Thursday, Oct. 9
Alejandro Varela reads from “Middle Spoon” at 6 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. RSVP required. A married middle-aged gay man is living a quiet life with his wife and two children and a boyfriend he cares about. Then his boyfriend breaks up with him, and he finds it a struggle to move on. Author Ursula Villarreal-Moura joins.
After Dark Series: Rhythm from 6 to 9 p.m. at The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. $10 to $20 and 21-plus. Listen to today’s blues rhythms with Carly Harvey and the energy of MIT Rambax, a Senegalese drum ensemble. Then experiment with musician and composer Jessica Shand. Local brews from Lamplighter and appetizers from Tandor and Curry are available for purchase.
Get to the Gig presents: Cloakroom at 6:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $27. The shoegaze band, blending alternative and indie rock, performs songs from its fourth album, which was released in February: “Last Leg of the Human Table.” Also performing: JiveBomb and Destiny Bond.
ArtsThursdays: “Arts Criticism: Why It (Still) Matters” conversation from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Room: Theater, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Why arts criticism and writing matter more than ever and where some of the most courageous voices are emerging today from a panel: Pulitzer-winning dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman, formerly of The Washington Post; arts journalist Siddhartha Mitter, who writes for The New York Times and other outlets; Jeneé Osterheldt, a culture columnist and deputy managing editor at The Boston Globe; and Rashid Shabazz, a critic and executive director of Critical Minded, an initiative focused on raising the visibility of critics of color.
Pre-Honk! Brass Band Blowout from 6:30 p.m. to midnight in Union Square Plaza and in The Jungle, 6 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. Free. Fourteen of the bands at this year’s activist street band festival play half-hour sets – outdoors until 10 p.m., indoors starting at 8 p.m.
Mark Kurlansky reads from “The Boston Way: Radicals Against Slavery and the Civil War” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The story of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and a group of pacifists in Boston who led the fight to end slavery without violence and war. The Boston Clique, as they were called, persuaded their fellow Bostonians to end Jim Crow laws on Massachusetts’ railroads. Harvard’s Jonathan Hansen joins.
Lily King reads from “Heart the Lover” at 7 p.m. at St. James’s Episcopal Church, 1991 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. $10, or $37 with the book. Jordan becomes good friends with Sam and Yash her senior year in college and the three become inseparable. Decades later, a surprise visit and unexpected news bring the past crashing into the present, and she must confront the decisions of her youth and the friendships she left behind in college. Author Heidi Pitlor joins.
Poet Vidyan Ravinthiran from 7 to 8 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $5 to $10, but register. With an introduction by Martha Selby.
Chris Rivelli Trio performs at 7:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. Classic, swinging jazz featuring Gregory Groover Jr. on tenor saxophone.
Fin Leary reads from “These Bodies Ain’t Broken” at 7:30 p.m. at All She Wrote Books, 75 Washington St., East Somerville. $20 with book. Leary discusses his short story, which appears in this young adult horror anthology featuring disabled teens winning against monsters, curses and evil. Author Sara Farizan joins.
Actor and comedian Adam Ferrara at 8 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $20. Some of his acting credits include Chief Needles Nelson on the FX drama “Rescue Me,” co-starring with Edie Falco on Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie” and starring alongside Kevin James in the movie “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”
Joe K. Walsh: “Trust and Love” album release at 8 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $33 to $35. This record features instrumental voices from the bluegrass and folk music world: Rich Hinman (on pedal steel, lap steel and guitar), Zack Hickman (bass), John Mailander (fiddle), Bobby Britt (fiddle), Dave Brophy (drums and percussion) and Walsh on mandolin family instruments.
Team Dresch performs at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $35. The 30th anniversary tour of this punk band formed in the 1990s. Vitapup joins.
Jon Mueller + Tom Lecky, All Colors Present and Tomonari Nishikawa short films at 8 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. $12 to $18. A double bill with a live performance by percussionist Jon Mueller of his collaborative work with visual artist Tom Lecky, “All Colors Present.” Also, a special screening of short films by the late filmmaker Tomonari Nishikawa, honoring Nishikawa’s unique artistic vision and enduring impact. A Non-Event and Revolutions per Minute festival presentation.
Friday, Oct. 10
Honk! Festival lantern-making workshops and parades from 4 to 6 p.m. and 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. starting at Hodgkins-Curtin Park, Holland Street, between Davis and Teele squares, Somerville. Free. The 20th annual festival begins with workshops where participants can create lanterns to use in parades at stepping off at 6:30 p.m. on routes from and leading back to the park through nearby neighborhoods. Bringing illuminations is welcome – bike lights, glow sticks any kind of blinking-glittering-glowing ornaments.
Honk! band showcase from 7 to 9 p.m. at Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville, and 6:15 to 9:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. Two activist street bands at Bow Market and four at Aeronaut kick off the festival and give Union Square a taste of what’s coming to Davis Square for the next two days.
“Terra Firma” art exhibition and opening reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Gallery @SPL, Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., Central Hill. Free. Local artist Nancy Hall Brooks’ exhibit is an ongoing series of paintings, drawings and prints that respond to the global crises of war, poverty and climate change.
Laura Dickerman reads from “Hot Desk” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Two rival book editors battle over a shared desk via passive-aggressive notes, then vie to get control of a career-making literary estate. As the battle heats up, one learns of a personal connection – complicating a rom-com and comedy of manners that one blurb calls “the sexiest, funniest book party you’ll be invited to this year.” Author Laura Zigman joins.
Mary Bonina reads from “My Way Home” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. RSVP required. Former teenage lovers separated by war encounter each other 16 years later, reopening the wound of one being forced to carry a child and then give the baby up for adoption. Lesley University’s Anne Elezabeth Pluto joins.
Yoko Miwa Trio performs from 7 to 8:15 and 8:45 to 10 p.m. at The Mad Monkfish, 524 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but $25 food-and-drink minimum. The Japan-born jazz pianist performs with Brad Barrett (acoustic bass) and Scott Goulding (drums).
Kendall Square Orchestra presents “The Wild and the Tame” at 7:30 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $30 to $55. The opening of the season explores the music of Gabriela Ortiz’s “Kauyumari,” Brahms’s “Double Concerto.” Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 6” closes the evening.
Benny Benack III: Magic of Manhattan at 7:30 p.m. at Regattabar, 1 Bennett St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $30 to $42. The trumpeter celebrates the singular energy of The City That Never Sleeps: New York.
Orchestra Gold performs at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $33 to $37. Malian soul and psychedelic rock meet as the band tours in support of its latest album, “Dakan.”
The Nova Comedy Collective presents Nebula Night at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $10. Comedians and musicians come together for a showcase. Snacks and drinks available.
Beginner swing dance lesson from 8 to 9 p.m. at Boston Swing Central, 26 New St., Suite 3, Cambridge. $18 or $20. Learn the moves while enjoying the music at the Fall DJ Jam.
“Our Sunhi (Uri Sunhi)” film showing at 9:15 p.m. at the Harvard Film Archive at The Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge $10. Sunhi, a film school graduate, returns to campus to request a recommendation letter and encounters three men from her past who are each smitten by her. The 2013 film with English subtitles is directed by Hong Sangsoo.
Saturday, Oct. 11
Egypt Eternal: 4,000 Years of Fascination from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (open Sundays through Fridays) at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Ave., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. An exhibit showcases the mummy case of Padimut, a teak and ivory reproduction of King Tutankhamun’s throne, the portrait of Idu in his underground tomb chapel and a “Dreaming the Sphinx” augmented-reality experience.
Honk! Festival from noon to 9 p.m. which includes an hourlong opening ceremony in Seven Hills Park in Davis Square, Somerville, followed by performances by more than 30 brass bands visiting from as far away as New Orleans and San Francisco spreading throughout the square. Free. Elm Street closes to cars and turns into an art making and activism center called ArtHonk! from 1 to 5 p.m.
Oktoberfest at Club Volo at 2 p.m. at Club Volo, 301 Assembly Row, Mystic River, Somerville. Free to $14, but RSVP required. Celebrate fall the Volo way: with games, beer, open play for pickleball, volleyball, cornhole, Connect 4 and Jenga, plus a stein-holding competitions.
Gallery Talk: Monsters of the Deep at 2 to 2:30 p.m. at the MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free with museum admission. Join an exhibition curator for a tour to see how sailors, scholars and everyday people handle the unknown, from those 500 years ago trying to understand mysterious ocean creatures such as whales to the people of today gripping with such things as black holes and gravitational waves.
Introduction to nature monitoring in the city from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at The Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, but register. Earthwise Aware cofounder Claire O’Neill teaches how to document and help the plant and insect communities of the center. No expertise required, but some free apps will have to be installed on your phone. (If you don’t have a smart device, you’ll be paired with someone who does.)
Lamplighter’s “Beer School” tour and tasting from 4 to 5 p.m. at Lamplighter Brewing, 284 Broadway, The Port, Cambridge. $34, but 21-plus. For this monthly event, each ticket includes one 6-ounce welcome beer and a flight of samples, a guided tasting and behind-the-scenes brewery tour, a beer school “quiz” (with an answer key) and a Lamplighter Beer School diploma.
Spooky Saturday from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the Urban Park Roof Garden at Kendall Center, 325 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. Enjoy a DJ and free face painting for the first two hours; then the film “Scooby Doo” (2002) screens with free popcorn (limit one per person) and beverages available for sale. Proceeds go to a local charity.
Schubert with the Cambridge Symphony Quintet at 5 p.m. at the Cambridge KiOSK, 0 Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C was one of the last pieces he composed in his short life. Join five members of the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra to enjoy this performance.
Kris Adams: “Away” album release from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $20. Vocalist Kris Adams performs original music from a new album with Doug Johnson (piano), Paul Del Nero (bass) and Steve Langone (drums).
Hubbub Comedy at 7 p.m. at Lamplighter CX, 110 N. First St., North Point, Cambridge. $15 and 21-plus. Write a question at the door and the comics may answer it live on stage.
“Suddenly, Last Summer” film showing at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Film Archive at The Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge $10. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift, this 1959 black-and-white film is based on Tennessee Williams’ work, adapted by Gore Vidal. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Hungarian trumpeter and composer Barabás Lőrinc from 7 to 8 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $20. A driving force in Budapest’s improvised music scene, Lőrinc has released a dozen albums with his different bands and as a solo artist (on trumpet with also keyboard instruments, a looper and other sound modulators). Two of his works have been premiered for symphony orchestra.
Sunday, Oct. 12
Boston ToyCon from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free. The third year for Greater Boston’s toy and collectibles show.
Queer Romance Book Club at 10:30 a.m. at All She Wrote Books, 75 Washington St., East Somerville. $7, $28 with book. This month’s title: “Dear Wendy” by Ann Zhao.
46th Annual Oktoberfest from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Harvard Square (rain date: Oct. 13). Free. Food from all over the world, arts, crafts, vintage goods, free samples, sidewalk sales and one-of-a-kind gifts are packed in with beer gardens, the “Chalk on the Walk” art installation plus stages showcasing the dozens of Honk! festival bands and rock and jazz performers. A Filipino American Festival returns as part of the festivities. The event has been known to draw more than 100,000 people.
Honk! parade and festival (continued) from noon to 6 p.m. starting with the famous parade from Herbert and Day streets in Davis Square, Somerville, that ends (at 2 p.m.) at by Winthrop Park in Harvard Square, and is followed by short sets by the more than 30 bands on the main stage of the Harvard Square Oktoberfest. Free.
A Time Traveler’s Tour of Mount Auburn from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., West Cambridge. Free, but registration required. Stroll to visit the cemetery’s most celebrated locations as identified by the Cambridge Railroad’s 1858 guidebook, led by volunteer docent Rosemarie Smurzynski.
Maison Électronique at 2:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. An instrumental trio plays original compositions that blend Congolese rumba and contemporary seben guitar styles with other African music and Western styles such as shoegaze, surf and dub. The group is led by guitarist Nathaniel Braddock. He is joined by Ugandan bassist Alex Donsal Kateregga and drummer Frank Aveni.
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras perform at 3 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $25 to $30. Conducted by Federico Cortese, this 68th season-opening program includes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 4; Ravel’s “Miroirs No. 3, Une barque sur l’ocean”; and Stravinsky’s “Four Norwegian Moods.” Also, the Repertory Orchestra performs Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 conducted by Mark Miller.
Build Our Next Tap Handle Lego Contest: Halloween edition from 3 to 5 p.m. at Portico Brewing, 101 South St., Boynton Yards, Ward 2, Somerville. Free. Craft a tap handle out of Lego bricks; the winning creation could haunt Portico’s draft lines as the next official tap handle.
Kalyanapuram Aravind performs at 4 p.m. at Wong Auditorium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Building E-51, also known as the Tang Center, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge. $30 to $35. The vocalist is trained in South Indian tradition.
Poets Christina Davis, David Rich and Patrick Pritchett at 4 p.m. at The Press Room at 90 Oxford St., in the Spring Hill neighborhood, Somerville. $5 suggested donation. The eighth- season opener for poet Michael Franco’s Xit the Bear Readings. Also, Oct. 19, Nov. 9 and Dec. 7.
Chameleon’s True Colors from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $20 to $25. Composer-lyricist Ethan Wu – chosen in 2022 as the chief lyricist for the Mandarin production of “Phantom of the Opera” – blends original songs and theater; his original project, “The Assassin and the Tenth Princess” is under development.
Be the Change Workshop: What is Mutual Aid and How Do We Practice It? at 5 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. Free. The Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville study group discusses mutual aid, a political practice of showing up for one another and redistributing resources on a community level.
“Red, White and Blue” screening at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Film Archive at The Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. This 2020 film, directed by Steve McQueen, this year’s Charles Eliot Norton professor of poetry at Harvard, tells the story of Leroy Logan, who joined the Metropolitan Police in 1983 when Black officers were few. Determined to enact institutional change from within, he instead encountered racist reaction.
Tim Ray Trio performs from 7 to 8:15 and 8:45 to 10 p.m. at The Mad Monkfish, 524 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but $25 food-and-drink minimum. The pianist performs with John Lockwood on acoustic bass and Nat Mugavero on drums.
Funny AF: A Comedy Benefit for The Arthritis Foundation at 7:30 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $25 to $40. Stand-up comics . including Alex Giampapa, Tyler Hittner, Tooky Kavanagh, Sarah May, Shelby LeCuyer, Shea Spillane and Michael Luppino perform at an event toi help raise $10,000 for the Arthritis Foundation’s Juvenile Arthritis division. Hosted by Katie Farrell.
Monday, Oct. 13
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on Indigenous Women Artists from 1 to 1:30 p.m. at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. A discussion of Indigenous women as makers, matriarchs and caretakers of communities and cultural traditions from curator Stephanie Mach (Diné).
Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Tour at 1 and 3:15 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $13. Seven short films from Indigenous filmmakers in 98 minutes: six from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, one from last year.
Gallery Talk: Spotlight on Stickball from 3:30 to 4 p.m. at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. A look at the Indigenous game of stickball – once outlawed and threatened, but still played, even by students and staff across Harvard – from the Peabody’s Audrey Jacob, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s stickball team, the Tvshka Homma Ohoyo, and James Walkingstick (Cherokee), a player and apprentice stick maker.
“Bright Harvest: Powering Earth From Space” documentary premiere from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Harvard University’s Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St., Mid-Cambridge near Harvard Square. Free, but RSVP. This documentary follows three Caltech professors who came together more than a decade ago to solve how to power Earth from space, to provide an endless supply of clean, sustainable energy, and the success that followed a 2023 launch of their Space Solar Power Demonstrator.
“The Lost Boys” at 6 p.m. at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $13. This 1987 film, starring Alex Winter, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Jami Gertz, Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland, tells the story of brothers Michael (Patric) and Sam (Haim) who move to a new town. Michael is drawn into a gang of older kids who look like rock stars but turn out to be vampires.
“Sweet Structures: The Science of Jam-making” at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Claire Saffitz, pastry chef, YouTube host and author of “Dessert Person” and “What’s for Dessert,” is known for bringing pastry science to a wide audience.
The Tall Trio from 7 to 8 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $10 to $15. Every Monday night, the Lilypad’s Tall Trio warms up the stage for a night full of jazz legends. Usually led by Elan Mehler with Max Ridley and Dor Herskovits.
Pitch a Friend at 7:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. Prepare a three- to five-minute slide presentation to pitch your single pal to a room full of other singles and onlookers. “Like Shark Tank, but for love and friendship.”
Chuwi performs at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $26. This Puerto Rican quartet presented by Global Arts Live had a headline-making collaboration with Bad Bunny on the track “Weltita” this year and plays a mix of plena, indie and Caribbean rhythms.
Passim Monday Discovery Series: Anya Movius at 8 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free to $20. The Charlottesville, Virginia, singer-songwriter, 19, studies human rights and music at Harvard University.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Bead Loom Workshop from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15, but RSVP. Create a piece of beadwork using a bead loom and provided materials while hearing from beadwork artist Katherine Santos, a member of the Choctaw-Apache Tribe, about how beading has been practiced for millennia and has evolved as a contemporary craft.
Lady Ray and Her Jazz Birds at 4:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $15 donation. Raynel Shepard, aka Lady Ray, performs jazz standards with Ben Broder (piano), Mike Ball (bass), Mark Chenevert (sax and clarinet), Dave Hurst (percussion) and Mark Torgenson (guitar).
Ken Liu reads from “ All That We See or Seem” at 6 p.m. at Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $40 with book. The start of a sci-fi series following Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at 14 as the “orphan hacker” and is drawn back to action to try to help a oneirofex – a dream artist – held captive by a gangster who’s demanding the return of his dreams in exchange for her life. New York Times-bestselling author R.F. Kuang joins.
Psychedelic Christianity: A Conversation with Erik Davis and Charles Stang from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Room 113, Sever Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. Experts discuss the possibilities of an emerging “psychedelic Christianity” and whether it’s a returning hippie Jesus movement or suggests there were psychedelic sacraments in the early church.
Community, Resilience and Activism in the Latinx Community from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. Gladys Vega, the executive director of La Collaborativa in Chelsea, discusses activism in the Latinx immigrant community.
Poets Eileen Myles and Cedar Sigo from 6 to 7:45 p.m. at the Houghton Library, at Quincy and Harvard streets in Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Free. The poets share excerpts from John Weiners, author of “Behind the State Capitol, or Cincinnati Pike” as it celebrates 50 years, in conversation with their own work. Myles reads new poems and share sections of a (previously unpublished) 1970s book-length poem “Birdwatching.” Sigo reads from his recent collection “Siren of Atlantis.”
Elizabeth MeLampy reads from “Forget the Camel: The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say About Being Human” at 6:30 p.m. at All She Wrote Books, 75 Washington St., East Somerville. $29 with book. The animal-rights lawyer examines abuses at festivals such as the International Camel and Ostrich Races. Author E.B. Bartels joins.
“Book Moot” discusses “Maddalena and the Dark” by Julia Fine at 6:30 p.m. at Pandemonium Books & Games, 4 Pleasant St., Central Square, Cambridge. $5 and registration required. Buy and talk about this Venetian fairy tale set in 1717 about the friendship between two girls, Luisa and Maddalena, and what they will do to be free.
Francesca Wade reads from “Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. $31 with book, RSVP required. Wade uses never-seen interviews to write a literary biography of novelist and poet Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas, who made her life’s mission to take Stein’s unpublished writings after her death and make them public. Author Chloe Garcia Roberts joins.
Stephanie Burt reads from “Taylor’s Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The Harvard professor and poet explains the artistry and celebrity of Taylor Swift.
Romance book group from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. in the teen room at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. A book discussion group for teens and adults. This month: “Rules for Ghosting” by Shelly Jay Shore.
Point01 Percent contemporary series from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $15. A cross-pollination of area musical improvisers. At 7:30 p.m., Steve Lantner (piano), Jim Hobbs (sax), Allan Chase (sax), Nathan McBride (bass) and Eric Rosenthal (drums). At 8:30 p.m., Pandelis Karayorgis (piano), Nathan McBride (bass), Dan O’Brien (reeds) and Michael Larroca (drums)
Bluesy Tuesy Social Dance from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the New England Science Fiction Association clubhouse at 504 Medford St., Magoun Square, Somerville (and every Tuesday). $5 to $25. DJs play at this weekly partner blues dance event that includes a lesson for beginners in the first hour.
Indie trivia at 8 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. Test your knowledge every Tuesday. Aeronaut opens the taproom to players and hosts for this independent game of knowledge.
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Streetwise speaker series at 6 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Co-sponsored by the Somerville Bicycle Advisory Committee and Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Group at 6 p.m. in the Cambridge Main Library’s Richard C. Rossi Room, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, but RSVP. This time, the selection is “Luminous” by Silvia Park.
Mary Roach reads from “Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy” at 6 p.m. at Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, $31 with book. The New York Times bestselling author addresses questions such as: When and how does a person decide they’d be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Science journalist Elizabeth Preston joins.
Blues and roots music at 6:30 p.m. at The Sea Hag Restaurant & Bar, 49 Mount Auburn St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The Barrett Anderson Band performs every Wednesday. Joining Anderson (vocals and guitar) are Paul Loranger (upright and electric bass) and Joey Pafumi (drums and percussion).
Carla Sosenko reads from “I’ll Look So Hot In a Coffin” at 6:30 p.m. at All She Wrote Books, 75 Washington St., East Somerville. $30 with book. Sosenko, who has Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a rare vascular disorder that resulted in legs of different sizes, a mass of flesh on her back and a hunched posture, describes in her memoir what existing in an unconventional body has meant for her self-image, mental health, relationships and ambitions. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance’s Anna Ardelean joins.
Public art and social change panel from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Harvard University’s Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy St., Mid-Cambridge near Harvard Square. Free. Los Angeles artist Patrick Martinez discusses the role of art in public space as a tool for advocacy with Pedro H. Alonzo, of the inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial, and Malkit Shoshan, a design critic and 2024 resident at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
Chess and crêpes from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Little Crêpe Café, 102 Oxford St., Baldwin, Cambridge. Free. Destress with chess every Wednesday evening. Boards provided, food and beverages for purchase.
Hester Kaplan reads from “Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Opening with the death of Hester’s father, Justin Kaplan, known for his award-winning biographies of Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, his daughter realizes he never spoke about himself. She puts the pieces of his life together in her own biography of him. Pulitzer-winning historian Megan Marshall joins.
Tyler Casavant at 7 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. Free. The folk-pop singer songwriter released his first single “City Lights” in December.
Hub Comics “Book Clhub” at 7 p.m. at Hub Comics, 19 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville. Free, but bring a copy of the book with you. October’s title: “You and Me on Repeat” by Mary Shyne.
Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Club from 7 to 8 p.m. at Somerville Public Library West Branch, 40 College Ave., near Davis Square. Free, but RSVP. This time, the selection is “Monstrous Regiment” by Terry Pratchett.
Songwriters in the Round from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $10. Inspired by the “guitar pulls” of the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee, these regular events (every first and third Wednesday) have host David Thorne Scott and musician friends seated in a semi-circle and taking turns playing songs, occasionally joining in with each other and chatting as if in their own living rooms.
Failboat and JayMoji present The Stupid Simple Gameshow at 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $38 to $94. Failboat is a YouTube creator and Jaymoji is a Nintendo-focused YouTube creator. They divide the crowd into two teams and pull contestants up on stage to compete in a series of increasingly strange minigames over the course of several rounds.
Holland’s Yīn Yīn performs at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $32. Sticking to pentatonic scales, the band’s largely instrumental sound – created with a unique set of instruments including vintage synthesizers and a traditional Chinese string instrument, the guzheng, features big jumps between notes with melodies. The band is Kees Berkers (drums), Remy Scheren (bass), Erik Bandt (guitar) and Robbert Verwijlen (keyboards).
Thursday, Oct. 16
CPL Nature Club: The Nature of Cambridge at 4 p.m. at the Cambridge Public Library’s Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl St. Free. Mass Audubon leads an exploration around the library in search of plants and animals while using binoculars and magnifying lenses to get a closer look. Record what you find in nature journals and play nature games. Materials are provided.
Victorian Science and the Beyond: Ethereal Evening Tours at 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow House and the Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle St., West Cambridge. Free, but RSVP. An evening of historic house tours exploring the intersections of Victorian scientific thought, the lure of the supernatural and their echoes today.
One Woman’s Fight to Protect Ancient Maya Legacy at 6 p.m. at Museum of Natural History’s Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Baldwin neighborhood, Cambridge. Free, but RSVP. Clemency Chase Coggins, professor emerita of archaeology and art history at Boston University and a Peabody Museum research associate, discusses the advocacy that helped shape U.S. policy and Unesco conventions on cultural property. The role of the Peabody in the protection of Maya heritage is also addressed.
Sounds of the Modern Renaissance: Yosvany Terry Quartet from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Alain Locke Gallery of African & African American Art, 102 Mount Auburn St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Terry, an Afro-Cuban composer, saxophonist, percussionist, bandleader and educator, has performed with everyone from Branford Marsalis to Taj Mahal.
Amber Sparks reads from “Happy People Don’t Live Here” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. A reclusive mother and her daughter move into a haunted building – a former sanatorium occupied by eccentrics and ghosts. The daughter decides to play detective after finding a body in a dumpster and things get even stranger. Author Steve Himmer joins.
Kanza Javed reads from “What Remains After a Fire” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. $28 with book, RSVP required. A debut collection of short stories set in modern-day Pakistan and its U.S. diaspora. Author Marjan Kamali joins.
Poets Jennifer Jean, Dzvinia Orlowsky and V. Penelope Pelizzon from 7 to 8 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $5 to $10, but register. With an introduction by January Gill O’Neil.
Ryan Devlin Trio from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Mad Monkfish, 524 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but there’s a $25 food-and-drink minimum. The tenor saxophonist plays with Ian Ashby on bass and Caleb Montague on drums.
Boston Jazz Foundation presents Seba Molnar at 7:30 p.m. at Regattabar, 1 Bennett St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $24 to $36. Performing regularly in Boston and touring New England, Molnar has also been featured at the Charles River Jazz Fest, Boston Jazz Fest, Burlington Discover Jazz Fest and First Night Boston and shared stages with Grammy- and Emmy-winning artists such as Patrice Rushen, Ghost-Note and Debo Ray.
Atomic Comedy Indie Improv Night from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the café at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, but register. An independently produced monthly improv show featuring new and veteran talent.
Gender-free Scottish country dance from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at New England Science Fiction Association clubhouse at 504 Medford St., Magoun Square, Somerville. $5 to $20. Learn and practice in gender-neutral language. A warm-up and lesson in the first hour are followed by an hour of social dancing. Kat Dutton emcees and teaches.
“Be No Rain” dance performance from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $30. Artist-in-residence Aiden Marshall dances the story of a young queer Black man and explores feelings of mourning, rage, inadequacy and betrayal – an idea that came in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. We wrote about it here.
Third Thursdays jazz with Dave Bryant and Friends at 8 p.m. at Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10. This month, keyboardist and composer Bryant presents improvised music with Eric Barber (saxophones), Stephen Haynes (cornet, flugelhorn), Kit Demos (bass) and Curt Newton (drums).
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