Boston's King of Boogie-Woogie With his long hair and white beard, Preacher Jack may look like a wild-eyed holy man descended from a lonely mountaintop. He's actually a living piece of boogie-woogie/rockabilly history who grew up and resides on the North Shore. Pounding the keys for fifty years, he may not keep a weekly residence at Frank's Steak House anymore, but Preacher Jack comes down to Cambridge & Boston every couple weeks to spread......

RoseLee Goldberg Reflecting Spectacle: Life as Art A panel discussion Institute of Contemporary Art Tuesday, March 4, 6:30 pm $12/$8 More information RoseLee Goldberg wrote the book on performance art. Her text Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present, first published in 1979, has seen three editions and been translated into seven languages. It's a mainstay on art history syllabi and one of the first attempts to see performance as an organic part of artistic......

Short Cartoons You saw the nominees for the Live Action Short Film Academy Award last night; come back to the ICA for the contenders in the animated category. Formats include traditional 2D animation, CGI, and claymation. Check out the John Lennon interview film "I Met the Walrus." Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Avenue, South Boston, 7:00pm. $7/$9. Recover Heal a broken heart with laughter. Ben Karlin has assembled a collection of raucous breakup......

Books --Charles Bock's Beautiful Children isn't as delicate as it sounds. A couple reels after their child vanishes in the Las Vegas desert--only it's so, so much more than that, and it's received a flood of attention. The Globe thought Bock threw too much into his debut, but everyone seems to agree that he's ambitious. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Speaking of free, he's letting you download the book without dropping a single dime.......

Daft Punk's Electroma Gus Van Sant, Isaac Asimov, and a French-loving raver walk into the desert... Not a joke, but the vibe of Daft Punk's art-house film debut that debuted at Cannes in '06. In what could either be called a long-form music video or a 74-minute silent movie, it's a beautifully-filmed story that touches on some classic human themes, but in a really twisted way starring robots. (It better have been filmed beautifully......

Dancing Hipsters Probably most famous for dating producing transatlantic hipster heartthrob MIA, Diplo made his name DJing. He's a dance music polymath who introduced the world to Brazilian Funk Carioca and Baltimore Club while inspiring a legion of white guys in skinny jeans to invest in Serato Scratch Live. He spins in Allston tonight. Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave, Allston. 9:00 pm. $15. Music --Darkbuster's Hometown Throwup continues with Hub City Stompers, The Allstonians,......

Art Somerville's Nave Gallery has brought us thoughtful installations before, but their new "Ghost Town" sounds positively compelling. Artists imagine our earth in a process of transformation, with cities growing and shrinking, populations moving, people interacting with nature, and everything cycling both naturally and unnaturally toward growth, decay, and chaos. Might sound like a bunch of hippie nonsense, but we think it makes for some appealing art. "Ghost Town" runs through March 21 at......

Movies The MFA calls Les Saignantes "the first science fiction film to come out of Africa," which should be reason enough to see it. But did we mention that it has won comparisons to Russ Meyer? And that it's about a group of women determined to rid their distopian future world of all men? Cameroon director Jean-Pierre Bekolo wins Bostonist's seal of approval. Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, 6:00pm (also screening Sunday). $8/$9......

Does anyone else think it's just a matter of time before we see a movie titled Like, Totally? (Or maybe there already kind of is one?) We are, like, totes convinced that commas are the wave of the future in movie titles, and this weekend's big releases tend to agree with us. Definitely, Maybe looks to turn itself from an annoying and meaningless phrase into an annoying and meaningless movie, distinguished from other annoying, meaningless......

Manchildren Founder of K Records and former member of Beat Happening, Calvin Johnson mastered precious naivete decades before it became the default indie mode. His off-kilter baritone is what sold it, and he's bringing his voice and an acoustic guitar to Cambridge tonight. Teenbeat Records founder Mark Robinson also performs as Cotton Candy. Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, 7:00pm, $10. Men With Children Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers is returning to......

Awkward Lectures Cory Arcangel's best known artwork Super Mario Clouds turns the world's first scrolling video game into a digital environment of placid repetition. It percolated on the internet and spilled into the Whitney's Biennial, making Arcangel a digital art superstar. But his true calling may have been as a lecturer. Whether the topic is hacking old electronics or copyright; his willful ignorance of art history or his place in it, Arcangel always entertains.......

Chinese New Year Harvard Square is celebrating the Year of the Rat with a Lion Dance Parade. Perhaps even more meaningful for some Cambridge residents, the Hong Kong (yay scorpion bowl!) is holding an open house in honor of its 54th anniversary. But be aware that they are having a craft party, not a scorpion bowl party. 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, free. Art Instruction You've seen the MFA's British Prints show, and you......

With over 20 million accounts, Second Life has become a pop culture phenomenon. An Internet-based virtual world, the metaverse in which we can be the person we've always wanted to be (without putting in the hard-work of exercise or educational training) have very few competitors. Currently, there is an exhibition going on in Boston called Mixed Realities - an exploration of real and synthetic places made possible by computers and networks. There's an exhibition......

The World as a Stage Institute of Contemporary Art Feb 1 - April 27 The centerpiece of the new exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art is an enormous set of crescent-shaped bleachers that curve around the gallery space like outstretched arms. They are pressed board and synthetic fiber and would resemble gym bleachers if basketball were played in the round and gyms were designed by Gene Roddenberry. Rita McBride's Arena (1997) establishes the dual......

Super Bowl --Looking for a good Super Bowl party? Bring your favorite beer mug to the Milky Way, where the big game will screen, and then you can celebrate with some candlepin bowling. Sponsored by the Mug Project, which wants people to use a mug instead of guzzling their way through disposable cups, and Neighbors for Neighbors. 6:00 pm. --MenuPages also provides listings of restaurants with promising Super Bowl parties, including 75 Chestnut, Big......

Music --Haven't you always wanted to go to an event called HARVAPALOOZA? Well, now you can. Local band The Franklin Kite bring a special combination of musical prowess and astrophysics knowledge to Tommy Doyle's, where they'll play alongside Maya and The Trolleys to commemorate the palooza that is Harvard. Or something like that? Anyway, the show starts at 9 and it's totally free. A dance party will follow, so put your best foot forward. Hopefully......

Art The exhibit Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914–1939 shows the sharp, mechanical-feeling prints that set the artistic tone for the future. Museum of Fine Arts. Read Bostonist's preview of the show. Runs through June 1. Fashion Put away your spindles. Fashionistas can flash forward to the 21st century at Seamless, which showcases "experimental works in computational apparel design." The dry-witted Steven Rosengard of Project Runway 4 will be hosting, and Red Sox......

Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939 Torf Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts January 30—June 1, 2008 In the collection of prints going on display tomorrow at the Museum of Fine Arts, humans are chiefly represented in clumps: anonymous crowds, armies, bocce players, orchestras, audiences, stick-figure Ballets Russes, eight men with oars forming a human motor, blurred passengers whirling around an ominous proto-Seussian merry-go-round—Oh, the places you (plural) will go. The exhibit highlights artists......

Rob Vassegh of Cheap Thrills Boston sent Bostonist an interview he did with the amazing Titler, who will be performing tonight. For more about getting your kicks in Boston on the cheap, go to Cheap Thrills Boston. “Titler’s Oddville”at The Beehive, 541 Tremont Street, Boston (South End)$10 online / $15 door10pm to MidnightWhen you see the cross-dressing Hitler look-alike on Oddville's flyer, you know this is destined to be one of the edgiest performances Boston......

While sitting in traffic on your way to work, the last thing you'd expect to see as you look out your car window is a bigger-than-life basket of pears, grapes the size of your car tires, and... a giant bundle of asparagus? That is, of course, unless you live in Brighton and are on your way into Cambridge by way of Parsons Street: Then, friends, you are looking at history. Commissioned in 2005 by......

DJ Spooky: That Subliminal Kid Institute of Contemporary Art January 24, 25, and 26 Rhythm Science, Experiment, Subliminal Strings Tickets $8-20 depending on performance Is That Subliminal Kid the best nickname a person could have or what? If you want it, though, too bad--it's taken by one Paul D. Miller, also known as DJ Spooky. That Subliminal Kid is sorta like the subtitle to his DJ name. When you're important enough to have a nominal......

Art Although the weather is bone-chilling, the MFA wants to lure you out of the house with free admission until 4:45 this afternoon. Kendrick Oliver and the New Life Jazz Orchestra will also perform in Remis Auditorium between 11:00 am and 3:30 pm. More info from the MFA. Movies One of Woody Allen's best will screen at the Coolidge Corner Theatre as part of the "Science on Screen" series. In Sleeper, Woody Allen is transported......

Movies John Sayles will read from the story behind his latest movie, The Honeydripper. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 6:00 pm. The Sayles reading is followed up by a special screening of Night of the Hunter, which is cosponsored by the New England Institute of Art. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 7:00 pm. Books Bostonist dug Charles Burns before we even knew who he was thanks to his covers for The Believer magazine. Burns will be reading from and......

The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film continues its annual Top 100 List tradition with a list of the one hundred funniest films of all time. All members were asked to contribute 20 ideas, which were then compiled into the final list of mostly modern American films. According to the press release: Many filmmakers from various eras appear more than once on the list, including Tim Burton, Charles Chaplin, Christopher Guest, Albert Brooks, John Waters, Buster......

New Art 2008 MPG Gallery 450 Harrison Avenue, Suite 55 Friday, January 11, 5:30-8:00 pm If you're into art, tomorrow's your night! MPG Contemporary Gallery is hosting the opening reception for the 10th annual New Art 2008 contest, featuring emerging U.S. artists within 10 years of graduation and with no gallery representation. Contest entries were due last November, and Rachel Rosenfeld Lafo has put together a strong, diverse collection of art from the submissions. Contest......

Flickr user Ed Karjala caught our eye with this outstanding shot of the ICA. We love the odd green tones (which are rendered richer through the glass), and the angle gives a unique perspective of the new Institute of Contemporary Art building. One of our favorite details is how the Boston skyline is reflected in the glass, adding another dimension to the photo. We also require that you view this amazing shot of the......

First Night Monday, December 31 Everywhere (see below) All outdoor events are free. All indoor events are accessible with a First Night button ($15) Official First Night site Artists use the cold weather to their advantage with ice sculptures. The sculptures will be on the Common starting at 1:00 pm until midnight. You can look at a frozen version of Florida courtesy of Donald Chapelle, an American eagle that would make Stephen Colbert proud, and......

4. Feel It Calling in the Air Tonight. A Phil Collins fan in the South End was really feeling the music. He could feel it, "calling in the air," so to speak, and he played it loud. Even worse, his neighbors told the BPD that it was "like this every night." He was arrested because he wasn't going to turn down that Phil Collins without a fight. Even though weirder crimes exist in this countdown,......

First Night Monday, December 31 Everywhere in Boston (see below) All indoor outdoor events are free. All outdoor indoor events are accessible with a First Night button ($15) Official First Night site First Night has been preparing to ring in the New Year. Revelers can enjoy all the First Night outdoor events, such as the ice sculptures and the fireworks, for free. But they'll need to pick up a button to attend the indoor events,......

Be There: Chase the Rising Sun Opening Saturday, December 15, 7:00-9:30 pm Exhibition runs from December 15 to January 15 LAB Boston, 13 Brighton Avenue, Allston Free Birdhead Design website Michael Crigler is primarily known as a fashion designer and artist. He makes clothes for his Birdhead line and is having an opening this weekend at LAB, but this opening is also a farewell party. Crigler and his wife, Lauren, are going on a trip......