POP/ROCK
Two quirky ex-coffeeshop songstresses with adoring cult followings, Erin McKeown and Jill Sobule, double up their charm on what should be a fun two-fer bill. Jazzy, witty, scat-voiced Boston area star McKeown released her new disc, "Hundreds of Lions," on Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe label. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Cedar Cultural Center. $12-$15.) (C.R.)
Brooklyn's experimental collage-rock troupe the Dirty Projectors are winding down a breakout year that saw them playing everywhere from Radio City Music Hall with pal/fan David Byrne, to Lollapalooza, to Walker Art Center. The band's adventurous live show is as jaggedy, exuberant and at times jarring as its hit album, "Bitte Orca." Ridiculously named opener tUnE-yArDs , aka singer/puppeteer Merrill Garbus, offers a screechy world-music/a cappella/dance-rock sound that makes Björk seem conventional. (7:30 p.m. Wed., Cedar Cultural Center. $15.) (C.R.)
JAZZ
Herb Alpert was the "A" in A&M Records (Peter Frampton, Styx, the Police), the trumpeter behind "A Taste of Honey," "Lonely Bull" and "Rise" as well as co-writer of the hits "Wonderful World" and "Alley-Oop." He has just released his first album in 10 years, a live Latin/pop/jazz effort, "Anything Goes," with his wife, vocalist Lani Hall , who got her start with Brasil '66. It's their first full album together after 35 years of marriage. (7 p.m. Tue.-Wed., Dakota, $55-$70.) (J.B.)
| Movie Finder |
FOLK
The measure of Buddy Mondlock 's songwriting prowess is the number of other songwriters who've covered his tunes: Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Janis Ian, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, et al. His best-known number, "The Kid," has been recorded many times -- notably by Peter, Paul & Mary. Chicago-bred and now long-ensconced in Nashville, Mondlock also shared a major label CD with Maia Sharp and Art Garfunkel ("Everything Waits to Be Noticed"). And it could be argued that he's his own best interpreter. (8 p.m. Wed., 318 Cafe, Excelsior, $10. 7:30 p.m. Thu., Gingko Coffeehouse, $12-$14.) (T.S.)
CHAMBER
We're not sure why the Turtle Island Quartet dropped the "String" from its name, since the lineup still consists of two violins, cello and viola -- your standard string quartet. But there's never been anything else standard about the Grammy-winning band, fast approaching its silver anniversary. With a repertoire encompassing everything from Indian music to bluegrass hoedowns to Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," the TIQ proves nightly that chamber music can be au courant and full of surprise. (7 & 9:30 p.m. Thu., Dakota, $25-$40.) (T.S.)
Contributors: Staff critics Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider and freelancers Tom Surowicz and Larry Fuchsberg.