The Spectrum's last month won't be all classic rock: Retro-soul man Maxwell, making a chart-topping comeback with BLACKsummers'night, comes in on Oct. 3. Septuagenarian bard Leonard Cohen plays the more intimately configured Spectrum Theater on Oct. 22, and the next night Philadelphia's blue-eyed soul-pop duo Hall & Oates plays a hometown show to celebrate the release of their 4-CD boxed set Do What You Want, Be Who You Are.
What follows are 20 events, 19 of which have nothing to do with the Spectrum. Not everything of note is here - jazz titan Sonny Rollins' show at the Kimmel Center on Sept. 25 didn't quite make the cut, nor did actor Ryan Gosling's Oct. 16 show at the First Unitarian Church with his band Dead Man's Bones. But there's plenty of pop to go around, so start marking up your calendars.
*
Perez Hilton Presents. Online gossip maven Perez Hilton has been sticking his nose in the music business for a few years now, whether bad-mouthing Lily Allen, squabbling with the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am at awards shows, or championing artists, some on his own music label. Hilton brings his first tour to Philadelphia tonight, highlighted by the divine Norwegian rock powerhouse Ida Maria. (At the TLA Sept. 13)
Kid Cudi/Wale. This pair of verbally gifted, new-school MCs, from urban centers without long histories of hip-hop heroism, finally move from mixtapes to official releases this fall. Cleveland's Kid Cudi, a Kanye West protege, will drop his Man on the Moon: The End of Day this month. Then, Washington's Wale - who earned justifiable praise with his Seinfeld-inspired Mixtape About Nothing, and will front the house band at the MTV Video Music Awards tonight - will loose Attention: Deficit. (Man on the Moon on sale Sept. 15, Attention: Deficit Oct. 20)
