A week of events in Cambridge and Somerville: Dance party, Thomas Frank, weird film, more
Monday
Name That Punk Rock Tune, The Sequel: Punk Strikes Back from 5:30 to 11 p.m. at The Independent, 75 Union Square, Somerville. Name that punk rock tune and benefit the Girls Rock Campaign Boston. Information is here.
Thomas Frank at the Brattle Theatre at 6 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Pre-sales with a book is $26.25; general admission is $5 and includes a $5 coupon for the book. The political analyst and journalist most famous for “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” is back with “Rendezvous with Oblivion: Reports from a Sinking Society” in this Harvard Book Store event. Information is here.
Summer Reading Series at Lesley University from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Marran Theater, 34 Mellen St., on Lesley’s Doble Campus in the Agassiz neighborhood near Harvard Square. Free. A variety of acclaimed authors come to campus through June 27, and some writers from the Lesley MFA faculty will also read from their work in nonfiction, poetry, fiction and writing for young people. Today brings author Tony Eprile (“The Persistence of Memory,” 2004) and poet Kevin Prufer (“How He Loved Them,” 2018). Information is here.
Tuesday
Black Words Matter: Black Incandescence from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. A reading of “glowing black work” with Askia Toure, Boston poet laureate Danielle Legros Georges, U-meleni Mhlaba-Adebo and Joiner Institute alums and Boston Cultural Council “Black Words Matter” scholarship students and other readers. Information is here.
“Blood On The Clocktower” public game playing from 7 to 10 p.m. (with lounge opening at 6 p,m.) at Once Lounge + Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. A pre-release copy of social bluffing game “Blood on the Clocktower” has made its way here for the first public game on the East Coast. “This is your chance to make new friends and then immediately accuse them of murder,” the hosts explain. Each game lasts about an hour, and players stay on as ghosts even if they die – and may even enter a game after it starts. Information is here.
Best of the Boston 48-Hour Film Project from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. General admission tickets are $10. The best films from this year’s Boston 48-Hour Film Project screen, followed by an announcement of the judges’ award winners, including the one that will go on to represent Boston at Filmapalooza and vie for Best 48HFP Film of 2018. Information is here.
Wednesday
Summer Reading Series at Lesley University from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Marran Theater, 34 Mellen St., on Lesley’s Doble Campus in the Agassiz neighborhood near Harvard Square. Final day, with author Mira T. Lee (“Everything Here Is Beautiful,” 2018) and nonfiction author Pamela Petro (“The Slow Breath of Old Stone: A Romanesque Love Story,” 2005). Free. Information is here.
Disasterpiece Theatre viewing of “Teenage Alien Avengers” from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at High Energy Vintage, 429 Somerville Ave., near Union Square in Somerville. Free, but RSVPing is a necessity, because attendance is limited to about 30 people; there’s a suggested donation of $5 for enjoying pizza and refreshments. In a continuing series of seriously bad films on VHS comes “Teenage Alien Avengers,” a 1999 television movie in which nerds discover alien armor that turn them into superheroes – until the owners come looking for it. Afterward there will be a retro video game review by The Hardcore Retro God. Information is here.
GrownUp StoryTime: Just Be from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, but there is a $5 suggested donation. Just like story time before bed, except this replaces a loved one with a weird stranger, warm milk with craft brews and your bedroom with Aeronaut’s tap room where short fact, fiction and other material – written by the community – is handed to performers to see what happens. Information is here.
The Comedy Studio Presents from 8 to 10 p.m. at Remnant Brewing, 2 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $5 (or $6.15 with the online service fee) with 100 percent of ticket sales going to the Community Action Agency of Somerville. While The Comedy Studio’s own space is still under construction at the new Bow Market, host Rick Jenkins brings a lineup of comedians to the outside beer garden of its soon-to-be neighbor, which will serve its own lineup of freshly hopped beer. Comedians include Joel Acevedo and Steve Kradolfer; Sam Ike; Srilatha Rajamani; John Paul Rivera; Ryan Shea; and Laura Severse. Information is here.
Thursday
Free Concert and Fireworks from 6 to 9 p.m. at Trum Field, 541 Broadway, Magoun Square, Somerville. Free. The 215th Army Band does its annual “pre-Independence Day Celebration.” Information is here.
Grapefruit, Bad Vibes and the Body Electric from 7 to 9 p.m. at the New School of Music, 25 Lowell St., West Cambridge. Free. The artists’ collective known as the Bait/Switch Project holds “an experimental event” with art, music, live readings of creative writing and flavor experiences to celebrate its first six months. Information is here.
Weird Local Film Festival #5 from 7 to 10 p.m at Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. There is a suggested donation of $5. A new batch of around two dozen short films screen at this semi-regular event sponsored by the Somerville Media Center and Warehouse XI. Information is here.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from 7 to 10 p.m. (and continuing through the weekend) at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free. Theatre@First and director Hatem Adell delivers Shakespeare’s “sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll” play, in which two young couples run away into the woods of Athens and encounter a fairy kingdom in a site-specific, outdoor production. Information is here.
Friday
Park Sounds IV from 6 to 10 p.m. in Winthrop Park in Harvard Square. Free. Grendel’s Den Restaurant & Bar turns Winthrop Park into a front yard garden party with bands Vinegar Mother; GRJ and The Recipe; and Java Jukebox. Information is here.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from 7 to 10 p.m. (and continuing through the weekend) at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free. Information is here.
City Dance Party from 7 to 11 p.m. at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. Massachusetts Avenue is closed off in front of City Hall to allow for 25,000-plus people dancing to DJ’d music and a sophisticated light show. (The No. 1 bus line ends in Central Square at 6 p.m., but is expected to resume full service at 11:30 p.m.) Information is here.
The Comedy Studio Presents from 8 to 10 p.m. at Remnant Brewing, 2 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $5 (or $6.15 with the online service fee) with 100 percent of ticket sales going to the Somerville SNAP group Good Food For All: Creating a More Accessible Farmers Market. Sure, we just promoted one of these Wednesday, but this a whole different crew of top comics telling jokes for a different charity. Comedians include Phoebe Angle; John Baglio; James Huessy; Joe Kozlowsky; Jiayong Li; Angela Sawyer; and Christa Weiss. Information is here.
Saturday
CONcentrate On The ARTistry 2018 from 6 to 10 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Tickets are $15 (or $16.52 with the online service free) or $20 at the door; or more with an afterparty included: $20 (or $21.69 with the online service fee) or $25 at the door. The CONcept ARTists group brings together dancers and musicians from around the region for choreographed and improvised works in genres, including hip-hop, R&B, tap, dancehall and house. Performers include Brandon Olegario; N/A (Eddy Cao); Nikki Gyftopoulos; Peter Veth; Elae Weakes; Yanina Johnson; Alex “BEAASTMode” Ambila; Fernando Zevallos; Touche Taps (Shaina Schwartz); Erin Stomski and Ella Wechsler-Matthaei, emceed by Chad Shabazz. Information is here.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from 3 to 6 and 7 to 10 p.m. (and continuing through the weekend) at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free. Information is here.
Sunday
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from 3 to 6 p.m. at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free. Information is here.
