‘TEMPORAL MEMORIAL’

On December 20, the public-art-funding collaborative Visible Republic, which is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, will sponsor a unique memorial for the city’s homeless that it hopes will become an annual event. Created by local artist Sandra Vieira with help from Boston’s homeless community, "Temporal Memorial" will begin at 5 p.m. at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 138 Tremont Street (opposite the Park Street T station), where the public is invited to join a lantern procession to the Brewer’s Fountain on Boston Common (near the Park Street T station), in recognition of those who died during this past year in indigent circumstances. The ceremony there will include music, poetry readings, and a reading of the names of the homeless deceased. Afterward the lanterns will return to the steps of the Cathedral, and a small reception will take place inside. Vieira hopes this "Temporal Memorial" will "foster restoration of community, identity, human dignity, and remembrance as a culturally essential component of civilized life." For more information, call NEFA at (617) 951-0010.

THE EITHER/ORCHESTRA’S SECRET LIFE

Most of us know the Either/Orchestra as Boston’s pre-eminent experimental little big band, purveyors of brainy-if-swinging hybrids of Ellington, Mingus, King Crimson, Dylan, Bing Crosby — you name it — plus a book of sterling originals by bandleader Russ Gershon and any number of bandmembers over the years. But now, Gershon and company have revealed a secret life — playing for dancers! "Unbeknownst to the general public," says Gershon’s e-mail missive, the E/Os have long played dance gigs for weddings, parties, and other events. Now celebrating their 17th anniversary, the band will be playing "red-hot dance music in a Boston club for the first time." That would be the Milky Way, 405 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, this Friday, December 13. The festivities start at 9 with opening band Mike Tucker; the E/O will follow at 10:30. And what to expect? "A hearty dose of 1930s swing, along with classic rhythm and blues . . . plus calypso and South African Township jazz, salsa, and funk." The cover is $10; call (617) 524-3740.

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts 2003

The World Music/CRASHarts winter/spring schedule is out, and it’s the usual mix of the familiar and welcome with the unfamiliar and intriguing. Africa is especially well represented next month: Bonga will bring his intoxicating percussive music from Angola on January 10; the 16-member Les Percussions de Guinée will present authentic West African music and dance on January 15; and Ladysmith Black Mambazo will come with their inimitable South African a cappella on January 31. That’s not all: Mali’s Habib Koité will be here February 9, and big names Youssou N’Dour and Angélique Kidjo will share a stage on April 11.

Down Under meets the Hub on April 22 when the Waifs bring their Australian folk rock to join up with Boston folk luminary Jess Klein. Jess isn’t our only local hero: on May 2 and 3, eight Greater Boston–based choreographers will get a maximum of 10 minutes to showcase new works in "Ten’s the Limit."

We’ll see more fiery footwork next month from the Flamenco Festival, which will feature Juana Amaya and Farruquito on January 23 and 26 and Spain’s Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras on January 24 and 25. Tango Buenos Aires will show us what the world’s steamiest dance (after the waltz, of course) is all about on February 15. Compañía María Pagés will feature the flamenco dancer whom Riverdance made famous June 19 through 22. A very different kind of choreography will be on display February 8 when Richard Move brings his fabled impersonation of Martha Graham to town.

Also on the North American front: the Blind Boys of Alabama move into their seventh decade of performing gospel songs February 28; the Bobs sing their witty a cappella March 29; Native American flutist and composer R. Carlos Nakai performs the music of his Navajo-Ute heritage May 17. And on Valentine’s Day, out of the heart of Cape Breton’s Celtic community, comes the traditional music and stepdancing of the Barra MacNeils.

From the Emerald Isle itself, Altan, with the wispy vocals of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, continue to set the standard for traditional Irish bands; they’ll be here March 8. Still traditional but boasting a rock-and-roll edge are Lúnasa, who’ll arrive March 22. And on June 13, we’ll get Irish supergroup Solas.

From more exotic climes come Tuvan throat singers Huun Huur Tu; they’ll be here March 14. On March 21 vocalist and violinist Shankar and tabla player Zakir Hussain bring us an evening of Indian classical music. The Japanese-born but New York–based Eiko & Koma, who’ve been known to perform in the nude, will be here April 4 and 5. Israel’s Habrera Hativeet draw from the entire Middle East for their music; they arrive May 10. More Indian classical music comes to us courtesy of Shivkumar Sharma and, once again, Zakir Hussain on May 17. And Saigon Water Puppets, with "multicolored phoenixes and copper turtles, fantastical jumping fish, and pirouetting dragons that breathe real fire and spout water," will close out the season June 26 through 29.

That’s not quite all, though. Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club brings his all-star Cuban band February 7. German cabaret chanteuse Ute Lemper will do Piaf, Dietrich, and Weill April 26. And on February 1, our own Alloy Orchestra will perform its new original score for the first feature film ever made in color, Douglas Fairbanks’s The Black Pirate. For a complete schedule and ticket information visit www.worldmusic.org or call (617) 876-4275.

ALI AND WYNTON

When Wynton Marsalis comes to town, it’s usually as a leader — either of his own small ensembles at clubs like the Regattabar and Scullers, or as artistic director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra when that ensemble plays Symphony Hall. So what’s Wynton doing coming to town as a sideman — something he probably hasn’t done since his days with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the late ’70s — when he plays as just one of the guys in a quintet led by drummer Ali Jackson at upstart Faneuil Hall club TK’s Jazz Café on December 20 and 21.

Well, first of all, Jackson disputes the notion of "sideman." "Any time you’re on the bandstand playing jazz music as we know it, everyone’s part of the ensemble, no matter who the leader is. So you’re empowered — the music empowers you." What’s more, he says, "To lead, you have to know how to follow, and Wynton likes to learn, he’s a sponge . . . his quest for knowledge is never ceasing."

Hmmm . . . doesn’t that philosophical spin sound a little like Wynton himself? It’s no surprise, then, that the 26-year-old Jackson has a relationship with Marsalis that goes back to his childhood. The son of bassist Ali Jackson Sr. (who died when he was seven) and the adoptive family of bassist Ray McKinney, Jackson was introduced to Marsalis "when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old." It’s a by-now-familiar story: he was one of the scores of young musicians whom Wynton kept in touch with through the years. "When I got to be 15 or 16, we had more dialogue, whether by phone or whatnot." Jackson has racked up credits not only playing with Marsalis but recording with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Russell Gun, Craig Handy, Marcus Roberts, and others, and a Jackson French-festival live album, Groove at Jazz Entete, is just out from Blue Geodesics. The line-up at TK’s will be filled out by pianist Richard Johnson, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and percussionist Andrew Daniels. Already they’ve played at Fat City in New York’s West Village, and Jackson hopes they’ll record next year. The TK’s set will include standards, Jackson originals, and pieces by Marsalis. "It’s an honor for us to play with him," Jackson concludes, "because he brings a lot to the table." You can call TK’s at (617) 227-7579.

THAT’S OUR GUY

We can’t exactly claim that this honor is the result of his work in Boston, since his tenure as the BSO’s music director won’t even begin for another two years — all the same, he’ll be "Our Jimmy" when CBS televises the 25th annual Kennedy Center Honors Gala on Friday December 27 at 9 p.m. Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine joined fellow honorees actor James Earl Jones, dancer/actress Chita Rivera, songwriter Paul Simon, and actress Elizabeth Taylor in Washington this past Sunday, when the actual reception, performance, and supper dance took place. CBS will be televising the performance segment of that evening, and though we don’t imagine Jimmy will conduct any part of that (he’s a guest, after all), he’ll surely be introduced and applauded. If you want to see him on the podium, mark your calendar for the following evening, when WGBH will televise the Met production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. (For more details, see our "Classical" column, on page 3.) Holiday shoppers might also note that the Levine/Met productions of Wagner’s Parsifal and the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen are now available on DVD.

STOMP ON IT

Things are about to get mighty noisy at the Stuart Street Playhouse, where the international hit Stomp — touring versions of which have played larger Boston venues several times, pounding on everything but the patrons — sets up shop February 11. The Obie-winning show created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas is a symphonic explosion of movement and percussion that began life as a street performance in the UK. Now on the boards in 36 countries, it features an athletic ensemble that mines rhythm from everything from brush brooms to trash cans to Zippo lighters. The winner of an Olivier Award, a Drama Desk Award, and an Obie, it has been ensconced Off Broadway for more than eight years.

The Stuart Street Playhouse run has been announced through March 23, but we bet the Stompers plan on settling down in the more intimate, and probably more deafening, venue. After all, Boston is already home to the longest-running non-musical in American theater history, the Charles Playhouse production of Shear Madness, and Blue Man Group has been splashing paint and unraveling toilet paper above the Shear Madness salon for more than seven years. Tickets for Stomp, at $45 to $55, are available through Telecharge at (800) 447-7400, by logging on to www.stomponline.com, or at the Stuart Street Playhouse box office, 200 Stuart Street in the Theater District.

FAIR HARVARD

The Crimson football team may not have won the Ivy League title this fall, but it did beat Yale, and to top it off, after dominating the team-match events of the National Collegiate Dancesport Championships, the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team is heading to China while Handsome Dan stays home in his bulldog house. Along with their coaches and Professor James Wang of Tufts University, the students will spend two and a half weeks in Shenzen, Hong Kong, Xi’an (the Tang Dynasty capital), and Beijing. Departure date is December 17, but before the team members take off, they’ll show off some of their best moves — waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, Viennese waltz, cha cha, rumba, samba, paso doble, and jive — in a preview exhibition this Sunday, December 15, at 1 p.m. in Harvard’s Lowell Lecture Hall, at the corner of Oxford and Kirkland Streets, just behind Memorial Hall. For more information about the show and the team, visit www.harvardballroom.org.