Here’s a new one. Daily updates! If you don’t recognize the place where a show is happening, click our Venues page. And by the way, if you see a listing here like this: Sniveling Williamsburg Wimps/Coney Island Death Squad, that means that the Sniveling Williamsburg Wimps are opening for Coney Island Death Squad, not the other way around.

First the weekly stuff, then the daily calendar.

Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston).

Every Sunday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz during a brunch set at Bar Tabac on Smith St. in Brooklyn Heights from about half past noon to 4 PM.

Sundays Sean Kershaw & the Terrible Two (that’s the New Jack Ramblers minus a couple fingers & toes) play the upstairs roof deck at Rocky Sullivan’s, 34 Van Dyke St at Dwight St in Red Hook, 1-4 PM. Free ferry from Manhattan (pier 11,Wall St.) and free shuttle buses from the F&G trains at Smith-9th St, the F,M,R at 4th Ave, and the 2,3,4,5,M,N,R at Borough Hall.

Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (usually) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St.  Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.

Sundays in August at 9 PM, sensational gypsy jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel – who’s been incorporating a lot of other influences, particularly Middle Eastern, into his sound – plays Barbes.

Every Sunday, hip-hop MC Big Zoo hosts the long-running End of the Weak rap showcase at the Pyramid, 9 PM, admission $5 before 10, $7 afterward. This is one of the best places to discover some of the hottest under-the-radar hip-hop talent, both short cameos as well as longer sets from both newcomers and established vets

Also Mondays in Sept. (they’re taking August off to tour) the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:45. They’ve singlehandedly resurrected an amazing subgenre, chicha, which was popular in the Peruvian Amazon in the late 60s and early 70s. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a boisterous rhythm section, their mix of obscure classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year. Perhaps not so strangely, they sound a lot like Finnish surf rockers Laika and the Cosmonauts in their most imaginative moments.

Mondays in August (and pretty much every month, when he’s not on tour), Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Black Betty in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 10:30 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, frequently salacious original gospel songs and is one of the great live performers of our time. Moist Paula from Moisturizer is the lead soloist on baritone sax.

Tuesdays El Ritmo Southside plays Rose Bar in Williamsburg, 11 PM. Instrumental covers of classic, Fania-era salsa, mambo, cha-cha, rhumba etc.: Palmieri, Puente, Barretto, et al. featuring superb vibraphonist Tommy Mattioli and a rotating rhythm section.

Also every Tues in Sept., the boisterous and very popular brass-heavy gypsy jazz band Slavic Soul Party plays Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as the opening act is usually popular as well.

Every Wednesday, Will Scott and drummer Wylie Wirth play mesmerizing, hypnotic, completely authentic Mississippi hill country blues along with Scott’s own melodic, tuneful blues originals at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo, starting around 8:30 PM. Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Asie Payton are sadly gone but Scott continues their tradition of music that is as danceable as it is trance-inducing, and does his influences justice.

Also every Wednesday, the Nat Lucas Organ Trio plays jazz at Lenox Lounge uptown, sets from 8 PM to midnight.

The first major JMW Turner exhibit in the US in many moons is up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through 9/21. Now might be a good time to check it out - get there early in the day if you can.

Fri Aug 15 Willie Nile plays a super-rare acoustic set – no idea how long – at J&R Music World downtown on Park Row, half past noon. The legendary New York rock anthem writer is one of the great live performers of our time, making a trip downtown on your lunch hour well worth the trip. He’ll be signing copies of his new cd and DVD Live from the Streets of New York. Click here for samples: volcanically good stuff. 

Also Fri Aug 15, 8 PM Marta Topferova plays her completely unique, haunting blend of Balkan and latin music at Barbes with accordion, guitar and a rhythm section. Pretty amazing, completely original stuff.

Also Fri Aug 15 at 55 Bar, 10 PM it’s Reverend Vince Anderson & The Whispering Thunder Blues Band. A rare Manhattan show by the amazing keyboardist/showman, as adept at Howlin Wolf as he is at funk and gospel. This band features his longtime lead instrumentalist Paula Henderson from Moisturizer on baritone sax as well as a kick-ass rhythm section of Andrew Hall and Brian Woodruff.

Also Fri Aug 15 a great tripleheader at Spikehill starting at 9 with wickedly funny outlaw country throwbacks Maynard & the Musties, fresh from the studio after recording with Ryan Adams, then tuneful, tongue-in-cheek janglerockers (you should hear their deadpan Go Go’s cover) the Somebodies followed by the Disclaimers at 11 PM. The headliners are one of NYC’s top half-dozen best live bands, blending hypnotic soul songs into their fiery, organ-and-keyboard-driven garage rock mix. Everybody in the band sings; frontwomen Naa Koshie Mills and Kate Thomason make an especially charismatic twosome with their voices and stage presence. The Disclaimers are also here on Aug 29 at 11.

Also Fri Aug 15 tastefully twangy surf instrumental traditionalists Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars are back at Lakeside, 11 PM.

Also Fri Aug 15, midnight, sensationally good, hypnotic dub reggae crew Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad play a concert cruise aboard the good ship Half Moon, adv tix $20 and very highly recommended at the box office, 630 9th Avenue Suite 602 Between 44th and 45th streets, Monday-Friday 12 noon-6pm, 212-571-3304. The boat leaves from Skyport Marina, E 23rd St & the FDR a half hour later, but you’ll want to get there early to get a good seat.

Sat Aug 16 fiery, horn-driven, often hauntingly minor-key third-wave ska revivalists Tri-State Conspiracy plays an early afternoon show at the Blackwater Inn in the Rockaways, 112-08 Rockaway Beach Blvd,  3 PM. Take the A train to Beach 116th St., the bar is 4 blocks from the subway at 112th St.

Also Sat Aug 16, 7 PM smartly literate, funny, accordion-driven somewhat oldtimey Brooklynites Pinataland play the Old Stone House at JJ Byrne Park in Park Slope, Brooklyn 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. They’re also at the Rockwood on Sun Aug 17, also early, at 7.

Also Sat Aug 16 self-described antique songwriter Mamie Minch – equally good at original, haunting delta blues, rustic oldtimey country and pop styles from a hundred years ago plays 68 Jay St. Bar at 9 with the excellent Andy Cotton on bass. Sort of like a one-woman version of the Moonlighters. 

Also Sat Aug 16 scorchingly funny punk band Custard Wally play the cd release for their surprisingly diverse new one Call Me Walt at Don Pedro’s, 9 PM.

Also Sat Aug 16, 9 PM  a free screening of the film “Song Sung Blue” on the lawn at Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island, take the tram at 68th St. Summary: Lightning & Thunder, a homegrown Milwaukee husband and wife Neil Diamond cover band. They fall in love, rise to fame and suffer grave misfortune as they share the music of the “Jewish Elvis” – yeah right -  with the people of Milwaukee. Preceded by live Neil Diamond karaoke, no joke (which, umm, you might want to pass on). Why is Wisconsin seemingly always the setting for all every single atrocity exhibition movie?

Also Sat Aug 16, 10ish, the Mess Around play the Shillelagh Tavern, 47-22 30th Ave., Astoria, worth a ride on the N train. One of NYC’s best, most ferocious acts, this scorching garage punk band evoke Radio Birdman in their best, furiously guitar-fueled, cynical moments.

Also Sat Aug 16 Spanking Charlene play Lakeside, 11 PM. NYC’s answer to X: guy/girl vocals, dirty Americana-punk songs along with some strikingly pretty country stuff. Frontwoman Charlene McPherson has one hell of a voice

Sun Aug 17 at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center, dance and music by Ologunde, Bonga and the Vodou Drums of Haiti, and the Ivoirian Kotchegna Dance Company starting around 2ish.

Also Sun Aug 17 keyboard/horn-driven groovemeisters Chin Chin open for acclaimed hip-hop artist Aesop Rock at McCarren Pool, 3ish.

Also Sun Aug 17, a rousing season finale at Central Park Summerstage, 3 PM: Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, the Mehahan Street Band (who share members with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, the Budos Band, and El Michels Affair) followed by the incomparable funk/soul revivalists Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings at around 5. Get there at 3 at the latest if you’re going.

Also Sun Aug 17 Michael Arenella’s Dreamland Orchestra plays the new Galapagos, 7-10 PM, $12. 16 Main St. in DUMBO. Directions from the York St. F train: walk downhill on Jay St. one block to Front St., left on Front St. four blocks to Main St., right on Main St, walk two blocks to Water St., Galapagos is on the far corner of Main and Water. Horn player Arenella and his 1920s style jazz orchestra specialize in brilliant obscurities from the early swing era and can really rip up a room when they’re in the mood.

Mon Aug 18 a Caribbean bill featuring upcoming soca star Bunji Garlin & Asylum, the ageless calypso warrior Mighty Sparrow (what is he now, about eighty?) and 90s Jamaican lovers rock star Beres Hammond (what is he now, about fifty?) at Wingate Field in Bed Stuy, free, either get there early at 7:30 PM or late at 9, otherwise you’ll be waiting in line for hours before being subjected to a Guantanamo-style security gauntlet.

Also Mon Aug 18 at the Jazz Standard, sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM, bandoneon player/bandleader Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango Quintet including piano, strings and a rhythm section playing absolutely gorgeous, haunting, classic Piazzola-style compositions.

Tues Aug 19, 7 PM Middle Eastern orchestra Zikrayat plays classic Levantine dance music accompanied by bellydancers at Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens. 7 train to Vernon Blvd.-Jackson walk on 48th Avenue to the East River. The park is in front of the Citylights Building.

Also Tues Aug 19 Anthony B plays B.B. King’s, 8-ish, adv tix $20 available at the box office. The self-appointed torchbearer of Peter Tosh’s legacy is a fiery, politically charged lyricist, an intensely charismatic performer and a purveyor of an uncommonly tuneful blend of roots and dancehall reggae.

Tues Aug 19 Polka Madre, whose raison d’etre seems to be all things polka, but who mix a dark gypsyish sound with new wave-ish rock en Espanol play Zebulon at 9. They’re also at Fontana’s on 8/23 at 10, and at Hecho en Dumbo, 111 Front St. in Dumbo on 9/11 at 10 for free.

Also starting Tues Aug 19, brilliantly panstylistically noir gypsy/klezmer/neoclassical Buffalo group Casperous Vine is in town. With accordion, classical guitar and strings, they play beautifully melodic, often haunting instrumentals with titles like Requiem for Gregor Samsa. On the 19th they’re at Goodbye Blue Monday at 11; at Mehanata on Thurs Aug 21 at 8; at Vox Pop in Crown Heights at 8 on Fri Aug 22 and at Zebulon on Sat Aug 23 at 9.

Weds Aug 20, early show at 6 PM at the Rockwood it’s Patrick Glynn & the Lost Americans. Glynn, the talented ex-Rawles Balls multi-instrumentalist, has the expected sense of humor and good chops: his myspace doesn’t seem that he’s taking this new project all that seriously, which would actually be fine. Briana Winter, who knows her way around a catchy pop hit without trying to be Britney or Alanis,  follows eventually at 9. 

Also Weds Aug 20, 7 PM in Wagner Park in Battery Park City it’s La Excelencia,  a 70s style salsa orchestra playing songs from their new cd Salsa Con Conciencia.

Also Weds Aug 20, 8 PM a good doublebill at Banjo Jim’s: excellent guitarist Steve Antonakos AKA Homeboy Steve from Love Camp 7, Roots Rock Rebel, Magges and a million other bands followed by jazz violinist/composer Jenny Scheinman, who will probably be singing stuff from her excellent, just-reviewed new cd of Americana and rock songs. Next on the bill is Jerry Dugger, a bassist who once went by the name of Slapmeat Johnson. Doubtlessly his wife or girlfriend is glad he’s decided to give that up.

Also Weds Aug 20, 9 PM Black Cop White Cop play Ace of Clubs. If their myspace is any indication, they’re retro, but they’re looking back to a style most bands have never heard: early 80s indie rock, with dirty, melodic basslines, fast tempos and trebly, minor-key guitar work that leaves a long trail of sparks.

Also Weds Aug 20 Carolyn Sills & the Poor Man’s Roses sing Patsy Cline covers, uncommonly well, at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

Thurs, Aug 21 in the sculpture garden out behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Salvador Dali tribute, sets at 5:30 and 7 PM it’s Kamikaze Ground Crew playing theatrical, somewhat balkan jazz featuring a ton of killer soloists: Kenny Wollensen on drums, Peter Apfelbaum on tenor, Doug Wieselman on reeds, Steve Bernstein on trumpet and more.

Also Thurs Aug 21 Jennifer O’Connor plays a cd release show at Mercury Lounge, 7:30 PM. Fearlessly messy, tuneful songwriter who rocks much harder than most of her other acoustic contemporaries.

Also Thurs Aug 21 Bobby Bland plays plays B.B. King’s, 8 PM adv tix $25 available at the box office. You never know whether this guy will phone it in or bring the soul, but it’s worth a shot: B.B. King’s ex-valet is a blues legend and rightfully so, and he still has that growl that brings all the ladies out.

Also Thurs Aug 21, 9ish, $10, excellent accordion-driven noir gypsy band Guignol plays Europa, 6ish, opening for Defiance Ohio who at their best are sort of the acoustic Anti-Flag, at their worst the acoustic NOFX.

Thurs Aug 21 two sensational Americana specialists: Bob Hoffnar leads a quartet on pedal steel at Barbes at 8 PM followed by guitarist Matt Munisteri at 10.

Fri Aug 22 the Brandos with the reliably interesting, always potentially dangerous Eric Ambel on guitar play an intimate show at 8 PM at el Taller Latinoamericano, 2710 Broadway (at W. 104th St.), 3rd Fl., New York, tix $20 at the door. Fiery, first-class highway rock like Steve Earle, the Hangdogs or Bodeans with virtuosic Tex-Mex and Irish instrumental flourishes.

Also Fri Aug 22 the Brooklyn What play the Brooklyn Lyceum, one assumes in the big downstairs room, 10 PM. Smartly down-to-earth, frequently hilarious, punkishly tuneful band whose signature song I Don’t Want to Go to Williamsburg has become a NYC classic. 

Also Fri Aug 22 10:30 PM Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. play Rodeo Bar, possibly three sets. One of the funniest and most original bands in town, period-perfect, 1953-style with their matching suits, oldtime stage patter, harmonies and often remarkably subtly amusing pre-rockabilly hillbilly songs. All-female Stockholm country/punk trio Baskery open the night at 9ish. SITnDIE are also at Otto’s on 8/28 at 8.

Also Fri Aug 22, 11 PM scorching garage/punk rockers the Mess Around – who at the top of their game are just as wildly adrenalizing as Radio Birdman - play Trash Bar. Opening at 10 are dark, female-fronted punk/metal act Vagina Panther.

Also Fri Aug 22 the reliably romantic, wickedly smart, ever-more-exciting oldtimey Moonlighters play Barbes, 10 PM followed by Nawlins piano guy Bill Malchow (of Jack Grace’s band) at midnight.

Also Fri Aug 22, 1 AM (actually the wee hours of Sat Aug 23) Pennsylvania reggae-rockers Three Legged Fox play Arlene’s. Heavier on the reggae than the rock: this is cool, laid-back stuff, not lousy Sublime wannabe crap.

Sat-Sun Aug 23-24 it’s the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, starting at 3 both days. On 8/23 at Marcus Garvey Park; 8/24 at Tompkins Square Park. 8/23: pianist Robert Glasper, legendary drummer Rashied Ali, singer Vanessa Rubin and pianist Hank Jones, in order. 8/24: singer Gretchen Parlato, pianist Eric Lewis, legendary bandleader Jerry Gonzalez & Fort Apache and then headliner pianist Randy Weston.

Also Sat Aug 23 veteran two-cello-and-drums trio Rasputina plays the Hiro Ballroom, 8:30 PM, $20 adv tix avail at Ticketbastard locations at Macy’s Herald Square, Disc-O-Rama at Union Square East, Macy’s Fulton St. in Brooklyn or J&R Music World on Park Row downtown, so you can pay cash and save yourself the $100 extra it would cost you to buy tix online. Frontwoman Melora Creager is one of the few rockers with the courage to question the official verdict of what really happened on 9/11, and wrote an absolutely haunting, long suite about it. And has a vast catalog of other classically-inflected, hilariously deadpan songs.

Also Sat Aug 23 another Unsteady Freddie show at Otto’s starting 8:30ish. This is one of Freddie’s best, starting with an uncommonly good country/rockabilly band, the Long Goodbyes followed by the somewhat stylistically schizophrenic Tarantinos NYC, absolutely kick-ass surf rockers the Outpatients, scorching Dick Dale soundalikes 9th Wave (who also play killer spy themes), the similarly intense, Dick Dale-influence Nebulas and then even more reverb-drenched ecstasy with the Octomen somewhere around 2

Also Sat Aug 23 southern soul legend Irma Thomas plays out back of Lincoln Center at Damrosch Park, 8:30 PM.

Also Sat Aug 23 Amy Allison plays Banjo Jim’s, 10 PM. Good choice of Saturday night act. Pantheonic, Aimee Mann-class songwriter: great voice, brilliant lyricist, and very, very funny onstage. Country was her thing for a long time; dark pop has been her latest fixation, resulting in the best songs of her career. She’s one of Elvis Costello’s favorites, which makes sense.

Also Sat Aug 23 Johnny Allen plays Terra Blues, 10 PM. A power hitter on the guitar, with a searing, tastefully crescendoing Chicago blues style, and simply one of the most soulful singers in New York.

Also Sat Aug 23 Her & Kings County play upstairs at the National Underground, 10:30 PM. Female-fronted country band with a rotating cast of characters, anything from a tight quartet to a sprawling, four-guitar stoked twangfest.

Also Sat Aug 23 ferocious Boston surf band the the Nebulas are at Otto’s, 11 PM 

Sun Aug 24 an amazing doublebill with the Knitters (which is X playing country songs and country versions of their own classics) along with Patti Smith at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Ctr., the whole thing starts 5:30 PMish but get there early because it will deservedly be a mobscene.

Also Sun Aug 24 Catspaw plays Otto’s, 7 PM. This just in from the frequently fiery, female-fronted rockabilly trio’s publicist Svetlana Monsoon: “Renowned physicist/bassist Banj Foxx has perfected his practical application of the theory of gravitational time dilation and special relativity to build a time portal to 1959 in his basement.  Having pinpointed the exact space/time coordinates of the June 7,1959 Amazing Half-Off Sale at Ralph’s Guitar Emporium in Massapequa, he has made plans to travel back in time in order to expand his collection of vintage Gibson ES-335s.  His historic journey has been temporarily postponed, however, because he has been having difficulty, in today’s depressed economic climate, in obtaining a line of credit that extends beyond the normal boundaries of space/time…Erica [Catspaw’s drummer], meanwhile, has traveled to the Middle East to bail out [frontwoman] Jasmine, who reportedly was deported to Syria after an incident that may have involved inappropriate political humor.  The joke in question has since been classified, and there is no official word on whether or not it was funny.”

Also Sun Aug 24 a good, dark acoustic doublebill at Spikehill. Razor-sharp, literate tunesmith Erin Regan opens the night at 9 followed by Mark Sinnis at 10. Solo, the Ninth House frontman mines a dark, rustic, terse Nashville gothic vein, more Johnny Cash than Joy Division.

Also Sun Aug 24, fiery rockers System Noise play Arlene’s, 10 PM. For a band this loud and ferocious, they sure are tuneful, and frontwoman Sarah Mucho is a force of nature with her sensational range and powerful pipes. Eerie, virtuosic guitar work and a great new album just out.

Mon Aug 25 Irish expat Vincent Cross & Good Company bring their authentically raw and rustic sounds to the Parkside, early, 7:15ish to kick off a night of bluegrass.

Tues Aug 26, 7 PM darkly moody, female-fronted janglerockers Noirceur play Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens. 7 train to Vernon Blvd.-Jackson, walk on 48th Avenue to the East River. The park is in front of the Citylights Building. Also on the bill: the Japanese-American Uzuhi, who alternate between bouncy, upbeat jangly guitar/keyboard pop and generic hardcore.

Also Tues Aug 26 panstylistic art-rock rock keyboard goddess Greta Gertler plays the Zipper Theatre at 8 PM - with a string section and special guests.

Also Tues Aug 26-31 the Kenny Barron Quartet with Dana Stevens on tenor plus a rhythm section of Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Francisco Mela plays the Village Vanguard, sets at 9 and 11. Popular pianist Barron plays with an intense, percussive physicality which is even more impressive considering how damn fast the guy is: if you like adrenaline and crescendos, this is your fun for the week.

Weds Aug 27, 7 PM Latin jazz bassist Ray Martinez plays with his band at Wagner Park.

Also Weds Aug 27 Fire in July plays two sets at Caffe Vivaldi, 7:30 and 9:30. Cellist/songstress Jodi Redhage and her band fuse jazz, classical and pop with the same quirky, artsy charm and intelligence as the Penguin Café Orchestra did 20 years ago.

Also Weds Aug 27 Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion squeeze into the Rockwood, 9 PM. The banjoist/guitarist is one of the best on the Cash/Hank tip right now and has a following that knows it; early arrival advised.

Also Weds Aug 27 Reckon So plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Guitarist Danny Weiss lives and breathes in the lower registers, the most soulful part of the instrument; his wife and partner in harmonies, Mary Olive Smith has a casually enchanting voice, and the two write some fine, old-school country tunes as well. They’re back here on 9/10 as well.

Thurs Aug 28 in the sculpture garden out behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Salvador Dali tribute, sets at 5:30 and 7 PM: Enso String Quartet violinist John Marcus presents a program of quartets, trios, and duos incl. Bach, Ravel and Webern.

Also Thurs Aug 28 pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who’s created quite a buzz in classical circles, plays Bach, Beethoven and more at a cd release show at le Poisson Rouge, 6:30 PM, cheap $15 adv tix at the box office highly recommended.

Also Thurs Aug 28 the politically fearless, deliriously fun third-wave ska band the Slackers play a booze cruise aboard the Temptress, leaving 41st St. & the highway at 8, boarding at 7, adv tix $25, absolutely necessary and available at the box ofc, 630 9th Avenue Suite 602 Between 44th and 45th.

Also Thurs Aug 28 the Paul Carlon Octet plays Cachaca, 35 W 8th, 7 PM. Sax player leads Ellingtonian latin jazz band playing an impressive mix of everything from delta blues to cumbias. This is the cd release show for their new one Roots Propaganda.

Also Thurs Aug 28 at Issue Project Room, 8 PM, $10, Jozef Van Wissum who “will perform pieces from A Priori on 13 course baroque lute and pieces from Station of the Cross [by Dupre?] for Baroque Lute and manipulated field recordings made at airport lounges and train stations. A priori is minimal hypnotic trance lute palindromes. Sometimes bottleneck is applied on the lute now.” Quiet, minimalist, cerebral yet playful.

Also Thurs Aug 28 the Robert Charles Band plays Lucille’s Bar, two sets at 8 PM. Back in the late 90s this band had a real good thing going, remarkably terse and potently crescendoing, and the frontman didn’t Pearl Jam his vocals. Worth checking out to see what they’re up to now.

Also Thurs Aug 28, 8:30 PM alternately haunting and deliciously groove-driven shoegaze/dreampop rockers El Jezel play songs from their new cd The Warm Frequency at Union Hall. Word on the street is that it’s the excellent album that Portishead should have made this year but didn’t.

Also Thurs Aug 28 recently reunited Austin alt-country satirists the Gourds, best known for their hilarious cover of the Snoop Dogg classic Gin & Juice play the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 10ish, adv tix $15 available at the Mercury box office.

Also Thurs Aug 28 the Mercenaries play Lakeside, 10 PM. Rock quartet who sound sometimes like Guided by Voices at their most tuneful, otherwise a cut above your average Stonesy bar band like the Izzys.

Fri Aug 29 an excellent doublebill at the Jalopy Café with Mississippi hill country-style bluesman Will Scott at 8 and Jan Bell, the British expat who’s better at hauntingly beautiful oldschool American country music than most Yanks, at 9:30. Bell is also at Riverside Park on 9/14 at 2ish for an afternoon show.

Also Fri Aug 29 the Figgs play the Knitting Factory, 9ish, no discounted adv tix available. Legendary powerpop trio whose work with Graham Parker is a good indication of how many sparks they can shoot out on their own.

Sat Aug 30 the Motels play B.B. King’s, 8 PM, adv tix $25 available at the box office. One of the last of the “good top 40” bands, originally lumped in with the punk movement even though frontwoman Martha Davis was more of a pop siren. And she’s still got that full-throated wail. Take the L!

Also Sat Aug 30 one of NYC’s funnest party bands, badass Greek rebetika revivalists Magges play Mehanata, 10 PM. They’re also at Teneleven on Ave. C at 8:30 on 9/28.

Also Sun Aug 31 roots reggae legend Burning Spear plays Irving Plaza, 10ish, adv tix $35 at the box office and absolutely recommended. Long, hypnotic grooves, dub interludes and a vault full of classic songs: Marcus Garvey, Slavery Days, Columbus, Door Peep, the list goes on and on. Spear’s voice is still there, and his forthcoming studio album is his best in years.

Mon Sept 1, the annual Coney Island Rockabilly Festival, starting in the afternoon: Catspaw play 3-ish, many more on the bill.

Also Mon Sept 1 the pretty much self-explanatory Ukuladies are at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Two “U”s in the name to distinguish themselves from their Australian counterparts. Reputedly they hand out bacon and lottery tix to the audience mid-serenade.

Tues Sept 2 Luminescent Orchestrii play Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM, adv tix $15 and absolutely necessary: this will sell out. One of the world’s great gypsy bands, fresh off the Dresden Dolls tour, ready to evoke the ghost of every Ukrainian who ever died within a ten-block radius.

Weds Sept 3 the Latin Giants of Jazz