Sat. Feb. 2

Tradition. Gotta love 'em. Some of 'em. Mardi Gras is one we do and even though we're far from the hub of the action, we do our part to party. And for the fifteenth year running, Shaun & Suzi's Mardi Gras Ball will turn a Boston area club into a New Orleans house party. This year it's T.T. the Bear's Place in Central Square. Shaun Wolf Wortis (Gato Malo, ex-Slide) and Suzi Lee (ex-Slide), promise to lead a sprawling band - the Vudu Krewe All-Star Mardi Gras Band - through a high-energy set of old New Orleans rhythm & blues music, jazz-era torch songs, and sing-along "Mardi Gras Indian" romps. The Vudu Krewe All-Star Mardi Gras Band will include John Powhida (Rudds), Peter Moore (Count Zero), Holly Brewer (HUMANWINE), Chris Mascara, Jordan Valentine (World's Greatest Sinners), Courtney Naliboff and Bo Barringer. There will be the classic New Orleans party songs, but Wortis and Lee also mine a rich seventy years of Lousiana pop music for obscure nuggets. Indeed, regulars of Shaun & Suzi's Annual Mardi Gras Balls may the only folks outside of the Crescent City to now be thoroughly familiar with Oliver Morgan's "Who Shot the La La," The Lollipops "I Got Loaded" or the Pelicans' "Drunk Drunk Drunk". For the show, they'll be joined by Corn Mo & .357 Lover, and the Jelly Rollers, with burlesque by Boston Babydolls. And event's a benefit for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. Tickets: $12. Starts at 9.

10 Brookline St. Cambridge, 617-492-0082 www.ttthebears.com