• More cowbell!
If you really wanna rock, you've gotta have a hook.

• WEDNESDAY'S CALENDAR
LITERARY EVENTS

• Live, from the French Quarter
News-talk radio station WIST AM-690 has long operated out of a suburban setting, and a move back to the French Quarter by owner George Buck's GHB Broadcasting wasn't the cheapest option available.

• TUESDAY'S CALENDAR
LITERARY EVENTS

• MONDAY'S CALENDAR
COMMUNITY EVENTS

• A friend to the end
Bernie Mac's legacy will be laughter, but his New Orleans fans have reason to love him, as well as mourn his loss, beyond career highlights.

• SUNDAY'S CALENDAR
SPECIAL EVENTS

• Better Black Television is Percy Miller's goal
New Orleans-born hip-hop star and entrepreneur Percy Miller -- once known as Master P, now P. Miller -- will launch a new, Los Angeles-based television network in 2009.

• Coming Home
Five members of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre's season-opening musical "Rent" are New Orleanians who have relocated to New York and are coming home to appear in the first U.S. community theater production of the fabled Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical, which has been running for 12 years on Broadway.

• Coming Home
Five members of Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre's season-opening musical "Rent" are New Orleanians who have relocated to New York and are coming home to appear in the first U.S. community theater production of the fabled Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical, which has been running for 12 years on Broadway.

• 'It will not happen again'
For the first time since his June arrest for driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, Norman Robinson returned to WDSU-Channel 6's anchor chair Friday night.

• SATURDAY'S CALENDAR
SPECIAL EVENTS

• SATURDAY'S CALENDAR
SPECIAL EVENTS

• Special delivery to the birthplace of jazz
Early Wednesday morning, a truck laden with 3,300 pounds of music pulled up to a Mid-City storage facility.

• Special delivery to the birthplace of jazz
Early Wednesday morning, a truck laden with 3,300 pounds of music pulled up to a Mid-City storage facility.

• That old-time TV
A treasure of tele-memories for born-and-raised locals, "New Orleans Television" is packaged as a picture book, but its captions and chapter introductions neatly distill the city's TV history.

• 6 PATHS TO BREAKFAST BLISS
To call the Womelette, the "house specialty" of the newly opened Fat Hen Grill in Harahan, a bold dish is an understatement.

• Broad Strokes
Gray Ghost copycat?

• Concerts
Sunset at the Landing Concert -- Downtown Covington, Columbia Street Landing. The evening concert series features, Gina Forsyth with Bayou De Ville, 7 tonight. Dirk Billie and Tom Marron open at 6. Free. Concert goers may bring chairs, food and beverages. Some seating provided. Call 985.892.1873.

• Movies
NEW THIS WEEK

• MYTHIC MASH-UP
New Noise is a talented, disciplined young theater troupe making its debut with "Vigils," a mix-and-match mythic performance piece, starkly and strikingly depicted.

• PELICANPALOOZA
With more volunteers and resources, Camp Pelican could certainly take on more campers. It's the goal of Ashley Belding and Brandy Landry, co-event chairs for the Louisiana Pulmonary Disease Camp's annual "Pelicanpalooza" fundraiser, to see to it that next year's camp can accommodate more than the 100-plus children who attended this year's weeklong camp, which serves adolescents afflicted with pulmonary disorders such as cystic fibrosis and asthma, or children who depend on ventilators.

• Quick Bites
--- Savvy expansion ---

• SCHOOL OF FUNK
Trombonist Fred Wesley co-wrote two critical chapters in funk history. He was music director, arranger and a primary composer for James Brown from 1968 to 1975, then spent several years with George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic projects.

• Special Events
Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup -- Breton Sound Marina, Hopedale. Champion fishing teams from around the country compete in the premier saltwater fishing competition, today-Sun., along with free tailgate parties with music, local seafood, children's activities, sports giveaways, 2 today; 10 a.m.-5 Sat; 11 a.m.-5 Sun. Shrimp-peeling competitions, paddle-decorating contests, a Splash Dog competition and other events are planned. Sunday's events include a 10 a.m. Mass at the harbor and 11 a.m. blessing of the fleet. Free shuttle buses will be available to take visitors from the St. Bernard Civic Auditorium complex, 8245 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, to the events, 9:15 a.m.-3 Sat.-Sun. Call 278.4242., www.visitstbernard.com.

• Family Affairs
--- GNOYO auditions at Loyola ---

• Jamie Wax wows 'em again at Le Chat
Revisiting a show you loved the first time is always a dicey business. But Jamie Wax knows his stuff. There is topical new local material in "Goin' to Jackson," Wax's one-man, five-character show at Le Chat Noir. Punchlines include Mayor Ray Nagin, NOAH, Lee Zurik's eyebrows and the new houses being built "like an Epcot version of the 9th Ward; it's a small ward after all."

• Nightclubs
Andrea's Capri Blu Lounge -- 3100 19th St., Metairie. 834.8583. Mike Morris, 5 Fri, Wed-Thurs; MaryFlynn Duo, 8 Sat; Al Farrell, 8 Thurs.

• Spare Notes
--- New Irma is out ---

• Stage Business
--- Satyricon meets 'Voices' ---

• Exhibitions
Museums and galleries having openings or special events this week are indicated with a (DIAMOND). To read reviews, visit blog.nola.com/dougmaccash.

• Hot Picks
--- FRIDAY ---

• Thinking outside the box office
Think of Canadian director Guy Maddin as the Dallas Cowboys of filmmaking. You either love him, or you hate him -- or, more precisely, you either get his methods, or you don't.

• GAS GUZZLING
Attention America, I am not running for president, but I have two solutions to the energy crisis, and I'm bringing them to you in the form of video games.

• New on DVD
ARRIVING THIS WEEK

• Reel winners
Top 10 at the box office

• Theater
NEW ONSTAGE

• 'Clone Wars' is more marketing than movie
It is a time of unrest in the "Star Wars" universe.

• Director finds teens a cause for hope
The movie poster for the new documentary "American Teen" deliberately calls to mind 1985's "The Breakfast Club," and if nothing else, that reveals one thing: High school never changes.

• POINTING THE WAY
Gesturing toward the statue of Robert E. Lee atop the towering column at Lee Circle, artist Robert Tannen revealed a recent discovery. Lee, he said, was not facing north -- not exactly. The general was skewed left of true magnetic north. Not much, but a little. Lee's exact direction came to light as Tannen converted the 114-year-old monument to a kind of mega-compass.

• SPANISH EYES
Woody Allen's feeling sexy.

• Though hardly to die for, 'Henry' still is awfully nice
Henry Poole is going to die.

• THURSDAY'S CALENDAR
COMEDY

• WEDNESDAY'S CALENDAR
LITERARY EVENTS

• Kid Rock rolls on
Anyone who doubts music's ability to supersede all barriers and boundaries would do well to consider the scene at a nearly full New Orleans Arena on Friday night.

• Kid Rock rolls on
Anyone who doubts music's ability to supersede all barriers and boundaries would do well to consider the scene at a nearly full New Orleans Arena on Friday night.

• Message in the music
Indians in pink and orange feathers, a children's theater group in matching yellow T-shirts and an assortment of extras marched and danced around Woldenberg Riverfront Park on Saturday, surrounded by camera crews and a handful of curious tourists.

• This Ron wasn't that Ron
Time to let an appealing, but inaccurate, tale rest in peace:

• TUESDAY'S CALENDAR
COMMUNITY EVENTS

• MONDAY'S CALENDAR
COMMUNITY EVENTS

• SUNDAY'S CALENDAR
BENEFITS

• Pal power
Sometimes, with all the pointless competition, feuding and lack of cooperation, the "New Orleans theater community" doesn't seem to exist.

• Pal power
Sometimes, with all the pointless competition, feuding and lack of cooperation, the "New Orleans theater community" doesn't seem to exist.

• SATURDAY'S CALENDAR
SPECIAL EVENTS

• A Rock and a favorite place
Riding high on the timely hit "All Summer Long," Kid Rock launches the "Rock 'n ' Rebels" tour tonight at the New Orleans Arena with co-headliner Lynyrd Skynyrd, special guest Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons of Run-DMC and young blues-rock trio Back Door Slam.

• Broad Strokes
Soiled but not subdued

• Concerts
Kid Rock: Lynryd Skynyrd -- New Orleans Arena. The rap/rock star and the veteran classic rock band co-headline the "Rock & Rebels Tour," with Reverend Run and Back Door Slam opening, 6:30 tonight. Tickets are $30-$195, through Ticketmaster. See related feature on Page 16.

• Movies
NEW THIS WEEK

• Quick Bites
--- Peristyle's retirement ---

• Special Events
Dirty Linen Night -- The Art Walk encompasses the 200 to 1000 blocks of Royal Street, 500 blocks of St. Ann and St. Peter on Jackson Square and the Dutch Alley Art Co-Op at Dumaine and Decatur streets with more than 50 galleries and shops remaining open, featuring new works, jewelry, local memorabilia, meetings with the artists, music, food and spirits, 6-9 Sat., culminating in a second-line parade beginning at 8:30 in Dutch Alley, traveling up Royal Street and ending on Bourbon Street.

• THE WONDERS OF CHINA
The eternal balance of yin and yang, feminine grace and masculine strength, come to life in "JUNGUA -- Descendants of the Dragon," a new show at Harrah's New Orleans that combines acrobatic skill with martial arts.

• Family Affairs
--- Party with Mother Goose ---

• Nightclubs
Andrea's Capri Blu Lounge -- 3100 19th St., Metairie. 834.8583. Mike Morris, 5 Fri, Wed-Thurs; Maryflynn Thomas and Rhodes Spedale, 8 Sat; Al Farrell, 8 Thurs.

• Spare Notes
--- Cutting Edge in session ---

• Stage Business
--- Iowa benefit boffo ---

• Exhibitions
Museums and galleries having openings or special events this week are indicated with a (DIAMOND). To read reviews, visit blog.nola.com/dougmaccash.

• Hot Picks
--- FRIDAY ---

• Short subjects
You've got to hand it to the New Orleans Afrikan Film and Arts Festival, the sponsors of the fledgling Cinema Premiere series. They've only really just begun their work, but they've already landed a great "get": director Charles Burnett, who is in town to unspool and discuss his post-K short "Quiet as Kept," along with the feature film "To Sleep With Anger" (Danny Glover)

• FOOTBALL AGAIN, ALREADY?
Every summer, gamers ask me their best question of the year: Do they really have to buy the new "Madden NFL" football game? After all, each year's "Madden" looks and plays pretty much like the previous year's model. So why spend $60 on the same new thing?

• MADE IN CHINA
Today's opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing is focusing the world's attention on China.

• Reel winners
Top 10 at the box office

• Theater
NEW ONSTAGE

• GOOFY 'GUTENBERG!'
Musical theater and its fanatical fans are a world unto themselves.

• PUBLIC TREASURE
Some people send flowers to an injured loved one. Michael Manjarris sent millions of dollars in sculpture by some of the world's most renowned artists.

• STREET CRED
It is conventional wisdom that New Orleans' post-Katrina demographic shifts are something you can taste. It's a fact being served across town in the form of tacos and tortas, or being dispensed from the knife-like skewers at churrascarias, the Brazilian-style steakhouses.

• WORN OUT
here's nothing like a good pair of pants: They're comfortable, they're familiar, they're seldom prone to outbreaks of gooey melodrama.

• THURSDAY'S CALENDAR
COMEDY

• THURSDAY'S CALENDAR
COMEDY

• THURSDAY'S CALENDAR
COMEDY