WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27GWAR If they're good enough for Beavis and Butthead, ...
If they're good enough for Beavis and Butthead, they're good enough for us. Richmond, VA's favorite alien sex fiends are back to paint the town red with washable fake bodily fluids-which they promise to spew onto the audience, possibly from a giant mechanical maggot. More than just your average satirically theatrical thrash-metal band, GWAR are actually ferocious interplanetary warriors descended from aliens who were formed from the lowest filth in the universe before being stranded in Antarctica. These days they concentrate on sexually enslaving the human race and making believers out of us. Spirit, 530 W. 27th St. (10th Ave.), 212-219-9276; 7:30, $22, $19 adv.
Thanks to help from Chris Newmyer's Self-Starter Foundation, Chi-town indie-rock quartet, Detachment Kit, have ensured copies of their latest CD, Of This Blood? have crossed the desk of every major publication in this city at least once. And yet, you still may not have heard of them. Featuring songs partly filled with punk energy that also lean on desperate melodic vocals, this is an intimate and searching album one listens to alone-not the kind of work one tosses on at a party or selects on the jukebox. Which is just part of the reason they've remained the sole province of industry people. With Minus the Bear. Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. (betw. B'way & Church St.), 212-219-3006; 10:30, $12, $10 adv.
RALPH LEMON'S GEOGRAPHY TRILOGY
Fluid, fluent choreographer Ralph Lemon concludes his Geography Trilogy at BAM's Next Wave fest, with Come Home Charley Patton and its music by Christian Marclay. Lemon made work for Ailey, Israel's Batsheva, the Sydney Dance Co., then dissolved his own company eight years back to take on Geography. "In the first two parts of this trilogy," writes the fast, fierce choreographer Stephen Petronio in an email, "Ralph's reached into his subjects with awesome humanity. He's one of the most tender-hearted and poetic of choreographers, and his results are surprising, engaging and supremely intelligent." Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave. (betw. Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.), 718-636-4100; 7:30, $20-$45.
Grafitti artist, painterly genius, experimental musician-this self-taught Brooklynite hit the 80s art scene to thunderous praise and acclaim. Tonight a group of savvy panelists comes together to discuss Basquiat's expressive talent and his genius for self-reflection as part of the "Artists Talk On Art" series, The School of Visual Arts, 209 E. 23rd St. (3rd Ave.) 212-779-9250; 7, $7, $3 st./s.c.
MISS GUY
Today, Miss Guy, the vocalist for the Toilet Boys, and self-proclaimed "rock 'n' roll whore," performs his first solo show back in the place where it all started, Don Hill's, where he promises to perform oral sex-for free!-after the show, on anyone who requests it. Other performances that night include Spalding Rockwell and Battletorn and DJ Alex Thompson. Tomorrow, at Lost Shoe Productions on Ludlow St., lead guitarist Sean Pierce opens a show of gritty, bathroom-inspired paintings, accompanied by the infamous Tab Cola and freaky, tasty baked goods. 511 Greenwich St. (Spring St.), 212-219-2850; 10:30, $10.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 30
PLANTS NEED WATER
Sure, Plants Need Water sounds an awful lot like a rip-off of Baby Wants Candy, but we dig the name anyway. Plus, it's got Jason Reich, whose day job at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart is clearly not bringing him enough press or prizes. Along with Geoff Kirsch, another founding member of Three Jews and a Persian, the sketch comedy duo pokes fun at sacred targets no comedian would dare tackle-like the cable guys, the Ten Commandments, Canadian money. Ooh, maybe we'll get a skit on airplane peanuts. Gene Frankel Theater, 24 Bond St. (Lafayette St.), 212-868-4444; 8, $10.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 31
MAD MONSTER PARTY AND ANNABEL LEE
Long before The Nightmare Before Christmas, there was Mad Monster Party, a 1968 Rankin-Bass Halloween offering, featuring the voices of Boris Karloff and yes, Phyllis Diller. Dr. Frankenstein, on the eve of his retirement, holds a big wingy-dingy for all of his monster friends as he tries to choose a successor. It's fun for the whole family! (And for once we really mean that.) Before the feature is a work much darker and more disturbing: George Higham's remarkable 20-minute stop-motion interpretation of Poe's "Annabel Lee." It's an atmospheric neon gothic masterpiece, as Poe wanders through Hell, confronting half-rats and sinister angels in search of his lost love. Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Ave. (2nd St.), 212-505-5181; 5, $8, $6 st./s.c.
BIRD WATCHING
Those ain't birds, fool. Those are the New York Jets, flying high and shitting on any team who dares stand in the way of a Gang Green playoff birth. The Jets don't play till Monday, but it's just too cold for this nature shit, even with an accredited naturalist to guide you, so get your ass on the couch, crack a Zima with the missus and pretend the baseball season never happened. Wave Hill, 675 W. 252nd St. (Independence Ave.), Bronx, res. req. 718-549-3200 x305; 8:30 a.m., $15-$20.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 1
THE FALL COLLECTION
If you like "buzz" bands like we like "buzz" bands, you'll love the first annual Fall Collection Multimedia Arts Festival (for which New York Press is glad to act as a sponsor). Those left unfulfilled by the number of acts their CMJ passes couldn't get them into, those who thirst for a little slice of culture they might someday call "North by Northeast," your time is now. The Fall Collection kicks off its three-week circus tonight, presenting highly touted yet underexposed musicians, artists, filmmakers and theater types on some of the cooler small stages around town. Featured groups include the Caulfield Sisters, the Strines, the Black Spoons and hoards more every night at spots like Rothko, Pianos, Sin-é, Dark Room and the Latea Theater. For the complete schedule, check out this newspaper's middle 12 pages. If it's already been swiped, head over to thefallcollection.org.
DEADBEAT AT DAWN
Shade Rupe's Subversive Sinema presents Jim Van Bebber's fantastically titled 1988 gang movie, Deadbeat at Dawn, which is as insane as it sounds. With over-the-top action and violence and editing that heightens the insanity, Deadbeat tells the tale of Goose, the leader of the Ravens, whose girlfriend says it's time to choose: either her or the gang. Goose chooses the girl, a rival gang kills the girl, Goose gets pissed and kills everybody. Contrary to popular belief, not inspired by Anthony Edwards' Top Gun character. Pioneer Theater, 155 E. 3rd St. (Ave. A), 212-591-0434; 7, $9.
LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA
Out for some musical prep before the Election Day fracas? Jazz bass ace Charlie Haden leads the donkey charge of his Liberation Music Orchestra, with greats Carla Bley on piano, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, plus fresh heat from Chris Potter and Miguel Zenon among the saxes. Hayden's small band is at the Village Vanguard all week with Gonzalo Rubalcaba's piano and saxmen, Joe Lovano and David Sanchez splitting the guest slot. But tonight he's got a different axe to grind, having gigged and recorded the big bad LMO during every Republican administration since 1969. 178 7th Ave. S. (W. 11th St.), 212-255-4037; 9 & 11, $25, $10 min.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2
ELECTION DAY
Just because your vote doesn't count for anything unless your state is swinging doesn't mean you get to leave chad hanging and stay home. What's so bad about a friendly visit to your polling station-be it post office, public school or home for the criminally insane-once every four years? You don't have to have gone to college to have your vote discounted by the electoral college. Bar rum bump. Check nyc.gov/html/vac for voting locations.