Going gentle into that good night
Stereolab has been part of Go!'s world since the get-go, with its minimalistic drones, oblique leftist rants, and mix of soothing and stinging sounds. We're not really ones to whine, but over the years we've noted Stereolab has mutated into a calmer unit, not quite as enamored of the big rave-up of, say, their early tune "John Cage Bubblegum." There are fewer squalls and more blips and bloops, a more delicate cocktail music/lounge sensibility at work. But Go! is very pleased the group has survived the bicycle accident death of keyboardist Mary Hansen last year and welcomes this English-French band back to our shores. They should sparkle in the dark at the Roxy. Clearlight opens at 9 p.m. It's an 18-plus show and tickets are $18.
275 Tremont St., 617-931-2000.
Dancing the week away
Last summer at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Go! watched a tape loop of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. We were mesmerized by the group's grace and power. Tonight begins a week of Ailey at the Wang Theatre, presented by the FleetBoston (they still exist?)270 Tremont St., 617-482-2595.
Boogie that be
The Black Eyed Peas -- Will.I.Am, Taboo, Fergie, and Apl.de.Ap. -- are gaining a rep as one of the funkiest, smartest hip-hop groups out there courtesy of their deep-funk grooves and their nonobsession with bling and babes. Reviewers on their current tour are likening them to the Three Musketeers and the Three Stooges. Now they've scored a hit, "Where Is the Love," with the one-man weapon of wardrobe malfunction, Justin Timberlake. N.E.R.D., backed by Spymob, is digging deep into the well for influences such as classic soul, R&B, Latin music, jazz, and funk. Some folks are even spotting a little Led Zeppelin in the mix. At any rate, this double bill at Avalon promises to be one of the genre-smashing hip-hop delights of the season, and we're guessing there'll be a lot of tuckered-out folks by night's end. The 18-plus show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $22.25.15 Lansdowne St., 617-262-2424.
Innocent after proven guilty
We loved "The Count of Monte Cristo" as a kid and "The Shawshank Redemption" as an adult. There's just something so excruciatingly horrifying about being confined for a crime you did not commit. Those movies end well, we know. In real life, this seems like the most unspeakable horror imaginable, and it certainly doesn't always come out right in the end. Look at Sacco and Vanzetti, one of the cases in this country, according to writer Michael J. Ring, where we've executed the innocent. Bobby Joe Leaster was convicted in 1970 for the murder of a store owner in Massachusetts and spent 15 years in jail. In 1986, the bullet that killed the victim was matched to another gun, proving Leaster was not the killer. He will speak at the Brookline Public Library on a panel with WHDH-TV's Byron Barnett; Superior Court associate justice Christopher J. Muse, former legal counsel for Leaster; Soffiyah Elijah, director and clinical instructor, Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School; and the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers 3d, cofounder and president of the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation. Registration is $5. 361 Washington St., 617-482-8686.Events can always be canceled, rescheduled, or sold out; call to confirm. Go! can be reached at go@globe.com or by calling 617-929-8257. 
