August 8, 2003

Pop and Jazz Listings

selective listing by Times critics of noteworthy pop and jazz concerts in the New York metropolitan region this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended concert.

OLETA ADAMS, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144. The comfort and uplift of gospel music infuse Oleta Adams's secular and kindly songs. Tomorrow night at 8 and 10:30; tickets are $30 in advance, $35 tomorrow (Jon Pareles).

ANTIBALAS, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 653-1703. Antibalas gives a New York makeover to Fela Kuti's Afro-Beat, a Nigerian funk propelled by burly saxophones, fierce percussion and righteous anger, by updating both the funk and the political messages. Regular local appearances keep tightening up the band, and it's a show just watching more than a dozen musicians cram themselves onto a club stage and still find room to dance. Tomorrow night at 10; admission is $12 (Pareles).

RICARDO ARJONA, Theater at Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741. Ricardo Arjona, from Guatemala, is an ambitious rock songwriter with a husky baritone. He writes literate love songs and ruminations on time, morality and his Caribbean heritage. Tonight at 8; tickets are $65 to $125 (Pareles).

* BLACK AUGUST BENEFIT, Brooklyn Cafe, 147 Flatbush Avenue Extension, near Tillary Street, Downtown Brooklyn; www.prweb .com/releases/2003/7/prweb74257.htm. Brooklyn's pre-eminence as a center of political-minded hip-hop is reaffirmed by this benefit concert for Black August, which sponsors international hip-hop exchanges. The lineup includes Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Boots (from the Coup), Dead Prez and Boot Camp Clik. Sunday night at 8; tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on Sunday (Pareles).

BON JOVI, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J., (201) 935-3900. Bon Jovi, the band that titled its 1998 album "New Jersey," is back in its home state. Jon Bon Jovi's band conquered the airwaves in the 1980's and 90's by sticking together everything catchy about 1970's rock: Bruce Springsteen's earnestness, Led Zeppelin's crunch, Boston's harmonies, and lyrics that paint romance as nothing less than a titanic adventure. A photogenic lead singer doesn't hurt, either. Tonight at 6; tickets are $39.50 to $75. Sold out. Returns may be available (Pareles).

BOW WOW, Newark Symphony Hall, 1020 Broad Street, (973) 643-8009. Bow Wow was calling himself Lil Bow Wow until last year, and boasting, "Made the bucks and I'm still a kid." Now he's Lil no more and trying to make the awkward transition from kiddie rapper to teenage rapper. Will he survive the competition, or end up as the next Kris Kross? Sunday at 6 p.m.; tickets are $22 to $35 (Pareles).

* CAFE TACUBA, YERBA BUENA, SIDESTEPPER, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Prospect Park Band Shell, Ninth Street and Prospect Park West, (718) 855-7882, Ext. 45. The Latin Alternative Music Conference, which is trying to build momentum for Latin alternative rock and pop, is in Los Angeles this year, but it left behind this superb triple bill for New York. Cafe Tacuba, one of the cornerstones of Latin alternative rock, is a smart, cosmopolitan band with a streak of light-hearted surrealism. It breezes irreverently through music from inside and outside Mexico — punk, norteρo, art-rock, bossa nova, waltzes — and it sings about transformations as the music gleefully hurdles boundaries. Yerba Buena meshes traditional rumba rhythms, and other African-diaspora styles from boogaloo to Afrobeat, with gutsy, distorted guitars to create pan-American and pan-African party music with deep roots. Sidestepper merges the electronic beats of clubland with live voices and instruments, with a pan-American palate that favors the Andean melodies and tropical salsa of Colombia. Tomorrow night at 7; admission is free, with a $3 donation requested (Pareles).

DIBLO DIBALA AND MATCHACHA, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Diblo Dibala is one of the greatest guitarists in music that counts on great guitarists: Congolese soukous, the ebullient African rumbas that spin skeins of intertwining guitar lines. He leads his 10-piece band, Matchatcha. Sunday night at 9:30; admission is $15 in advance, $18 on Sunday, with a two-drink minimum or $12 food charge (Pareles).

DISCO BISCUITS, Amazura, 91-12 144th Place, Jamaica, Queens, (718) 298-6760. The Disco Biscuits have worked their way up the jam-band circuit with blithe rock that veers toward funk and jazz, hovers in circling, hypnotic riffs and sometimes turns into a live version of electronic dance music. Tonight at 8; tickets are $30 (Pareles).

* BOB DYLAN, TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS, PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, N.J., Garden State Parkway Exit 116, (732) 335-0400. Perhaps, as he once sang, Bob Dylan has nothing more to live up to. And perhaps he's been stung by the reviews of his new film, "Masked and Anonymous," from reviewers who might accept wily, enigmatic parables from Jim Jarmusch or David Lynch, but apparently not from a rock star. Either way, Mr. Dylan is still leading a fierce band in songs that confront love, death, power and the blues nightly on his perpetual tour. He shares the bill with one of his leading disciples: Tom Petty, who prizes the classic virtues of a rock-ribbed melody, a few concise verses and a stalwart beat. They're flipping the lineup tomorrow and Sunday at 7:30, with Mr. Dylan opening tomorrow night and Mr. Petty on Sunday. Tickets are $37.50 to $82.75 (Pareles).

* THE DEAD, Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, N.Y., (516) 221-1000. The model for a generation or two of jam bands — melding rock, blues, country, soul, bluegrass, jazz, bossa nova and anything else that sounds apropos in an improvisational swirl — has risen again, with two guitarists to replace Jerry Garcia and a slightly less anarchic approach to set lists. Tomorrow and Sunday at 6 p.m.; tickets are $42.50. Sold out. Returns may be available (Pareles).

EARTH, WIND AND FIRE, Convention Hall, 1306 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park, N.J., (732) 502-8361. In the 1970's Earth Wind and Fire was the glossy, horn-powered hit machine that covered all bases, from idealism ("Keep Your Head to the Sky," "Shining Star") to dance tunes ("Boogie Wonderland") to lover's pleas ("Reasons"). Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $25 to $50.50 (Pareles).

EISTEDDFOD NEW YORK, Brooklyn Polytechnic University at Metrotech Center, Flatbush Avenue, at Myrtle Avenue, Downtown Brooklyn (718) 426-8555. Eisteddfod is a Welsh word for a traditional-music festival, and this wide-ranging three-day event is presented by the New York Pinewoods Folk Club. The lineup of more than two dozen musicians and groups includes the pristine Appalachian songs of Jean Ritchie, the English folk music of Heather Wood, the English harmony singing of the Copper Family (whose eldest member is 87), the history-hopping repertory of Oscar Brand, the banjo virtuosity of Orrin Star (with his band the Sultans of String), the sea chanteys and ballads of John Roberts and Tony Barrand, the African-American Jewish-music group Voices of Shalom and the music of the Eletfa Hungarian Folk Ensemble. Tonight at 7:30 p.m.; tomorrow, 10 a.m. to midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 for the entire festival, $20 for individual concerts and $35 for all-day admission, including workshops; half-price for students; free for those 9 and younger. Full information is available at www.eisteddfod-ny.org. (Pareles).

JOHN ELLIS QUARTET, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. John Ellis, an adept young saxophone player who has performed with Jason Marsalis and Charlie Hunter among others, replayed some of his own Southern background on a recent album, "Roots and Leaves." So his sets might include lullabies and folk songs on the order of "John Brown's Gun" as well as reorderings of bebop standards, which he's playing with a smart, alert band; it includes Ali Jackson, one of the best young drummers around. Sets are tomorrow night at 9 and 10:30; admission is $12 per set, $10 for members (Ben Ratliff).

DENNIS GONZALEZ, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501. In the 1980's, this trumpeter came out of Dallas with a number of imaginative albums balancing free-jazz energy and compositional form; lately he's been a rare sighting. This performance follows a new album, "Old Time Revival" and is part of an ambitious trumpet series at Tonic, organized by Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell. Mr. Gonzalez's group for the evening includes Ellery Eskelin, Mark Helias, and Gerald Cleaver. Tomorrow at 10 p.m.; admission is $8 (Ratliff).

* GRANDADDY, Warsaw, 261 Driggs Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn (718) 387-0505. Jason Lytle sings, "I'm O.K. with my decay" on Grandaddy's new album, "Sumday" (V2). As he looks into a near future of decline and disillusionment, he wafts his high, wistful voice over tunes that unfold into near-orchestral pop, sharing the musical realm of bands like Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips. Sunday night at 8, with Earlimart and Patrick Park opening; admission is $15 (Pareles).

ROY HARGROVE QUINTET, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, West Village, (212) 255-4037. Mr. Hargrove's postbop band, a regular working unit, has changed a little in personnel but not much in style over the last six years or so. With the alto saxophonist Justin Robinson, the pianist Ronnie Matthews, bassist Dwayne Burno, and the drummer Willie Jones, he tears through uptempo numbers and turns to the fluegelhorn for ballads, often the high points of the set. Sets through Sunday night are at 9 and 11, with a 12:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $30 (Ratliff).

JORMA KAUKONEN, the Bottom Line, 15 West Fourth Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 228-6300. The blues and country were keeping company long before the birth of rock 'n' roll. Jorma Kaukonen, whose group Hot Tuna showed fans how much he loved ragtime, fingerpicked blues, collaborated with musicians rooted in bluegrass, and turned his attention to nominally country material on his 2002 album "Blue Country Heart" (Columbia), though songs like "Blue Railroad Train" and "Red River Blues" flaunt their blues connections. He's performing with Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitar and dobro and Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and 10:30; admission is $25 (Pareles).

SANDER KLEINENBERG, Arc, 6 Hubert Street, near Hudson Street, TriBeCa, (212) 226-9212. Yet another crowd-pleasing dance-music D.J. This one's from Holland. Expect grand, synthesizer-driven anthems, drawing from house and trance. Tomorrow night after midnight, with the Low-End Specialists; admission is $25 (Kelefa Sanneh).

* STEVE LACY QUINTET, Iridium, 1650 Broadway at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121. Mr. Lacy, the New York-born soprano saxphonist, now nearing 70, has been all over the world looking for, and finding, different kinds of bohemias. He used to play locally with aging New Orleans musicians and the young Cecil Taylor; he knocked around Europe for around 30 years, polishing a vast body of work that crested in the 1980's. Now he's living and teaching in the Boston area. He has worked with literary written texts for a long time, and now on "The Beat Suite" (Sunnyside) he's turned his hand to the beat-generation writers of the 50's, including Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, Burroughs, Anne Waldman, and Kenneth Rexroth. The tunes are jaunty or sorrowful, according to the poems; the words are sung by Irene Aebi; the music is played by his old colleagues George Lewis on trombone, Jean-Jacques Avenel on bass, and John Betsch on drums. Sets through Sunday night are at 8 and 10, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $25 (Ratliff).

* LOSER'S LOUNGE TRIBUTE TO DEVO, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa (212) 219-3006. Devo didn't just have a sound of its own, it had a manifesto about the de-evolution of homo sapiens, and it expressed its discomfort with human defects in pinched vocals, jerky mock-mechanical rhythms and calmly hilarious lyrics. Of course the Loser's Lounge crew will add some twists of its own. Tonight at 11; tickets are $15 (Pareles).

MINUS THE BEAR, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-0236. Minus the Bear, from Seattle, makes music that never sits still, even when you wish it would: the songs are full of stops and starts and sharp turns. Tonight at 9, with the Forms and We Ragazzi; admission is $10 (Sanneh).

* MORGAN HERITAGE, JIMMY CLIFF, Central Park SummerStage, midpark at 69th Street, (212) 360-2777. A double bill of old-fashioned reggae acts. Morgan Heritage (the children of the reggae star Denroy Morgan) use sweet vocal harmonies to enliven an old template, whereas Mr. Cliff relies more upon his reputation, and good will. Sunday afternoon at 3; the suggested donation is $10 (Sanneh).

NEW AMSTERDAMS, JESSE MALIN, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201) 653-1703. A night of singer-songwriters: New Amsterdams is the more rustic side project of Matthew Pryor, from the emo band Get Up Kids; Mr. Malin is the former leader of the punk band D Generation, reincarnated as an accomplished singer-songwriter. Sunday night at 8:30; admission is $10 (Sanneh).

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL STARS, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Asymmetrical, cantankerous blues from the Mississippi Delta and the hill country nearby are at the core of the North Missisippi All-Stars, a jamming Southern rock band that learned its songs from Mississippi's older generation of juke-joint bluesmen. Tonight, with Louque opening at 9; admission is $20 (Pareles).

* ARTURO O'FARRILL TRIO, Up Over Jazz Cafe, 351 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, (718) 398-5413. Mr. O'Farrill, son of the composer and arranger Chico O'Farrill, came into his father's band through the piano chair and now, since the father's death, has become its boss; more recently he became leader of Lincoln Center's impressive new Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. He is as conceptually invested in Afro-Cuban jazz as his father was, but in his own band he gets the jolt of the new by collaborating with the great younger players of the music. One of them, the Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto, is in the band this weekend. Sets tonight and tomorrow are at 9, 10:30 p.m. and midnight; cover charge is $18, with a $5 minimum (Ratliff).

O'JAYS, TEMPTATIONS, FOUR TOPS, WHISPERS, Radio City Music Hall, (212) 632-4000. Harmony and exhortation each find a different balance within the four male vocal groups on this bill. The O'Jays were the flagship group of the Philadelphia soul producers Gamble and Huff, dealing with hard times in songs like "Backstabbers" and "For the Love of Money" and hoping for better ones with "Love Train." The Temptations were Motown's vehicle for both virile pleading (as in "Ain't Too Proud to Beg") and funk-driven realism (as in "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"). The Four Tops were a paragon of group longevity, with the same lineup from 1954 until the death of Lawrence Payton in 1997. They still have Levi Stubbs's dynamic baritone to charge through Motown classics like "Reach Out, I'll Be There" and "I Can't Help Myself." The Whispers specialize in close-harmony love songs, though they have also had dance hits like "Rock Steady." Tonight at 8; tickets are $59.50-$105.50 (Pareles).

ONEIDA/CONSTANTINES, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. Oneida, from New York, revs up frantic, obsessive patterns to carry thoughts about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Its newer songs aim to be more concise but no less driven. The Constantines come up with churning, wrangling guitar patterns behind gruffly earnest vocals that may remind some early-1980's rock fans of Mission of Burma. Tomorrow night at 9, with USA Is a Monster and Company opening; admission is $8 (Pareles).

* IGGY POP AND THE STOOGES, SONIC YOUTH, Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, N.Y. (516) 221-1000. As the latest wave of neo-primitive rock crests, Iggy Pop has reunited with the Stooges, his late-1960's Detroit band that turned simple vamps like "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" into cathartic, screeching stomps. Decades later Mr. Pop's stage antics may be less death-defying, but the band is still likely to make a mighty noise. It shares the bill with Sonic Youth, whose returned guitars bring a more scientific approach to the pursuit of noise, and with the anthemic band Thursday. Tonight at 7:30; tickets are $17.50 to $45 (Pareles).

REGGAETON SUMMER FEST, Madison Square Garden. Reggaeton is now Puerto Rico's top party music, built on the rhythms of Jamaican dance-hall reggae with dollops of salsa and hip-hop. The style's top stars — including Tego Calderon, Hector y Tito, Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Don Chezina, Ivy Queen and many others — announce reggaeton's arrival in the Latin pop mainstream with this concert. Tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $49.50 to $99.50 (Pareles).

ROOTS OF AMERICAN MUSIC, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, (212) 875-5766. This annual marathon concert of blues, folk, country and rockabilly features Bobby Blue Bland at Damrosch Park tomorrow night at 9. His voice, is a cornerstone of Memphis soul singing. In tones that are velvety, humble and long-suffering, he begs for affection with suave melancholy; while his old high shout is a little ratchety now, his timing still makes a lover's pain exquisite. Tomorrow night at 6:30 at Damrosch Park, the Arkansas rockabilly singer Sleepy LaBeef reels off one twangy tune after another, known and obscure, like a rockabilly jukebox come to life. He's followed at 7:30 by the fingerpicking blues guitarist Larry Johnson, and his band features guests including the harmonica master James Cotton and the rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley (of "Red Hot" renown). There's also an afternoon concert tomorrow, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the North Plaza, with the genial songwriters Vance Gilbert and Marc Erelli, along with the Mammals and the Paschall Brothers. On Sunday night, the 1960's folk revival is revived in Damrosch Park, with Judy Collins at 8:30, preceded by the topical songs of Tom Paxton at 6:30 and a latter-day Greenwich Village songwriter, Christine Lavin, at 7:30. The Sunday afternoon concert, from 2 to 5 p.m., features Mr. Riley, the Jeanette Williams Band, the McKrells and Mikveh. Admission is free (Pareles).

* SOILENT GREEN, the Downtown, 190 Main Street, Farmingdale, N.Y, (516) 293-7700. Soilent Green, from Louisiana, seems hell-bent on reinventing Southern rock in its own gloomy image. The band's lyrics document an unending catalog of pain and suffering, but the music is expansive and often exciting: heavy without being predictable. Sunday night at 7, on a strong bill of heavy metal that also includes the Black Dahlia Murder, Ballistic and Lickgoldensky; tickets are $15 (Sanneh).

SMOKEY AND MIHO, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7503. Miho Hatori sings and writes songs for the funk-rap-lounge band Cibo Matto; Smokey Hormel has played guitar with Tom Waits and Beck. Leading a band, they delve into — what else? — Brazilian music. Sunday night at 8 and 10; tickets are $12 (Pareles).

STIFFED, Sin-e, 148-150 Attorney Street, below Houston Street, Lower East Side (212) 388-0077. Stiffed is Philadelphia's answer to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: a young band steeped in the brittle new-wave rock of the late 1970's and early 80's. Santi White can be as cutting as Siouxsie Sioux or as sassy as Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, and every so often she sustains a melody with the airiness of Deborah Harry of Blondie. Tomorrow night at 11; admission is $6 (Pareles).

MARCUS STRICKLAND, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 675-6056. This young tenor saxophonist earns your trust, seldom blustering or throwing notes away, as he demonstrates a strong grounding in jazz's last 40 years; he's been playing in bands led by Roy Haynes, Eric Reed and Jeff Watts. Music starts tonight and tomorrow night at 10; cover charge is $15 (Ratliff).

STRING CHEESE INCIDENT, FLAMING LIPS, MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD, DISCO BISCUITS, SOULIVE, Waterloo Village, Stanhope, N.J., (973) 347-0900. Choose your definition of psychedelia at this all-day concert. In a set scheduled to last from 9:25 p.m. to 12:45 a.m., String Cheese Incident should jam its way from bluegrass to country-rock to organ-centered jazz. The band is preceded by the majestic, enigmatic pop (and goofy animal costumes) of the Flaming Lips; the unpredictable jazz-to-funk spectrum of Medeski Martin and Wood; the drum-and-bass-tinged excursions of Disco Biscuits; the bluesy, meat-and-potatoes organ-trio funk-jazz of Soulive; and the songwriter Kaki King. Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.; tickets are $47.50 in advance, $50 tomorrow (Pareles).

STRING CHEESE INCIDENT, STEVE WINWOOD, Brookhaven Amphitheater, South Bicycle Path Drive, Farmingville, L.I., (631) 732-4011. Shortly after recuperating from its New Jersey marathon, String Cheese Incident performs again on Long Island. Sharing the bill is Steve Winwood, the keyboardist and singer who was making his own soul-jazz-Latin fusion in Traffic (and later in Blind Faith and on his own solo albums) before most of String Cheese Incident's fans were born. He recently released an album, "About Time," on his own Wincraft label, and his keyboards still build powerful grooves. Sunday at 5 p.m.; gates open 3:30 p.m.; tickets are $25 and $35 (Pareles).

TABOU COMBO, S.O.B.'s (Sounds of Brazil), 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940. Since the 1960's Tabou Combo has been the leading Haitian band playing compas, a gentle but utterly insinuating rhythm that keeps Haitians dancing hip to hip. They toy with funk and rock, but always find their way back to compas. Tonight at midnight and 2 a.m.; admission is $22 (Pareles).

STEVE TURRE, Smoke, 2751 Broadway at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662. Mr. Turre, the jazz trombonist, pays tribute this weekend to J. J. Johnson, who was the greatest of them all. Sets are tonight and tomorrow at 9, 11, and 12:30 a.m.; cover charge is $20 (Ratliff).

* VIA TANIA, TIM KINSELLA, Luxx, 256 Grand Street, near Roebling Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (718) 599-1000. Via Tania sings gentle songs over not-so-gentle electronic beats. It may be a simple formula, but it usually works, and it will be interesting to see how her appealing new album, "Under a Different Sky" (Chocolate Industries), translates to the stage. Tim Kinsella, who leads the post-hardcore act Joan of Arc, takes a more ambitious approach: the new Joan of Arc album, "In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust" (Perishable), is crammed full of big noises and small ideas. Tomorrow night at 8:30, with the Occasion; admission is $8 (Sanneh).

* WARPED TOUR, at Sunken Meadow, Randalls Island and Asbury Festival Area, Asbury Park, N.J., www.warpedtour.com; (212) 307-7171. Fast, loud and snappy have long ruled at the Warped Tour, featuring punk-rock and all its high-impact offshoots: punk-pop, emo, ska-punk, screamo and more. There are more than three dozen bands on the bill, including Rancid, Glassjaw, Pennywise, the Used, Suicide Machines, Less Than Jake, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Brand New, S.T.U.N., Coheed and Cambria, Mest, Simple Plan, Thrice, All American Rejects and more. At Randalls Island tomorrow at noon; tickets are $33. At Asbury Festival Area Sunday at 1; tickets are $26.50 (Pareles).

* WASHINGTON SOCIAL CLUB, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700. An exciting young trio (from Washington, naturally) that updates the sound of old-fashioned rock 'n' roll with a wild, yelpy passion all its own. Tomorrow night at 9:30, with Aberdeen City and Saintface; admission is $8 (Sanneh).

* STEVE WILSON QUARTET, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. Steve Wilson, a saxophonist, has been in demand all over the jazz world since the 90's; everybody wants his light sound and his total assimilation of postwar saxophone history, from Parker to Coleman. His regular group, including the pianist Bruce Barth, the bassist Ed Howard and the drummer Adam Cruz, is joined this weekend by the excellent young singer Carla Cook. Sets through Sunday night are at 7:30 and 9:30, with an 11:30 set tonight and tomorrow; cover charge is $25 tonight and tomorrow, $20 on Sunday (Ratliff).