BONNIE RAITT--This is the third time this semester that Bonnie Raitt has appeared in these listings. I offer three excuses: her talent, the lack of alternatives this weekend, and the new club her act is opening this week. Harvard Square music lovers have grown accustomed to trekking into Boston to be ripped off at large music halls on those weekends when Passim could not satisfy their appetities. Perhaps the drought has ended. The Performance Center on the third floor of The Garage, an interesting complex of shops and miscellaneous enterprises on Boylston St., promises some fine music at relatively reasonable prices. Raitt is playing two shows each night through Sunday, offering her usual skillful guitar playing, one of the best white blues and folk voices around, and a repertoire of songs ranging from the hard-assed to the poignant. After Christmas, Loudon Wainwright III, a powerful and unusually inventive singer and songwriter, will take over through New Year's.

BRIEFLY--Guitarist and singer of velvet soul George Benson will be at Jazz Workshop this week. There will be soul next door, too, with the Persuasions playing Paul's Mall...Boston's big-name concert this week will be the New York Dolls playing the Orpheum. Never having heard them, I hope they're better performers than whoever writes their press releases.

BONNIE RAITT--Through Sun. Dec. 23 at the Performance Center, The Garage, 8 and 10:30 p.m., $3 on weekdays, $3.50 on weekends.

GEORGE BENSON, THE PERSUASIONS--Call 267-1300 for information on Paul's Mall or Jazz Workshop.

THE NEW YORK DOLLS--Fri. Dec. 21 at the Orpheum, 8 p.m., $4-$6.