Friday, October 15
Haven’t been to Millennium Park yet? What’s holding you back?! Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, is introducing Dr. and Mr. Haggis-on-Whey, who will discuss their latest work, Your Disgusting Head (7 p.m., free, Jay Pritzker Pavilion)
One really fluffy camel will be making several appearances at Doc Films. This heartwarming tale of Mongolian mother and baby camels brings chuffsters to the big screen in Story of the Weeping Camel. Needless to say, it requires a little patience. (7 p.m., 9 p.m., 11 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Cinema)
Morrissey is at the Aragon Ballroom ($35, 7:30 p.m.)
Blues ‘n’ Ribs, a long-standing University tradition, will take over Ida Noyes tonight. Free beer for the 21+ crowd, free food and music for the rest of you. The music has never quite been what one would call “blues,” but it’s usually pretty festive. (9 p.m.-1 a.m., free, Ida Noyes)
Magnolia Electric Co., with whom you may be more familiar as Songs: Ohia—or on a first-name basis as Jason Molina—is playing his usual folksy rock at Schuba’s (10 p.m., $10)
Punch Theater presents When the Roses Bloom Again, a clown play that starts with two guys unearthing a dead friend who turns out to be still alive. This runs Fridays and Saturdays until November 13 at the Loop Theater. (10 p.m., $10, 8 East Randolph, 312-744-5667)
University Theater begins its autumn season with ‘Night, Mother, written by Marsha Norman and directed by Pam Pescoe. (8 p.m., $7, First Floor Theatre)
Saturday, October 16
The Texas Club presents you with more meat than you have ever seen. Five hundred pounds of beef shipped straight from Texas— plus vegetarian alternatives—will be grilled in Bartlett Quad and offered up to the student body during the Texas Club’s Annual Barbecue. (3-5 p.m., free, Bartlett Quad)
Mestre Moraes, one of the best capoeiristas in the world, is gracing the Gingarte Capoeira club with his presence and wants you to be there, too. No experience necessary. (4 p.m., free, Ida Noyes dance room)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is at Doc. Need I say more? No, I need not. (6:15 p.m., 9 p.m., 11:45 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Cinema)
At 6:30 p.m., take a break from all that homework we know you are doing, and watch the Red Sox and the Yankees duke it out at Fenway for Game 4 of the American League Championship.
Arlo Guthrie is at the Old Town School of Folk Music. His music soothed our pet hamsters when they kept trying to eat each other. Maybe it can calm you too. (7:30 p.m., $36-40)
Sunday, October 17
Join Professor Terry Clark, Dean John Boyer, and Vice President of Community and Government affairs Terry Clark for the South Side Pedal, a bike trip for us coddled youngsters around southern Chicago. Highlights include the DuSable Museum, the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, and Hull House. (1 p.m., free, meet at Bartlett Quad, back by 4 p.m.)
Fat hobbit Sean Astin will be signing his memoir at the 830 N. Michigan Ave. Borders. Did you have a crush on him back when he did The Goonies? Or when you had to watch Rudy in health class? Maybe that was just me. (2 p.m., free)
Get dressed up, or not, and spend an afternoon at the ballet. The Joffrey Ballet Company presents A Nureyev Tribute through October 24. Nureyev revolutionized the role of the male dancer. The performance spotlights three short works: Laurencia Pas d’Action, Apollo, and Petrouchka. (2 p.m., $13-98)
Catch a double feature of contemporary Iranian films you can’t see anywhere else but the Gene Siskel Film Center. Asghar Farhadi’s Beautiful City is followed by Azizollah Hamidnezhad’s Tears in the Cold. The 15th Annual Festival of Films from Iran runs through October 31 (3 p.m., 5 p.m., $4-9)
The Chicago Swing Dance Society will bring in live music (and swing dancing to said live music) as part of the Windy City Lindy Exchange. In light of this excitement, the regular Java Jive on the 15th is cancelled. (8 p.m., free, International House Assembly Hall)
Monday, October 18
If you’ve always wanted to know what philosophical issues would be dredged up if an Icelandic mother were to get it on with her son’s girlfriend, you’re in luck. 101 Reykjavik is at Doc this evening. (7 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Cinema)
Free sneak preview of Alfie at Doc. Director Charles Shyer is known for such masterpieces as the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, where you first met Lindsay Lohan, though sans boobs. Jude Law plays a womanizing Brit living in New York City who is doomed to learn that his frivolity has consequences. Also starring Sienna Miller, Susan Sarandon, and Marisa Tomei. Get in line before 5:30 for passes to the 9:45 show. In case you don’t know how this game is played, get in line very early both times because they give out more passes than there are seats. (9:45 p.m., free, Max Palevsky Cinema)
The Human Rights Program and the International House Global Voices Program present Scars of Memory, a documentary based on testimonies by the survivors of the 1932 massacre in El Salvador. Carlos Henriquez Consalvi and Georgina Hernandez, who created the film along with Jeffrey Gould of Indiana University, will give a lecture after the film. (7 p.m., free, International House Coulter Lounge)
Tuesday, October 19
Go see Alexander Payne’s latest film Sideways, starring Paul Giamatti at the Chicago International Film Festival. And even though it’s about drinking wine and eating gourmet food, please refrain from consuming a block of fine Parmesan from nearby Fox and Obel during the movie. For that is a smelly, smelly choice. (6:45 p.m., $15, AMC River East 21)
The Pacifica String Quartet, the University of Chicago’s Quartet-in-Residence, returns to Mandel Hall for a performance of quartets by Mendelssohn and Schubert and a new piano quintet by Jeffrey Mumford. (7:30 p.m., $5, Mandel Hall)
Wednesday, October 20
Joanna Newsom and the Incredible String Band play an all-ages show at the Logan Square Auditorium (8 p.m., $15)
Thursday, October 21
The 1996 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, believed by some (me) to be Christopher Guest’s best, is at Doc. Parker Posey’s “teacher’s pet” dance should be pretty spectacular on the big screen. (7 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Cinema)
