Karsh Kale performs with Realize (source)

Staying in town for the long weekend? Have a yen for some fine nightlife, do you? Right then. [UPDATED] Choice functions worth hitting up include:

Friday night:

-MC Abdominal's much-anticipated CD release at Supermarket. The highlight of the "big potential for all kinds of freestyle antics"of which DB scribbles may well be the powerful alfaia of Aline Morales, artistic director of Maracatu Nunca Antes and all-around show-stopping performer with them and in a number of other projects as well. Watch for more from her, and others in or linked to the Nunca Antes family, in the coming months.

- Brooklyn-based star producer, composer and DJ of Indo-electronic fusion Karsh Kale plays a special (and rare) Toronto show along with Gurpreet "The Tabla Guy" Chana's live collaboration with DJ Medicineman, and Bhangra and Bollywood from Besharam promoter and DJ Amita. All this takes place at Dragonfly on West Queen West for the Fifth Annual South Asian Music Festival, presented by Small World Music.

(Oh, there's more after this here jump. Click away, I dare ya.)

- A couple tastes of this year's LulaWorld, which wraps up this weekend: Apostle of Hustle and the Elizabeth Shepherd Trio at Lula, not to mention a promising earlier show by Vinicio Caposela ("Think: Italian Tom Waits") with Marc Ribot (himself a Waits collaborator).

- At Revival, Nufunk grooves with hometown boys God Made Me Funky's CD release, plus visiting Montrealers Kweku and The Movement and more.

- Courtesy of Roundtable and Needillworks Ent.: DJs Serious, Merciless, J-Tec and Dopey (who's spinning DVDs) "stand up for our our rights on the dancefloor" at Fallen Heroes, a kind of musical history lesson at the State Theatre. Giveaways all night are promised.

- Step Ball Hustle's wonderful mess at The Boat featuring Simple Pleasure live (from New Haven, Conn./NYC) and Put The Rifle Down.

Saturday night:

- Footprints shuffles awn an' awn at the Rivoli (upstairs). Get there early, hear?

-DJ Jackrabbit and friends fete the wonderful Amira for her birthday party Bunny Bash at Lot 16.

- The Gathering at Thymeless maintains: in this month's edition, CIUT host ("Morning Ride") Skabba G joins the vibe with DJ Chocolate and Patrick Roots and DJ/MC Naturalist. BYOP...ositivity.

- Speaking of CIUT, Modernboys Moderngirls, Cities in Dust and Pink Dead Whale band together for a fundraiser at the Silver Dollar to benefit that station. Hosted by Blissful Thunder, whose crew will provide your "special" giveaways. No doubt MBMG's new Edge of My Blade EP will be on sale, too.

-Cali mashup maestro DJ Z-Trip's visit at Revival for Make It Funky, along with funk band KC Roberts more.

-Stop Die Resuscitate with the Fuck Faces crew at Sneaky Dee's.

- It's another Pink Mafia affair, true, but how could I not mention the Lust For Kicks second edition of Twister Party? That's at 751 (Queen West), with NOW mag's Ben Boles DJing upstairs and Wildcat clawing up the basement. ("Wildcat ... Wiiiiiiiiiildcat." link)

- Fritz Helder and the Phantoms -- again? (Or rather, first?) Well, it's a full-on Drake takeover, milk.-style, with Ladytron on their DJ tour, Rory Them Finest, Lipstick Cherry and all the calcium-rich kids you love to love. AND Fritz's crew live. Dig.

Sunday night:

Besides Thunderpussy?

-There's Summer Magic, the Industry house-fest at the Docks, with John Acquaviva, DJ Heather and many others.

- Or for a minimal techno kind of a night, check out the "warm bass and psychedelic moving pictures" when DJs Mike Shannon, Adam Marshall and Fatima and a live set by JAP lay it down at Crosstown. More here from The Star's Ben Rayner.

- Then there are two big shows on the sizzling side of things to cap off the aforementioned Lula World 2007: Eliana Cuevas' bewitching songs in Spanish, Portuguese and English, and later, Redsan, the King of East African Dancehall brings, along with fellow star Blackrose, an array of performers together for some conscious, uplifting "coastal taarab sounds with hip hop overtones", with proceeds to benefit children in Northern Ugandan refugee camps.

Got a hot party tip for this weekend? Drop it (like it's ... well, you know ...) in the comments.