The Queers & The Ataris

With album and song titles like "Love Songs for the Retarded," "I Can't Stop Farting," "We'd Have a Riot Doing Heroin" and "Boobarella," The Queers sound like Beavis and Butthead if they ever decided to leave the couch and start a band. Punks are welcome to check the band out, along with The Ataris, Feb. 24 at Mac's Bar. The Queers released its latest pop-punk album Munki Brain back in February 2007, but announced via Facebook that a new album can be expected sometime in 2012. The Queers have steadily released albums and EPs since its 1982 formation in New Hampshire. Having been discovered by Vandals founder Joe Escalante in 1997, The Ataris have built a dedicated following from its constant touring and old-school DIY approach. The Ataris have released several cookie-cutter pop-punk albums over the years and are due to release its new album The Graveyard of the Atlantic any day now. The band's new material is a return to the End Is Forever sound and was recorded entirely on analog tape using vintage equipment. The Queers photo by Pat Schumacher

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

It was September 1974 in New York's meat-packing district when a group of men decided it would be a good idea to dress up in tutus and perform classical ballet. 38 years later and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (aka the Trocks) is still going strong, fiercely touring the world and performing for people like Prince Charles. This month, they perform at the Wharton Center. The Trocks perform classical ballet and some of their own original works, and they do it in drag. Combining technical skill with slapstick comedy, the Trocks are as elegant on their toes as any swan or princess, but to add some comedy to their dance they also embellish imperfections (cat fights, pitfalls, and sight gags are a common occurrence). All the dancers adopt their own ballet names, Velour Pilleaux and Katya Lukinatmeya to name a few. If you ever wondered what Andy Dick would look like as a ballerina look up Ida Nevasayneva's "Dying Swan" YouTube clip, or better yet buy a ticket to see the Trocks. RuPaul would approve. Photo: Sascha Vaughn

The Mid-Winter Singing Festival featuring Suzy Bogguss

For those of you who love to sing loudly no matter your talent level, Ten Pound Fiddle has got you covered. On Feb. 3, East Lansing's Hannah Center will host the 10th Mid-Winter Singing Festival, lead this time by country music star Suzy Bogguss, a Grammy and CMA Award winner. The festival provides a chance for people of any skill level to get together with other aspiring vocalists and sing classic American folk songs, as chosen by popular vote by the community. Lyric sheets are provided, as well as a band to play the music, all you need to do is show up ready to sing. After many years of Billboard success, Bogguss, now 55 years old, took a break from music starting in the mid-1990s to start a family. In 2001 she fired her career back up and continues to record and perform around the country, recently releasing the roots-driven American Folk Songbook album. Reported by Nicole Rico

The Addams Family
Wharton Center, East Lansing
Jan. 31-Feb. 5, show times at 1, 2, 6:30, 7:30 and 8 p.m.
$70-$30
whartoncenter.com, (517) 432-2000

Wednesday Addams has done the unthinkable — she's found herself a normal boyfriend. You may remember these characters from The Addams Family movies in the early ‘90s, others recall the television show from the mid-‘60s, and your grandparents might have read the cartoon strip by Charles Addams that began running in The New Yorker in 1938. With so many different mediums already conquered by the family, it makes sense that they should branch out into a Broadway musical, which hits the Wharton Center at the end of the month. As a macabre version of the American ideal family, the musical begins when the Addamses attend a family reunion in a graveyard (family members are either living, dead or undecided), but things become a bit sketchy when Uncle Fester realizes that Wednesday has invited her normal boyfriend and his respectable family over for dinner.