I just found out that cuffing season doesn’t have anything to do with your jeans — it’s the annual phenomena where people couple up just to have someone to snuggle with through an otherwise miserable winter. Use this week’s events as sort of a preseason: Study the playbook, work on your conditioning, get your reps in, and try to improve your third-date conversion percentage.
| Monday, October 6 – Urban Music Symposium |
“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man,” said Jay-Z, who will not be appearing at Berklee’s 8th Annual Business of Hip-Hop/Urban Music Symposium. But Talib Kweli will be there to “rap” with faculty member Brian “Raydar” Ellis. The Berklee Performance Center event will also feature showcase performances by selected artists and a panel discussion with hip-hop industry executives, hopefully talking about plans to automatically upload a rap album onto a bunch of old white dudes’ iPhones just as retaliation for that whole U2 thing. (6 p.m., $12, all ages)
| Monday, October 6 – The Big SEXY Quiz Thing |
Oberon’s monthly trivia night (and #BestInBoston finalist) The Big Quiz Thing is back with a special SEXY edition: The world’s greatest, most erotically mind-bending multimedia team trivia, from fetishes to witticisms. (This is not the kind of trivia night you go to with your parents because you need someone with knowledge of stuff that happened before 1990.) What’s the biggest, sexiest food to go with the big sexy quiz? Obviously, it’s cheese, so you can also enjoy melty goodness from Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese. (8 p.m., FREE, 18+)
| Tuesday, October 7 – Craft on Draft |
Trident Booksellers & Cafe’s Craft on Draft series presents a panel discussion on Creating Kick-Ass Characters, and wow I can’t believe they’re making another “Kick-Ass” movie, I mean the first one was cool but no one saw the second one. Did Nic Cage get divorced again? Three local authors will read from their works and discuss the process of creating unforgettable characters, trait by trait, and how to avoid making your main character an obviously idealized version of yourself. I’ll probably stop by if I can avoid the paparazzi (who are always confusing me with Ryan Gosling) after I volunteer at the animal shelter and stop by the tailor — I had to get some underwear altered to add some room in the crotch. (7 p.m., FREE, all ages)
| Tuesday, October 7 – “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” |
It’s not always easy to track down the F-grade, sub-cult works of cinema featured in Trash Night Video’s monthly screenings at the Brattle Theatre. Case in point: This month’s installment “Voyage of the Rock Aliens” was kind of a white whale for the curators of trash, until an Ebay VHS reseller (yes, that’s a thing) finally got around to listing it. The film, and we use the term “film” loosely, is described as a “Grease”-style musical as photobombed by new wave aliens, and the main title is a Jermaine Jackson duet. (7:30 p.m., $7, all ages)
| Wednesday, October 8 – Boston University Fall Fringe Festival |
Need to find an upside to all the BU kids assaulting you with their backpacks every time you get on the Green Line? Some of those very same students are producing new or rarely performed significant works in the opera and theatre repertoire, as part of BU’s annual Fall Fringe Festival. The festival kicks off Wednesday with the opening of “The Whitmores” in which an awkward dinner party descends into madness when the hosts attempt to convince the help to murder their guests. (7:30 p.m., $7, all ages)
| Thursday, October 9 – Joe Perry |
Pete Townshend was the troubled genius. Jimmy Page seemed like he might be a sorcerer. Keith Richards did so many drugs that even other rock stars were like dude, whoa. But Joe Perry? Kind of a douche with a really good tan, and maybe that’s why Aerosmith never seemed quite as cool as those British bands. The guitarist talks to Carter Alan about his new book, “Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith” at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Blurb from the book’s Amazon page: “Rocking Joe Perry ‘rocks’ again!” – Jimmy Page. You just got a little less cool, Jimmy Page. (6 p.m., $35 including book, all ages)
| Thursday, October 9 – PreHONK! |
What do you get when you combine marching bands with radical political activists? You’d think the answer would just be “even more annoying marching bands” but somehow it works and you get Somerville’s annual HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands. Most of the action goes down this weekend in Davis and Harvard squares, but if you can’t wait — or for some reason you’re not down with easily T-accessible locations — Thursday night’s PreHONK! festivities get the party started outside in Union Square (7-10 p.m.) and at nearby Aeronaut Brewing Company (9-midnight). (7 p.m., FREE, all ages)
_
This article was provided by our content partner, The Boston Calendar.