People crave beautiful things, and appetites—for food, for music, for art—are amplified as the sun sinks low in the sky. As the evenings grow warmer and dusk lingers longer, the Taylor Street Night Market returns. The community is invited to gather around and sample tasty offerings from food trucks, such as Capelo’s BBQ, Twister’s and Fairycakes. Local makers, like Local Color’s T-shirt and poster printing Downtown Screen Printers, showcase their wares, while Noah and the Arkiteks provide the soundtrack.Taylor Street Night Market
Thu, 5pm, Free
Gordon Biersch Brewery, San Jose

Life is not like a Thomas Kinkade painting. The universe is vast, cold and indifferent. But that doesn’t stop Mr. Harada from seeking out the beauty within a turbulent sea of bummers. This San Jose visual artist (and Metro contributor) deploys sarcasm, nihilism and good, old-fashioned brutal honesty to get to the pith of the human experience. Some of his recurring characters recall Max from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, while others are grotesque caricatures of drunks, lowlifes and the perpetually down-and-out—plus the occasional creepy clown. His latest solo show is titled “Still Trying to Figure it Out.”

Mr. Harada: New Works
Fri, 7pm, Free
Local Color, San Jose

Artist co-op, performance space and craft market Local Color strives to create economic opportunities for artists throughout the community. The crown jewel of their studio is a professional screen printing setup which helps artists with the production of art prints and custom apparel. Generating Heat aims to raise money for a professional conveyor dryer. The equipment will help artists cure printed art and products more efficiently, which, in turn, will result in works with a more professional look. The event will also feature live performances, a group art show, beer and wine. (JR)

Generating Heat
Sat, 12pm, Free
Local Color, San Jose

All the world’s information (and plenty of misinformation) is at our fingertips. It’s enough to drive old curmudgeons like us to pine for the good old days. You know, back before squiggly red lines alerted us to our grammatical faux pas and our handsets auto-corrected our text messages—when you either knew how to how to spell onomatopoeia or you had to pick up an actual dictionary … with paper pages. There are no smartphones allowed for the contestants in this wordy tourney. Fortunately, there is beer. Join “Mighty” Mike McGee and co-host Ben Henderson for this sudsy spelling extravaganza.

Spelling Bee(r)
Sat, 9pm, Free
Local Color, San Jose