HOT TICKETS

It's “An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein” at the Oakland Center for the Arts, 220 W. Boardman St., downtown. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; plus, a midnight show has been added Saturday night to make up for last Saturday’s performance, which was canceled because of the snowstorm. Call (330) 746-0404. The Oakland will knock $3 off the price of a ticket to any of the 8 p.m. performances to anyone who brings a new children’s book to be donated to First Book Mahoning Valley.

Art Benjamin is a mathemagician, and the term, which he coined, is very accurate. The California mathematics professor can do complicated math calculations in his head faster than a person with a calculator. Benjamin has become something of a celebrity, appearing on television shows including “The Colbert Report.” He will give a free performance at 1 p.m. Friday at McKay Auditorium in Beeghly Auditorium on the campus of Youngstown State University.k

Arenacross, an indoor version of motocross, will bring its jumps and hairpin curves to Covelli Centre for three shows this weekend. Races will go off at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday on the dirt track. Check Ticketmaster and the arena box office for tickets. Story, D8

The Country Megaticket — which includes one ticket to seven country-music concerts this summer at First Niagara Pavilion (formerly Post-Gazette Pavilion) and Blossom Music Center, is back. It goes on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at megaticket.com. The shows are: Sugarland, with Jake Owen and Danny Gokey; Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Jack Ingram and more; Brad Paisley, with Darius Rucker; Tim McGraw, with Lady Antebellum and Love & Theft; Brooks & Dunn, with Gary Allan; Toby Keith; and Rascal Flatts, with Kellie Pickler. Prices range from $150 (lawn) to $625 (platinum package, with reserved covered seat and VIP parking).

“The Fabric of a Man” enters its second and final weekend at the Youngstown Playhouse. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Call (330) 788-8739.

Opening this weekend: “Fuddy Meers” at New Castle Playhouse, 212 E. Long Ave., New Castle, Pa. (7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday); call (724) 654-3437.

Also: “I Do, I Do!,” at Stage Left Players’ Trinity Playhouse, 234 E. Lincoln Way, Lisbon; (8 p.m. Friday and Saturday); call (330) 424-5093.

jYoungstown Symphony Orchestra will present Symphonic Valentine, a pops concert featuring George Gershwin and Frank Sinatra songs, at 8 p.m. Saturday at Powers Auditorium. Accompanying the YSO will be Broadway star Anne Runolfsson (“Phantom of the Opera”) and the Joe Augustine Trio. For ticket information, call (330) 744-0264.

Sundays at Stambaugh luncheon program returns this Valentine's Day with harpist Nancy Paterson and flutist Linda Madsen. It starts with lunch (catered by Rosetta Stone) at 12:15 p.m. Sunday in Christman Hall, which is in Stambaugh Auditorium. Tickets are $25, and the deadline to make reservations is today. Call (330) 747-5175.

Another Valentine's Day option: the W.D. Packard Concert Band will give a free concert at 3 p.m. at Packard Music Hall in Warren. “Valentines and Love Songs” will include arrangements from “West Side Story,” “Tristan and Isolde” and “Scarborough Fair.”

Pattern ID, Akron Art Museum’s newest exhibition, features 15 artists of diverse origins who use pattern and dress as visual connectors between themselves, their histories and their audiences. “It shows how we live today, that we move from place to place, that we come from complex heritages with many countries, religions, ethnic backgrounds — all combined and merging,” said Mitchell Kahan, Akron Art Museum director.

To complement the exhibition, which runs through May 9, the museum will screen “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” at 7 p.m. Feb. 25, because many Pattern ID artists draw on hip-hop culture for inspiration. The film explores a number of issues in modern hip-hop culture, including masculinity, representations of women and gays, views on violence and representations of hip-hop culture in media. It features interviews with Russell Simmons, Chuck D, Mos Def and Busta Rhymes.

The screening is free, but seating is limited. For more info, go to akronartmuseum.org.