MUSIC—Question for you to ponder while you jam out at Mississippi Studios tonight: Did Florida slacker-rock aficionados Surfer Blood adopt that name with the intent of menacing their home state’s surfers? Or does the blood of surfers course through their veins? The band’s brand-new album, 1000 Palms, probably offers clues. DIRK VANDERHART
w/Alex Calder; Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, 9 pm, $16-18
BOOKS—Curious about the future? Then delve into the haunting, hyper-real stories of writer Paolo Bacigalupi. (Spoiler: Thanks to climate change, genetic modification, and income inequality, the future will be brutal.) Tonight, the award-winning science-fiction writer reads from The Water Knife, his thriller set in a drought-ridden America. Sound familiar? ERIK HENRIKSEN
Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills, Beaverton, 7 pm, FREE