POETRY
Lynn Freed at the Poetry Night Reading Series
Thursday, May 16, 8 p.m., free
John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 First St.
This week’s installment of the Poetry Night Reading Series features Lynn Freed, a South African author and professor in the Department of English. She received the first Katherine Anne Porter Award for Fiction in 2002, as well as the PEN/O. Henry Prize in 2011 for her short story “Sunshine.” Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. As always, an open mic will follow the main reader. Attendees interested in reading at the open mic are encouraged to come early in order to sign up.
MUSIC
Wolfgang Gartner
Thursday, May 16, 7:30 p.m., $41.25
Freeborn Hall
Electro house phenom Wolfgang Gartner will perform at Freeborn Hall. His music has received wide acclaim and popularity in the electronic music community: “Wolfgang’s Fifth Symphony” was the No. 1 selling song on Beatport.com in 2009, and Gartner received a Grammy nomination for his remix of “Funk Nasty” by Andy Caldwell. DallasK and Jeff Thompson will also make an appearance.
The Afterglow Presents: A Game of Tones (Localtones 2013)
Friday, May 17, 8 p.m., $5 presale, $10 at the door
123 Sciences Lecture Hall
A night of performances from UC Davis’ a cappella groups. Expect to see songs from The Spokes, The Afterglow, The Lounge Lizards, GreekBeats, The Liquid Hotplates and Jhankaar.
Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom XIII
Saturday, May 18, 1 p.m., $10
Plainfield Station, 23944 County Road 98, Woodland
The annual KDVS music festival returns this Saturday, offering 15 performers for just $10. Included performers include VerBs, Rat Columns, Genius, Malditos, Lotion and the UC Davis Gamelan Ensemble. Also featured is SickSpits, the spoken word collective of UC Davis.
Empyrean Ensemble
Sunday, May 19, 7 p.m., $20 regular, $8 student
Mondavi Center
UC Davis’ resident music ensemble performs compositions by Gabriel Bolaños Chamorro, Alex Van Gils, William Cooper and Fang-Wei Luo, among others works. At 6:15 p.m., the guest composers will hold a pre-concert lecture and discussion with the audience.
Tha Dirt Feelin
Wednesday, May 22, 12 p.m., free
The Quad
Come out to the quad to see a performance from Tha Dirt Feelin, a local group that combines rock, old-school soul and hip hop. This is the second in the Entertainment Council’s series of music performances in the Quad; the series will continue with Jordan’s Beard next week followed by Alicia Murphy the week after.
THEATER
Birdstrike Theatre Mini Show
Friday, May 17, 8 p.m., free
Kleiber 3
90 minutes of improv comedy from Davis’ premier long-form improv group.
OTHER
UC Davis Film Festival
Wednesday, May 22 and Thursday, May 23, 8:30 p.m., $7 per night, $10 two day pass
The Varsity Theatre, 616 Second Street
Come view a variety of short films by undergraduate and graduate students. This event is put on by the Department of Theatre and Dance, Cinema and Technocultural Studies, the Department of Design and Art Studio.
‘Pitch Perfect’
Wednesday, May 22, 7:30 p.m., free
Rock Hall
ASUCD Entertainment Council will host a showing of Pitch Perfect, a movie featuring Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick. The film focuses on college a cappella, mixing in popular music and a variety of celebrities.
— John Kesler
