The East Bay’s Hieroglyphics crew might be best known for their star hip-hop acts Del the Funky Homosapien and Souls of Mischief, but buried underneath a pile of three-eyed stickers was the cunning and versatile Casual. Not one to let history pass him by, Casual has continued to live up the hovering beats and natural flow of his landmark 1994 debut, Fear Itself, by not only releasing four albums since but becoming actively engaged in his community. His colleagues on the Oakland Board of Cultural Affairs know him as Jonathan Owens, as do the members of Youth UpRising, a nonprofit center in Oakland where Owens serves as a consultant. But to fans he’ll always be Casual. He performs with turn-of-the-century turntablists DJ Cue and DJ Quest on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the 19 Broadway Niteclub. 19 Broadway, Fairfax. 9pm. $20–$22. 415.459.1091.Gabe Meline
It was a self-fulfilling prophecy that any attempt by Hollywood to adapt the complex brilliance of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel The Time Traveler’s Wife would essentially fail. How could the big screen handle such a poignant and unique story? Could it possibly, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, present alternate realities without losing its romantic wallop? In Time Traveler’s case, unfortunately, the answer was no, but that hasn’t diminished Niffenegger’s resolve. The author follows up her phenomenally popular breakthrough with Her Fearful Symmetry, set in and around London’s Highgate Cemetery, and for its release, she sits down and shares a meal—catered by Insalata’s of San Anselmo—for Book Passage’s “Literary Lunch” series on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at Book Passage. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 12pm. $50 includes lunch and signed copy of book. 415.927.0960.Gabe Meline 
The Santa Rosa Symphony this weekend presents a program of American composers including Barber and Copland, but all eyes these days are on Elliott Carter. Few people live to be 101 years old, but Carter, still alive and active in his Manhattan apartment, is defying the wheels of time past the centennial mark. Not that his age should steal the attention from his compositional powers, which over the years successfully adapted to the modernistic touches of the late 20th century with acumen and skill. In 1944, Carter was commissioned a piece to celebrate the liberation of Paris in World War II; the resulting “Holiday Overture” is a layered and optimistic work, to be performed this weekend. With guest conductor JoAnn Falletta conducting Michael Ludwig in John Corigliano’s perennial favorite “The Red Violin Concerto,” on Saturday–Monday, Jan. 23–25, at the Wells Fargo Center. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Saturday, 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, 3pm; Monday, 8pm. $10–$42. 707.546.8742.
Jay Leno’s getting a bad rap these days; he can’t help it if his network is clueless, and the stirring resentment over his mere presence is spilling over into unwarranted attacks on his style of comedy. The same might be said for Mort Sahl back in the day. Hailed as an influence by Leno, Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen, Sahl in the 1960s dressed in a casual sweater with a newspaper in hand, and delivered jazzlike, stream-of-consciousness zingers about racial politics, free love, misguided wars and whatever snapped into his sharp, quick mind. Usually, it riled the masses, but that didn’t stop Herb Caen from urging him to run for president of the United States. Dick Gregory, one of the first black comedians to address civil rights issues to a white audience, actually did run for president in 1968; he now calls the U.S. “the most dishonest, ungodly, unspiritual nation that ever existed in the history of the planet.” The two comedy legends appear Saturday, Jan. 23, at the 142 Throckmorton Theater. 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 8pm. $38–$48. 415.383.9600.Gabe Meline 
Songwriting juggernaut Chuck Prophet has been a Bay Area fixture since his early days in the proto-experimental rock outfit Green on Red, but far more rewarding has been his prolific solo output. ¡Let Freedom Ring!, his ninth studio album, has the outsider’s take on what’s generally referred to as Americana music with an over-the-border bent. Recorded in Mexico City during the first panic of the swine flu scare, the album has a jagged anxiety of shifting tectonic plates. A chugging minor-key tune, “Sonny Liston’s Blues” traipses along to kick things off as if on a crumbling ledge. Slowly congealing into torn-love songs replete with the usual Prophet trademarks—such as the inimitable way he hollows out his throat and nose to drawl his long o’s—the lingering metaphor is about America, el Norte, where “the hawk cripples the dove.” Always a passionate live performer, Prophet headlines on Friday, Jan. 22, at the Mystic for the KRSH 95.9-FM listener appreciation party. Jesse DeNatale opens. 23 Petaluma Blvd. N, Petaluma. 8pm. $15. 707.765.2121.Gabe Meline
Exactly when the glut of Jane Austen literary takeoffs utilizing bloodsucking vampires, groaning zombies, enraged pharmacists, psychotic webmasters, possessed iPhone apps or whatever ridiculous modern trendy twist comes next will end is anybody’s guess. One thing’s sure, and that’s people are still reading the original Austen books. Indispensable to the Austen fan is Susannah Carson’s magnetic anthology A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Why We Read Jane Austen, in which 33 writers from Eudora Welty and Virginia Woolf to Somerset Maugham and C. S. Lewis dwell on the majesty and details of Austen’s work. Amy Heckerling tells how she adapted Emma into the 1996 movie Clueless, while contemporary writers like Anna Quindlan extract specific plot points and character traits for an engaging portrait of Austen’s appeal. Carson discusses the book on Thursday, Jan. 21, at Copperfield’s Books. 3900a Bel Aire Plaza, Hwy. 29, at Trancas St., Napa. 7pm. Free. 707.252.8002.Gabe Meline 
“I’ve wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.” With those lines, Elwood P. Dowd secures a place in the hearts of moviegoers with the great 1950 film ‘Harvey.’ Played by Jimmy Stewart, Dowd is a masterpiece of simple-mindedness cloaking a fresh intelligence, and those who see beyond his harmless delusion that a six-foot-tall rabbit follows him at all times discover life lessons based on utterly obvious observation. The Spreckels Center in Rohnert Park continues its welcome classic film series with a screening of Harvey in its 500-seat theater this Sunday, replacing, in a way, the loss told in these pages of the Pacific Alliance Stage Company’s ongoing plays. City budget cuts are film lovers’ gain, however, as the rest of the Sunday series in January finds the theater’s 25-foot screen taken up by the likes of The Philadelphia Story and Bringing Up Baby. See Harvey this Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Spreckels Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. 3pm. $6. 707.588.3434.Gabe Meline
The Rio Nido Roadhouse just ain’t what it used to be—and that’s a good thing. Its reputation nearly ruined in the late ’80s and ’90s due to hotheaded bikers and rampant methamphetamine, the place has since been fixed up to its proper glory as a no-frills joint offering good times and live music for the whole family. Covered with a large plastic tent in the wintertime, the music patio and grassy area has earned the endearing term “the ICU” from members of the Thugz, who continue their Thursday-night residency at the Roadhouse after last month’s sudden closure by county building inspectors of the band’s former haunt, the Pink Elephant in Monte Rio. Music nights at the Roadhouse are all-ages, there are outdoor heaters, the music stops at 10pm, and the kitchen churns out a full menu of pub grub and pizza. The Thugz return on Thursday, Jan 14; the Linda Ferro Band play Saturday, Jan. 16. It’s all at the Rio Nido Roadhouse, 14540 Canyon Two, Rio Nido. 6pm. Free. 707.869.0821.Gabe Meline
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