A+E

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• Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom plays the Arcata Playhouse at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26.

Allison Miller is one of the best working drummers in the biz today. As well as being a popular hired gun for touring jazz and folk acts, she is an extremely deft composer in one of my favorite branches of the modern jazz experience: namely, accomplished musicians who are genuinely fun to listen to. Her sextet Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom heads to the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 8 p.m. in support of its latest release Glitter Wolf. The $15 door price — $10 if you are a student or senior — seems like a steal to me.

An hour later over at the Logger Bar, you can enjoy a proper bluegrass menagerie as members of the No Good Redwood Ramblers spilt up and square off into two separate acts for an evening of twangy, sharp pickin'. MicroGrass and The Kentucky Warblers each play a free one for the sheer love of the sport.

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• Zombie Ballet

North Coast Dance's annual Membership Gala and Zombie Ballet at Arkley Center for the Performing Arts is the place to be — undead or alive — Friday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m. for a spooky dance performance, costume parade, silent and live auction, spirits and hors d'oeuvre ($50, $15 children).

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See who and what haunts the cobbled streets and dark alleyways of Old Town during Spirits & Spirits — A Haunted History Tour, Friday, Oct. 26 from 6:15 to 9:15 p.m. ($40). Enjoy drinks, snacks and a cast of spooky characters on this 21 and older tour that starts and finishes at the (haunted) Inn at 2nd & C.

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Teach Me Equals are a duo from Olympia, Washington, that plays beat-laden dream-pop with an electric cello handling a fair part of the melody. They rolled through town last November for a hot set with The Myrrors at The Miniplex and tonight will be gracing the stage at The Jam at 9 p.m. (price TBA). Joining in the fun is ex-Cloud Nothings guitarist Joey Sprinkles, playing what I assume will be a raucous run of indie-flavored pop songs, as well as Arcata-by-way-of-Santa Cruz power trio The Apollo Era.

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• Cirque Mechanics

Cirque Mechanics is a traveling troupe of steampunk-ish circus acrobats who mix music, mechanical animals and daring aerial acts in a stunning show of modern performance art. The troupe will be performing its 42FT-Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels show at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts tonight at 7 p.m. for your viewing pleasure ($49, $29 children, $15 students).

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• Kung Fu plays Humbrews on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 9 p.m.

Nationally touring funk band Kung Fu plays Humbrews tonight at 9 p.m. Known for a sound that combines the mid 1970s aesthetics of jazz fusion with modern EDM, this group is generally feted on the jam circuit for its tight grooves and spontaneous shows. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door tonight so it isn't too steep of a price to find out what it's all about on the dance floor.

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• Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster.

It's really spooky out tonight. And by spooky I mean extinct. Ghoulishly dead on the scene. So instead of a show please allow me to suggest a couple of seasonally appropriate movies that tend to get overlooked but are actually quite worth your time. James Whale is perhaps best known as the openly gay director of the original Frankenstein film who tragically drowned himself in his own pool at the age of 67. However, he also made a wild gem with Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton in 1932 called The Old Dark House about an accidental evening spent in — well, where do you think? The atmosphere in this one is just fantastic and unparalleled.

If you want something thrilling and perfectly creepy, I must recommend The Exorcist III: Legion. Greatness often skips a generation and this sequel of a sequel is no exception. Keep an eye out for the most horrifying decapitation shocker ever set to 35 millimeters.

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• Cirque Mechanics

Swing out, sister. Center Arts presents Cirque Mechanics in a "jaw-dropping stage spectacular" for all ages featuring a galloping metal horse, strongmen, acrobats, aerialists and more. Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at Arkley Center for the Performing Arts ($29-$49).

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Down the rabbit hole you are invited to go at the Siren's Song tonight at 8 p.m. when a local bass-heavy electronic cadre takes the stage. Come join SnackieMFchan, DrinkingMoonlight, Badam and more with visual effects by VJWEEZYPAIN for a night of pure imagination. As of press time I have no idea what this show costs but I would bet the ticket is worth the value of the ride.

• Dreams

It's the eighth annual presentation of the live interpretive soundtrack of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams at The Sanctuary this evening at 7 p.m. One of the master's last films will be shown with eight different bands interpreting the sounds for the eight principle vignettes for a show which is guaranteed to be worth a gander. Featured groups include Die Geister Beschwören, The Tweeners, Medicine Baul, SamVega and mister moonbeam. Tickets are $12 or $10 advance and worth every penny, while having to remove one's shoes for the venue is a personal price weighed by the general public.

Later at The Alibi, Opossum Sun Trail interprets the songs of Bakersfield's own Merle Haggard at 11 p.m. and $3 buys entry into the live songbook of a troubled country troubadour.