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.......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

"Authorial Intent" wraps up book events for the week in the Boston area. Wednesday, October 24 Chris Matthews, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith), $5 Recently, Jon Stewart sank his fangs into Matthews for pimping the concept that "Life's a Campaign," which is, admittedly, a little scary. Bostonist prefers the old saw that life is a bowl of cherries. Watch what Matthews has dubbed the "interview from hell," and you'll already be armed with......

You know those TGIFriday's commercials, where they portray the hard workers of today sitting at a round table and laughing, drinking, and eating inexpensive but tasty comfort foods to celebrate the end of another work week? Not this time. This Friday, it's time for a fast, light meal and one or all of the variety of events going on in this city. It seems there's been a lot more nightlife lately, with parties happening left......

The Darfur/Darfur Exhibit will be at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Friday, September 7, in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater. The exhibit of photographs will run from 10 am to 3 pm and is free with regular admission. Tickets to the lecture and Yo-Yo Ma performance are already sold out, but you will be able to hear it outside the ICA. Sometimes "awareness-raising" only goes so far, especially when it comes to......

The new Institute of Contemporary Art in monochrome from nymphobraniac.......

Music, comedy, poetry, and audience participation filled the room. At first blush, it looked like an episode of Prairie Home Companion, but it was really musician/poetess Patti Smith performing at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Wednesday night. Patti Smith is famous for channeling the fierce, demanding forces of creation. In her interviews and in articles about her, she comes off more like a medium who needs the perfect conditions in order to let the......

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has finally approved the construction of a new Apple store on Boylston Street in Back Bay, which could be done as early as December 2007. Not only will you be able to wait in frustration for hours at the "Genius Bar", but you'll be able to join the scads of Bostonians you try to avoid in said line. Sweet. Admittedly, the building (a giant glass cube) is alluring. Moreso, though,......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Tuesday 3/21 Open Screen Like an open mic, but for filmmakers. Bring your movie and the Coolidge Corner Theatre will show anything that's under ten minutes long and screen it all in order of submission until they run out of time. Coolidge Corner Theatre 7:30......

Thanks to the fabulous minds over at Bostonist favorite, the Institute of Contemporary Art, we all have the opportunity to hear Julian Opie "speak about his artistic process and his work for the 8th Annual ICA/Vita Brevis project, two animated LED sculptures installed on the Northern Avenue Bridge that feature full-length portraits of two walking figures. " Artists talks are always tricky events - sometimes we leave feeling excited at the prospect of the......