MUSIC
Pop & Rock
TEGAN & SARA The last two albums by these twins from Calgary have chased the pop sublime while meticulously recounting those moments that make heartbreaks sting. “Love You to Death,” which came out in June, glitters brightly and aches deeply, its lush arrangements only making its lyrics more lacerating. Oct. 31, 7 p.m. Tickets: $36-$46. House of Blues. 888-693-BLUE, www.houseofblues.com/boston
NEEDTOBREATHE This Carolinian quartet hit it big last year with “Brother,” a midtempo showcase for frontman Bear Rineheart’s robust yawp. “H A R D L O V E,” which came out in July, places Reinhart’s vocal squarely in the middle of propulsive, anthemic rock songs that seem tailor-made for arena-size amplification. Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $18.50-$38. Agganis Arena. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com
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HASSLE FEST For the eighth time, the punk outfit Boston Hassle puts on its multi-day, multi-band showcase of music on the fringes of the city and the world. Highlights include kitchen-sink experimenters Guerilla Toss, giddy earbenders Palberta, electronic-music pioneers Silver Apples, and Speedy Ortiz leader Sadie Dupuis’s synthpop project Sad13. Nov. 4, 5 p.m.; Nov. 5, 2 p.m. Tickets: $22 advance. Brighton Music Hall. 617-779-0140, www.bostonhassle.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk & World
KARL BLAU The prolific, eccentric Northwest indie/folk artist is touring behind a recent country-soul covers collection (archly titled “Introducing Karl Blau“) that’s been in the works for a decade. With stunning takes on songs by Tom T. Hall, Don Gibson, Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, and Tom Rush, it’s an understatement to say it was worth the wait. Nov. 1, 8 p.m. Tickets: $12. Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge. 866-777-8932. www.ticketweb.com
DENNIS BRENNAN Local roots-music icon Dennis Brennan has a capacity for drawing on seemingly every form of American music and producing something that is uniquely his own. He’s celebrating his latest demonstration of that capacity, “Into This World,” with two CD-release shows this week. Nov. 2, 3, 9:15 p.m. Tickets: $12. Lizard Lounge, Cambridge. 800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com
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THE WHITE BUFFALO Call it loud folk or power roots, but either way the music that Jake Smith (a.k.a. the White Buffalo) makes has an extraordinary intensity. “I want to make records that have some dynamics and some epic moments, rather than just being a singer-songwriter guy with an acoustic guitar,” Smith says. Nov. 3, 8 p.m. Tickets: $20. The Sinclair, Cambridge. 800-745-3000. www.ticketmaster.com
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
DIANE BLUE & MYANNA WITH THE KEN CLARK ORGAN TRIO Stirring singer and hot harmonica player Blue joins soul-jazz sax-woman Myanna and the classic Hammond B3 organ stylings of Clark’s trio for an evening of greasy funk, blues, jazz, and R&B. Nov. 4, 8 p.m. Tickets: $18. Chan's Fine Oriental Dining, 267 Main St., Woonsocket R.I. 401-765-1900, www.chanseggrollsandjazz.com
REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE Saxophonist/composer Ken Field’s explosive, Mardi Gras-inspired jazz/funk brass band celebrates the release of its all-original fourth album, “I Want That Sound!” with special guests including acclaimed Cambridge poet and vocalist Charles Coe. Fellow New Orleans enthusiasts Soggy Po’ Boys will open. Nov. 4, 9 p.m. Tickets: $10-$15. ONCE Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. 617-285-0167, www.ONCEsomerville.com
AARDVARK JAZZ ORCHESTRA Boston’s own progressive big band continues its 44th season with an election-year program titled “Jazz, Politics, and Ellingtonian Eloquence,” presenting Duke Ellington as statesman and social philosopher through his words and compositions, including selections from “Afro-Eurasian Eclipse.” They’ll also play pertinent pieces by Aardvark musical director Mark Harvey, including “De-Evolution Blues” and “No Walls.” Nov. 5, 8 p.m. Free. MIT’s Killian Hall, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge. 617-452-3205, www.aardvarkjazz.com
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KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BETH MORRISON PROJECTS The indie opera producer’s first show at the Gardner Museum this season is “Song From the Uproar,” a song cycle by composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek about the early 20th-century writer and explorer Isabelle Eberhardt. Nov. 3, 7 p.m., Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 617-278-5156, www.gardnermuseum.org
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The orchestra’s artistic partner, Thomas Adès, leads his 2013 vocal-orchestral work “Totentanz,” along with music by Britten and Sibelius. Nov. 3-5, Symphony Hall. 888-266-1200, www.bso.org
IMOGEN COOPER Noted for her prowess in Classical and Romantic repertoire, the British pianist makes her overdue Celebrity Series debut with a multifaceted program of Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, De Falla, and Albéniz. Nov. 5, 8 p.m., Jordan Hall. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
DAVID WEININGER
ARTS
Theater
THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS Though it doesn’t rank with Kander and Ebb’s finest work, this musical about an infamous episode of racial injustice exerts considerable emotional power in a New England premiere directed by Paul Daigneault. Actor De’Lon Grant makes a welcome return to a Boston stage after a four-year absence, and Brandon G. Green and Maurice Emmanuel Parent deliver laudable performances, as usual. Through Nov. 26. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com
MALA World premiere of a solo show written and performed by the gifted Boston playwright-actress Melinda Lopez about coping with the hectic demands of her own life while moving her beloved Cuban-American mother into hospice care and facing the inevitability of losing her. Directed by David Dower. Through Nov. 20. ArtsEmerson. At Jackie Liebergott Black Box, Paramount Center, Boston. 617-824-8400, www.artsemerson.org
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Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. This dismal Trumpian moment — with millions of Americans prepared to vote for a man who sees women as “a collection of sex toys,’’ in the words of Samantha Bee — is the perfect time for the New England premiere of Alice Birch’s feminist play. A series of trenchant sketches in which women rebel against the roles they are expected to play, “Revolt.’’ is directed by Summer L. Williams and features a superb, versatile cast. Through Nov. 19. Company One Theatre at Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.companyone.org
DON AUCOIN
Dance
ESTAMPAS PORTEÑAS TANGO COMPANY This Buenos Aires troupe presents the Boston premiere of “Deseos . . . Stories of Longing and Desire Told Through Argentine Tango and Music.” The show draws from a variety of Argentinian cultural traditions and features 12 dancers and live music. Presented by World Music/CRASHarts. Nov. 4, $30-$58. Berklee Performance Center. 617-876-4275, www.worldmusic.org
WEBER DANCE Jody Weber and her dancers revisit two recent pieces in “Tangling Echoes Off Brick & Steel,” an evening that examines our relationship with work. The concert features “Habitat” as well as the site-specific “Of Looms and Lilies,” which investigates the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Nov. 4, $25-$50. Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, Waltham. 781-893-5410, www.charlesrivermuseum.org
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EXIT DANCE THEATRE The nearly 30-year-old Newburyport-based company presents “Planted,” an evening of new collaboratively developed dance by choreographers Julie Pike Edmond, Cheryl Fisher, Stephen Haley, and Erin Staffiere. The program features “Urashima Taro,” which is based on a Japanese folk tale, with original music and libretto by Jay Reise. Nov. 5, $20. Green Street Studios, Cambridge. 978-465-1485, www.exitdancetheatre.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
Galleries
STEVE LOCKE: SCHOOL OF LOVE & FAMILY PICTURES Locke skewers constructions of race. Paintings and 3-D work at Samson and photographs at Gallery Kayafas uncover America’s whitewashed history and examine how society has shaped this black artist’s self-perception. Through Nov. 26. Samson and Gallery Kayafas, 450 Harrison Ave. 617-357-7177, www.samsonprojects.com; 617-482-0411, www.gallerykayafas.com
OBSTACLE COURSE This multimedia group show explores the pitfalls and delights of collaboration among artists. Through Nov. 22. New Art Center, 61 Washington Park, Newtonville. 617-964-3424, www.newartcenter.org
AN ECLECTIC VIEW Independent curator and longtime Boston art maven Meredyth Hyatt Moses, known for a playful, zingy aesthetic that makes room for texture and earthiness, organizes a show featuring, among others, Squeak Carnwath, Todd McKie, and Mary Bero. Through Nov. 27. Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. 617-820-5173, www.abigailogilvy.com
CATE McQUAID
Museums
WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE Paintings and works on paper by one of the most celebrated American painters of the turn of the last century. Through Jan. 16. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300. www.mfa.org
INVENTING IMPRESSIONISM RISD Many rarely seen works on paper have been pulled out of storage for this exhibition of works from the collection by Berthe Morisot, Paul Cezanne, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Edouard Manet, among others. Through June 11. RISD Museum of Art, 20 North Main St., Providence, R.I. 401-454-6400, www.risdmuseum.org
FIRST LIGHT: A DECADE OF COLLECTING AT THE ICA An intelligent, visually stimulating show that presents highlights from the ICA’s 10-year-old permanent collection. Includes recent gifts of work by Kara Walker, Marisol, and Eve Hesse, among others. Through Jan. 4. Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
SEBASTIAN SMEE
EVENTS
Comedy
GOREFEST XIV: THE CAMPAIGN ImprovBoston has been running this blood-spattered musical show for years, and never has the theme been more appropriate. Electoral politics is front and center for this satire, which runs tonight through Nov. 6. Oct. 30-31, Nov. 3-6. $25. ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect St., Cambridge. 617-576-1253, www.improvboston.com
RICK SHAPIRO If you are looking for genuinely strange comedy, Shapiro, who has appeared on “Maron” and “Horace and Pete,” delivers. Peruse his prose in “Unfiltered,” his 2012 book, and you’ll get a sample of his gritty free-associating style. With Nonye Brown-West, Ron Bush, and Matthew Flynn. Hosted by Jade Sylvan. Nov. 3, 7 p.m. $10-$15. Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. www.lilypadinman.com
CHRIS HARDWICK The head of the Nerdist empire takes time out from his myriad other jobs — TV host of “@Midnight” and “Talking Dead,” podcaster, writer — to get back to his first interest, stand-up comedy, on his “Id10t Tour.” Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. $35. Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St., Boston. 617-248-9700, www.thewilbur.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
Day of the Dead Celebration at Besito Mexican Try a new tradition with the folks at Besito as they demonstrate some of the cultural experiences of El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. Nov. 1, 11:30 a.m., $30, 75 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, www.besitomexican.com/default.aspx
Punkin Chunkin Quincy Load up your old jack-o-lanterns and get ready to launch using Boy Scout Troop 6’s trebuchet and giant slingshot device. Pumpkins 10 pounds and under are welcome to take flight! Nov. 5, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Admission $5. Pageant Field, 1 Merrymount Parkway, Quincy. www.troop6quincy.com
Boston Christmas Festival It’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season, and what better way to chase off the ghouls and ghosts of Halloween than a gingerbread house competition? Nov. 4 -6, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission $15, free for kids under 14. Seaport World Trade Center, 617-742-3973 www.bostonchristmasfestival.com
CARLY SITRIN
Mark Your Calendar
Nov. 7 Yellowcard at House of Blues concerts.livenation.com
Nov. 9 Pentatonix at TD Garden www.ticketmaster.com
Nov. 12 Troye Sivan at Agganis Arena www.ticketmaster.com
Nov. 13 Good Charlotte at House of Blues concerts.livenation.com
Nov. 15 Fitz and the Tantrums at House of Blues concerts.livenation.com
Nov. 15 Stevie Nicks at TD Garden www.ticketmaster.com
Nov. 18 Two Door Cinema Club at Agganis Arena www.ticketmaster.com
Nov. 19 Ingrid Michaelson at House of Blues concerts.livenation.com
Nov. 21 Elle King at House of Blues concerts.livenation.com
Nov. 28 Andra Day at Royale Boston www.ticketmaster.com
Sonia Rao