Mon. April 23

Heard any good stories lately? Emphasis: good. We've all been bored to tears in bars, but how many of us have allowed ourselves to be put under the spell of, well, storytellers? In New York City, there's this thing called The Moth, where stories are told regularly. It's attracted raves like "New York's hottest and hippest literary ticket" (Wall Street Journal) and "an exuberant, moveable feast" (Village Voice). The Moth is, indeed, on the move with stops in Miami, Altanta, Austin, Washington, D.C. and Boston. The Boston performance happens Monday April 23 at the Calderwood Pavilion. It features Jonathan Ames, (in photo) who wrote the wonderfully witty "Wake up, Sir!," New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz, Red Sox fan Joe Limon, "Prozac Diary" (not Nation) author Laruen Slater, "Candy Freak" writer Steve Almond and humorist/racounteur Mike Daisey, who's also got a show up and running at the A.R.T.'s Zero Arrow Theatre. (And he's got another one next month.) For this gig at the Calderwood, the writers perform without a net, with is to say no notes or cheat sheets. It's up one night only, Monday April 23 at 7 p.m. (Well, there's cocktails at 7; curtain at 8.) They call it "The Moth Story Tour," and it's in the Pavilion's Wimberly Theatre.  Tickets: $18.

539 Tremont St., 617-933-8600 bostontheatrescene.com themoth.org

Mon. April 23

Does a name have more intellectual impact than that of Albert Einstein? Not in pop cultural sense, certainly. Somebody who's flustered about something might respond, "Well, I'm no Einstein." Of course, how many of us really know the man behind e = mc2? There have been bios before but Walter Isaacson, former managing editor at Time, is the first book written after the full opening of his archived letters. And so, we learn about the German Jew who turned his back on both his religion and his nation as a teen, and made his mark in 1905 - a full half-century before his death. Isaacson writes about the science and the fame, but also about Einstein's personal life, including his first marriage to physicist Mileva Maric. (pictured together here) Einstein so wanted out of that in 1919 he promised her his expected Nobel Prize money! Einstein came to America in 1922, where he was treated as a celebrity; the Stephen Hawking of his time, he definitely would have done his voice on "The Simpsons" if asked. More seriously, he was one of the primary voices to counsel Franklin D. Roosevelt as to the big What If. That is, what if Germany got the atomic bomb? Isaacson will read from "Einstein: His Life and Universe" at the Coolidge Corner Theatre Monday April 23 at 6 p.m. Tickets: $2, which you get across the street from the sponsoring Brookline Booksmith.

279 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-566-6660 brooklinebooksmith.com

Tues. April 24

It's a star-studded stretch at Symphony Hall. And it's world premiere time. Sir Andre Previn, Grammy award-winning conductor, composer and pianist, is leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the debut of his Double Concerto for violin, double bass and orchestra through Tuesday April 24. The BSO people note that the concerto has bittersweet moments, but for the most part is full of witty, high energy music that makes good use of guest players, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Slovakian double bassist Roman Patkolo. Mutter is also soloist in Mozart's Violin Concert No. 1. Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik opens the program and Ravel's Mother Goose closes. The final show is Tuesday at 8 p.m. Tickets: $111 - $29. (There are half hour pre-concert talks the BSO puts on  at 6:45 and 12:15 for the respective night and day shows.)

301 Massachusetts Ave., 617-266-1200 bso.org

Sun. April 22

Do you think global warming will be the hot button issue of 2008? Logic says no. There's that pesky, unwinnable war, the increasing gap between rich and poor, an untenable health care system and, yet, as Al Gore told us in "An Inconvenient Truth," none of this other stuff matters without a world to live in. We just saw a segment on "60 Minutes" and the ice caps of Antarctica melting, the decrease of the penguin population and the likely effect greenhouse gases will have on us - even if we cut them out today. It's not a pretty picture. If we knew where the panic button was - and we had access to it - we'd be punching away. Richard S. Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, is weighing in at the Ford Hall Forum presentation Sunday April 22. Lindzen is offering the view that irrational alarm may be clouding our judgment, in a talk called "Is Global Warning a Cause for Alarm?" By even suggesting not, in this community, you're raising a red flag. This means there should be a lively give-and-take with the audience at the Old South Meeting House. The talk is free and starts at 6:30 p.m.

310 Washington St., 617-373-5800 fordhallforum.org

Sun. April 22

Do we dream of soccer? Never. We played it briefly as a kid, but this was way before soccer became the school-kid sport for all, and we never got hooked on it. A lot of futile running around and no scoring. And that seems to be the way a lot of Americans look at it; it's definitely on the lower tier of the baseball-football-basketball-hockey realm. But we do know soccer is huge with many immigrants, from Ireland to South America, and means as much to them as, say, baseball does to us. In that spirit, we're recommending Michael Anderson's show at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway, "Soccer Nightmares, Soccer Dreams." And he's promising the full load of soccer and what it means, the politics, the ecstasy and the agony, the neighborhood games to the World Cup, even myths and conspiracy theories. (We do know in certain countries it's not a great idea to, say, let the World Cup winning goal in. Bill Buckner never had it so rough.) Anderson's one-man show closes Sunday April 22 (at 3 p.m.) This is obviously a place for the fanatic to reconnect to the community, and maybe it's an opportunity the ignorant (that's people like us) to get schooled. In the photo: The most famous one of all, David Beckham, Mr. Posh Spice. Tickets: $15.

255 Elm St., Somerville, 617-591-1616 jtoffbroadway.com