The city's plan to establish an all-ages, teen-run music center was set in motion with the purchase of the Ice House building last year. But it's hit a snag. Without a show of your support at two upcoming meetings, the proposed center may be cut out from the funding it needs to get off the ground.

Defend the motherland! Join comrades Unit 7 Drain, Romeo Goes to Hell, Coke is Better with Bourbon and The Fertile Crescent at the Launchpad (21+). $5. (LM)

There once was a car that was cheap, the fastest car on the street. You could own it if you were poor and couldn’t afford more, but still … the car could never be beat. And thus, the “Poor Man’s Ferrari” became a classic machine worth more than 10 times its original listing price.

Brother Ali speaks quietly, his thick East Coast accent eloquent and thoughtful. When we speak, he's in Boston in the middle of a two-month tour. Lots of musicians bitch about being on the road, but Ali loves it—except for missing his new wife and 6-year-old son. He's a serious guy who's had to sacrifice and scrap his way to fame, riding a heap of critical praise for his first big success with the Rhymesayers label, Shadows on the Sun.

The musical approaches of pianist Edward Simon and altoist David Binney seem, on the surface, fairly disparate. Binney favors fire, speed and dynamism. Simon tends toward water, patience and understatement. Different paths, but the two longtime associates both find their ways to beautiful music, here with bassist Scott Colley, drummer Brian Blade and a host of guests (notably vocalist Luciana Souza and guitarist Adam Rogers). From the uncomplicated profundity of Simon’s “Govinda” to Colley’s intense but delicate “Amnesia” to Binney’s dreamy “We Dream Oceans,” Océanos offers a deeply musical and satisfying passage over the open water of original jazz.