You wouldn’t know it from record sales, airplay or video rotation, but it’s tough for emo bands to sustain a career. That’s because emo is strictly the terrain of the under-20 set, and though bands like Thursday and Taking Back Sunday manage to find new (and sometimes older) fans, up-and-comers struggle with quick success and even quicker demise. Armor for Sleep are a quartet from New Jersey who’ve already sold 90,000 copies of their second record, What to Do When You Are Dead, and who’ve built their fan base in the emo tradition—online and on the road. Like so many of the genre’s touchstones, the record is earnest, catchy and drenched in the majesty of inner turmoil, but with one notable difference: this is a concept album about the afterlife. Accompanied by an instructional guide for how to spend the postmortem, each track uses the ghostly otherworld to address themes of teenage alienation. Rcktwn —TRACY MOORE Music Thursday, 6th SCOTT ROBINSON How many other sarrusophone, ophicleide, C-melody and contrabass sax players are active today? How many can even get a sound out of a 6-foot, 8-inch sax? These instruments reflect Robinson’s interest in forgotten corners of music history, but he’s also one of the more in-demand jazz session players in New York. After a brief spell as the youngest faculty member ever at Berklee, he’s appeared on over 135 recordings, working with leaders as diverse as Anthony Braxton and Lionel Hampton. In the few sessions that Robinson has led, his power to rethink traditions goes far beyond his unconventional taste for lost instruments. His State Department-sponsored tour of Africa in 2001 prompted him to salute the original jazz ambassador, Louis Armstrong, by revisiting some of Satchmo’s early compositions. The results are unlike prior Armstrong tributes, as Robinson refracts New Orleans swing and blues through the lenses of post-bop, soul-jazz and free-form improv. Wright Music Hall, MTSU —BILL LEVINE JONATHAN RICHMAN The buoyant, minimalist rock of this onetime Modern Lover gets labeled as droll and whimsical, but that makes him sound like an ironic smart-ass when he’s anything but. With just his voice, guitar and the lone snare of Tommy Larkins, Richman offers openhearted, personal stories that celebrate the people and things that bring him joy. He unabashedly toasts dancing, Paris, baseball, Fender guitars and the Velvet Underground, among numerous other pleasures. What makes him so endearing is how he describes these passions: in “I Was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar,” explaining why the experience was better than one he’d had at a straight club, he rhymes, “In the first bar things were stop and stare / In this bar things were laissez faire.” In recent years, Richman has gained a new audience through his appearance in There’s Something About Mary and for his contributions to the soundtracks of Fever Pitch and The School of Rock. His most recent album, Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love, reveals that he’s still in top form. Vic Chesnutt opens (see below). 12th & Porter —MICHAEL MCCALL VIC CHESNUTT This Georgian is exceptional in numerous ways. There’s the juxtaposition of his sweet, plaintive voice with his dark, imagistic lyrics; there’s the stark relief of the elegant arrangements he sets against tough-hearted observations; and there’s his sheer creativity, his ability to keep his ideas fresh while cranking out a dozen albums in 15 years. The most recent, Ghetto Bells, is more sophisticated than most of them, with production from art-world sympathizer John Chelew, string arrangements from California eccentric Van Dyke Parks and musical support from jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Live, Chesnutt is fearless and dryly funny, going straight for the connective tissue between the heart and mind. 12th & Porter —MICHAEL MCCALL THE BLACK CROWES Try as you like, you can never quite escape your family. Three years ago, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson broke up the group they’d headed since 1984, only to reunite earlier this year. Good idea—the Robinsons get the best out of each other when their well-known brotherly friction is greased with the Crowes’ expansive Southern blues-and-boogie. That’s especially true now that drummer Steve Gorman has belatedly joined the reunion; the chemically crucial Watts to the Robinsons’ Jagger-’n’-Richards, he has a necessary knack for snapping the Crowes’ wandering jams to attention. And he’ll have to be on attention, as the band will have a bit more stage time for this gig than they did back when they opened for Tom Petty at Starwood in July. Ryman Auditorium —CHRIS NEAL OLLABELLE After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, these New Yorkers began performing at 9C, an Alphabet City hole in the wall. Their impromptu shows featured gospel songs and spirituals, and weary locals felt compelled to watch, albeit at an ironic distance. Since then, Ollabelle have been touring, and recent shows demonstrate they’ve outgrown their informal beginnings and matured into a distinctive live act. Band members still lose their place in the set list and forget which instrument they’re supposed to be playing—all six members sing and play something—but missteps only add to Ollabelle’s charm. The result is a casual interplay, particularly between frontwomen Fiona McBain and Amy Helm, who share a playful rivalry that brings to mind legendary scene stealers like Keely Smith and Gracie Burns. Mercy Lounge —PAUL V. GRIFFITH Friday, 7th COLLECTIVE EFFORTS Near the beginning of their full-length debut, Trail Mix, this Atlanta hip-hop quartet declare that the purpose of music is to uplift the soul. That this optimism doesn’t become grating or clichéd over the course of the record’s 20-some tracks (skitless, thank God) is thanks to the skill with which the group’s MCs adjust their phrasing to make each chorus stand apart. The spatial feel of the music, which ranges widely in shape and tone, helps as well. Plus, the guest rappers on the album don’t merely sprinkle verses over top of the music, but actually engage it. The Muse —SABY REYES-KULKARNI Saturday, 8th MY MORNING JACKET Kind of like a mullet, many of MMJ’s songs are business in the front, party in the rear. Take “Off the Record” from their new album Z. It starts with a Peter Gunn-style riff, then quickly becomes a bouncy, tight pop song that’s likely to stick in your craw for days, like “Louie, Louie” on Red Bull. Then, just as an El Camino transitions abruptly from sedan to pickup, the song becomes an airy instrumental piece, with a funky organ and bass encouraging everyone to tune in, drop out—or just stand there, if you’re one of the many otherwise snobby indie kids who happen to like MMJ but generally disdain their jammy forebears. Though incongruous hybrids aren’t always successful, My Morning Jacket have carved out quite a niche as an enjoyable oddity of a band. City Hall —STEVE HARUCH LOVID Ignivomous means “vomiting fire”—an apt denotation for a Brooklyn collective that “presents, nurtures and develops new genres, art forms, mediums and extremes of expression.” Members of the Ignivomous collective, Lovid make use of textiles, collage, laser-etched tiles, electronic mixed media and photography to represent video and electric signals as fixed objects. During their recent residency with New York’s Eyebeam, an organization dedicated to exploring the intersection of art and science, Lovid created “Kiss Blink Sync Vessel,” an installation consisting of sculptural synthesizers that produced a live video stream. In performance, Lovid’s Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus use homemade electronics, reworked analog toys and low-resolution video loops to disrupt and scramble real-time television transmissions with intense, variable audio signals. The static-filled noisefest that results is projected on large screens or displayed on small monitors that the duo wear on their performance outfits. Looking like a cross between B-movie ninjas and “Gort,” the giant robot in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” Lovid create an audiovisual spacetime that results in “an orgy of post-consumer creative destruction.” 310 Chestnut St. —JOE NOLAN Sunday, 9th DAR WILLIAMS On her new record, My Better Self, Williams says she’s going for “less metaphor and more me.” Critics are calling the album her most personal to date, but with never less than a five-piece band backing her on each track, she’s not flying solo. (One guest is Ani DiFranco, who assists with a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.”) You’d think the elaborate instrumentation would make the music less intimate. But in the ballad “I’ll Miss You Till I Meet You,” the choir of counterpointing guitarists is hardly the noisy crowd Williams wants to retreat from to “just be alone.” Rather, they’re her body of “not picture-perfect” friends, the alter-egos she corresponds with to help “keep her awake” and “feel her way” to a “better” Dar. 3rd & Lindsley —MAKKADA B. SELAH Monday, 10th THELONIOUS MONK’S 88TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Even with the recently discovered Voice of America broadcast that he made with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, legions needed no reminder of Monk’s gigantic stature as a pianist and composer. Commemorating what would have been his 88th birthday, this evening will begin with a showing of Charlotte Zwerin’s definitive biopic, Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. The celebration of the genius’s music will continue with the Nashville Monk Quartet and the Cumberland University Faculty Ensemble, which includes Jeff Coffin and Roy “Future Man” Wooten of the Flecktones as well as trumpeter Rod McGaha, one of the city’s most original jazz voices. As for Monk’s instrument, the two solo piano segments on the bill should speak volumes. Bruce Dudley has arranged Monk’s compositions for combinations of string and jazz quartets. And on his new project, Charlie Peacock is indebted to strands of progressive jazz that would never have taken flight without Monk’s uncanny harmonics and asymmetrical forms. Belcourt Theatre —BILL LEVINE Tuesday, 11th BLACK LABEL SOCIETY One of the best reasons Ozzy Osbourne has stuck around long enough to become America’s favorite dad is his knack for hiring the right guitar god at the right time: Randy Rhoads in the early 1980s, Jake E. Lee in the middle of that decade and, on and off since 1987, Zakk Wylde. His grease-soaked riffage and scalding solos have earned Wylde the right to head his own band. Over the last six years, Black Label Society’s weighty, groove-based metal, which crosses Southern rock with grunge, has earned a following of its own. That audience has been quietly growing, leading to the surprise Top 20 chart debut of Black Label Society’s Mafia back in March. This show, a benefit for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, is a prime opportunity for fans to get up close and sweaty with Wylde following his fourth consecutive summer opening shows for his old boss on Ozzfest. City Hall —CHRIS NEAL U$AISAMONSTER This band’s name is in all caps with funny punctuation. That’s a fitting, if reductive, description of their music, too. Subtlety is not a big part of the plan for U$AISAMONSTER. They take the basic elements of grindcore—the metal riffs, the impossibly fast tempos and the vertebrae-snapping starts and stops—and combine them with a kind of freaked-out psychedelia, with guitars that slither around the cacophony as if being whipped around inside a tornado. Indeed, U$AISAMONSTER will fling you far from Kansas, leave your eardrums throbbing and your mellow thoroughly harshed. In the best way, of course, and that’s the point. 310 Chestnut —STEVE HARUCH Classical CRAIG NIES: THE COMPLETE MOZART-SCHUBERT PIANO SONATA SERIES Ambitiously undertaken by Blair faculty member Nies, this series is a study in the art of the sonata, which began as a pedagogical form for approaching problems in the piano’s range and ultimately became a means of expanding the horizons of artistic innovation. Even though they’re not going to be played in chronological sequence, the three works of Mozart’s on the program clearly point toward the widening of options for keyboard techniques and thematic variety. By the time Schubert wrote his sonatas, represented by one late work on this program, the dramatic contrasts were bolder, yet the technical precision still evident. Nies performs Oct. 7 in Ingram Hall. —BILL LEVINE HAIQIONG DENG MTSU’s Presidential Concert Series starts Oct. 8 with a free concert of music featuring the Chinese zheng, a long, 25-string zither and the oldest of a family of instruments across Asia that includes the Japanese koto. The sound of the instrument’s plucked strings provides one of the signatures of Chinese music. Haiqiong Deng trained in Chinese conservatories and now serves on the faculty at Florida State. Her repertoire emphasizes contemporary pieces for this ancient instrument, many written specifically for her. The 8 p.m. concert is in MTSU’s Wright Music Building. —DAVID MADDOX BLAIR WOODWIND QUINTET The standard instrumentation for a woodwind quintet is clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon and French horn, but for this program, the Blair Woodwind Quintet have expanded their membership to a rotating lineup of six. They add a harpist on a transcription of Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin” (originally written for piano), a bass clarinetist on Leos Janacek’s “Mladi” and a pianist for Poulenc’s “Sextour.” Janacek, a composer of great operas, wrote his piece (translated as “Youth”) late in life. It is nostalgic, combining the light rhythms and melodies of childhood and the countryside with rich modal writing like Stravinsky. Poulenc’s sextet is bright and swift, typical of his compositions and of the combination of winds with piano. The concert is Oct. 10 in Turner Recital Hall. —DAVID MADDOX Dance “TENNESSEE TAPESTRY” Nashville Ballet kicks off its 20th anniversary season with a three-tiered program that draws thematically from the legacy of the South. Baroque compositions by Vivaldi and Corelli form the backdrop for “Square Dance,” a Nashville premiere featuring the choreography of George Balanchine. Ballet artistic director Paul Vasterling’s vision drives the steamy interpretation of “The Night of the Iguana,” based on Tennessee Williams’ original short story and featuring the music of local composer Michael Alec Rose. Guest choreographer Sarah Slipper, who has worked previously in the ballet’s “Emergence” series, finishes the program with Postcards From the Boys, which affirms the company’s tradition of merging dance with the work of bedrock Nashville singer-songwriters, in this case Guy Clark and Darrell Scott, who will perform six songs onstage. As usual, the Nashville Symphony provides elegant musical textures throughout. Performances run Oct 7-9 at TPAC’s Polk Theater; call 255-ARTS for tickets and show times. —MARTIN BRADYArt MARGARET WARE: “FROM GRAND-MOTHER’S DIARY” The sculpture of Michigan-based artist Margaret Ware is steeped in nostalgia and the art of storytelling. Her exhibit at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Gallery weaves photography, film and performance into an installation of connected works that incorporate found imagery and text about the artist’s family immigrating to the United States in the late 1800s. Many works involve dressmakers’ dummies or other forms representing a female figure, which are then covered in old photos and scribbled cursive writing. The artist gives a talk 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Sarratt Gallery, followed by a reception. —NICOLE PIETRANTONI ANTONIO CARRENO Originally from the Dominican Republic, Carreno paints in an elegant abstract style. He works outdoors when he can, which seems to be a way to promote his responsiveness to forms and processes in the world. Sometimes he paints on a textured surface composed of sand and polymer, which reacts in a manner similar to fresco painting when the material is wet. This show at Vanderbilt’s Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center opens with a reception and talk by the artist, 4 p.m. Oct. 10. —DAVID MADDOX “FROM DESERT AUSTRALIA: ABORI-GINAL ART & CULTURE” Hanging Around Contemporary Art and Custom Framing presents a monthlong Australian celebration that will include a number of events spotlighting the aboriginal art, history and music of Australia’s central desert region. The work in the show is from The Mbantua Gallery, whose paintings, tapestries and musical instruments make up one of the largest collections of native Australian art in the world. Gallery owners Robin Vernon and Geoffrey Hale always throw a festive opening, and the reception on Friday, Oct. 7, from 6-9 p.m. will include an Australian wine tasting. —JOE NOLAN HENRY ISAACS Vermont painter Isaacs is an activist and nature lover whose plein air landscapes were originally inspired by the English countryside he discovered while studying in London. His impressionistic work attempts to capture the natural beauty of the untrammeled, isolated spaces only a curious hiker happens across. The opening reception for his show at Gallery One, 6-8 p.m. Saturday, doubles as a benefit for the American Cancer Society. A $35 tax-deductible donation requested at the door will go toward breast cancer research and awareness, as will a percentage of sales. The show runs through Oct. 30. —JOE NOLAN PAINTERS OF AREQUIPA, PERU Art & Invention Gallery presents new work by a group of painters from the Andean nation of Peru, Oct. 8-Nov. 20. The still lifes and landscapes include work by David Condori, Vidal Salas, Thomas Lizarraga, Carlos Ticona and Mauricio Guinassi. The opening reception is 6:30-10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at 1106 Woodland St. —JOE NOLAN Books SHANNA COMPTON/JENNIFER KNOX Watkins College will host a reading by two Soft Skull Press poets, followed by a question-and-answer session on indie publishing. Compton, who will read from her recently published collection Down Spooky, crafts impressionistic, word-tumbling-upon-word verse, rich with sensual imagery. Knox is a former slam champion who has won respect from the literary establishment for her character-centered poems. She will read from her book A Gringo Like Me. After the reading, both poets will share their knowledge and experience of the small-press world—Compton is an associate editor at Soft Skull and teaches a course on indie publishing at New School University. The event is free and open to the public, 5:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, in Watkins’ Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Gallery. The two poets will also make an appearance at the Southern Festival of Books this weekend: at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, they’ll discuss “Joy in the Life of Words: Poetry” on the festival’s Poetry and Drama Stage. —MARIA BROWNING R. S. GWYNN Gwynn wears two hats—highly regarded poet and hardworking critic. He uses both roles to advocate for the restoration of form (i.e., disciplined rhyme and meter) in contemporary poetry. A North Carolina native, Gwynn has been ensconced at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, since 1976. His poems combine Red State robustness with erudition and technical mastery. The essential conservatism (some would say pedantry) of the neo-formalist trend is lightened in Gwynn’s case by a lively, earthy sense of humor. His epic Narcissiad is a scathing send-up, properly regimented into heroic couplets, of the literary world and its stars: “…With Flair in hand he takes the poet’s stance / to write, instead of sonnets, sheaves of grants.” Gwynn will read at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, in Wilson 103, Vanderbilt University. —MARIA BROWNING Events NASHVILLE’S 26TH OKTOBERFEST CELEBRATION Depending on your inclinations, you might want to put on your running shoes, dancing shoes or drinking shoes this Saturday for Nashville’s annual celebration of all things German in, appropriately enough, Germantown. The day begins at 8 a.m. with the Paulaner 5K Oktoberfest Bier Run/Walk, followed at 9 by a joint opening service by sponsors Assumption Catholic Church and Monroe Street United Methodist Church. The event also includes children’s games, pony rides, balloons, music and face painting; a home-and-garden tour; arts, crafts, antique and specialty booths; live German music; a late-night show featuring the 20-piece dance band Radio Daze; and a variety of specialty foods. Oh, and beer—lots of it. The festival attracts over 25,000 guests, so get there early. —DAVE RUDOLPH SIX OUTRAGEOUS SISTERS HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT Twisted, saucy and trashy—what more could you want from a fundraiser event? Three sister acts—The Saucy Sisters (food and wine authors), the Jugg Sisters (NashTrash tour entertainers) and the Twisted Sisters (metal sculpture artists)—have teamed up with Germantown Café and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to raise money for hurricane relief efforts. The festivities begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Farmers Market, where attendees will board the hot-pink NashTrash bus for a one-hour tour. Guests will disembark at Germantown Café for a 2 p.m. champagne reception and brunch, during which the Saucy Sisters will give everyone a signed copy of their latest effort, The Everything Wine Book. A silent auction will feature works by the Twisted Sisters. For ticket information, call 226-7300 or 294-5333. —JACK SILVERMAN Film TROMAPALOOZA III/LLOYD KAUFMAN Sure, you could blow your money on hurricane relief or something. Or you could give it to America’s fearless young showman, Lloyd Kaufman, who will gladly convert it into fake vomit, ersatz diarrhea, big rubber dicks, atomic-squirrel suits, abortion sight gags and slush money to convince nubile starlets to remove their tops. Yes, the man responsible for such affronts as The Toxic Avenger movies, Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D. and Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid needs your help to continue the good works of his 30-year-old Troma Films. So what if Kaufman is actually an erudite Yalie from the same class as the current president of the United States? The only skull and bones you’ll find on his résumé still has the eyeballs attached. Possibly the last of the genius promoters who built American independent film, Kaufman will appear in person at The Boro’s benefit for the Tromadance Film Festival, 8 p.m. Friday in Murfreesboro. Bands filling the two stages (one indoors, one outdoors) include Doctor Gonzo, Skullkin, Fall With Me, Hellbillies, Atomic Blonde, Some Awful Bridge, Butcher Priest and the last performance by the current lineup of Trauma Team, as head Trauma Laurel Parton is moving later this month to L.A. —JIM RIDLEY REEL PARADISE This documentary by Steve James (Hoop Dreams) was one of the audience favorites at this year’s Nashville Film Festival: an account of indie-film maven John Pierson’s decision to relocate his family to the Fijian island of Taveuni and run the local movie theater. If you’ve ever wondered what might happen if the destructive force of Jackass were unleashed on an unsuspecting populace, the results are here—along with an often surprising portrait of the mixed blessings the Piersons brought to Fiji. The well-reviewed doc opens Friday at the Belcourt; see the review on p. 73. —Jim Ridley IN HER SHOES Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) directed the movie version of Jennifer Weiner’s seriocomic novel about a selfish party girl (Cameron Diaz) and her exasperated sister (Toni Collette). Anson Mount and Shirley MacLaine co-star. Opening Friday; see the review on p. 72.  —JIM RIDLEY WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT A warning to everyone who almost hyperventilated during the classic Wallace & Gromit short “The Wrong Trousers”: the fubsy inventor and his intrepid pooch Gromit are back, and this time at feature length. Here, master and mind suffer the goofy consequences of Wallace’s scheme to protect their neighborhood’s veggies from marauding bunnies. Featuring the voices of Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, the stop-motion animated feature starts Friday everywhere—including at the Stardust Drive-In in Watertown, where it plays on a double bill with March of the Penguins. This weekend is the drive-in’s “Fantastic Fall Pajama Party”; dress accordingly. —JIM RIDLEY