With the arrival of Mayor Ray Nagin at City Hall, music's vital role in the local economy was given high priority and resulted in Scott Aiges taking the newly created position of director of the Mayor's Office of Music Business Development. Many positives have resulted from this initiative, including an extra day of Jazz Fest and Mo' Fest, a free interlude of top local talent between Fest weekends. Before all that was MO' TUNES, which kicks off its second season Wednesday in a new venue: The Howlin' Wolf (828 S. Peters St., 522-WOLF), host of this fall's series. On Wednesday, the Mardi Gras Indian funk of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (pictured), backed by June Victory and the Bayou Renegades, headlines with supporting act John Lisi & Delta Funk. Combining a popular established act with a rising local talent is one of the goals of Mo' Tunes, Aiges says. "John Lisi is typical of the type of artist we're trying to help with the series," Aiges says. "He's hard working, constantly gigging outside of the city. We want to attract those kinds of artists and hopefully help them develop the best they can professionally. "(Mo' Tunes) was designed to do a number of things," Aiges continues. "No. 1 is to establish the development of the music industry as an important issue. Holding concerts is one way to attract attention and create a buzz." Other objectives, Aiges says, are to generate more income-producing opportunities for local artists and to help musicians hone their professional development skills. "We hope that musicians feel the benefit of having City Hall behind them," Aiges says. Subsequent shows include the ReBirth Brass Band with supporting act Glenn David Andrews on Sept. 24; George Porter and Brian Stoltz, Oct. 1; Latin groover Otra co-headlining with Avatar and Almas Gemelas, Oct. 8; Bingo! with supporting act Happy Talk, Oct. 22; Pleasure Club with the Joneses, Oct. 22; a hip-hop showcase with headliners 54th Platoon performing with 7th Ward Soldier, R&B artist Euricka and DJ Scratchmosis, Oct. 29; and roots rock takes the final billing with the Continental Drifters, Nov. 5. For more info, visit www.realneworleansmusic.com or www.howlin-wolf.com. -- Frank Etheridge

Dalek 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 Mermaid Lounge, 1100 Constance St., 524-4747 New Jersey trio Dalek visits the deep, dark, hard side of hip-hop, but not in any kind of cliched gangsta way. Its fusion of big, loud beats and deep-voiced, high-minded lyricism is at once muted and in your face. And unlike many hip-hop artists, Dalek is worth seeing live. On top of innovative MC skills, one of the group's two DJs takes the record player places it hasn't been before -- like inside his mouth -- as he squats and scratches the needle with his lips for a noisy accent to his ambient layers of beats. For a hemmed-in taste of Dalek's live explosiveness, check out From the Tongue of Gods and Griots, their second and latest album, released on Ipecac Records -- the label curated by Mike Patton of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle fame. The group is working on two new full-length albums for release in late 2004. -- Cristina Diettinger

Nelson Eubanks 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 17 Beaucoup Books, 5414 Magazine St., 895-2663 Traveling across continents, cultures, class and time, some baggage is intentionally left behind -- or at least we hope it is. In New Orleans resident Nelson Eubanks' The First Thing Smoking, a collection of related short stories that revolves around the character Maceo, the author demonstrates that there is little refuge for a modern African-American male, physically or mentally, from the ubiquitous reach of race and violence. Eubanks charts Maceo's journey from a childhood of stickball in New York City and his parents' suburban flight to New Jersey to summers spent with family (and secrets) in Pennsylvania and early adulthood in Bahia, Brazil. Along the way, readers can't help but be affected by this reflective poetic narrative that delivers the short story's snapshot quality of description, economy of language and plot while at the same time displaying the character and thematic development of a novel. This is an author to read as well as to watch. -- David Winkler Schmit

"Tales of the Cocktail" Various events and times held Thursday-Friday, Sept. 18-19 299-0404 Barnaby Conrad III's Absinthe: History in a Bottle is one of the many cocktail-themed books featured at dinners celebrating "Tales of the Cocktail," throughout the French Quarter on Thursday and Friday. The Southern Comfort Cocktail Tour, a tour of the city's famous and notorious watering holes, celebrates its one-year anniversary this week with Tales of the Cocktail. Anniversary events, held at multiple locations in the French Quarter, include appearances by authors of cocktail books, restaurant dinner parties (including Galatoire's, Brennan's and the Ritz-Carlton's French Quarter Bar) and a tribute to historic bars and restaurants. At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 17 bars and restaurants host "A Toast to History," a tour honoring inventions from the Sazerac to Pimm's Cup, hurricane to hand grenade. Later that evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., "Cocktail Hour" brings the public face-to-face with famed cocktail-book authors such as Stephen Visakay (Vintage Bar Ware Guide), Barnaby Conrad III (Absinthe: History in a Bottle) and New Orleans' own Kerry McCaffety (Obituary Cocktail). "Spirited Dinners" takes place at 8 p.m. in various Quarter restaurants, with menus paired to various spirits. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Gray Line Lighthouse (Toulouse Street at the river), the tour celebrates its anniversary with free cake. For more information and to check out cocktail menus, visit www.southerncomfortcocktailtour.com. -- Etheridge

Yo La Tengo 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS Yo La Tengo tours in support of its recent release, Summer Sun, Thursday at Tipitina's. Guitarist Ira Kaplan is an LP collector and has worked as a promoter, soundman and rock critic -- a standard indie-rock resume, give or take a counter job at Kinko's. The band's similarly pedigreed fans were satirized a while back in The Onion report about a disaster at a Yo Lo Tengo concert that killed "37 record-store clerks" and rendered missing "seven freelance rock critics, five vinyl junkies, two 'zine publishers, an art-school dropout, and a college-radio DJ." The group's new CD, Summer Sun, has plenty of the rockin', feedback-heavy Yo La Tengo, featuring the nimble, occasionally surly Kaplan with his fellow wiseguy, longtime bassist James McNew. Then there are the sweet songs, voiced softly by Kaplan and his wife, the alto-voiced drummer Georgia Hubley. (In the second category is the disc's gorgeous finale, "Take Care," written by New Orleans' own Alex Chilton.) The Aislers Set and DJ Name open. Tickets $12. -- Katy Reckdahl

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18 Mid City Lanes Rock 'n' Bowl, 4133 Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 Some nights, the Rock 'n' Bowl especially backs up its claims to be "world-famous." Such is the case tonight, when the lanes become a departure point for fans of Cajun and zydeco music from across the globe, who fly into town en route for a western drive on I-10 to the two-day Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette. (For a complete festival schedule, see www.cajunradio.org/festivalsacadiens.html). Crowd-favorite Geno Delafose expertly takes the reins tonight, delivering a mix of traditional and contemporary zydeco and Cajun tunes, including songs from his latest CD, Everybody¹s Dancin¹. Delafose is a master of the single-row, double-row and piano accordion, and he's no slouch at stage presence. Just check out the growing mob of Dela-heads at the foot of the stage, jockeying for space with the dancers. Admission $7. -- Michael Tisserand

The Music Man 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 Rivertown Repertory Theatre, 325 Minor St., Kenner, 468-7221 Rivertown Repertory Theatre celebrates the opening of its 16th season with a work that continues to solidify its reputation as an enduring musical: The Music Man. Nearly 50 years after writer Meredith Wilson approved the script for stage, the scheme of charlatan "Professor" Harold Hill has delighted countless audiences, up to and including this year's TV special featuring Matthew Broderick in the lead role. With a toe-tapping score that earned the play a Tony Award for Best Score (along with Best Musical and Best Book honors), this version of the musical comes under the direction and choreography of Alton Geno. The cast features Jimmy Murphy as Hill and Brandi Cotogno as his Shpoopi (er, love interest), Marion Paroo. Tickets $22 adults, $20 seniors over age 55, $12 children ages 6-12. Pre-performance buffet catered by Messina's, $16. -- Etheridge

"A Celebration of Davell Crawford" 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20 Tipitina's, 501 Napoleon Ave., 895-TIPS It's one of the great disappointments in local music that Davell Crawford's recent recorded output has been so sparse, especially considering that 1998 yielded The B-3 and Me -- a wonderful exploration of that funky Hammond organ -- and the double-shot from 1999: the ballad-driven Love Like Yours and Mine and the aptly named Born With the Funk. Those three albums alone offer a sense of how Crawford can explore so many of the possibilities of roots music, from blues to gospel to soul to funk; they all have served him well over a career that has spanned ... two decades?!? Yup, the self-dubbed "Prince of New Orleans" is turning 28, celebrating not only his birthday but also 20 years on the scene with a jam-packed lineup of special guests that include Marva Wright, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, Rockin' Dopsie Jr., Kelly Love Jones, the Revealers and Anders Osborne, Les Getrix, Charmaine Neville, Nu Beginnings and Lady BJ Crosby. Tickets $10. -- Simmons

Victor Wooten 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 House of Blues, 229 Decatur St., 529-BLUE In the world of bass, few players can top Victor Wooten's low-end gymnastics. Well known for his membership in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Wooten has made a mark of his own on the music world from within the band and on his own. With a road show that packs as much virtuosity as deep funk., his instantly recognizable sound comes out in original compositions with titles that reveal his two-track mind ("Hey Girl," "Pretty Little Lady," "Me and My Bass Guitar," "Thumpin' and Slappin'"). As he hulas his instrument around his neck by the strap, and mixes those thumps and slaps with the smoothest of phrases and the utmost dexterity, it's no wonder Wooten is widely considered the greatest living bass player. Now, you too can play like Woo -- just pick up a copy of The Best of Victor Wooten, a new book of his transcriptions. And good luck. Tickets $14. -- Diettinger

Lucinda Williams 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE On her latest release, World Without Tears, Lucinda Williams shows once again that she's been around literally and figuratively. On any given disc, you can be guaranteed Williams will drag you through a tour of the pain and pleasure, the ugliness and beauty of her heart -- topped off by enough geographical references (Minneapolis, La Grange, Ventura, Calif., etc.) that you have to believe Lucinda's the Atlas of Love. (Even her label, Lost Highway, suggests wanderlust.) Her songwriting ranges from the surprisingly trite ("You built a nest inside my soul") to the bare naked ("Lean over the toilet bowl/ And throw up my confession") to the unrepentantly lustful ("Let me give you something good to eat/ Bite down hard 'til it sticks between your teeth"). So do her vocals, paralleling these moods by stretching her Southern twang -- sometimes affectedly -- like taffy, other times cooing in her lover's ear. Now fiftysomething, Williams shows no signs of slowing down. It is, after all, a big country. Scott Thomas opens. Tickets $30. -- Simmons

Thomas Sully: Oil Paintings and Watercolors Through September Heriard-Cimino Gallery, 440 Julia St. 525-7300 The surrealists knew. If you take a picture from a popular publication of the past and transpose it to the present, it's a whole new ballgame. Indeed, scenes that were once mainstream turn surreal when shifted to a different time frame. Thomas Sully -- a scion of the famed 19th century portraitist and cousin of the noted New Orleans architect of the same name -- uses this device to explore the Southern landscape. A longtime illustrator for The New Yorker, his new watercolors suggest the Saturday Evening Post covers of ages past, with preppie ingenues gaping in wonder at the massive serpentine coils of a magnolia root system, or striking Audrey Hepburn poses in sun dresses while contemplating a palm, in what amounts to a nostalgic yet surreal promenade through the Acadian landscapes of the Southern past. -- D. Eric Bookhardt