• Water & Power is a Sundance-approved documentary directed by Emmy winner Marina Zenovich and executive produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney. The 2017 National Geographic film is about how a “handful of water barons monopolized our state’s most precious resource,” including some shady business in Monterey in the ’90s. Sounds infuriating, but take heart that dedicated citizens are making films like this. Public Water Now screens the film free (donations accepted), 6:30pm Thursday, Nov. 9, at Lighthouse Cinemas in Pacific Grove. Publicwaternow.org.
  • Mike Scutari liked the experience of the Henry Miller Memorial Library moving temporarily to Carmel’s The Barnyard so much that even though the rest of the gang has moved back to Big Sur, he’s keeping that cool experiment going as, simply, The Lab. So far it’s slated to be a for-profit community arts center built around workshops, art classes, parties, talks, you name it. Swing dance class? 7pm Nov. 9. (((Folk Yeah))) shows? Here come Mapache 8pm Nov. 10. Memoir, poetry and music? They got you 2pm Nov. 12. info@thelabarts.com.
  • With a name like Janice Blaze Rocke, a writer can’t crank out a polite comedy of errors set in the English countryside. And Rocke doesn’t. Her Golden Ratio X, a multimedia literary event set to scandalize the Carl Cherry Center, is about a stripper and her life and times, colleagues and lap dances (audience participation may be invited) in San Francisco’s seedy O’Farrell Theatre circa 1986. Performances are 7:30pm Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10-11, $23. 624-7491.
  • Exploring a Sense of Place is a free program of the Natural Resources Committee of the Carmel Valley Association. It is an outing at Garland Park that merges ecology, art and culture, this time led by master storyteller and basketweaver Linda Yamane of the Rumsen-Ohlone. Bring hiking gear and a journal or painting supplies 10am-12:30pm Saturday, Nov. 11 (meet at the Visitor’s Center). But maybe leave the saxophone at home. 624-9467 to RSVP.
  • The Monterey County Composer’s Forum unveils a new round of new music by local songwriters and composers in a program modestly titled Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World (it’s an Orthodox Jewish concept of doing right in the world for the benefit of all, which is a practice I think we all wish more people would embrace). Until then, enjoy this concert at Hidden Valley Music Seminars 3pm Sunday, Nov. 12. $10 suggested donation. 385-0973, dallapiccolo@msn.com.
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