Today: Some people are writers. Others are writers. Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific, multiple Pulitzer Prize-nominee with a new book out. And she'll hold court at 6:30 at the downtown library.
Tuesday: Inequality sucks, and, unfortunately, this country has a long history of it. Documented Rights, an ongoing exhibition at the National Archives, traces civil rights issues in America from slavery through the 1960s.
1. Last weekend was for the ghouls, but a macabre vibe lingers over some First Friday happenings like the Doll Bones exhibit at Slap &Tickle Gallery and a couple Day of the Dead-themed parties.
2. Comedian Josh Wolf should look familiar to Chelsea Lately fans. He does a weekly spot on the late night talk show, but you can catch him at Stanford's Comedy Club through Saturday.
Monday: Intimate drama space The Living Room presents Beirut, in which a couple confronts quarantine, a highly communicable disease and if their love is worth the possibility of dying together.
Tuesday: Vote. It's Election Day.
Wednesday: Hook up with a Scorpio. Intense, secretive and grudge-bearing, those born under this astrological sign are also known to be great in bed. And they'll be out in droves during the Scorpio Karaoke Birthday Party at Record Bar.
Thursday: Hear Shakespeare the way Shakespeare would have spoken it. KU linguist Paul Meier has figured out what the accent of the Bard's time really would have sounded like and found actors to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream in that tongue at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
For more weeknight entertainment, see pitch.com/calendar.
1. Party like a Crossroads-dwelling, hyper-creative art student. Whoop Dee Doo, the art performance collective that usually puts on shows for kids, takes over Crosstown Station for a 21-and-up party tonight.
2. See what a zombie looks like on the runway. Fashion Monsters IV: A Nightmare on Mass Street turns the undead into models at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence.
3. Take a break from the gore to laugh about real life horrors -- of the political kind. While Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert lead a rally in Washington, D.C., a local version of the Rally to Restore Sanity happens at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mill Creek Park.
Tonight: Experience Jim Henson's dark side. The Muppet master's creepy cult classic The Dark Crystal screens at 6:30 p.m. for free at the Central Library of KCMO.
Tuesday: Strengthen your argument for the legalization of medical marijuana. All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church screens the documentary What If Cannabis Cured Cancer?for free at 7 p.m.
1. Vampires of any kind are bad enough. But something about sexy sorority chicks sporting fangs and the rolled up jeans and materialism of the 1980s is especially frightening. Assuming an undead girl never sucked on you, all your bad hook-ups will pale in comparison to the ice-cold hotties in Sorority House of the Dead, now playing on the Living Room stage at 1818 McGee.
2. See how sustainable you could be. Get ideas about eco-friendly home improvements, earth-loving products and more during the Green Scene Sustainability Show in Brookside at Border Star Montessori from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Tonight: Empathize with a lovable loser. She & Her Productions presents You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Crane Building.
Tuesday: Pick out a pumpkin. Local patches are ripe and ready to sell you a homegrown future jack-o-lantern.
1. Witness the next-best thing to Lady Gaga. OK, maybe that's an overstatement, but Prince Poppycock is pretty perplexing and his costumes are outlandish. He's at the Midland, along with other standouts from America's Got Talent tonight, for a live show emceed by none other than Jerry Springer. Here's hoping the Prince and the opera prodigy get in a fight.
2. Linger with local literati. Published writers will lead workshops, peddle their printed words and talk about the writing life today and Saturday during the MCC-Longview Literary Festival at the Longview campus of Metropolitan Community College.
Today: Experience the creativity of award-winning performers. Many who are plugged into the local art scene recognize an endorsement from the Charlotte Street Foundation as a signifier of that an artist is getting legitimate. Tonight at 7:30, Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Arts Award winners put on a free show at Johnson County Community College's Polsky Theater.
Kansas House ignores Brownback, Senate, goes home early for long weekend
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Oklahoma Joe's ribs named the best in the country by The Daily Meal
Soundgarden's sludgy sound, last night at the Midland (review)
Royals fan sprints on the field, steals rosin bag
Burt Bacharach's musical magic is your Memorial Day YouTube project
Homer's Drive-In: the oldest drive-through in the metro
Story celebrates with a pig roast and other weekend possibilities