Monday
Graffiti Retrospective: 1980 to 2018 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Cambridge Community Television, 438 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. Mary Leno of the Cambridge Public Library’s Cambridge Room presents a slideshow of Boston and Cambridge graffiti messages from the 1980s all the way to present day, touching on wars, the AIDS crisis, LGBT pride, abortion and racism. Information is here.
Blacksmith House Poetry Series from 8 to 9 p.m. at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Admission is $3. George Kalogeris reads from “Guide to Greece” with Greg Delanty, whose most recent book is “Selected Delanty.” Information is here.
Tuesday
Live Open Mic Night from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Cambridge Community Television, 438 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Stage time for musicians, poets, comedians and more – enthusiastic audience members are also welcome – that gets broadcast on Cambridge cable channel 8. (Sign up for eight-minute slots here.) Information is here.
109th Annual Christmas Carol Service from 8 to 10 p.m. at Harvard Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Harvard Square. Free, with an offering for charity collected. Sung by the Harvard University Choir, this is America’s oldest carol service, with a liturgy virtually unchanged since its first use in 1910 – making it potentially of historical interest even during the three lessons from scripture mixed in among choral and congregational carols. Information is here.
Wednesday
Michelle Garcia Fresco and the Been Out Here teen poetry open mic from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. Garcia Fresco – a Boston Afro-Latinx poet and organizer attending the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and “a battle rapper with oppression bars” – reads at 8 p.m. after an open mic with the theme of “good vibes.” Food is provided. Information is here.
Grrl Haus Cinema shorts screening from 8 to 11 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square. General admission is $11.50. This end-of-the-year event screens around a dozen shorts curated from more than 300 submissions, with many of the filmmakers present for a Q&A afterward (and some local vendors on hand with stuff for holiday shopping). Information is here.
Thursday
J Mascis plays from 7 p.m. to midnight at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $30 to $33. Founder of Dinosaur Jr. and competent golfer J Mascis brings his “Elastic Days” tour to town with opener Luluc, an Australian-Brooklynese indie folk duo. Information is here.
8 O’clock At 730 comedy special from 8 to 10 p.m. at 730 Tavern, 730 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. Host Daniel Mcrobbie gets up-and-coming comics Mitzzy Anne Picardo, Lee Newton (pictured), Carrie Ross, Terrence Pennington, Big D, Nate Davis, Brian Sculley, Sunny Dennis and Tyiesha Thompson up and coming to the stage. Information is here.
Friday
“A Walking Birthday” dance from 8 to 10 p.m. (and repeating Saturday) at Green Street Studios, 185 Green St., Central Square. General admission is $15 (with fees, $16.52). Choreographer Molly Hess brings together dancers and musicians to create “chaotic and nonlinear landscapes” and asks the audience to create and play along with them for a “collage of sounds, smells, sights and ideas [that] will be offered as a celebration, a treasure hunt, and a dance party.” There will also be cupcakes. Information is here.
Run AMOC! Festival of eight shows, including at 7:30 p.m. Friday and starting at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle St., and in the Horner Room at the Agassiz Theater at Agassiz House, 5 James St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $25 to $35 for individual shows. The American Modern Opera Co. (called a “hotbed of boundary-pushing, inventive, chance-taking artists” by ZEALnyc) returns for its second annual festival of four pieces of music, dance and spoken word. Information is here.
Saturday
Dodgeball from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Peabody School, 70 Rindge Ave., North Cambridge. Admission is $10 (with fees, $11.26). All levels of players are welcome at events meant to be more fun and less competitive (and brutal). Information is here.
“A Baroque Christmas” from 7 to 11 p.m. at First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Harvard Square. General admission is $27, with student and low-income tickets starting at $10. Musica Sacra bring the works of baroque composers from around Europe, including Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s charming “Messe de Minuit,” Francesco Durante’s exuberant “Magnificat” and motets by Heinrich Schütz. Information is here.
“A Walking Birthday” dance from 8 to 10 p.m. at Green Street Studios, 185 Green St., Central Square. General admission is $15 (with fees, $16.52). Information is here.
Sunday
Urban Animal Tracking from 10 a.m. to noon starting at the Water Department facility at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, in West Cambridge. Free. Animal tracking relies on a lot more than footprints; a park ranger will explain all about it. Dress for the weather and wear sturdy shoes, since the walk goes wherever the tracks lead it. Information is here.
Kendall Square Holiday on Ice from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Community Ice Skating at Kendall Square, 300 Athenaeum St. Free. Community Ice Skating launches its 13th season with a day of free admission (skate rentals are at their regular rates) and a 2 p.m. skating performance featuring original numbers, local and international competitors and world-class professional skaters, who’ll stick around to skate with you afterward. Information is here. (Moved from Saturday.)
Holiday Buzz Market from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Once Lounge + Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. There are too many local holiday shopping opportunities to list, but this one has a full bar in addition to more than 30 vendors of vintage, handmade and fine art items and records from High Energy Vintage and Hear Me Roar Artists. (The booze-free Somerville Flea’s Holiday Market is not so far away at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) Information is here.
Annual Holiday Show & Afterparty from 7 to 10 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville. Tickets are $12 (with fees, $13.36). The Comedy Studio’s holiday parties are always a blast, with singing, music, drag, variety, sketches, stand-up and everything in between, and this one promises to be extra festive as it closes out the Studio’s first year in a new location. Co-produced by Sasha Go, Niki Luparelli, Katie McCarthy and Nick Ortolani. Information is here.
This post was updated Dec. 12, 2018, to move the Kendall Square Holiday on Ice to Sunday after organizers decided Saturday’s weather wouldn’t allow them to run the event as hoped.
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