Best Bets/Hot Tickets

Best Bets/Hot Tickets
FRIDAY
* Earth, Wind & amp; Fire and The Isley Brothers will be headliners of the Comedy Soul Festival at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh. Tickets are priced from $37 to $57 and available after 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster outlets.
* Resolve to call Ticketmaster in the morning if you want to attend these concerts: Uncle Kracker, 8 p.m. Oct. 29 at Odeon Concert Club, 1295 Old River Road, Cleveland; and Harry Connick Jr.'s "Harry for the Holidays" show at 8 p.m. Dec. 12 in Palace Theatre, 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
* Michael McDonald, Doobie Brothers vocalist turned soloist, will perform songs from his new album "Motown" at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in Palace Theatre, Cleveland. For tickets, which are $30 and $35, call Tickets.com.
* "Brilliant Traces," with elements of humor and drama, opens at 8 p.m. at Kent State University Trumbull Campus Theater, 4314 Mahoning Ave. N.W., Warren. Emily Mitchell Straight and Shannon Smith star as strangers who meet in a barn in Alaska and help each other sort out their emotions. Additional performances, 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Oct. 10-11. Reservations, (330) 847-8700.
SATURDAY
* The Original P will put the "fun" back into funk music when it performs at Edward W. Powers Auditorium, 260 W. Federal St., Youngstown. Opening the 8 p.m. show will be Zapp ("I Wanna Be Your Man"), from Dayton. Original P is a 15-piece band, featuring founding members Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, Calvin Simon and Ray Davis -- all veterans of The Parliaments, a 1960s doo-wop group, and Parliament/Funkadelic, the George Clinton-led group that gave us "One Nation Under a Groove" and "Flashlight." Tickets will be $40 at the door. Save from $5 to $13 by buying tickets now at Soundcheck/Geo's Music; Goldie's Florist; Partners Jazz & amp; Blues Lounge; or Rollers Restaurant.
* Order tickets now for a concert by Marc Broussard -- a singing guitarist with a soulful, R & amp;B sound -- at 8 p.m. Nov. 20 at Rosebud, 1650 Smallman St., Pittsburgh. Call Ticketmaster.
SUNDAY
* "Long Way" isn't just the title of the CD that country music singer Doug Stone released last fall, but an apt description of his return to concert stages. Stone will join headliner Billy "Crash" Craddock and opening acts Bobby Bare and Darnell Miller at Ponderosa Park, state Route 45 near Salem. Show time will be 2 p.m. Ticketmaster is selling tickets, which are $20 and $22. Stone first gained notice in 1990 with songs such as "I'd Be Better Off (In a Pine Box)," but a series of health problems kept him off the road for several years. Fans respect Stone for telling it how it is -- the heartaches, bad breaks, mistakes and romances -- in his melodies.
NEXT WEEK
* Husband-and-wife musicians Vince Gill and Amy Grant will team up for a "Simply Christmas" concert, featuring Henry Cho and Nashville Chamber Orchestra, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 in Cleveland State University Convocation Center. Ticket sales will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Ticketmaster outlets. Prices are $25.50 to $76.
* Buy tickets beginning Tuesday for these upcoming shows at Funny Farm Comedy Club in the Holiday Inn Metroplex, Liberty: Comedian-hypnotist Ricky Kalmon, 9:30 p.m. Nov. 14 and 8 and 10:15 p.m. Nov. 15; and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Tracy Morgan, 8 and 10:15 p.m. Nov. 21-22.
* "Nights of Cabiria" will be the first of a free, five-film series in Westminster College McKelvey Campus Center Theater in New Wilmington, Pa. Be there at 7 p.m. Tuesday to see this 1957 film, which was directed by Federico Fellini and won an Oscar for best foreign film. Fellini's wife, Guilietta Masina, stars as a prostitute with dreams of a better life. Call (724) 946-7030 for details.
* The musical "Singin' in the Rain" will launch Warren Civic Music Association's 63rd season at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in W.D. Packard Music Hall, 1704 Mahoning Ave. N.W. Gene Kelly danced in the movie version that everyone remembers. For this national tour, choreography is by Twyla Tharp, and the famous rain dance number remains intact. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children and students. Call (330) 841-2931 or (330) 399-4885.
* One minute, Gary Racan sounds like Smokey Robinson; the next, he's a ringer for Frankie Valli. Racan and a 10-piece band will perform at the "Rock N Roll Revue" next Thursday at Mountaineer Race Track & amp; Gaming Resort Grande Ballroom in Chester, W.Va. Tickets are $10. Buy them at Ticketmaster outlets.
AHEAD
* Santa Claus is comin' to Shaker Woods. The ninth annual Old-Fashioned Christmas in the Woods festival will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 11-12 and 18-19 at Shaker Woods, state Route 7 north of state Route 14, Columbiana. More than 200 crafters and artisans will display their holiday-season wares. Dual recorder player David Young of Hollywood, Calif., will perform both weekends. Musicians, cloggers and handbell choirs also will entertain. Admission is $6.
* Blind blues artist Little Buster -- along with Ayanna Hobson and the Soulbrothers, Hans Olson, J. Blues and Cleveland Fats -- will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 14 at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland. This will be a benefit for National Federation of the Blind, which provides a digital newspaper-reading service via telephone to the visually impaired. Ticket are $40. Call (216) 691-9166.