Matt & Kim House of Blues, October 19

Infectious pop, bright-eyed wonder and criminally catchy hooks have made Matt & Kim one of the best live acts to emerge out of the Aughties. The duo -- keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino -- feed off the energy of the crowd, and usually end up in some sort of sweaty, contorted position onstage by the end of the night. Their latest album, Lightning, is another pleasing set of quirky indie-pop that will slap the frown right off your ironically moustachioed face. CRAIG HLAVATY

Rich's Grand Reopening Rich's Nightclub, October 19

Beloved Midtown dance club Rich's -- which at 29 is actually old enough to legitimately be called a "disco" -- celebrates its grand re-opening under new management this whole weekend, and we're pretty sure they plan on doing it in style. On tap are seasoned trance DJ Matt Darey (Lost Tribe), with Houston's own Alex Godshalk and DJ Quosey, with Ian Almarez taking over afer hours. CHRIS GRAY

Skatestock Lee & Joe Jamail Skate Park (103 Sabine), October 20

Musicians, artists, and hundreds of local skateboarders come together Saturday for the second annual Skatestock to honor the late Morgan Moss, a Houston artist, photographer and active member of the local skateboard community. Besides an impressive lineup of local punk, rock, metal and DJs -- Something Fierce, Hell City Kings, Tax the Wolf, Herschel Berry & the Natives, Rivers, DJ Brother Roo, Ceeplus Bad Knives and more -- Rice University professor Adrian Lenardic will be conducting experiments on weightlessness and velocity, Brooklyn's Drive By Press will hold a printmaking demonstration, and photographer Lee Leal will bring some of his work from the pages of Thrasher and Juice magazines.

All donations go the Morgan Moss Foundation, and the afterparty at Fitzgerald's featuring legendary desert rockers the Meat Puppets is free for ages 21 and up. Skatestock is free all day long; more information at www.skatestock.wordpress.com. CHRIS GRAY

Norah Jones Bayou Music Center, October 20

Still not yet 35, Norah Jones has had a most interesting career. Daughter of sitar master Ravi Shankar, Jones was a star herself in the jazz program at Dallas's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (where Erykah Badu also went). After a spell at the University of North Texas, she came out of the Greenwich Village folk-jazz scene into near-instant stardom with Grammy-winning Blue Note debut Come Away With Me (2002), as low-key a blockbuster as ever was at nearly 20 million copies sold worldwide.

Since then she's done two sets of old-school country in side project the Little Willies, most recently For the Good Times, around several more albums of melancholy adult-oriented pop like this year's fine Little Broken Hearts. CHRIS GRAY

ZZ Top Constellation Field (Sugar Land), October 20

ZZ Top, that Little Ol' Band From Right Here, has just released La Futura, their first album of new material since 2003's Mescalero, after this past summer's Texicali EP whet our appetite for the band's mean and lean blues-rock growl once again. This is only ZZ's second true headlining gig in their hometown in years, after playing RodeoHouston earlier this year to a packed-ass Reliant Stadium crowd. With latter-day bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd. CRAIG HLAVATY

Lee Roy Parnell, Bonnie Bishop Dosey Doe Coffee, October 20

As 12-year-olds go, Bonnie Bishop had a pretty good reason for moving away from the Houston area: Her stepfather, former Texas A&M head football coach Jackie Sherrill, relocated the family to Starkville, Miss. to take the head job at Mississippi State University; he eventually took the Bulldogs to the 1999 Cotton Bowl. Bishop, a singer in her church choir in those days, wound up at UT-Austin (who actually beat Mississippi State in that game) and then pursued the musicians' path in Nashville.

Nowadays she belongs to a pretty elite circle of Music City songwriters -- she co-wrote "Not 'Cause I Wanted To" on Bonnie Raitt's recent Slipstream with Raitt herself -- including Al Anderson, Mike Reid and Lee Roy Parnell. The latter joins Bishop, touring behind her solo debut Free, Saturday at what should be a sweet Dosey Doe semi-homecoming. CHRIS GRAY

Borgore Stereo Live, October 20

Take a look at that poster for Borgore's "Bakery Tour" that stops at Stereo Live Saturday... it's delicious. The young Tel Aviv-based death-metal drummer turned DJ and producer, who brings an old-school rap swagger to dubstep's coarse glitches and swirls, is either a complete lout/typical 20-year-old or has a wicked sense of humor. Since his releases include the 2010 EP Borgore Ruined Dubstep and 2011 compilation The Filthiest Hits... So Far, we're guessing he just enjoys a good laugh. And as you can easily tell from his "Nympho" video and that poster we were telling you about, he sure does love the ladies. CHRIS GRAY

Red Hot Chili Peppers Toyota Center, October 20

Now all hovering around their early fifties -- save new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer -- the Red Hot Chili Peppers are modern-rock graybeards, the last vestiges of a bustling and profitable music scene in the late '80s and '90s. At this point the band can boast almost three generations of fans, the oldest of whom saw their hedonistic '80s cock-sockin' period. More still came aboard during their mature, introspective '90s heyday, and now a new generation only knows today's RHCP: ever-energetic, but with a keen eye on their mortality. They still remain somewhat synonymous with the frat set, but once you can get around that, their new material -- 2011's I'm With You wasn't bad -- pays off. CRAIG HLAVATY