Also this issue: Playing the Joker Deirdre Flint talks shop and loses her religion. -M.J. Fine The Sound and The Fury Matt Pond is naughty by nature (not 'cause he hates ya). -Patrick Rapa The Beatmaster Isn't it about time King Britt made a hip-hop album? -A.D. Amorosi The BellRays -Sam Adams Uri Caine's Goldberg Variations -Kyle Parker 20 Miles -Paul Burress Rainer Maria/ Mates of State -Patrick Rapa Beat Box -Ainé Ardron-Doley

March 13-19, 2003

musicpicks

Alô Brasil

Strict keepers of Lent, avert your eyes. Alô Brasil is holding what it terms a "post-Carnival dance party" to benefit Project Learn, a parent-cooperatively run K-8 school which predates charter schools by several decades. You name the Brazilian tradition -- from samba and bossa nova to the rarer (in these parts) batucada and maracatu -- and Alô Brasil will play it for you, along with modern fusions of reggae and funk. There is a strong emphasis on the percussion section, with some of the most distinguished players in the city among AB's members. Keyboard, guitar and plenty of vocals round out the sound. Expect to be drafted into raising your voice in the call-and-response that makes for a genuine carnival experience and, yes, those fabulous samba dancers wearing glitter eye shadow and little else will inspire you to join in the dancing as well.

Sat., March 15, 7:30 p.m., $20, Sedgwick Cultural Center, 7137 Germantown Ave., 215-438-3623.

—Mary Armstrong