Lincoln Square Holiday Festival

Get your holidays started right with an all-out festival in Lincoln Square. This weekend you can listen to some stories at the Book Cellar, make some pottery at the Lincoln Square Pottery Studio, do yoga with your kids at the Bloom Yoga Studio, take pictures with Santa, listen to the Saint Matthias Choir and much more. The festival is centered around Giddings Plaza at 4731 N. Lincoln and run Friday, 5-8pm, Saturday, 10am-7pm, and Sunday, 10am-4pm. For more information contact the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce at 773-728-3890.

Turntablist workshop @ Old Town School

The Old Town School of Folk Music presents the latest in a series of one-day workshops designed to teach students about a new musical or dance style in a single class. Today's workshop is the return of the turntablist workshop, as taught by battle DJ Danny the Wild Child. The workshop includes a lecture and demonstration by Danny, followed by semi-private lessons to work on basic skills. The class meets today from 1:00 PM to 2:50 PM at the school; the cost is $40, and you need to bring a notebook and tape recorder. To register for the class, please see the Old Town School Website. This class fills up quickly, so register ASAP! Old Town School: 4544 N. Lincoln. (773) 728-6000.

Dance-along Nutcracker @ Cultural Center

Bring your tutu for this annual event, which welcomes you to dance, and sing, along with music from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Two performances: 12 N and 3 PM, preceded by a tutu- and mask-making workshop. Free, in Preston Bradley Hall. 78 E Washington. For more information, call 312-744-6630 or visit the website.

The Slackers @ Abbey Pub

mP productions welcomes ska/reggae/jazz/soul/dub/r'n'b artists The Slackers tonight at the Abbey Pub. [mp3 sample] Opening are current and former Members of Deal's Gone Bad, Lord Mike's Dirty Calypsonians, Situation Normal, This is a Graveyard, and The Drama — Todd Hembrook and the Hemispheres as well as DJ Chuck Wren, host of "Everything Off-Beat," the world's premier ska oriented radio show, on WLUW. Playing material from all three waves of ska (with an extensive collection of original Jamaican vinyl), Chuck likes to throw in dashes of soul, mod, rockabilly, power-pop and punk to the show's already tasty stew. The show starts at 8pm and is 18+, tickets are $12 in advance, $14 at the door.

Sun Ra in Chicago: Musical Recollections @ Cultural Center

Sun Ra's most important ensemble, the Arkestra, was formed in Chicago in the mid 1950s, where it played at various clubs on the South Side, like Budland and the Wonder Inn, as well as North Side social clubs. This afternoon, an ensemble of original members of the Arkestra and other Ra associates, including Robert Barry, Art Hoyle, Ricky Murray, Hattie Randolph, and Lucious Randolph, gather for an intimate exchange of anecdotes along with performances of favorite Ra compositions. The performance is moderated by John Corbett. The performance starts at 3pm at the Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center (77 E. Randolph Street). Free!

DEPART-ment @ Open End Gallery

It's time again for one of the quarterly DEPART-ment craft fairs at Open-End gallery. This awesome idea to bring you a department store-style set up of some of the absolute best indie Chicago crafts happens just in time to get your holiday shopping done. Items will be arranged by category, with one convenient checkout station at the end. Cash only (ATM on site). Open-End is located at 2000 W. Fulton, #310 (at Damen, just south of Grand) . Give them a call for more info at (312) 560-1442. The sale runs Dec. 1 (Friday) night from 7pm-11pm, Dec. 2 (Saturday) 11am-5pm and Dec. 3 (Sunday) 11am-5pm.

Center Night Out

The Center on Halsted is in the final days of its capital campaign to meet the Kresge Challenge, and in order to meet the deadline, the Center will have representatives out at many of Chicago's gay and gay-friendly bars and restaurants tonight to answer your questions and (hopefully) take your donations. As of November 20 the particpating venues are:

@mosphere
Berlin
Big Chicks
Bucks Saloon
Cell Block
Charlie's Ale House - Andersonville
Crew Bar & Grill
Gentry on Halsted
Hamburger Mary's/Mary's Attic
Hydrate
Lakeview Broadcasting Company (LBC)
Little Jim's
minibar
Roscoe's
Scot's Bar
Sidetrack
Spin
Star Gaze
T's

Come out after 5pm tonight to meet Center on Halsted staff members and volunteers and make a donation.

Unaccompanied Minors Premier w/Ira Glass

Unaccompanied Minors, a feature film based on a This American Life episode, makes its Chicago premier today at 1pm at the AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois St. TAL host Ira Glass will be on hand to talk about how radio translates to the big screen and director Paul Feig will answer audience questions. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for kids 12 and under. More info and ticket purchasing here.