Music critics' picks

Earning a Grammy (best traditional folk album) on Sunday for "Dirt Farmer," plus a Grammy lifetime achievement award for his old group, the Band, was icing on the cake for Levon Helm. "It's amazing, just one miracle after another," he said afterwards. The raspy-voiced singer/drummer almost lost it all a few years ago to throat cancer. After lengthy treatments, he had to learn to speak and sing again. With encouragement from his daughter, Helm rebuilt his burned-out Woodstock, N.Y., studio and carved out his first album in 25 years, on the Arkansas country tunes he loved as a child. Sharing the bill: the urban based but country-folk mining historians of Ollabelle, and Philadelphia's eclectic, Band-inspired Dr. Dog.

Electric Factory, 7th and Willow streets, 8:30 tonight, $45, 215-336-2000, www.livenation.com.

- Jonathan Takiff

Philadelphia's a great town for indie rock and other envelope-pushing subgenres, but places to see non-schlocky rock without prefixes are few and far between. Joining Hell Under The El at the El Bar's punk-and-roll holdout is a new monthly at Tritone called Positively Sick On South Street, booked by the Jukebox Zeroes' Pete Santa Maria. This month's offerings include three loud locals: catchy Wipers-like power trio Dirty Tactics, the Springsteen-meets-Social Distortion anthems of the Filthy 42s, and Doomed To Obscurity, with rock scene veterans from Kitschchao, Mama Volume, Red Paint People and Grizzly Fiction.

Tritone, 1508 South St., 9 tonight, $6, 215-545-0475, www.myspace.com/positivelysickonsouthst.

- Sara Sherr

Few dancehall reggae stars shine as brightly or as consistently as Wayne Wonder (right), with his his effortless blend of harmonizing, rapping and traditional dancehall "chatting," or rhyming. Wonder has released an amazing 15 studio albums since his 1987 self-titled debut. He's sure to offer live renditions of cuts from his latest, 2007's "Foreva." Rising reggae musician Guardian will join Wonder, while Jamaican Dave hosts.

Pinnacle Nightclub, 720 Arch St., 10 tonight, 21+, $25, 215-413-7720.

- Damon C. Williams

For those of us whose attention to hair styling involves hoping the 150-year-old guy in the white coat doesn't give us a '50s buzz cut or that the 17-year-old beauty-school dropout doesn't nick an ear, the idea of getting live music, custom-blended coffee and all manner of perks and amenities along with our trim sounds positively alien. But Huntingdon Valley's Blue Hair Studio has provided an unlikely home for jazz musicians for a decade, featuring live musicians on weekends.

The stellar Afro-Cuban Elio Villafranca Quintet will help provide literal homes for Philadelphians in need as headliners of a benefit for the Ray of Hope Project, a nonprofit dedicated to rehabbing homes whose owners can't afford the repairs. Ray of Hope, co-founded in 2002 by Blue owner Willard Bostock and now-president Raymond Gant, has rehabbed more than 63 homes.

The quintet, led by former Philadelphian pianist Elio Villafranca, features legendary flutist Dave Valentin, bassist Charles Flores, drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and percussionist Juan Castellanos.

Blue Hair Studio, 2550 Huntingdon Pike, Huntingdon Valley, 8 p.m.-midnight tomorrow, $100, $600 (VIP table for four), $300 (VIP table for two), $50 artists/students, 215-947-2963, bluehairstudio.com.

- Shaun Brady

For many seasons, Charles Dutoit has led the Philadelphia Orchestra in some its most memorable programs. This weekend marks his first as the orchestra's Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, a post he'll hold for the next few seasons to help determine the next music director. He's chosen Debussy's quirky depiction of a tennis game, "Jeux," and the massive, scorching Sinfonietta of Janacek, a juggernaut to show off the radiant brass section. Dutoit's guest artist is the Romanian pianist Radu Lupu, who'll solo in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce streets, 8 tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday, plus 2 p.m. Sunday, $10-$113, 215-893-1999, www.philorch.org.

- Tom Di Nardo