Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, theater, music, dance, visual arts, and author events for the coming week.

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

Boston Area Film Schedules — What is playing today, Where and When

Inherent Vice
August 13 at 8 p.m.
Somerville Theatre, Davis Square, Somerville, MA

Paul Thomas Anderson Thursdays concludes with the director’s most recent film, which received wildly mixed reviews. It was called everything from “shamefully incoherent and a waste of talent” (Movie Chamber) to “a cockamamie, kaleidoscopic, languidly compelling whodunit” (Washington Post). Here is a chance to see the film in 70mm and judge for yourself or to reassess a first viewing. Based on the Thomas Pynchon novel, the film is a stoned-out, rambling, slapstick detective story set in Los Angeles in 1970. It features a parade of great cameos and stars a charming and befuddled Joaquim Phoenix as Larry “Doc” Sportello, private eye. Let your mind wander free during this one.

Gaslight
August 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

This is one of the best of the “Films Of Ingrid Bergman” series at the MFA. George Cukor (Adam’s Rib, Born Yesterday, My Fair Lady) codirected this adaption of the hit melodrama. Bergman plays Paula Alquist, who abandons her music career when she falls in love with and marries the gallant Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The couple moves to England to live in a home Paula inherited from her aunt, herself a famous singer, who was mysteriously murdered in the house ten years before. Anton is determined to find the mysterious Barlow Rubies, which are hidden somewhere in the mansion and, in order to find them, launches a campaign that is designed to drive his new bride insane.

Three Monkeys
August 13 at 4:45, 7:15, and 9:30 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

This is the great fourth film from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, cowritten with his wife Ebru Ceylan. It proffers the requisite ‘noir’ elements of compromise, corruption, unfaithfulness, and lies. The story begins with a middle-aged politician who accidentally kills a pedestrian in his car on a country road. Fearing scandal and with an election coming up, he flees the scene. He then persuades his long-standing driver to take the rap. His wife and son get into the fray and things go haywire. The patient shooting style and devastating close-ups force the viewer into the pressurized world of the characters. The final image is a stunner, not only epitomizing the situation’s psychological wreckage but suggesting how the narrative may be an allegory for the agonized condition of the country in general. The title alone is a wry and cruel joke on the sad ambitions of the powerless.

Gosford Park
Sunday August 16 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA

Here is an invaluable opportunity to savor a late Robert Altman masterpiece, a British “upstairs-downstairs” whodunit comedy/drama that juggles a couple of dozen characters with ease. It features some of the best examples of Altman’s distinctive approach to comedy and performance: a wedding of visual richness and complex layers of sound. Rather than shoot each character separately during the dinner scene, the director put a microphone on each actor and mixed the complex layers of conversations together. The result is full of life and spontaneity. This is a rare and wonderful film experience.

— Tim Jackson

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Dance

2nd International Iranian Dance Conference
August 15, 9 a.m. — 6 p.m.
Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
Cambridge, MA

Dancers of all levels are encouraged to participate in this extensive workshop series honoring the art of Iranian dance. Workshops are available for both men and women. Robert de Warren (former director of Iran’s national folkloric dance ensemble), Namus Zokhrabov (Azerbaijan’s state dance ensemble choreographer), and Indira Mehrpour (dancer with the Mahalli dancers of Iran) will be among the instructors.

roil & clot: a preview of new choreography
August 13 at 5 p.m.
Studio #2, Dance Complex
Cambridge, MA

Cox & Stewart presents a sampling of its latest work in this informal preview. The two Canadian-born artists (Helen Cox and Heather Stewart) first teamed up in London in 2014.

And further afield…

La Otra Orilla
August 12-15 at 8:15 p.m.; August 15 & 16 at 2:15 p.m.
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, MA

Contemporary, yet steeped in tradition, La Otra Orilla travels to New England this week from Montreal. The company proffers rhythmic flamenco set to the music of Andalusia.

— Merli V. Guerra

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Visual Arts

Todd Webb: Georgia O’Keefe & the American West
August 14 – September 27
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME

Painter Georgia O’Keefe is probably unique in the history of American art as being famous as both the creator of great works of art and as the subject of great works of art, including a celebrated series of more than 350 intimate images taken by her lover (later husband), the pioneering photographer Alfred Steiglitz. Years later, a younger photographer, Todd Webb, created another series of iconic images of O’Keefe as she passed into old age.

Webb and O’Keefe became close friends after he moved to New York in 1945. His career to that point had wandered widely and had included stints as a Detroit bank clerk and prospecting for gold, unsuccessfully, in Panama. Webb’s photographs of O’Keefe concentrated on the desert setting she had built for herself and her art in New Mexico. The best-known images Webb made of of her there reinforced the popular idea of O’Keefe as a weathered, intense, and independent woman living out her self-forged identity in the American West.

After many more years wandering and photographing in Santa Fe, Paris, Bath, England, and Provençe, Webb and his wife settled in Maine, where he died in 2000. This exhibition is part of the Maine Photo Project and was organized by Andres Azucena Verzosa.

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If you happen to be in New England this time of year, the chances are very good that there’s an artisan festival, crafts fair, or outdoor art sale somewhere not far from you. These seasonal events typically mix art, crafts, music, food, local lore and products, the best available scenery, and old-fashioned country fun into an endless variety of diverting packages.

Below is a tiny sampling of the end-of-summer arts and crafts offerings. There are far too many to list in full, the majority coming up before Labor Day closes the warm weather season down until next spring. There will be plenty of original, creative pieces to acquire to remind you of the summer of 2015 during the long winter of 2016. And if you don’t buy anything this year so what? You will experience tons of local color.

World Quilt Show – New England XIII
August 13 – 15, Manchester, New Hampshire

You can find handmade quilts at just about any New England crafts fair, but this professionally managed venue takes place indoors at downtown Manchester’s air-conditioned Radisson Center and draws from around the world. Its organizers bill it as “one of the most internationally diverse events of its kind” and throw in a free World Quilt Panel and Forum Ice Cream Social with your registration fee. A hotel package is also available.

41st Annual Milford Oyster Festival
August 14 – 15, Milford, CT

This famous food-themed fair was voted “5th Best Oyster Festival Nationwide” on foxnews.com. Along with a promised 30,000 sustainably fished oysters and clams, a shucking contest, and a lot of locally produced music and summer food, the festival boasts a hefty arts and crafts contingent featuring southern New England artisans. Admission is free. The oysters are not.

Gloucester Waterfront Festival
August 15 -16, Gloucester, MA

The seacoast town of Gloucester, MA, bills itself as “the oldest working art colony in North America.” In fact, the area has drawn the likes of Winslow Homer and other artistic worthies since Victorian times. Held in the historic and pastoral Stage Fort Park that over looks Gloucester Harbor, the 34th annual Gloucester Waterfront Festival will feature the work of over 175 artists and craftspersons, a juried selection drawn from throughout the U.S. Live music, local ethnic foods, and a Rotary Club Pancake Breakfast round out the festivities.

Bristol Boat and Artisan Show
August 17 – 18, Bristol, RI

Seaside Bristol, Rhode Island, mixes “a broad range of maritime businesses” with art and artists in this event, staged along the lovely Bristol Waterfront. Admission is free; exhibition fees and raffles benefit local charities.

Artists and Artisans in Paradise
August 30, Stratford, CT

Located in Paradise Green Park in Stratford, Connecticut (of Shakespeare Festival fame), Artists and Artisans in Paradise bills itself as “a true community arts celebration” and “a day of art, music, poetry for the family to enjoy.” At the tender age of three, this is one of the more youthful New England arts and crafts festivals but, so far as I know, it is the only one to feature “Poetry on the Hour.” The artisan exhibits will be especially rich in jewelry this year.

Mad River Valley Craft Fair
September 5 – 6, Waitsfield, VT

Set in a classic Vermont landscape between two famously challenging ski resorts, the Mad River Valley is also home to a long-running crafts fair. Held in a big field with surrounding views of the mountains, the 45th annual edition features more than 100 craftspeople along with the expected food, music, and fun (but no pets allowed). This Labor Day Weekend event will close out the summer season in inimitable Vermont style. See you next year!

— Peter Walsh

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Jazz

John Funkhouser Quartet
August 12, 8 p.m.
Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA.

The broadly accomplished pianist and composer John Funkhouser (also known around town as a terrific bass player with the likes of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and the Matt Savage Trio) fronts his quartet, with guitarist Phil Sargent, bassist Greg Loughman, and drummer Mike Connors. Their explorations can extend from the Funkhouser original “Inigo Montoya’s Great Escape,” with its relentless arpeggios and slamming rock beats, to an expansive take on the folk-rock standard “House of the Rising Sun,” and an in-the-pocket swing-jazz version of Rodgers and Hart’s “My Romance.”

Emy Tseng
August 12, 9 p.m.
Ryles Jazz Club, Cambridge, MA.

The Taiwanese-born singer Emy Tseng — former Longy School classical voice student and, um, MIT grad student — somewhere along the line picked up a very firm grasp of Brazilian samba and bossa nova. She can also turn around and do a credible jazz version of “California Dreaming.”

Rockport Jazz Festival
August 13-16
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA.

The jewel box by the sea, Rockport’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, hosts its annual long weekend of jazz. It kicks off with Mikarimba, featuring marimba player Mika Stoltzman and her classical clarinet-star husband Richard, and the father-son drummers Steve and Duke Gadd (August 13); the classically trained American singer Alicia Olatuja, mixing international influences and American jazz (August 14); the 12-year-old Balinese-born jazz-piano phenom Joey Alexander (August 15; 3 p.m.); hard-bop trumpeter Sean Jones (August 15; 8 p.m.); the terrific multifaceted guitarist and composer Julian Lage with his trio (August 16; 1 p.m.); and the Israeli-born clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen with her quartet (August 16, 7 p.m.)

Lawnmower
August 13, 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA.

Drummer Luther Gray convenes his experimental quartet mixing elements of rock and free jazz without ever becoming that thing known as “jazz-rock.” The other players are alto saxophonist Jim Hobbs, violist Kaethe Hostetter, and electric bassist Winston Braman.

Jean-Marie Corrois & Amit Kavthekar
August 22, 8 p.m.
Third Life Studio, Somerville, MA.

Jean-Marie Corrois is a French-born Afro-funk, reggae, and jazz drummer, and Amit Kavthekar is an Indian tabla master. Here they present “an evening of global percussion duets.”

— Jon Garelick

Coladera
Sunday, August 9, 7 p.m.
Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA

Named after the Cape Verdean morna‘s uptempo cousin, this intriguing trans-Atlantic trio brings together Portuguese guitarist João Pires, Brazilian guitarist Vitor Santana, and guest percussionists Fernando Saci and Keita Ogawa (filling in for Marcos Suzano) for an exploration of the musical ties that bind Portugal, Cape Verde, Brazil, and other nations of the Lusophone world.

Litchfield Jazz Festival
Sunday, August 9
Goshen Fairgrounds, Goshen, CT

One of New England’s foremost jazz events celebrates its 20th anniversary with a strong lineup that includes clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, bassist Avery Sharpe’s celebration of Sister Rosetta Sharpe, harmonica man Grégoire Maret, drummer Matt Wilson, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, guitarist Mike Stern, trumpeter Sean Jones, and bassist Christian McBride, as well as a salute to drummer Charli Persip and tributes to the late Thomas Chapin and Les Paul.

Gray Sargent
Tuesday, August 11, 7:30 p.m.
Sahara Club, Methuen, MA

Guitarist Gray Sargent has gotten some well-deserved moments in the limelight backing Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga on their “Cheek to Cheek” tour. Here he steps out as leader of a quartet with saxophonist Arnie Krakowsky, bassist Marshall Wood, and drummer Jim Gwin.

— J. R. Carroll

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Theater

Henry V by William Shakespeare. Directed by Jenna Ware. Staged by Shakespeare & Company in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Lenox, MA, through August 23.

Those hungry for more history plays by the Bard after Henry VI, Part 2 have an opportunity to continue the adventure with the prequel: “Henry V is rare among Shakespeare’s works because it contains explicit references to true events in England’s history. Following the death of his father, Prince Hal takes on the crown, rallies his exhausted troops and sets forth to repair his post-civil war nation.” Is the text pro-war? Anti-war? A little of both? It depends on where director Ware puts the emphasis.

Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti. Directed by Daniela Varon. Staged by Shakespeare and Company at the Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox, MA, through September 13.

A powerhouse line-up, featuring OBIE Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson, presents the American premiere production of a play about the legendary Ira Aldridge, the first African-American actor to play Othello on the English stage in 1833. Aldridge played a number of roles in Shakespeare’s plays (including King Lear, Macbeth, Shylock, and Richard III), but Othello was his signature part. In his fine new book Great Shakespeare Actors, Stanley Wells writes that “he continued to develop [the role] over the course of his career. Aided (like Paul Robeson after him) by a powerful physique and noble voice, he played Othello with deep self-identification and at times terrifying passion.” Arts Fuse preview

His Gal Friday, adapted by John Guare from the The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and the Columbia Pictures film His Girl Friday. Directed by Julianne Boyd. Staged by Barrington Stage at the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield, MA, through August 30.

“Editor Walter Burns will do anything to find an ace reporter cunning enough to scoop a story in the cutthroat Chicago press world, even if that means turning to his ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, who comes back to the newsroom one last time before leaving the game for good. In Guare’s adaptation, the play takes place in 1939, the day before war breaks out in Europe, which adds a political framework to the otherwise antic proceedings.”

Waitress, Book by Jessie Nelson, Music and Lyrics by Sara Bareilles. Directed by Diane Paulus. Choreography by Chase Brock. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA, through September 20.

The world premiere of a musical based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly. “Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker, is stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage. When a baking contest in a nearby county offers her a chance at escape, Jenna must weigh her commitments against a rare shot at freedom and recognition.” Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful) stars as the food server at the center of it all.

Detroit by Lisa D’amour. Directed by Daisy Walker. Staged by the Harbor Stage Company, Wellfleet, MA, August 13 through September 5.

A strong cast (Stacy Fischer, Jonathan Fielding, Allen Kennedy, Robert Kropf, and Brenda Withers) tackles the Boston premiere production of “this fiercely funny, Pulitzer Prize-nominated take on the dissolving American Dream, two very different couples try to bridge the gap between suburban civility and our hearts’ desires.”

National Puppetry Festival at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, through August 16.

A feast, featuring puppeteers from 12 nations on five continents, for those who love puppets and the art of puppetry. “Highlights of the festival will include 20 public performances by more than 25 national and international puppeteers, 30 professional workshops, six visual art exhibitions, “Puppetry in Film” series, a giant puppet parade, and a nightly Festival Pub Showcase. Four master puppeteers also will be honored: Caroll and Debbie Spinney of Sesame Street, Peter Schumann of the politically radical Bread & Puppet Theater, and Chuck McCann, the New York children’s television star and voice actor.”

Thoroughly Muslim Millie by Ryan Landry. Performed by The Gold Dust Orphans. At the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford Street, Provincetown, MA, through September 6.

Leave it to Landry to take musical parody where most American theaters fear to tread. Seen many plays about the Middle East lately? With music? The satiric set-up: “A young girl from a Canadian convent! Thrust across the border into the Middle East and straight into the arms of the Prince of Persia! And what do Dick and Lynne Cheney have to do with all this?” WARNING: This is an ADULT parody! DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILDREN!

A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O’Neill. Directed by Gordon Edelstein. Staged in the Nikos Stage at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA, through August 23.

Broadway heavyweights take on O’Neill’s exploration of the fleeting satisfactions of love and forgiveness. Six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald and Tony Award-nominee Will Swenson are in the cast.

The Unexpected Man by Yasmina Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Seth Gordon. Staged by Shakespeare & Company at the Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox, MA, through September 6.

The production stars Corinna May and, making his S&Co. debut, John Woodson in a story that “follows a middle-aged man and woman who sit opposite each other in the detached intimacy of a train compartment on a journey from Paris to Frankfurt. He is a world famous author; she, one of his biggest fans, carries his latest novel in her handbag and ponders the dilemma of reading it in front of him.”

The New Electric Ballroom by Edna Walsh. Directed by Robert Walsh. Staged by the Gloucester Stage at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA, through August 15.

A New England premiere: “A dark comedy about three sisters living in a small town on the coast of Ireland. The youngest, Ada, works at the local fish-packing plant, but Breda and Clara stay home and relive their teenage encounter with a 1950s rocker at the New Electric Ballroom. Their surreal routine is interrupted by Patsy, a fishmonger who ends up offering the sisters more than just the catch of the day.” The impressive cast includes Nancy E. Carroll, Adrianne Krstansky, and Marya Lowry. Arts Fuse review

Alterna-TEASE: The New England Neo-Burlesqure Festival. At Oberon, Cambridge, MA, August 13 and 14.

Here it is, the third annual presentation of a kooky gathering that “brings together neo-burlesque performers from all over the U.S. and Canada in a celebration of artful oddity and beautiful weirdos!”

Blink by Phil Porter. Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer. Staged by the Chester Theatre Company at Chester Town Hall, 15 Middlefield Road, Chester, MA, August 13 through 23.

The New England premiere production of a script that is “the tale of Jonah and Sophie. It’s a love story, a quirky love story about virtual reality, fear of intimacy, and love in the digital age.” Arts Fuse review

Eyes Shut, Doors Open by Cassie M. Seinuk. Directed by Christopher Randolph. Staged by Wax Wings productions at the Inner Sanctum Gallery, Dudley Square, Roxbury, MA, through August 15.

A new play from a promising playwright is always worth a look: “A modern Cain and Abel story set in the SoHo art scene of New York City. Turner Street’s bold paintings are the hottest thing to hit the scene – they’ve even captured the attention of the elusive Johanna, who has an agenda of her own. But things don’t go as planned, when in the middle of the night Turner’s one-eyed, pill-popping younger brother Palmer shows up, and Turner must face the disturbing truth of his success, the haunting family secrets shut behind doors, and risk losing it all.”

Engagements by Lucy Teitler. Directed by Louisa Proske. Staged by Barrington Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA, August 13 through 30.

World premiere production of a script that is about intimate relationships today — and the news is not good. “When reality looks this good, who cares if it’s all an illusion? Definitely not Lauren, the unforgettable heroine of this pitch-black anti-romantic comedy, a midsummer night’s dream about the conflicted Millennial generation.” Warning: “Show contains mature language, and adult themes. Viewer discretion is advised.”

I Saw My Neighbor On the Train and I Didn’t Even Smile by Suzanne Heathcote. Directed by Jackson Gay. Music by Ryan Kattner. Staged by the Berkshire Theatre Group and the New Neighborhood at the Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge, MA, through August 15.

A world premiere production about the “utter loneliness of human existence”: “This is Rebecca’s life: she wakes up, eats a sensible breakfast, wraps herself in three layers, drives to the train station, commutes to her bookkeeping job in the city, watches the clock, goes home, cooks dinner for her domineering mother, watches TV, and falls asleep grieving for her dead dog. Every day is the same as the next until Rebecca’s underachieving brother begs her to take care of her troubled niece—and she does what she always does—she lets it happen. In an unforgivingly bitter month, three generations of women with nothing in common, except a deeply buried ache, try to keep the cold away.” Perfect summer theater counter-programming. Arts Fuse review

— Bill Marx

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Classical Music

Spend a Sunday at Tanglewood
Presented by the Tanglewood Music Festival
August 9, 10 a.m., 2: 30 p.m., and 8 p.m.
Seiji Ozawa Hall and Tanglewood Music Shed, Lenox

You simply can’t go wrong with anything being played today. At 10, musicians from the TMC give a concert of chamber music by Schoenberg (Verklärte Nacht), Crumb (Ancient Voices of Children), Carter (String Quartet no. 5), Holloway-Nahum (The Geometry of Clouds), and Brahms (the String Sextet no. 1). In the afternoon, Joshua Bell plays Glazunov’s Violin Concerto with the BSO in the Shed. Charles Dutoit conducts and also leads the orchestra in Mussorgsky’s Night on Bare Mountain and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. To wrap things up, Yo-Yo Ma and Emmanuel Ax play the complete Beethoven cello sonatas that evening.

Italian Night
Presented by Boston Landmarks Orchestra
August 12, 7 p.m.
Hatch Band Shell, Boston

A consortium of Boston-area choruses plus musicians from the Honk! Festival join the BLO and soloists Barbara Shirvis and Stephen Powell for an evening of Italian music. Most of it comes from the opera house, but there will also be excerpts from the great Nino Rota’s ballet score, La Strada.

Tetzlaff plays Mendelssohn
Presented by the Tanglewood Music Festival
August 14, 8:30 p.m.
Tanglewood Music Shed, Lenox

Christian Tetzlaff, who was a riveting soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in April, returns to the BSO now with the Mendelssohn Concerto. BSO music director Nelsons also conducts Mahler’s Sixth Symphony.

Drums Along the Charles
Presented by Boston Landmarks Orchestra
August 19, 7 p.m.
Hatch Band Shell, Boston

Rhythmic, dance-inflected music — lots of it — is on tap for BLO’s penultimate summer program. The “Sabre Dance” from Aram Khachaturian’s Gayaneh opens things and Rachmaninoff’s brilliant Symphonic Dances closes the night; in between comes the world premiere of Donald Krishnaswami’s The Swordfishers and the first New England performance of Philip Glass’s Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists. Jeffrey Fisher and Robert Schulz are the soloists.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Boston on the Cape — The Boston Trio
August 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Rd, Cotuit, MA

On the program: G. Fauré’s Trio in D Minor for Violin, Cello and Piano, Opus 120; John Musto’s Piano Trio; A. Arensky’s Trio No. 1 in D Minor for Violin, Cello and Piano, Opus 32.

Faculty-Student Joint Recital
August 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Walnut Hill School Keiter Center, 12 Highland Street, Natick, MA

The Chinese Foundation for Performing Arts presents a varied program.

The Marriage of Figaro (in Italian)
August 14 at 8 p.m. and 16 at 2 p.m.
The Center for the Arts in Natick, 14 Summer Street, Natick, MA

Opera del West celebrates its 10th anniversary with performances of a “Mozart classic based on the comedy of class warfare by Beaumarchais.”

— Susan Miron

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Rock

Jamie XX
August 9
Royale, Boston, MA

The producer, remixer, and DJ Jamie XX has had much success as a member of English group the XX, but it’s his solo work that has him on the minds of music fans lately. His album In Colour was released in May and he has released two singles from it, including the catchy “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times).”

Dick Dale
August 15
Middle East-Downstairs, Cambridge, MA

Dick Dale is rightly known as “The King of the Surf Guitar,” but that nickname has always seemed a little too cute…like he should be playing “Hawaii Five-O” with the Ventures or something. Nothing against the Ventures (one of the truly great rock instrumental bands and one of my father’s all-time favorite groups), but they were always kind of vanilla. Dick Dale is not vanilla. Dick Dale will blow your fucking head off. In fact, Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” is played during the opening credits of Pulp Fiction, a film that is not vanilla, and a film in which someone literally gets his head blown off (“Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face.”). If you go to the show Saturday night, watch yourself.

Upcoming and On Sale…

Willie Nelson & Family (8/21/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); AC/DC (8/22/2015, Gillette Stadium); Counting Crows (8/23/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); Social Distortion (8/23/2015, House of Blues); J. Geils Band (8/27/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); The Vaccines (8/30/2015, The Sinclair); Speedy Ortiz (8/30/2015, Rock and Blues Concert Cruise); Cat Power (9/10/2015, Paradise Rock Club); Death Cab For Cutie (9/11/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); Rancid (9/15/2015, House of Blues); A$AP Rocky & Tyler, The Creator (9/19/2015, Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell), Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters (9/20/2015, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion); Albert Hammond Jr. (9/20/2015, The Sinclair); Bob Mould (9/23/2015, The Sinclair); Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls (9/25/2015, House of Blues); Boston Calling (featuring Avett Brothers, Alt-J, and Alabama Shakes) (9/25-27/2015, City Hall Plaza); Ghost (9/28/2015, House of Blues); The Jesus and Mary Chain (9/29/2015, House of Blues); Kurt Vile and the Violators (10/2/2015, Paradise Rock Club); FFS (Franz Ferdinand and Sparks) (10/2/2015, Orpheum Theatre); Kraftwerk (10/3/2015, Wang Theatre); Ride (10/3/2015, Paradise Rock Club); Mark Knopfler (10/9/2015, Orpheum Theatre); Catfish and the Bottlemen (10/16/2015, Royale); Garbage (10/21/2015, Orpheum Theatre); Ringo Starr and His All Star Band (10/23/2015, Citi Performing Arts Center); The Who (10/29/2015, TD Garden); My Morning Jacket (11/20-21/2015, Orpheum Theatre); The Flamin’ Groovies (11/25/2015, Brighton Music Hall); Parquet Courts (12/5/2015, Middle East-Downstairs)

— Adam Ellsworth

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Author Events

Naomi J Williams
Landfalls: A Novel
August 11 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge MA
Free

Co-sponsored by Grub Street Pushcart Prize-winning Naomi Williams comes to Cambridge to read from her latest novel. The narration centers on the La Perouse expedition of 1785, a maritime expedition — consisting of two frigates, two hundred men, and a dose of over-zealous Enlightenment idealism — that circumnavigated the globe in the name of science and the glory of France.

Bill Barclay & Jonah Lipsky
The Plays of Jon Lipsky
August 12 at 7 p.m.
Porter Square Books, Cambridge MA
Free

Boston’s own Jon Lipsky was a professor at Boston University for 25 years and worked with the venerable Boston Theatre Collective, performing classic adaptations as well as his own material. Barclay, the director of Music at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the playwright’s son Jonah, an actor and writer in his own right, have edited a two-volume edition of Lipsky’s work and will discuss his life and writings.

Danielle Georges
Maroon
August 13 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Quincy Market, Boston MA
Free

Boston’s poet laureate reads her work, including selections from her new collection. Georges is well-known for her accessibility and warmth, which should come in handy as she reads from her work amid the bustle of Quincy Market, just outside of Cheers.

Aida Zilelian
The Legacy of Lost Things
August 13 at 6 p.m.
New England Mobile Book Fair, Newton Highlands MA
Free

Zilelian’s highly-anticipated novel tells the multigenerational tale of the Yessayians, an Armenian family who emigrated to Queens in the ’70s. Their story is told in Rashomon-like alternating chapters, detailing with how each parent deals with the sudden, inexplicable departure of their daughter, who has run away from home.

Marge Piercy
Made in Detroit
August 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet, MA
Free

The acclaimed poet and writer gives her annual solo reading at Wellfleet Library. She will read from her latest collection, which examines her childhood in Detroit and her current home in Cape Cod, paying special attention to her Jewish heritage and the lives of America’s ignored underclass, shamefully regarded as “no longer real people like corporations.”

Got Poetry? Open Mic Series featuring Mary Ellen D’Angelo-Lombari
August 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Zumi’s Espresso, Ipswich MA
Free

Summer’s almost gone, so the time is right for getting up and reading out some spoken verse, or cheer on the ones who do. The Got Poetry? open mic series features poet D’Angelo-Lombari, who will start the evening off by reading from her collection A Year of Mondays.

The Harvard Book Store Tax Holiday Sale
August 15 & 16
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge MA

This weekend the Harvard Book Store is suspending the state sales tax as well as offering a 15% discount on your book order, both on-line and in-store, so now would be a good time to take advantage before the dog days of summer fade and the back-to-school rush is upon us.

Nonfiction Workshop: Taking Your Book Step by Step from Idea to Publication with Richard Zacks and Kristine Dahl
August 16-20
Nope Center for the Arts, Edgartown MA
$1595/ $595 without accommodation at Nope

A professional writer (Zacks) and an agent (Dahl) team up for a week-long seminar the focuses on the process of writing and publication of adult books and memoirs. Participants are encouraged to submit book ideas, proposals, and samples up to 20 pages. Class is limited to 20 participants and include daily workshops, collaborative writing projects, lectures, and one-on-one critiques. The setting is the Nope center, a former boutique hotel in beautiful Edgartown, in Martha’s Vineyard.

— Matt Hanson