Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: May 12

Let’s have the nation’s poet laureate start us off:

Before you go further,

let me tell you what a poem brings,

first, you must know the secret, there is no poem

to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without boundaries,

yes, it is that easy, a poem, imagine me telling you this,

instead of going day by day against the razors, well,

the judgments, all the tick-tock bronze, a leather jacket

sizing you up, the fashion mall, for example, from

the outside you think you are being entertained,

when you enter, things change, you get caught by surprise,

your mouth goes sour, you get thirsty, your legs grow cold

standing still in the middle of a storm, a poem, of course,

is always open for business too, except, as you can see,

it isn’t exactly business that pulls your spirit into

the alarming waters, there you can bathe, you can play,

you can even join in on the gossip—the mist, that is,

the mist becomes central to your existence.

Juan Felipe Herrera is speaking at the Latino Cultural Center, Disclosure is getting people dancing at the Bomb Factory, and Bad Company won’t be denied at Gexa Energy Pavilion.

The first Latino U.S. poet laureate headlines a night of conversation (KERA’s Krys Boyd moderates) and performance (Dallas poets including Joaquin Zihuatanejo will read) at the Latino Cultural Center. The event doubles as a fundraiser for the Aberg Center for Literacy.

A far cry from the dubstepping electronica that’s made the biggest impact (and the most technicolor noise) in this country, the British party-starters of Disclosure play house-happy music that nevertheless fills floors on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo headlined Madison Square Garden last October, and the 4,300-person-capacity Bomb Factory will likely pack fans in until it feels like a tight-knit underground dance club.

Take your pick from four other worthwhile concerts: Bad Company and Joe Walsh play Gexa; Freddie Gibbs plays The Loft; Young Thug plays South Side Music Hall; Dick Dale plays the Granada.

The Intergalactic Nemesis is a live-action comic book and radio play running through the weekend at Dallas City Performance Hall.

For more to do tonight, go here.