Wed., Oct. 18

Are the Suicide Girls to this century what Hugh Hefner was to the last? That is, are they taking female sexuality to new boundaries and audiences, smashing through barricades of prudishness with every drop of a bra? Aw, we don't know. We'd be lying if we told you we didn't dig the sexy goings-on - R-rated, we'd say - of these tattooed love gals when they perform, which they are doing once again at the Middle East Downstairs Oct. 18. Legend has it the SG started as a two-person operation out of a Portland, Ore. loft in 2001. In five years suicidegirls.com gets five million visitors a month, and probably makes money we can only dream of. They've got a rather provocative hardcover book out there we've perused a few times. They've got a community of girls that includes over 1000 models - and they're not specimens of standard skin mag beauty. Nope, real girls who are real sexy. In performance, their shtick does sometimes get, well, shticky but we've never walked away without a smile. (Once, we got a pair of Suicide Girls panties for our betrothed.) Now, not only do you get the best-known of the modern burlesque troupes on this bill, you get ace local alt-rock band Read Yellow and all-female Japanese trio Tsu Shi Ma Ma Re, who toured with the Girls before. Starts at 9 p.m. Tickets: $15

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 mideastclub.com

Sat., Oct. 14

The Dogmatics story was relatively brief: A rootsy, snotty, working-class Boston band that made two fine albums for Homestead and abruptly halted when bassist Paul O'Halloran was killed in a motorcycle accident. That was just about two decades ago. The surviving Dogmatics get together sporadically for benefits and the like and they're doing so Saturday Oct. 14 at the Middle East Downstairs, hoping to raise some bucks to restore Paul's bass. Two other O'Halloran brothers will take over Paul's role, and there's even an O'Halloran (a younger one) in the headlining Darkbuster. Also on this bill: Last Stand, the Raging Teens, Dragsville, USA, Heap and New Frustrations. Starts at 8 p.m. and costs $12,

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 mideastclub.com

Oct. 14

Mike McColgan, singer-lyricist for Street Dogs, says "The only thing I'm expert at is ordering a cup of coffee in the morning." He may be underselling himself. McColgan, who originally sang for Dropkick Murphys, grew up in Dorchester, was a union man and fought in the first Gulf War. He served as part of an artillery crew in Iraq during Desert Storm and Shield, and what he saw shows up in song on the Dogs' third album, "Fading American Dream."
"Coming home from the war, watching politics evolve," he says, "I started to read between the lines and see things with more clarity, have some healthy mistrust. We get letters from soliders saying 'thanks' and having genuine empathy. ... I'm anti-war/pro-soldier." "Fading American Dream," McColgan says, is,"In large part,a warning. I feel common working class people and even kids getting out of college, (feel that) things are a lot more difficult. People are pissed. The middle class has shrunk. The gap between rich and poor is more wide than it's ever been, the country's in more debt than ever before. I'ts not time to sing 'don't worry, be happy.' We're not doing it to jump on any wagon. It's where we're at. We sing what's in our hearts." Whole Wheat Bread  and the World/Inferno Friendship Society open. Doors are at 5 p.m. and tickets $15 for their show at Avalon Saturday Oct. 14 with the headlining Bouncing Souls.

Sat., Oct. 14

You know Mekons singer-guitarist Jon Langford as a talkative guy. Usually, that talk is in the form of banter with Mekons singer Sally Timms on stage. At the Museum of Fine Arts Remis Auditorium Saturday Oct. 14, Langford brings a stage show he's been trotting around the country to Boston. It's called "Jon Langford: The Executioner's Last  and it is, says Langford from Chicago, "a mix of music, activism and art." Langford swings from the left, so you won't mistake this as a Bush rally. The music will be played by one of Langford's offshoot groups, Ship & Pilot. He says the mix of music to the rest of it is about "50-50" - with some "songs chopped up." The spoken word part is more formal than what you might be used to from Langford; that is, it's scripted. Langford's artwork - he's been painting and sculpting for years, often returning to themes of outlaw rock or country heroes - will be projected on screen above the performance. Timms will be there and though Langford says their chat might not have the usual tart elements, "Sally doesn't let me get too comfortable or too full of myself." Tickets: $20
465 Hungtinton Ave., 617-267-9300 mfa.org

Fri., Oct. 13

" She's got girls/Girls all over the world/She's got men/Every now and then/But she can't make up her mind/I'm just here to fill her time/It's the only way she can unwind ... AC/DC, she's got some other woman as well as me!" Joan Jett didn't write that song - the British glam-rock band the Sweet did back in the mid-'70s - but it sure fits Jett like a glove. (Check out the video with Carmen Electra as an object of desire.) Jett's never actually come out of any closet as far as we know, but neither has she left her fans clueless as to her orientation. And, you won't find a woman more devoted to rock 'n' roll of a certain era - that aforementioned Sweet period - and more dedicated to keeping it alive through covers and her own rock 'n' roll. We caught her on the Warped tour this summer and had to smile in amazement. She looks the same as she has for years - slim, sexy, tough as nails - and she and the Blackhearts play rock 'n' roll with heart and balls. Her heyday - the days of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" - may be past, but Jett's got a vital present and future in clubland. And that's where she - with the Eagles of Death Metal and Valient Thorr opening - is Friday Oct. 13 in Boston. Jett and the Blackhearts play Avalon. Tickets: $25.  15 Lansdowne St., 617-262-2424 livenation.com