Emo rocker Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, goes solo with folky acoustic torch songs. Kevin Devine opens. 7 p.m. $10. The Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore. 410-662-0069 or TheOttobar.com

LECTURE

Washington Post foreign correspondent John Pomfret will discuss modern Chinese history — and the tortuous past 40 years of China’s reinvention — in Goucher’s Kraushaar Auditorium tonight. The former Post Beijing bureau chief and author signs copies of his book “Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China afterwards.” 7 p.m. Free. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson. 410-337-6333 or Goucher.edu