Friday, Oct. 20

The Radcliffe team competes in the 2021 Head of the Charles regatta. (Photo: Tyler Motes)

The Head of the Charles Regatta from 7:45 to 10:30 a.m. at The Charles River south of Harvard Square (and continuing until 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday). Free. This 58-year-old, three-day rowing competition won’t be hard to find, since it involves more than 11,000 athletes from around the world and tens of thousands of spectators. Follow the crowd and try to get a view of the river races to see what it’s all about. (Best views are between Anderson and Weeks bridges.) Sample delicious local flavors at the Weld Exhibition at Riverbend Park, where you’ll find official Regatta programs and merchandise too. Information is here.

“You Did This”: Unscripted Stories of Horror and Dread at 4:30 at the Café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville (and again on Sunday). $5. A disclaimer comes with this intense and unsettling-sounding evening of immersive theater that promises to awaken “your deepest fears to bring to life primal terrors and cosmic horrors.” Information is here.

Movie night: “Halloweentown” from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kendall/MIT Open Space at 292 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free, but registration is recommended. A movie under the stars with free popcorn. Watch a courageous and determined 13-year-old girl learn about her witch heritage and use it as a force of good in a 1998 Disney Channel cult classic with Debbie Reynolds as a grandma witch. It spawned three sequels. Information is here.

Dancing on the Row: Latin Dance Series from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on the green space near Smoke Shop BBQ at 325 Assembly Row, Assembly Square East, Somerville. Free, but register. MetaMovements’ artist collective members from Cuba, Dominican Republic and the United States created “animaciones” (choreographed group dances/follow-alongs) for this year’s dance series. The evening begins with a Cuban-style mini-class followed by DJs spinning Latin music for social dancing. Information is here.

Deb Chachra reads from “How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Chachra maps out a path for transforming and rebuilding our shared infrastructure to be not just functional but equitable, resilient and sustainable. Artist, design researcher and writer Sara Hendren joins the conversation. Information is here.

“Dark Exhalation” at 7:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, but donations of $10 to $20 suggested. This chamber opera sci-fi ghost story for four vocalists and amplified ensemble (flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion) approaches the opioid epidemic in a poetic, metaphorical way and incorporates techniques from cinema to transform everyday sounds into dynamic, highly textured musical compositions. Information is here.

Goblin Hole Queer Event at 9 p.m. at Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. $20 to $30, 21-plus. Bear witness to bizarre and fantastical drag acts at this queer art party while meeting old friends, bumping into new ones and dancing a little. Costumes and looks are highly encouraged! Information is here.

Twice-a-Day Ray performs at 9 p.m. at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free and 21-plus. A band of three emergency room doctors and one (singing) emergency medicine physician assistant plays rock and pop covers because they’re too busy saving lives to write their own songs. Information is here.

Saturday, Oct. 21

Plant a Miyawaki Forest in Somerville from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Somerville High School, 81 Highland Ave., Central Hill. Free, but register. Help plant a dense, biodiverse and easy-to-maintain mini forest of native trees and shrubs at the back of Somerville High (near 310 Medford St.) with experts from Grow Native Mass and Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. Information is here.

Afghanistan Freeharmonic Orchestra performs from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. Musicians from Afghanistan and elsewhere make up the AFO, which nurtures talent in defiance of adversity and to advocate for positive change. Information is here.

Music from Latin America from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Somerville Music Spaces, 1060 Broadway C101, Somerville. $15. This acoustic and intimate live concert features Luis Zea (guitar), Clara Marcano (piano) and Tibisay Zea (voice). Information is here.

Halloween Kickoff Cover Extravaganza II at 7 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $18 and all ages. Gretchen and the Banshees – a local Siouxsie and the Banshees cover band – plays along with The Devil is 6, covering the Pixies and Staring At The Sea, who do The Cure. Presented by Once, this event includes a costume contest. Information is here.

Yuck Fest Presents Michael Christmas from 7 to 9 at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The Indianapolis-based music-and-comedy festival makes its Boston debut this fall and includes this performance by rapper Michael Christmas with comedy openers Katlin McFee and Gordon Baker-Bone. Information is here.

Sunday, Oct. 22

Starlight End of Season Celebration at 1 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The Frank White Experience headlines an evening of dance, rap and good vibes with a live band tribute to Notorious B.I.G. Information is here.

A detail of a Philip Young painting (via the artist’s website)

Reception: Philip Young Retrospective from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cambridge Art Association’s Kathryn Schultz Gallery, 25 Lowell St., West Cambridge. Free. Celebrate the artwork and life of painter and longtime active association member Philip Young, who passed away July 13 at the age of 82. A portion of the sales of his paintings on display will go toward launching an annual painting prize in his honor. Information is here.

Collage and Sip Fundraiser for Detritus Dance from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, but donations of any amount encouraged. Sip, snack and create a collage (materials provided) to raise funds for the next production by the multimedia performance collective that amplifies feminist and queer storytelling through contemporary dance, collage and text. Information is here.

Semiosis Quartet performs works by Frank, Wiancko and Smith from 3 to 5 p.m. at Somerville Music Spaces, 1060 Broadway C101, Somerville. Free (or donate $10 to $15). The dynamic ensemble of Nicole Parks (violin), Madeline Hocking (violin), Lauren Nelson (viola) and Nicholas Johnson (cello) perform Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Leyendas,” Paul Wiancko’s “Lift” and Gabriella Smith’s “Carrot Revolution.” Information is here.

Foraged Banquet Fundraiser from 4 to 8 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. $100. Enjoy drinks, conversation and a four-course, family-style vegetarian meal made with locally foraged food to benefit this nonprofit art gallery. We wrote about the gallery’s 15th anniversary and fundraising here. Information is here.

Yuck Fest Wrap-up Party from 5 to 10 p.m. at Middlesex Lounge, 315 Massachusetts Ave., near Central Square, Cambridge. $10. Comics and attendees celebrate the end of the Boston debut of Yuck Fest, the Indianapolis-based music-and-comedy festival. Includes dancing, DJ Big Bear, photo booth and drinks. Rapper Michael Christmas MCs. Information is here.

Sleeping Weazel’s Experimental Cabaret from 6 to 7 p.m. in Studio 7 of The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The first in a series of experimental cabarets involving singing, dance and music performance leading up to the premiere of a collaborative show in 2025. No street shoes allowed on studio floors. Information is here.

“You Did This”: Unscripted Stories of Horror and Dread (continued) at 7 p.m. at the Café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $5. Information is here.

Boston League of Wicked Wrestlers Presents “Blowwloween VI: Bloww Goes Broke” at 7 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $25. Fear of financial insecurity amid the backdrop of “this smoldering capitalist hellscape” pits wrestlers of all persuasions against each other, with drag performances and feats from the New England Black Circus alongside. Information is here.

Monday, Oct. 23

Vincent Schiraldi reads from “Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Schiraldi, New York City’s probation commissioner under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, argues that probation and parole are more of a “recidivism trap” for people than constructive and rehabilitative alternatives to prison, and that they should be downsized or even abolished. Joining in conversation is Sandra Susan Smith, faculty director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard. Information is here.

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band (via the artist’s Facebook)

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band at 8 p.m. at Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. $22. This contemporary group from the Republic of Burkina Faso, led by the original and eccentric singer/musician Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou), combines traditional and modern Burkinabé funk with a reverent take on the Mandigue guitar music of the 1970s. Information is here.

Randall Mann reads from “Deal: New and Selected Poems” from 8 to 9 p.m. at Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., Harvard Square. $5. The author of six poetry collections, Mann is joined in conversation about his latest with Daniel Johnson, the executive director of Mass Poetry and author of just-published “Shadow Act: An Elegy for Journalist James Foley.” Sponsored by the Blacksmith House Poetry Series. Information is here.

Jerry Bergonzi Quartet from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge (and continuing most Mondays). $10 to $15. Bergonzi brings his tenor sax mastery to this seated show with bandmates Phil Grenadier on trumpet and Luther Gray on drums. (The bassist is TBD.) Information is here.

Tuesday, Oct. 24

Boudreau Mystery Book Group from noon to 1 p.m. at Cambridge Library’s Boudreau Branch, 245 Concord Ave., Observatory Hill in Neighborhood 9. Free.
October’s title: “F is for Fugitive” by Sue Grafton. Information is here.

Navigating Solo: Planning Tools for Aging Well from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge (and continuing every Tuesday through Nov. 14). Free, but registration is required. The library foundation and nonprofit Cambridge Neighbors sponsor the second of five talks and Q&As on aging solo. This week’s topic: “Health care decision-making and the value of advance care planning,” facilitated by Ailene Gerhardt. Information is here.

Intuitive Crystal Workshop from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Rindge Room of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, but registration is required. Learn about the power of crystals in this free workshop taught by Roxie Zwicker. All participants will take home a variety of curated crystals. Information is here.

Manuel Salgado lectures on “City-Making” from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Piper Auditorium at Gund Hall, 42 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Award-winning architect and 12-year head urban planner for the city of Lisbon, Salgado will discuss the beginning of his career after the Portuguese Revolution of 1974 until today. Information is here.

Meet the Mystic! from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Tufts Breed Memorial Hall, 51 Winthrop St., Medford. Free, but registration is required. At this annual meeting celebration, enjoy free food, drinks, a raffle and visual presentations of work done by the Mystic River Watershed Association, which focuses on the network of rivers, streams and ponds that all flow into the Mystic River and its impact on the 21 cities and towns and 600,000 people it encompasses. Information is here.

Omkari Williams reads from “Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World without a Bullhorn” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Host of the podcast “Stepping into Truth,” Williams helps introverts and highly sensitive people to leverage their strengths to start small, work collaboratively and begin locally with doable actions to make a lasting impact. Joining in conversation is Precious Chika Musa, program administrator for the Africana Center at Tufts University. Information is here.

The Moth Story Slam at 7:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $15. This monthly open-mic storytelling competition is open to anyone who can share a five-minute tale on the night’s theme – this time, “Haunted,” about getting spooked, conjuring a phantom, solving a creepy mystery or encountering an unearthly beauty. Information is here.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

Vampire Orienteering from 6 to 9 p.m. at Danehy Park, 166 New St., in Neighborhood 9 just east of Fresh Pond, Cambridge. Free, but registration is required. Participate in a sport now taught in most grades of Cambridge public schools. Travel the park in teams after dark, looking for checkpoints. Bring a flashlight and wear a costume if you want. There may be vampires. (Candy, too.) Information is here.

Strummerville Ukulele from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville, and every fourth Wednesday. Free. Amateur musicians invite you to join in as they sing and strum the hits. Information is here.

Brooke Barbier reads from “King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Barbier’s book depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions, providing an insightful study of leadership in the revolutionary era, when passion was on the side of compromise and accommodation proved the basis of profound social and political change. Information is here.

Phoebe Sinclair (via the author’s Instagram)

Phoebe Sinclair reads from “Confessions of a Candy Snatcher” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. Sinclair’s co-executive director of the Baldwin Neighborhood Council, editor of the BNC’s newsletter “The Whistler” and, as a facilitator with the Cambridge-based nonprofit Essential Partners, is partial to reading a poem to start or end community meetings. She talks about her YA novel with Raúl The Third, a Boston-based bestselling and award-winning illustrator, author and artist. Information is here.

Nick Shoulders and the Okay Crawdad perform at 7:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $18. Country music with a punk message, Arkansas-native Shoulders says of his new album “All Bad” that instead of focusing on marketability he writes songs “about the lives we’re actually living” and seeks “collective liberation in our connection to the landscape to ancient singing traditions.” Information is here.

Halloween Drag Night from 8 to 10 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. $15 and 21-plus. Dykelangelo hosts local returning Queens Coleslaw and Severity Stone alongside Violencia Exclamation Point and Sherman. Bring cash (or have your Venmo ready) to tip the drag stars. Information is here.

Thursday, Oct. 26

Molly McGhee (via the author’s website)

Molly McGhee reads from “Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. The New York Times says McGhee’s surrealist debut novel “scrapes the workforce of human suffering.” They liked it. In conversation with novelist Paul Tremblay. Information is here.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” from 7 to 8 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing tomorrow). $30 and 18-plus. Not Cliff’s Notes, but more fun: In this Macbeth, truncated to an hour, one actor is selected at random every night to drink before showtime and even during the play, leaving the remaining sober cast to fight their way through the show while incorporating, rectifying, justifying and generally improvising around the drunkenness. The troupe has given the same treatment to some of the bard’s other works. Information is here.

Rockin Horror Music Festival from 7 to 11 p.m. at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. $15 and 21-plus. Prodigo, Preston Lydotes, FEEP, The Roscoes, Gold Star Blvd and mattias perform. Information is here.

“The Rocky Horror Show” at 7:30 p.m. at Central Square Theater, Cambridge, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and continuing through Nov. 26). $24 to $98. Tonight begins the monthlong run of the original musical by Richard O’Brien that launched the cult movie. Co-directed by Jo Michael Rezes and Lee Mikeska Gardner. Information is here.

Friday, Oct. 27

GlobeDocs Film Festival at 6:30 and 9 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (and continuing through Sunday). $15 per film. Screenings of documentaries followed by engaging conversations with Boston Globe journalists and filmmakers. This evening: “Sorry/Not Sorry” about comedian Louis C.K. and “The Stones and Brian Jones.” Information is here.

SJ Sindu reads from “The Goth House Experiment” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The author of “Blue-Skinned Gods” discusses her short story collection, which features an array of loners and artists – a young poet haunted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde, a home brewer and wife during lockdown, a boy with wings – who struggle for connection and fulfillment in a world battered by the pandemic and reactionary politics. Information is here.

Charles

Cirque of the Dead at the A.R.T. in 2019. (Photo: Charles Jones)

Cirque of the Dead at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville (and continuing twice on Saturday, Oct. 28, and once on Tuesday, Oct. 31). $38 and 18-plus. Boston Circus Guild’s show blends aerials, acrobatics, contortion and more with creepy camp and humorous horror; this year’s story involves ghost hunters exploring Somerville’s most haunted historic landmark, with action happening on all sides and in every spot in the theater. Information is here.