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1 Maxwell: After a looooooong layoff, the neo-soul singer is back with a new album, "BLACKsummer'snight," that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Charts and a tour that lands at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord Oct. 17. Rapper Common opens.
Details: 7 p.m.; $20-$79.50; 877-598-6659, www.livenation.com
2 Arab Film Festival: The 10-day festival offers more than 45 feature films and documentaries reflecting a broad range of stories, viewpoints and lifestyles throughout the Middle East.
Details: Screenings are through Oct. 18 at Castro and Opera Plaza theaters in S.F. and Cinema 12,
San Jose, and Oct. 23-25 at Shattuck Cinemas and California Theatre in Berkeley; $12-$12 per screening, $100 for festival pass; go to www.aff.org/2009/index.php for schedule, tickets and more information. Tickets also available at www.brownpapertickets.com.3 "The Chosen": TheatreWorks is presenting this stage adaptation of the acclaimed Chaim Potok novel about two boys growing in post-WWII Brooklyn.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 1; Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; $24-$62;
4 Del Valle Dog Show: The show is a dog lovers' heaven, with more than 40 breeds in various competitions, plus displays by vendors and other attractions catering to canines.
Details: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 17, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 18-19; Alameda County Fairgrounds, Pleasanton; $5-$10; active military members free; 925-426-7600; www.dvdc.org.
5 Amy X Neuburg: The East Bay avant garde composer, singer and musician unveils another fascinating musical project in Berkeley this weekend. She's teaming with Solstice, the woman's vocal ensemble, on "Fill as Desired," a song cycle inspired by recipes collected by women in the Terezin concentration camp outside Prague.
Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 17; Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $18.50; 510-644-2020, www.thefreight.org.
6 "Actors Give Back" a Willows Theatre Company fundraiser: This event on Oct. 18 lets you catch some talented actors, singers and dancers strutting their stuff, while helping out a financially strapped theater company that absolutely needs and deserves our help to keep going. Performers include Ron Pickett, Barbara Grant, Jon Marshall, Toni Panighetti, Amy Washburn, Ricardo Rust, Diana Torres Koss, Jonathan Spencer, Cindy Goldfield and Jenny Angell.
Details: Silent auction is 5:30 p.m., entertainment, 7:30 p.m.; Willows Campbell Theatre, Martinez; $50; 925-798-1300 or www.willowstheatre.org.
7 Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival: Anyone who thinks pumpkin art is limited to carving a Charlie Brown-like zigzag into your Jack-o-lantern every year should see what sculptors do to the colossal cucurbitas at this annual event. There are also pie-eating contests, a haunted barn, live entertainment, arts and crafts and lots of delicious food.
Details: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 17-18; Main Street, Half Moon Bay; free admission; 650-726-9652, www.miramarevents.com.
8 "Oliver": Contra Costa Musical Theatre Company presents this musical adaptation of the Dickens classic about a poor orphan lad in 18th-century London.
Details: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 7, also 2 p.m. Oct. 24; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $40-$45; 925-943-7469, www.lesherartscenter.org., www.ccmt.org.
9 Fillmore's First Cool Black Ball: If you haven't checked out the revived San Francisco Fillmore District in a while, here's a good chance. Restaurants and nightclubs on Fillmore, between Post and Eddy streets, will be serving food and offering entertainment between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. Oct. 17. Visitors are encouraged to dress up in 1920s-'50s jazz age-inspired black duds for the affair.
Details: $30-$40; 808-352-4315, www.coolblackball.com.
10 Wayne Shorter: The stupendously talented saxophonist and composer will bring his quartet — featuring drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci and pianist Danilo Perez — to UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall on Oct. 17.
Details: 8 p.m.; $28-$52; 510-642-9988; www.calperformances.org.
Reach Randy McMullen at 925-943-8262 or rmcmullen@bayareanewsgroup.com
