into a more modern breed of cowpunk." The Bad Livers, including Rubin, pictured cen- ter. and bandmates Danny Barnes and Bob Grant, appear tonight at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward, Detroit, above the Majestic. Doors open at 9. $8 advance/$9 door.(313) 833-POOL. Laugh, Laugh, Laugh One of the four going around the country, The Second City Touring Company returns to Oakland University's Varner Recital Hall 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12. Tickets available one hour before the performance outside Varner Recital Hall. $12 general admission/$10 seniors/$6 students. Call (810) 370-3013. John Heffron, sidekick to Q95.5's Danny Bonaduce, appears 8:30 Thursday, Sept. 18, and 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19 and 20, at the Mainstreet Comedy Showcase, 314 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor. $9. Call (313) 996-9080. Kaddish The Art Scene Artists Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, known for their provocative paintings of contemporary urban life, present a lecture that compares each artist's unique approach 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Lecture Hall of the DIA. Free with museum admis- sion. An exhibit of their work, "Contemporaries," runs at the new Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, 4841 Cass, on the Wayne State University Campus, Sept. 13-Nov. 26. (313) 577-2423. Native Detroiter Barbara Freedman, a watercolorist and teacher in Sun City, Ariz., exhibits her works through Oct. 4 at the Cary Gallery, 226 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. Call (248) 651- 3656. What Not Maureen Schiffman and her pup- pet Coco perform "Coco Helps Save the Environment." 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14. Independence Oaks Nature Center, 9501 Sashabaw, Clarkston. Call (248) 625-6473. Take a walking tour of seven beau- tiful homes during the Downtown Birmingham House Tour, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16. presented by the Birmingham Community House, where a tea will be held from 1:30-4 p.m. $20. Call (248) 594-6405. The primary fund-raiser for the Steppin' Out Foundation, the seventh Aids Walk Detroit takes place Sunday, Sept. 21, beginning at 10 a.m. Registration begins 9 ar m. at 6th and Main Street in downtown Royal Oak. Call (248) 399-WALK to register or volunteer. . Lonnie Mack Blues Traveler Born in Harrison, Ind., in 1941, Lonnie Mack, pictured, dropped out of school in the sixth grade, and soon after began recording with artists the likes of James Brown. By '63, Mack had his own hit, an instrumental cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis," and "Where There's a Will There's a Way" got extensive black radio airplay before DJs learned Mack was white. Don't miss this blues legend. 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14. $15. Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward, Ferndale. (248) 544-3030. Bad Livers "We didn't celebrate Christmas at my house. As the only visible Jewish fami- ly in Stillwater, Okla., it was always am awkward and depressing season for me. But I did like the carol `Good King Wencelas.' Being in a minor key, it sounds vaguely Yiddish, and hence I could relate," says Mark Rubin, the bass/tuba player of Bad Livers, a group, which says the New York Times, pushes traditional bluegrass "against Bad Livers modern boundaries Run On "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked ..." said Allen Ginsberg in Howl. The late visionary poet and cultural icon of the Beat generation is the subject of a one-hour documentary featuring interviews with friends and family, including the late William F. Burroughs. Said Burroughs of Ginsberg, "His father, Louie Ginsberg, thought I was some sort of decadent millionaire corrupting his son." Also included are Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Norman Mailer, Joan Baez, Ken Kesey and more. "The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg," presented by PBS's American Masters series, will be aired 10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, on WTVS-Channel 56. Run On "It's a short leap from the heavy metal of Ritchie Blackmore or Eddie Van Halen to the avant-garde experiments of Glenn Branca and Sonic Youth," explains Alan Licht, the feedback fiend who's emerged as one of the busiest guitarists in the New York City underground. With his band- mates in Run On — Katy Gentile (pictured on the left), a U-M grad who served as musical director at WCBN during her days in Ann Arbor), Rick Brown and Sue Garner — Licht, pictured second from right, combines a myriad of influences to combine the sounds of art-noise, country and classic rock. Here them perform songs from their new CD release No Way (Matadot at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, at Zoots, 4470 Judyism Allen Ginsberg Petite flower, the "Princess of Pop Culture," the founder of "Judyism" and more. Standup comic/actress Judy Tenuta bills herself as • a multimedia "bondage god- dess" in a world where Judy Tenuta all women should be worshipped as love goddesses and all men have an equal opportunity to be her furniture. The American Comedy Awards named her America's "Best Female Comedian," and Joan Rivers called her "the funniest woman in the world." Tenuta appears 8:30 and 10:30 Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19 and 20, with Keith Ruff at Chaplin's Comedy Club, 34244 Groesbeck, Clinton Township. $15. (810) 792- 1902.