THURSDAY 7

Eric Clapton and I both say Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy is the greatest living guitarist on the planet and we can’t both be wrong. Guy (whose late brother Phil Guy was a sideman for Big Mama Thornton at Montreal’s legendary Rising Sun nightclub back in the 1970s) headlines Métropolis (59 Ste-Catherine E.), with openers The Steve Rowe Trio starting at 8 p.m. ($36.50-$46.50).

FRIDAY 8

Famed Vancouver photographer and writer Art Perry has been taking natural light photos of artists, writers and musicians – everybody from Rudolf Nureyev, Dizzy Gillespie and Allen Ginsberg to Joe Strummer, Lady Diana and Édouard Lock – for over 40 years, and Galerie Rye’s (1331A Ste-Cat E.) Hip! Portraits of Cool exhibit gathers them all for Perry’s amazing exploration of what it means to be cool. Galerie Rye is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. (free admission), or by appointment. Perry’s show runs until May 3. Surf to www.galerierye.com.

SATURDAY 9

Busy night tonight: World music’s Johnny Clegg takes over Métropolis (59 Ste-Cat E.) beginning at 8 p.m. ($38.50), Jackson Browne brings his solo acoustic tour to Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts at 7:30 p.m. ($52.14-$107.14), Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) hosts Montreal’s first-ever Queer Prom (which will also feature a live, blood-soaked Carrie) beginning at 8:30 p.m. ($20), and Divan Orange (4234 St-Laurent) hosts an indie-rock quadruple bill featuring Woodpigeon, David Martel, The Mountains & The Trees and The Phenomes ($10).

SUNDAY 10

AIDS Community Care Montreal’s third annual ARTSIDA exhibition continues at the Galerie Dentaire (1239 Amherst) with 60 art works by, among others, Kat Coric, Yvon Goulet and Zilon, to be auctioned off at the Hôtel des Encans (872 Du Couvent) on April 14 ($35). Go to www.artsida.org. Another must-see exhibition winding down is internationally acclaimed Canadian First Nations artist Kent Monkman‘s My Treaty Is With the Crown, about white colonialism, at Concordia’s Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (1400 De Maisonneuve W., LB-165). Open noon to 6 p.m. until April 16 (except Monday). Free admission.

MONDAY 11

Do not miss director Érik Cimon‘s 2010 documentary film MTL Punk: The First Wave, which explores when the punk movement arrived in Montreal in 1977 with rare archival footage of the Montreal punk scene, featuring the music of early local punk bands The 222s, The Normals and The Chromosomes. Plus interviews with some of the players 30 years later. At Cinéma Parallèle (3536 St-Laurent) at 8 p.m. nightly until April 14 ($11).

TUESDAY 12

The 250-artifact Sainte-Catherine Street Makes the Headlines! exhibit traces the 250-year history of Montreal’s historic main artery, at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum (350 Place Royale). Six sections explore Montreal’s old red-light district, nightlife, downtown shopping, public transport (did you know Ste-Cat had two-way traffic until 1966?) and, of course, the Montreal Forum, which is packed with eye-popping memorabilia, including the second mask worn by Habs goalie Jacques Plante. Runs until April 24 ($6-$15, free for children 5 and under).

WEDNESDAY 13

Mainline Theatre (3997 St-Laurent) presents Ntozake Shange‘s famed 1975 experimental play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf (April 13-15 at 8 p.m. and April 16 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.), starring Letitia Brookes, Cassandre Mentor, Kim Nelson and Vanessa Schmitt-Craan. This "choreopoem" fuses overlapping prose poems and stories, each dealing with negative aspects of life as a woman – rape, abortion and abuse – mixed with celebratory stories filled with song, dance and humour ($17-$20). Finally, over at Jello Bar (151 Ontario E.), the all-star Café Soul – best R’n'B house band in town – begins their first set at 10:30 p.m. ($8).