Thursday Happenings

Music
-- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks--now including Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater-Kinney, on drums--is back on tour. He's a dad, and he'd like for you to get the hell off his yard, but if that new record is any indication, he still rocks and is working through a powerful Neil Young phase right now. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., 9:00 pm. Sold out; tickets on Craigslist. (CR)

Comics

-- Mike Mignola, creator of the comic Hellboy, talks about graphic art and the process of adapting comics for the movies. Institute for Contemporary Art, South Boston, 6:30pm. $12.

-- The name of Blanchards' semi-annual Grand Wine Tasting is quite nearly an understatement. More than a hundred wines will be available for tasting -- free -- and featured bottles will be on sale at 20% off. The generous spread of free food will make the tasting task less daunting. Blanchards, 741 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 5:30pm-8:30pm. Free.

Fashion

-- Fashion House is back. Tonight's fashion show, Fashion After Dark, will feature the latest collection by Nicole Romano. District Restaurant, 180 Lincoln St., 9:00pm. More information. (JC)

Books

-- David Hajdu, music critic for the New Republic, explores the comic book scare of the 1950s in his latest, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. When well-meaning social scientist and priggish moralizers joined forces, was it a textbook case of Cold War paranoia? Find out when Hajdu reads tonight. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, 6:00pm. $5. (Presented by Harvard Book Store.)

Fine Art, Design

-- AD 20/21: Art and Design of the 20th and 21st Centuries will bring you Art Deco and Art Nouveau all weekend long. 40 exhibitors offer 108 years of fine art, furniture, and jewery, representing all the modern design movements. The gala preview is tonight. Cyclorama, 539 Tremont, 5:30pm-9:30pm. $100/$250. More details. (CR)

Jocelyn Celeste and Caroline Roberts contributed to this post.
Image of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks from the Paradise website.

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