Her phantom show that was scheduled and then wasn’t for July 3 may have disappointed Toronto, but Cat Power is making it up in spades with not one, but two shows at Lee’s Palace on September 4 to liven up your Labour Day long weekend and give you a reason not to go cottaging. Lee’s is less than half the size of the Danforth Music Hall where she was slated to play in July, so this will be a super-intimate affair – just Chan and you/me/us, no Memphis Rhythm Band. That last point is a bit of a shame but certainly doesn’t make this any less worthwhile.

So while there’s two shows, there’s only one date. It’s a double-header with one show slated for a 7:00 start, the other for 10:30, so the question is – which one to go to? The kid in me likes the idea of the late night, warmed-up and in-the-groove Chan, but the adult in me likes the early bedtime the early show would allow. Whichever you go for, get your tickets fast – they go on sale today, will cost you $22.50 and will surely gone lickety-split. Pitchfork has the full Fall Cat Power itinerary. Many of the dates are two-fers, either on successive nights or the same night like in Toronto.

September 8 will see Brooklyn electronica act Ratatat team up with Swedish whack-pop outfit Envelopes and Portland’s Panther – I don’t even know what to call them – at Lee’s Palace for a night of music that should be unique, if nothing else. I offered my thoughts on Envelopes’ Demon back in May and I just got a copy of Ratatat’s Classics, out August 22, and it’s strangely compelling.

Also Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce are at Lee’s October 17. BrooklynVegan has more tour dates and MP3s.

And note that Film School have dropped off the Serena Maneesh tour that would have brought them to Lee’s on September 13, and have also bid adieu to their rhythm section. But other than that they insist all is well and are working on their next album.

And while I’m talking shows, here’s something that’s NOT happening at Lee’s Palace. This Saturday night, August 12, a very solid and worthwhile benefit show goes down at the Kathedral (yes, the metal club at Queen and Bathurst). The Diableros, The Coast, In Support Of Living and These Electric Lives, among others, will play Music 4 Change, a concert in support of OXFAM. Tickets are $12.

Productshop NY has posted an acoustic radio session he did with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, including a new song – “The President’s Dead”. Yes! Weekly reviewed a solo Sheff show in North Carolina.

Prefix profiles one/two of the best independent labels in America today, the double-headed beast that is Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar.

CMJ would like to introduce you to a hip new band out of New York City – they’re called Sonic Youth and I think they’ll go far. The Globe & Mail offers a Sonic Youth guide to aging gracefully and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Kim Gordon. Having gone through my Sonic Youth photos yesterday, I can say that they may well have aged gracefully, but it’s still better not to look at them in bright daylight through a telephoto lens. Yikes.

Paste talks to Dallas and Travis Good of The Sadies about In Concert Volume One.

The AV Club, Glide and Billboard recount their respective Lollapalooza experiences.

np – The Mountain Goats / Get Lonely!