop and then Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich) joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra was back in 1972. But he'll close out the BSO's 2004-2005 season as the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, the famed "Emperor." Under the baton of frequent (and welcome) guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, the BSO will also perform Respighi's Fontane di Roma and Pini di Roma, both of which will showcase Symphony Hall's newly restored organ. That's tonight and May 5 at 8 p.m., May 6 at 1:30 p.m., and May 7 at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $27 to $105; call (617) 266-1200.
THEATER
Broadway in Boston brings us the musical tale of a deranged dentist, a nerdy hero, the girl he loves, and a giant man-eating plant. It's Little Shop of Horrors, Howard Ashman & Alan Menken's story of Seymour, who works at a florist shop in the seedy part of town and pines for co-worker Audrey. He buys a plant and names it Audrey II; it grows and grows along with its insatiable appetite for human flesh. Little Shop of Horrors runs through May 15 at the Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street in the Theater District, and tickets are $37.50 to $82.50; call (617) 931-ARTS.
ROCK
Handsome Dick Manitoba, frontman of the punk band the Dictators, sued Canadian Dan Snaith, of Manitoba, for trademark violation. Snaith changed his band name to Caribou, and he continues to produce sheets of glimmering sound. He's now on tour in support of his latest, Barnowl, which brings him to the Middle East's downstairs, where he'll be joined by fellow electro-popsters the Junior Boys, as well as fellow Canadian Matthew Adam Hart of the Russian Futurists. That's at 480 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square, and the cover is $12; call (617) 846-EAST.
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THURSDAY, MAY 5
BALLET
Boston Ballet's season comes to a close with The Sleeping Beauty, the tale of a princess, a spell, a super-long snooze, and a smooch. With Tchaikovsky's score, choreography after Marius Petipa, and sets and costumes by David Walker, Beauty runs through May 15 at the Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont Street in the Theater District. Tickets are $18 to $98; call (800) 447-7400.
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FRIDAY, MAY 6
TAP
Tap-dance savant Savion Glover's feet blur up a fit of rhythms as he taps, skids, slips, ticks, and thunks in moves with more jazz than jaunt. He's hoofing it to Boston for three days at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, where he'll perform the Boston premiere of his new work Improvography. That's tonight at 7:30 p.m., May 7 at 3 and 8 p.m., and May 8 at 3 p.m. at 219 Tremont Street in Boston. Tickets are $30 to $40; call (617) 876-4275.
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TUESDAY, MAY 10
COUNTRY ROCK
Canadian songstress Kathleen Edwards sings "about ordinary folks caught up in various stages of creeping distress and dirty desire," as Jonathan Perry wrote in these pages about Edwards' acclaimed 2003 debut, Failer. She's just released her sophomore album, Back to Me (both are on Rounder), and she swings into the Paradise at 8 p.m. That's at 967 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and tickets are $17; call (617) 423-NEXT.
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FRIDAY, MAY 13
CLASSICAL
Back in the early '80s, East Germany wasn't down with a bunch of young musicians coming together to dedicate themselves to the reinterpretation of Baroque music. But that's just what Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin did, and while the state frowned, audiences cheered. They make their Bank of America Celebrity Series-presented Boston debut as part of their first American tour with a Suite from Handel's opera Almira, Bach's Double Violin Concerto and Orchestral Suite No. 1, and works by Vivaldi and Geminiani. That's at 8 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street in Boston, and tickets are $36 to $56; call (617) 482-6661.
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SATURDAY, MAY 14
THEATER
Under the direction of János Szász, the ART presents Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, in which Ephraim Cabot returns to his three sons with a new young bride who threatens to steal their inheritance as well as seduce youngest sibling Eben. It's the stuff of Greek tragedy in 19th-century New England, and it runs through June 12 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street in Harvard Square. Tickets are $36 to $72; call (617) 547-8300.
WRITERS
"Write what you love, sell what you write" is the tag for Grub Street's annual "The Muse and the Marketplace" event, which brings together local writers, agents, and editors in a weekend-long series of workshops and seminars. Steve Almond, Ethan Canin, Jennifer Haigh, Margot Livesey, Arthur Golden, and Elizabeth Graver, among others, are joined by representatives from Houghton Mifflin, Norton, Algonquin, HarperCollins, and more. That's today from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and May 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hotel Marlowe, 25 Edwin Land Boulevard in Cambridge. Tickets are $195 for both days, $125 for Saturday only; call (617) 623-8100.
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MONDAY, MAY 16
ROCK
Now that Franz Ferdinand and the Futureheads have caught up with the ahead-of-their-time late-'70s outfit Gang of Four, the British quartet decided that this might be just the time to take to the road. Their tour marks the first time they've played their jerky political post-punk funk in their original line-up since 1981, and the US tour coincides with the release of a double-disc set. They're at Avalon, 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston; call (617) 423-NEXT.
And across the river, British Sea Power, who inclined toward highbrow lyrics, a driving and sometimes sinister Bowie-esque sound, and stage set taxidermy, play downstairs at the Middle East, 480 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Cover is $12; call (617) 864-EAST.
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TUESDAY, MAY 17
BOOKS
Of James Salter, Susan Sontag once wrote, "He is among the very few North American writers all of whose work I want to read, whose as-yet-unpublished books I wait for impatiently." Last Night, a collection of short stories, is just out, and in it fans will find Salter's same erotic realism and trademark economy and precision of language. He reads Last Night at 7:30 p.m. at Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut Street in Newton. It's part of the Books & Brews series, which means you can join Salter for a beer afterward; call (617) 244-6619.
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 18
ART
Tired of "objective" art? Looking for a little feeling? Try the Institute of Contemporary Art's "Getting Emotional," which includes work by 33 artists whose "diverse work directly engages with the expression of human emotions." There'll be photographs from Sam Taylor Wood's series "Crying Men," with its portraits of Hollywood actors weeping, and work by Nan Goldin, Chloe Piene, Andy Warhol, John Currin, and Barbara Kruger, among others. The show runs through September 5 at the ICA, 955 Boylston Street in Boston, where admission is $7, $5 for students and seniors; call (617) 266-5152.
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THURSDAY, MAY 19
FOLK
Club 47 started up in 1958, and it played host to Dylan, Baez, and Taj Mahal before it turned into Passim and, eventually, Club Passim. This year, Club Passim celebrates the 47th anniversary of Club 47 with "47@47," a weekend of concerts. The first two take place tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street in Harvard Square, with performances by Tom Rush, Lori McKenna, Ellis Paul, Ollabelle, Dar Williams, and others. Tickets are $35 to $250; call (617) 496-2222. The celebration closes on May 21 with a free concert on Cambridge Common that starts at 11 a.m. and will have performances by the Resophonics, Jake Armerding, Sarah Borges, and the Loomers.
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FRIDAY, MAY 20
FILM
As a film producer working at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and '40s - a time when producers urged their directors towards formula - Busby Berkeley defied convention. Famous for his overhead shots and scenes of whirling dancing girls, as well as for his chorus of ex-wives, Berkeley is celebrated by the Harvard Film Archive with the series "All Together Now: The Cinematerpsichorean World of Busby Berkeley," which starts tonight at 7 p.m. with 42nd Street and will include Footlight Parade, Dames, Roman Scandals, Million Dollar Mermaid, and a dozen more. That's at 24 Quincy Street in Harvard Square, and tickets are $8; call (617) 495-4700.
THEATER
The Huntington Theatre Company presents Natick native William Finn's musical Falsettos, in which Marvin leaves his wife and 12-year-old son for a man named Whizzer. It's a hopeful tragedy, a comedy dealing with AIDS, and a story about what family means. Directed by Daniel Goldstein, it runs through June 26 at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $14 to $60; call (617) 266-0800.
DANCE
The Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and Taylor himself continues to prove he's one of the finest choreographers of the past half-century. In honor of another anniversary - the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America - the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Bank of America Celebrity Series commissioned Klezmerbluegrass, which Taylor brings to Boston for the first time. He's at the Shubert, 265 Tremont Street in the Theater District, for performances tonight at 7:30 p.m., tomorrow at 8 p.m., and May 23 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $42 to $60; call (617) 482-6661.
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TUESDAY, MAY 24
ROCK
Given the dizzying heights U2 have reached, it's appropriate that the opening track and first single off How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb should be called "Vertigo." From iTunes to Africa to a rolling concert on the back of a truck in New York, the Biggest Band in the World are on tour again, playing three officially sold-out shows at the TD Banknorth Garden (formerly the FleetCenter), tonight, May 26, and May 28.
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
ROCK
Rock lyrics that work as literature? Judge for yourself when Colin Meloy and the rest of the Decemberists play Avalon in support of their latest, Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars), which was recorded in an abandoned Baptist church. Meloy's songs are peopled by prostitutes, spies, ghosts, a money lender, an engine driver, and a soccer player. The Portland (Oregon) group are joined by indie folksinger (and Martha's Vineyard native) Willy Mason, whose Where the Humans Eat was released on Conor Oberst's Team Love label. That's at 8 p.m. at 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston. Tickets are $15.25; call (617) 423-NEXT.
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TUESDAY, MAY 31
THEATER
It's not hard to imagine, really. Broadway was bound to look to the Beatles. And Lennon, the Yoko-approved bio-musical, has a pre-Broadway run at the Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street in the Theater District. Told through his own songs, all culled from his solo career, the story of the walrus's life runs through June 25 before heading down to New York. Tickets are currently on sale by subscription only through Broadway in Boston; call (617) 880-2400.
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