Night & Day Events

16 Thursday
“Balance” is a popular theme these days, from feng shui to the continually reorganized food pyramid. Now balance’s all-pervasive appeal has hit the University of Kansas Department of Design, where visiting instructor of metalsmithing Mattie Mattssen tells students that, like boats, jewelry must be balanced in order to function. Mattssen takes the boat analogy literally. Today at 5 p.m., her students launch their work on the waters of Potter Lake on the KU campus in Lawrence to see whether their designs sink or float. While this “water critique” may be an unusual format for student evaluation, it should make interesting performance art for observers when Mattssen’s students place lighted candles on their pieces and set them sail to an accompaniment by flutist Maria Anthony, who’ll play until about 7 — assuming the students are as good as their instructor thinks they are. For more information, call the School of Fine Arts at 785-864-4417 or 785-864-3074.

17 Friday
Peggy Seeger has more claims to fame than the average folk singer. Half-brother Pete may be more familiar, but Peggy (an American folk singer who opted to become a British subject) has made a name for herself as well. She sings songs about women’s survival, the earth, families, hormones, and peacemaking. Her most recent album, a compilation of women’s songs, is brazenly called PeriodPieces. And as a demonstration of her autonomy as a woman and as a folk singer, Seeger accompanies herself on an array of instruments, including guitar, five-string banjo, autoharp, English concertina, and piano. Admission to the 8 p.m. concert at All Souls Unitarian Church, 4501 Walnut, costs $14 at the door, $12 in advance. For information, call 816-292-2887.

The Crossroads District quickly changes from a sparsely populated urban neighborhood to a lively hot spot tonight as art openings, some beginning at 6 and others starting fashionably late at 7, energize the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and Southwest Boulevard. Tonight’s openings include color photographs of building interiors by C. Archias and Olen Hsu at Stamper Photographic Gallery; porcelain figures by Akio Takamori along with works by Richard Notkin and Kurt Weiser at Dolphin Gallery (while Shellac Shindig spins scratchy old 78s on the Dolphin Patio); a handmade-scarf show and sale at the Light Box Gallery; Fleshy Pursuits, a group show of figurative sculptures at the Opie; and pastels, gouaches, drawings, and sculptures by Lithuanian artist Stasys Eidrigevicius at Leedy-Voulkos. Due to the number of galleries in the neighborhood, aimless wandering is generally not regretted. Interesting attire recommended.

18 Saturday
Ska fans might have considered Jay Vance’s previous bands (the manic Blue Meanies and frenzied court jesters Skankin’ Pickle) a bit odd, but such groups pale in comparison with his latest project. Now known as JBOT, he portrays a beleaguered inventor who’s been enslaved by the robots he created. These ‘droids force JBOT, who dons chains, a bondage mask with protruding eyeballs, and a multi-instrumental machine that allows him to play bass and keyboard as well as control the ‘bots’ voices and actions, to perform. The music, composed by the classically trained JBOT, is actually quite good, but it’s the performance-art element that makes Captured! By Robots‘ show a must-see event. Season to Risk, which once recorded an album called Men Are Monkeys Robots Win, thus presumably winning favor with JBOT’s overlords, opens this show at The Hurricane, 4048 Broadway. For additional details, call 816-753-0884.

19 Sunday
With all the attention that Björk has been receiving for her recent solo work, her longtime fans may find themselves asking, “Where have all the Sugarcubes gone?” Pop bands come and pop bands go, but nostalgia for the Sugarcubes abounds, so P.T.’s Coffee Shop, at 11030 Quivira in Overland Park, has been hosting an exhibit of photographs by Sumaya Agha, who captured the Sugarcubes on film in San Luis Obispo, California, during one of the group’s final performances. And today is the final display of Agha’s pictures — like true pop stars, they’re here today and gone tomorrow. For information, call 785-271-8188.

20 Monday
Something that “puts you in stitches” can be either a good thing or a bad thing. A joke that puts you in stitches is a good joke, while an accident that puts you in stitches is a bad accident. When it comes to the drawings of illustrator Scot Stolfus, whose works are on display through today at Broadway Café, 4106 Broadway, the stitches are a little more ambiguous. The large, detailed pen-and-ink illustrations that compose his exhibit, Stitch-Nymphs, portray women, many of them partially nude, who appear alluring in every way — except that they have stitches or have experienced some other physical trauma. Stolfus assures viewers that he isn’t trying to make a statement; he just wants to depict striking images — and if he makes the unappealing appealing in the process, all the better. For more information, call 816-531-2432.

21 Tuesday
Every weekday — including today — at 1 and 2 p.m., Science City’s Union Station Stories lets people relive some of the historical events that made Union Station the railway hub that it was. Enhanced with multimedia images, the drama starts with a plan and a need for a central railway stop; the rest, as they say, is history. Science City is located at 30 W. Pershing Road; for information, call 816-460-2020 (show times are subject to change).

22 Wednesday
Occasionally, even the most angelic of metal bands must deal with demonic elements. P.O.D.‘s album The Fundamental Elements of Southtown has three tracks featured in Adam Sandler’s new hell-raising film, Little Nicky, while Project 86 appears on the soundtrack of the ungodly Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows. Both groups hit hard, but because they share a spiritual side, their shows are refreshingly free of misogynist banter and gratuitous profanity. The Beaumont Club, 4050 Pennsylvania, hosts this heavenly hardcore happening. For more information, call 816-561-2668.