ongoing - Sun. Jan. 31 

Steve Morse is a friend and former colleague of mine at the Boston Globe. We've done time in the trenches; we knocked back a few at bars. It's fair to say we've both had good times and bad and Steve suffered through the death of his wife Nell some years back. And their only son Nick Morse, has autism.. But Nick's an artist and his show just went up at Zuzu in Central Square and it runs all month at the small, intimate restaurant run by the brothers Sater, Joseph and Nabil. I asked Steve to send some jpgs of Nick's art - one of which you see here - and it's pretty darn cool. Noah Maltsberger, who works at Zuzu, considered Nick's art and said it was very upbeat and a nice change. (Some of Zuzu's art exhibitions are on the punkier, darker side of things.

Steve e-mailed: "Nick is my only child -- he's now 21 -- and he has been diagnosed as being 'on the autistic spectrum,' which is a heavy burden to carry these days. But the beauty of Nick is that he has never let it stop him. He has discovered an ability to paint only in the last few years, but has displayed a striking originality.

Tues. Jan. 26 through Sun. Jan. 31

Well, just in time for the ever unfolding recession, it's "Boyce & Melinda’s Investment Strategies for the Post-Money World: A musical investment seminar" up at the BCA's Virgina Wimberly Theatre. (Actually, it was up last fall on the Cape, but life goes now, much as it did then, right?) With music by the diversely commanding Chandler Travis and starring the equally adroit actors Will Lebow(in photo) and Julie Perkins as the titular characters “Boyce & Melinda’s” combines Schoolhouse Rock with “Rich Dad” infomercials to get audiences pumped up about feeling so down. With music that ranges from Prince-y pop (complete with that keyboard on a strap thingy) to AC/DC rock (complete with a host of MTV clichés) to a “Boss” finale  that lets the Big Man blow a bit too long, the show offers insight and advice about what to do when the portfolio is as flat as a…well…portfolio.

Sat. Jan. 30

The Tour de France involves bicyclists and, most often, Lance Armstrong. The “Tour de Champagne” involves champagne and seven American cities, including Cambridge, where it all begins this year on Saturday Jan. 30. Once again, it’s at the Charles Hotel and, while nothing in life is guaranteed, my wife Roza and I went to this on last year and  “splendid” does come to mind. What you get: Champagnes from over 20 Houses; culinary delights from some of the area’s best chefs, live music and an opportunity to give back. That is, there’s a silent auction benefiting The Greater Boston Food Bank. This takes place from 7-10 and will run you $115. If that’s not quite enough there’s the Fin de Soiree at Regattbar (also in the Charles) where there’s, um, more champagne, more music, a Peyrot cognac tasting, coffee service by EVS Nespresso, and desserts by the Charles Hotel. If you want to include this latter nightcap in your evening, the cost is $145 (total). “If you like champagne, it’s like being turned loose in a candy store,” says my wife, recalling last year’s festivities. “From Cristal to Veuve Cliquot to Krug, your head literally spins from your choices.”

     Richard Marble, who lived in the Boston area for 12 years until 1990, came up with the idea for the Tour. It launched in 2008. "I presented it to the French Embassy and got them involved as a semi-parnter. We choose cities where the consulate is a strong one." In terms of the people who go, "what we find," he says, "is we don't see as many French people as we do Francophiles."

Wed. Jan. 27

"It's kind of amazing the way things work out," reports WMBR DJ and musician Jeff Breeze, who's part of the Concord Ballet Orchestra Players and playing T.T. the Bear's Wed. Jan. 27. "We made our decade debut (and NYC debut) in Brooklyn a few weeks ago at the Issue Project Room. Even more amazing was the fact that we filled up the room enough so that our transportation expenses in getting there and back were covered. ... Now as we've got Super Bowl teams decided and the month of Januaryis closing out, CBOP is making our Boston area 2010 debut at T.T.'s sharing the evening with 28 Degrees Taurus, Arms and Sleepers, and Atlas Ladder(ne Caspian), if the late hours of rock clubbing usually wear you out, the schedule has us hitting the stage right at 9 p.m.

Fri. Jan. 29

 Storyteller Sharon Kennedy and I went through something similar a couple of years back: watching our once vital mothers enter the final downward spiral of life, and ending their years in nursing homes. We talked about the particular pain it brought. Sharon is a professional storyteller, so she can turn what she's been through into something more, into art. And her new is show about her nursing home experiences, called "Which One of Us is the Mother Now?" at the First Parish Church in Brookline Friday Jan. 29 at 7.

Who's this for? Here's how Sharon puts it on her website:

Adult children who have parents...
1. who are getting a little confused as they grow older
2. with Alzheimer’s
3. with dementia
4. in a nursing home
5. in assisted living
6. living with them (the offspring)