ARTLESS: Writer/media personality Katherine Lanpher grills Paul Simon, who'll be shilling his compendium Lyrics: 1964-2008 -- sans Garfunkel -- at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. 7PM.
LES IS MORE: How hip do you have to be to earn the coveted title of Mr. Lower East Side? We imagine the annual pageant (which graces the Bowery Poetry Club this year) is not quite what it used to be back before they gave the Bowery a makeover, but it should still be good times, what with the evening-wear and swimsuit segments and the one-minute talent competition. 10PM.
SOUL MEN: When the Budos Band lumbers onstage, it's like a band of gypsies setting up camp. With anywhere from 11 to 13 members at a time, this afro-soul collective (their sound might best be described as 1970s blaxploitation-soundtrack funk) on the Bushwick-based Daptone label (home of the excellent Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings) tends to blow the roof off whatever venue it plays. Tonight, that'll be S.O.B.s. 9PM.
WHERE THE "WILD" THINGS ARE: Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style, the movie that forsaw hip-hop's impact on pretty much everything, turns 25 this year, with a rerelease (see it at Film Forum for a one-week run starting Friday) and an anniversary bash at Williamsburg's Danbro Studios, with a few of the genre's forefathers (like Busy Bee and Double Trouble, who were in the film) in attendance. 8PM.
