This week in New Orleans nightlife: Ladyfest, Hell Yes Fest, Shell Beach benefit, Donavon Frankenreiter and more.

A weekend of benefits and festivals and a week that includes Social D, Steel Pulse and Dr. Dog among others.

Friday: Susan Cowsill, 10 p.m., Carrollton Station: Susan Cowsill will record a live album this night at the bar that has been her home venue in town. Also on Friday: Star and Micey, Gold and The Rush, Carolina Story, 10 p.m., Circle Bar; Mississippi Rail Company, Natalie Mae and Her Unturned Tricks, 10 p.m., Maple Leaf Bar

Saturday: Lisa Lampanelli, 8 p.m., Mahalia Jackson Theater: Lisa Lampanelli's comedy starts with a self-consciously crass discussion of race and sex and goes from there. (tickets) Also on Saturday: Save Shell Beach Benefit Concert with Kermit Ruffins, Glen David Andrews, Tommy Malone with John Vicacovich, The Wild Magnolias featuing Big Chief Bo Dollis, Jr and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and more, 8 p.m., The Howlin' Wolf (tickets)

Sunday: Donavon Frankenreiter, Andrew Duhon, 8 p.m., Tipitina's: The  friend of Jack Johnson shares his affection for a soft acoustic rock. (tickets) Also on Sunday: Magnetic Ear, 11 p.m., d.b.a.; Seryn, Foreign Fields, Kingston Springs, 10 p.m., Circle Bar

Monday: Steel Pulse, 8 p.m., House of Blues: The great British reggae band returns. (tickets) Also on Monday: Jon Cleary solo, 8 p.m., Chickie Wah Wah

Tuesday: Dr. Dog, Cotton Jones, 8 p.m., Tipitina's: The Philadelphia-based indie rock band tours in support of its recent Wild Race EP. (tickets)

Wednesday: Social Distortion, Lindi Ortega, The Biters, 8 p.m., House of Blues: The enduring SoCal punk band has become a hard, sometimes irrascible institution. (tickets)

Thursday: Michelle Shocked, 8 p.m., Chickie Wah Wah: Shocked has made New Orleans her home in the past, and the ambitious, eccentric folkie remains as unpredictable as ever. Also on Thursday: Blue Mountain, 6 p.m., Ogden Museum of Southern Art

OTHER STUFF

The New Movement's comedy festival Hell Yes Fest is underway and will continue through Saturday, as will Ladyfest. Their schedules of events, venues and performers are online.

On Saturday and Sunday, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation present the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival in Armstrong Park with wall-to-wall brass band performances each day topped by The Dirty Dozen Brass Band on Saturday and The Stooges Brass Band Sunday.  

On Sunday, the New Orleans Museum of Art will open a new show, "Lifesize" - a collection of pop and other "realistic" works of art by more than 50 artists.

All weekend long, the Homegrown Harvest Music and Arts Festival takes place at New Orleans Event and Film Studios (233 Newton St. in Algiers - formerly Mardi Gras World). The event has five stages and more than 100 area bands playing from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The emphasis is on emerging bands, and the net proceeds to go area non-profits.

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