Bad Meaning Good

FRI 4/16

Peanut Butter Wolf is the man. PB Wolf has more kickass records than you will ever have, and he knows where to find the breakbeats on all of them. Whereas most hip-hop DJs rely on technical skill, impressing crowds with scratches they’ve been practicing alone at home (see the writeup for Saturday, April 17), PB Wolf employs an encyclopedic knowledge of vinyl recordings honed over years of obsessive crate-digging and mix-tape swapping. He might lay down some trick scratches Friday at the Bottleneck, but they’ll be over a breakbeat from a super-rare soul or funk or electro track that he probably found in a random shop in Germany or Japan.

He’s the ultimate DJ, simultaneously rocking the dance floor and impressing wallflower record-collector nerds with his seemingly impossible selection of rare vinyl. He also runs the label Stones Throw Records and is in demand as a producer, so his stop at the Bottleneck (737 New Hampshire Street in Lawrence) is a rare Midwestern appearance. For details, call 785-841-5483. —Michael Vennard

Above and Beyond

4/15-4/17

For her production of Acting Beyond Prejudice, Park University theater professor Marsha Morgan assembled a cast that’s both multicultural and multidisciplined. Several of the performers have never acted before, but the show is less concerned with theater conventions than it is with provoking dialogue about the challenges of an increasingly diverse America. Morgan wrote the script after eight weeks of class discussion about such topics as stereotyping and conflict resolution. Student performers talk of their own experiences being targeted for race, gender or other traits. The performances are at 7:30 p.m. at Highlands Congregation Community of Christ Church (7615 North Platte Purchase Road); admission for anyone not enrolled in the college is $5. For more information, call 816-584-6450. — Steve Walker

Like a Fine Wine

FRI 4/16

We should warn readers that Sandra K. Davies’ solo performance for the Big Bang Buffet is subtitled “A Diagnosis in Progress.” Grappling with topics such as identity, fear, dating, sex, biology, the Carpenters and her own state of mind, Davies, a writer, teacher and actress, has chosen an unflattering but brazenly honest title — Fertile, Fat & Forty — for her solo show. The performance, which Davies plainly describes as a “rant,” starts at 8 p.m. Friday. It’s the final installment of Culture Under Fire events at the Just Off Broadway Theatre, 3051 Central. Tickets cost $10. For details, call 816-561-6445. — Vennard