These are the things I'd do

WEDNESDAY

PLAN A: "True Colors" @ Open Air Theatre. One of the best lineups of the year. Touring to remind us that gay people enjoy individual rights as much as straight people, elder campstress Cyndi Lauper headlines. She's joined by Brechtian punk-cabaret duo Dresden Dolls, plus fantastic blues-garage trio The Gossip. Plus-ooh, ooh!-Erasure! Erasure! Let Ticketmaster help you break those chains of love! Also on the bill: Deborah Harry, Margaret Cho (emcee), The Misshapes, The Cliks. www.truecolorstour.com. PLAN B: Pruitt Igoe, Mr. Tube & The Flying Objects @ Winston's. San Diego's Pruitt Igoe plays true alternative music-a spoken-word artist with an opera singer, electronics, guitar, flute, a little modern dance and some left-wing politics. Mr. Tube is big-band low-rider funk. MS/pruittigoe, MS/mrtube. PLAN C: Tierney Sutton @ Anthology. One of the world's best jazz vocalists-mellow, classy, supper-club piano-jazz. MS/tierneysutton. BACKUP PLAN: The Mooney Suzuki, The Photo Atlas, The Swedish Models @ The Casbah (MS/themooneysuzuki, MS/danceatlasdance, MS/theswedishmodels).

THURSDAY

PLAN A: "The Visual Underground" @ The Casbah. Along with the Museum of Contemporary Art's "Thursday Night Thing," this art-film-comedy-music event has become one of San Diego's "must-attend" monthly events. Pinback's Rob Crow plays, along with glammy locals The Truckee Brothers. MS/the visualunderground, MS/robcrowreally, MS/truckee brothers. PLAN B: Dusty Rhodes & The River Band @ House of Blues Side Stage. We'll be writing a lot about these guys this month as they start their Thursday-night residency at HOB Side. They're pretty fantastic-organ-based roots-pop, sort of like Of Montreal meets Gram Parsons. Great band. MS/dustyrhodes. PLAN C: Canvas: the Human @ San Diego Sports Club. Watch out for this jam band from New York-killer chops, a tenderly frail singer and a high acumen for pop hooks. MS/canvas thehuman. BACKUP PLAN: "Top 3 of S.D." @ The Epicentre.

FRIDAY

PLAN A: Battles, Ponytail @ Beauty Bar. Oh, man, this is some funky white-boy shit. Take the drummer from Helmet, the guitarist-keyboardist from Don Caballero and two other talented dudes and you get the beat-driven, pseudo-industrial oompah-loompa music on Battles' killer debut, Mirrored. The show of the week for underground music fans. Baltimore's Ponytail should be a spectacle-twitchy, piercing math-rock that emphasizes energy over comprehension. MS/battlestheband, MS/jreamteam. PLAN B: Sister Carol @ World Beat Center. One of the most successful women in the male-centric world of reggae-a beautiful voice and some righteous women-empowering lyrics. MS/sistercarol12. PLAN C: The Vision of a Dying World, Bunky, Red Feathers @ The Tower Bar. On any other night, this is PLAN A-the CD-release party for San Diego's Vision, who prove themselves one of the city's brightest young stars on the new album. With Bunky and Red Feathers, a solid bill. MS/thevisionofadyingworld, MS/bunky, MS/redfeathersblackgun. BACKUP PLAN: Grand Ole Party, Atoms, Power-Chords, Red Hearts @ Che Café (MS/grandoleparty, MS/atoms, MS/thepowerchords, MS/theredhearts).

SATURDAY

PLAN A: Beehive & The Barracudas, Hostile Combover @ The Tower Bar. Hot, trebly soul music from San Diego's Beehive, who boast one of the city's underground icons, Gar Wood (Fishwife, Tanner) along with The Red Aunts' Kerry Davis. Perfect venue for the band. Hostile is one of San Diego's best hardcore acts, brutality with actual melodies (harsh, strident melodies-but melodies). MS/thelongandshortofit. PLAN B: Qwel @ Honey Bee Hive. Qwel has been one of Chicago's better underground hip-hop MCs for a while now, a completely serious dude with a gentle voice who's known to make listeners think deep thoughts. MS/qwe1. PLAN C: Diablo Dimes @ San Diego County Fair. The mustachioed, old-western-saloon-looking Dimes is the perfect act for the fair-San Diego's best carnival barker by far. MS/diablodimes. BACKUP PLAN: Dynamite Walls, Get Back Loretta @ Beauty Bar (MS/thesedynamitewalls, MS/getbackloretta).

SUNDAY

PLAN A: The Cave Singers, Lightning Dust, Vanya James @ The Casbah. Best show for fans of indie-folk (Sufjan Stevens, Bright Eyes, etc.). The Cave Singers' wallowing folk music sounds even more inspired than bassist-vocalist Derek Fudesco's former band, Pretty Girls Make Graves. Lightning Dust is the very solid, Mazzy Star-ish project from two members of Black Mountain. And ex-San Diegan Vanya James never got her due locally (I'm partially to blame)-nice, dirgy blues-rock. MS/the cavesingers, MS/lightningdust, MS/vanjajames. PLAN B: Widespread Panic @ Viejas. See our feature on Page 31. MS/widespreadpanic. \

MONDAY

PLAN A: Sunn 0))), Weedeater, Wolves in the Throne Room @ The Casbah. It's a dark, droning night at The Casbah when L.A.'s satan-evoking ambient death-dirge label, Southern Lord, sends its finest. If names like Goatsnake and Mondo Generator mean anything to you, or if you like the sound of giant machines dying slow deaths, this is your night. MS/flightofthebehemoth, MS/weedeater, MS/wolvesinthethroneroom. PLAN B: Rat City Riot @ The Kensington Club. One of San Diego's better punk bands-a mix of old-school roots and a touch of Oy! singalongs. MS/ratcityriot.

TUESDAY

PLAN A: Transfer, Vitro, Apes of Wrath @ The Kensington Club. One of the best all-local bills in town this week. Transfer's new stuff is reportedly harder-but still epic, vaguely jam-rock. Vitro's one of our newest faves-dirty, bluesy garage rock along the lines of the Dirtbombs. Apes of Wrath is another strong new force-fake-Brit dance-punk. MS/transferband, MS/vitromusic, MS/apesofwrathmusic. PLAN B: Joan Armatrading, Elvis Perkins @ 4th & B. Perkins is our favorite on the bill-the N.Y.C. tender acoustic kid and son of actor Anthony Perkins. Armatrading's the one who sells the tickets-a talented Brit who was her country's first black, female folk success. MS/elvisperkins, MS/joanarmatrading. PLAN C: Stranger @ 'Canes. Plain and simple: Stranger is one of San Diego's best reggae bands. MS/strangerband.