"Ya gotta admire the Chinese ... they've seen the fork, and they're still going with the chopsticks," Jerry Seinfeld says, more or less, in his 1998 CD, I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The album came on the heels of the self-imposed shutdown/retirement of his mega-popular NBC sitcom. By 1998, the show had reached its critical peak, while its commercial success seemed endless. It's to his credit that he realized a show about nothing might be interesting to America for decades, but perhaps wasn't to him any more. And so he went back on the road, as promised, and produced the usual litany of witty, pithy observations about everyday life -- sort of a "last hurrah" for his previous stand-up work only months after his sitcom's last hurrah. Since then, while he has mulled his career options (and seemingly content to return to his stand-up days), we've had four years to enjoy Seinfeld re-runs -- it's almost as if he never left. Now Seinfeld's back out on the road, hopefully ready to improve on what felt like a bit of a letdown from his 1998 tour (if I'm Telling You is any indication). Seinfeld hits town on Saturday for two shows at the Saenger Theatre (143 N. Rampart St., 524-2490). The beauty of Seinfeld's material and delivery is the consistency; he continues to get something out of nothing, but perhaps more importantly his by-now-iconic New York voice keeps coming at you. After all these years, he still wants to know, what's up with that? And if his humor is considered little more than ramblings over minutiae, hardcore fans got a chance to dig a little deeper into his approach to his craft on last year's release, Jerry Seinfeld on Comedy. On the CD, Seinfeld shares his thoughts on the form with interviewer Larry Wilde, a comic and author who also has interviewed such comic giants as Jack Benny and George Burns. While that may sound a little academic for some listeners, at least one reviewer points out that Seinfeld's wit shines through, particularly as he explains the connection between geometry theorems and comedy: "That is very much like comedy: proving something that is absolutely trivial, but with rigorous logic. That is what a joke is." Seinfeld's jokes have earned this local gig an encore: showtimes are 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., the latter time an added show. Tickets range from $46 to $76 and are available at the box office or through Ticketmaster (522-5555). -- David Lee Simmons

Bipolaroid 10 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616 A recent mini-renaissance in the local rock scene has brought us all kinds of retrospective styles, but until Bipolaroid started gigging, the glories of '60s-era psychedelia were largely unsung. Formed last fall by singer/songwriter Ben Glover and drummer Wallace Lester, the four-piece band plays no-frills space rock with rich textures and tight arrangements. The spirit of Syd Barrett reigns over their entrancing original songs, with dark riffs, spacey trappings, and sci-fi acid lyrics. Members of the band are also inspired by British acid-metal band Hawkwind and Japanese experimental space-rock conglomerate Acid Mother's Temple. Bipolaroid's sets aren't bogged down by aimless instrumental exploration; they don't play marathon songs or repetitive licks. The band distinguishes itself from legions of noodling jam-rock acts, favoring well-honed trippy melodies over self-indulgent solos. No cover. -- Cristina Diettinger

Glenn Hartman 10 p.m. Wednesday, June 19 Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616 The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars' Glenn Hartman is on a mission to expose the versatility and character of the accordion. Taking over singer-songwriter Alex McMurray's regular gig, Hartman is breathing new life into Wednesday nights at the Circle Bar, visiting a variety of styles and cultures via the squeezebox. New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars standards abound, including favorites like "Hartman Pick Up Your Accordion and Play," and "Ich Vein Mein Gasse" ("I Cry for My Street"). But Hartman likes to mix it up, so he'll play a Royal Fingerbowl tune, or splice folk tunes with rock 'n' roll standards, while he roves around the bar to get his instrument closer to audience members. He also plays selections from his new CD of world folk songs with Bay Area drummer Wally Ingram, The World Accordion to Glenn Hartman and Wally Ingram. No cover.-- Diettinger

Manuel Rocheman Trio 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 Snug Harbor, 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 One of French pianist Manuel Rocheman's recent CDs, I¹m Old Fashioned, is named after the Mercer/Kern classic, and also acknowledges Rocheman's admiration for the straight-ahead piano work of influences like Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. Rocheman is one of France's most acclaimed jazz musicians, and won the Django Reinhardt Prize for French Musician of the Year in 1998. He prefers to work in the trio format, where he treats standards like "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" with crisp elegance, always allowing the melody to take center stage. His local appearance is sponsored in part by the New Orleans chapter of Delegation Generale of Alliances Francaise, and comes the night after his Washington, D.C., appearance is being recorded for broadcast on National Public Radio. Tickets $15 ($12 for Alliance Francaise Members). -- Jordan

Annie Get Your Gun 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, June 20-22; 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, June 22-23 Dixon Hall, Tulane University, 865-5269 The Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane schedule this season is jam-packed with traditional musical theater, and nowhere is that more evident than Irving Berlin's 1946 Broadway smash, Annie Get Your Gun. At once classic and out-dated, Annie Get Your Gun's salute to the Wild West through the eyes of sharp-shooting Annie Oakley placed a heroic woman front and center in the story. And who better to handle the spotlight this time around than Cynthia Owen? Scott Brush co-stars as Frank Butler, with a supporting cast that includes Francine Segal as Dolly Tate. The rest of the Summer Lyric schedule features Phantom (July 11-4) and Victor/VIictoria (Aug. 1-4). Tickets are $29 orchestra/first balcony seats, $22 second balcony. -- Simmons

SummerRain 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, June 21 Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp St., 528-3805 At the end of the longest day of the year in our hemisphere and before the summer's first full moon rises, the Contemporary Arts Center and Rain Vodka offer the first annual SummerRain event in celebration of the summer solstice. Complete with Rain Vodka cocktails, dishes prepared by New Orleans' most famous chefs, and a fashion show featuring local designer's interpretations of rain coats, Rain Vodka and the CAC have prepared an event where a downpour is something to look forward to. The event also features the first annual award for this year's Rainmaker. Ticket prices are $25 in advance and $35 day of event for CAC members, and $50 in advance and $60 day of event for non-members. Call 528-3805 for tickets or more information. -- Tomarra Campbell

"Fat Black vs. Disco," featuring Hybrid, and Marques Wyatt 11 p.m. Saturday, June 22 TwiRoPa Arts & Entertainment Building, 1544 Tchoupitoulas St., 895 6177 To think that a remix of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" brought Mike Truman, Chris Healings and Lee Mullins as Hybrid. Truman and Healings loved Mullins' reworking of the tune, and seven years after meeting in the Swansea, England club scene, the members of Hybrid have become one of the popular remixers around. They're touring in support of last year's debut release, Wide Angle, which features the vocals of David Lynch chanteuse Julee Cruise. They'll join Los Angeles house-music legend Marques Wyatt, who's supporting his new release, For Those Who Like to Get Down. Tickets are $20 advance, $25 at the door, with portions of the proceeds going to both the New Orleans Police Foundation and The Wally Williams Foundation. -- Simmons

Michael Mott: Nudes Through June Soren Christensen Gallery, 400 Julia St., 569-9501 Culture is funny stuff: it comes in all sizes, shapes and colors. Beyond high and low, tribal and industrial culture, there is also the pop culture of Hollywood, Vegas and Madison Avenue, of Elvis, Britney and Madonna, of Marilyn, Woody Allen and Spider-Man. Andy Warhol took pop culture out of the street and into the "white cube" as art galleries are known in the high culture trade, and now Michael Mott applies pop-art techniques to his new Nudes as part of his pursuit of his personal vision of "universal beauty." His images employ Asian motifs with glowing, saturated colors as bright as the neon in the Tokyo club district. A New Orleans native who studied in Paris, Mott was active as a portrait artist among the glitterati of stage, screen and society in New York before returning home to "delve deeper into his portrait work." -- D. Eric Bookhardt

Dwight Yoakam 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE The last time Dwight Yoakam played a summer gig at House of Blues, the air conditioning went out an hour before showtime, turning the packed venue into a sauna. But Yoakam didn't flinch, delivering a stellar two-hour-plus set that reaffirmed that he and his band are still the best country outfit on the touring circuit. Yoakam's blessed with one of the most distinctive and arresting voices around, capable of delivering hardcore honky-tonk, Bakersfield ballads and roadhouse rockers with hard-earned confidence. His longtime guitarist, foil and producer Pete Anderson supplies the six-string heroics on Yoakam classics like "Guitars, Cadillacs," and a show highlight is always Yoakam's acoustic segment, where he strips down songs like "Thousand Miles From Nowhere" to their plaintive essence. And Yoakam has reams of material to choose from for his setlist, including the superb songs on his latest electric set, Tomorrow¹s Sounds Today. Tickets $40. -- Scott Jordan