Patrick Wolf

October 2, 2012
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco

English singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf has become his own cover band. After ten years of international success, Wolf decided to revisit his own catalog, performing acoustic rearrangements of his previous hits. The new album in this stripped-down style is Sundark and Riverlight, and he describes his touring shows as "like being in my living room." For tickets and information, visit gamhtickets.com.

Ansel Adams 'Fiat Lux Redux'

September 28, 2012-February 28, 2013
Bancroft Gallery at the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley

If you think of Ansel Adams' photography, the images that come to mind are most likely from Yosemite or an arid desert landscape. But here's something completely different, a collection of photographs commissioned by UC President Clark Kerr to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the University of California system in 1967. The turmoil of the times eclipsed Adams' work and the photos have rarely been seen since. Fiat Lux Redux continues through February of next year at the Bancroft Gallery in the Bancroft Library on the UC Berkeley campus. Admission is free. For more information, visit berkeley.edu.

See 'Fiat Lux,' Ansel Adams and the University of California on KQED Arts for a sampling of Adams images and video interviews with UC professors Michael Pollan and Anne Walsh.

Aimee Mann

September 28-30, 2012
Various locations

Reviewing Aimee Mann's new album for the Chronicle, Matthew Green described it as "a study of the more sinister side of charm". Charmer is Mann's first album in four years. Mann played for the Obamas at the White House last year and has a song on the soundtrack for Tim Burton's new film Frankenweenie. Mann is at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz Friday, The Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday, and the Uptown Theatre in Napa on Sunday.

Theatre de la Ville, 'Rhinoceros'

September 28-29, 2012
Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

In this first visit to the US, the Paris-based Theatre de la Ville presents Eugene Ionesco's play Rhinoceros. It's the story of a man who sees his friends and neighbors transformed one by one into large, cranky beasts with a single horn. It's an absurdist allegory inspired by the rise of Fascism in 1930s Romania that's had some legendary productions. For more information visit calperfs.berkeley.edu.

Harmony By The Bay

September 29, 2012
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View

After 33 years, the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa was canceled this year, but its founders have kept the franchise alive a bit further south, in Mountain View. Harmony By The Bay includes a sustainable living roadshow, a yoga zone and a hydroponics demo. But the music is a major draw, with performers including Alison Krauss and Union Station, The Shins, Tegan and Sara, and Jimmy Cliff. Cliff's new album, One More, brings the reggae legend back into the spotlight for a new generation. For more information, visit harmonybythebay.net.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Robert Earl Keen

Opening October 4, 2012
Preservation Hall West at The Chapel, San Francisco

The Mission District's newest music venue on Valencia Street will host the New Orleans jazz institution three or four times a year. It's a converted mortuary that is opening just in time to take advantage of several musicians in town for next weekend's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. For more information visit sfweekly.com.

17th Annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival

September 29, 2012
Civic Center Park, Berkeley

A walk past several Berkeley creeks precedes the 17th Annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, which features readings by Robert Hass, Joy Harjo, Michael McClure, and Francisco X. Alarcon, as well as student poets and jazz. For more information, visit poetryflash.org.