Books
Is it possible to be saved by the Sex Pistols? The answer to that is a resounding yes. Michael Patrick MacDonald will be reading from Easter Rising, an account of his youth in the Boston punk scene, at Brookline Booksmith. Bostonist had the opportunity to hear him read from the book when he spoke at UMass-Boston, and we say with great emphasis that this is a must-see, not just for those who love books but for those who love this city and want to know everything about it, good and bad. 7:00 pm.

--Bostonist was already intrigued by Susan Jacoby's interrogation of America's Culture of Stupid. She'll be explaining what she writes about in The Age of American Unreason for those of us whose attention span is too short to read a book. Harvard Book Store, 7:00 pm, free.

Jimmy Stewart's Cast
The patron saint of voyeurs and neighborhood watch groups alike, Jeff Jefferies (James Stewart) had the most productive convalescence in movies. Watch him solve the murder and get the girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 7:00 pm, free.

Music
After the ruckus raised when word got out that Maxim slammed the latest Black Crowes album, Warpaint, without even listening to it, we had to find out if it was really bad or not. Now, the Black Crowes have always been a classic-rock knockoff band. But sometimes classic rock is what one needs, and what we heard on their website delivered. But we'll be honest and say that we just heard the site snippets. Tut-tut, Maxim. At least you could have done that. Now go back to assembling airbrushed cover photos of disposable starlets. Somerville Theatre, 8:00 pm.

Rick Sawyer contributed to this post. Cover of Easter Rising from Amazon.

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Bostonist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla.