BOOKS
Marky Ramone MUSIC
Kaki King: The Neck is a Bridge to the Body Immortal Legacy: Tudor Giants COMEDY
Bye Bye Liver: The Philadelphia Drinking Play ‘What Lies Underneath: Otis’ Epiphany’ ‘Misalliance’ ‘Voices of a People’s History of the United States’ MOVIES
‘The Thing’ Sex, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll: A Floyd Mutrux Double Feature ART
Carnevale di Philadephie Timothy Gierschick: The Ins and Outs CONVENTIONS
Philadelphia Auto Show
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Free Library
1901 Vine St.
Free, 215-567-4341
www.freelibrary.org
Marky Ramone, real name Marc Bell, played drums in the Ramones for most of their existence — and it was a tense existence, both personally and creatively. His predecessor, Tommy Ramone, had quit out of nervous exhaustion, but Bell hung in there for 15 years. He’ll appear here to discuss his new memoir, “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone.”
Saturday, 8 p.m.
World Cafe Live
3025 Walnut St.
$22-$25, 215-222-1400
philly.worldcafelive.com
Virtuosic guitarist Kaki King is impressive enough on her own, but for this show she’s teamed up with Glowing Pictures to create a lighting component that’s responsive to the sounds she makes live on her guitar. Images are projected not only on a screen behind her but on her guitar itself, lending it a magic appearance.
Friday, 8 p.m.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
313 Pine St.
$20-$25, [email protected]
www.thethirteenchamberchoir.com
The English Reformation may have whitewashed over an enormous amount of religious art in England, but music survived and thrived. The program for this concert by the Thirteen Chamber Choir is full of good evidence for that assertion, with glorious works by English Renaissance-era composers William Mundy, Thomas Tallis, Walter Lambe, William Byrd, William Cornysh and Robert Fayrfax.
Ongoing, Saturday nights
Urban Saloon
2120 Fairmount Ave.
$15, 21+, 800-650-6449
www.byebyeliver.com
Ah, alcohol — people always forget it’s a drug. And then they wonder why it’s making them so silly. This sketch comedy show takes a satirical aim at the pitfalls of the alcohol culture, complete with drinking games for the audience during intermission. But please do try to be careful with your liver.
THEATER
Through Saturday
The Rotunda
4014 Walnut St.
$5-$8, 215-205-4460
www.therotunda.org
In this horror play, Otis, a man struggling to raise his wife and son out of poverty, finds himself visited by the ghost of his uncle Byron, who offers to help his nephew with a little witchcraft. Byron isn’t just being generous, however — he has his own score to settle, and Otis may come to regret his dealings with the undead…
Through Feb. 22
Studio 5, Walnut Street Theater
825 Walnut St.
$15-$22, 800-838-3006
misalliance.bpt.me
The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium performs this 1909-1910 comedy by George Bernard Shaw, in which the great Irish playwright presents his ironic take on love and marriage. In Shaw’s view of things, contrary to traditional ideas, it’s the women who, driven by a mysterious “Life Force,” pursue the men. But the men continue to believe they’re in control, leading to, well, misalliance.
Thursday through Saturday
Plays and Players Theater
1714 Delancey Place
$12-$30, 866-811-4111
www.playsandplayers.org
This play brings to life some of the many stories and figures in left-wing historian Howard Zinn’s seminal tome “A People’s History of the United States.” Well-known names like Malcolm X amd Cesar Chavez, as well as lesser-known individuals whose ideas looked far ahead of their times, such as abolitionist David Walker and activist Mary Elizabeth Lease.
Friday and Saturday
Roxy Theater
2023 Sansom St.
$9-$10, 267-239-2941
www.filmadelphia.org
When John Carpenter re-made the B-movie classic “The Thing from Another World” in 1982, he returned to the original’s source material, a novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. in which the titular alien beast was a shapeshifter who could look fully human, heightening the paranoid anxiety within the film’s already claustrophobic setting at a remote Antarctic research base.
Friday, 7 p.m.
International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut St.
$7-$9, 215-387-5125
www.ihousephilly.org
Floyd Mutrux has operated on the fringes as a filmmaker for his whole career, but it seems an appropriate place given his cinematic interests. International House will screen his 1971 debut “Dusty and Sweets McGee” and 1975’s “Aloha Bobby and Rose.” Both films focus on couples who find themselves on the wrong side of life, as heroin addicts or fugitives.
Saturday through March 1
E-Moderne Gallerie
116 Arch St.
Free, 267-928-2123
www.e-modernegallerie.com
This group show features a variety of gilded paintings, both abstract and representational (some even classical), selected, according to the gallery, for their “fantasy, beauty and romance.” They’re designed to call to mind the revelry and magical air of European carnival celebration — something to kindle the heart and mind, perhaps, as we trudge through the second half of winter.
Through February 22
Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art
173 W. Girard Ave.
Free, 267-519-3884
www.rebekahtempleton.com
Timothy Gierschick’s abstract paintings explore the effect of architecture on the human mind. “Our psyches are left with marks from our spaces, and vice versa,” he states in the gallery’s press release. One of his approaches is through color, choosing bold combinations that evoke specific areas, from the day glow of California to the gloom of an east coast winter.
Saturday through Feb. 8
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch St.
$13
www.phillyautoshow.com
If you love cars you won’t want to miss this massive show. The lines can get a little crazy, but that’s because there’s so much to see. Special features include face offs between car brands, opportunities to ride and drive a variety of car models and the DUB Show, featuring all kinds of badass custom jobs.