Live!

Who: Martin Sexton and Erin McKeown When: 7:30 p.m. tonight What: "What I Like About Jew" WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday Where: The Birchmere, Alexandria

Rob Tannenbaum, left, and Sean Altman will perform such songs as "They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived, Let's Eat)" and "Today I Am a Man" in their revue "What I Like About Jew." (By Seth Kushner)

The Birchmere is presenting two distinctively different programs that offer Christmas and Hanukkah cheer.

Tonight will be the second night of a two-night stand for Martin Sexton, a singer-songwriter who traded his usual material for a set of traditional Christmas songs on his latest CD, "Camp Holiday." Anyone who has grown impatient with the crass commercialization of the season should check out this CD, recorded with tender simplicity and genuine fireside warmth in an Adirondack mountain cabin.

In addition to his way with words, Sexton is known for a soulful voice, which illuminates the quiet charm of classics such as "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and brings genial bounce to such spirited numbers as "Holly Jolly Christmas."

Although Sexton's show is not billed as a holiday event, his Web site ( http://www.martinsexton.com ) says he probably will perform material from "Camp Holiday," as well as from his own catalogue.

Be sure to arrive in time for opener Erin McKeown. Her talents as a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist have been showcased on four CDs, including this year's "We Will Become Like Birds."

On Monday night, the outrageous team of Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum will perform their revue "What I Like About Jew."

This bawdy cabaret with a wicked modern streak brings out the punster in headline writers. Last year's Washington Post review was headlined "The Oys Have It," and the New York Times greeted an earlier performance with "Jew to the World." Altman said he enjoyed when the two were dubbed "the Bart Simpsons of the Yeshiva."

Like Bart, these two are often assailed but never curtailed by the taste patrol or the politically correct. Some of their song titles, such as "They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived, Let's Eat)" or "Today I Am a Man," can be printed here, but some of their lyrics, such as those in "Hanukah With Monica" (yes, Lewinsky) or "Hot Jewish Chicks," can't be printed in a family newspaper.

As Tannenbaum, music editor of Blender magazine and frequent snarky contributor to VH1, tells it, "If we were to do a PG-rated version of our show, it would sound like this: 'Hello, thank you, good night!' " And yet, "Just about any subject can be funny if the joke is good and it's told well and with some degree of kindness."

He and Altman met when they were students at Brown University but only reconnected in recent years. Tannenbaum had written a song, "It's Good to Be a Jew at Christmas," that Altman invited him to sing at a holiday event at New York City's Bottom Line. They next collaborated on "Hanukah With Monica," which Altman admits was written "specifically with the intent of getting airplay to capitalize on the scandal." "What I Like About Jew" was written as a vehicle to perform the Monica song for a Christmas Eve show in 1999 and has grown into a mainstay of the New York City winter season.

Last January, Shout! Factory Records released "Now That Sounds Kosher," which included one of the duo's songs, along with material by Mel Brooks and Kinky Friedman, among others. An official "What I Like About You" CD, "Unorthodox," will be released this month. And that's when the pair may really hit the road. "I don't think we're rushing down to Mississippi, but other than that, we'll go to any city that's got Jews," Tannenbaum said in his typically wry manner.

Altman is confident that they'll find friends wherever they go. "I fully expect that when we go to the Midwest, we will pack the places because it will be the only game in town for Jews," he said.

-- MARIANNE MEYER

The Birchmere is at 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $27.50 for the Sexton show and $17.50 for "What I Like About Jew." For more information, call 703-549-7500 or visithttp://www.birchmere.com.