TUESDAY 17 NOVEMBER
If you aren't already experiencing sensory overload from the hoards of Princess Di Barbie Dolls and made for TV movies soon to invade your tube with thrice-regurgitated versions of the Paris accident...no? ...really?...then you might be one of the millions planning to pay homage at "Dresses for Humanity: An Exhibition of the Dresses of Diana, Princess of Wales." The American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass is the lucky host of Di's famous garments which are projected to generate $100 million in donations for various chartities spanning the globe. The exhibit runs through Jan. 1st. Tickets are $10 for adults ($8 for members, students, and seniors, children under 12 admitted free.) 978-441-0400
WEDNESDAY 18 NOVEMBER
Tori groupies will abound in Lowell when the seductive daughter of a Baptist preacher takes the stage, Wednesday night at Tsongas Arena. Tori Amos's soulful crooning and pounding of the keyboard makes for a cathartic, emotionally wrenching experience worthy of the $27.50 ticket price. Call 931-2000 for more information.
Radcliffe College may be having an identity crisis, but The Bunting Institute is still providing top-notch academic discussions for the interested outsider. This week, historian Ann Blair presents a colloquium on "Coping with Information Overload: Encyclopedic Reference Works in Early Modern Europe." Followed by a Brown Bag Lunch discussion on Thursday. Wednesday 4 p.m., Thursday 12:30 to 2 p.m., The Bunting Institute, 34 Concord Ave., Cambridge, 495-8212, FREE.
He went through Georgia on a fast train, and now Billy Joe Shaver is storming into Somerville. This hero of the hillbilly music circuit is headlining with his son Eddy in an all-acoustic show supporting his new album Victory. It will be a fantastic show, whether you are a displaced Southerner or a Yankee searching for a taste of low culture. 8 p.m., Johnny D's Uptown, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville. 776-2004. $12 cover.
To whom it may concern: Under the auspices of the Morris Gray Lecture Fund, the Department of English and American Literature and Language, and the Woodberry Poetry Room, Geoffrey Hill will present a reading of his work today. 7 p.m., Thompson Parlor, room 110, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., FREE.