by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

For those about to rock, the White Stripes show at the Bell Centre is upon us this Saturday - same night the National is at Main Hall and, for the ska kids, Planet Smashers, Mustard Plug, Toasters and more at Club Soda.

Leading up to that, though, there's a fair bit of rockness to whet the appetite tonight - le Nombre and Shikasta at Café Campus, C'mon at l'Hémisphère Gauche, stoner-rockers Nebula at Main Hall and, for the truly tripped-out, Japan's Acid Mothers Temple at la Sala Rossa.

Tonight also sees the delightful Nanobot Auxiliary Ballet at Galerie B-312 (372 Ste-Catherine W., #403), part of the space's Jeudis Tout Ouïe series (Ghislain Poirier's there Oct. 13).

Friday has drum & bass don Roni Size at Aria. Saturday, if you're not Striping, Smashing or Nationalizing, scrounge up ten bucks and the mandatory costume for the benefit for New Orleans originals Quintron & Miss Pussycat. They'll be here themselves Nov. 6 and 7, their Electric Swamp movie in tow, despite the devastation of their home, the Spellcaster Lodge, by Katrina - but they've lost so much, so lend a hand and check out les Georges Leningrad, the World Provider and Satan Belanger at Zoobizarre.

Alternately, if a celebration of "geekery, nerdism and basic loserocity" is your bag, there, ya wiener, check the Get Your Geek On soirée with Launie Anderssohn, Ladies Luncheon, Tony Ezzy & the Masters of the Universe and some jerk making waffles at El Salon on Saturday.

The night after sees Lura, the singer from Cape Verde, at Club Balattou, as well as Wolf Eyes and AIDS Wolf at la Sala Rossa. Too bad they couldn't get We Are Wolves for a lupine hat trick, but the latter are at the same space with the Gossip on Sept. 22, and at Zoobizarre with Demon's Claws on Oct. 1, part of Pop Montreal (more on that mega-blowout downstream).

Pop rocks!

Next week's a doozy, too, with T.Raumschmiere, the excellent Four Tet and Hot Chip at Cabaret on Sept. 22, same night that Mateo Murphy's at Saphir's Mix Thursday, and that Skratch Bastid's Stay Fly Thursdays kick off at Blizzarts. That'll get heads all limbered up for Buckshot, Smiff & Wesson, C.L. Smooth and Jean Grae at Metropolis the night after for the Rossignol Projectour snowboarding-flick event. Also on Sept. 23, Polmo Polpo and Granny'ark are at O Patro Vys, and the Taste party is at SAT with Frivolous, Gloomy, Luci, Soundshaper, visuals - and chocolates! Yum!

It's Saturday, Sept. 24, that's out of control, though. Got M.I.A. at Spectrum that night, of course, as well as Electric Six at Café Campus (sorry, guys, no Taco Bells around), Amanda Mabro, Cheryl Sim and Dana Edmonds at Casa del Popolo and the Moondata Records double CD launch at Main Hall. After a couple of years of (local) all-star jams at O Patro Vys, they have the Satellite: LABprojects 03-05 comp to show for it, and they're also dropping P-Love's new All Up In My Head. Oh, and there's the breast-cancer benefit with Sam Roberts and Pony Up! at Theatre Olympia.

That's technically the first show of the aforementioned, overflowing Pop Montreal fest. The second is Scandinavian pop princess Annie at Plaza St-Hubert on Sept. 27, but the festival kicks off properly the night after. Here's just a small sampling of the bounty at Pop: Beck at the Bell Centre, Mercury prizewinners Antony & the Johnsons, the already sold-out Interpol show, Priestess, the return of TTC, Metric and the awesome Dirtbombs/Deadly Snakes/Sunday Sinners triple bill. There's also Weird War, Black Mountain, Billy Childish (in concert, in a doc and exhibiting his art), Melissa Auf der Maur's celebration of the Main at, appropriately, Main Hall, Chromeo (who kicked ass at the recent Diplo party), Foxy Brown and (no relation) Bad News Brown at Dôme, and shitloads more. And then there's the bonus features - the poster-art exhibit at Madame Edgar, the Pop & Politics conference and gigs (Saul Williams will be on hand), the Puces Pop market and the FilmPop flicks. Get sleep now, dig?

Black & Blue and Woo all over

On the other side of that madness, the definitively ethereal Dead Can Dance are at Theatre St-Denis Oct. 2 and 4, while the definitively venereal Nashville Pussy, with Money Money, are at Café Campus on Oct. 5 - same night as sad sack Lou Barlow at la Sala Rossa. The night before, by the way, sees Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack and more at Metropolis.

Also on Oct. 5, the Black & Blue 2005 festivities get rolling, so between then and Oct. 11, you can catch Ministry of Sound's DJ Paulette at Stereo, DJ Manny Lehman and CeCe Peniston at Metropolis, and the main event, the Xtreme Ball, at the Big O with Chus & Ceballos, Danny Tenaglia and more.

Oct. 6, Meshuggah get nuts at le Medley and industrialists KMFDM are at la Tulipe, where the night after you can catch the heaviness of Converge, Terror and Cursed. Alternately on Oct. 7, there's prairie boy done good Corb Lund at Petit Campus, and the Decade Dance party at Main Hall with Magneta Lane, Kickers, Sean Kosa and more, while the Blow Up 3 party with Jacob Asher, Vega, Nivoc and Pascal B blows up at SAT, same place the In Da Jungle crew throw a special breakdance party on Oct. 8.

Also on Oct. 8, Tricky Woo return, triumphantly (with a new CD to boot), in the company of the Leather Uppers at Petit Campus, the International Extreme Music Festival tour with God Dethroned, Atrocity and Hell Within lays waste to Foufounes Électriques, and Audioslave and Seether hit CEPSUM.

Get the raincoat out if you wanna be front row for GWAR at Club Soda on Oct. 9. For the indie kids, meanwhile, it's three nights running with the New Pornographers and Destroyer at la Tulipe on Oct. 10, Nada Surf at la Sala Rossa Oct. 11 and either the Decembrists at Club Soda, or the Bravery and International Noise Conspiracy at Spectrum, on Oct. 12 - same night as the old-school double whammy of the mighty Judas Priest (with Halford back on the mic!) and Anthrax at Bell Centre.

Hip hop rules Wednesdays at Foufounes - backpacker extraordinaire Atmosphere is there on Oct. 10, followed by Large Professor Oct. 12 and, down the road, Jedi Mind Tricks are the droids you're looking for on Nov. 23.

Got MEG pegged

Oct. 13 has John Scofield's tribute to Ray Charles at le Spectrum and Afro-soul dames les Nubians at Café Campus, while the night after, Amos Lee is at la Tulipe. The night after that, get ready for metal midget Danzig at le Medley, on a quality bill with Chimaira, Behemoth and the world's most beloved evil Scandinavian goblin, Mortiis. Oct. 15 also sees the debut of the Mile End Records label with DJ Bear, Miguel Graça and Angel Moraes at SAT, with admission snagging you a free mix CD by Patrick Dream and Mike Meurin. The following night, it's Death Cab for Cutie at le Spectrum.

By this point on the calendar, you should be sufficiently rested from Pop Montreal for the other best fest in town, Montreal Electronic Groove, running Oct. 19 to 22. The MEG has gotten better and better each year, and they're out to outdo themselves yet again with a lineup that includes Broken Social Scene, Bertrand Burgalat, Adult. and Superpitcher, plus tons more outstanding stuff.

Those charming lads CPC Gangbangs fuck up Zoobizarre on Oct. 21, while Liz Phair's at Café Campus on Oct. 22, followed by Vienna Teng Oct. 23 and - rudies get ready! - the resurrection of the English Beat Oct. 24. For goth-friendly music that doesn't suck harder than a parched vampire, it's a toss-up between Dresden Dolls at Club Soda and Rasputina at la Sala Rossa on Oct. 26. Jamiroquai is at Metropolis on Oct. 27, with or without retarded hat, same night as the Neon Halloween party at SAT with DJ T, Cut Throat Republic and Jordan Dare, while the Black Halos are at le Swimming on Oct. 28 with the Illuminati, same night Preach is at Aria and Brazilian hotcha girl Daniela Mercury joins locals Gaïa at Metropolis.

The Fire still rages

Another Halloween treat is local rockabilly miscreants Gutter Demons launching a CD at Foufounes Électriques on Oct. 31, which is also the night that the utterly amazing Go! Team are at la Tulipe. Go! Go see the Go! Team!

November rolls in with a roar, with indie darlings Spoon and Mary Timony at Club Soda Nov. 2, Calla at Main Hall (or Avenged Sevenfold and Death by Stereo at Spectrum) Nov. 3, Slipknot and Unearth at Bell Centre (or Cryptopsy and Suffocation at le Medley) Nov. 4, Rufus Wainwright at Théatre St-Denis (or the Shout Out Louds at Cabaret) on Nov. 6, and neo-psych-poppers Broadcast at Cabaret Nov. 7.

Soulive deliver the soul, live, at Café Campus on Nov. 11, same night as the heavy-duty triple bill of Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age and Death From Above 1979 at Bell Centre. DJ Dan and Bad Boy Bill are at Aria the night after.

Remember the vampire I mentioned before? Join him and his nocturnal ilk for "an evening with" goth gods Bauhaus at Metropolis, Nov. 15. Ironically, the night after Peter Murphy and the boys, Celt-punks Dropkick Murphys are in the same space - but you might well be dippin' and dappin' to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings at la Sala Rossa on Nov. 16.

Black Keys are at la Tulipe on Nov. 17, while John Cale, once of the Velvet Underground, is at le Spectrum on Nov. 20.

And what could cap a crazy musical fall in Mawn-tree-awl? How about our little darlings the Arcade Fire opening for no less than U2 at the Bell Centre on Nov. 26 and 28?

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