The names on the local kids' music scene keep multiplying, from Phil Melancon's Shirley Temple tributes to Peter Holsapple's pajama parties and beyond. This Saturday, two of the best acts are celebrating new CDs at separate performances. The Louisiana Children's Museum (420 Julia St., 523-1357) has named Saturday "IMAGINATION MOVERS DAY" in honor of the new pop/hip-hop quartet the Imagination Movers (pictured). The group, which features Scott Durbin, Scott Smith, Dave Poche and former Gambiteer Rich Collins, deliver pop-, hip-hop- and rock-accented originals on its great new self-produced CD, Good Ideas. (Their song "My Favorite Snack" is an underground hit among local moms and dads.) The Movers' live shows are instant parties, with the four fellas trading the microphone and exhorting the crowd bounce-style to sing, dance and jump. Imagination Movers Day launches at 11 a.m. with Imagination Movers-themed snacks and crafts; the Movers perform two shows, at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Catch them before they start marketing their own line of onesies. Admission to the museum is $6. Meanwhile, local favorite JOHNETTE DOWNING has followed up her wonderful 2001 kids' CD, Silly Sing Along, with the new, also wonderful The Second Line: Scarf Activity Songs. As its title implies, the new CD guides listeners into a street parade of songs and games; Downing is a Pied Piper for Louisiana music traditions, turning some local kids onto zydeco and second lines for the first time. She celebrates her new CD in two performances at the Rivertown Children's Castle (501 Williams Blvd., 468-7231). Shows are 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets are $2.50 kids and $3.50 adults; Downing's shows frequently sell out, so advance tickets are recommended. Like any self-respecting kids' performers, both the Movers and Downing have Web sites for more information: www.imaginationmovers.com and www.johnettedowning.com. -- Michael Tisserand

Napoleon's Eyewitness: Pierre Clement Laussat in Louisiana Through August The Historic New Orleans Collection, 533 Royal St., 598-7145 Somebody had to do it. We knew that Louisiana bounced between France and Spain for most of it's colonial history, but imagine being the guy who ran things for Napoleon from 1800, when France took control once again, until 1803, when it was handed over to the Americans. Pierre Clement Laussat presided when New Orleans was a mere town of 10,000 in a land he said would soon become "one of the most lively and richest in the world." When Louisiana was signed over to America, the event was celebrated with "countless parties, dancing, gambling, feasting and toasting lasting from dusk to dawn." Well, some things never change, and Laussat kept meticulous records of it all stored in satchels laced with red pepper to protect them from insects and rodents. Those documents, plus various artifacts, paintings maps of New Orleans in 1803 can be seen in this unique Witness to History show. -- D. Eric Bookhardt

Xiu Xiu 11 p.m. Tuesday, July 15 El Matador, 504 Esplanade Ave., 569-8361 Xiu Xiu's songs sound like they were recorded in the early to mid-80s, somewhere in dreary England. But they weren't. The band formed in 2000 in San Jose, Calif., but its members are apparently just as fixated on existential angst as dark post-punk figures like New Order's Ian Curtis and The Cure's Robert Smith. In fact, with his morose voice, lead singer Jamie Stewart draws frequent comparisons to Smith, though where Smith injected strains of hope into his phrasing, Stewart just drones on, married to misery. Instrumentally, Xiu Xiu creates angular songs with melodic, ambient sections, interrupted with jagged spurts of sonic references to violence -- gunshots, whip-cracks, car accidents, screams and other sources of mental and physical anguish. Its second album, A Promise, released in February, is a disturbing collection of songs about depression and hardship, the third installment in a canon that aims to make something beautiful out of bemoaning the human experience. The band's latest, Fag Patrol, is available at this summer's shows. -- Cristina Diettinger

Absolute Monster Gentlemen 10:30 p.m. Thursday, July 17 Maple Leaf Bar, 8316 Oak St., 866-9359 The key here is the absence of the "Jon Cleary &" preceding the billing. While bandleader Cleary plays a slate of solo gigs in Europe, his backing trio is stepping out center stage on Thursday nights at the Maple Leaf in July, with different special guests each week. Soulful virtuoso saxophonist Tim Green joins the Gentlemen this week, opening up the possibilities for some serious horn-driven R&B and funk jams. But while there's sure to be some improvisation, what separates this gig from other one-off collaborations is the supreme tightness of bassist Cornell Williams and guitarist Derwin Perkins. Their gospel church roots will be complemented by drummer Eddie Christmas (from Guiding Light Baptist Church), so expect heavenly grooves behind Williams' soaring falsetto vocals. "We're gonna do some of our own original stuff that we've done, and we'll be doing some other grooves, to try and get something out there to come from a different angle, rather than the angle they come from for Jon," says Williams. Cover $7. -- Scott Jordan

Coasters/Rolling Stones Tribute 10 p.m. Thursday, July 17 Circle Bar, 1032 St. Charles Ave., 588-2616 Local DJ/keyboardist/rapper/scenester DJ Davis has been the brainchild between elaborate tributes to Peter and the Wolf and The Who's Tommy, but the stripped-down sound of the Coasters and the Rolling Stones also get him rockin'. Davis has previously staged homages to both bands, but this show features both tributes in one night. The Coasters set opens, with saxophonist Rebecca Barry stepping up for the blazing sax solos on Coasters classics like "Yakety Yak" (originally laid down by King Curtis). And Davis' irrepressible humor is a perfect match for the Coasters' humorous R&B of "Charlie Brown" and "Along Came Jones." The Stones portion features C.C. Adcock and Alex McMurray doing Keef and Ron Wood, on a setlist that's heavy on '70s Stones material from albums like Sticky Fingers and Black and Blue. But if you're looking for "Satisfaction," look elsewhere; Davis leans toward album tracks like "Sway," "Sister Morphine" and "Hot Stuff." Cover $5. -- Jordan

French Film Festival/"Cocktails With Audrey" 6 p.m. Thursday, July 17; 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 18; 3 p.m. Saturday, July 19; 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday, July 20 Prytania Theatre, 5339 Prytania St., 523-3818/891-ARTS The semi-annual French Film Festival, courtesy the New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) and the Consulate General de France, offers a little something for every cineaste ­ an alternative to the popcorn-munching eye candy of more mainstream movie fare. The festival kicks off Friday night with Chaos, which has been compared (inaccurately, according to some critics) to Thelma and Louise. Saturday's matinee, Derrida, is a look at the controversial French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Sunday's doubleheader: Luis Bunuel's kinky comedy Phantom of Liberty, followed by Anne Fontaine's critically acclaimed Hitchcockian thriller, How I Killed My Father. (For reviews, see this week's film section.) French animated shorts will be screened before each film. On Thursday, the NOFF and the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund will co-present the fundraiser "Cocktails with Audrey," featuring a look at the exhibition at The Shops at Canal Place, along with wine, food, live jazz and models sporting Hepburn-related hairdos and fashion. Movie tickets $7 general admission, $6 NOFF members; fundraiser tickets are $15/$20; all tickets are available through Ticketweb (www.ticketweb.com). -- David Lee Simmons

15th annual New Orleans International Piano Competition Saturday, July 19; through July 27 Loyola University, Roussel Hall, 895-0700 Each year, the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans (MASNO) provides one of the exciting classical-music events of a traditionally slow summer with the New Orleans International Piano Competition. And every year, New Orleans continues to reap the benefits; finalists often return to the city and perform with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Acadian Symphony Orchestra and the Baton Rouge Symphony. So in a sense, it's a regional event. (Winners also receive cash prizes and performance fees totaling $25,000.) The 12 participants this year were selected from a list of 145 applicants, including pianists from as far away as the Ukraine and Taiwan. Other events besides the competition include lectures and master classes from instructors from around the area. Call 895-0700 or visit www.masno.org for schedule information. Tickets range from $3-$25 for individual events, and $75-$125 for packages. -- Simmons

David Fulmer discussion and book signing 5 p.m. Monday, July 21 Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St., 895-2266 No New Orleans musician has inspired as much fiction as cornet player Buddy Bolden, perhaps because the facts of his tragic life will be forever shrouded. Danny Barker's story "Buddy Bolden and the Last Days of Storyville" will likely remain the richest treatment of the musician and his life -- but that doesn't stop other notable writers from taking their own solos. Before writing The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje penned the haunting Bolden prose poem Coming Through Slaughter; more recently, Atlanta-based writer David Fulmer brought Bolden into the mystery genre with his critically acclaimed Chasing the Devil¹s Tail. Fulmer's Edgar-nominated book animates Bolden and contemporaries like photographer E.J. Bellocq, madam Lulu White and musician Jelly Roll Morton in a story that follows the efforts of the (fictitious) detective Valentin St. Cyr to find a serial killer in Storyville. Fulmer brings it home by leading a discussion of the book at Garden District Book Shop. Admission is free. -- Tisserand

Grayarea 9 p.m. Monday, July 21 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE Production/DJ trio Grayarea made a swift rise to recognition in the electronic/DJ world in 2002 on the strength of two self-released singles, "Asleep at the Wheel" and "One For the Road." From their studio apartment in Chicago (which is said to contain more sound equipment than furniture), members Nosmo, McRae, and Ruin (a nickname won by his graffiti reputation) started up their own Greylabel, and quickly infiltrated inner techno and trance circles. Two of the three are former instrumentalists who gave up on their punk- and indie-rock aspirations to scour vinyl bins and create music with computers. Despite their original recording prowess, Grayarea is best appreciated live, in a club, on the dance floor. The three of them toss CDs from turntable to turntable, making aggressive breakbeat mixes that are the soundtrack for relentless, all-night dancing. Self-proclaimed hard partiers, Nosmo, McRae, and Ruin have been known to abandon their onstage equipment and join the crowd. Cover $5 with SIN card, $10 without. -- Diettinger