MUSIC
Pop & Rock
THALIA ZEDEK The singer-shredder, a local indie-rock legend, celebrates the release of her eponymous band’s introspective, bristling new album, “Perfect Vision,” with collaborators and friends including guitarist Chris Brokaw and avant-pop cellist Helen Money. Sept. 3, 7 p.m. Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge. 617-864-3278, mideastoffers.com
ISAIAH RASHAD “The House Is Burning,” the recently released third full-length from this Chattanooga, Tenn.-born, Los Angeles-based MC and singer, has a decidedly intimate vibe, a homespun feel that’s heightened by immediate, conversational lyrics. Sept. 8, 6:30 p.m. (doors). House of Blues. 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston
AMY GRANT The Christian pop belter commemorates the 30th anniversary of her ninth album, “Heart in Motion,” which spawned four Top 10 singles in the early ‘90s including the boisterously bright “Baby, Baby” and the heartfelt ballad “That’s What Love Is For.” Sept. 9, 7 p.m. Chevalier Theatre, Medford. 781-391-7469, chevaliertheatre.com
Advertisement
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk & World
RHYTHM AND ROOTS FESTIVAL The title tells you exactly what you get at this annual Labor Day weekend festival, with Zydeco rhythms provided by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Jeffrey Broussard, the Revelers, and others, and roots music from America and beyond, including performances by John Hiatt, Richard Thompson, and Ranky Tanky. Sept. 3, 5 p.m., Sept. 4-5, 1 p.m. $49-$79 (individual days), $189 (three-day pass). Ninigret Park, 4890A Old Post Road, Charlestown, R.I. www.rhythmandroots.com
CAMPFIRE. FESTIVAL Another festival that is a Labor Day tradition, Campfire. will once again celebrate the local and focus on the emerging with some 50 artists, from Anxiety Superstar to Doctora Xingona, performing in person and remotely over the course of the long weekend. Sept. 3-6, 4:30 p.m. $10 (individual days), $25 (full weekend). Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. 617-492-7679, www.passim.org
BROOKS & DUNN Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn celebrated their demise in the usual fashion 11 years ago with a farewell tour, but as is also the usual fashion, it wasn’t “farewell” but “au revoir”; one of mainstream country’s all-time biggest duos is back on the road with their “Reboot 2021” tour. Bonus: Travis Tritt, long out of the mainstream spotlight but still making quality music, is one of the openers. Sept. 9, 7 p.m. $25-$49.75. Xfinity Center, 885 S. Main St., Mansfield. www.livenation.com
Advertisement
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
SONYA RAE TAYLOR The blues bombshell, a soulful singer, stinging guitarist, and savvy songwriter, has gathered accolades for her duo performances with husband and fellow guitarist Ryan Taylor. Sept. 4, 10 p.m. No cover. The Beehive, 541 Tremont St. 617-423-0069, www.beehiveboston.com
MELISSA KASSEL & TOM ZICARELLI GROUP Marvelous vocalist Kassel rarely takes a predictable path through a song, yet never sounds contrived or contradictory. Her equally impressive accompanists, led by pianist Zicarelli, include saxophonist Bill Jones, bassist Bruce Gertz, and drummer Gary Fieldman. Sept. 5, 6:30 p.m. $12. Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. www.lilypadinman.com
JAZZ WORLD TRIO Led by drummer Guillermo Nojechowicz (Argentina), with pianist Witness Matlou (South Africa) and bassist Bruno Råberg (Sweden), this culturally diverse ensemble will engage in a diverting musical dialogue testifying to the global influence of the great African American art form called jazz. Presented by Mandorla Music and the Milton Cultural Council. Sept. 9, 6:30 p.m. Free, reservations required. The Eustis Estate, 1424 Canton Ave., Milton. 617-994-6600, www.mandorlamusic.net
Advertisement
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BOSTON LANDMARKS ORCHESTRA Rescheduled from Sept. 1 due to predicted rain, Boston Landmarks Orchestra closes down the summer with an all-American program, beginning with “Rhapsody in Blue” and ending with a world premiere by Boston-based composer Francine Trester featuring soprano Brianna Robinson and mezzo Carrie Cheron. Bring the kids early for face painting and conducting lessons at the Maestro Zone. Sept. 3, 7 p.m. DCR Hatch Memorial Shell, Charles River Esplanade. www.landmarksorchestra.org
ROCKPORT MUSIC Pianist Jan Lisiecki, who proved a standout soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra pre-pandemic, makes his Rockport debut with music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Chopin. Virtual tickets also available. Sept. 3, 5 and 8 p.m. Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport. rockportmusic.org/shalin-liu-performance-center
A.Z. MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
THE ARBORETUM EXPERIENCE A “self-guided journey” through the Arnold Arboretum that features audio plays, pop-up performances, and guided, interactive movement maps. Created by a team that includes director Summer L. Williams, choreographer Jill Johnson, playwright Kirsten Greenidge, and musician Tim Hall. R&B fusion artist Kaovanny will perform Saturday at 2 p.m. “The Arboretum Experience” will have an open-ended run. American Repertory Theater and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Free and unticketed. Information at 617-547-8300, www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/ArboretumExperience
DINDIN The always inventive playwright-actress Brenda Withers joins Jonathan Fielding, Stacy Fischer, and Robert Kropf in the cast for the premiere of her drama, which is described as “a meditation on predators, prey, and the insatiable appetite of a killer instinct,” revealed at a dinner among an affluent couple and a pair of single friends where tensions escalate. Through Sept. 5. Harbor Stage Company, Wellfleet. Advance tickets required. 508-514-1763, www.harborstage.org
Advertisement
NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN Christina Ham’s play imagines a conversation-with-music between the great singer-songwriter and civil rights activist Nina Simone, portrayed by Felicia Curry, and three Black women (who are played by Darlesia Cearcy, Najah Hetsberger, and Sasha Hutchings). Directed by Gerry McIntyre. Through Sept. 5. Berkshire Theatre Group. Larry Vaber Stage in the Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge. 413-997-4444, www.berkshiretheatregroup.org
DON AUCOIN
Dance
BEHEARD.WORLD The Boston-based nonprofit, which merges the arts with social justice to promote positive change, screens two award-winning short films followed by artist talk-backs. “Together — 6 Feet Apart,” a collaboration between dancers, poets, choreographers, and filmmakers, was created during the pandemic to increase awareness and understanding around issues of racism. “Lenox Street” examines the transformative power of the performing arts among 19 area teens struggling with identity and direction. Sept. 9, 7:15 p.m. Free. Starlight Theater, Cambridge. http://beheard.world/
THE JAZZ CONTINUUM If you missed the live world premiere last week at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, when LaTasha Barnes presented the second installation of her “The Jazz Continuum” series, you still have time to watch it online. It’s a lively, joyous hour of dance and live music that spools through a variety of jazz-based dance styles. The energy is electric, even on screen, so clear the furniture and dance along. Through Sept. 9, Free. www.jacobspillow.org
Advertisement
KAREN CAMPBELL
Visual Arts
WENDY RED STAR: APSÁALOOKE: CHILDREN OF THE LARGE-BEAKED BIRD Installed in Mass MoCA’s educational galleries, Red Star’s exhibition has much to teach. Its lessons are both specifically about the 1880 Crow tribe delegation that traveled from their reservation in Montana to negotiate with the federal government, concerned with settler encroachment violating treaty agreements, and, more broadly, the bad faith that underpinned those negotiations and countless others like it for decades. Government promises disappeared in a whisper, along with millions of acres; tribal delegations were toured to sprawling military installations as a tacit “or else.” The delegations were also made to sit for portraits — for posterity, government officials thought, a record of a people soon to be no more. It didn’t work out that way, and Native American tribes like the Crow have endured adversity to thrive in the 20th century. Red Star’s work reclaims those portraits, infusing them with dignity and history through dense hand annotations, making vibrant and whole a series of pictures intended at the source to be partial and fading. Through May 2022. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams. 413-664-4481, www.massmoca.org
CARLOS GARAICOA: PARTITURA In a year of shows cut short, it might have been a record: Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa’s immersive film and music installation at Peabody Essex Museum ran for only four days before COVID shutdowns closed it for good. But “Partitura,” a symphony of the street that virtually combines gifted buskers from Madrid and Bilbao, made its comeback in August, with the artist himself the inaugural recipient of the museum’s $25,000 PEM Prize for work that connects creativity and civic engagement. Through Feb. 6. Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org
FIRELEI BÁEZ: TO BREATHE FULL AND FREE: A DECLARATION, A RE-VISIONING, A CORRECTION (19º36′16.9″N 72º13′07.0″W, 42º21′48.762″N 71º1′59.628″W) Last chance to see the ICA’s 2021 Watershed installation before it closes on Labor Day for another year. Baez’s work, based on the ruined Sans-Souci presidential palace in Haiti, evokes a dreamlike environment and the enduring aspirations of diaspora to surface and begin anew. As the ungainly title suggests, Baez’s intention is to link two faraway places — East Boston and Haiti — by common histories of displacement, disaster, and the shared byways of the sea. Through Sept. 6. ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
MURRAY WHYTE
MARIO GIACOMELLI: PAESAGGIO & PRETINI This self-taught Italian photographer (1925-2000) spent his life in Senigallia, a town on the Adriatic Coast. His gritty, high-contrast black-and-white photos capture his two passions: the land and the people there. Images of furrowed farmlands shot from on high eschew horizon lines, throwing off our sense of perspective and abstracting the land. In other photos, seminarians caper in their cassocks. Through Oct. 10. Open by appointment only. Robert Klein Gallery, 38 Newbury St. 617-267-7997, www.robertkleingallery.com
CATE McQUAID
EVENTS
Comedy
DOUG STANHOPE Since he is not a fan of Zoom shows, a lot of Stanhope fans got their fix with his 2020 releases, including his special “The Dying of a Last Breed” and his audiobook “No Encore for the Donkey,” a title that can’t really be explained in polite company. He’s back at the Wilbur with Newton native Erica Rhodes as a newly announced opener. Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m. $50. The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St. 617-248-9700, www.thewilbur.com
THE COMEDY STUDIO Strong lineups for the Studio’s summer residency at Vera’s this weekend. Friday night, it has Brieana Woodward, Mike Dorval, AJ Hapenny, Al Christakis, and Kendra Dawsey. Saturday, it’s Jon Rineman, Angela Sawyer, Alex Feldman, Dan Crohn, and Erica Rhodes. Sept. 3-4, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. $20. Vera’s, 70 Union Square, Somerville. www.thecomedystudio.com
IRENE TU Tu, who headlines Hideout Comedy Sunday, dreads having to have the breakup talk. In one bit, she says she put it off for too long, and then found out her girlfriend was sick. Then she was stuck. “You can’t be like, ‘Hey, I’m not breaking up with you ‘cause you’re sick, I’m breaking up with you because you’re a bad person.’” Sept. 5, 8 p.m. $20. The White Bull Tavern, 1 Union St. 617-681-4600, www.thewhitebulltavern.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
FREE KITE FRIDAY AT SPECTACLE ISLAND Take a ferry ride to Spectacle Island to celebrate Labor Day weekend and fly kites high for the end of the summer. Kites will be given out as supplies last. Guests must pay ferry admission, but the kites are free. Sept. 3, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Free. Spectacle Island. bostonharborislands.org
LIBERTY POLE DAY Take a trip back in time and learn about the life of a soldier in the American Revolution with this military reenactment. Colonel Bailey’s 2nd Massachusetts Regiment and Yarmouth Minutemen reenactors will be performing military drills, and there will be living history demonstrations as well as craft programs and other children’s activities. Alden House will be available for tours during this time. Sept. 4, noon-4 p.m. Free. Alden House Historic Site, 105 Alden St., Duxbury. www.alden.org
SUNFLOWER FARM FEST Guests can traipse through SummitWynd’s 600-foot-long Sunflower Stroll, enjoy the Lavender Fields instead, or take their children to Farmer Chip and Granny’s stable for Spring Horses, Pony Hops, and even Unicorn Hops. U Pick Sunflowers are available but are not included in the admission ticket and require cash. Tickets are limited and must be pre-purchased. Through Sept. 6, various times. $17, children 2 and under are free. The Farm at SummitWynds, 69 Summit St, Holden. summitwynds.ticketspice.com
RIANA BUCHMAN
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/TO3UYU24DZCUFHIMMMFVHQUQO4.png)