Thursday Happenings

Dirty Pictures

-- Unsuitable Content, opening tonight, is an exhibition of work by young artists that aims at outlandish vulgarity. Featuring art in a variety of media, it promises to be childish, obscene, and invigorating. Don't go if you don't like seeing pictures of private parts. Atlantic Works Gallery, 80 Border St., East Boston, 6:00pm-9:00pm (through July 25th). Free.

Books White People Like

-- Christian Lander writes the satirical website stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, and there are few things white people like better than book deals. Let him tell you about his. He reads from Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions in an old building in a city close to the water tonight. Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 7:00pm. Free.

Neo-Afrobeat

-- Who knew there were coordinates where prog rock and afrobeat would intersect? Michigan ensemble NOMO evokes a world where Fela Kuti and Peter Frampton traded licks. Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave., Cambridge, 9:00pm. $10.

Rock

-- Texan Alejandro Escovedo has been around the block a few times. From his start in the 80s Austin punk rock scene to his current incarnation as something of a Texan Bruce Springsteen, Escovedo has kept it both real and raw. Paradise Rock Club, 972 Comm. Ave., 8:00pm. $20.

Photo by Anna Salmeron, from the promotional announcement for Unsuitable Content.