It’s hard to imagine a more eclectic triptych in a Triangle rock club: NIGHTLIGHT eases into it on Saturday, Nov. 4 with DES ARK, THE PHYSICS OF MEANING and A HOPE FOR A GOLDEN SUMMER, though there’s nothing easy about any of these bands. The current incarnation of Des Ark finds Aimee Argote’s completely captivating voice and her rhythmic banjo playing backed piecemeal by The Physics of Meaning, Daniel Hart’s big band approach to the kind of stuff Neil Young calls “geographical-emotional love songs.” Hope for a Golden Summer is an up-from-Athens dream of thoroughly composed folk. Bring $5 at 10 p.m. Saturday night’s mellow will only serve to highlight the exuberance of JASON FORREST, a Berlin electronicist who brings his live band to Chapel Hill for the first time on Sunday night. For an indication of the energy he brings, just know that Forrest runs a label called Cock Rock Disco and sometimes gigs under the name Donna Summer. And a band called THE ASSDROIDS open. Awesome, no? Bring $8 at 10 p.m. The Nightlight weekender runs through Monday, with French duo VIALKA and ALEC K. REDFEARNa one-man minor pop symphonyjoining DEAD WESTERN and INSPECTOR 22, the new project of Mowing Lawns co-chair Todd Emert. Bring $6 at 10 p.m.Grayson Currin
In radical nonagenarians (11.5)There aren’t a lot of journalism heroes around anymore, people who dedicate their lives to issues so sensitive and so important that no one else will touch them. But one of the most important journalistic heroes of the 20th century is still around and kicking (they’re never still) at age 90STETSON KENNEDY. He wrote a guidebook to the inequities of the Jim Crow South in the 1930s. He investigated the Ku Klux Klan. He collected Florida folklore with Zora Neale Hurston for the WPA. I met Kennedy in the 1990s, when he was trying to find the killers in America’s first (and still largely unrecognized) civil rights bombingthe Christmas night 1951 murders of voting rights organizer Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriette. You can hear Kennedy on Sunday at 2 p.m. at EXPLORIS MUSEUM in Raleigh, where he’s speaking in conjunction with the museum’s show The Enemy Within: Terror in America1776 to Today. It’s the rare chance to meet a true hero.Richard Hart
In singing in the round (11.5)A Triangle engagement with THAD COCKRELLwho discovered rock and country music on the sly as a kid growing up as the Floridian son of a ministeris always worth cherishing, as he packed his Chapel Hill bags nearly two years ago and headed to Nashville. Now, it’s no secret here, there or nearly anywhere he plays that his voice, this supple, endearing beauty capable of expressing hopeful sadness like the eyes of a lost newborn pup, is a treasure rivaled only by his songwriting. Cockrell, who just completed a residency with Triangle pals Roman Candle at Nashville’s The Basement, joins a convocation of three fellow Music City songsmiths at THE POUR HOUSE. MICHELLE MALONE is a raucous free spirit (for more, see this week’s Get Out), DAVID MEAD is a nuanced pop savant who’s been deserving of a big break for his past three albums (2004’s Indiana was perfect), and MATTHEW RYAN is a fine penman undeservedly lost to most in the turn-of-the-century major label bust. The show starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Grayson Currin
In animal magnetism (11.3~11.18)Though it won both the 2002 Tony and Drama Desk best play awards, calling Edward Albee’s THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? controversial still seems something of an understatement. A successful and happily married architect is turning 50, receiving an international award, and slowly dealing with his son’s recently disclosed homosexuality. He’s also being forced to disclose the nature of his relationship with the title character. Critics from earlier productions have been divided: Is it a comedy or a drama? Is Albee being provocativeor just provoking? Regional audiences decide for themselves when the MANBITES DOG THEATER production opens Friday night. Tickets: 682-3343 or manbitesdogtheater.org/boxoffice.Byron Woods
In reaching out (11.5)It’s a time-tested method for getting word out about your cause or charitable organization: Wrap it in music. It works particularly well in these parts, with our abundance of talented andkey concept alertgenerous musicians. On Sunday, Nov. 5, it’s the nonprofit CAROLINA OUTREACH FOUNDATION, an agency that works with children who have behavioral and emotional disabilities (www.carolinaoutreach.com), that will benefit from an afternoon concert at THE ARTSCENTER. And the good souls on stage will be the TWO DOLLAR PISTOLS, BAREFOOT MANNER, DANNY GOTHAM and ARMAND LENCHECK, which means a soundtrack of country, hypergrass, ace fingerpicking and blues to accompany awareness raising. Tickets are $16. Show time is 4 p.m. Rick Cornell
In art chez nous (11.5)There is no shortage of neighborhoods in Durham that are both family friendly and hipster hospitable, but the enclave known as WATTS-HILLANDALE has to be near the top. This Sunday, Nov. 5, their fourth annual NEIGHBORHOOD ART WALK will begin at noon and continue until 6 p.m. In this, a mixture of amateurs and pros, studios and living rooms are thrown open to the general public. There will be more than 60 artists this year, and two to look out for are the husband and wife video and photography team of K and Dana Brown. They’re the official videographers for the Southern Baptist Convention, in which capacity they document the sufferings of people around the world. For information, contact Galia Goodman at 286-4463 or go to www.whhna.org. David Fellerath
