Ear Farm’s Ten Brooklyn Bands You Should Hear Right Now, complete with deets on their upcoming gigs so you can hear them now. Number one will be announced today!

WEDNESDAY: You! Me! Dancing!
The frantic, poppy indie rock of U.K.-based Los Campesinos got all the cool kids talking last year; now the band is back in 2009 with a new album, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed,” and they’re promoting it with a free show tonight at Sound Fix Lounge.

There are still tickets available to Local, Pastured Meat: Good for the Planet and Good for You, a Slow U event at Astor Center. Although the class is in Manhattan, Caroline Fidanza, Meat Czar at Marlow & Sons and Diner, is teaching alongside Dan Gibson of Flying Pigs Farm and she couldn’t be more Brooklyn if she tried. $45, 6:30-8:30pm, tickets here.

THURSDAY: DIY, You PYT
New inventions are the name of the game at 3rd Ward’s Handmade Music Night, a monthly DIY music and technology laboratory, where any type of short performance, installation, or work-in-progress is welcome. Things stay relaxed courtesy of free (cheap) beer and the experimental, nutty science fair-like atmosphere. Handmade instruments, circuit-bent toys, robots, custom software, and interactive digital and visual instruments all conspire to create a night of partying, creating, and just plain hanging out. 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Avenue, Bushwick, 7:30-10:30pm.

Wine, Dine, and Expand Your Mind
Award-winning novelist and poet Louise Erdrich reads from her new collection of stories, The Red Convertible, at BAMCafé as part of BAM’s Eat, Drink & Be Literary series. A $50 ticket gets you dinner, wine and a seat at Erdrich’s reading and Q&A. Get tickets here>>

FRIDAY: Full of Hot Air
Appreciate art on a grand scale at 3rd Ward this Friday when students from the center’s inflatable sculpture class (that’s right, inflatable sculpture) show off their gargantuan creations during a special one-day exhibition featuring complimentary drinks and music from DJ Tanner.

Globetrotter
Know Hope of Tel Aviv anchors most of his street art around a melancholy, solitary figure who has appeared on walls throughout the world. His solo show “Insecurities of Time” opens at Ad Hoc Art this Friday.

SATURDAY: Karaoke With a Twist
Unleash your inner rock star with live band karaoke at Union Hall. Bunnie England & the New Originals provide the backing band; you provide the singer. Pick your tune from the band’s song list.

California Dreamin’
San Diego’s The Soft Pack (above, formerly known as The Muslims) play a catchy brand of low-fi punk not unlike that of The Strokes, which in this case is definitely a good thing. We’ve got a pair of tickets to their show Saturday night at Union Pool with the Browns and Those Darlins for the third reader to answer in which city Strokes’ drummer Fabrizio Moretti was born. Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg.

SUNDAY: Sweet Charity
Listen to awesome math-rock foursome The Forms this Sunday while benefiting the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation (tickets are $10). The Forms’ “hermits in a laboratory” sound is a witty, cerebral electro-pop that is as infectious as it is fresh. Playing alongside are Frances, boasting innovative orchestral rock, Ford & Fitzroy’s mellow psych pop, and ARMS, another offshoot of the capitalize-your-short-band-name-until-it-looks-cool club of HEALTH and YACHT. Festivities kick off at 7pm at the Bell House, 149 7th St, Gowanus.

WNYC presents A Journey of Hope: From Protest to Presidency at the Brooklyn Museum Sunday at 3pm. The afternoon of conversation, music, and poetry is hosted by the local talk radio voice Brian Lehrer. Free, but RSVP is necessary due to limited seating.

MONDAY: Have a Dream
BAM celebrates MLK Day with the 23rd Annual Brooklyn Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring a speech by Minnijean Brown Trickey (of the “Little Rock Nine”), music from one-time Gil Scott-Heron collaborator Brian Jackson and a screening of the documentary “Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later.” Free! 10:30am, MLK, Jr. Day.

TUESDAY: Oh Yes We Did!
In honor of Inauguration Day, Pacific Standard opens early, at 11am, as does Barbes, which will be screening live coverage of the day’s celebrations in its back room. You can also catch coverage at Southpaw, which is opening its doors slightly early, at 6pm, for The Inauguration Celebration: The Goodbye WreckRoom Party for Bush. The Bell House puts a borough-specific spin on its festivities as it hosts the Brooklyn Inaugural Ball, which doubles as a fundraiser for PS 261. Shops and restaurants in Fort Greene offer deals to mark the occasion, starting on Friday. Go to the Bed Stuy Blog for the full list.

Sent by Chrysanthe, Keith, Nina and Jocelyn. Photos from top courtesy of this is limbo via Flickr, Los Campesinos, via MySpace, the 3rd Ward, The Soft Pack and The Forms via MySpace.