WED 3/11: Talks, Opera, Rock, (U2?)

I don't know what you're doing tonight, but chances are good that I will fruitlessly loiter around the Somerville Theatre for a while then maybe wait in back to catch a glimpse of U2. (The WBCN broadcast starts at 9pm.)

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WED 3/11

6pm to 7:30pm
Darius Rejali, "Torture and Democracy: What Now?": Discussion
at Tsai Auditorium, CGIS South Bldg, 1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge (Harvard campus)
FREE

This human-rights discussion is based on a recent book by Prof. Rejali (Political Science, Reed College) where he explores the nature of torture around the world in the past century or so. Supposedly he comes to some conclusions that don't always coincide with some ideas we heard since 2001. I imagine you'll leave with a better understanding yet more confused in other ways.

WED 3/11

7pm
Stacy Horn, "Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Other Phenomena of the Unseen World"
at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline (Coolidge Corner)
FREE

Who knew that Duke University had a parapsychology laboratory? It probably isn't as funny as "Ghostbusters", but this book chronicles the first 50 years (starting around 1930) of scientific exploration of what science usually ignores. I think this might be the first night of the book tour, so be gentle during the reading and "multimedia presentation" (slideshow?)...

WED 3/11

7:30pm
Opera Boston Underground: "The Seven Deadly Sins" & Selected Sinful Arias
at Lizard Lounge/Cambridge Common, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge (between Harvard Sq & Porter Sq)
$10 / 21+

I listed the first half of the "Virtue & Vice" program. The "7 Virtues" seemed like a good show, but you know Sin is always more interesting!

"The Seven Deadly Sins" is a 40-minute satire that was the last collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht who made their biggest splash together with "The Threepenny Opera". Some thematically compatible selections from "Don Giovanni", "Sweeney Todd", and others will be performed as well.

There will be some staging, but the music is the thing, and opera doesn't get more intimate than the Lizard Lounge. It's great music, and you don't have to go to the opera where it's discouraged to bring beers to your seats.

(Doors open at 7pm.)

Dennis Brennan Band performs at 9:30pm for $8 ($6 advance)

WED 3/11

9:30pm
"The Sidehatch Sidehow"
Feat: The Murder Mile, The Thickness, A Hero Next Door, The Workout, The Human Knot, Jason Escape
at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$8 / 18+

The sideshow/circus theme works for a night of full-on Boston punk. The Thickness is main act tonight, but I'm more a fan of The Murder Mile. There will be sideshow performances from The Human Knot and Jason Escape; I've seen them at various times around Faneuil Hall, and they do some amazing stuff.