Lunch and Learn
A recent study found that despite the many more ways we’ve found to connect digitally to our fellow humans, at least 20% of Americans report they experience lonely lives. If you’re an arts lover wanting to meet like-minded individuals to engage in elevated discussions, and you’re free on Mondays at lunchtime, head over to the Irving Arts Center for Lunch and Learn, where you can BYO lunch and discuss art. The series is also an informal educational program for adults, with peer presentations and guest speakers. It runs every Monday from noon to 1:30 p.m., until May 20 at 3333 N. MacArthur Blvd., Irving. Find more info at irvingartscenter.com. Eva Raggio

The Funky Knuckles
The jazz-funk-fusion band The Funky Knuckles have been killing it in North Texas for about the last seven years. The band's 2014 album Meta-Musica reached No. 1 on iTunes' jazz charts the day it was released. Two years later, The Funky Knuckles put out their 11-song, hard-not-to-dance-to, full-length New Birth. The band has been on the bill every Monday night at Three Links for some time now. The Funky Knuckles celebrated the release of their fourth album, Delicious, at the venue this year and recently won Best Jazz Act at the Dallas Observer Music Awards. The free show starts at 9:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St. Jacob Vaughn

Fat Tuesday March Through Deep Ellum
Every year for the last six, The Free Loaders’ raspy-voiced, growling bandleader, John Jay Myers, has led a marching band around the streets of Deep Ellum to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Wear your best beads, dance along with the band and watch as the confused but excited passersby join in the traveling fun, which ends at Cajun bar The Free Man. The march starts at 6 p.m. at 2626 Commerce St., and the free party continues until 2 a.m. Eva Raggio

The Great Divorce
While the title may suggest some intellectual comedy by Woody Allen, The Great Divorce is actually a fantastical play based on a story by C. S. Lewis. And Toto, they’re not in Narnia anymore; Lewis had a profound interest in theology, and it shows through the story of 22 characters (played by four actors) who are on a trip from hell to heaven. It runs from Feb. 25 through March 1, at the Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson. Wednesday’s show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $49-$69 at eisemanncenter.com. Eva Raggio

Best of Fests
North Texas has a surprising number of film festivals, each of which serves as a kind of sample platter of short or feature-length films geared toward certain types of films or highlighting specific types of filmmakers. Now, what if you wanted a cinematic sample platter … of sample platters? That’s where this weekend’s Best of Fests comes in. It opens at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a meet and greet with and performance by songwriter Luke Dick, who tells his story of an early childhood spent at the strip club where his mother worked, in the documentary Red Dog, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St. The documentary Fantastic Fungi at 7:30 p.m. Friday follows a patron red carpet and precedes the opening night party at the Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd. Saturday and Sunday programming is all at the Alamo Drafthouse Cedars, 1005 S. Lamar St. Visit bestoffests.org for the full schedule and film guide and to buy tickets, $10 per screening or $5 each for students, or all access festival passes, $25 each or $20 for students. Jesse Hughey

Dust Bowl
Verdigris Ensemble weaves the sound of bluegrass music with video projection and choreographed movement into the Dust Bowl performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Place is Hamon Hall in the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. The dust bowl drought, one of the worst environmental calamities of the 20th century, hit the Southern Plains region of the United States in 1931 and lasted about 10 years. The story onstage was collected from firsthand accounts, newspaper articles and diaries and makes one wonder: Could similar disasters occur today? Have we learned anything from our mistakes? Call for tickets ($29) at 214-880-0202. For more info: attpac.org. Reba Liner

LOAFERS
Three-time nominee for Best Punk Band in the Dallas Observer Music Awards and local favorite LOAFERS will be stopping by for a set at Eastbound and Down Icehouse on Thursday. The band's EP Bobby still hits as hard as it did when they released it in 2017. LOAFERS has put out several songs since then, starting in 2018 with "No Cowboys" and "Formaldehyde." Some of the band's latest material comes off of a two-song release with the tracks "So Hard" and "Square." The recordings are great, but they only give people a taste of what the band is all about. If you want to hear LOAFERS the right way, you have to hear them live. So, why not do that this Thursday? Do yourself a favor and make it to this show. You won't regret it. LOAFERS will share the bill with The Go Go Rillas for a free show at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at Eastbound and Down Icehouse, 3826 Ross Ave. Jacob Vaughn

EXPAND

Local punk favorites LOAFERS will be at Eastbound and Down Icehouse on Thursday.

Jacob Vaughn

Destroyer with Eleanor Friedberger
Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer, is back out on the road in support of his 13th solo album, Have We Met. While his laconic baritone has remained gloriously consistent, the genre styles explored in each of his releases have been wildly disparate. He's channeled smooth jazz, skronky, downtown NYC-loft beats and ragged indie rock, as well as dabbled in pop and straightforward rock arrangements. The new material, liberally produced by John Collins, Bejar's sometime collaborator in The New Pornographers, comes across with a more precise, clinical sound. Synth beats, drum machines and a whole lot of ’80s-era sheen cover the songs, giving the whole affair a soundtrack-like quality that begs for inclusion in some of the retro-leaning programming choices populating the streaming services. Get there early and catch Eleanor Friedberger. An indie legend in her own right, the former Fiery Furnaces singer knows Dallas well and brings a four-album catalog worth of songs that are worthy of her own headlining gig. It starts at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St. Tickets are $17-$20 at eventbrite.com. Jeff Strowe

Jeanne Robertson

Dennis Brown

Jeanne Robertson
No matter what she may tell folks, how Jeanne Robertson became a humorist and motivational speaker is pretty clear after reading her background. On one hand, she’s a former Miss North Carolina, and everyone knows pageant people know motivation … and sometimes do crazy things in evening gowns. On the other, she’s a former physical education teacher, and everyone knows that no matter what grade a student is in, the most embarrassing things that happened to them generally happened in P.E. There’s a lot of material to mine in both fields. Oh, and there’s her being over 6 feet tall. Consider that a bonus. The 75-year-old Grand Ole Opry regular takes over Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St., at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $24.50-$39, but Robertson is a down-home hoot and those prices are a steal. Get them before they’re gone at tickets.attpac.org. Merritt Martin

Cocktail Hour: The Show
If you’ve ever sat at a bar and watched a bartender mix cocktails, you already understand that there’s a choreography to each drink: pour, mash, mix, strain, shake. Every concoction has a signature progression of steps and its own flourish. Ballets With a Twist’s Cocktail Hour: The Show brings this choreography to life, personifying happy hour standards like mai tais, gimlets, Manhattans,  boilermakers and more with their own lively and evocative routines. The cabaret-style collection of vignettes is the best kind of mixology, using aesthetic and artistic expression to invoke routine experiences where we raise glasses with friends or take a little “me time” on the rocks. Check out this unique ballet experience at the Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28. Tickets are $33-$45 at eisemanncenter.com. Jennifer Davis-Lamm

Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo is a Latino punk-rock pioneer with four decades of music making under his belt. The San Antonio native comes from a wide family of musicians, including his father, who came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 12. Escovedo told NPR last year, "[My father] loved music, and he played guitar very punk rock — very crudely." Although his punk roots are planted firm, Escovedo does include variations of cowpunk, Chicano and alternative country in his music. Since the 1980s, he's lived and become a fixture in the Austin music scene. His latest album, 2018's The Crossing, has been described as a cinematic concept album about immigration and follows two men's journey to get to the U.S. It starts at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis St. Tickets are $26 at prekindle.com. Diamond Rodrigue

Marc Anthony
Charismatic and still in fine voice at age 51, Marc Anthony is the highest-selling male salsa vocalist in the genre's history. It's been a sneakily amazing and sturdy career for a man who many remember from his late-’90s heyday or decade-long marriage to Jennifer Lopez. Anthony still packs a punch, though, and he's been busy filling up arenas around the globe with dedicated fans who hang on his every word and match his hip-shaking action move for move. You won't want to miss Anthony as he passes through town on his present trek, titled the Opus Tour, at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave. Tickets are $66.50-$186.50 at ticketmaster.com. Jeff Strowe