Just your type

How many of you have explored East Boston - beyond the occasional trip to the airport? Well, tonight you've got a good reason to head across the harbor, and it's all about a fleet of reconditioned typewriters and a music-making Game Boy.

Tyler Derryberry and his Gameboy Covers project kick things off at the Border Street Cultural Exchange Center, which is now hosting its arts exhibitions - performing, visual, literary, and otherwise - in the Atlantic Works Artists Space warehouse.

Derryberry, of the local electro garage-rock band Ho-Ag, uses a special program to produce and manipulate punk rock and new wave tunes on his tricked-out handheld. The result is distorted, intriguing, and funny - reminiscent of the soundtrack to Sonic the Hedgehog. myspace.com/tyler hollisderryberry

The headlining act is the provocative Boston Typewriter Orchestra, a rotating ensemble that creates tight grooves from the clicks, clacks, and thumps of their typewriters. The group also interjects rhythmically timed office banter into the mix, heightening the comedic effect. Imagine a well-rehearsed drum circle, except instead of bongos and dreadlocked hippies, picture old-school typewriters and cubicle dwellers in white button-down shirts and goofy patterned ties. The Cultural Exchange Center, with its pine floors and large ceiling beams, seems like the perfect acoustic environment to see this widely acclaimed experimental quintet. bostontypewriterorchestra.com

No car? No problem. The venue is only a five-minute walk from the Maverick stop on the Blue Line.

If you thought pots, pans, and hair combs covered in wax paper were the only alternatives to drums and a guitar - and if you thought the only reason to go to East Boston was to leave town - after tonight you'll definitely think again.

All ages. 7 p.m. $10 suggested donation. Border Street Cultural Exchange Center, 80 Border St., East Boston. 617-418-5060. 80borderstreet.org

Max Pearl is a second-year student at Hampshire College who blogs about under-21 events in Boston. He can be reached at maep07@hampshire.edu