Wed. Jan. 31

We've spent some time at Azure's special event/benefit nights and have found them quite soothing and stimulating ... some of that due no doubt to the vodka being featured by the co-promoting vodka company. On Wednesday January 31, Reyka Vodka steps forward and serve as the intoxicant in your signature cocktail at the "Azure Blue Party." (Azure is a shade of blue, right?) These cocktails will be served from 6 to 10 p.m., along with "blues inspired" food from Chef Robert Fathman. What would be a blues night without a blues band? Not totally blue, that's for sure. So the band Stretch provides that end of the deal. It's $50 and 100 percent of the proceeds benefit Community Servings, which delivers meals to the critically ill. Yes, folks, another opportunity to dress up, go out, drink up, dance a bit and feel good about yourself - in a humanitarian way - for what you're doing. This is also why people go on all those extensive walks/runs to find cures for this or that. Being who we are, we'd rather feel good about ourselves in a swanky bar than sweating up the Esplanade with thousands of others, but that's just us.

710 Boylston St., 617-445-7777 azureboston.com

Thurs. Feb. 1

A funny thing happened to guitarist-composer Michael Brook after he released his 2006 CD, "RockPaperScissors." He was readying a tour when took a nasty spill while on a bicycle, and broke his collar bone and guitar arm. Ok, it's not funny. But at least it's not what happened to the singer Nico, who went over the bars of a bike and died. Two degrees of separation here: Michael Brook to Brian Eno to Nico, which is to say Brook and Eno and Eno and Nico have worked in pairs. Small world. Brook's performance Thursday Feb. 1 at the Paradise Lounge will incorporate visuals with images from Saam Gabbay, Aaron Koblin and Dean Chamberlain. Brook will have Lisa Germano along as opening act and guest vocalist - "he's a brave man," says Germano on her website; classical violinist Julie Rogers will also join the team. If you have a love of ambient and world music, enjoy the mash-up of rock and classical, and, in general, subscribe to Peter Gabriel's idea that progressive music should have being a sense of adventure. Think Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance. Brook who did the soundtrack to the movie that made Al Gore an animated figure, "An Inconvenient Truth," just performed at the Sundance Film Festival, warming up for a tour that takes him on the road through Feb. 7. For this one, doors are at 8 p.m. Tickets: $10.

969 Commonwealth Ave., 617-562-8801 thedise.com

Wed. Jan. 31

Occasionally, we'll check out a band based on its name or its CD's title. Such is the case with New York's The Press. Dull name, but their disc is called "Noxious Saucy Beast," so there you go. Dip into it and you'll find the brash, the bold and the melancholic. They're joined at the Middle East Upstairs Wednesday Jan. 31 by Killer Canary, a high-energy Boston alt-rock band where drummer Zak Andree handles most of the lead voice and songwriting chores. Joshua English, most recently of the Boston pop trio Six Going on Seven, is second on the bill and credits his inspirations thus: Raymond Carver novels and oceans' worth of black coffee. Muy Cansado, a alt-rock trio from these parts, like to sprinkle their songs with sarcasm and sex. Tucker Mayer opens up at 9 p.m. Tickets: $9. (In photo: The Press.)

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 mideastclub.org

Mon. Jan. 29

 Is there a sharper, funnier, more cynical - and yet self-deprecating - satirical writer out there than P.J. O'Rourke? At least one who's a Republican? No. O'Rourke was one of the guys we read as a teenager when we were hooked on the National Lampoon, and we've stayed with him. He made his stripes as an adult writer through his Rolling Stone adventures as a foreign correspondent, a guy whose contrarian view was always welcome, if not always agreed with. More often than not, though, we'd start out disagreeing and end up grudgingly thinking the man was right - and not a right-wing crank. Humor really can be the most persuasive device of all, and O'Rourke has got it down. (He's the reason we keep thinking we need to re-subscribe to the Atlantic, because he's a columnist there now.) O'Rourke wrote the classic "Eat the Rich," title cribbed from both an Aerosmith album title and a Motorhead song. He's a master of irony, a writer who can live with (and explain) contradictions, and an adept analyst of economics, class and the way the world is structured. There are many shades of gray - funny, bittersweet gray - in O'Rourke's world. His new book, "On the Wealth of Nations," may sound familiar because of Adam Smith's rather famous "The Wealth of Nations." What O'Rourke has done is distill the tome and explain the relevance of Smith's work - key revelation: the pursuit of self-interest is critical - to today's world. And, yes, there's plenty of humor in what you might think would be dry as dessert dirt. He speaks at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, part of the Brookline Booksmith Author Events on Monday, January 29 at 6 p.m. Get $2 tickets at Booksmith, across the street from the theater, ahead of time.\

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2500 or 617-566-6660 (Booksmith) coolidge.org or brooklinebooksmith.com

Tues. Jan. 30

We've been tempted, upon occasion, to sign up for one of the myriad of medical tests offered around Boston by the gazillion or so hospitals and universities. Like one of the sleep clinic things, maybe. So, we made a call. Forget about it. The stipulations, the restrictions, the modest stipend, the very slim chance of solving the problem. Even the thought of going through the program and - being a journalist - writing about it held little appeal. But that's privileged little us. We can conjure up Ron and Nancy from the '80s and "Just Say No!" But what about impoverished people in Third World nations? They're not exactly in that position and they are fodder for the pharm industry, which is trying to develop drugs for the profitable First World countries. If this doesn't induce some sort of nausea and guilt, you're just not thinking. Takes us back to what we know about the Holocaust and the German "doctors" experiments upon the Jews. Sonia Shah spent several years in Africa and elsewhere investigating this world and came back with "The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs onthe World's Poorest Patients." She'll be reading at Brookline Booksmith Tuesday Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. Free.

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