Hot Tickets: Obama, Eggers, Second City

Next Tuesday, you’ll have a crucial decision to make: Barack Obama or Dave Eggers. On Oct. 7, you could (a) head to the Music Hall of Williamsburg for the super-deluxe Barack Rock Benefit featuring six musicians and six comedians—all “hyping the hope.” There’ll be Andrew Bird, The Fiery Furnaces and Guster, on the one hand, and NYC comedians extraordinaire Eugene Mirman and John Roberts, and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, on the other. Or you could (b) make your way to Town Hall for the annual Revenge of the Bookeaters—a benefit for Dave Eggers’ 826NYC, which, along with other chapters in San Fran, Seattle, and Chicago, works with kids to improve their writing skills. (You’ll recognize Eggers’ hand in the nonprofit’s baroquely ironic Park Slope façade.) Guests include Ira Glass, Paul Simon, Patricia Clarkson and Jonathan Franzen (whose new play will be read by Parker Posey and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe). The Daily Show’s resident Brit, John Oliver, hosts the festivities. Tickets for Barack and Eggers' benefits are on sale now. Tickets to their upcoming televised debate to be available shortly.

There’s more comedy to be had this weekend, though you won’t be able to write the $15 ticket charge off as a donation. Chicago’s nearly 50-year-old comedy troupe Second City—the same company responsible for schooling some of the greatest comedians of our era (Bill Murray, Gilda Radnor, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert)—is coming to the Highline Ballroom on Sunday, Oct. 5. See the next generation of comics before Lorne Michaels sucks ’em dry on SNL. [On sale now]

We can’t tell you why tickets are so cheap or guarantee there isn’t some catch (like a surprise two-hour performance by this guy), but it would be criminal of us not to mention Mission of Burma’s $5 (!!) show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg this month. On Oct. 23, Rhapsody Rocks NYC presents the legendary Boston art-punks alongside Memphis wonder-kid Jay Reatard, the inimitable King Khan, and The Dutchess & The Duke. Maybe it’s the show’s corporate sponsorship or the fact that it takes place during CMJ '08 (which runs from the 21st to the 25th)—who knows why the darn thing only costs $5. But we’re not complaining. [On sale: Friday, Oct. 3 at noon]

We knew rock ’n’ roll was a young person’s pursuit, but this is a little ridiculous. Jason Robert Brown, the Tony Award-winner behind the new, much talked-about musical “13,” employs no one over the age of 18 for the show’s live rock ensemble. Since the musical relates the trials and tribulations of a teenager forced to move to Indiana from Manhattan and features a cast far below drinking age, Brown told the Times he wanted to be sure his score wasn’t performed “by a bunch of union guys in their 40s who all had to get home on the train.” Ugh, “the train”?! Who rides that?

Brown’s teen wonders bring the house down at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theater beginning Sunday, Oct. 5. The show is currently in previews. [On sale now]