Get Brainy With Us! – Through Saturday, 10:30am-2:30pm – Celebrate Brain Awareness Week in the Lab! Enjoy hands-on activities exploring brain sciences, your senses and brain anatomy. Learn what it’s like to work in this exciting field as you get the chance to meet scientists and researchers from Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and UNC Bowles Center. Meet experts from Duke University’s Institute for Brain Sciences on Saturday, March 21. Museum of Life and Science, 433 W. Murray Avenue; Free with admission; 919-220-5429
Film: Acoustic – Thursday, 7pm – The Modern School of Film, a popular series that invites special guests to present and discuss a favorite movie, presents this evening with Frank Black, former Pixies lead singer/songwriter, and a screening of the dystopian 1985 film Brazil. Frank Black has agreed to play a few songs following the film. The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St.; $15; 919-560-3030
Scott Ellsworth – Thursday, 7pm – Scott Ellsworth talks about his new book, The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph. Anyone with an interest in Durham, race, basketball, North Carolina Central University or Duke will want to read this novel. Motorco Music Hall, 723 Rigsbee Ave.; Free; 919-286-2700
Sarah McLachlan – Thursday, 8pm – The three-time Grammy winner shares her new album, Shine On, as well as many classic hits. DPAC, 123 Vivian St.; $43.50+; 919-680-2787
Paris 76 – Thursday–Saturday, 8:15pm – Directed by the Triangle’s Jaybird O’Berski, this unique evening of theater features music, comedy and existential perversity in a Paris cabaret that has seen better decades. Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St.; $5-$20; 919-682-3343
Absolute Green Opening Reception – Friday, 6-9pm – As a self-taught, recycled visual artist, Nghi Vollmer breathes new life into disposable paper materials to present this art show that demonstrates a marriage of creativity and sustainability. The program will run from this through April 11. Cameron Gallery, The Scrap Exchange, 2050 Chapel Hill Rd.; Free; 919-688-6960
Today’s Traditional Clay Opening Reception – Friday, 6-9pm – Seth Guzovsky, Mark Kozma and Joseph Sand show creative new work sourced from historical pottery idioms. This show contains a range of functional work fired in gas-reduction, wood and electric kilns. Claymakers, 705 Foster St.; Free; 919-530-8355
New Exhibit Openings – Friday, 5-7pm – multi verse by Dorothy Anderson Wasserman in the Allenton Gallery; Longing: Drawings by Lara Nguyen in the Semans Gallery, featuring a special performance piece by Lara entitled “Folding Prince Charming;” and Cold Gravy by Chance Murray in the Ella Fountain Pratt Legacy Gallery. Durham Arts Council, 120 Morris St.; Free; 919-560-2719
Underground Closing Reception – Friday, 6-9pm – Ant farms, subways or the subconscious, this exhibit by resident Pleiades artists displays about all the ways we interpret “underground:” hidden, illicit, unseen, subterranean, germinating or quietly growing. Pleiades Gallery, 109 E. Chapel Hill St.; 919-797-2706
Some Semblance + The American Tobacco Factory: A Reformation of a Factory and a City – Friday, 6-9pm – Not quite straight-forward photographs by Stephen Fletcher and a body of historic documentary photographs by Michael Rosenberg showing the American Tobacco Factory during its transformation into the American Tobacco Campus. Both artists will be present for questions at this Third Friday. Through This Lens, 303 E. Chapel Hill St.; Free; 919-687-0250
Center/Gallery: Feminist Legacy, Feminist Future Opening Reception – Friday, 6-9pm – Center/Gallery is a cooperative feminist gallery based in Chapel Hill and Carrboro that was active from 1977-84. This show will bring together the generations that Center/Gallery has influenced, document their legacy and provide a springboard for feminist art projects to come. The Carrack Modern Art, 111 W. Parrish St.; Free
Disney Live! Mickey’s Magic Show – Friday, 7pm, and Saturday, 11am – Mickey, Minnie and a host of Disney friends join together with a renowned illusionist to perform magic from timeless Disney films. DPAC, 123 Vivian St.; $25+; 919-680-2787
George Winston – Friday, 8pm – The pianist, who prefers Steinways and is known, performs in a solo concert. The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St.; $34+; 919-560-3030
Jenny Scheinman + H. Lee Waters – Friday, 8pm –
Duke Performances has commissioned the acclaimed composer, singer and violinist to make an original live score set to 70-year-old archival footage taken by the late Waters, a North Carolina filmmaker who made more than 200 films capturing life in the Piedmont in the ’30s and ’40s. Reynolds Industries Theater, 125 Science Dr.; $15- $34; 919-684-4444
29th Annual Bike Show and Chili Contest – Saturday, 9am-4pm – Featuring a bike show, chili cook-off, live music, vendors, food, games and more. Rommel Harley-Davidson, 300 Muldee St.; Free admission; 919-596-9511
Durham Arts Council Children’s Festival – Saturday, 11am-3pm – Live performances on Center Stage by Faith Baptist Church Children’s Choir, Nina’s Dance, Magic of African Rhythm, Little River Cloggers, Bouncing Bulldogs and Sweet Zephyrs. Plus music by DJ Pitty Pat, Discovery Nook arts and crafts projects, Mad Science experiments, giveaways, prize drawings, fairy hair, face painting and more. Proceeds benefit Durham Arts Council. Northgate Mall, 1058 W. Club Blvd.; 919-286-4400
Connect with the Creek – Saturday, 2-5pm – Kick off Creek Week with more than a dozen hands-on educational and informational booths and activities. The whole family will enjoy a parade featuring the Bulltown Strutters and Northeast Creek Streamwatch costumes and puppets, scavenger hunt, hydrilla maze, and Pie Pushers and Dusty Donuts food trucks. Durham Central Park, 501 Foster St.; Free admission; 919-560-4326
thoroughly known Opening Reception – Saturday, 7-9pm – These new works by Libi Streigel consider diagnosis, disorder and mental health through experiments with language, paper, machine systems and code. The exhibit runs through April 1. SPECTRE Arts, 1004 Morning Glory Ave.; Free admission; 919-213-1441
NCGLFF 20th Anniversary Spring Kickoff – Saturday, 7:30pm – Screening of the film Eat With Me, and a chance to learn more about the many celebrations planned for the 20th Anniversary of the North Carolina Gay + Lesbian Film Festival. The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St.; Free; 919-560-3030
Elias String Quartet – Saturday, 8pm – The European quartet is joined by pianist Benjamin Hochman for a program of Mozart, Britten and Schumann. Baldwin Auditorium, 1336 Campus Dr.; $15-$38; 919-684-4444
Party Illegal –Saturday 9pm – Durham’s favorite monthly dance party returns with a stellar host of musical talent! DJs include composer and producer JIL, GRRL, DJ Illy and Durty Durham guru Treee City. Don’t miss out on Durham’s hottest dance party. The Pinhook, 117 W. Main St.; $5-$8; 919-602-6179
CROP Hunger Walk – Sunday, 2:30pm – This annual 5-mile walk raises money for hungry people throughout the world. Walkers invite friends to sponsor them with contributions of $5, $10, $20 or more. This year’s goal is to recruit more than 2,500 walkers and to raise $180,000. Duke Chapel, 401 Chapel Dr.
Meet the Author: Dr. Wallace “J” Nichols – Sunday, 3pm – In celebration of Durham’s Creek Week, the author discusses his book, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do, which explores the importance of humans’ connection to water and how people are drawn to being in, on or around oceans, rivers and lakes and points to recent findings in neuroscience that indicate that proximity to water can improve mood, performance, health and success. Durham County Library, 300 N. Roxboro St.; Free; 919-560-0100
Masterpieces of Religious Poetry – Sunday, 3pm – The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and the Concert Singers of Cary present a program of Pergolesi, A. Part and Bach. The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St.; $25; 919-560-3030
Get The Led Out – Sunday, 7pm – The American Led Zeppelin tribute band is back by popular demand and will present a two-hour set that spans the career of the legendary British super group. DPAC, 123 Vivian St.; $27.50+; 919-680-2787
Danzón – Sunday, 7:30pm – The Mallarmé Chamber Players present a program that traces the progression of Cuban classical chamber music up to Danzón—an iconic dance form that has been an important root for Cuban music. The program will be divided into two parts. The first will feature the classical chamber music of Cuba and the second will bring current and former members of Charanga Carolina to present Danzón. Motorco Music Hall, 723 Rigsbee Ave.; $5-$25; 919-560-2788
