Friday, November 12

Fashionistas should head over to the nearest H&M locations on State Street and Michigan Avenue for today’s debut of new pieces by Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld is best known for haute couture, especially at Chanel and Fendi, where his designs go for a pretty penny—which we, needless to say, don’t have. Not to worry; pieces in this collection will range in price from $19.90 to $149.90.

Poet Susan Stewart reads for Poem Present in conjunction with the Around Zukofsky conference, which celebrates the birth centenary of Louis Zukofsky. Interested parties should go to poetics.uchicago.edu to learn more about the conference. (5:30 p.m., Classics 10)

Celebrate Diwali—an Indian festival signifying the renewal of life, the approach of winter, and the sowing season. Diwali puja at 6, dinner from Devon at 7, and Garba-Raas at 8. (6–11 p.m., free, International House Assembly Hall)

Grammy Award-winning black female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey on the Rock comes to Rockefeller. (8 p.m., $10, the Rock)

Saturday, November 13

Support local artisans at the DIY Trunk Show. (10 a.m.- 4 p.m., Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, 1419 W. Blackhawk, www.diytrunkshow.com)

The symposium Towards a Political Modernism? continues with screenings of two of Yoshida Yoshishige’s films and a conversation with the director. Martial Law is at 2 p.m. and Eros + Massacre screens at 8:30 p.m. A discussion with Yoshishige takes place at 2 p.m. (Cobb Hall 307, see ceas.uchicago.edu/pmconf for other screenings and panels)

If you like the imagery of hammers smashing faces, put on your coffin backpack and a lot of black clothing, and check out Cannibal Corpse. (5:30 p.m., $20, House of Blues)

Famous mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos performs arias from popular operas and other classical works. (6 p.m., $30, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel)

Issa Boulos’ critically acclaimed Middle East Music Ensemble plays traditional music and presents classic poetry from the Arab world. (8 p.m., free, Oriental Institute)

Sunday, November 14

A new exhibition opens at the Renaissance Society. A Perfect Union…More or Less deals with democracy as it is practiced in America, from small town assemblies to national presidential elections. The exhibition continues until December 24. (Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 12 p.m.-5 p.m., closed Mondays, free, 5811 South Ellis Avenue)

The Wind Ensemble’s first concert brings you Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music, a little Holst, and Paul Dukas’ Fanfare to the ballet La Péri. (4 p.m., free, Mandel Hall)

Trek up to the Logan Square Auditorium to hear Devendra Banhart’s folksy warble (8 p.m., $15).

Monday, November 15

Mifune, from Denmark, continues the Nordic Monday tradition of weird family issues. (7 p.m., $4, Max Palevsky Cinema)

Finish off a manic Monday with up-and-coming singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur and a good stiff drink. That’s what Marissa Cooper would do; Arthur’s tunes were a staple on the first season of The O.C. (21+, 9 p.m., $10, Double Door).

Tuesday, November 16

Bill Siegel, the director of Academy Award-nominated The Weather Underground, will be speaking tonight in coordination with a screening of the film at the Chicago Historical Society. William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, former members of the Weathermen—the ’70s radical group on which the film is based—will also be there for a discussion (6:30 p.m., $5).

Christian and Muslim musicians from Syria fuse Middle Eastern music with American pop and jazz stylings. Kulna Sawa play a Concert for Peace. (8 p.m., free, donations welcome, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel)

Wednesday, November 17

Artist Steve Roden gives a lecture at Midway Studios today. (4:30 p.m., Midway Studios Room 119)

Div School professor Amy Hollywood gives the Gender Studies Annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Feminist Fundamentalism. Does religion equal fundamentalism? Does feminism equal secularism? Find out today! (5 p.m., Social Sciences 122)

Tonight concludes the Pixies’ five-night stint at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago—and this is the only show that has yet to sell out. So if you want to slice up eyeballs with Black Francis and Kim Deal, you’d better act fast. Urge Overkill opens. (7:30 p.m., $35)

Jack Tamburri directs Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at good ol’ University Theater. (8 p.m., $7, Francis X. Kinahan Third Floor Theater)

Thursday, November 18

The Masters of Fine Arts students are at it again: Their show, Narrative Purgatory, opens today with a tasty reception today. (4 p.m., Franke Institute for the Humanities)

Witty indie rock savior Ted Leo (and the Pharmacists, of course) is playing at the Metro tonight. (9 p.m., 18+, $12)

Soft-spoken Sufjan Stevens returns to Schuba’s for two shows tonight. Sufjan sure is an ambitious fellow; his critically acclaimed 2003 release Michigan! is the first in a gi-normous project to record an album for every state. If you’re lucky, he might even sing his recently penned “Chicago” for you. (18+ from 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m., 21+ from 10 p.m. on, $12)