CONCERTS Indie kids the xx just won the coveted Mercury Prize—top honors for 
a new UK band. Not that we think they’ll care. It’s not very indie to care. They’ll just keep on playing hushed, ghostly tunes like “Crystalised,” a perfect song for a cavernous venue like the Paramount. Saturday, Paramount Theatre.

Modeselektor’s electronic beats create a hip-hop groove that has the likes of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke scratching to mix with them. After unleashing a techno storm on dance floors from Berlin to Mexico, the duo travels to Capitol Hill for the Decibel International Festival of Electronic Music, Visual Art, and New Media this weekend. Thursday-Sunday.

KEXP 90.3’s Shake the Shack Rockabilly Ball returns to Tractor Tavern, with Vince Mira, the Mercury Four, Frankie and the Pool Boys, Ruby Dee and the Snakehandler paying tribute to the grand tradition of boogie woogie. Thursday-Saturday.

VISUAL ART This Saturday is national Museum Day, thanks to Smithsonian magazine. So what? Means FREE entrance to nearly 40 Washington state museums, that’s what.

DANCE Pacific Northwest Ballet opens its new season on Friday with the company debut of an experimental Jerome Robbins-Philip Glass ballet and the return of sexy Petite Mort. Director’s Choice, Sept 24-Oct 3.

PARTY If you can’t make it to Leavenworth for its beers and brats, the next best thing is Fremont Oktoberfest, Friday through Sunday at Phinney Ave N and N 35th St. There’s live music all weekend, over 40 breweries are represented—including several from East and West Germany—and there’s even a Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest. I figure it’s the perfect remedy for my cold…right?

Last year’s Oktoberfest ad: