Thursday Happenings

Historical Reenactments

-- Boston's Best Band performs the entirety of its first record. If watching Mission of Burma perform Signals, Calls, and Marches does not transform you into a drooling sack of hero worship, we can't help you. Seriously, don't call us. Performing with Cul de Sac. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., 8:00pm. $20.

Music, Other

-- Damon and Naomi, the pride of Cambridge, make rock music gentle, and make a rare hometown appearance tonight. They will be joined by Masaki Batoh, the psychedelic mastermind behind the Japanese band Ghost. It's the unusual rock show that will melt your face without requiring earplugs. TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St., Cambridge, 9:00pm. $10.

Monoliths

-- If the prehistoric ape in Harvard Square or the Strauss-spouting monolith on Brattle Street didn't tip you off, the Brattle has been screening 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) this week. (Bostonist caught the film last night and can vouch: the print looks amazing.) Tonight, Keir Dullea -- astronaut Dave Bowman in the film -- will talk about Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and his own long career in the movies. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, 7:00pm (film screens at 8:30). $12/$10 ($18 includes the talk and the film).

Dancing Queens

-- Since 1972, the truest hearts of the purest folk have beaten with one rhythm: ABBA. Bostonist's favorite Scandinavian export gets a local makeover today as the Boston Gay Men's Chorus performs an extrABBAganza. They'll play all the hits, of course, and will win a permanent place in Bostonist's pantheon if they do "When I Kissed the Teacher." Cutler Majestic Theatre, Emerson College, 219 Tremont St., 8:00pm. (Also performing Friday and Sunday.) $15-$45.

Documentarians

-- The bread-and-butter of Boston's film scene has always been our stock of documentarians. One of the best, Russ McElwee, talks to Nina Davenport, whose new film Operation Filmmaker (2007) has its Boston premier. McElwee's Backyard (1984) also screens. Institute for Contemporary Art, South Boston, 6:30pm. $10.

Free Booze

Taste St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, in and out of cocktails. Brix On Broad, 105 Broad St., South End, 5-7 pm. Free. (CF)

Ongoing

-- The Scooper Bowl continues. Government Center, 11:30am-7:00pm. $7.

C. Fernsebner contributed to this post.