september 6

This happens, like, never. I strike up a conversation with a young guy waiting to go to the men’s room in a bar. (This time it happens to be the Middle East Corner.) Turns out he’s a musician. Ok, stands to reason. He has a CD and wants to give it to me for obvious promotional reasons. Ok, fair enough. I take it home, listen, and go, whoa, I like this guy! The guy in question is the eminently likable Josh Cole, and his third album, “hypocriticool,’’  I dig a lot – it’s got country, alt-rock, punk and all kinds of melodic sounds on it. Oh, did we mention that after an early brush with potential stardom, he skipped to the West Coast and worked on his brother’s farm. He’s back in the music world now, playing with his backing trio the Household. Cole, 29, was born in Dorchester, raised in Lynn and grew up in Mendon. “I’m the ornery child of the New England weather,” he sings in “I Could Turn To You.’’

september 5

Here’s something INK guarantees you: Sumner Redstone, the guy who owns MTV will not be at Qdoba this afternoon (12-3) and this evening  (4-7) looking for the next star of MTV2. Even though he has a manse in Newton and could get there in a half-hour. He’s probably elsewhere running his multi-pronged empire or counting his piles of dough. But you can – if you’re young, hip-looking and down with the music of today (does this mean you must like Good Charlotte?) – you can schlep on down to one of the two Mexican grill’s locations and audition to be “a local VJ.’’ Ten finalists will be chosen, and then you can vote for your fave at rcnboston.mtv2.com. The winner gets to tape music spots in and around Boston. No mention of financial compensation

393 Huntington Ave. and 961 Commonwealth Ave.  rcnboston.mtv2.com

september 3

I remember talking with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth a few years ago and was gently chiding him about the name. These guys weren’t exactly young anymore. Moore took a little umbrage. The name wasn’t about that, he said. It was a tribute to two acts, the Sonics and Big Youth. Ok, if you say so, but Big Youth was a reggae guy and I haven’t heard much of a reggae influence in Sonic Youth. Doesn’t matter. People talking and writing about Sonic Youth’s latest CD, “Rather Ripped,’’ are using terms like “rather poppy.’’ We’d agree that it doesn’t have the full-bore skronk of “Daydream Nation” or “Dirty,” and we’d say there’s always something a little disarming when Sonic Youth doesn’t turn distorted and ballistic. Bassist-singer Kim Gordon’s exploring a pop voice, and they’ve got this lovely, elegiac tune called “Do You Believe in the Rapture?’’ (Remember “Diamond Sea”?) But there’s a guitar squall lurking in there, and, guess what folks, it’s sure to come front and center at  Avalon Sept. 3 when Gordon, hubby-guitarist-singer Moore, guitarist-singer Lee Ranaldo and drummer Steve Shelley do their concert thing. Starts at 7 p.m. with Wooden Wand opening.  Tickets: $23

15 Lansdowne St., 617-262-2424 tickemaster.com

september 1

Before the semi-crappy play – better with Kathleen Turner than with Lorraine Bracco, but still – there was the cool Dustin Hoffman movie with the late Anne Bancroft, who we found out was just five years older than Hoffman when “The Graduate’’ was made. Sheesh. That made our head spin. Back when we saw the “racy” flick the first time, we never would have imagined it could be shown outdoors, where just about anybody of any age could view  … well, the hot stuff. Like Bancroft’s leg. You can see that and more – well, not much more, not like in the play where you could almost see Turner and Bracco’s privates – outside on the terrace at the Boston Harbor Hotel  Friday Sept. 1. The seduction begins at dusk. It’s free for passersby and people who want to perch on the steps, but the folks at the Intrigue Café would love you to take a table and have a drink or a bite and ponder the future of plastics. It’s the last of the hotel’s “Movies by Moonlight’’ series for the year. It’s been six years of cinematic success down on the waterfront.

70 Rowes Wharf, 617-439-7000 or bhh.com

september 1

Or, there’s the “Free Flicks” finale at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade, with Sept. 1’s offering being “Back to the Future.’’ The sun goes down, the movie goes up.  For a new wrinkle on an escapist film, think about Michael J. Fox courageously battling Parkinson’s Disease and tirelessly lobbying for stem cell research in real life as you watch him time travel on screen. We’ve got to think you’ll consider issues such as youth, aging and fate, as your kids just get wrapped up in the whiz-bang stuff. Which makes it fun for the whole family, right?

Esplanade along Storrow Drive, hatchshell.com