Regional arts and entertainment events

Sunday

Noise rock The Nashville trio Cactus's eschews the country sound of their base camp, instead diving headlong into a revved, raging roil of sound. They play on a four-band bill at 8 p.m. at the Khyber, 56 S. Second St. Tickets are $8. Call 215-238-5888.

Monday

The wanderers For her mixed-media tableaux depicting the experiences of the Israelites, Zoë Cohen studied ancient iconography and nomad belief systems. An exhibit of her work, What Was Our Vision: Sixteen Scenes from Wandering in the Desert, is at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St., to Aug. 16. Admission is free. Call 215-627-6747.

Coen fest Over a quarter of a century, brother filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have created a distinctive body of work to rival the previous Hollywood auteurs - for example, say, Preston Sturges or Howard Hawks - whose work they admire. The Sturges element is evident in their 1994 comedy The Hudsucker Proxy, in which an evil corporate villain elevates a dim-bulb would-be inventor to figurehead CEO as part of a stock scam, only to see his plot unraveled by a sharp gal reporter and his patsy's dumb luck. The film screens at 7 p.m. at the County Theater, 20 E. State St., Doylestown. Tickets are $8.75. Call 215-345-6789. The film also screens at the Ambler Theater, 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler, at 7 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $8.50. Call 215-345-7855. Also at the Ambler Theater, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, is The Big Lebowksi, the Coen Brothers' masterful mash of Hawksian noir and 1960s counterculture, which has moved from cult film to cultural treasure. Always remember - "The Dude abides."

Tuesday

Art of the twang Jangle-pop genius Chris Isaak plays his reverb-drenched downbeat gems at 7:30 p.m. at the Keswick Theatre, Easton Road and Keswick Avenue, Glenside. Tickets are $49.50 and $60. Call 215-572-7650.

Art of the song As a singer with roots on the stage (Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde) and in pop (Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Rob Evans dreamed of putting both worlds together in one concert. The result is The Rock Tenor, in which Evans performs works ranging from Puccini to the Police, from Lennon and McCartney to Mozart, from Sondheim to Steinman. The show goes on at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., and continues on a Wednesday-through-

Sunday schedule to Aug. 23. Tickets are $25 to $40. Call 215-546-7824.

Wednesday

Lyrical life For his new book, Once Upon a Time at Blanche's, poet Allen Hoey created a series of narratives set in a rural bar in New York's North Country in the 1970s, weaving vignettes of tragedy and triumph in poems about pregnant cows, unruly septic tanks, and the stillness of a snowbound house. He reads at 7 p.m. at the Newtown Library Company, 114 Centre Ave., Newtown. Admission is free. Call 215-968-7659.

Man and beast Charles Laughton made his U.S. debut as a star in Erle C. Kenton's 1932 horror film Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of H.G. Wells' tale of a megalomaniacal scientist surgically enhancing animals into people, with Bela Lugosi as the creation-in-chief ("Are we not men?"). The Secret Cinema screens the film at 7 p.m. at the American Philosophical Society Museum, 104 S. Fifth Street. Admission is free. Call 215-440-3442

Thursday

Indian soul When acclaimed Sufi singer Kailash Kher teamed with the more pop-oriented Naresh and Paresh Kamath to form the group Kailasa, the result was a totally satisfying mix of Kher's emotional, bell-clear vocals and the Mumbai brothers' rock craftsmanship. They play at 7:30 p.m. at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets are $20. Call 215-893-1999.

Friday & Saturday

Visiting the neighbors Conductor Danail Rachev leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in a program featuring mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, 20th Street and Sedgley Avenue, at 7 p.m. Friday. Admission is free. Call 215-893-1988.

Second generation Her father is playing a three-night double bill with Elton John at Citizens Bank Park Thursday though Saturday, so it's unlikely he'll make an appearance. But that's all right - Alexa Ray Joel is way more than Billy's daughter. She'll play her soulful, accomplished, tough-minded pop at the Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $12. Call 215- 928-0978.

Local hero Onetime Philly-based singer JD Walter uses his voice as an instrument in his interpretations of pop and jazz standards and originals, adding electronic distortions and an idiosyncratic approach to scatting to create a new sound. He brings his adventurous style to Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20. Call 215-568-3131.