PERFORMANCES AN OPINIONATED GUIDE

THURSDAY

* The Curves (Charlie’s, 362 California St., Ventura, 648-6688) . Original rock ‘n’ roll, and they’re not even girls.

* Circus Life (Club Soda, 317 E. Main St., Ventura, 652-0100) . Original rock from Santa Barbara upstairs in Ventura. If you arrive real early, you could have a great chili burger at the nearby Top Hat.

* Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan (The Grill, 1279 Coast Village Road, Montecito, 969-5969) . Obscure and often hilarious blues chestnuts rescued and revived by these talented Santa Barbara musicians. It’s worth the drive alone to hear “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?”

* One Love Vibration (Long Bar, 111 State St., Santa Barbara, 564-1215) . Ras David and the boys do plenty of original rockin’ roots reggae in a Mexican restaurant.

* Pat, Fin & Greg (Alex’s Cantina, 633 State St., Santa Barbara, 966-0032) . Sixties flashback tunes featuring lots of Beatles songs by three guys who can really sing.

FRIDAY

* Dave Mason, The Brothers Figaro, Mosaic (Ventura Theatre, 26 S. Chestnut St., Ventura, 648-1888) . He’s a veteran rocker; they’re a couple of guys from the Valley who look like Eastern European immigrants, and Mosaic is a local folk rock band.

* Michael On Fire (The Ketch, 514 State St., Santa Barbara, 564-3231) . It’s the local meat market On Fire.

SATURDAY

* Snailface (Hussing’s Cantina, 3695 E. Harbor Blvd., Ventura, 656-0669) . An L. A. band with a funny name plays at the bar near the sewage treatment plant in the Ventura Marina, where you can smell the difference.

* The Curves (Charlie’s) . Yup, them again.

SUNDAY

* Matt Schulte & Bill Coffey (Charlie’s) . Matt used to be in the Crashing Plains and Bill is the lead singer of the Mudheads. Together, they’re a couple of folk singers who are about as good as it gets.

MONDAY

* The Pontiax (Alexander’s, 1050 Schooner Drive, Ventura, 658-2000). The best blues band around here is this week’s Blue Monday presentation, and now there’s no more Monday Night Football to get in the way.

* Michael On Fire (Joseppi’s, 434 State St., Santa Barbara, 962-5516) . Your last chance to hear these eclectic bluesy folk rockers (and buy a CD) before they head back to Wyoming.

* The Sleepwalkers (Felix’s Cantina, 525 State St., Santa Barbara, 962-1432) . They’ve got a new tape; they sound sort of like the Talking Heads meets the I-Rails; and they might be the best band in Santa Barbara.

WEDNESDAY

* Art Carnage (Charlie’s) . Maybe Ralph Krypton is the singer.

Yup, it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, and thus these listings are subject to capricious change. Your mom was right--call first.

--BILL LOCEY