Twice-Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom tonight continues local preview performances of her upcoming week of New York City gigs. She'll be at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency Hotel in Manhattan from Oct. 9 to 13. Here in the HNL, she's performing nightly at Michel's at The Colony Surf through Friday. Notable players accompanying Amy all week include Matt Catingub, Jeff Peterson, Steve Jones and David "Chino" Montero. Show starts at 9 p.m. Call 923-6552 for more information.

— Derek Paiva

FILM SCREENING

IT'S HIFF TIME! PLAN YOUR PICKS

The Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival is set for Oct. 18 to 28 in Honolulu, and that means it's time to start planning your calendar. More than 150 films are scheduled, including opening-night movie "Flight of the Red Balloon," starring Juliette Binoche, sections on American immigrant filmmakers, Taiwanese cinema and Korean documentaries. From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, the Hawaii State Art Museum hosts a free outdoor screening of film shorts from HIFF. At this event, you can sign up as a HIFF member and purchase pre-sale tickets for the fall film festival. Track films and order tickets online at http://hiff.org; tickets go on sale Oct. 12 for nonmembers.

FINAL WORD

"Most of the time when someone covers a classic, it makes you want to hear the original version instead. So I had to make some artistic changes to make them a little more me. That's the hard part: trying to make a record people would want to listen to without it sounding like remixes. The key to that really comes down to the emotion of it."

Babyface | on his new rock covers CD, "Playlist," in Billboard