MUSIC: Neon Indian, who, as Flavorpill reports, derived his name from an acid trip, performs his brand of synth-pop that's "been making a big splash in the indie chillwave scene." Also featuring guest, Lemonade. (8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Boulevard)

WORKSHOP: Author Hanne Blank will be at Valencia Street Good Vibrations for a reading and discussion about her book, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History, which shows how "the heterosexual" was invented in the 1860s and swiftly and permanently transformed Western culture. (7 to 8 p.m., Valencia Street Good Vibrations Store, 603 Valencia Street)

ART: It's time for another installment of the fabulous Sketch Tuesday, featuring a big line-up of local artists creating and selling work on the fly and at bargain prices. Check out 111 Minna's current exhibition, All The Go Inetweens by Alec Huxley, while you're there. (6 p.m., 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna Street)

MUSIC: SFMOMA presents a stellar free show tonight featuring the groove-tastic Le Le from Amsterdam (check out their cool video.), along with S.F.'s Forlove and DJs Dials, Sleazemore, Eug, and Dreamweapon. (RSVP asap!) (9 p.m., Might SF, 119 Utah Street)

DESIGN: Speaking of books, Chronicle Books and the San Francisco Center for the Book presents an opening reception for the new AIGA’s 50 Books/50 Covers juried exhibition, which showcases the 50 best-designed books and book covers of 2010. The exhibition runs through April 12. (6 to 8 p.m., Chronicle Books, 680 2nd Street)

TALK: Maria Muldaur, of “Midnight at the Oasis” and “I’m a Woman” fame, will speak about her life and work accompanied by live musical interludes with celebrated interviewer, deejay and journalist, Ben Fong-Torres, as part of JCCSF's The Flip Side series. Muldaur has released 35 solo albums spanning the folk revival, early blues, bluegrass and even jug bands. (8 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street)

TALK: Well isn't this a delightful surprise — Jane Lynch will be at the Jewish Community Center tonight speaking in conversation with San Francisco Chronicle’s David Wiegand about all things Glee. Lynch is standing in for the evening's original speaker, Dante Di Loreto, Glee's executive producer. Be sure to check out Young People's Teen Musical Theatre Company, who will be performing a mash up from Cabaret in the atrium afterwards. (7 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street)

MUSIC: At Prince And The Showboy, Tony winner Faith Prince and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle/Ovation Award Winner Jason Graae, two of Broadway’s "finest (and funniest)," will perform some of their most-requested songs, along with a heartfelt tribute to Broadway legend Jerry Herman. (8 p.m., The Rrazz Room, 222 Mason Street)

PARTY: Corvid College, who are dedicated to reuniting education and curiosity and describe themselves thusly: "In place of bureaucracy we have conviviality, instead of tests we have experiments, we do not have grades but glasses full of wine," are having a Spring Term Hoedown, featuring presentations on all of the upcoming Spring courses and a chance to meet students and teachers. (7 to 10 p.m., Royal NoneSuch Gallery in Oakland, 4231 Telegraph Avenue)

FILM: The "fascinating and even-handed documentary," Cleanflix, explores the world of the backroom entrepreneurs in Utah who clean-up racy Hollywood films to suit the puritanical Mormon community, resulting in "twists, turns and a sex scandal that surely would disqualify it from rental shelves around Salt Lake City." (7pm and 9p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

MUSIC: L.A.'s Milk Carton Kids bring their "harmonies & minimalist instrumentation which are a clear reference to times passed, but with an eye intently on the future," to Cafe Du Nord tonight, along with fellow Angeleno, The Brendan Hines. (8 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2174 Market Street)

HISTORY: FunCheapSF tells us about If the Walls Could Speak: Tales from the Mint, in which Old Mint docent Paul V. Turner gives his perspective as an "architectural historian and a man whose research has uncovered fascinating stories linked to the structure," one of the nation’s finest examples of the classical revival style. (7:30 p.m., Old Mint, 88 Fifth Street)

THEATER: You still have a couple of weeks to catch Britain's Kneehigh Theater Group's The Wild Bride at Berkeley Rep, which was extended through the 22nd. SFist Jay enjoyed the production, which he says takes "a particularly dark (and arguably feminist) fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm called 'The Girl Without Hands,' and views it through a Southern Gothic lens, complete with banjo-and-bass bluegrass songs, and a lot of dancing." (8 p.m., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street)

TALK: Obama advisor and MIT economist Jonathan Gruber will discuss his latest book, What It Is, Why It's Necessary, How It Works, which uses comics to explain current and proposed policies. (7 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street)

COMEDY: Three-time Iron Comic champion Sean Keane headlines this week's Eric Show, which will also feature performances by local comics Jason Dove, Josh Marcus, and Shanti Charan, and a special interview and Q&A with Sean following the performance. (8 to 10 p.m., Milk Bar, 1840 Haight St)

FILM: Delight in some yuletide noir classics at Castro Theatre's 2nd annual Noir City XMas 2011, featuring a double feature screening of Lady on a Train and Christmas Holiday. Additionally, the full schedule for the 10th anniversary edition of the Castro's Noir City X, which happens January 20-29, 2012, will be revealed. (7:30 to 11 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street)

ART: For their new installation, hidden in sight, Southern Exposure’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) documented an anthropological survey of a secret society, in which they created both fact and fiction in their exploration, developing the secret society itself by determining its language, customs, codes, and characters, then setting up their own office to research these creations, the “Bureau of Hidden Insight.” (6 to 8 p.m., Southern Exposure, 3030 20th Street)

SCIENCE: Discovery Street Tours presents The Science of (Holiday) Light Walking Tour, which explores the city's most spectacular light displays along San Francisco stairways, side streets, and scenic vistas. The tour also features experiments with color mixing and animation, along with a history of holiday lights and seasonal treats. (6:30 p.m., Dolores Park, NW Corner of 20th and Church Streets)

MUSIC: New Zealand's The Renderers will fill the Hemlock with their psychedelic noise rock, which they've been making since before the 90s, along with folk psych-rockers Sore Eros from Northampton, Massachusetts and the Bay Area's Christine Shields. (9 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street)

TALK: Former Chilean cultural advisor Ariel Dorfman will discuss his new memoir Feeding on Dreams, which covers the "transformative decades that followed Dorfman’s flight from Pinochet’s death squads to Europe, the United States and then, at last, back to Chile in a yearned-for return with an unimaginable outcome."

FILM: The Bioneers Conference, which starts Friday in San Rafael, presents Bioneers Film Night, featuring screenings of YERT (Your Environmental Road Trip), in which three friends explore every state in America "in search of the extraordinary innovators and citizens who are tackling humanity's greatest environmental crises," and !Women Art Revolution, which explores the relationship of the Feminist Art Movement to the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movements. (6:15 and 8:45 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

ART: Berkeley Center for New Media presents a lecture entitled, Fear and Fun, by San Francisco based artist Kal Spelletich, who builds interactive machines, robots and installations, putting people in touch with intense real life experiences in order to empower them. (7:30 p.m., Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley)

MUSIC: Dynamo father and son jazz duo The Rileys take the stage at Yoshi's tonight, featuring dad Terry Riley, who "launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic IN C in 1964," on piano, synth, and vocals, and son Gyan Riley, who was the first full-scholarship graduate guitar student at the San Francisco Conservatory, playing classical and electric guitars. (8 p.m., Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore Street)

THEATER: Theatre of Yugen presents SORYA! A Minor Miracle (Part 1), a collection of plays that explore the meeting between the stories and songs of childhood and ancient Japanese cultural traditions, featuring The Dwarfs are for The Dwarfs, St. Matthew's Fair, and Boshibari (Tied to a Pole). (7 p.m., NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa Street)

MUSIC: SF Bay Area Django Rheinhardtophiles unite at tonight's Django by the Bay celebration, featuring Le Jazz Hot (the quartet of the Hot Club of SF), Doug Martin's Avatar Ensemble, and Vic & Nick performing a whole lot of stringed instruments in the gypsy jazz tradition. (8 p.m., Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore Street)

TALK: Did you know that psychosexual therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer escaped the Holocaust in a Swiss orphanage and was later wounded in action as a sniper for the Haganah in Israel’s war of independence? She'll be at the JCC in person tonight talking about her fascinating life and the latest book that she co-authored, Heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition. (7 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St)

FILM: The new documentary Farmageddon is currently screening at the Roxie through Thursday, and tonight's 7 p.m. screening is part of the Farmageddon: Food Freedom for Our Families Gala Event, featuring a reception and meet and greet with food samples by local artisans at 518 Valencia preceding the film screening, which is then followed by a panel discussion in the theater. (5:30 p.m., 518 Valencia and Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

MUSIC: Bay Area faves, Loquat, are playing their first show in eight months at the Rickshaw tonight, with special guests Inu. Spin aptly coins the band's sound as "[s]ugary, sultry vocals" "wrapped around bouncy basslines and shimmering guitars." If you're looking for a pick me up tonight, here's your show. (8 p.m., Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street)

ART: The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and the San Francisco Study Center present As We Live It, a juried exhibition of works created by participants who access the city’s multiple assistance programs. The exhibition "celebrates the vast and deep talents of artists who use their visual art practice as one form of articulating their identities in a way that words cannot." (5:30 to 7:30 p.m., SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place)

TALK: Stanford visiting professor Mary Felstiner will talk about the life of Nazi-era artist, Charlotte Salomon at Life or Theater?: A Multimedia Artists’ Book, which chronicles Salomon's Berlin girlhood of the 1920s and 1930s featuring 1,300 of Salomon's paintings combining image, texts, and musical notation. RSVP required: (415) 668-2548 or grabhorn@arionpress.com. (6 p.m., The Arion Press, 1802 Hays Street, The Presidio)

MUSIC: San Francisco's Veronica Klaus is performing two encore performances of her new show with the Tammy Hall Trio, featuring some of her favorite Peggy Lee songs, both well-known and more obscure. Get your tickets now before the show sells out! (8 p.m., The Razz Room, 222 Mason Street)

TALK: Gallery 16 hosts A Conversation with Tucker Nichols and Daniel Handler in conjunction with Nichols' current exhibition at the gallery. The two will talk about topics, such as "Art Vs. Books: Which Is Better?, San Francisco: The Birthplace Of Failure, Tools I Can't Work Without, Blame It On The Alter Ego, Who You Picture When You Picture The Audience, Collaboration Is Fun As Long As You Aren't Really Collaborating, I Will Now Choose A Topic You Hopefully Know Nothing About," and "What Do We Do With The Internet." (7 p.m., Gallery 16, 501 Third Street)

THEATER: Playwright Luis Alfaro and director Loretta Greco present Bruja, a reimagining of Euripides’ Medea, "a contemporary story so haunting and sensual, it explodes one of the ancient myths most firmly embedded in our culture. A sizzling look at a sorceress scorned." (8 p.m., Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Building D, 3rd Floor)