WEDS Weds. 8/13 Caitlin Cary As a member of ...

Caitlin Cary

As a member of Whiskeytown, Caitlin Cary served mainly to help frontman Ryan Adams look like a genius in comparison. Then her debut, While You Weren't Looking, was roundly acclaimed, further proving how desperate alt-country has become. But I'm Staying Out has her following up as a fine Southern pop princess, with a shaky maturity that enlivens all those mid-tempo songs. She's also a lot less of a diva. Most importantly, most of her early fans really hate this new one. That many Cary fans can definitely be wrong. The Kennedys open at Bottom Line, 15 W. 4th St. (Mercer St.), 212-228-6300, 7:30 & 10:30, $20.

Moto star

Remember when Memphis granted us Big Star in the 70s? Then in California this beret-wearing guy named David Roback and the sexy Hope Sandoval had spawned the acoustic/reverberator Mazzy Star in the late 80s? We might be forgetting a couple of bands?and call us simplistic?but does this not suggest that having the word "star" in your name is a step in the right direction? Now we have Moto star, an upfront, pop-rock three-piece headed by Victoria Gross, and they do some seriously dynamic pop-rock. And, they're right here, tonight. Le Bar Bat, 311 W. 57th St. (8th Ave.), 212-307-7228, 8, $10.

Thurs. 8/14

The Lounge-O-Leers

There are a handful of dives left that make you feel vindicated for moving to New York. Hannah's Lava Lounge is one of them. The smells of spilled poppers and stale beer fill the air as a blur of races, genders, ages and sexualities belly up to the bar. Everybody soon knows your name: jaded, ginsoaked regulars chat up the stragglers, the starry-eyed and the strange who habituate what has been called the grooviest happy hour in town. Ricky and Hot Rod of the Lounge-O-Leers turn covers of the most improbable tunes into swinging Tiki Bachelor Pad classics (favorites are versions of "My Heart Will Go On" and the theme from Perry Mason). These identically bobbed dandy Squidwards are so bubblicious, they have their own bubble gum cards. 923 8th Ave. (betw. 54th & 55th Sts.), 212-974-9087, 5, free.

Fri. 8/15

Turbo ACs, Urban Riot & More

Sha Na Na, motherfuckers! Eighty-six the mullet; it's all about the punk rock duck tail. Retro muscle-car enthusiast club the Rumblers are riding high after last month's New York Times shout out, and they're passing the rocking on to you, holding a shindig time at Northsix. Surf rock, punk rock and rockabilly converge onstage, and nary a tailfeather will be left unshaken. These dudes are all about guitars with twang, cars with painted-on flames and pretty dames. All will be on full display. Roll up your jeans and peep Lenny and Squiggy for style tips. 66 N. 6th St. (betw. Wythe & Kent Aves.), Williamsburg, 718-599-5103, 9, $10.

Wall Street Community Day Festival

Paradox in terms? Terrorist wet dream? Or stereotype-defying fun for the whole free-market family? Follow your curiosity south, where street merchants and corporate displays today create a "shopping mall along Wall Street" at this seventh-annual festival celebrating the glory of the "financial capitol of the world." They'll be more than 100 booths of arts and crafts, ethnic foods, antiques and jewelry. Don't worry, it'll all be gone by the time the exchange bell rings Monday morning. Wall St. (betw. Water & South Sts.), 212-809-4900, 11, free.

Sat. 8/16

BBQ NYC

Who would have thought it possible, but a gaping void in the city's dense food scene has been identified, and that missing piece is barbecue. In response to this egregious oversight, some of the city's more ambitious barbecue devotees, aficionados and award-winning pitmasters have banded together to create BBQ NYC, a not-for-profit 'cuefest that has positioned itself as one big picnic to which the entire city is invited. Expect some serious slow cooking?16-hour briskets, three-hour dry-rubbed chicken?the likes of which you haven't tasted this side of the Mason Dixon. Interested parties are encouraged to visit the BBQ NYC website to sign on to bring sides, wetnaps, whatever your persuasion. Take along your frisbee, your dog and get your Southern twang on for the hoedown of the summer. Ward's Island, 3, $20 sugg. don.

Punk Accordion Summit

There's nothing new about adding accordions to punk rock. From Polkacide to some of Guy Klucevsek's wilder side projects, hardcore and polka have long been brothers-in-arms. Rarely, though, have so many accordion-boasting punk bands gathered in one place the way they will be at the First Annual Punk Accordion Summit. Benjamin Ickies Preservation Society, Stupid, Belacqua, New York Press favorite Corn Mo and more will all squeeze out some nastiness tonight at the Bowery Poetry Club. And it's all for a good cause: to show those jerks at next week's Accordion Masters Concert Series how it's really done. Take that, you academe bastards! 308 Bowery (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), 212-614-0505, 10:30, $7.

The Polyphonic Spree

To be honest, we haven't yet heard this enormous vocal group, but we've heard good things, and they've got like 20 singers or something, so just the fact that the Polyphonic Spree is deviating from the depressingly homogenous world of normal rock is itself a ray of hope in these dark days. The Total Praise Gospel Choir opens at Central Park Summerstage, 72nd St., 212-366-CPSS, 3, free.

Matrix: The Techno Party

Take an afternoon nap and get on the line winding around Club Crystal in Brooklyn, where tonight Illusion Productions is blowing it out in a very big way. They're calling it Matrix, and the cast is a solid international DJ list 14 names long?including Aphrodite, Chris Liberator and Danny the Wildchild. If you have any cobwebs to blow out of your soul, nine sweaty hours or so of total audio/visual overload in these two rooms should do the trick. 840 5th Ave. (36th St.), 212-946-5857, 8:30, $35, $30 adv.

Sun. 8/17

Best of TLVSN

This month, a crew of Chicagoans affiliated with Voices in the Wilderness has descended upon NYC for Summer Camp 2003 for a series of workshops and creative direct actions designed to facilitate the momentum of the antiwar movement and creativity within it. Tonight, Joe Proulx and Ringo, the beauty and brains behind Summer Camp, present the Best of TLVSN, an independent weekly half-hour cable tv show that "subverts the cultural and political somnambulism of corporate television." Bring a tv dinner and see for yourself. Bluestockings, 172 Allen St. (betw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.), 212-777-6028, 8, $2-5 sugg. don.

Mon. 8/18

Thich Nhat Hanh

Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh worked to end the violence in his homeland under brutal South Vietnamese regimes before going into exile in 1966. The following year, based upon his past and continuing efforts, Martin Luther King nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Come listen to this champion of non violence tonight as he discusses his philosophy and the movement known as "engaged Buddhism," which intertwines traditional meditative practices with active nonviolent civil disobedience. Barnes & Noble, 33 E. 17th St. (betw. B'way & Park Ave. S.), 212-253-0810, 7, free.

Tues. 8/19

Upright Citizens Brigade

Once upon a time, the Upright Citizens Brigade were four of the funniest, most subversive smart-asses in all of America. But with success comes the dimming of even the brightest bulbs, and after their spotty Comedy Central show died, they went on to "bigger" things. Most notably, their tiny firecracker, Amy Poehler, joined the embarrassing Saturday Night Live and now performs in the most unfunny skits of her entire life. Evidently she knows she sold her soul to the devil (otherwise known as Lorne Michaels), because the group is doing a reunion of sorts (their Sunday-night improvs not withstanding). Northsix, 66 N. 6th (betw. Wythe & Kent Aves.), Williamsburg, 718-599-5103, 9 & 10:30, $5.

Contributors: CXB, Adam Bulger, Kate Crane, Chris Dohse, Gabrielle Gershenson, Jim Knipfel, J.R. Taylor, Dennis Tyhacz and Alexander Zaitchik.