Sun. Sept. 30

All the world loves a circus. Well, maybe not all the world. Frankly, we've kind of had it up to hear with clowns and elephants doing things they wouldn't do in their own habitats. But we loved the Rolling Stones' "Rock and Roll Circus" - well, the tape of it we watched - and we like the idea of today's music-and-cutting-edge-circus programming. So, we're primed for "Sxip's Hour of Charm," presented by the tireless and adventurous Amanda Palmer, (in photo) the Dresden Dolls singer-pianist who has just been at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest and on stage in Boston, rocking out with Aberdeen City. (Oh, yeah, she's been recording in Nashville, with Ben Folds.) "Sxip's Hour of Charm" is not Palmer's creation - it has been a New York staple at Joe's Pub for a while - but she's helping to bring this mix of art, music and what-have-you to the A.R.T.'s Zero Arrow Theatre. (It'll be a club-like setting; yes, you may drink.) Palmer played opening weekend, but that's it for her as performer. For the final weekend - and the last show is Sun. Sept 30,  it's AJ Silver, the sexiest rope-spinning cowboy ever to come out of the Bronx, singer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Grogan and 
songwriter Dayna Kurtz, a genre-defying smoky alto singer/songwriter. Also, you get the sweet, sexy raunchy storytelling of Greg Walloch who uses his own cerebral palsy to challenge preconceptions of human disabilities with his hilarious and provocative comedic monologues; the return of Una Mimnagh performing knotted spinning falls on the single hung rope ("corde de lisse"); and Shirey's stories of quantum mechanics and red blood cells. Tonight's Sunday show is  at 8 p.m. Tickets: $25. Wanna read what Amanda has to say about it all? Click the "read more" button ....

Arrow St. and Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-547-8300 www.amprep.org

We asked Amanda what this was all about. "Sxip and I are from the same galaxy," she said. "From Planet ThrowAnArtParty and get everybody in the room intoxicated on visual and emotional stimulation.Our paths have been running closer and closer together since he came on tour and acted as Master of Ceremonies for the Dolls last year. This show basically came about when the ART asked me if I wanted to program a few weekends in the set used for 'The Onion Cellar.'. I knew I would be too slammed but I gavethem Sxip's number, knowing that we would probably book all of the same acts anyway. Indeed, the acts on the bill are part of a huge incestuous family: Jason Webley and I just finished producing a record together (the debut release by a pair of female conjoined twins called The Evelyn Sisters), Reggie Watts and Sxip have rocked out on stage often, Jonas Woolverton has toured twice with the Dolls and led our volunteer art Brigade, Reggie just spent the last two weeks in Scotland at the Fringe Festival beatboxing during my residency and had me guest at his late-night variety show....it all ties together endlessly. It's ALL ART ALL ONE ALL THE TIME!!! Boston needs a party like this godammit. I hope the ART doesn't price the drinks too high."