Thursday 16

Local filmmaker Mark McGuire explores Japanese mountain asceticism in Shugendô Now, at Santropol rooftop garden (McGill campus, 815 Sherbrooke W.), 8 p.m., free. Sip wine and savour gourmet dishes as Slow Food Montreal, Marché Fermier and La Montée de Lait host a 5 à 7, at Restaurant La Montée de Lait (5171 St-Laurent), 5:30 p.m., $20. Estelle Clareton’s S’envoler takes flight at Agora (840 Cherrier), to Sept. 17 and 23-25, 8 p.m. And if you missed out last time, or need another fix, Caribou makes multifarious melodies and breaks wild beats, with The Russian Futurists, at Le National (1220 Ste-Catherine E.).

Friday 17

Mark Kingwell says F**k you and other salutations: The Unstable Politics of Civility, at UQAM (SH-2800, 200 Sherbrooke W.), 1 p.m. Belgian’s Milow covered 50 Cent’s Ayo Technology and went to the top of the Euro charts. It sounds like Ani DiFranco channelled through Dire Straits. Europe is so over history and conquering and modular furniture, it can do whatever it wants. At Métropolis (59 Ste-Catherine W.). Here in America, we honour cosmic cowboys: theatrical concert Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons rides into La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), 8 p.m. And for $5, Intensive Care, Sick Friend and Freelove Fenner take care of us at Casa del Popolo.

Saturday 18

How David Lynch got away with creating the best TV show in the history of TV shows, we’ll never really know – go deep into the mystery, fuelled by pie and coffee, at the Twin Peaks Marathon at Blue Sunshine (3660 St-Laurent, 3rd floor), with Kimmy Robertson (Lucy!), from 12 p.m. to Sunday, Sept. 19, at 2 p.m. New York jazz trio The Bad Plus do their own thing, avant-garde or otherwise – come for the carefully manicured beards, stay for the deconstructed jazz, at L’Astral (305 Ste-Catherine W.), 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. And the 11-11 Anniversary Party raises funds for Eleven Eleven Animal Rescue, with Bud Rice, Cab, Nightwood and Divingbell, at Il Motore.

Sunday 19

The Société de bonsai et penjing de Montréal makes the Jardin Botanique super cute, I mean, tranquil. Multidisciplinary Festival International de la Littérature includes a performance of Yann Martel’s letters to Stephen Harper, Frankétienne’s prescient story of survival in Haiti and much more, Sept. 17-26, festival-fil.qc.ca. Local writer Jon Paul Fiorentino launches his newest, Indexical Elegies, at Copacabana (3910 St-Laurent), 9 p.m. David Bazan (of Pedro The Lion) returns with his guitar and Mynabirds, at Il Motore. And Shakey Times: A Neil Young Tribute Show lets everybody know this is nowhere, at Le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent).

Monday 20

Space is the place for performance and media artist Frances Leeming: Her exhibition, Endeavour, explores the role of gender in government space programs, at Concordia’s Media Gallery (7141 Sherbrooke W.). Cinema Politica screens anti-child-trafficking doc BAS! Beyond the Red Light, at Concordia University (H110, 1455 De Maisonneuve W.), 7 p.m. The composers and musicians in 11-piece M-Theory Collective do their own, non-freak-out jazz thing, at La Sala Rossa. Brooklyn band Arthur’s Landing likes to cover Arthur Russell songs and so automatically get points and, if all is right with the world, a decent Monday-night audience, at Casa del Popolo.

Tuesday 21

Sports talk of a cultural kind gets rough ‘n’ tumble in panel discussion The Politics of Sports, with author Dave Zirin and Hour’s own Meg Hewings, at Concordia University (H-110, 1455 De Maisonneuve W.), 7 p.m. From sports to song, your German opera questions answered by François Tousignant, composer, lecturer and music critic, part of the new Opéra de Montréal season, at the Segal Centre Cinema Space (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine), 7:30 p.m. Go nuts on the comedy high of Reefer Madness: The Musical, at Mainline Theatre (3997 St-Laurent), 8 p.m., to Sept. 25. And ask M.I.A. anything about politics, at Métropolis.

Wednesday 22

Jean van de Velde’s The Silent Army opens the sixth Montreal International Black Film Festival, at Imperial Cinema (1432 Bleury), 7 p.m., montrealblackfilm.com. Nothing says autumn like almost-naked ladies: Blue Light Burlesque starts the season with Les Saucy Tarts, St-Stella and Keela Watts, at Café Campus (57 Prince Arthur E.), 8 p.m. Autumn Records’ Greg Davis blows our celestial minds, with Le Révélateur, Corridors and Mike Wexler, at Casa del Popolo. Sea Wolf plays a solo acoustic set, with Sera Cahoone and Patrick Park, at Il Motore. And blues diva Linda "Chocolate Thunder" Rodney belts ‘em out at L’Astral (305 Ste-Catherine W.), 8 p.m.