There are three football games that can turn New Orleans upside down, so when you consider that the other two are the Super Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, the STATE FARM BAYOU CLASSIC is a force to be reckoned with. This annual Thanksgiving weekend battle, now in its 19th incarnation in the Crescent City, features Saturday's clash between rivals Grambling State University and Southern University that transcends the Louisiana Superdome. (Consider that while the game hosts a sell-out crowd of 70,000, an estimated 200,000 take over the city.) The weekend begins with Friday's Southern University ROTC Spirit and Motivational Run at 7 a.m. at the SU Clark Activity Center (finishing at the Superdome). The event is followed by two simultaneous events at noon: the Super Job Fair at the French Market Exhibition Hall inside the Hyatt Regency and the invitation-only Coaches' Luncheon inside the Hyatt's Grand Ballroom. Friday's action ends with the legendary Battle of the Bands that also includes the foot-stomping Greek Show (7 p.m., Louisiana Superdome, $15 admission). The Fan Festival starts up the game-day activities at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Gate C Bridge near the Dome, followed by the game at 1 p.m. Tickets $25 to $36; call Ticketmaster at (800) 488-5252. (NBC will telecast the game live.) Grambling State is 10-1 overall and 6-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and has already won the West Division title and a trip to the SWAC's championship game on Dec. 14 in Birmingham. The Tigers are led by New Orleans' own Bruce Eugene. The sophomore quarterback, from Cohen High School, already has broken Coach Doug Williams' single-season passing yardage record with 3,751 yards. The Tigers are hoping to defend both their SWAC title and the black-college national championship. Southern has struggled this season with a 5-6 record, though the Jaguars are 4-2 in SWAC play. -- David Lee Simmons

Concert in Honor of St. Cecilia 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26 St. Vincent de Paul Church, 3053 Dauphine St., 943-5566 For the third year, the Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Parish will honor St. Cecilia, the patroness of music and musicians with a concert featuring varied acts, with the event acting as a fundraiser for the parish. This year's concert will feature local jazz singer Leah Chase, with the Christian music group Seraphim from the Northshore and Alabanza, a group of musicians of Garifuna heritage, also performing. The evening begins at 6 p.m. when the church doors open, with the concert starting at 7 p.m.; following the music, food and drinks will be served, compliments of local restaurants and donors. A portion of the proceeds from the concert will benefit Friends of St. Cecilia, which formed in June 2000, when the Archdiocese of New Orleans consolidated the parishes of five Bywater and Faubourg Marigny churches: Annunciation, St. Cecilia, St. Gerard, Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Vincent de Paul. Tickets $20. -- Frank Etheridge

Mary Jane Potts: The Sentence Through Nov. 30 Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, 841 Carondelet St., 522-5471 Abstract art and social activism are an unusual combination, but for Mary Jane Potts they represent the two sides of her own unique vision and personality. Her ethereal yet boldly colorful and expressive abstract paintings on paper appear mysterious at first, but are filled with symbolic references to women's issues, crime and racism. Not content to simply comment, Potts has been actively involved in a variety of educational outreach efforts, leading young people in community service undertakings through the AmeriCorps program, and working with the New Orleans Arts Council to produce murals in housing projects. The cryptic symbols and images contained in her art works draw from related sociopolitical concerns, which she personalizes and dramatizes in this colorful new series. In recent years her work has been exhibited in Barcelona as well as in a solo show at Galerie Blancs Manteaux in Paris. -- D. Eric Bookhardt

Holiday on the Boulevard 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30; 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1 1700 block of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, 569-9070 Holiday on the Boulevard brings the spirit back to Oretha Castle Haley in Central City this weekend. In decades past, a strip of then-named Dryades Street in Central City was a vibrant, bustling center of commerce. Now Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, most of those shops are gone and the area has fallen on hard times, though the signs of a rebirth are starting to surface. Working toward that renewal, the Ashé Cultural Arts Center and the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Merchants Association are presenting Holiday on the Boulevard, with the stated purpose to "help bring back the holiday spirit to the boulevard." A number of vendors will line the streets for the three-day shopping spree, and a long list of entertainers bring a swing that mixes celebration into the commerce. A parade at 11 a.m. Friday kicks off the event, led by Mama Ye Ye, Baba Kwanzaa and the Ashé High Steppers Stilt Dancing Troupe. The rest of the weekend, look for music from Philip Manuel, Sharon Martin, Bamboula 2000, "A" Train, Rudy and the Caribbean Funk Band, and many others. Free admission. -- Etheridge

Grenadine McGunkle's Double-Wide Christmas 8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Nov. 29-30; through Dec. 28 Shim Sham Club, 615 Toulouse St., 606-9903 For a group that lives in a pile of snappy, contemporary pop-culture humor, the theater troupe Running With Scissors sure knows its way around a trailer park. That's what the Scissors proved last holiday season with Grenadine McGunkle¹s Double-Wide Christmas, a slapstick slapdash of beer-guzzling dudes, hot-to-trot retired beauty queens, Britney not-wannabes, closeted postal workers and perennially pregnant gossip hounds. Oh, and the hapless Grenadine of the title (Dorian Rush), a good-intentioned ma who just wants to make sure the turkey gets warm and fridge gets stocked with beer in time to provide holiday cheer for all, y'all. This musical romp features considerably altered versions of holiday favorites, with book by co-founders Richard Read and Flynn De Marco and lyrics by Dorian Rush. The cast also features Jason Toups, Debbie Davis, Bob Edes, Brian Peterson, Laura Freeman, Jim Jeske and Bianca Del Rio. Tickets $15. For tickets to Friday's opening gala, sponsored by the Mystic Krewe of Satyricon, call 525-4498. -- Simmons

The Gossip, Har Mar Superstar, MC Paul Barman, Whirlwind Heat 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 Rhyme isn't the only poetic trick MC Paul Barman has up his sleeve. The New Jersey-born, Brown-educated, hip-hop dorkboy rocks a whole range of literary devices including palindromes and cryptic double entendres. The skinny, curly-haired Jewish wunderkind finally released his first full-length effort, Paullelujah!, this fall, after two previous Prince Paul-produced EPs. The album's single, "Cock Mobster," a string of couplets about the female celebrities Barman wants to have sex with, might be a pop hit if the FCC didn't exist. Live, Barman puts on a hilarious, madcap freak show of outrageous dance, costume and highly impressive freestyling. Har Mar Superstar, who came into the public eye as Kelly Osbourne's date for the MTV Video Music Awards, will do his usual parody R&B crooning. The bill also features Whirlwind Heat, the first band to sign a contract on the new Third Man Records label, founded by Jack White of the White Stripes. Washington state garage rock band the Gossip headlines. Admission $10. -- Cristina Diettinger

Ellipsis, Pumice 10 p.m. Friday, November 29 The Howlin' Wolf, 828 N. Peters St., 522-WOLF Two fresh-on-the-scene rock bands from Kenner are putting together a blowout show to liven up Thanksgiving weekend. Friends and acquaintances from area high schools, the members of Ellipsis and Pumice operate in the hard-rock vein that pummeled the charts in the '90s with bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and 311. Ellipsis, led by outstanding guitarist John Michael, headlines the show with original strains from the lighter side of contemporary hard rock. Their Incubus-influenced sound is summed up on their debut album, Set in Motion, released independently this past April. While the members of Pumice have only played together for the past six months, their sound has quickly solidified into a melodic dream-rock that balances its output with as many elements of metal as pop-rock. Hoping to release an album this coming spring, Pumice will show off its collection of original songs and throw in a Chili Peppers cover or two. DJ Kinetic spins between sets. Admission $5. -- Cristina Diettinger

Basin Street Records 5th Anniversary party 10:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-8477 Grammy nominees Los Hombres Calientes help Basin Street Records celebrate its fifth anniversary Friday at Tipitina's. With a catalogue consisting of nearly 20 recordings, Basin Street Records has been busy since its 1997 launch. The New Orleans-based indie label has earned national recognition, thanks to critically acclaimed recordings from the likes of Los Hombres Calientes and Kermit Ruffins. This event features a hearty roster of New Orleans notables that label founder and president Mark Samuels has given an outlet to extend their musical wares beyond localized boundaries. That approach has also earned Basin Street Records and its artists some significant industry honors, including a Grammy nomination and a Billboard Latin Music award. The fun factor should be high, as Basin Street artists Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Kermit Ruffins & the BBQ Swingers, and special guests Irvin Mayfield, Bill Summers, Dr. Michael White and more render their personalized spins on jazz, funk and Latin genres. Expect a rollicking, rolling and swinging jaunt celebrating a label that is bringing New Orleans' contemporary music scene and cultural identity to a significantly wider audience. Tickets $12. -- Glenn Astarita

The Pinettes All Girl Brass Band CD-release party 10:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29 Donna's Bar & Grill, 800 N. Rampart St., 596-6914 They could just call themselves the Pinettes and leave it at that, but their "official" name always serves as a reminder that the Pinettes can hang in the male-dominated brass band world. The eight-piece band has been at it for more than a decade now, and they've just released a new CD, Who You Gonna Call? If they really wanted to separate themselves from the pack, it's curious that they choose to cover ReBirth Brass Band's "Do Whatcha Wanna" and slip in sections of "U Been Watchin' Me." They sound better suited for traditional spirituals like "Lord, Lord, Lord," where their voices in unison are a reminder of the band's uniqueness. The overall sound on the CD is a bit tinny, but there's little doubt the Pinettes will still blow the roof off their venues of choice when performing the material live. Marva Wright and Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias will help achieve that goal tonight as the Pinettes' special guests. Admission TBA. -- Scott Jordan

Pat's Hip Happening 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 Mermaid Lounge manager Patrick Cronin's broken hip is the beneficiary of this Saturday's art and music blowout "Pat's Hip Happening." A recent bicycle accident left Cronin immobilized, and many regular Mermaid performers and supporters are coming together to help get him back behind the bar. Entertainment starts off with a set from the perennially wacky New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars. The Geraniums, made up of Mermaid owner Jeff Treffinger and booking agent Brendan Gallagher, will contribute a set of rock originals. Also on the bill are rock bands Fore Day Creep, Rotary Downs, the Hazard County Girls, and Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner. A not-so-silent auction presented by Shawn Hall will feature artwork and happenings donated by local art scenesters. Food will also be available for purchase, so you can have dinner before honing in on liquid offerings like Schaefer Beer, the Mermaid's signature beverage. Admission $5-$10. -- Diettinger