E-Mail This Article to a Friend Up for the count Ring of Honor brings class back to wrestling, plus the New Art Center's holiday exhibit and more

Next week

The back-to-basics independent wrasslin’ league Ring of Honor prides itself on the gimmicks it refuses to employ (bad sportsmanship for one, soap-opera plot lines for another), instead putting its faith in the old-time wrestling gimmicks: showmanship, inventive ring technique, ludicrous character names, and absolutely ridiculous costumes. Next Friday, ROH’s featured bout is an intercontinental match featuring "Japanese superstar" Jushin "Thunder" Liger and his home-grown opponent Bryan "The American Dragon" Danielson. Also look for appearances by ROH champ Samoa Joe, home-town lad John Walters, the Carnage Crew, Homicide and Low Ki, tag-team champs the Rottweilers, and "Prince Nana from Ghana’s embassy featuring Jimmy Rave." That’s November 5 at the Greater Boston Indoor Sports Center, 321 Charger Street in Revere. Tickets are $20 and $25; call (888) 706-7600.

Next month

The instructions for the New Art Center in Newton’s annual holiday exhibit are purposefully vague: 99 New England artists are invited to submit "an icon or altar that may be personal, cultural, social, or spiritual." In practice, that leads to a wide variety of works in pretty much all media, works that at the end of the show will be distributed through a random drawing. (Purchase a $225 voucher and you’re guaranteed a piece of art as determined by pulling numbers out of a hat.) The gallery is at 61 Washington Park in Newtonville, and the exhibit is up November 19 through December 19, with the drawing taking place on the show’s closing day; call (617) 964-3424.

And beyond

This year’s edition of the Christmas Revels — the crown jewel in the now year-round calendar of the solstice-celebrating Revels empire — has to be predicated on a John Kerry victory. Would they risk a celebration of French-Canadian traditions with a Bush in the White House? We think not. In addition to the annual rites of Revels passage — including the Pinewoods Morris Men, "The Lord of the Dance," and Susan Cooper’s poem "The Shortest Day" — the Québecois group Danse Cadence will be on hand with a troupe of cloggers. Performances are December 10 through 28 at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street in Harvard Square, and tickets are $20 to $42; call (617) 496-2222, or visit www.revels.org.

First Night

The nation’s first and oldest First Night celebration is in financial straits — there have been intimations that this year’s could be the last without an infusion of capital — but you wouldn’t know it from the preliminary line-up released last week. The musical offerings include a Graham Parker/Bill Janovitz double bill at the Orpheum; ’60s superheavy funk by the house band at the Desco and Daptone labels, Sugarman 3, at Emmanuel Church; the accomplished Edith Piaf tribute group Ziaf at the Boston Public Library; and a Pamela Means–headlined folk showcase at the Hynes Convention Center. Modern-dance acolytes David Parker and the Bang Group will deconstruct The Nutcracker with their Nut/Cracked; Roxbury’s own BalletRox will be offering dance workshops. There’ll be a half-dozen film screenings, including a Japanese anime marathon and a preview of the forthcoming Michael Radford–directed The Merchant of Venice (Al Pacino as Shylock!). Plus the traditional parade and a double shot of fireworks. For more information, call (617) 542-1399, or visit www.firstnight.org