Night and Day

It may not be a golden jubilee — 62 years is a pretty nondescript span of time — but that doesn't make this anniversary of the 1945 nuclear blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki any less relevant. In an attempt to promote awareness about the horrors of nuclear weaponry, the Detroit Area Peace with Justice Network will show Robert Richter's documentary, "The Last Atomic Bomb," which follows survivor Sakue Shimohira's recollections as a 10-year-old girl. Anabel Dwyer, an attorney and nuclear policy expert, will be among the speakers at the event, and choral group Motoko and Friends will perform while wearing traditional Japanese summer kimonos. Beginning at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima, 13500 Coolidge Hwy., Oak Park; call 248-318-7678 for more info.

Thursday • 9
Gore Gore Girls
CHICKS, GUITARS AND CARS

Detroit's fave chick band released its latest, Get the Gore, this summer and will perform at, yes, the Henry Ford as part of the Rock Stars' Cars and Guitars exhibit. But after a decade of being, uh, "rock stars," what can be said about the fetching trio (or duo, or quintet) that hasn't already been said by us? They're wild, they're sexy, they're pretty fucking good, and they're playing at the Henry Ford Museum, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn; call 313-982-6001.

Friday-Sunday • 10-12
15th Annual Caribbean International Festival
ISLAND STRUT

From reggae to calypso to soca and zouk, the gamut of Caribbean styles ring out across Hart Plaza for the annual Caribbean International Festival. Just to name-check the headlining closing acts, there's steel drum and calypso music with Nite Flight on Friday (10:30 p.m.), soca on Saturday with Leon Coldero, Roger George and Code 868 Band (10:30 p.m.), and roots reggae with Culture (featuring vocalist Kenyatta Hill) on Sunday (10 p.m.). The music starts at noon each day with DJs mixing with live bands; Caribbean foods will be for sale, of course. And there's the sight to behold Saturday, the carnival parade, starting at 11 a.m., when audaciously costumed carnival ladies — virtually small parade floats in their regalia — sashay to island beats while heading down Jefferson, from Chene Park to Hart Plaza. More info at myccco.com.

Friday-Saturday • 10-11
Cass Tech Homecoming
SCHOOL SPIRIT

With an alum roster that includes Diana Ross, Lily Tomlin, Jack White, Alice Coltrane, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, NBA and NFL players, auto execs, Miss USAs, etc., the all-city Cass Tech has been Detroit's most renowned high school by far. The centennial of its founding in a long-razed downtown site is being celebrated with a call-out to reconnect alums and former faculty with a weekend of activities at the Detroit Historical Museum and at the new Cass Tech building (which is being transformed so each floor depicts a separate era of the school's past; sadly, the 1917-2005 school building was damaged in a blaze last week). The activities include a block party, school tours, a black-tie gala and a reception featuring Morris Day & the Time (what, where're Ross and White?). For information, see detroithistorical.org or call 888-815-4468.

Saturday • 11
War Machine
KISS THIS

It's a Kiss tribute band! In a fully made-up, bewigged and tongue-wagging mode, no less. War Machine, a Livonia-based group led by Gene Simmons impersonator Kenny Mann, will perform Kiss covers, of course, amid flashing lights and fog machines. Judging from recent Kiss tours, this has gotta be better than the real thing. At the Historic Wayne Theatre, 35164 Michigan Ave., Wayne; call 734-728-7469 or visit historicwaynetheatre.com for more info. Oh, and of note — the Historic Wayne Theatre, around since the 1920s, is struggling to keep its doors open. Do your part.

Saturday • 11
MONA Unplugged
OVERLOADED

Any given museum will hide away the majority of its collection, rotating the wall displays every few months. In a cluttered attempt to break from this norm and show the public what it's got, all the art that's stuffed in the museum's bowels — every mural, painting, panel and photograph — will be on display. At the Museum of New Art, 7 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; call 248-210-7560.

Sunday • 12
American Idols Live
CULTURAL ANTITHESES

American Idol has to suck. Bunch of starlets and what-not clamoring for 15 minutes for some dismal hope of celebrity. But ... some of them are good. Like, really good. This year's Melinda Doolittle inspired chills with her rendition of "My Funny Valentine." And we can't forget Flint's own Lakisha Jones, who wowed all the judges — not just drug-addled Paula Abdul — with her soul-shaking pipes. The top ten contestants of the madly popular show will perform at the Palace of Auburn Hills, 4 Championship Dr., Auburn Hills; call 248-377-0100.

Tuesday-Sunday • 14-19
Wayne County Fair
CARNIES!

Wayne County once encompassed the entire lower peninsula of Michigan, as well as portions of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Sure, the county's slightly smaller these days, and it's a stretch to describe much of Wayne as anything close to bucolic or agrarian, but the fair still attracts RV-loads of visitors from the tri-county area. It's wonderfully dated — livestock shows take place on several of the days, featuring swine, sheep, rabbit, llama and (pre-butchered) beef, to name a few. There are rides, games, foods, a doll dressing contest (yeah, that's quaint), singers and dancers, demolition derbies and a Mexican rodeo. A ride-all-day pass on Tuesday is only $2; every day afterward the fee is $12. Camping grounds are available. At the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Belleville, at exit 190 off of I-94; waynecountyfair.net

Ongoing
Southern Baptist Sissies
DECLOSETED

The Sissies are back! After a successful June run, the unabashedly over-the-top Ringwald Theatre is presenting Southern Baptist Sissies, a kind of bildungsroman about four young'uns accepting spirituality and flaming homosexuality. The show's irreverent, introspective and, of course, hilarious. Performances from Friday to Sunday are $15, the Monday shows are $10. Running from Aug. 10 to Aug. 27 at the Ringwald Theatre, 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; call 248-556-8581 for more information.

Meghana Keshavan is Metro Times listing editor. Send comments to mkeshavan@metrotimes.com