Quick! Don't let them find you! Escape from the throngs of Regatta-bound tourists to the Brattle Theater this Saturday and Sunday. Persona, the classic thriller, is likely to be more entertaining and perhaps even less frightening than the otherworldly masses of visitors you will leave outside. Saturday at 4 and 7:45 p.m. and Sunday at 3:40 and 8 p.m, 876-6837. $7.

Nothing cures a hangover like cotton candy, peanuts, and the smell of elephant shit. Relive your childhood days and head over to the FleetCenter for the "Greatest Show on Earth"--the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. Guaranteed hotties in spandex! With midterms coming, running away to the circus doesn't sound half bad. Friday 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 11:30 a.m.; 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 4:30 p.m. FleetCenter, Causeway St. (North Station T-Stop). 931-2000. $12.50 to $25.

Do the Backstreet Boys play games with your heart? What about 'N Sync--are they tearin' up your heart? Are you still hangin' tough with the NKOTB? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you need to (a) shut off "Dawson's Creek," finish the latest Sweet Valley High novel and get into therapy, and (b) book it over to Davis Square for the Beatlemania tribute. Celebrate the Fab Four that paved the way for all your fave guy groups, and pick up a CD your roommates can tolerate on the way. 8 p.m., Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, 931-2000. $16.50 to 18.50.

Want another excuse to party? It's the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among the attractions included in the World Day to Overcome World Poverty are music, cultural presentations and children, who are asked to bring a small stone with a note saying how they would end poverty. 2 to 3:30 p.m., Copley Square. FREE.

You always hear about college dropouts who did so well in life, but here's proof that someone with a Harvard degree can beat the odds and really make a name for himself. Joshua Redman '91 graduated summa cum laude and phi beta kappa and yet is still able to maintain his status as one of the top saxophonists in the world. Check out the Joshua Redman Quartet as they celebrate the release of their new CD, Timeless Tales. 8 p.m., Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., Boston, 876-7777. $29.50 to $24.50, $5 student discount.

Okay, so you killed a few too many brain cells last night. Make it up to yourself by helping out a good cause. Philips Brooks House Association's Chinatown Committee is holding a Chinatown Benefit Concert with performances by Albert Pan (cello), Andrew Park (piano) and Susan Koo (violin). The three will play works by Mendelssohn, Ravel, Beethoven and Brahms. It'll be one of the few things you do this weekend that you'll be able to tell your mom about. 8 p.m., Paine Hall. $5.

Once again you're in your dorm room trying to get some studying done on a Saturday night and you can't concentrate because that age-old question will not leave you alone. Your stressed brain throbs with the frustration of sleepless nights, your heart beats faster and faster and faster until you just can't take it anymore and you run out into the Yard and take off all of your clothes and scream "What Makes Black Music Black?!" To avoid this sort of embarrassing situation, the Cambridge Multicultural Arts and Dialogues on Race Series is endeavoring to answer the question with a series of more subdued events. A jazz concert featuring Don Braden, Cercie Miller, Dominique Eade, Ron Mahdi, Tim Ray and Ron Savage kicks off the program, followed by a reception showcasing the paintings of Robert Freeman and the photographs of David Herwaldt. The event culminates in a panel and community dialogue focused on responding to the central question. Concert, 5 to 6 p.m.; Reception, 6 to 7 p.m.; Panel and Community Dialogue, 7 to 9 p.m. 41 Second Street. 577-1400. Concert: $25 general admission, $20 students, seniors and members. Reception and Dialogue: FREE.

It's one day into Head of the Charles revelry and already you're bored. Two words: ROAD TRIP. Stop in the name of love and head over to the Diana Ross concert at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Relish the divadom of it all. 9 p.m., Foxwoods Resort and Casino (Take 1-95 south, Exit 92 for Route 2), Ledyard, CT. 800-200-2882. $60 to 100.

SUNDAY 18 OCTOBER

To make the most of your Head of the Charles experience, stay up all night and dance your hangover away the next morning at the Harvard Medical Area Ballroom Dance Club's weekly Sunday Swing at the Hub free-for-all. If you read last week's FM you know how much more of a hip cat you'll be if you go. Come on, everybody else is doing it. Don't worry if you wouldn't know a Lindy Hop from a Long Island Iced Tea--they offer free introductory lessons. 12 to 3 p.m., Copley Square, 445-4162. FREE.

After your weekly family phone call, prove to yourself your parents are wrong when they tell you you'll never get a real job with a Literature concentration. The Boston Globe Book Festival 1998 presents "Getting Published," a panel discussion and poetry reading. 3 p.m., Radd Lecture Hall, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St., Copley Square. FREE.

Lasers: cool. Music and lasers: cooler. Head to the Museum of Science and check out Laser Nirvana, featuring "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lithium," "Come As You Are," "Plateau" and more. Then stay for the next show, Laser Metallica, and experience such tunes as "Enter Sandman," "One" and "Master of Puppets" as you never have before. Nirvana, 8 p.m.; Metallica, 9:15 p.m., Museum of Science, Science Park, Boston, 723-2500. $7.50.

Tonight head to the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel to cultivate your taste for smooth sound as you attempt some serious networking with nostalgic graduates while their hearts are still warm from watching mother Harvard's crew teams take home the prize. The Joshua Redman Quartet will be playing along to your ass-kissing. 8 p.m., 1 Bennett St, 876-7777. Tickets $24.50 to $29.50.

The dining halls aren't serving hangover chicken this week, so pull on your Nikes and enjoy the walk to the East Coast Grill, the world-famous Inman Square eatery and home of Jeff's Latin Brunch. Renowned chef Chris Schlesinger will cook you up some tropical fruit pancakes, "Goodbye Hangover" gumbo hash with hell sausage, or oysters on the half shell, and then stick around to sign autographs and chat about his Food Network show. Small, friendly and painfully trendy, the East Coast Grill's reasonable prices and extraordinary fare will keep you away from Annenberg waffles forever. 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1277 Cambridge St., 266-6106. Entrees $7 to 12.

MONDAY 19 OCTOBER