Calendar for the week

thursday
february 19
AfterDark Concert Series: Are you beside yourself with the thought that very soon Seinfeld will no longer keep you glued to the tube on Thursday night? Here's an alternative: In an attempt to lure you to downtown midweek, the people at Bayfront Park (301 Biscayne Blvd.) created the AfterDark Concert Series. Tonight at 7:00, and every Thursday night through May 21, the intimate Tina Hills Pavilion (south end of the park) will host performances by bands, dancers, singers, and more. The organizers must be serious about this event: Not only have they arranged for Brickell-area restaurants (Deli Lane Cafe, Brickell Emporium, and others) to offer special prices on picnic food, they are also providing free parking from 6:15 to 9:00 p.m. (Biscayne Boulevard, from SE First to NE First streets). Blues band Iko-Iko kicks off the series. Admission is free. Call 358-7550. (NK)

Pete Hamill: Pete Hamilll is a puzzle. He retains the aura of the hard-drinking, tenacious journalist. Formerly both a columnist for and editor of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, he resigned from the latter last year after eight months on the job. He and owner Mortimer Zuckerman supposedly disagreed about Hamill's dedication to covering serious issues (read: not enough sensational celebrity gossip). Yet no matter how much he resists it, Hamill is a personality himself, his own life fodder for gossip columns. In the mid-Seventies he squired Jackie Onassis around town while he was still living with actress Shirley MacLaine. Most recently he has appeared in movies, playing a bit part alongside sexiest man alive George Clooney in One Fine Day. One thing Hamill has been consistent about is writing books. He has produced nine so far, including fiction and memoirs -- a couple of which have made the best-seller list. Books & Books welcomes him to Coral Gables Congregational Church (3010 DeSoto Blvd., Coral Gables) tonight at 8:00 to read from his latest novel, Snow in August, the story of an Irish Catholic boy growing up in late-Forties Brooklyn. Admission is free but tickets are required. Call 442-4408. (NK)

friday
february 20
Rising Stars Festival: Let some ultratalented high school and college students amaze you at this ten-day festival highlighting dance, music, theater, and the visual arts. Youngsters from the New World School of the Arts are the ascending stars here. An exhibition at Art-Center South Florida (1035 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) that runs through March 1 shows off the drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, and more done by the visual arts students. Tonight at 8:00 at the Colony Theater (1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) the theater rookies present the first of four performances of Neil Simon's musical Sweet Charity, the story of an impoverished but upbeat young woman searching for love. Other performances take place tomorrow at 2:00 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $40. (See next week's "Calendar Listings" for more events.) Call 237-7441. (NK)

The Mickee Faust Club: A takeoff on the squeaky-clean kids in the cast of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, the Mickee Faust Club would be enough to have given Walt Disney a hissy fit. (Well, some of the former Mouseketeers aren't that innocent any more: While on probation for shoplifting, Darlene Gillespie was recently arrested on five more charges, including perjury and securities and mail fraud.) Founded by Tallahassee comedian Terry Galloway, this club has a cast of 30 performers -- lawyers, accountants, ex-hookers, nurses, hairdressers, and others -- who are lead through a series of subversive comedic sketches and cabaret numbers (which they write themselves) by a giant, foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping rodent. In the Faustian version of The Honeymooners, Ralph and Alice Kramden are replaced by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Intrigued? Come along and sing the song and join their dysfunctional family. Miami-Dade Community College's Cultura del Lobo Series presents the club tonight at 8:00 at the Miami Beach Woman's Club (2401 Pine Tree Dr., Miami Beach). Tickets cost $15. Call 237-3010. (NK)

The Elixir of Love: Candy and flowers not enough to snag you a valentine this year? Perhaps you should have resorted to a love potion. It worked for the character Nemorino in Donizetti's comic opera. He purchases a potion from a charlatan in the hopes of winning the love of Adina, who is ready to marry another man. Guess what happens when she imbibes? We won't ruin it for you except to say that a certain quack becomes very rich. The Florida Grand Opera presents The Elixir of Love tonight at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Dade County Auditorium (2901 W. Flagler St.). All performances are in Italian with projected English subtitles. Tickets range from $18 to $125. Call 854-7890. (NK)