Flower Power

Mark Rothko's work is some of the most instantly recognisable of the Twentieth Century. And the problem with overexposure on the scale that Rothko has faced (along with the likes of Van Gogh, Picasso, Dalí and Monet) is that it is difficult to see the works afresh, to see them for themselves and not simply something that has appeared in print form in countless semi-trendy barn conversions up and down the land.

Well, this Winter, Tate Modern gives you an opportunity to see Rothko's work, as it were, for the first time. Paintings from the gallery's Rothko Room are on display alongside works from Japan for this the first major Rothko exhibition in the UK for over 20 years.

Second only to the Francis Bacon show at Tate Britain, this is probably the major exhibition of the Winter.

The gothic icon, darkwave pioneer and former Siouxsie and the Banshees singer plays a solo show at Koko tonight.

She released her first solo album 'MantaRay' last year, and her career is set for an Indian summer.

Enter Shikari play a special intimate show at the Underworld tonight, which sold out in milliseconds.

Those lucky enough to be in attendance will be blown away by these metal-rave gods.

Welsh playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein and director Terry Hands team up to bring this postmodern play-within-a-play to the Pleasance. It's an elegantly constructed ninety minutes about a company rehearsal, an elderly Holocaust survivor and a crisis in modern Bethlehem. Drawing parallels between the Holocaust and the current restrictions imposed on Palestinians by Israelis is contentious stuff, but by setting this part of the action up as a drama being rehearsed by some likeable young actors, most audiences have been intrigued by their ideas, rather than upset. That said, a fair few have found the multiple plot strands and different layers of unreality hindered the impact of the play.

An intriguing play about the bad tendencies in human nature, explored with an unusually light and sympathetic touch. Or as poet philosopher George Santayana would have it, 'Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it'.

Laughter In Odd Places is a monthly (ish!) club that was set up by quirky comics Terry Saunders and Tom Bell after they'd had enough of playing smelly little pub rooms full of noisy drunk people. So far, they've had comedy gigs in a record shop, a cafe, a library, a charity shop, a book shop, a heath, a museum, a gallery and even comedy reviewer Bruce Dessau's living room! In 2008 they even held a festival in the Museum of London with four stages and big names like Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Pappy's Fun Club taking part.

These FREE nights never fail to have interesting, quality line-ups and usually have limited space, so get in there early and e-mail them on liopping@googlemail.com to secure a place.

Steve Wold, aka Seasick Steve, plays his biggest Uk show to date tonight at the Albert Hall, as he celebrates his rapid rise on the back of 2006's slow-burning hit album 'Dog House Music'.

He's been a busking tramp, produced Modest Mouse and blown away the crowds at Glasto and on Later... With Jools Holland. A true blues rock journeyman.

America's a funny old place huh? It must be a dream for photographers like Christopher Morris.

Morris is perhaps best-known for his war photojournalism, but since 2000 he has set about recordinging the political peculiarities of his homeland. He has documented the travels of George W Bush for Time Magazine and covered the recent campaigns of both John McCain and Barrack Obama.

To coincide with the run up to the Presidential Election on 4th November, the results of both of Morris' projects are on display this month at HOST Gallery. Instead of the big 'iconic' shots however, these images focus on the smaller details that only an insider would know and see. Fascinating stuff.

'Half toff, half pikey'... all comic! Comedy favourite Ed Byrne brings a blisteringly funny show to Riverside Studios about marriage, class, the youth of today and anything else that strikes him as humorous. This show went down a storm in Edinburgh and received a string of 5-star reviews. Here Byrne demonstrates that he's lost none of the Irish charm and wit that first won him his Perrier nomination in 1998.

Concrete and Glass eh? It'd sure be pretty tough to build a city without those two little babies. To celebrate the East in all its ostensibly gritty glory, Concrete and Glass is a two-day festival of live music and arty happenings taking place across 18 music venues, a load of galleries and over 30 'alternative sites' - i.e. disused shops, warehouses and the like.

Although the East does seem to spend a lot of time celebrating itself these days, this actually looks good. The art's all organised by Flora Fairbairn and people like Mark Neville, Tony Gill, Gavin Turk, Chosil Kil and Liliane Lijn are all involved. So that's cool.

It's always interesting when a gallery allows an artist to totally transform the space - one wonders how they get it all back to normal afterwards. But that's neither here nor there.

What is both here and there (what?) is that Brazilian contemporary artist Rivane Neuenschwander has taken over the South London Gallery for a couple of months, and what she's done sounds great.

She's put in a new floor, which splits the gallery in two and whose supports also divide the lower half into different sections. There's loads of weird stuff going on too: a mini-mountain range made from all the dust produced by drilling holes in the walls, a rain-like audio piece, and a flickering spot of light caused by 1001 holes in a 16mm film.

What's great about Neuenschwander's work is that both process and outcome are generally given equal attention: so conceptually, it's pretty fascinating, and aesthetically, complex.

The Z-Shed returns for another session of sicko bass, this time in partnership with the Random Audio label. There's a live headline slot from unhinged rave cabaret collective Monster Zoku Onsomb, plus Rag & Bone's Kanji Kinetic, operating on the lunatic fringe of the bassline/niche sound. Also look out for Night Slugs resident L-Vis 1990, with his own electrified take on the 4x4 garage variant.

Stoke Newington may be the last place that comes to mind when you think of sludge metal, but turn over enough stones and you'll find Dethscalator - one of the scuzziest of the lot!

Sounding like an unholy pairing of Black Sabbath and Big Business they make music that Chaos Vs Cosmos described as "wuuurwuuurwuuuur CLANG! - Aaaaaaaaaagh!'

Check out all the dudes involved in this little project! Gavin Turk, Gordon Cheung, Lee Maelzer, Martin Creed, Will Tuck, Dallas Seitz... bloody Nora, should be ace! Art. Art. Art. Not actually at Carter Presents, but up the road in the Wenlock Building. A load of great artists and contemporary galleries (David Risley, Carter Presents, Seventeen, V22...) have gathered together to present a whole host of performance art, video stuff, tours, talks and assorted arty happenings.

Prologue is one of London's longest-standing and most popular club nights and one which has been recently rehoused in East Village. With music ranging from deep tech house to the funkier side - as well as plenty of classics - Prologue is continuously pushing the boundaries, developing the newest sounds and playing cutting edge styles. Past guests have included everyone from Prodigy and Dirty Vegas to Magda, think of a favourite DJ and they've probably played at Prologue.

What sets Prologue apart from other nights is their ability to get A list DJs to play alternative sets from their normal styles; think Fabio and Grooverider playing tech and funky house.

Tonight they've got Brighton house duo Prok and Fitch plus Joe le Groove and a DJ set from Bugz in the Attic.

Famed New York no wave pioneers Liquid Liquid are one of the most important bands of the post punk movement, being one of the first groups to combine the sparse angular rhythms of punk rock with heavy percussion taken from the city's then vibrant funk and disco scenes.

Reforming for a one off show tonight in celebration of Domino Record's Crystal Anniversary, this one should not be missed!

Good old London. For a minute it looked like nothing good was happening this October. Apart from the Turner Prize, Warhol at the Hayward, the opening of the Saatchi Gallery... OK there's loads of great stuff, but this looks like one of the best.

It's called 'Smoke' and it's taking place at Pump House Gallery in Wandsworth. (Is it just us or is South London super cool right now? New Cross, Peckham, Southwark...) Anyway, 'Smoke' is a kind of multimedia art/history/FUN collaborative exploration into, erm, smoke of course.

There's video-art, some installation stuff, photomontage from Peter Kennard and Cat Picton Phillipps, and Simon Patterson is throwing coloured smoke grenades around Battersea Park in a kind of re-visitation of 2000's Landskip.

Sunday can tend to be a bit of a lost day at the weekend, spent in bed, on the sofa or wasted away in the pub. Thankfully, Up The Creek comedy club is on hand once a week to get you out to the Sunday Special - a brilliant music, cabaret and comedy night, with a young, enthusiastic crowd, a house jazz band and a 'lucky dip' open spot for anyone wanting to try their luck at stand-up. This is one of our best London comedy clubs and well worth the trip down south.

For those of us who know The London Film Festival, who've experienced the magic of a night screening at Somerset House or in Trafalgar Square, it is an absolutely essential date on the calendar. For those of you who haven't been introduced yet this is the perfect year to get acquainted with one of the film world's oldest and best loved events.

This sounds absolutely brilliant! It's a two-day non-stop interview event taking place in Frank Gehry's funny chopped-up-Ikea-meets-Jenga Serpentine Pavilion.

It's kind of like a congress for writers, philosophers, artists, architects, scientists and academics to outline their thoughts on the world today and the direction in which we are or ought to be heading.

It's chock-a-block with top names, including (apparently) Yoko Ono, Brian Eno, Gilbert & George and novelist/theorist Tom McCarthy. Tickets may be pricey but this looks totally worth it.

The crew at the Deadly People agency (including a few ex-Modular Records types) are inviting their favourite artists and labels each to put together a 'perfect night out in London'.

This time its the turn of LCD Soundsystem and DFA Records main man James Murphy, who has enlisted LCD partner Pat Mahoney for their Special Disco Version DJ double act. There's also a collection of live acts from the label including Black Meteoric Star, the solo project from Gavin Russom of Delia & Gavin fame.

North West Comedian of the Year 2006, Jason Mansford embarks on his first, eagerly anticipated live national tour. The charismatic Mancunian is well known for his appearances on Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats when he replaced Dave Spikey as team captain and for performing the coveted spot on Live at The Apollo.

Expect good clean observational humour and anecdotes - like competition predecessor Peter Kay, Manford is a comedian that will appeal to a wide audience.

Arguably the greatest singer-songwriter of modern times, Leonard Cohen makes a stop at the O2 Arena as part of his World Tour 2008.