Welcome to a new year -- and a lingering holiday hangover. This first week of January is generally a time to hang around the homestead, but this Carolinas-like weather might have you scrambling for other things to do. Along with the two cover comics, there are a few concerts, a few literary events, some art and a bunch of movies. Not bad. Here's what's happening:

If your New Year's resolution was to read more but still get out, the Poets Corner has just the event for you: A Showcase of Pittsburgh Writers. Chuck Lanigan will read from his novel "Wilderness Salvation" and will be joined by actor Jeffrey Brandau for a wry look at Lewis and Clarke. Also reading are poets Anne Christianson, Mykie Reidy and Jennifer Schaupp. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary United Methodist Church on the North Side, following Soup Night, featuring light fare and $1 bowls of soup from 5:30 to 7:30. Admission is free; donations are accepted. Call 412-512-0589.

Making it up on the fly will be The High Street Players, a new improv comedy troupe, performing at Future Tenant, 801 Liberty Ave., Downtown. The Players are made up of Dean Focareta, Marianna Moraes, Dereck Walton, Taylor Funkhauser and Michael E. Moats. Tickets are $6; $3 students and seniors; $2 for South Park High School Drama Club Students. If you say "Michael Moats is delicious" when purchasing your ticket, you save a buck. You'll have to decide if that's worth it. It begins at 8:30 p.m.

If you ever find Bill Miller in your kitchen at a party, keep your eye on him -- the artist's preferred medium for painting is linoleum. The former Pittsburgher returns from Washington, D.C., to open "Vintage Linoleum Works" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Miller, who once scavenged through old mill sites as a founding member of the Pittsburgh Industrial Arts Co-op (of "Space Monkey" fame), is a connoisseur of old linoleum, which he varnishes and then fills with images ranging from landscapes to portraits to political assassinations. The result is a really cool stained glass effect. The opening is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. A $5 donation is suggested for nonmembers. Call 412-361-0873 or go to www.pittsburgharts.org.

Miller's exhibit can be paired with the First Friday Artwalk along Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside from 6 to 9 p.m. Gallerie Chiz is opening "A Trip ... Gilt without Guilt," a group show of about 40 artists working in a variety of media.

Radio host and author Thom Hartmann, who follows Lynn Cullen weekdays on WPTT (1360 AM), turns his attention to the shrinking middle class with his latest book, "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class, and What We Can Do About It." He will discuss and sign the book at 7 p.m. at Borders in Monroeville. See story, W-15.

This first weekend in January is a busy one in the movie theaters. Among the openings:

"Freedom Writers": Academy Award winner Hilary Swank plays a young idealistic teacher who defies her California school district by using maverick classroom techniques to reach underperforming black and Latino high school students.

"Children of Men": Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star in a thriller set in London in a time, one generation from now, when the world has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population.

"The Painted Veil": Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber appear in this story, based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, about a British couple who find love amid a cholera epidemic in 1925 China.

"Perfume": British actor Ben Whishaw stars, with support from Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood and Dustin Hoffman, in this tale of murder and obsession set in 18th-century France. Based on the novel by Patrick Suskind.

"Happily N'ever After": Animated, satirical retelling of Cinderella story, with the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sigourney Weaver.

Hot on the heels of the Cheetah Girls, Disney returns to the Mellon Arena, this time with "High School Musical: The Concert." This live concert production of the smash-hit TV movie features cast members Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens. Zac Efron, who is working on the movie version of the musical "Hairspray," is replaced by Drew Seeley, who co-wrote and sang "Get'cha Head in the Game." According to a recent review of the live show in Newsday. " 'High School Musical: The Concert' is all about volume and vapors, an enthusiastic, energetic and thoroughly manipulative bit of arena entertainment that's minus, despite the title, any story line whatsoever ... Because there is no plot, the 90-minute affair is essentially video/live clips of hot-button songs from the film, including 'Stick to the Status Quo' and 'Get'cha Head in the Game,' with an extra dollop of hyper added to the rousing finale, 'We're All in This Together.' " It begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $38.50-$58.50. 412-323-1919.

We have an Allman in our midst this weekend. Devon, son of Gregg, brings Devon Allman's Honeytribe to Moondog's at 9:30 p.m. The slide guitarist and singer, who didn't know his father until he was 15, plays in the vein of the Allman Brothers or the Black Crowes, as heard on the debut CD, "Torch." Allman recently told the Allentown Morning Call about his first experience on stage with the Allmans: "I saw how they touched their fans and how they got to share the energy and the music night after night. And the very final night of the tour they surprised me. They put me on the spot. They said, "We're going to bring out Gregg's son to sing.' I went out there. I was 17. There were 4,000 people in Miami, and I sang "Midnight Rider.' When I got done the applause was deafening, and I was like "This is it.' And it wasn't just because of the admiration. It was just the energy." Tickets are $10 to $12. Call 412-828-2040.

Emily Pinkerton, recently named one of Pittsburgh's top three acoustic artists in the City Paper's Best of 2006, is joined by singer-guitarist Marcia Moreno in a concert of work by legendary Chilean composer Violeta Parra and her daughter, Isabel, at Altar Bar in the Strip. Parra was a songwriter, folklorist, poet and visual artist who inspired the "Nueva Cancion" protest song movement that flourished in the years preceding the military coup of 1973. It begins at 6 p.m. Admission is $10.

Kill Hannah, a Chicago alt-rock band that's had some success with the single "Lips Like Morphine," heads a bill at Mr. Small's Theatre with Nashville glam punks The Pink Spiders (who were on the Warped Tour last summer), plus the Love Arcade and Action Reaction at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 to $14. Call 1-800-468-3401.

Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz and Cat in the Hat all grace the Byham stage in "Seussical," a musical adventure from TheatreworksUSA presented by the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater. It's recommended for kids ages 3 and up. The Sunday show is sold out, but you can try to catch one of the rest of the performances: 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gateway High School, Monroeville; 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11 at Pine-Richland High School; 7 p.m. Jan. 12 at Moon High School; and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Jan. 13 at Mt. Lebanon High School. Tickets are $9.50. Call 412-321-5520 or visit www.pghkids.org.

When you think of hip-hop, skiing generally doesn't come to mind (and vice versa). But Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia is discovering the connection this weekend during its SCION College Winter Break. On Thursday night, Biz Markie, the rapper who hit with "Just a Friend" in the '90s, headlines with DJ Zimmie and DJ Nugget. The DJs spin again on Friday, and then on Saturday, DJ Jazzy Jeff, who worked with Will Smith back in the day, is on the Mountain with MC Skillz. The shows begin at 10 p.m. For details, call 1-877-441-4FUN.