Give him points for spontaneity. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince will put on his latest last-minute show Friday at the grungy Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence Ave., with special guest (and original Sly & the Family Stone bassist) Larry Graham. The concert is billed as a record release party for his Prince-liness’ latest album, “New Power Soul,” which should hit stores May 15. If you want to buy tickets, be at a Ticketmaster outlet by noon Sunday, where you can buy two per person (cash only). 312-559-1212.
– Monica Eng
THEATER: PAINT IT `BLACK’
Those of us who can’t get enough noir in our fiction, film and drama will want to take note of “Black Friday,” Live Bait Theatre’s adaptation of David Goodis’ tale about an artist turned criminal. Goodis is the cult author who died broke and bitter in 1967 after penning, among other gems, “Down There,” the source for Francois Truffaut’s “Shoot the Piano Player.” His deliciously dark works are once again available on the paperback shelf. Meanwhile, “Black Friday,” adapted by onetime igLoo artistic director Christopher Peditto and directed by Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s Richard Cotovsky, opens Thursday at Live Bait at 3914 N. Clark St. 773-871-1212.
– Sid Smith
TV: FOLKS’ TALES
Ken Burns has nothing, when it comes to length, on the makers of the new “People’s Century” PBS documentary. A total of 26 hourlong programs will comprise the series; the first six debut this week. A joint production of Boston’s WGBH and the BBC, this series aims to tell the history of the 20th Century through the eyes of the people who lived it. The producers explicitly avoid “academics and pundits.” The first three 2-hour segments (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 8 p.m., WTTW-Ch. 11) treat topics including communism, the movies and sports.
– Steve Johnson
ART: LOVELY TO LOOK AT
Sunday brings the last chance to see one of the season’s most beautiful exhibitions, “Archibald Knox (1864-1933), Liberty of London Designer and Master of British Art Nouveau,” at the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Knox was to the decorative arts what Charles Rennie Mackintosh was to architecture: a giant of unfailing poetry and elegance. No one should miss this first major retrospective. Closing time is 6 p.m. Sunday. 312-702-0200.
– Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL: TRES, TRES FRANCAIS
This week will bring a mini-invasion of French modernist composers to Chicago. Just as Pierre Boulez begins his two-week Chicago Symphony Orchestra residency at Symphony Center, so does his composing colleague Luc Ferrari begin a weeklong residency of composition seminars and a concert. Sponsors are the French Cultural Services-Chicago and the School of the Art Institute. Ferrari is one of the leading figures working in musique concrete, or electronic music made up of sounds taken from nature or the urban environment. Along with conducting colloquia for students at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, Ferrari will preside over a free concert of his electronic pieces at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the ballroom of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan Ave. 312-664-3525 or 312-345-3564.
– John von Rhein
JAZZ: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
Chicago-born tenor saxophone giant Johnny Griffin returns to his hometown every year to celebrate his birthday, but this time he’ll mark a major milestone: He will turn 70 on Friday. That should make Griffin’s annual engagement, always an important event on Chicago’s musical calendar, a particularly festive event. Griffin opens a weeklong run Tuesday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave. 312-670-BIRD.
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– Howard Reich