Ben Gibbard’s tender tenor and words of yearning and heartbreak have made him the bookish Lothario of the alternative set. He’s the kind of guy who can repeatedly whisper “Your love is gonna drown” to a desperate partner, and it still sounds like makeout music. His band’s major-label move, Plan, shimmers with gorgeous, slow-pulse textures made all the more powerful by how the group mine beauty from sweet, sad restraint. Like previous alterna-heroes from R.E.M. to Radiohead, Death Cab’s strengths depend on forging classic popcraft into a fresh sound, and on a lead singer whose voice and personality separate the band from their peers. With guitarist Chris Walla providing savvy arrangements in which each bass, keyboard and guitar note lingers like a soft kiss, and with songs as penetrating as “Summer Skin” and “I Will Follow You Into the Darkness,” Death Cab deserve the accolades they’re getting, along with the shot at leaping to the forefront of their generation. (www.barsuk.com/dcfc) War Memorial Auditorium —MICHAEL McCALL Ben Gibbard’s tender tenor and words of yearning and heartbreak have made him the bookish Lothario of the alternative set. He’s the kind of guy who can repeatedly whisper “Your love is gonna drown” to a desperate partner, and it still sounds like makeout music. His band’s major-label move, Plan, shimmers with gorgeous, slow-pulse textures made all the more powerful by how the group mine beauty from sweet, sad restraint. Like previous alterna-heroes from R.E.M. to Radiohead, Death Cab’s strengths depend on forging classic popcraft into a fresh sound, and on a lead singer whose voice and personality separate the band from their peers. With guitarist Chris Walla providing savvy arrangements in which each bass, keyboard and guitar note lingers like a soft kiss, and with songs as penetrating as “Summer Skin” and “I Will Follow You Into the Darkness,” Death Cab deserve the accolades they’re getting, along with the shot at leaping to the forefront of their generation. (www.barsuk.com/dcfc) War Memorial Auditorium —MICHAEL McCALL Music Thursday, 27th AMY RIGBY Guess you’d class this former Nashvillian (sigh) as a confessional singer-songwriter—material informed by experience, uses the first person a lot. But then how to explain her greatest gift as a writer, empathy? Whether singing about her (or someone else’s) husband’s ex-wife, fellow 9-to-5ers or a couple of guys fishing, she persistently opens her heart to the experiences of others. And when addressing heartbreak, love or fucking around, she communicates with such candor that listeners are likely to flash on personal history. Clinching the effect is the matter-of-fact mastery of Rigby’s instrument—the lyrical cadence of her speaking voice, the plainspoken music of her singing voice, the hint of a laugh or sob to hook a well-turned phrase.  (www.amyrigby.com)  Bluebird Café —SCOTT MANZLER MELISSA FERRICK After an ill-suited pairing with Atlantic Records in the early ’90s and a three-album stint on an indie, this singer-songwriter started her own imprint, Right On Records, much like her fellow fem-folkie Ani DiFranco. Ferrick played, engineered and produced virtually everything on 2004’s The Other Side. Her clear, punchy vocals add bite to her songs’ confessional, sometimes political lyrics, while her frenzied guitar style hints at her years spent at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. The affinities with DiFranco don’t end with indie label ownership, either. Ferrick, too, has built a devoted following through constant touring and dynamic performances, often without any accompaniment but her acoustic guitar. Mercy Lounge —JEWLY HIGHT Friday, 28th STARS They may not be as well known in the households of Orange County as their tourmates Death Cab for Cutie, but Stars certainly are making a name for themselves. Their resonant, lovely style of emotive indie pop is perhaps in the process of ascending to the throne abdicated recently by The Delgados. The best Stars songs, like “Ageless Beauty” (from their last album, Set Yourself on Fire), convey a feeling of weightlessness akin to that of a new crush or a head full of champagne. It’s a nice kind of buzz. Very nice indeed. War Memorial Auditorium —Steve Haruch TOMMY KEENUM In a town crawling with singer-songwriters, it’s refreshing to stumble upon the occasional unhyphenated singer, particularly someone blessed with a voice as rich and silky as Keenum’s is. On Sentimental Jamboree, he essays a delightful assortment of writers from Ron Sexsmith to Isaac Hayes to Nick Drake, tying them together in smooth, soulful arrangements that border on lounge music without kitsch or irony. Produced by Bees frontman Daniel Tashian, Keenum’s record shares some of that band’s soft-focus pop dreaminess. While the rounded edges and lush tones, not to mention Keenum’s lyrical sax work, make Sentimental Jamboree great bedroom listening, its music goes deeper than that, probing themes of love more from the spirit than the body. The Basement —JACK SILVERMAN Saturday, 29th GREG BROWN The Midwest has cultivated its share of outstanding songwriters, but few capture its landscape and workaday lifestyle as vividly as this Iowa native does. Steeped in the rugged lives of farmers and coal and limestone miners, Brown’s weather-beaten songs reflect the steady, get-it-done-with-minimal-fuss attitude of the heartland. It’s not all pretty, of course—there’s the breakdown of agrarian communities, the frustration of a mining and industrial life that’s rusting away, and the slow burn of lives that turn hard or blue from defeat and disappointment. But there’s also love and strength and the tenaciousness of a proud people. Once prolific, Brown has slowed down some after nearly three decades of distinctive work. But his deep, rugged voice and observant storytelling are now emblematic, and he remains a powerful live presence who leads a fine band anchored by laconic lead guitarist Bo Ramsey. Belcourt Theatre —MICHAEL MCCALL PIETA BROWN The daughter of Iowa songwriter laureate Greg Brown (see above), this evocative confessionalist often gets compared to Lucinda Williams, which, given her collaborations with Williams’ former guitarist and producer Bo Ramsey—and her lissome contralto—is hardly surprising. Yet there’s a haunted, even noirish cast to Brown’s sinewy roots-rock rarely heard in Williams’ music, and more of a prairie plainspokenness as well. Which isn’t to suggest her often blues-tinged songs aren’t poetic, just measured. Witness “Ring of Gold,” where, over an undulating shuffle, she muses, “Evening is slipping through the blinds / It keeps its promise every time / Tell me why some words are so hard to find.” Ironically, perhaps, the songs on Brown’s twilit new In the Cool persistently gainsay this claim, revealing her matter-of-fact mastery of words as music, a lyricism that flows as freely, if bittersweetly, as her willowy voice. Belcourt Theatre —BILL FRISKICS-WARREN Sunday, 30th TOMMY CASTRO The former Dynatones guitarist has built a respectable career on his eclectic blues sound, which harks back to a classic blues-inflected rock style. On a couple of his straightforward bar-rockers and ballads, hammering beats announce his arrival as he growls and yowls like Bob Seger did in the ’70s. Drawing from a familiar vocabulary of blues-rock licks from that era, Castro’s guitar-playing fits neatly within a blue-collar band ethos, sometimes with a Northern punch and more often with a Southern flair. His return to Blind Pig Records earlier this year yielded Soul Shaker, which thickened the mix of his core quartet by reuniting him with fellow Dynatones vet—and Robert Cray Band producer/keyboardist—Jim Pugh. Nothing fancy or especially daring, but the album’s boogying electro-funk and sometimes spooky organ fills enable the whole crew to layer on richer colors. B.B. King’s —BILL LEVINE Sunday, 30th PEASALL SISTERS Three years after the release of their debut album, O Brother’s Peasall Sisters are back with a new record for Dualtone showing that while their initial appeal may have leaned on the adorability factor, they’re intent on moving beyond it. Produced by John Carter Cash and featuring sensitive, mostly acoustic support from the likes of Randy Scruggs and Jamie Hartford, Home to You finds the trio covering some well-worn standards and some rarer material with maturing voices and tighter harmonies. Still, the real meat of the album is in the three originals, foremost among them Sarah’s opening title track, with its wistful melody and lyrical economy. Radnor Baptist Church —JON WEISBERGER Monday, 31st SHOUT OUT LOUDS Once again, a stunningly good Scandanivian band school their U.S. counterparts in how to update classic American/British Invasion hooks with stylish freshness. This Stockholm quartet’s stateside debut, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, cuts the winsome joy of its sunny melodies with melancholy lyrics about romance and finding a reason to believe. Singer and guitarist Adam Olenius has a droll, articulate voice that’s perfect for his lovelorn tales, while the band’s knack for setting catchy melodies to the insistent drone of modern rock makes them sound contemporary and timeless. It’s smart, well-crafted pop-rock delivered with casual cool, and it’s among the most sparkling debuts of the year. This Nashville date comes two days after the final show of a sold-out, ecstatically received U.K. tour. Exit/In —MICHAEL MCCALL Tuesday, 1st THE CLIENTELE A precipitous increase in production values doesn’t always elevate the quality of a record. A band still has to write good songs, after all. Strange Geometry, the new album by The Clientele, is braver, fuller and more complete—and much clearer-sounding—than either The Violet Hour or the band’s singles collection Suburban Light. Producer Brian O’Shaughnessy deserves some of the credit, but the songs still have to speak, and these certainly do. With all the sweet melancholy of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, the trembling guitars of The Association’s “Never My Love” and rays of filtered sunshine from The Byrds, Love and Brian Wilson, Strange Geometry evokes the pop of the 1960s without trying to live in the past. There is a feeling of alienation running through the album, a feeling that’s, for lack of a better word, contemporary. With affecting songwriting and vintage instincts, The Clientele have crafted their influences into something both openly nostalgic and wonderfully new. (www.theclientele.co.uk) The Basement —STEVE HARUCH COHEED & CAMBRIA Not a Dean & DeLuca offshoot for sullen teens, Coheed & Cambria are a 21st-century emo-prog-Goth group. Starting off in upstate New York, C&C’s breakthrough came via last year’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 and a headlining slot on the Vans Warped Tour. With the band now signed to Columbia, the heft of a major label has meant studio sleekness as well as a line of graphic novels that accompany, clarify and fill in the storylines of the characters from the obtuse song suites on their albums. Named for the slain parents of Claudio, the central warrior-figure named for C&C main man Claudio Sanchez, Coheed & Cambria depict a universe that’s meaningless to non-teen listeners but is gospel to the devout. How else to navigate the mood swings from drippy ballads to emo-crunch, or from orchestral swoon to metallic compression that comprise the band’s third album, entitled (deep breath) Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness? Not even Rush were so brazenly geeky and expertly cross-marketed. Rcktwn —ANDY BETA Wednesday, 2nd THE CLIENTELE A precipitous increase in production values doesn’t always elevate the quality of a record. A band still has to write good songs, after all. Strange Geometry, the new album by The Clientele, is braver, fuller and more complete—and much clearer-sounding—than either The Violet Hour or the band’s singles collection Suburban Light. Producer Brian O’Shaughnessy deserves some of the credit, but the songs still have to speak, and these certainly do. With all the sweet melancholy of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, the trembling guitars of The Association’s “Never My Love” and rays of filtered sunshine from The Byrds, Love and Brian Wilson, Strange Geometry evokes the pop of the 1960s without trying to live in the past. There is a feeling of alienation running through the album, a feeling that’s, for lack of a better word, contemporary. With affecting songwriting and vintage instincts, The Clientele have crafted their influences into something both openly nostalgic and wonderfully new. (www.theclientele.co.uk) The Basement —STEVE HARUCH ANNIE HAYDEN This indie stalwart’s incandescent new album is rife with musical allusions: everything from Mo Tucker purring “After Hours” to Liz Phair in Guyville to the latter-day Tin Pan Alley of Laura Nyro. We even get irony-free quotes of otherwise moldy chestnuts from CSN and Badfinger, as well as a fetching cover of The Replacements’ “Swingin’ Party.” None of these tips of the hat is merely referential. Unlike the way that so much signifying passes for significance these days, Hayden’s nods aren’t proxies for her own vision or experience. From money troubles to troubles in love to larger mystical-existential questions, she’s got a world of her own to inhabit, and virtually all of her allusive gestures converge on that personal but by no means narcissistic domain. “I’ve got the music in me,” she muses unhurriedly in “Starring in the Movies”: “Songs to fill the air / Some to pay the fare / Senses so I know that I’m alive.” The music’s not enough, of course, and Hayden concedes as much. Yet it’s more than many of us have, and given her incisive way with words and a guitar—and a voice that’s as unassuming as it is melodious—it’s plenty. (www.anniehayden.com) The Basement —BILL FRISKICS-WARREN Theater DON JUAN IN HELL As part of Christ Church Cathedral’s Sacred Space for the City arts series, Green Room Projects will mount George Bernard Shaw’s provocative comedy in the church’s nave, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28-29. Green Room artistic director Mark Cabus has newly adapted Shaw’s masterful tale of the title character’s battle of wits with Satan, which results in some fertile reflection on topics always relevant to contemporary spiritual debate. Cabus directs an experienced and talented cast that includes Randall Lancaster, Marin Miller, Richard Northcutt and Brian W. Russell; the music of Mozart’s Don Giovanni resounds from the cathedral organ. Fortickets, phone 255-7729. —MARTIN BRADY ALICE IN WONDERLAND Richard Stein and the mirthful actors of his Olde Worlde Theatre Company join in the Belcourt Theatre’s 80th anniversary celebration with this reworking of the classic Lewis Carroll tale. Stein & Co. put their typically tongue-in-cheek stamp on the well-worn fable and throw in colorfully homemade costumes and amusing special effects to bring to life Alice’s encounters with the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. The show opens Oct. 29 and will be performed again Nov. 5, 19 and 20. For ticket info, visit www.belcourt.org. —MARTIN BRADY WITCH: THE TERROR OF ROBERTSON COUNTY  Apparently, the appetite for reworkings of the infamous Bell Witch tale goes unappeased. This latest rendition presents the eerie doings in a dinner-theater setting. Local theater veteran Joel Meriwether has crafted the adaptation, with additional scenes contributed by director Bill Dorian. This effort promises some new twists based on recent, previously undiscovered evidence about the infamous haunting. The producers have stated that the creepiness in this version is ideal for getting audiences in the Halloween mood, but it’s not recommended for small children due to some profanity, simulated violence and some heretofore unrevealed adult subject matter about the Bell family. Presented Oct. 28-Nov. 6 by New Day Theatre of Goodlettsville. For tickets, phone 859-0059. —MARTIN BRADY THE EAGLE AND THE CHILD In Jason Cannon’s fanciful script, two great masters of religious allegorical fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, meet at the Liverpool pub made famous for its intellectual gatherings and their circle of literary friends, the Inklings. The novelists exchange witty banter and read from their esteemed works. Belmont University’s Department of Theatre and Dance presents the play at the Leu Art Gallery, Nov. 2-6 in conjunction with the C. S. Lewis Conference. For information, phone 460-6199 or visit www.belmont.edu/theatre. —MARTIN BRADY POEDELAIRE Making its Nashville return, this entertaining and distinctively different event—what director Jaz Dorsey calls a “literary vaudeville”—salutes the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe and his French translator Charles Baudelaire. The program, in English and French, features performers Tony Domenico, Michael Jumonville and Anne Geri Fann. Dorsey supplies the original piano accompaniment. Presented 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at Top of Woodland Bed and Breakfast; for reservations, phone 228-3868. —MARTIN BRADY Art ALICIA HENRY & RICHARD PAINTER Previous works by local artist Alicia Henry have been steeped in her past travel experiences—her work with the Peace Corps in Ghana, her time in Greece as a Guggenheim fellow—giving her an outlet to explore themes of cultural displacement and isolation. Henry’s latest body of work, “Households,” features her folk-art-like installations of wood and fabric figures, which engage the rituals surrounding play, death and mourning in different cultures. Also featured in Zeitgeist Gallery’s latest exhibit is Richard Painter, a resident of Smithville and frequent exhibitor at the gallery. Painter is best known for his large, blackened wood panels with silhouetted images created by the interplay of a welding torch and flame retardant surfaces. His latest imagery borrows from the “bountiful table,” playing with the many incarnations of the still-life. The opening reception takes place Saturday, Oct. 29, 6-8 p.m. —NICOLE PIETRANTONI Events THE SHINING / BELCOURT  HALLOWEEN WEEKEND Jack Nicholson roams the halls of the Overlook Hotel once more in Stanley Kubrick’s controversial movie version of the Stephen King classic, playing midnight Friday and Saturday and weekend afternoons as part of the Belcourt’s Halloween festivities. These include Thursday’s “Party With the Undead” with People’s Branch Theatre, Saturday’s Olde Worlde Theatre Co. debut of Alice in Wonderland, full-costume midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and George A. Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead on Halloween night. —JIM RIDLEY DIA DE LOS MUERTOS CELEBRATIONS El Dia de los Muertos, the traditional Mexican celebration and commemoration of the dead, has been enthusiastically adopted by many non-Latino communities. It’s proving to be an adaptable holiday in which people can come together around deeply felt personal sadness and joy. In addition to its Mexican sources, the celebration draws on the parallel energies of other holidays occurring around the same time: Wiccans observing Samhain (the day when the veil between the worlds of life and death is thin), Christian All Saints Day and, of course, Halloween. Many observances continue the Mexican practice of home-built altars, making it also an active and participatory event. Day of the Dead celebrations have become an annual tradition for two Nashville arts organizations, Plowhaus and Cheekwood. Plowhaus is showing Dia de los Muertos-inspired work by a group of artists (several of whom gravitate toward altars and shrines year round), including boys from the Bellewood Home for Children. The show opens with a reception 7-11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 and runs through Nov. 27. Plowhaus artists are also running community workshops during the day on Saturday. For its part, Cheekwood is holding its sixth annual Dia de los Muertos event, also on Saturday. This year’s activities include art projects, a play for kids, storytelling and lots of live Latin music and dance. —DAVID MADDOX CELEBRITY MORGUE GIRLESQUE VARIETY EXTRAVAGANZA You have to wonder just what kind of costumes burlesque performers wear at Halloween time. Glow-in-the-dark pasties? Black-and-orange panties? A gorilla suit, à la Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus? There’s one way to find out, as Katy K and Trim Classic Barber host the Celebrity Morgue Girlesque event Saturday at Mercy Lounge. This is a variety show, mind you, so come for Ramona Rouge, Lula Licious, Ruby Van Go Go, Kicky La Rue, Monique Honeybush, The Original Sin Twins and the rest of the gang, but stay for what might be the evening’s highlight: a performance by Nashville ’60s soul group The Valentines, whose heavenly harmonies can be heard on the Night Train to Nashville compilation CD. Kristi Rose, Fats Kaplin, Melba Toast and hostess Bianca Paige will all take the stage as well, and you, the audience, are invited to come dressed as your favorite dead celebrity—best costume takes home a cash prize. Doors open at 8 and the garments start flying at 9. —JONATHAN MARX Film THE SHINING / BELCOURT  HALLOWEEN WEEKEND Jack Nicholson roams the halls of the Overlook Hotel once more in Stanley Kubrick’s controversial movie version of the Stephen King classic, playing midnight Friday and Saturday and weekend afternoons as part of the Belcourt’s Halloween festivities. These include Thursday’s “Party With the Undead” with People’s Branch Theatre, Saturday’s Olde Worlde Theatre Co. debut of Alice in Wonderland, full-costume midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and George A. Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead on Halloween night. —JIM RIDLEY FORTY SHADES OF BLUE Filmmaker Ira Sachs (The Delta) won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year for his character study of a veteran Memphis soul producer (Rip Torn, who’s received some of the best reviews of his career), his estranged son (Darren E. Burrows) and the father’s Russian girlfriend (Dina Korzun). The acclaimed film opens Friday at the Belcourt. Also opening this week: Good Night, and Good Luck, director/co-writer/co-star George Clooney’s black-and-white docudrama about ’50s broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. —JIM RIDLEY “GRAVELESS” Nashville filmmaker Christian Ray wrote and directed this 10-minute calling card for his future horror career, as a masked torturer tries to extract the greatest fear of his latest victim (Christian Fenn). The short has already shown at several film festivals, including two of the world’s most prestigious genre-film fests, FanTasia in Montreal and Sitges in Catalonia; at the latter, Ray won an award alongside the likes of Werner Herzog, Tsai Ming-liang and Johnnie To. The film screens 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the downtown Nashville Public Library, with Ray in attendance. See www.graveless.com for more info. —JIM RIDLEY SOUTHERN HAUNTS Fact is scarier than fiction, as local filmmaker Zac Adams sets out to prove in his new documentary TV series. As a Halloween treat, Adams hosts an afternoon screening of two back-to-back half-hour episodes: one exploring the spooky recesses of Franklin’s Carnton Mansion, the other delving into the infamous legend of the Bell Witch. Admission is $5; the shows run 1 p.m. Saturday at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY THE WEATHER MAN A downtrodden schlub of a Chicago weatherman (Nicolas Cage) faces a midlife crisis in this comedy-drama by director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean). Co-starring Michael Caine and Hope Davis, it opens Friday along with the Uma Thurman-Meryl Streep comedy Prime and Antonio Banderas in The Legend of Zorro. —JIM RIDLEY PSYCHO Oh, to have seen Alfred Hitchcock’s oft-copied shocker in 1960 with no advance word. If you remain blissfully unaware of the past half-century of cinema, however, make up for lost time when Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema screens the film Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. At 9:15 p.m.: Donnie Darko. —JIM RIDLEY NASHVILLE BLACK PRIDE FILM FESTIVAL The city’s second annual black gay film festival offers an all-day marathon of shorts, documentaries and features starting 1 p.m. Sunday at the Belcourt. There will also be a live theatrical performance by The ADODI Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble, who will sign copies of their new CD Ain’t Got Sense Enuf to Be ’Shamed. Ken Jackson, director of the documentary Just Between Us, and Faith Trimel, director of the psychological thriller Black Aura on an Angel, will attend. See www.belcourt.org for more info. —JIM RIDLEY