Durham
Big Shots: Andy Warhol Polaroids

Nasher Museum of Art, Duke CampusFrom his color-blocked portraits (of Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy, among others) to his lifelike Brillo boxes, Andy Warhol had an eye for the gleaming surface of Americana. In his later years, he went snap-happy with his Polaroid camera, thus freezing for posterity a constellation of 1970s celebrities. Organized by the Nasher, UNC’s Ackland Art Museum and UNCG’s Weatherspoon Art Museum, the exhibit displays approximately 325 photographs, many of which haven’t been seen by the public until now. Spanning 1969-86, the collection combines both Polaroids and silver gelatin black-and-white prints. Notable celebrities include Grace Jones, Ric Ocasek, Carly Simon and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Fun fact: The collection features the Polaroids of Nasher namesakes Patsy, Andrea, Joan and Nancy Nasher, along with their painted portraits. The exhibition opens tonight with an event running 7-9 p.m. and remains on view through Feb. 21, 2010. Visit www.nasher.duke.edu. Sarah Ewald

Durham
Urban Bush Women

Reynolds Industries Theater, Duke CampusThe acclaimed 25-year-old Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women performs eclectic, energetic works that weave African dance, ballet, multimedia displays and tales of the dispossessed into a raucous, inspiring show. Today’s performance is slated to include the choreographed piece, “Walking With PearlAfrican Diaries,” a dance based on the writings of African-American dancer and innovator Pearl Primus (whose diaries are kept in Duke’s archives) and a piece created by UBW founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire, “Naked City,” which combines movement with history to present an interpretation of Harlem. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $22-$28 or $10 for Meredith students and $5 for Duke students. See dukeperformances.duke.edu. Zollar and company members are also participating in a lunchtime discussion Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1-2:15 p.m. in Duke’s Brody Theatre. The discussion is free and open to the public. Sam Wardle

Durham
The Lower D’s

Sheafer Theater at Bryan Center, Duke CampusMaxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths is transplanted from Russia to Nigeria in director Jay O’Berski’s environmentally friendly production. The tale of scenes from Russian life is being produced with found materials for props and costumes, and a partnership with local nonprofit NC GreenPower is tabulating the play’s carbon-emission rating and identifying local cap-and-trade sponsors. The performance runs Nov. 12-14 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. plus Nov. 19-21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 or $5 for students and senior citizens. Call 684-4444 or visit tickets.duke.edu. Zack Smith

Raleigh
A Mike Huckabee Christmas

Quail Ridge Books and MusicThis is a book signing only, no reading (or guitar playin’) by the Republican presidential aspirant and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. But for that small subset of Indy readers who found John McCain way too reasonable for GOP’erhood, but who also consider Sarah Palin to bewhat’s that word?crazy, here’s your man. The Huckster gets his message from a higher power, and he’s a smoothie on the stumpthose years in Christian broadcasting weren’t wasted. His book A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories That Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit could’ve been subtitled Twelve Stories That Made Me the Humble, Wonderful Guy I Am Today. Or buy his other book, Do the Right Thing, and have a blessed encounter with him at 8 p.m. (He’s in the house for an hour only.) Visit www.quailridgebooks.com. Bob Geary

Chapel Hill
Impossible Arms

NightlightNo jaw-dropping harmonies, no mind-bending guitar excursions, no head-scratching histrionics: There’s absolutely nothing fancy about Chapel Hill trio Impossible Arms, but their debut, this year’s Ripped in No Time, is as fun as any 35 minutes you’ll have with an indie rock record this year. Whether it’s the taffy toughness of “Big Plans,” the elliptical instrumental “I Pray High” or the Melvins-like melee of “Yourself, Alone,” every tune finds a fresh way to endear. Hope for Agoldensummer opens with starry-eyed acoustic affability, followed by Pittsburgh’s Pairdown. Though tonight Pairdown arrives in solo form (pared down, as it were), the duo’s debut, Holykyle, is a twisted, self-assured mix of world folk forms, delivered within frames that feel like pop songs. Pay $6 at 9:30 p.m. See www.nightlightclub.com. Grayson Currin

Raleigh
Mitch Easter

Tir Na NogThis installment of WKNC’s weekly Local Beer Local Band brings jangle icon Mitch Easter to the headlining slot with Chapel Hill’s Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies and Charlotte’s The Catch Fire supporting. But because Easter’s veteran status hasn’t left him softened to adult contemporary mush, or haggard from too many years of singing the same songs (a few of his later recordings might sound more vital than some of Let’s Active’s catalog), this show plays less like a heritage act riding on a reputation and more like a wise teacher showing his pupilsthe buoyant, but sometimes too saccharine Lovelies and the unwaveringly even-keeled The Catch Firewhat it means to balance sweet with bitter and smooth with jagged. Free/ 10 p.m. Bryan Reed