MUSIC
Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett / Nov. 10, 8 PM
This Kurt and Courtney helm a post-jaded kingdom of alternative rock’s heirs with the strength of her writing and the ease of his delivery on a new collaborative record. They tour with a backing band that features members of Warpaint and Sleater-Kinney. McFarlin Auditorium.
Descendents / Nov. 14, 8 PM
The evolution of the Milo caricature in the art on five Descendents records helps timeline the California punk band’s career. In Hypercaffium Spazzinate last year he was an Erlenmeyer flask, a vessel for mixing a still-fizzy combination. Gas Monkey Live.
Tori Amos / Nov. 6, 7:30 PM
Mezzo-soprano Tori Amos found the sharp edge of piety with her career. She confessed her fondness for mythology in an autobiography written with Ann Powers, making sense of the sound of her voice and how she uses it. Toyota Music Factory.
Jay-Z / Nov. 7, 8 PM
In July Jay-Z quietly became the solo artist with the most LPs ever to hit number one on the Billboard album charts. 4:44 is the full document of his apology to Queen Bey and a record of his maturing presence in hip-hop. American Airlines Center.
The Jesus & Mary Chain / Nov. 5, 7 PM.
It’s possible to forget how fore-fatherly The Jesus and Mary Chain have been because the Scottish post-punk band tours constantly. Damage and Joy begat the smartest collaboration in recent memory: alt-pop femme fatale Sky Ferreira joined JMC in recording a new version of “The Two Of Us.” The Bomb Factory.
Cults / Nov. 11, 8 PM
The wild alliance of Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion survived a breakup and has lasted for another full-length as Cults out in October, a delight for hesitant consumers of indie-pop who tire of undiluted sweetness. Club Dada.
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die / Nov. 1, 7 PM
You’ll find this Connecticut collective in the most earnest corner of indie-rock, holding out with the small number of emo revivalists still playing music — and covering Blink 182. Always Foreign employs tuba, trombone, harp and violin. Three Links.
Noname / Nov. 10, 7 PM
The latest young watchkeeper on Chicago’s South Side: Fatima Warner (Noname). Her intimate first tape got the endorsement of Ms. Lauryn Hill for unflinching verses on loneliness and violence. “Too many babies in suits,” she states plainly on “Casket Pretty.” Trees.
M3cca CD Release / Nov. 2, 9PM
M3cca releases her much-awaited soul/hip-hop debut EP Fruittape at Deep Ellum Art Company. Sudie and DJ Christy Ray support. She told the Dallas Observer that, although “Insecurity Blankets” caught a spark on KXT 91.7, that track is actually pretty old. Here’s something newer in collaboration with Hayward, California’s Roamsy. Deep Ellum Art Company.
Gobsmacked / Nov. 21-22
Pitch Perfect fans need not miss this live journey to the roots of acapella and beatboxing, which have more to do with streetcorners and lack of funds for instruments than quarreling belles. Champion beatboxer Ball-Z directs. Majestic Theatre.
FILM
Dallas VideoFest: AltFiction / Nov. 2-5
The 30th anniversary of Dallas’ longest-running film festival sees a change in format. Artistic director Bart Weiss put narrative films and work for TV in their own mini-fest, and the title suggests VideoFest will stay as it’s been: wonderfully strange, sometimes never-screened selections that challenge the viewer. Full schedule here. Angelika Dallas.
Sheed Persian Film Festival / Nov. 10-12
A memorial for acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, a screening series and an acting workshop make this summit a hearty introduction to renowned works and rising talent in the Persian film scene. Full schedule here. Angelika Dallas.
TALKS
Dan Rather / Nov. 16, 7:30 PM
Dan Rather’s interviewed every president since Eisenhower, and his subject of interest as Informed Consultant to Americans is to define patriotism and explain how its been kept alive in What Unites Us, Rather’s optimistic essay collection. First United Methodist Church.
Annie Leibovitz / Nov. 14, 7:30 PM
There’s a particular kind of dignity in being vulnerable. Annie Leibovitz shows us what that looks like. Her photographs for Rolling Stone helped usher in an era of nuanced, then softer, culture of celebrity which pinnacled with last year’s inclusive and modestly-costumed Pirelli calendar. McFarlin Auditorium.
Deepak Chopra / Nov. 7, 7:30 PM
Deepak Chopra’s co-opted his platform to reach those on the outer circles of New Age thought by writing poems and composing songs inspired by the immigrant experience — an experience also his — called Home: Where Everyone Is Welcome. Winspear Opera House.
All Hail: Welcome To Night Vale / Nov. 29, 7PM
Jeffrey Cranor, co-creator of fiction podcast Night Vale, grew up in Dallas and studied journalism at Texas A&M. The show picks up the tone of deep night slots on low-power FMs in barren lands but doesn’t quite edge into the same experimental territories, providing compromise ripe for a night out with old friends. Majestic Theatre.
Pegasus Reading Series / Nov. 1, 7PM
The Sontag-referencing, form-defying Tatiana Ryckman comes up from Austin to share her work thanks to the Pegasus Reading Series. NPR picked fellow reader Sean Enfield’s “Claudia Who Found The F” as a featured piece in their Three-Minute Fiction Contest; Matthew Pitt from Fort Worth and Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam from Denton also read. Deep Vellum Books.
THEATER
John / opens Nov. 11
Annie Baker won a Pulitzer for The Flick, her evocative and funny peek into the day-to-day lives of movie theatre employees — the ones who sweep popcorn from the aisles and memorize the credits. Now Baker’s intimate gaze rests on a young couple in an insecure phase of their relationship, who find themselves at a haunted inn the weekend after Thanksgiving. Undermain Theatre.
Lear / through Nov. 19
Prism Movement Theatre puts on a rare wordless version of the Shakespeare mainstay. Alec Petsche has more on the significance of this translation. Theatre Too, below Theatre Three.
OUTDOORS
Dallas Bike Ride / Nov. 4
Dallas’ only closed-road bike ride puts cyclists on 20 miles of car-free utopia. Learn everything you need to know here.
DANCE
TITAS: Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company / Nov. 11, 8 PM
This young Havana-based dance company rose quickly to international fame by plucking choreographers and subjects from outside Cuba. Malpaso adapts Hemingway to Afro-Latin Jazz while making Cuban hopefuls into worldwise dancemakers.) Moody Performance Hall.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Director’s Choice / Nov. 3-5
All 20 dancers on tap for this series make a storm of movement in Tower, where fog, thunder and rain threaten structures that be. Then Uncharted Territory ventures into the avant-garde with a duet. The Wyly.
VISUAL ART
FOCUS: Katherine Bradford / Nov. 4 – Jan. 14
Katherine Bradford’s long-incubated desire to paint didn’t manifest in steady work until she moved to Williamsburg from Maine. In her first solo show in Texas, Bradford adjusts post-impressionism with wild hues, referencing pet subjects of painting like swimmers. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
COMEDY
Trevor Noah / Nov. 11, 10 PM
Jon Stewart is a hard act to follow. Trevor Noah’s reputation in the United States is defined by that fact. Like them or not, Noah’s observations will serve later as a record of this time. Toyota Music Factory.
Chris Rock / Nov. 9, 7PM
You can’t use your phone. No, really. Chris Rock will give you a little pouch to hide it in, swearing a ban on mobile devices for his Total Blackout Tour. The 52-year-old comedian walls audiences off from distraction as he continues to mine the 16-year marriage he shattered by cheating. Rock wants shared custody of his two daughters, but there’s that whole addiction to pornography thing, which comes up in court and in his set. Critics are noticing the sadness creeping into Rock’s voice onstage as he travels from city to city. Whether keeping it raw is more catharsis for him or transformative for listeners is yet to be seen. Either way, Netflix is reportedly paying him $20 million per special this year. Just don’t pull out your iPhone to check that fact at the show. Toyota Music Factory.
