Tim Fite is funny, angry, subversive and brilliant, which relegates him to a slot as an opening act at the Troubadour

Hey, if you like live shows that give you a healthy dollop of the unexpected, then hie thee to (that's hifalutin speak for "get your @ss over to) the Troubadour on Wednesday for Tim Fite's show (he opens for Adam Green).

Fite's one of those guys who's hard to pigeonhole, though this serves as a good overview: The last time he played the Troub, a guy I know who writes for another local outlet who didn't know much about him (he was there for the headliner) allowed midway through his set, "Hey, he's f@%&in' great!"

Fite can do Americana with sleepy-eyed hayseeds like those Randy Newman essays with a whole lot more p!ssiness, but he also raps credibly, too (you can download for free his hip-hop album that crapped all over hip-hop culture, "Over the Counter Culture," which featured a pretty good anti-war song called "Camouflage" and an even better anti-posturing song called "Shot" and made a lot of Top-10 lists last year).

And in his live shows, he plays a kind of portly Mr. Rogers from hell, with a darkly comic multimedia show that's part bargain-basement Laurie Anderson and part Unibomber-manifesto-against-the-music-industry-and-other-things-too.

In his commercial albums, "Gone Ain't Gone" and this year's "Fair Ain't Fair," Fite actually serves up a lot of catchy songs, such as "I Hope Yer Here," "No Good Here," "45 Remedies," "Big Mistake," "More Clothes" and "Sing Along," the last of which cheekily aspires to become a jingle in a TV commercial. But Fite's lyrics ensure he won't be appearing on a Clear Channel radio station anytime soon.

Fite's working out a lot of issues, both personally and socially, in his work. It's fascinating stuff. See him now, before he goes utterly crazy or utterly sane.

- Tim Fite: 9 p.m. Wednesday, Troubadour
(Adam Green, formerly of the Moldy Peaches, headlines). Advance tickets $15.