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......

The Hasty Pudding, the filet mignon to the Harvard Lampoon's ground chuck, has announced the recipients of its Hasty Pudding award. This year, Charlize Theron is Woman of the Year, and Christopher Walken will be Man of the Year. The Crimson announced that Theron will be honored with a parade and roast on February 7, while Walken will be honored on February 15. Walken has been spotted here recently while filming The Lonely Maiden. And......

Tim Blane Gregory Douglass Paradise Lounge Tonight, 9 p.m. doors, 18+, $10 MySpace Boston singer-songwriter Tim Blane isn't just the kind of musician who goes out of his way to talk about his music, he's the kind who will take a phone call when he's enjoying a day off in Florida - on his birthday. He won't mention this to a caller until the interview is already underway and laughs when the secret is revealed.......

There's more perks to being a BPD officer besides police details. The Globe did a feature on Michael O'Connor, the police officer who must handle traffic and keep an eye on stars who are filming movies in Boston. The gist of the story is that O'Connor has been busier lately with The Lonely Maiden starring Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy, and Christopher Walken. O'Connor is also keeping an eye on Real Men Cry with Ethan......

Everyone's doing it, so why can't we? MORE COWBELL! The Globe announced that highway officials are considering bringing back dangling cowbells under the warning signs before the Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive overpasses. The cowbells will be hung before the overpasses, so truck drivers will hear the sound of the cowbells and theoretically stop before they hit the overpass itself. Of course, if the truck driver/college student is blasting loud music or talk radio, no......

The Comfort of Strangers screens at the Harvard Film Archive on Tuesday, May 29, at 9:00 pm and on Wednesday, May 30, at 7:00 pm. The festival ends on May 30, but several other Pinter movies are still showing between now and then. Check their calendar. Note: The Harvard Film Archive will be closed for construction in June. We were so preoccupied with the Brattle Grindhouse that we almost missed the Harvard Film Archive's Pinterfest,......

In anticipation of Somerville Open Studios and Harvard Square Mayfair, Bostonist had asked, "Who will win in a battle that pits aesthetes against…more aesthetes?" We observed both over the weekend, braving the narrow, creaking staircases of Somerville and the crowds and MassPIRGers of Cambridge, and we have tallied the results, based upon the most frilovous criteria we could muster. Cambridge: Mayfair Trompe l'oeil chalk drawing of the Incredible Hulk bursting through Church Street pavement: +1......

Bostonist is a reader. If you ask, Bostonist's favorite book would likely be The White Boy Shuffle, the 1996 coming of age book by Paul Beatty. Hilarious(even re-reading it, Bostonist laughs out loud like it's a first-time reading of David Sedaris), satirical, dark and provocative, Shuffle follows the destined-for-greatness life of Gunnar Kaufman from West Los Angeles to the halls of Boston University. Sample, totally-unrepresentative-but-short-enough hilarity: "Here's a haiku you wrote: 'the full May......