4/21/10: Today’s Tips: Wednesday

Our calendar says that today is Administrative Professionals Day. So, really, what’s so politically incorrect about just calling it Secretary’s Day, anyway?

MUSIC: The Used @ Northern Lights, Clifton Park. Bert McCracken and the band manage to deftly balance the pop and the primal on their latest album, “Artwork,” and that’s not a bad thing. With Chiodos, New Medicine. 8pm. $25.

MUSIC: Del Ray @ Old Songs, Voorheesville. She uncorks funny stories and plays the blues, ragtime and hillbilly boogie on resonator guitar and ukulele. In addition to her concert, Ray is also offering a blues ukulele workshop at 6pm ($15). Concert at 8pm. $20.

MUSIC: JDT @ Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs. Composer-keyboardist (and Skidmore College grad) Jason Domnarski leads his 21st century jazz trio into the famed coffeehouse. Read our review of their concert there last year. 7pm. $5.

THEATER: “The Lady With All the Answers” @ Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany. It’s opening night for actress Charlotte Booker in the role of advise columnist Ann Landers in David Rambo’s one-woman play directed by Steve Campo. The production runs through Sunday, May 9. 7:30pm. $31-$46.

MUSIC: The Williams Percussion Ensemble @ Williams College’s Chapin Hall, Williamstown. Performing works by Lukas Ligeti and N. Cameron Britt. 12:15pm. Free.

MUSIC: Brian Melick & Friends @ the Chapel + Cultural Center, Troy. In the third of his four-part series of weekly April concerts, percussionist Melick performs with Joy Adler & the Souls of Evolution, featuring vocalist Adler, pianist Elizabeth Woodbury-Kasius (of Heard) and guitarist Mick Mudick. 7:30pm. Free.

TALK: Mark Changizi: “Alien Vision Revolution” @ EMPAC at RPI, Troy. The theoretical neurobiologist explores such questions as: Why do humans see in color? Why do we have eyes on the front of our heads rather than on the sides, like horses? And how is it that we find it so easy to read when written language did not exist until a few thousand years ago – a virtual millisecond in evolutionary time? 7pm. Free.

MUSIC: Willy Porter @ Revolution Hall, Troy. The multi-purpose Rev Hall reconfigures itself from a bar to a seated theater-style venue for this pair of singer-songwriters. With Jann Klose opening. General admission. 8pm. $17.

ART RECEPTION and DISCUSSION: Artist reception for John Stritch: The Berkshires. The Land. The Music @ Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, whose solo exhibition of limited edition silk-screened prints that celebrate the Berkshires in currently on display. 5:30-6:30pm followed by an interview and discussion moderated by Michael Boroniec who recently completed an archive of Stritch’s posters from 1970-present, 6:30-7:30pm. Free.