OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: Kristy Kruger is a chanteuse, a raconteur, and a classically-trained composer. And on November 2, 2006, the jazz-folk artist became the sister of a fallen soldier, one of more than 4,300 Americans in coalition who've died in the Iraq war. She'll play in honor of the Dallas-born Lt. Col. Eric Kruger, as she does every year on the anniversary of his death, and a fourth of proceeds from the suggested $10 donation will help wounded veterans via Fisher House. Salim Nourallah, Robert Gomez, and The Beaten Sea fill out the pool of reflection that will be the third annual Dia de los Muertos Music Festival. Opening Bell Coffee at South Side, 6PM.
QUIET PLACE TO TALK: We checked out Jupiter House Europa in Denton this weekend, and if the original location on Locust Street is part of the "campus" tour you give University of North Texas hopefuls, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the bursts of color and cozy shape of the place. Besides the specialty candy in the pastry case, here's something to try in the sleek new booths less populated with students: a pseudo- StoryCorps interview, in which you ask someone you care about to tell their most beloved stories -- perhaps, on this day, tales of a departed loved one -- and record the conversation. Doors open until midnight.
GENTLE SPACE: Our heritage amassed from souls passed on becomes culture, and sometimes, the ideas relayed by ancient art can remind us of our most organic wishes and motives (before selfish pursuits stepped in.) See a 9-foot-tall model of the Ten Thousand Springs Pavillion, built without nails, on loan from the Smithsonian at the Irving Arts Center. The original is location in the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing. Open until 5PM.
