Arts & Culture

Editor's picks:

Canoe, Adam & Darcie, Drew Danburry

Friday, 7 p.m.

M Street and Colgate

Laura Gibson, Ricky Berger

Saturday, 8 p.m., $5-7

Old Firehouse

Modern metal is known for its extremely opinionated fan base almost as much as it is for its music. Always ready to chastise you about how much your music sucks compared to theirs in a lengthy online forum post, these fans are arguably some of the most stubborn and critical people out of every angsty teen-dominated genre.

True, a weekend-long festival can barely be summarized in one photograph - but Broken Social Scene's 10-person musical entourage is telling of how much was happening in Golden Gate Park.

When it comes to consumer culture, the question of want versus need inevitably arises - is this item something you really need, or do you just want it?

On the road to hosting the sixth annual Davis Jazz Artists Festival, the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts will be looking for the next generation of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsbergs and Jack Kerouacs.

Give these tracks a listen: “Red Moon,” “In the New Year”
For fans of: Yo La Tengo, The Unicorns, The Velvet Underground

Editor's picks

Arcs, Casper Pony, The Heather Show

Friday, 7 p.m.

M Street and Colgate

Jeremy Jay, Fancie, Pets, Green Green

Saturday, 9 p.m., $6

Luigi's Fun Garden

When UC Davis evolution, ecology and behavior Ph.D. Tim Lee first started doing stand-up comedy five years ago, it was painful - audiences are not generally patient with a bad comic and he was no exception, he said. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to let that discourage him forever.

Some may say that the local theater scene has been slow to catch up to those of other Californian cosmopolitan cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But Sacramento-based theatre company Artistic Differences is trying to include the state capital as yet another destination for provocative theatre production in California with its performance of bare, a musical chronicling two teenage boys struggling with their sexuality while in a Catholic boarding school.

It's been seven years since Hawthorne Heights officially formed. Fragile Future, released last Tuesday, is only their third album.

What's taken them so long? Was it their dispute with their record label, world touring, or maybe the death of vocalist/guitarist Casey Calvert in late 2007?

Editor's picks

OK Ikumi, JP Haynie, All on Seven

Saturday, 8 p.m., $5

Old Firehouse

Jake Mann, The Spires, The Dazzling Strangers

Saturday, 10 p.m., $3-5, 21

Sophia's Thai Kitchen

Perhaps appropriate for a movie filled with stoners, Pineapple Express starts off doing one thing, goes to do something else, but forgets what, exactly, that other thing was along the way.

Jason Mraz is coming to campus, and pre-sale tickets are being sold today starting at 10 a.m.

Mraz is currently on tour promoting his latest May release, "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things," and will perform at Freeborn Hall on Nov. 3. Vocalist Lisa Hannigan, known for her work with Damien Rice, will open for Mraz.

Conor Oberst is taking a break from digital urns and Floridian clairaudients.

The black-and-white cover of Oberst's newest self-titled album with the Mystic Valley Band - a supporting cast formed specifically for the album - features the Bright Eyes frontman enjoying a sling-aided nap, presumably somewhere in the Mexican mountain villa of Valle Místico where he recorded the 12-song album due out Tuesday.

Fiddlers and guitarists interested in bluegrass, Celtic and Romanian Gypsy tunes should take out their string instruments. Beginning on Wednesday, the Davis Waldorf School will be hosting their guitar and fiddle workshop. All else that is needed is a tape recorder because the music will be taught solely by ear.