On Saturday, art aficionados, preferably in the proper attire, can embrace the warmth of a New Orleans summer night while strolling down Julia Street and the Warehouse Arts District to explore the twentysomething art galleries at their disposal for free. They can do so, all the while cooling off by complimentary hand-held fans. The occasion: WHITE LINEN NIGHT, sponsored by Whitney National Bank, presented by the New Orleans Arts District Association and produced by the Contemporary Arts Center. First inaugurated in the summer of 1991 as a way to bring tourists, locals and art lovers back to the Warehouse Arts District galleries during the slow, sweltering summer months, White Linen Night has succeeded in establishing itself as an annual event, showcasing the finest art and music while attracting thousands of art lovers. From 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., patrons can weave in and out of galleries, enjoy the Brazilian sounds of Riccardo Crespo's jazz trio, dance to the Caribbean cadence of the Executive Steel Band and feast on festive food while sipping spirits from restaurant stations and cash bars lined along the street. And the party ain't over yet. For the night owls, the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St., 528-3805) will host a post party -- with a $5 suggested donation. The long evening will kick off with Latin dance instruction from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., followed by live Latin dance music from Latin crooner and bandleader Fredy Omar con su Banda from 10 p.m. to midnight. Grub will also be available for sale at cash bars and restaurant stations at the CAC. This post party will feature the Nouveau Techno and Picturing Art: The Art of Jack Ox exhibitions, which both are open for viewing from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. (See D. Eric Bookhardt's reviews in this issue.) White House on Wheels (direct from New York) will also be present, with a Jackie Onassis look-alike who will pass out voter registration cards to promote higher voter participation for this year's presidential election. -- Katie LaCorte

Night Out Against Crime Block Party and Parade 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 3 First District Police Station, 732 N. Broad St.., 827-1661 The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club is teaming up with the New Orleans Police Department to host the 21st annual Night Out Against Crime Parade and Block Party. As tradition and in light of the recent spike in our city's already formidable crime rate, local law enforcement officials and citizens in the area will take to the streets at 5 p.m. and show that they are not afraid to fight crime. The parade, which begins at the police station and runs along Orleans Avenue to Broad Street, will precede a block party with free food and beverages. With last year's event a success and more than 1,000 in attendance, this year's event is sure to receive the same positive turnout, giving 'crime and drugs another going-away party.' Also keep an eye out for Night Out locations in your own neighborhood. -- LaCorte

Kristy Kruger 10 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3 d.b.a., 616 Frenchmen St., 942-3731 On An Unauthorized Guide to the Human Anatomy (Do It Yerself), Kristy Kruger is cool. The Texan who spent a year in New Orleans sings, 'I got my back' with the quiet confidence of someone who actually does, and throughout the album she's laidback, trusting her songs and voice. The album, produced by Dave Pirner and Andrew 'Goat' Gilchrist, fleshes out her folk-based songs, and in the process, Kruger finds some rock 'n' roll attitude. In 'Coming 'Round the Mountain,' for instance, a little Patti Smith-like swagger creeps into her voice. For someone who's often an acoustic warrior, this is unusual, as is avoiding the coffeehouse strum. Kruger is also the featured performer Thursday night at '15 Minutes,' the singer-songwriter showcase at The Parish. Call d.b.a. for cover. At the Parish, $5 cover. -- Alex Rawls

Beth Ann Fennelly and Bret Lott 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 5 Faulkner House Books, 624 Pirates Alley, 586-1609 'I need to be more French. Or Japanese,' laments Ole Miss poet Beth Ann Fennelly, unable to forget 'tastebuds/ shuffling along the beer line at Wrigley Field/ the day they gave out foam fingers.' With lines so clear and down-home, it's easy to see why Lucinda Williams is a fan, calling her poems 'brave and beautiful, like little short stories,' the most harrowing of which tells of a miscarriage at the Hotel Monteleone. Released this past spring, Tender Hooks (Norton) explores the ambiguities of an American motherhood, recounting Fennelly's journey from 'years of the fishnets and the fake ID, Doc Martens, the do-not-disturb' to 'Quiet-Sex-With-Husband-While-Baby-Watches-Barney.' She will read and sign books along with Oprah Book Club alum Bret Lott, who has just moved to LSU to helm The Southern Review. While the Oprah sticker catapulted Lott's tough/tender novel Jewel to a national readership, his new novel, A Song I Knew By Heart (Random House), seems to aspire to greater recognition: the novel is based (loosely) on the biblical Book of Ruth. Two writers; one hot August night. Air-conditioned. Free admission. -- Ed Skoog

Boobs! The Musical: The World According to Ruth Wallis 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 5-7; 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8; through Aug. 29 Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Ave., 581-5812 It should come as no great shock that Ruth Wallis' musical cannon that featured such double-entendre masterpieces as 'The Dinghy Song,' 'Drill 'Em All' and 'Johnny's Got a Yo-Yo' were more warmly received in such New Orleans haunts as the Swamp Room and the Hotel Monteleone than on commercial radio. (Having said that, 'Dinghy,' frequently sold under the counter, sold 250,000 copies.) Wallis was a truly original naughty girl of the 1940s and '50s, making Boobs! The Musical perfect fodder for Carl Walker's All Kinds of Theatre's most recent offering. Walker is rarely not on a roll, but this particular hot streak includes Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Dirty Blonde, Fully Committed and The Mystery of Irma Vep. The cast is equally promising, starting with Becky Allen and also featuring Maureen Brennan, Bob Edes, Ann Mahoney, Robert Thomas and Chris Wecklein. Tickets to Thursday's premiere are $25 and available only through Mystic Krewe of Satyricon (call 525-4498; other tickets $26 plus one-drink minimum) available at the box office. -- David Lee Simmons

James Singleton Trio 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5 The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 925 Camp St., 539-9600 A.) James Singleton is a modern jazz bass player. B.) James Singleton is a traditional jazz bass player. C.) James Singleton is funk bass player. D.) James Singleton is a blues bass player. The answer is D; all of the above and then some. Singleton has exhibited his immense talent with everybody from his main gigs in the telepathic Astral Project, the eclectic 3Now4 and the sensitive yet hard-blowing Rob Wagner Trio, to stints long ago with James Black and James Booker. For this rare gig with his trio, he'll be up front exhibiting his powerful technique on both the body and strings of the bass. He'll be joined by trumpeter Satoru Ohashi and percussionist Anthony Cuccia, who'll be adding electronic samples and loops to their sound. Singleton says, 'I've always loved trios for the intimacy, and the new technology is giving me the textural variance I crave.' Free for members, $10 for non-members. -- David Kunian

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 5-7; 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 7-8 Tulane University, Dixon Hall, 865-5269 First presented by Andrew Lloyd Webber as a 15-minute biblical cantata at the Colet Court School in London back in 1968, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat eventually matured into a 90-minute musical masterpiece, thanks to Webber's collaboration with Tim Rice. The play closely follows the Bible's story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers because of their father's unequivocal favoritism toward him. The brothers convince their father, Jacob, that Joseph has been murdered when they show him his rainbow-colored coat covered in bloodstains (which are really from a sheep). In this production, C. Leonard Raybon directs and conducts music, while Diane Lala directs and choreographs a 27-member cast that features Randy Cheramie, Patrick Rickerfor and Rendell Debose. Costumes by Julie Winn. Tickets $29 downstairs, $22 upper balcony. -- LaCorte

Crescent City Con XIX Friday-Sunday, Aug. 6-8 Best Western Landmark Hotel, 2601 Severn Ave., Metairie, 888-9500 'Has the popularity of such blockbusters as X-Men and Spider-Man led to more mainstream acceptance of comics as art or literature or do we still look like just a bunch of puerile geeks?' goes the description for one of the Crescent City Con XIX seminars, 'Comic-Based Movies: Blessing or Curse?' Considering that one of the other activities is a 'Renaissance Dance Class,' the question may already be answered, but one thing is certain: Crescent City Con has, in its nearly 20 years of existence, become much more than a geek fest. It has become one of the Southeast's most popular and well-attended comic-book conventions. Nearly 1,000 fans attend the show, which also includes art exhibits from commercial and everyday artists, live interactive fictional entertainment, epic gaming, and fan geek makeovers courtesy the Porno Patrol. Actor David Carradine, of Kung-Fu and Kill Bill fame, is an invited guest. Registration is $40 at the door; kids 6-under free when accompanied by one paid adult, kids 7-12 half price with same, and guests 65-above free. Visit www.crescentcitycon.com. -- Simmons

Satchmo Club Strut 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6 Various Frenchmen Street area venues Astral Project (pictured) joins other musicians at the Satchmo Club Strut on Friday in various Frenchmen Street venues. Coinciding with Satchmo SummerFest's celebration of jazz is the Club Strut, with most clubs in the newly dubbed Frenchmen Street Arts & Culture District -- roughly the three blocks of Frenchmen running from Esplanade Avenue to Royal Street -- hosting a strong lineup of traditional and contemporary jazz. 'The Japanese Satchmo' -- as he is billed -- Yoshio Tayama performs along with his Dixie Saints to kick off the festivities at 6 p.m. at the Christopher Inn. Other venues include the Blue Nile, Cafe Brasil, d.b.a., Snug Harbor and The Spotted Cat. Most of the artists play Frenchmen Street regularly, but it's nice to have a night when Astral Project, Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet, Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews, Charlie Miller & the Creole Harmony Kings and the Jazz Vipers are all playing on the same night. See www.jazzcent.com for a complete schedule. Tickets are $20 in advance for admission to most clubs, $25 at the door, and $50 for a VIP ticket that also includes the balcony parties and Snug Harbor. -- Alex Rawls

Bar Angel 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 6-7; through Aug. 28 Cowpokes Barn Theatre, 2240 St. Claude Ave., 947-0505 'It is a fun, comedic romp -- It's a Wonderful Life, with a decidedly gay-skewered perspective.' We would expect no less from Lewis Routh, who has become perhaps the city's most prolific playwright of the gay condition production after production. In this one-act go-round, Routh writes about a gay bar in which Henry Bernstein (Danny McNamara) is spilling his guts over another failed relationship to the bartender, Gilda Lilly (Adam Hawkins). During his many laments, Henry wishes an angel (Michael Castrillo) into existence. Routh directs, while Todd Blauvelt provides the set design and construction. Proceeds from Friday's opening-night performance will go the Human Rights Campaign. Tickets $10. -- Simmons

Afroskull 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 Maple Leaf Bar, 8316 Oak St., 866-9359 After a much-maligned emigration to the bright lights and even brighter opportunities of New York City, local funk metal dynamos Afroskull are coming back home to New Orleans and the Maple Leaf to remind us once again just how much the Meters and Deep Purple have in common. Guitarist Joe Scatassa and drummer Jason Isaac melt the barriers between funk and heavy metal with chest-punching guitars and quintessentially New Orleans syncopation, then reignite it with the vamp of vintage Zappa. Their Black Sabbath cover gigs are legendary in the hearts of local music fans, and the band's original material flawlessly showers big riffs with contemporary jazz horns, resulting in the thinking man's metal you can dance to (or is it funk you can bang your head to?). The returning version of Afroskull will feature several new members and lengthy appearances by original bassist Bill Richards as well as former member and trumpeter Nick Volz, now with Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes. $7 cover. -- James Bailey

Jerry Lee Lewis 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE The case could easily be made that the attitude now called 'punk rock' by the young folks started with the famously contrary Jerry Lee Lewis. Flouting convention, breaking things and all around tearing it up, the irascible Lewis has never done a damn thing unless he felt like it. Street cred? With less than five top-10 hits in his 40-year career, the man invented it. Dropped out of Bible school? Married his cousin? So what? Even if it takes him a few tries to kick over the piano stool and his days of setting things on fire and talking smack about Elvis are long gone, he's worth the ticket price to see hits like 'High School Confidential' and 'Lewis Boogie' banged out in person with all the snotty teenage attitude of days gone by. Approaching 70, the Killer is still ready, willing and able to take all comers to school. Tickets $47.50. -- Alison Fensterstock

KISS 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7 New Orleans Arena, 1500 Poydras St., 587-3822 'You wanted the McDonald's of rock 'n' roll and you got it!! The most mercenary band in the land -- KISS!!!' These magic words or something like them began the landmark KISS Alive in 1975, and in its own way, the band ushered in the era of Britney, Beyonc&233; and the arena extravaganza show. There's no new album, but there's no need for one when the show people want to see involves the songs they already know and love. Instead, it's a safe bet money that might have been spent recording has been channeled into a bigger, better pyrotechnics show and improved production values. As easy as it is to wisecrack about KISS, it's silly to deny the fun of a good fireworks show and songs as immediate as theirs. The band's single-minded dedication to entertaining a crowd has a lot in common with Las Vegas lounge acts, and that's commendable, if not necessarily rock 'n' roll. Tickets $42.50. -- Rawls

Idle Pursuits: Celebratioons of Leisure in Edo-Period Painting Through December New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, 488-2631 'Up a lazy river by the old mill run. ... You can linger in the shade of that fine ole tree. Throw away your troubles, baby, dream with me ... .' So sang Louis Armstrong, but some things are universal. For most people, summer has always meant chilling out, and 17th century Japan was no exception. The activities portrayed in these painted fans, screens and scrolls on view in NOMA's Asian Gallery include excursions into nature, hanging out with friends, playing games, or enjoying the pleasure district, the so-called 'floating world.' As Asai Ryoi wrote in 1668: 'Living only for the moment, turning our attention to the cherry blossoms and the maples, singing songs, drinking wine, just floating like a gourd along the river current: this is what we call the floating world.' Armstrong could relate. -- D. Eric Bookhardt