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FRIDAY, AUGUST 12

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AT THE CLUBS

What’s summer without a wet-T-shirt contest? A lot more boring, that’s for sure. So head over to MATRIX (275 Tremont Street, Boston) tonight for its summer-long "Wet and Wild Friday" series. With a weekly $100 prize and a $1000 grand prize, you’ve got nothing to lose. Well, except maybe that dry-clean-only shirt. DJ Richie Rich spins ’70s, ’80s, Top 40, and rock music, so there’s something for everyone at this happening event. And ever chivalrous, Matrix allows ladies in free before 11 p.m.

DJ. DJs P.Nice and the Audiovandal, a/k/a CERTIFIED BANANAS, throw Cambridge’s hottest anything-goes hip-hop party, and it returns to Enormous Room tonight. (Check www.certifiedbananas.comfor their monthly MP3 mix tape.) Their guest is DJ NICK CATCHDUBS, an editor at the Fader who’s one of the few critics capable of translating his intellectual insights on hip-hop into mindless dance-floor mania. (See "Download," on page 16, for links to recent Catchdubs-related music.) We’ll be trying to stow ourselves in his record bag, since the following night he’s DJing a gig with back in NYC with British grime sensation Kano. Enormous Room is at 567 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 9 pm | 617.491.5550.

INDIE. Last week in New York, the reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel singer Jeff Mangum made a surprise appearance to perform a tearful cameo with fellow Elephant 6 collectivists Olivia Tremor Control. (Simon W. Vozick-Levinson’s review is on the "Music" page of this site.) It reminded us what’s missing from A HAWK AND A HACKSAW, former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes’s group, who retain NMH’s love of exotic instrumentation and Gypsy-campfire folk jams but not their scribbly amateurism. Mangum is credited with unspecified contributions on the new A Hawk and a Hacksaw disc Darkness at Noon (The Leaf Label), though his voice and his songs are sorely missed. Still, Barnes’s friend Heather Trost, a klezmer singer, provides welcome counterpoint. They’re with Colleen at P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville | 617.776.1557.

CLUBS. With Man Ray looking for a new location and no one quite sure how long it’ll take to find one, some of the city’s goths are turning T.T. the Bear’s Place into a temporary refugee camp; they’re even bringing their own bartender. X-Mortis, the production company that brought you Miss Goth Massachusetts, moves its monthly "VOODOO" night across the street, with DJ Chris Ewen (Future Bible Heroes) spinning darkwave and industrial | 10 Brookline St, Cambridge | 617.492.BEAR.

OTHER LIVE SHOWS:

For the following shows, see the Club Directory for phone numbers and addresses.

ABBEY LOUNGE | Somerville | Mainstage | Brett Rosenberg Problem + Dirty Truckers + Bee’s Knees + Mason Dixon | Pubstage | Dawn Thomas + Ben Godin & Sean Madden

ANTHEM | Boston | Ron Murphy

AQUA | Boston | Greg Luttrell

THE BIG EASY | Boston | "Mardi Gras Friday"

BULL RUN | Shirley | Lyle Pierce

CANTAB LOUNGE | Cambridge | Upstairs | Little Joe Cook & the Thrillers

CLUB 58 | Quincy | "Get Some Fridays" hip-hop with the Freakas

CLUB PASSIM | Cambridge | 8 pm | Avett Brothers

DICK’S LAST RESORT | Boston | Mutha’s Mistake

DODGE STREET BAR & GRILL | Salem | 9:30 pm | Matthew Stubbs Band

DRUID PUB | Cambridge | 6 pm | "Traditional Irish Seisiun" with Peter Molloy & Friends

ENCORE | Boston | "Cabaret Open Mic" with Jan Peters + Colleen Powers + Michael Ricca + Brian Patton

ENORMOUS ROOM | Cambridge | 9:30 pm | Certified Bananas + Nick Catchdubs

THE GOOD LIFE DOWNTOWN | Boston | Weepin’ Willie

GRAND CANAL | Boston | Incadence

GREAT SCOTT | Allston | "The Pill" with 8mm Fuzz + DJs Ken + Terence

GREEN BRIAR | Brighton | 9 pm | 2U

GREEN DRAGON | Boston | Velvet Jones

THE HARP | Boston | Friday Night Vibe

HENNESSY’S | Boston | Fast Times

JASMINE & KENDALL LOUNGE | Cambridge | 6 pm | Marianne Solivan Jazz Quartet | 10 pm | Carol O’Shaughnessy

JOHNNY D’S | Somerville | Marcia Ball

KENNEDY’S | Boston. | 5 pm | Peter Rice | At 9 pm | Springhill Rounders

KIRKLAND CAFE | Somerville | Highway + Pink Cadillac + Michael Rakison + Mickey Bliss Organ Combo

LES ZYGOMATES | Boston | Ronnie Ron Trio

LIZARD LOUNGE | Cambridge | 8 pm | Bill Bowman | 9:30 pm | M.O. Joe + Two Ton Shoe

MADFISH GRILLE | Gloucester | NBFB

MATT MURPHY’S | Brookline | Marc Friedman + Andrew Barr + Marco Benevento

MIDDLE EAST | Cambridge | Upstairs | Thee Electric Bastards + Garagedogs + A Passing Feeling + Evil Queens

MIDDLESEX LOUNGE | Cambridge | 9 pm | "Back + Forth" with Mark Estrada

MIDWAY CAFE | Jamaica Plain | 9 pm | "Warp Tour Finals"

MR. DOOLEY’S TAVERN | Boston | 5 pm | Eamonn Sheehan | 9 pm | McTaggarts

O’BRIEN’S | Allston | Asshole Parade + Cobra Noir + Defcon 4 + Visual Pollution + Self-Abuse Closed Casket

OCEANA RESTAURANT | Boston | Mike DiBari Trio

PADDY O’S | Boston | Marcels

PARADISE LOUNGE | Boston | Skinny T + Starhick + Pincushions

PARRIS | Boston | Mo Faux

P.A.’S LOUNGE | Somerville | A Hawk & A Handsaw + Colleen + Keith Fullerton Whitman

THE RACK | Boston | 10 pm | "Anthem Elite Model Search"

ROGGIE’S | Brighton | Upstairs | Ali

RYLES | Cambridge | Brazilian Jungle Band

SCULLERS | Boston | Walter Beasley

SEA NOTE | Nantasket Beach | Fat City Band

SISSY K’S | Boston | 5 pm | Matt Browne | 9 pm | Stu Sinclair & Kevin Kirrane

SIT ‘N BULL PUB | Maynard | Silver City

SOLSTICE CAFE | Mission Hill, Boston | "Soundclash Series" with Static + MrMatt

SPONTANEOUS CELEBRATIONS | Jamaica Plain | "Next Level" with DJs Nomadik + Kwesi Johnson + Kiki Breevlife + Ladies of Boston Reggae

SUSHI ISLAND | Wakefield | Akiko + Ray Santisi

TANTRIC LOUNGE | 10 pm | "Hookah Friday"

TERRACE LOUNGE | Boston | 9:30 pm | Knights

TOAD | Cambridge | Guitarzan

TOP OF THE HUB | Boston | Chris Taylor Quartet

WALLY’S CAFE | Boston | 9:30 pm | Jason Palmer/Warren Wolf Jazz Collective

WATERWORKS | Quincy | Chad LaMarsh

WELLFLEET BEACHCOMBER | Wellfleet | Carbon Leaf

ZEITGEIST GALLERY | Cambridge | 7 pm | Daniel Burke Trio

ZUZU | Cambridge | "Latin Night" with Gian Carlo Buscaglia

OTHER DJ SHOWS:

AN TAIN | Boston | 5 pm | DJ Sean O | 10 pm DJ David Natola

AN TUA NUA | Boston | "Superlovers," early hits to the latest sounds with DJ Vinny

ARIA | Boston | "Foundation Friday" with DJ Klutch

ATLAS DANCE | Boston | "Top 40 Dancing"

AVALON | Boston | 10 pm | "Avaland" guest DJs with residents Eli Wilkie

THE AVENUE | Allston | 9 pm | DJ Steve Auston

AXIS | Boston | 10 pm | "Flavor Friday" with DJ Master Millions

BLARNEY STONE PUB | Dorchester | Commercial dance and R&B

BLUE CAT CAFE | Boston | DJ Pete Winfrey

BOSTON ROCKS | Boston | Top 40 Dance & hip-hop with DJ Bruno

BUCK MULLIGAN’S | West Roxbury | R&B, rock, and dance with DJ Keith

CANTAB LOUNGE | Cambridge | Downstairs | DJ du Jour

CLUB CAFE | Boston | "Non Stop Video Show" with VJ Tom Yazbek

DEVLIN’S LOUNGE AND BAR | Brighton | "Uptempo House" with DJ Paul Dailey

EMBASSY | Boston | 10 pm | "Hip-hop" with DJ Just Nyce

THE E ROOM AT THE GOLDEN TEMPLE | Brookline | Vocal house, 70s, 80s, 90s with DJ Bob Gallagher

THE EXCHANGE | Boston | House and hip-hop with DJs Tiziano + Luca

FELT | Boston | 9 pm | "Therapy Friday" with DJs Cerebral + Chris Kung

GREAT SCOTT | Allston | "The Pill" with 8mm Fuzz + DJs Ken + Terence

GREEN STREET GRILL | Cambridge | "Latin DJ & Dance"

G-SPOT | Boston | "Deep, sexy house" with DJs Mike Traylor + Paul Incus

HOFFA’S SWIZZ ALPS | Cambridge | 10 pm | "Scratch Night" with DJ Frank White

HONG KONG | Cambridge | Top 40 Hip-Hop, Rock & Club Classics with M.C. Renn

I/D | Boston | "Bashment" Reggae DJ Juneyacool

THE INDEPENDENT | Somerville | 10 pm | "Mash Ave" with DJs BC + Lenlow

THE INTERNATIONAL | Boston | "The Basement" house music with DJ Bradford James

JUKEBOX | Boston | Top 40 and retro dance night

THE KELLS | Allston | "Ladies Night" with DJs Doc + Kieran

McGANN’S | Boston | 10 pm | Hip-hop, R&B, Reggae, & House with DJ Sparky

THE MODERN | Boston | "Mission" with DJs Odi + Keithy Bee vs. Mathius + Illux

ORLEANS | Somerville | DJ Tom

PHOENIX LANDING | Cambridge | "Junkbox Heroes" with Phat Mike

THE PLACE | Boston | 10 pm | VJ Laptop

THE POINT | Boston | "Fluid" house and techno with DJ troupe Recordheadz

Q | Boston | "Top 40" with DJ Massai

REDLINE | Cambridge | 9 pm | Deep Soulful Chicago House with DJs KC + Rodney Marable + Craig Kapilow

RIVER GODS | Cambridge | "Appliance of Science" with Unlockedgroove

ROGGIE’S | Brighton | Upstairs | Ali | Lounge | "Dance Your Ass Off" with DJ Hoff

THE ROXY | Boston | 10:30 pm | "The Cat Club" with DJ Adilson plus special guest DJs

SCRUFFY MURPHY’S | Dorchester | "Party Time" with DJ Jen

SISSY K’S | Boston | Upstairs | Hi-NRG and pop house with DJ Tom McKenna

SOLSTICE CAFE | Mission Hill, Boston | "Soundclash Series" with Static + MrMatt

SPONTANEOUS CELEBRATIONS | Jamaica Plain | "Next Level" with DJs Nomadik + Kwesi Johnson + Kiki Breevlife + Ladies of Boston Reggae

STEWART’S | Everett | 9 pm | "On Tap" UK Hardhouse, progressive trance, techno with Jbeta + DJ Fishstix

SUGAR SHACK | Boston | "Boston’s A-List" Hip hop, old school, and top 40 with DJ B-Spin

SWEETWATER CAFE | Boston | Old and new dance hits with DJs KC + Gallo

TOAST | Somerville | "Ladies Night" 80s, New Wave with DJ 9-1

TRATTORIA IL PANINO | Boston | 70s, 80s, and 90s with DJ Zino; progressive, top-40, club, and international with DJ Peter D

T.T. THE BEAR’S PLACE | Cambridge | "Voodoo" goth, industrial, electronic dance night with DJ Chris Ewen

21st AMENDMENT | Boston | DJ Sean Daly

VENU | Boston | "Roomba" Latin sounds with DJ Roger M | house with DJ Arsit

VERTIGO | Boston | "Dream Lounge" international, Latin and house with DJ Marcocci | vocal and high energy house with DJ Soulheris

WEST STREET GRILLE | Boston | Top 40 funk and dance with DJs Gabe + Lazee Boy

COMEDY

Twenty-five years after his popular children’s show was cancelled, a host named Thomas is still stuck in his private neighborhood of make-believe, surrounded by puppets who now have to deal with "adult" issues. Sounds right around the corner from Avenue Q, but in fact it’s Thomas In Wonkyland, which applies the improv-comedy model to a puppet show for grown-ups, complete with music and video. It’s performed by the Tribe artist collective every Friday at Buzz, 67 Stuart St, Boston | www.thetribepresents.com

BEANTOWN COMEDY VAULT | 781.729.2565 | at Remington’s, 124 Boylston St, Boston | "Boston Attitude" with Frank Delpizzo

COMEDY CONNECTION | 617.248.9700 | Upstairs at Faneuil Hall, Boston | 8 and 10:15 pm | Harland Williams

COMEDY STUDIO | 617.864.5311 | 1238 Mass Ave, Cambridge | Walsh Bros + Sarah Blogett + David Grabiner + David Powell + Chibuzo Steve Donovan + Ellen Moschetto + Sean Sullivan + Mookie Blaiklock + Matt James Dan Sally

IMPROV ASYLUM | 617.263.6887 | 216 Hanover St, Boston | 8 and 10 pm | "Summer in New England" | Midnight | "The Night Shift"

IMPROVBOSTON THEATRE | 617.576.1253 | 1253 Cambridge St, Cambridge | 8 pm | "Pirate Lives" | 10 pm | "Theatre Sports"

NICK’S COMEDY STOP | 617.482.0930 | 100 Warrenton St, Boston | 8:45 pm | Frank Del Pizzo + Todd Verdonk + Dan Miller

CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERTS

It says "Berkshire Night" on our Tanglewood schedule, but they must have moved the mountains to La Mancha, because Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos’s BSO program is all Don Quixote all the time. First up is Manuel de Falla’s novelty El retablo de maese Pedro ("Master Peter’s Puppet Show"), where the singers and players are joined by the Bob Brown Puppets, who are a hoot, as anyone who saw the performance in Symphony Hall last season can attest. Then we’re in more familiar classical terrain with Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote. Tanglewood is at 297 West St, Lenox | 8:30 pm | $17-$85 | 617.266.1200.

JEFFRY STEELE | guitar arrangements of Renaissance music | 8 pm | St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1123 Washington St, Gloucester | $10, $5 for children | 978.282.3106

POPULAR MUSIC CONCERTS

After years of taking grief for diluting his festival with too much pop, George Wein saw the light last year and presented a 50th-anniversary JVC Newport Jazz Festival that was all jazz. A critical and commercial success, it inspired a repeat this year. One of many highlights is the star-studded 80th-birthday party for Roy Haynes that closes the festival on Sunday. Tonight's show with Eartha Kitt is at the Newport Casino. Tomorrow brings Wynton Marsalis, Charles Lloyd, Patricia Barber, Medeski Martin & Wood, Jon Faddis’s Gillespiana, McCoy Tyner, Carla Bley, and Brad Mehldau; Sunday we get Dave Brubeck, Steps Ahead, Chick Corea, Dave Holland Big Band, Don Byron, Gary Burton, Bill Frisell, and many, many more. Tomorrow and Sunday are at Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI | 866.468.7619.

BRIAN ALLEN + REUBEN RADDING | 8 pm | Artists-at-Large Gallery, First Congregational Church, 6 Webster St, Hyde Park | $10 | 617.276.3223

DR. JOHN | 7:30 pm | Boarding House Park, Lowell | $10 | 978. 275.1783

NOITE NORDESTINE | Brazilian music + dance | 6 pm | Union Square, Somerville | Free | 617.625.6600

PERE UBU | accompanying X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes | 8:30 pm | MASS MoCA, off Marshall St, North Adams | $24 | 413. 662.2111

RESOPHONICS | noon | Harborwalk, outside the Children’s Museum, Congress St, Boston | Free | 617.269.3677

LEANN RIMES | 9 pm | Foxwoods Resort Casino, Fox Theatre, 39 Norwich Westerly Rd, Mashantucket, CT | $55-$66 | 800-FOXWOODS

ROCK & BLUES CONCERT CRUISE | with Johnny A | 8 pm | 1 Long Wharf, Boston | $25 | 800. 594.TIXX

KENNY ROGERS | Tonight at 8 pm | Cape Cod Melody Tent, 21 West Main St, Hyannis | Tomorrow at 8 pm | South Shore Music Circus, 130 Sohier St, Cohasset | $45.50-$56.50 | 617.931.2000

DANCE/PARTICIPATORY

BALKAN DANCE | 7:30 pm | Scalzi School of Dance, 101 Bigelow Ave, Watertown | $8 | 617.840.2362

HAVANA CLUB SALSA | 8:30 pm | Greek Club, 288 Green St, Cambridge | $12 | 617.312.5550

INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCE | 8 pm | Park Avenue Congregational Church, 50 Paul Revere Rd, Arlington | $7, $4 for students | 781.662.7475

RENAISSANCE DANCE | with Renaissonics | 7:30 pm | First Congregational Church, 11 Garden St, Cambridge | $8 | 617.661.3353

DANCE/PERFORMANCE

One company not likely to be daunted by the prospect of hot weather at Jacob’s Pillow is Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, which shows up this week with Thierry Malandain’s Afternoon of a Faun (to Debussy), Nicolo Fonte’s Left Unsaid, and Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields and Sinatra Suite (no Baryshnikov, however). It’s all in the Ted Shawn Theatre, George Carter Rd, Becket | Tonight at 8 pm, tomorrow at 2 + 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm | $45-$50 | 413.243.0745.

TREY McINTYRE PROJECT | Tonight at 8:15 pm, tomorrow at 2:15 + 8:15 pm, Sun 5 pm | Jacob’s Pillow, Doris Duke Studio Theatre, George Carter Rd, Becket | $18-$20 | 413.243.0745

EVENTS

ALT.FUEL CLUB MEETING with discussion of homebrewed alternative fuel vehicles + appliances | 6:30 pm | Sparqs Industrial Arts Club, 60 Cummings Park, Woburn | Free | 781.497.0046

COPLEY SQUARE FARMERS’ MARKET | Today and Tues 11 am-6 pm | Copley Square, along St. James Ave, Boston | Free | 781.893.8222

SUMMER X GAMES | "The VJs from Troy" a multimedia collision | 9 pm-midnight | Art Interactive, 130 Bishop Allen Dr, Cambridge | Suggested donation $7 | 617.498.0100

AT THE MOVIES

OPENING THIS WEEKEND: The limits of despair are reached in Last Days, Gus Van Sant’s rumination on the death of a Kurt Cobain–like rock star; Michael Pitt stars. The depths of bad taste are plumbed in The Aristocrats, Paul Provenza’s documentary riff on the world’s filthiest joke with variations from Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, and more. The nadir of film comedy is explored in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo as Rob Schneider takes his shtick overseas. Mike Bigelow makes his feature-film debut. The outposts of consanguinity are probed in Four Brothers, John Singleton’s vigilante thriller about multi-racial adopted sibs, including Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson, seeking to avenge the death of their mother. The outposts of military daring are breached in The Great Raid, the true story of the liberation of a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines in 1945. Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, and Connie Nielsen star; John Dahl (The Last Seduction, Road Kill) directs. The frontier of interspecies harmony is crossed in Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s documentary about bear-loving naturalist Timothy Treadwell, who got eaten along with his girlfriend in 2003 in Alaska. The bounds of good sportsmanship are crossed in Up for Grabs, Michael Wranovics’s documentary about the squabble over Barry Bonds’s 73rd home-run ball; it’s at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. The extent of Southern hospitality is tested in Junebug, Phil Morrison’s romantic comedy about an art collector visiting the redneck family of her younger husband. The genre of Southern Gothic is revisited in The Skeleton Key, in which a woman caring for a dying man in New Orleans gets mixed up in voodoo. Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, and Peter Sarsgaard star; Iain Softley (K-PAX) directs. Travel farther south and you reach O Caminho das Nuvens|The Middle of the World, Brazilian director Vicente Amorim’s road movie about a family traveling to Rio in search of a better life. It’s at the Museum of Fine Arts. Asian cinema makes an appearance with Tony Takitani, Jun Ichikawa’s tale of a technical illustrator who marries a fashion addict. Based on the novel by Haruki Murakami, it’s at the Kendall Square. And at Mass MoCA in North Adams, at 8:30 pm, the 1980s post-punk band Pere Ubu provide a live soundtrack for the 1963 sci-fi classic X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes.

THROUGH MONDAY: Picture a party so big it sprawls from Harvard Square to Coolidge Corner. Where are the cops, you wonder? Probably sitting right next to you, plain-clothed and passing the popcorn: after all, this is the second annual New England Animation Bash, held simultaneously at the Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge) and the Coolidge Corner Theatre (290 Harvard Street, Brookline). As if a weekend filled with hallucinogenic, hilarious, deeply perverse, and otherwise outrageous big-screen sights weren’t enough, the festival culminates in an awards ceremony to honor the best animated short — as voted on by you, the audience. For show times, tickets, and more, visit www.brattlefilm.org and/or www.coolidge.org

For more movies and showtimes, see our Movie Theater directory.

READINGS & LECTURES

ANNIE DILLARD reads and discusses her work | 8 pm | Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl St, Provincetown | Suggested donation $5 | 508.487.9960

CARROL WOLVERTON signs Back Bay Boston Basement | 1:30 pm | Barnes & Noble, Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St, Boston | Free | 617.247.6959

THEATER

Bathsheba Doran’s is a new voice in the American theater, and it’s being heard this month in Gloucester, where Living Room In Africa is getting its world premiere prior to a New York production next season. Daniel Goldstein, who directed the Huntington Theatre Company’s stylish Falsettos, is at the helm of this "passionate exploration of personal and global responsibility" by the Juilliard Playwriting Fellow, which follows an American couple to an African village devastated by AIDS. It’s at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main St, Gloucester, through August 28 | $30 | 978.281.4433.

When West Wing Emmy-winning writer and Six Feet Under executive producer Rick Cleveland got himself invited to the Clinton White House, he discovered that he and the 42nd president had a lot in common, including "white-trash childhoods, a love of non-fiction ecology books, and an affinity for pick-up trucks and all things Elvis." Cleveland also made suggestions for training First Pooch Buddy, who becomes half the title character in My Buddy Bill, Cleveland’s new show about what it’s like to be an FOB. Those nostalgic for the pre-W age of peace and love (okay, sex) will be pleased to learn that MBB is getting a workshop production at Berkshire Theatre Festival’s Unicorn Theatre, Main St, Stockbridge, through August 20 | $27 | 413.298.5576.

Provincetown Theatre Company continues a revival of Pulitzer winner Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, which she wrote as a tribute to her brother Carl, who died of AIDS in 1988. Patrick Falco directs the Obie-winning work, in which an elementary-school teacher who has acquired a mysterious disease from toilet seats is accompanied by her brother Carl as she travels through Europe in search of a cure. It’s at Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St, Provincetown | 8 p.m. | through August 30 | $18 | 508.487.9793.

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