Classical Trio By October, the classical arts scene starts chugging in earnest, as evidenced by a TRIO OF CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENTS across New Orleans this weekend. Speaking of busy, Mexico's Carlos Miguel Prieto is a busy man; he conducts the Huntsville (Ala.) Symphony Orchestra, guest conducts the Houston Symphony Orchestra and is fresh off the plane from a European tour with Mexico's Xalapa Symphony Or chestra. Prieto returns to New Orleans to guest conduct the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra's "Beethoven in Blue Jeans" concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre (129 University Place, 523-6530, www.lpomusic.com). Despite his hectic schedule, Prieto will conduct the LPO three times this season, and it appears the LPO is seriously considering him for the vacant music director spot. The program includes Beethoven's immortal Fifth Symphony, Revueltas' suite from Redes and the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring young Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji. Tickets range from $13 to $62. The St. Louis Cathedral (Jackson Square, 525-9585, ext. 21) will host Olivier Latry, titular organist for the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, at 7 p.m. Sunday. Latry landed the Notre Dame post at the tender age of 23, and with a dozen recordings under his belt, he's one of the world's most distinguished organists. Sunday's concert program is a chock-full, chronological trip through the organist repertoire, starting with Louis Marchand in the 1600s through Cesar Franck in the 1800s and up to Latry's own teacher, Gaston Litaize, among many others. Latry ends his performance in the present, with his own improvisation. The concert is free and open to the public. The Monday, Oct. 4, performance of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio (pictured) marks the opening of Friends of Music's 50th anniversary season at Tulane's Dixon Hall (895-0690, www.friendsofmusic.org). Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jamie Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson have played together for more than 25 years, debuting at the White House for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977. That's a lot of time to blend and perfect a style, and the trio is frequently praised for its almost-uncanny ensemble work. Here, the trio tackles Beethoven's Piano Trio No. 4, Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 and Dvorak's Piano Trio No. 4, "Dumky." The concert begins at 8 p.m.; tickets are $18 at the door, $10 for students and free with a Tulane student I.D. -- Natalie Brown

Dave Alvin 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28 Mid City Lanes Rock 'N' Bowl, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 Dave Alvin performs Tuesday at Mid City Lanes. The title song from Dave Alvin's new CD, Ashgrove (YepRoc) opens, 'When I was a young boy, I used to slip away / down to the Ashgrove to hear the old blues men play.' Played as a shuffle, the song is a tribute to the blues and the blues men -- particularly an aging Big Joe Turner -- who taught Alvin and his brother Phil to play in California in the 1970s. Whether with Phil in the Blasters or on his own, Dave Alvin has demonstrated a mastery of most American roots music. He has a surprising feel for pretty melodies in songs such as 'Rio Grande' and 'Nine Volt Heart' (co-written with Rod Hodges of the Iguanas), and when he applies his electric guitar to the Appalachian folk of 'Sinful Daughter,' he's sensitive, never letting it distract from the song's story. There and throughout the album, he plays just what the moment requires to bring it to life. Admission $5. -- Alex Rawls

The Cramps 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE Like cryogenically frozen space zombies in a basement, the Cramps will not die. On How to Make a Monster (Vengeance), the spooky surf-punk icons celebrate 30 years together and a twisted body of work that includes their damaged takes on obscure '50s surf and rockabilly with a vintage sci-fi B-movie aesthetic. Last year's memorable two-night stand included the sight of frontman Lux Interior, looking every inch the scrawny hipster Herman Munster, scaling the speaker cabinets in a skintight red pleather jumpsuit. The current lineup includes ex-Blasters drummer Buster Bateman as the band tours in support of the recently released double-CD collection of unreleased early rehearsals and two early live shows, one at Max's Kansas City -- the band's third-ever gig. Expect everything you would from a gang that played one of its most legendary shows inside a mental hospital. Local ghouls Rock City Morgue and the Chesterfield Kings open. Tickets $20. -- Alison Fensterstock

Dress for Success hosts Morning Call for Success breakfast 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 30 Hyatt Regency Hotel, 569-8467, www.appearance.com Dress for Success prides itself on guiding women in need through the job world, from providing career development to a suit to interview in. This sixth annual fundraiser breakfast features a keynote address by Mary Lou Quinlan, marketing specialist and author of the best-selling book Just Ask A Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy. Quinlan's insights into the world of women as consumers are in high demand among companies; in the glory days of Oprah and the SUV-buying soccer mom, it's not hard to see why. Dress for Success will also celebrate the program's success stories. For tickets, call the Dress for Success office at 569-8467. -- Brown

Picasso at the Lapin Agile 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 30-Oct. 3 Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Library Lounge, 921 Canal St., 835-6002 Gary Rucker portrays Picasso and Mason Wood portrays Einstein in Picasso at the Lapin Agile Thursday- Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton's Library Lounge. Actor-comedian Steve Martin proved he was much more than just The Jerk when his original play Picasso at the Lapin Agile debuted at Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre in 1994, enjoying much success and critical acclaim across the country for years to follow. The play, presented during the next three weeks by Krewe Des Sept Productions, invents a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in 1904 at a small bar in Paris. Two divergent geniuses are on their way to incredible discoveries in their respective fields, and their revelations will have a significant impact on the 20th century. While engaging each other in deep conversation at the bar, Einstein and Picasso both draw great inspiration from each other, as well as from a series of colorful characters patronizing the Lapin Agile that night. Mason Wood makes his local directing debut in leading a cast that includes Gary Rucker as Picasso, with Wood playing Einstein. Tickets $25. -- Frank Etheridge

Burn K-Doe Burn! 8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 30-Oct. 3 Rock 'N' Bowl Cafe, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 947-1078 Adella Gautier and Harold Evans star in Rob Florence's tribute to an R&B legend with Burn K-Doe Burn! this weekend t the Rock 'N' Bowl Cafe. This week, questions still unanswered since the 2001 death of New Orleans R&B legend Ernie K-Doe are posed onstage, as the premiere of a local, original play, Burn K-Doe Burn!, seeks to capture the life and after-life of the late, great musician. The plot of this romantic comedy delivers answers such as how K-Doe became 'Emperor of the Universe' and how he was rescued from rock-bottom by his wife, but raises plenty of questions as well. Written by Rob Florence and directed by Karen-Kaia Livers, Burn K-Doe Burn! stars Harold Evans as the Ernie K-Doe statue. K-Doe's wife Antoinette plays her mother, Adella Gautier plays Antoinette, while Donald Lewis, Nick Thompson and Michael Zarou round out the cast. The play is preceded by 'Sing Along with K-Doe' and followed by 'Ernie K-Doe Dance Party.' Tickets are $15 and include your first drink. -- Etheridge

Mavis Staples 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30 House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., 529-BLUE Have a Little Faith (Alligator), the latest album from Mavis Staples, shows that the main female voice of the Staples Singers never lost her creative instincts, but she seemed to lose a sense of identity during her association with Prince. After the death of family patriarch Roebuck 'Pops' Staples in December 2000, her desire to codify his legacy led to the making of this CD, and its statement of purpose, 'Pops' Recipe.' The song offers a capsule biography of the Staples' founder with a sermon of a chorus: 'Accept responsibility / Don't forget humility / At every opportunity serve your artistry / Don't subscribe to bigotry, hypocrisy, duplicity / Respect humanity.' 'Step Into the Light,' a nonsectarian meditation on dying, features a moving vocal before being joined in the finale by the Dixie Hummingbirds. The song, co-written by Staples and Jim Tullio with Robbie 'La Vida Loca' Rosa and Sonia Dada's Dave Resnik, highlights Staples' ability to imbue open-ended humanist themes with gospel fervor. Tickets $18. -- John Swenson

Center Stage presents Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1 NOCCA/Riverfront, Lupin Hall, 2800 Chartres St., 940-2900 New Orleans' Godfrey Reggio's 1983 film, Koyaanisqatsi, has been credited for influencing everything from MTV to IMAX films. The wordless, visually stunning film was shot between 1975 and 1982, the first of the Qatsi trilogy that explores man and his relationship with the earth, celebrating and worrying over it all at the same time. (Reggio followed the film with 1998's Powwaqatsi, and finished the trilogy with 2002's Naqoyqatsi.) Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian term for 'life out of balance,' and the film examines the sometimes violent intersection of the natural world and the man-made world. The film, which features Philip Glass' haunting music score (his first for a feature-length movie), was added to the Library of Congress' elite National Film Registry in 2000. Reggio will present the film as part of the NOCCA Institute's Center Stage series, and will answer audience questions. Tickets $10. -- Brown

"Tryin' to Mess Up My Mind" 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 1-2 Mid City Lanes Rock 'n' Bowl, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 This two-night '60s garage festival is named for an obscure cut by a gang of Gentilly teenagers in 1965, the only record Dr. Spec's Optical Illusion ever made. The record is a wild, fuzzy, organ-driven screamer with solid Louisiana R&B influences that scored the band a place forever in the ranks of garage-punk legends. The local gems (including Souls of the Slain and the Bad Roads) are joined by legendary Californian psychedelic garage-rockers Sky Saxon and the Seeds, best known for 'Pushin' Too Hard,' and celebrated loons ? and the Mysterians, of the quintessential '96 Tears.' The more R&B-flavored Saturday night standouts include Clifton James and Lady Bo, who in their capacity as Bo Diddley's drummer and guitar sidekick, helped create one of the most iconic sounds in rock 'n' roll. Whether you see it as a gathering of luminaries or curiosities -- probably both -- this event sponsored by the same folks behind the Ponderosa Stomp is likely to be a hell of a weekend. Tickets $10 each night. -- Fensterstock

Six Flags New Orleans Fright Fest Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 2-3; through Oct. 31 12301 Six Flags Pkwy., 253-8128 It's doubtful that Halloween will ever rival Mardi Gras in this city, but it is becoming a good party in its own right. Six Flags gets in on the action early, kicking off its kid-friendly Fright Fest celebrations this weekend. Little ones can collect candy, paint pumpkins and meet Looney Tunes characters dressed in Halloween costumes. Older kids can do the 3-D haunted house, sing to 'Scaraoke' hosted by Danny Darko, Angelina and Gary Graves, dance to disco music provided by Devil and the Devilettes, and ride the appropriately decorated roller coasters and thrill rides. Illusionist Rob Thomas is back with a new show. General admission is $34.99 at the park, or $21.99 at Winn-Dixie stores. For more on the series, visit www.sixflags.com/parks/neworleans/index.asp. -- Brown

Jean Cassels reading/signing 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 Octavia Books, 513 Octavia St., 899-7323 This Saturday, Octavia becomes the site of what amounts to a mini-book festival. In the morning, acclaimed children's book illustrator Jean Cassels reads from her new work, The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson. Cassels, a local artist known for detailed depictions of animals and the natural world in more than 50 previous works such as Lonesome George the Giant Tortoise, constructed her fanciful new book as a series of paintings of various fairy-tale creatures, each of which holds a clue to the disappearance of its artist. Sometimes bordering on the bizarre (especially the portrait of the finely attired ant and grasshopper), Cassels' book is a unique and imaginative contribution to kids' literature. In the afternoon, Octavia brings in historian and author Simon, whose latest book, Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America, has been winning raves for its depiction of the growth of one of the country's pre-eminent playground cities. The Chicago Tribune recently enthused, 'Simon moves effortlessly &138; between the fantasies that Atlantic City sold and the social, economic and political worlds that underlay them. The result is a lively, evocative, eminently readable book that looks beyond the Jersey beach town to the inner pulse of urban America.' It's fitting that Simon is coming to another great playground city to discuss his work. -- Michael Tisserand

Todd White 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 Louisiana Children's Museum, 420 Julia St., 523-1357 Todd White traffics in icons. By day, he's a lead artist on the Nickelodeon kid phenom SpongeBob SquarePants. As a painter, he specializes in twisted scenes of cool cats sharing cigarettes and cocktails in a style that is aptly described as 'Rat Pack-meets-Picasso.' This Saturday, White will wear both hats in New Orleans. In the morning, he's demonstrating SpongeBob art and signing SpongeBob merch for fans at the Louisiana Children's Museum. For the uninitiated, SpongeBob, who dwells in the Pacific Ocean in the city of Bikini Bottom, is the latest in a distinguished line of kiddy cartoon everymen -- he's not as sassy as Bugs Bunny but not as earnestly plucky as Mickey Mouse. At the Children's Museum, expect a horde of kids coming face-to-face with the notion that someone actually draws SpongeBob. A more sophisticated crowd follows White's grown-up work: His paintings can be found in the home of none other than Hugh Hefner, and his Jeremy Davenport portrait Bend It hangs in the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans. White -- but not SpongeBob -- will appear at Robert Bruno for an evening opening. -- Tisserand

New Orleans Press Club Gridiron Show 8 p.m. Saturday, October 2 Xavier University Ballroom, 1 Drexel Drive, 523-1010 It's a time-honored tradition to tweak the noses of our local politicians, but sometimes in Louisiana, they just make it so easy. The New Orleans Press Club throws its 43rd annual Gridiron Show this weekend, raising money for its scholarship fund with a series of hilariously satirical digs at local figureheads. The show promises to lacerate the Orleans Parish School Board, City Hall, the airport and this year's headliner, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. What better way to relive the Amato disaster than with a catchy song and dance routine? Food and an open bar precede the show for those who buy table seating (starting at $800 for 10 seats). Individual tickets are $40. -- Brown

Angola Prison Rodeo 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3; through Oct. 31 Louisiana State Penitentiary, end of Hwy. 66, Angola, (225) 655-2030 'The Wildest Show in the South' returns for its 40th year and gleefully boasts an even wider selection of inmate-made arts and crafts, local food and inmate music groups. And of course, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., inexperienced inmates attempt to mount wild horses, milk wild cows, play chicken with charging bulls and remove poker chips tied between the horns of Brahma bulls. As surreal (and, to some, disturbing) as this long-standing practice may seem, the proceeds from the rodeo enable the prison to provide chapels and other services at Angola, so your souvenir money goes to a good cause. All seats $10; for more on the rodeo, visit www.angolaprisonrodeo.com -- Brown

The Melvins 10 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3 One Eyed Jacks, 615 Toulouse St., 569-8361 The Melvins' career has been an exercise in perversity, and the new Pigs of the Roman Empire (Ipecac) continues in that vein. Never ones to give the audience simple pleasures, the missing link between Black Sabbath and stoner rock grinds out slow, devastatingly heavy riffs like the one in 'The Bloated Pope' that only occasionally go somewhere, delaying the pleasure of a chorus or a tempo faster than a human heartbeat. In short, King Buzzo and company keep their audiences stuck on the verge of rocking. The new album features co-conspirator B. Lustmord adding layers of distorted sound to the Melvins' already-trippy metal to create a soundtrack to a movie the band won't identify. Much of the album is gloomy and instrumental, including the 22-minute title track, then after all the bleak grinding, at the end of two hidden tracks is a pretty little melody that may be the most perverse twist of all. The band's collaboration with Jello Biafra, Never Breathe What You Can't See (Alternative Tentacles), is due out Oct. 19. $15 cover. -- Rawls

"With God as Our Father, Brothers All Are We" -- African-American Imagery from the LIFE Magazine Gallery of Photography (1936-1972) Though Sept. 30 Stella Jones Gallery, 201 St. Charles Ave., 568-9050 There was once a time, decades ago, when picture magazines such as LIFE and Look were as influential as big cable networks like CNN and FOX are today. That was true from the Great Depression and war years through the 1950s and '60s, the glory days of the civil rights movement. What the images lacked in immediacy they more than made up for in quality. In fact, some of the best photographs by Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstadt and Carl Mydans were more than immediate; they were, and are, timeless. This exhibition at Stella Jones provides an insightful look at what has changed as well as, to a lesser extent, what remains the same for black people living in poverty in the South. -- D. Eric Bookhardt