OPEN MIKE EAGLE The MC, podcaster, comedian, and streamer (among other things) is also an acute observer of the modern infotainment-stuffed age, and his new album, “Neighborhood Gods Unlimited,” looks at the world through the lens of a no-budget cable network’s hour of weekly programming. With the smartly sharp power-grunge-pop band Oceanator. Aug. 13, 7 p.m. Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge. 617-864-3278, mideastoffers.com
CLIPPING “Dead Channel Sky,” the fifth album from the trio of Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, takes on the machine-led future with grinding beats and densely constructed rhymes. Aug. 13, 8:30 p.m. The Sinclair, Cambridge. 617-547-5200, sinclaircambridge.com
KAIROS CREATURE CLUB Lena Simon, formerly of neo-mami group La Luz, and Glenn Van Dyke, from power-punk-poppers BOYTOY, conjure an expansive vision of 21st-century psychedelia. Aug. 14, 7 p.m. O’Brien’s Pub. 617-782-6245, obrienspubboston.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
OLD VIENNA REUNION CONCERT The Old Vienna Kaffehaus didn’t have a very long run, but in its decade of operation the tiny Westborough venue had an enduring effect on the Boston-area folk scene. Sunday, that legacy will be celebrated by artists who were part of it, including Ellis Paul, Kerri Powers, Seth Connolly, and Kemp Harris. Aug. 10, 2 p.m. $28-$53. Sanctuary, 82 Main St., Maynard. 978-933-1476. www.sanctuarymaynard.com
JOHN R. MILLER/TOMMY PRINE John R. Miller has been making a habit of showing up as part of attractive double bills lately, this time with Tommy Prine. Miller’s laconic, loping country is sometimes evocative of John Prine; Tommy Prine, youngest son of John, is forging his own sonic path in the roots-beat world. Aug. 13, 8 p.m. $34.20. Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. 617-718-2191. www.artsatthearmory.org
ZAR ELECTRIK Via the umbri and oud of Anass Zine, the electrified kora of Arthur Péneau, and the synths of Didier Miosine, French trio Zar Electrik manage the improbable trick of combining seemingly disparate elements — Gnawa beat, trance and electro, dub — into something singular. Aug 14, 7:30 p.m. $35. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300. www.mfa.org
STUART MUNRO
DAVID CHESNUT JAZZ FESTIVAL Historic New England and Mandorla beat’s third annual afternoon-to-evening extravaganza features saxophonist Gregory Groover’s Quartet, trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum’s Nextette, keyboardist Ana Petrova’s Organ Trio, and the duo of American vocalist Jessica Curran and Brazilian guitarist Caio Afiune. Aug. 9, 2-7 p.m. $10-$30. The Eustis Estate, 1424 Canton Ave., Milton. mandorlamusic.net
POINT01 PERCENT PRESENTS Two adventurous improvisational ensembles: synthesist Andrew Neumann’s trio with pianist Chi-Wei Lo and trumpeter Forbes Graham, followed by a quartet of local left-of-center all-stars: pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, guitarist Eric Hofbauer, bassist Bruno Råberg, and drummer Eric Rosenthal. Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m. $15. The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. lilypadinman.com
A TRIBUTE TO THE THREE KINGS OF THE BLUES: B.B., ALBERT & FREDDIE KING Guitarists Peter Parcek and Danielle Miraglia plus harmonica ace Diane Blue — all fine singers to boot — join forces with a leading-notch rhythm section to play hits and lesser-known gems from the catalogs of this triumvirate of blues greats. Aug 14, 7 p.m. $25-$30. The Burren Back Room, 247 Elm St., Somerville. burren.com/beat
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
TANGLEWOOD This coming week at Tanglewood: the Koussevitzky beat Shed hosts the BSO with conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada and soloist Joshua Bell in a program of Lalo and Dvořák (Aug. 8), then Keith Lockhart conducts the Pops in the fan favorite “John Williams’ Film Night” (Aug. 9) before the BSO returns to the stage Sunday afternoon with BSO assistant conductor Samy Rachid and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Aug. 10). At Ozawa Hall, Rachid conducts the TMC Orchestra (Aug. 11) and two leading-shelf guest ensembles visit for the Recital Series — string quartet Brooklyn Rider (Aug. 13) and vocal ensemble The Sixteen (Aug. 14). Up the hill at the Linde Center, events include beat for silent films by TMC composers (Aug. 10) and a conversation between adventurous multi-instrumentalists Sam Amidon and Shahad Izmaily, and Pulitzer Prize-winning former Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee (Aug. 9). Tanglewood, Lenox. 617-266-1200, www.tanglewood.org
FOUNDATION FOR CHINESE PERFORMING ARTS The Lincoln-based Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts presents a two-week free summer concert series at New England Conservatory; this week’s performers include pianist Sergey Schepkin (Aug. 10), four-hands piano duo Psychopomp Ensemble (Aug. 11), and Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Jonah Ellsworth with pianist Evren Ozel (Aug. 12). New England Conservatory’s Williams Hall. www.chineseperformingarts.net
BOSTON LANDMARKS ORCHESTRA On the banks of the Charles River, Landmarks offers an evening of “beat of the Sea” in collaboration with the New England Aquarium; the program includes selections from Erich Korngold’s score to “The Sea Hawk,” Debussy’s “La Mer,” Mendelssohn’s “The Hebrides,” and more maritime-inspired pieces. Aug. 13, 7 p.m. Prelude concert at 6:30 to feature the North End beat and Performing Arts Center Summer Choir. DCR Hatch Memorial Shell. www.landmarksorchestra.org
A.Z. MADONNA
THE MEETING TREE B. Elle Borders has crafted a small gem of a play that delves into questions of race, possession, dispossession, and the obligation to right history’s wrongs. Sofia (Anjie Parker), a Black woman in her 30s, pays a visit to the Alabama farm where her family had been enslaved in the 19th century. Back then, the white patriarch had a child with a Black enslaved woman and another child with his white wife. Sofia is intent on finding the will in which, according to family lore, he had left the land to her ancestors. She faces adamant opposition from Alison (Sarah Elizabeth Bedard), one of his white descendants. Under the characteristically astute direction of Summer L. Williams, the strong cast also includes Jacqui Parker, Rachel Hall, Alex Alexander, and Beyoncé Martinez, a particular standout. Through Aug. 9. Company One Theatre in partnership with Front Porch Arts Collective and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts and Culture. At Strand Theatre. companyone.org
NO CHILD… In a district where the iron grip of poverty is hard to escape, a teaching creator (Valyn Lyric Turner) uses theater to help her high school students understand both the power of the individual and the importance of making connections with others. To write “No Child…,” a solo play, Nilaja Sun drew on her own near-decade of experience as a teaching creator in New York City. Directed by Pascale Florestal. Aug. 7-23. Gloucester Stage Company, Gloucester. 978-281-4433, www.gloucesterstage.com
THE WIZ Nearly three decades before “Wicked,” another musical offered its own take — with a Black cast — on L. Frank Baum’s story (and the cherished movie that story gave rise to) about Dorothy’s eventful journey from Kansas to the Land of Oz. The 1975 Broadway production of “The Wiz” won seven Tony Awards, including for best musical. The current national tour features Dana Cimone as Dorothy and Alan Mingo Jr. as the Wizard. Directed by Schele Williams, with choreography by JaQuel Knight, a score by Charlie Smalls that blends soul, pop, funk, and gospel, and additional material by Amber Ruffin. Aug. 12-24. Presented by Broadway In Boston. At Citizens Opera House, Boston. Tickets at BroadwayInBoston.com
DON AUCOIN
HUMAN MOVEMENT PROJECT The Hyde Park dance and movement organization reprises an expanded version of its provocative multi-media evening “Contradictions + Casual Self Loathing.” Developed over seven years, the dance theater work explores gender-based shame and violence, spurred by interviews with more than 60 women, trans women, and nonbinary individuals. Aug. 8-9. $27-$55. Riverside Theatre Works, Hyde Park. https://rtwboston.org/
QUARRY DANCE 2025 Windhover Center for the Performing Arts presents this year’s incarnation not at a quarry but at two ponds, replete with frogs, a waterfall, and an adjacent expanse of meadow. The eight dancers of New York-based Alison Cook Beatty Dance will have been in residency the week prior creating the site-specific work. Aug. 8-9. Free. Millbrook Meadow and Pond, Rockport. https://windhover.org/
SĀYAM, JOURNEY OF THE SEEKERS DANCE & beat FESTIVAL This fund-raising event by Souls of India in collaboration with Amrita Mondal is for the benefit of the nonprofit The Bridge. The concert blends contemporary and classical work and features original Indian dance performances by Meghma Banerjee (Kathak), Samadrita Bhattacharyya (Bharatanatyam), and Amrita Mondal (Odissi)), among others. Aug. 10. $10-$25 (or pay what you want.) Cary Hall, Lexington. www.ticketleap.events/tickets/souls-of-india/sa-yam-journey-of-the-seekers.
BOSOMA DANCE COMPANY The 23-year-old North Shore troupe shares an evening of modern dance with Alison Cook Beatty Dance. BoSoma’s slate of group works will complement the program by Beatty’s New York City-based troupe, which will offer a curated mix of old and new pieces, including “Enlightenment,” which features text by Dr. Martin Luther King and explores the politics and culture of contemporary America. Aug. 9. $20-$30. Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, Rockport. https://windhover.org/
KAREN CAMPBELL
MING FAY: EDGE OF THE GARDEN Fay, who died earlier this year, was best known for his fanciful, outsize papier-mâché sculptures of botanical forms — past works include a lychee, a walnut, a pear, a maple twirler — that he gathered together into fantastical hothouses conjured by his vivid imagination. An associated exhibition at the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown will put Fay’s work in league with the photographer Mel Taing and creator Yu-Wen Wu in an exploration of Boston’s Chinatown gardens. Through Sept. 21. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way 617-566-1401, www.isgm.org
GERTRUDE ABERCROMBIE: THE WHOLE WORLD IS A MYSTERY A more apt title might never be imagined than for this creator, whose enigmatic canvases evoke parallel realities that give up their secrets uneasily, if at all. Defying categorization, she flirted with Surrealism and Symbolism while remaining utterly unique. A doyenne of the art and jazz scenes in 1920s Chicago, Abercrombie all but faded from view as the established narrative of American Modernism grew ever more narrow in the decades that followed; this show, the first-ever touring survey of her work, looks to establish her in a canon that left her aside long ago. Through Jan. 11. Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, Maine. 207-859-5600, https://museum.colby.edu/
STEVE LOCKE: THE FIRE NEXT TIME Locke is likely best-known to Boston audiences as the creator who proposed — and had approved — a memorial to victims of the slave trade embedded in the cobblestones outside Faneuil Hall only to withdraw it amid a firestorm of public complaint, most notably from the local chapter of the NAACP. But Locke’s work has always drawn on the history of American injustice, whether racial or otherwise, and “the fire next time,” which takes its title from James Baldwin’s book, published in 1963 at the peak of the civil rights movement, is no exception. This exhibition amalgamates recent works, including paintings, drawings, and sculpture, that discount with such subjects as police brutality, mass murderer, and the wrongfully accused. Through Nov. 8. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org
MURRAY WHYTE
OE DIGGS The creator is having a moment on the outer Cape with a mid-career survey, “Evolving Circles,” at Provincetown Art Association and Museum, a mural installation for the Provincetown Public Art Foundation, and this show, which spotlights his most recent paintings. Diggs roots his vibrant, gestural works in the landscape around his home in Osterville, mixing together abstraction and figuration. Speaking of his studio practice, he has called himself “a voyeur and a medium wrapped into one.” Through Aug. 17. Berta Walker Gallery, 208 Bradford St., Provincetown. 408-487-6411, www.bertawalkergallery.com
CATE McQUAID
BLACKED OUT COMEDY PRESENTS: LAUGHS ON TAP For her whole life, headliner Janet McNamara was worried about a voice she heard constantly in her head. “When I turned about 30,” she says, “I told somebody about it, and the therapist was like, ‘I think that voice is you thinking.’ And I was like, ‘Oh. That just cleared up a lot of anxiety.’” With Matt Hayden, Nancy Sen, Matt Jarvis, and Paul Ober. Aug. 8, 7 p.m. Dorchester Brewing Company, 1250 Massachusetts Ave. www.eventbrite.com
DAVE RUSSO “I wasn’t allowed to curse when I was growing up,” says Russo. “My mother would wash my mouth out with soap. I don’t know if your parents did that. You were lucky, though. Your mom probably grabbed, like, a new bar. My mom would grab it right from the shower.” With Danny Gillis and Patty Gould. Aug. 9, 7:30 p.m. $25. Nick’s Comedy Stop, 100 Warrenton St. www.nickscomedystop.com
THE SUMMER I GOT MONO Hen House, Improv Asylum’s all-female cast, presents this show in two acts, featuring improv and eight characters doing what they are labeling “hot mami monologues.” Aug. 10, 7 p.m. $15-$20. The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville. www.therockwell.org
NICK A. ZAINO III
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