FESTIVALS
King Richard’s Faire
Normally, dear reader, we don’t send you as far afield as Carver, Mass., but that’s where we must send you because there’s where New England’s longest-running Renaissance fair takes place. Chicken legs, puffy costumes, campy jester antics, swordfights, jousting, lute music, a perfectly loose sense of historical accuracy—this is where it’s all happening. September 3 through October 23
King Richard’s Faire, 235 Main St., Carver
ART
Salvador Jiménez-Flores: No One Discovered the Americas
While it was once dogma in elementary schools, the notion that Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas is more often invoked today for ridicule than affirmation. But what does it even mean to “discover” a place, and a people? That’s the question mixed media artist Salvador Jiménez-Flores asks through this new body of work, in which the pre-Columbian collides with the present. Through September 24
Gallery 224, 224 Western Ave., Allston
Free, http://bit.ly/2cmjuyN
Alicia Eggert: Partial Visibility
Alicia Eggert’s mixed media works, frequently involving electric lights, sometimes involving Flaming Lips lyrics, almost always involving words, force us to contemplate the big things, especially the passage of time and the inevitably partial nature of human knowledge. Stylish and philosophically provocative, they can be appreciated, like the best art, on many levels. Through September 24
T+H Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave., Boston
Free, http://bit.ly/2bPxlLI
THEATER
Blasted
Off the Grid Theater’s new production of Sarah Kane’s controversial 1995 play “Blasted” is not recommended for folks under 17 years of age. It centers on three characters in a hotel room, grappling, in the words of the synopsis, “with their own cruelties, fears, desires and basest instincts.” As Jean-Paul Sartre famously put it, “Hell is other people!” Maybe so, but it makes for great theater. September 2 through September 18
Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston
$15-$25, http://bit.ly/2c92VVR
Bread and Puppet: Whatforward Circus
In the era of Bernie Sanders, the radical leftist vision of Vermont’s Bread and Puppet Circus, a long-running collective known for their provocative theater and utterly unique form of “cheap art,” doesn’t seem as far from the mainstream as it did when the group formed in the 60’s. You’ll get a sizable dose of their unmistakable vibe at this free outdoor performance. September 4, 3 p.m.
Cambridge Common, Mass. Ave. and Waterhouse St., Cambridge
Free, http://bit.ly/2bMFUUG
MUSIC
Starlab Music and Arts Festival
This annual festival features an excellent lineup of bands both local and from farther afield. Headlining is shred-tastic New Jersey indie act Screaming Females. Other bands including The So So Glos, Bloodshot BILL, Mini Dresses, The Furniture, GYMSHORTS, Ascend/Descend, Save Ends and many more. There’s also food, alcohol and a pop-up vintage shop and video arcade. September 3, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Union Square, 10 Poplar St., Somerville
$12-$15, http://bit.ly/2bMCOCP
Aria Lanelle
This up-and-coming local R&B singer has a powerful voice and an unusual sense of phrasing. She also produces her own tracks, which is fairly rare for a solo singer. She backs herself with a lush, grandiose, even overwhelming wall of sound. She just released a new EP, “My Name Is.” At this show she’ll be backed by UglySexy and BLKWTR. September 6, 8 p.m.
Wonder Bar, 186 Harvard Ave., Allston
$8, 21+, http://ticketf.ly/2c2jdxB
LABOR DAY
Illuminate Boston
Why should fireworks be confined to the Fourth? Why not have ‘em Labor Day weekend? Come down to the harbor and watch the pretty lights and explosions. Just so everyone gets a good view, they’ll be doing two displays, one near the North End and one near the Seaport District. You can also listen to a synced soundtrack with the app Atlas Pyrovision. Neat! September 3, 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Boston Harbor
Free
MOVIES
Dazed and Confused
Nothing much really happens in Richard Linklater’s 1993 comedy “Dazed and Confused”, which follows the lives of a bunch high school kids at the dawn of Summer, 1976. But that’s what makes it so accurate, because teenagers never really do much, even as they complain that there’s nothing to do. But they don’t need anything to do—drama’s built into their nature. September 2 through 5
Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge
$9-$11, http://bit.ly/2coCFIm
Night Train
You call yourself a cinema buff, but can you handle this all-night marathon? The Harvard Film Archive will be an international sextet of films made between 1934 to 2013, all of which take place on trains: “Twentieth Century”, “Night Train to Munich”, “The Narrow Margin”, “Nayak”, “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” and “Snowpiercer”. September 3, 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge
BOOKS
Mary Karr
Author Mary Karr is often credited with sparking the contemporary proliferation of memoirs with her 1995 book “The Liar’s Club”. Now she’s published “The Art of Memoir”, a kind of meta-memoir, guide to writing your own confessional tome and testament to the power of reflection. She also reveals how she dealt with the No.1 memoir hazard: reactions of family and friends. September 6, 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline
Free, http://bit.ly/1SAfPW5
COMEDY
Boston Comedy Arts Festival
The 8th annual Boston Comedy Arts Festival is a true motherlode. Taking place over four days and at two locations, it features 300 comedians doing sketch, stand-up, musical comedy and improv of all sorts, plus a series of comedy workshops to help you hone your own funny bone—and learn to be more clever than to use the phrase “funny bone.” September 7 through 11
ImprovBoston and Cambridge Public Library
Ticket prices vary, http://bit.ly/2aBJnJn
Mary Karr
Author Mary Karr is often credited with sparking the contemporary proliferation of memoirs with her 1995 book “The Liar’s Club”. Now she’s published “The Art of Memoir”, a kind of meta-memoir, guide to writing your own confessional tome and testament to the power of reflection. She also reveals how she dealt with the No.1 memoir hazard: reactions of family and friends.
September 6, 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline
Free, http://bit.ly/1SAfPW5
Catch King Richard’s Faire this weekend, m’lads
Provided
