A-List

ROCK 'N' ROLL

Snow Fairies

Around town the Snow Fairies have built up a rep for being sugary-sweet and a bit self-conscious. You know, sort of like your shy younger sister--the one with the good hair and gangly legs who will be a total fox by the time she hits high school. In a similar vein, our little Snow Fairies are all grown up, and boy, are they ready to rock. Not simply content to make the twee pop scene, lead vocalist Rose Bochansky's lilting and gentle voice has developed a bit of a growl these past few years, and for all their sweetness, the Fairies are pros at working three chords into a frenzy. Tomorrow the band heads out on the road for its very first West Coast tour (with Portland, Ore., counterparts Dear Nora) in support of its second full-length release, the cheekily titled Feel You Up. But tonight they're all ours. (Julie Gerstein)

9:30pm. $7. With El Boxeo. Doc Watson's Pub, 216 S. 11th St. 215.922.3427. www.plainparade.org

ROCK 'N' ROLL

Caustic Resin

Befitting its sinister stoner name, Caustic Resin kicks up an awfully sludgy racket, led by Brett Netson's oft- unintelligible vocals and dirty, reeling guitar. Most people best know the band from a collaborative EP with Built to Spill (both hail from Boise, Idaho), but comparing the two will always leave Resin with the short end of the stick. Steeped in heady psychedelic washes and a sleepy-then-stormy approach, Caustic Resin proves as pleasantly disorienting as ever on Keep on Truckin, its sixth album. With his frazzled, distortion-soaked delivery, Netson can recall Ozzy at times, but the music is more along the lines of Pacific Northwest noisemakers like the Screaming Trees, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Mudhoney and, most recently, the Catheters. But "Fry Like Ace Jones" and the title track of Truckin are surprisingly vulnerable, especially after the roughness of the opening "People Fall Down." With each song, the band's mighty numbing mystique only grows. (Doug Wallen)

9pm. $7. With Primordial Undermind, ST 37 + the Tiddies. Khyber, 56 S. Second St. 215.238.5888

[ FRIDAY, AUGUST 1 ]

JAZZ

René Marie

Some people are born for one purpose. Consider the case of singer René Marie. Back in 1998 she quit her job as a bank teller, left her marriage of 23 years and hit the road. The result has been a trio of wildly acclaimed albums that have nearly made her a star in Europe and seen her garner numerous awards both here and abroad. An intimate singer with a gift for personalizing standards and making them sparkle, Marie draws on her eclectic tastes and vocal exuberance for her unusual appeal. Her latest CD, Live at the Jazz Standard, recorded in New York, finds her ruminating on jazz past and present. She reanimates "It Might as Well Be Spring," scats an a cappella version of Ravel's "Bolero" segueing into Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," and adds some originals as well. Marie's second CD, Vertigo, topped many year-end best-of lists, and was chosen as the best vocal jazz album of 2001 by JazzTimes. Life without a net? René Marie lives it. (Ken Micallef)

5:45pm. Free with museum admission ($10). Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Pkwy. 215.763.8100. www.philamuseum.com

[ SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 ]

BLUES

Tito Jackson

Whenever I think of Tito Jackson, I think of that moment in the long-gone, very bad sitcom Head of the Class when Arvid, the show's resident nerd, reveals that his favorite Jackson is not Michael or Janet, but none other than Tito. Why? "He's the sensitive one," he says. You could also say he's the underrated one: While Michael and Jermaine and the other ones I can't remember right now were front-and-center, Tito was in the back, strumming that guitar, guiding the rhythm so his dancing-machine brethren would look good. I didn't realize it until now, but Tito is the Pops Staples of the Jackson 5. He's also one of the few Jackson offspring, according to a Rolling Stone article not too long ago, who isn't completely bankrupt. (He may still have a few ducats left from when his trio of sons, 3T, were a pop confection back in the mid-'90s.) So just as Pops Staples used to step out in front and take his bass solo on "I'll Take You There," it may be Tito's time to shine now. For this Warmdaddy's mini-residency, he's supposedly going back to his blues roots, backed by the same band that backed the Jackson 5. So take your ass out into that spotlight and shine, Tito! (Craig D. Lindsey)

8pm and 10:30pm. $20. (Also Thurs., July 31 and Fri., Aug. 1.) Warmdaddy's, 4 S. Front St. 215.627.2500. www.warmdaddys.com

[ SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 ]

SUMMER FUN

Atlantic City

Though I wrote my column a few weeks ago about hating the shore, even I couldn't resist the lure of the New Jersey Transit train that goes from 30th Street Station to Atlantic City for a mere $13.20 roundtrip. From the A.C. train station, you can take one of four free shuttle lines, which deposit you at any one of the casinos on the boardwalk. Last Saturday it was basically standing-room-only on the train, suggesting that many Philadelphians--particularly of the bikini-clad sort--were taking advantage of this relatively new service, which spares you the horrors of those grimy, compulsive-gambler-filled buses. The day I went I a) won $25 at blackjack at the Trump Taj Mahal, b) waded in the bracing 58 degree ocean, c) rode the Ferris wheel at the Steel Pier, d) ate enough saltwater taffy to stuff a horse and e) strolled the boardwalk until my heels were numb. It was a truly great day and, given my winnings at the casino, free of charge. (Liz Spikol)

Runs daily. For information and schedules, go to www.njtransit.com

[ MONDAY, AUGUST 4 ]

JAZZ

Elliott Levin's Interplay

With his trademark single dreadlock and his penchant for berets, the heavyset 6.5-foot Elliott Levin is easily one of this city's most recognizable musicians--even to those who aren't familiar with the flutist and saxophonist's 30-year involvement in Philadelphia's jazz underground. While he's worked with a score of Philly musicians--from jazz men Odean Pope and Calvin Weston, to Josh Wink and King Britt--the best place to catch the undiluted Levin is fronting Interplay, his long-running free-jazz unit. The oft-changing band now includes stellar local guitarist Rick Iannacone and three percussionists. While the group has been gigging regularly at Tritone, this show is a can't-miss, as Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist Marshall Allen, trombonist Tyrone Hill and cellist Cash Killian will be sitting in all night. Percussionist Chris Trunkel's Trunkyard Band opens. (Daniel Piotrowski)

9pm. $5. Tritone, 1508 South St. 215.545.0475. www.tritonebar.com. (Levin also plays Fri., Aug. 1, 10pm. With Los Jimbauguas. Café Habana, 102 S. 21st St. 215.561.2822. www.cafehabana.com)

[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 ]

FILM

CinemaScope

Originally a shameless plea to get 1950s audiences who were attached to their television sets back into pricey theaters, CinemaScope--or, to non-cineastes, really, really widescreen films--celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. This might not seem like such a big deal now that the format--obtained with special compressing lenses--is a tried-and-true institution. But to us film geeks, whose obsession with projected-aspect ratios often makes for uncomfortable dinner conversation, CinemaScope is an art form, particularly when shown on screens the size of certain small countries. The Prince Music Theater has a more than decent sized screen that will work well for the CinemaScope series they're hosting. The whole of August will be graced with intermittent CinemaScope spectacles from the medium's formative years. While everything from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Rebel Without a Cause are on the way, you'll be getting Henry Koster's The Robe first--an appropriate kickoff since it was the first film released in super-widescreen. I feel no need to tarnish the reputation of this Richard Burton-starring biblical epic, so let's just say this: When projected on a screen that fills a whole wall, it's bound to take your breath away. (Matt Prigge)

7:30pm. $5-$8.50. Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. 215.569.9700. www.princemusictheater.org

MULTIMEDIA

"Jukebox/Peepshow: Thank Heavens for Little Girls"

Contrary to popular opinion, there is more to do in Northern Liberties than watch developers fight over vacant lots. Staying true to the neighborhood's artistic roots, the 700 Club offers "Jukebox/Peepshow," "a multimedia juxtaposition of musical theater and motion pictures" from Andrew Repasky McElhinney. An exercise in sensory overload, the show opens with Hildegard Behrens singing Richard Strauss' Salome accompanied by Alla Nazimova's silent film version of the same. That's followed by an Alice in Wonderland sequence, which includes the soundtrack to Disney's 1951 film alongside the 1933 and 1976 movie versions of Wonderland along with Mary Pickford's Poor Little Rich Girl. The parade of little girls continues with a playing of Alan Jay Lerner's legendary musical flop Lolita My Love, a showing of the Olsen twins' Our Lips Are Sealed and the Shirley Temple remake of Poor Little Rich Girl. And if you need still more petite femmes, there is a Dutch recording of Annie, Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby and one last version of Poor Little Rich Girl, this time the 1965 Andy Warhol remake starring Edie Sedgwick. (J. Cooper Robb)

9:30pm-2am. Free. 700 Club, 700 N. Second St. 215.413.3181

[ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6 ]

ROCK 'N' ROLL

The Lucksmiths

Though they come off like shiny, happy troubadours, Australia's Lucksmiths usually manage to mine the melancholy beneath such singsongy pluckiness, thanks to the heartbreaking voice of singer/drummer Tali White, the bass of Mark Monnone and the sly lyrics of guitarist Marty Donald. Within the trio's loose jangle-pop, Donald spikes tales of disaffected slackers and unrequited crushes with funny, imaginative wordplay about train robbers' wives, untidy towns, Beach Boys medleys, T-shirt weather and, um, Wyoming. Without fail, each line is greater than the last. Over a slew of records released mostly on the Aussie label Candle and Stateside on Michigan's tiny Drive-In Records, the band has gradually toned down its scrappy energy in favor of a richer, more relaxed approach, culminating with 2001's startlingly mature Why That Doesn't Surprise Me. The Lucksmiths' new album, Naturaliste, is rumored to be a knockout, and the band is consistently a winsome pleasure live. (D.W.)

9:30pm. $8. All ages. With Via Tania. Doc Watson's Pub, 216 S. 11th St. 215.922.3427. www.plainparade.org