Singing of the papal smoke
Go! would like to express our condolences to the members of Ed in the Refridgerators, who claim they were ''narrowly defeated" in their attempt to become the next pope. An aging German became pontiff, not the rock band of high-schoolers Joe DeGeorge and Andrew MacLeay. If Ed in the Refridgerators' new album, ''Get Excommunicated!," is any indication, the group would have turned the papacy into one big global dance party. ''It has songs about the papacy, my brain, and my muscles," DeGeorge says cryptically, on the eve of playing a gravedigger in his high school's production of ''Hamlet," no less. Today at the Middle East Upstairs, Ed holds a CD release party. Harry and the Potters, DeGeorge's other band with his older brother, Paul, will play its songs about wizards, and Uncle Monsterface, helmed by local madman-turned-publicist Marty Allen, will entertain with its weird mix of rock tirades and snaggle-toothed sock puppets. It seems Ponies in the Surf, the local brother-sister duo of Camille and Alex McGregor, who are the next best thing to Belle & Sebastian, are the sanest act on the bill. It's an early show at 1 p.m. Tickets: $8. 472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278.
SOUNDS
COMEDY WELL DONE Back in the day (in 1965, to be exact), a comedy album amounted to Carol Channing getting tanked on mint juleps, stumbling onto a stage in a tony nightclub, and slurring her way through ''Makin' Whoopee." Was it funny? Absolutely. Crass? For sure. Cool enough to attract the 20-something hipsters? No way. Never would she have been peddled to an indie-rock crowd, but that's because Miss Channing wasn't making the oddball and slightly perverse observations of comedian Neil Hamburger. The alter ego of Gregg Turkington, Hamburger is the sad sack with an abysmal attitude and enough grease in his hair to rival the pizza parlor he lampoons on his latest album, ''Great Moments at Di Presa's Pizza House." The funnyman deadpans his way to Great Scott tonight, with the equally weirdo rock band Pleaseeasaur. The 21-plus show starts at 9 and tickets are $8. 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, 617-566-9014.
BITES
SAKE TO ME We have to agree with a well-respected colleague who is known for her delicate palette and her firm critiques: Sake is not our cup of kerosene, er, tea. Loads of people would tend to disagree with us, however, and in the spirit of democracy, we're happy to send you to Oga's Japanese Cuisine in Natick tomorrow, when the sushi restaurant will hold another of its popular sake dinners. Chef Toru Oga and his chefs will pair some of their exotic dishes, such as fried shrimp salad with gazpacho sauce, to a sake, such as miyanoyuki ginjyo. Or you could try the lobster and yam beer fritters, washed down with a Moon Rabbit sparkling sake. The seven-course brunch begins at 1 p.m. and costs $75; the nine-course dinner is being served at 6 p.m. and goes for $110. It's best to call ahead for reservations. 915 Worcester Road, Natick, 508-653-4338.
SIGHTS
KNEE JERK We'd need this entire column to explain director Guy Maddin's latest freak show of a film, ''Cowards Bend the Knee." Let's just say it involves hockey, a bordello-cum-abortion clinic, sawed-off hands, and femme fatales. Today's 1 p.m. screening is your last chance at the Museum of Fine Arts. $9, $8 for students, seniors, and members. 465 Huntington Ave., 617-369-3306.
ARCADE MIRE Go! was a little too young to ride the Atari wave, but that didn't preclude us from spending countless summer afternoons holed up in our bedroom with clammy hands clamped on the 
