E-Mail This Article to a Friend Braaaains! Rock & Shock weekend pairs zombie film veterans with the bands they've inspired, plus the return of Social D and more

Horror hotel

Combining two sanguinary constituencies with natural affinities, this year’s inaugural Rock & Shock weekend teams a horror-movie convention with a terror-metal festival. The event will bring together the actors and specialists behind films such as Day of the Dead, Re-Animator, and House of 1000 Corpses alongside a bunch of bands, from the Misfits to Insane Clown Posse, who’ve taken inspiration from them. The three-day fest takes place October 8 through 10, with the shock half of the equation at the Worcester Centrum, 50 Foster Street, and the rock next door at the Palladium, 261 Main Street, in Worcester. A three-day pass to both events is $99, though you can get tickets to rock and convention events separately, including the shows by Type O Negative and Amorphis on October 8 ($25, or $35 including horror-convention admission), the Misfits on October 9 (ditto), and ICP and Mushroomhead on October 10 ($32.50, or $45 with convention admission). Call (800) 477-6849, or visit www.rockandshock.com.

Social D’s return to Rock ’n’ Roll

The extremely long wait for the next Social Distortion album is nearly over — a couple of years after its original due date, Sex, Love, and Rock ’n’ Roll will hit shelves on September 28, eight years after the band’s stunning comeback disc, White Light, White Heat, White Trash (both Time Bomb), proved that one of SoCal’s longest-running punk acts was still one of its finest. Frontman Mike Ness has apparently gotten over his solo career, which produced a pair of respectable discs with a noticeably rootsier slant: the new disc is said to rip. In the run-up, Social D are releasing a new DVD, Live in Orange County (recorded during a 2003 tour, which, as we remember, wasn’t quite as hot as the one captured on 1998’s explosive Live at the Roxy), and re-releasing their definitive 1983 tour documentary, Another State of Mind. Meanwhile, Rancid bassist Matt Freeman has signed on for a tour that hits Avalon, 15 Lansdowne Street, in Boston, on October 22, with psychobillies Tiger Army and Boston punk heroes the Explosion opening. Tickets go on sale next Thursday, September 9, at noon; call (617) 931-2000.

From Russia with love I

Oh, the irony: among the first events to be presented by what’s now being called the Bank of America Celebrity Series is a gift from the former Soviet Union: the return of the storied Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra. The Bolshoi brings a pair of classics when it moves into the Wang Center next month: Raymonda (October 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m.), revered by aficionados for its its famous pas de deux; and Don Quixote (October 8 and 9 at 7:30, and October 10 at 3 p.m.), in the adaptation of the Cervantes novel created for the Bolshoi nearly 150 years ago by the great Marius Petipa. The Wang is at 270 Tremont Street, in the Theater District. Tickets are $45 to $92; call (800) 447-7400.

From Russia with love II

Boris Mikhailov has been likened to a Russian Diane Arbus. For more than three decades, his photography flouted Soviet protocols to chronicle unsanctioned views of life during the slow decline of Communism; in the aftermath of the Soviet state, he turned his lens on emerging social ills from homelessness to famine. The Institute of Contemporary Art unveils the first American retrospective of his work — over 500 photographs from nearly 30 series, taken over the course of 35 years — in an exhibit that opens September 22. " Boris Mikhailov: A Retrospective " runs through the end of the year, and Mikhailov will speak at the ICA on September 23 at 6:30 p.m. The ICA is at 955 Boylston Street, in Boston. Call (617) 266-5152.