Consider it the ultimate garage sale. But unlike the beaten, worn and just-plain-ugly goods trotted out in the typical recycling, this sale features finds that are better than the forgotten flotsam tucked into the crannies of your crib. FRENCH QUARTER TREASURES features antiques, art and more on sale, the fourth annual fundraiser put on by the French Quarter Business Association. Held Sunday afternoon starting at 1 p.m. at the Musee Conti Wax Museum (917 Conti St., 525-2605), French Quarter Treasures boasts over 200 items come donated by Vieux Carre merchants making up the 400 members of the non-profit French Quarter Business Association. Considering the shops' range from quirky to collectible to downright magnificent, the parade of items is sure to dazzle. Bidding will be conducted up through silent and live auctions. Funds raised through the sale will be earmarked for various French Quarter projects, as well as a portion helping create a police uniform emergency fund for the New Orleans Police Department's 8th District, which covers the Quarter. And in true French Quarter spirit, French Quarter Treasures is more than a sale -- it's also a party. At 11:30 a.m., the patron party provides the first look at items up for auction as well as complimentary cocktails and live music with the Tim Laughlin Combo. The cuisine comes courtesy of some of the city's top restaurants, including Dickie Brennan's Steak House, Famous Door, Galatoire's, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, K-Paul's, Palace Cafe, Pat O'Brien's and others. Patron Party attendees will be eligible for door prizes that include a ride for two in the Orpheus parade. At 1 p.m., celebrity auctioneer Joe Kahn bangs the gavel and starts the action as bidding opens. The items up for bid include furniture, paintings, accessories, jewelry, sports and miscellaneous memorabilia, hotel stays and dining certificates. The most-anticipated bidding will include an original French Impressionist-style painting by Godet (valued at $6,000), a Harley-Davidson lamp, a dinner for 10 cooked in your home by Alex Patout, and a Paul Prudhomme frying pan. Tickets to patron party $25, admission to live and silent auction free with $5 paddle fee for participation. Call 522-9466 for more information. -- Frank Etheridge

The Malvinas 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15 Neutral Ground Coffeehouse, 5110 Daneel St., 891-3381 New Orleans' Gina Forsyth is a creative triple threat: she writes and sings literate and moving songs with beautiful melodies, and is an exquisite fiddle player. With that kind of talent, who needs reinforcements? Forsyth's new side project, the Malvinas, seems to subscribe to the strength-in-numbers theory, as Forsyth shares singing, writing and playing duties with Texans Lisa Markley and Beth Cahill. The band just released its debut CD, I¹m Not Like This, and while the vocal harmonies and tandem singing are beautiful, Forsyth's clearly the strong link in this trio. Her compelling songs on the album, particularly "Home of St. Francis" and "In the Corner of the Room," are head and shoulders above the work of her collaborators, who traffic in cliches and tortured metaphor attempts in songs like "Picture Show," with embarrassing lines like "I was emotionally seventeen ... I gave up red meat for you and you lied." No cover. -- Scott Jordan

Uncle Vanya 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 16-17; 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18 University of New Orleans, Liberal Arts Auditorium In theater, it's hard to conjure up a task more daunting than staging the works of Anton Chekhov, the masterful Russian playwright whose style of realism often reflected the grim reality of his Romanov Russia. But that's exactly what the directing duo of Kevin McGowin and Kim Martin are setting out to do in their Chekhov Project, with Uncle Vanya serving as the current installment. Set in a turn-of-the-century country estate, Chekov's themes of inertia, wasted time and unrequited love are tempered with dashes of comedy that often surface in displays of human spirit. Estate owner Vanya (McGowin) hosts a young, urbane couple for the weekend. The city style of the visiting professor (Tony Whitt) and his sleek, by-comparison gorgeous wife, Yelena (Amelia Stocker), contrasts starkly with the rural surroundings. Vanya becomes hopelessly love-struck with Yelena. The weekend's conclusion brings about equal parts resolution and lack thereof. All performances are free. -- Etheridge

Brass Band Weekend 10:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday, Aug. 16-17 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 In the bowels of I-10, in the dark, funky innards of the Mermaid Lounge, two of the city's most active brass bands will pump street sounds late into the night this weekend. On Friday night, the Li'l Stooges Brass Band takes the stage. The solid troupe of young brass talent might drop some Nelly or Ja Rule between standard street-beat numbers, keeping things rolling with party-hit sing-alongs. Saturday entry Soul Rebels Brass Band brings the power of an entire marching band in a nine-piece ensemble, ripping through sets of scorchers compounded by hip-hop crowd hype. With call-and-response rap-alongs and rhythms that demand dancing, Soul Rebels might whip patrons into a heat-and-brass-induced reverie. It's a good thing dancing on the bar is no crime at the Mermaid. Admission TBA. -- Cristina Diettinger

Second Annual Barstool Open 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 Participating French Quarter bars, 865-0003 Weekend hackers can attest to the fact that golfing is better (and less frustrating?) with a few drinks. Compound this notion with factors of a smaller (requiring less walking) course and a presumably larger buzz, and you've got a recipe for some serious fun. Saturday, this recipe cooks up the Second Annual Barstool Rodeo, a benefit for United Cerebral Palsy of Greater New Orleans. The event encompasses various participating French Quarter bars, each of which will hold a miniature golf-style putting green. Teams of two will compete on a nine-hole course, with one putting green located inside each of the nine participating bars. The bars will also feature drink specials and snacks. And true to form, a 10th-hole party will be thrown at Harrah's Casino, complete with a raffle drawing for prizes. -- Etheridge

Who's Ya Papa Picnic 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS Good shows bring good people. So goes the motto of Family Fish, the group of local Radiators-based music fans hosting this Saturday's Who's Ya Papa Picnic. The festivities kick off at 5 p.m. with a free pot-luck style picnic (guests are encouraged to bring a covered dish). At 10 p.m. the focus shifts to the stage, where Austin voodoo-bluesman Papa Mali and his band, the Instagators, take on our own John "Papa" Gros (of Papa Grows Funk) backed by a solid cast of local luminaries. While Papa Mali is known for his crowd-pleasing live performance prowess, Papa Gros comes to battle with the big guns, including funky Meters drummer Russell Bastiste and guitar champion June Yamagishi. On top of that lineup, trombonist Mark Mullins and his notoriously unstoppable Bonerama horns will support the hometown team. The band will unveil some of Gros' new songs and Mullins' new horn arrangements. Tickets $15.-- Diettinger

Big Bill Morganfield 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 Maple Leaf, 8316 Oak St., 866-LEAF Big Bill Morganfield is following in the footsteps of his father -- an admirable mission considering that his father's shoes will never be filled. Morganfield was 26 years old when his dad McKinley Morganfield -- aka Muddy Waters -- died, and had never considered a career in music. But the English major and college graduate remembered that his dad hoped one of his children would play music, and the younger Morganfield was bit by the performing bug after getting onstage during a Lonnie Mack concert. More than 15 years after he decided to pursue music, Morganfield is now an accomplished bluesman in his own right, with a deep baritone and slashing slide guitar style that pay tribute to his father. But Morganfield is no mere imitator; he writes his own songs, and has released two solid albums for Blind Pig Records, titled Ramblin¹ Mind and Rising Son. The latter's title is wholly appropriate. Admission TBA. -- Jordan

Taproot 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE In the million-selling world of nu-metal and rap-metal, Taproot is a maverick. The Ann Arbor, Mich., band built its initial following organically (D.I.Y. recording, touring and marketing) before thwarting would-be producer Fred Durst's recording contract offer. His response? A highly circulated, F-word filled answering machine message promising that the band would amount to nothing without his nod. Taproot's window of opportunity for achieving Limp Bizkit-level commercial success is probably shut, but members of the band seem more interested in delivering a positive emotional message than morphing into rock stars. Having been left off the Ozzfest lineup this year, Taproot headlines its own summer tour. A new album titled Welcome, waiting in the wings for an October release date, shows a softening of its signature rap-core sound. Singer Stephen Richards has been burying his ears in Pink Floyd and Bowie, and it shows. Tickets $10.-- Diettinger

Art and Soul: monoprints by Bryan Petro, ceramics by Sally Barbier Through August d.o.c.s. gallery, 709 Camp St., 524-3936 They say familiarity breeds contempt, but it ain't necessarily so. Sally Barbier grew up in a religious household that made her want to create altars and shrines, but she was also touched by the old New Orleans buildings she saw all around her. Today she creates her almost shrine-like impressions of those venerable buildings and landmarks in low-fired, stained and glazed clay. Of them, she says, "My technique is not to perfectly imitate each detail that I see in these structures, but to capture something more subtle and haunting." Similarly, Brian Petro was affected early on by his move from rural Pennsylvania to the big city of Philadelphia, a move that has influenced him ever since. He says his photographic monoprints reflect his "perceptions of the brutal independence of big city life, of travels abroad and continued urban exploration." -- D. Eric Bookhardt