Cassandra Wilson @ CSO

Name it, and she can sing it. She's been at it more than 20 years of touring and producing material that showcases her vocals, and she'll be at Symphony Hall. Show at 8pm. Tickets go from $39-$74.

2008 Preservation Celebration @ The Marmon Grand

Join Preservation Chicago at their 2008 "Preservation Celebration" in The Marmon Grand, located in the Motor Row Historic District, 2230 S. Michigan Ave. Features include music by the Erwin Helfer Trio, a silent auction, Motor Row mini tours and an open bar. 6pm-9pm Tickets are $75 in advance (at website or via mail), $95 at the door. Complimentary valet parking will be provided. For more information, visit the website, call 312-337-5500 or email.

GB Get-Together @ Clark Street Ale House

It's time once again for the monthly GB Get-Together, where GB staffers and readers mingle over drinks. We'll once again be at the Clark Street Ale House, 742 N. Clark St. (just south of Chicago Avenue) from 8pm till 11pm. Look for us in the front section of the bar.

Chicago Gourmet @ Millennium Park

Think of this as a Taste of Chicago with a heftier price tag and more upscale eats. Chicago Gourmet will have food samplings from a rock star roll call of the city's top chefs (Graham Eliot Bowles, Rick Bayless, Carrie Nahabedian, Mindy Segal) and literal Top Chefs (Stephanie Izard, Dale Levitski), as well as cooking demonstrations, seminars and wine samplings. Tickets run from $100-400.

Chicago Horror Fest

Chicago Horror Film Festival hits town tonight and runs through the 28th at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets are $10 per day in advance, $12 at the door; discounts for two- and three-day passes.
Tonight's schedule includes:
6pm: Mr. Video
6:15pm: Little Snaps of Horror / Wheelchair Werewolf / Anyone There?
6:30pm: Squeal
8pm: Fold / Side Effect
8:30pm: Dark Reel Introduction
8:45pm: Dark Reel

Decibelle Music and Culture Festival @ Debonaire Social Club

Debonaire Social Club
1571 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago

AFTERPARTY CO-Presented by GO NYC MAGAZINE Featuring:
FM Supreme
Mz. Jonz
Mama Cutsworth and Mizz Brown
Hosted by and special performance by MC Filfy
$5 advance $7 Door PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

Change Today Change Tomorrow @ within(REASON)

As part of the 37th Annual Pilson East Artist's Open House (September 26-28), Change Today, Change Tomorrow will feature media ranging from collage and graffiti to digital video and fabric arts. Proceeds from the event will be donated to arts programs in Pilsen area schools. Opening tonight at 6:00 PM. within(REASON) Gallery: 1932 S. Halsted #408 (773) 562-7464

Carrot Top Records Sweet 16 Party

Carrot Top Records is turning 16, so they're celebrating with two days of concerts at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia. Tickets are $15.00 for each night, online or at the door, with the proceeds benefiting The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Doors open at 8:30pm, the show starts "promptly" at 9. 21+

Friday, Sept. 26
The Coctails
Antietam
KatJonBand (feat Jon Langford of The Mekons and Kat Ex of The Ex)
The Bitter Tears

Saturday, Sept. 27
The Handsome Family
Megan Reilly
Speck Mountain
Lys Guillorn

8th Annual Oktoberfest @ St. Alphonsus

Come celebrate Oktoberfest at St. Alphonsus church in Lakeview. This church, founded by German immigrants in 1882, really knows how to put on an Oktoberfest -- complete with oom-pah bands, brats, dancing, and, of course, plenty of German brews. The party goes on all weekend, starting Friday night 9/26, from 5-11pm, Sat. 9/27 11am-10pm, Sun. 9/28 noon-9pm. St. Alphonsus is located at 3000 Lincoln Ave. (at Wellington).

The Ritz @ U.S. Beer Company

U.S. Beer Company
1801 N. Clybourn Ave.

Doors: 8p | Cover: $7

The Ritz

This is the record release party for The Night of Day

Why? @ The Bottom Lounge

The Bottom Lounge
1375 W. Lake
9pm 18+ $11

WHY?
In abstract, WHY? is the process of adapting to the somehow simple business of existing. WHY? is the searching for something clearly unreachable, with hopes of finding small significance along the way. The attempt to understand what's really going on by observing, neither by telescope nor microscope, but by naked eye, the intimate details in the most mundane of life's happenings. The attempt to describe the gist of the feeling of the tiniest modicum of The Great Universal Unutterable Joke we are all always not laughing at--except when we are. WHY? is living out the set-up of that old gag over and over, until we finally reach a punch-line. Or we die and we don't. WHY? thaws from the icebox with The Hollows. This latest blast of darkly tinted pop finds the Bay-based trio further realizing their distinct sound--smart, shimmering, sweetly soured--while expanding that ever-crooking subsurface smile we saw bare its teeth on 2005's critically acclaimed Elephant Eyelash LP

TOBACCO mbr of Black Moth Super Rainbow
Tobacco sometimes runs with a group called Black Moth Super Rainbow. On Fucked Up Friends, his latest mission, he works alone. Tobacco's tools are analog synths, tape machines, and deformed incantations from throats unknown. His music is a wash of distortion and melody over jagged beats. It buoys the spirit, braces the nerves, and smuggles disoriented paranoia deep into the subconscious. These are anxiously driven, effortlessly smooth and unapologetically badass sounds of inner nature.

ANNI ROSSI
Classical kid gone viola pop wunderkind.

Noah & The Whale @ Empty Bottle

The Empty Bottle
1035 N. Western Ave

10:00pm $10 advance, $12

Noah & The Whale
The Death Ships
Lindi Ortega

UK band NOAH & THE WHALE fluctuates capably and wildly between genres, from lounge crooning to knee-slapping country to earnest folk, all while maintaining a warm pop sensibility. Their debut longplayer, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, is both playful and reflective, an album that features, according to the London Evening Standard, "a robust, folkish charm along with some surprisingly powerful musicianship."

Noah & The Whale @ Reckless Records (FREE SHOW!)

Reckless Records
3161 N Broadway St

6:00pm FREE

Noah & The Whale