The Stranger

Celebrate this year's Genius Award winners—see page 21 to learn all about them—with music by Velella Velella and the Blow, Seattle's precision book cart drill team, a bevy of librarians, booze, and dancing. It all happens in the Central Library, which sparkles like a diamond and is a building built from, and filled with, genius. (Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, www.thestranger.com/genius. 9:30 pm, free, 21+.) by Brendan Kiley

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The Bridge Motel on Aurora is seedy and haunted, with syringes in the sheets, a stream of suspicious characters, and a history of murder. It's being torn down this month, the residents have moved out, but, for one night, it will become a playground for artists like Paul Rucker, PDL, Jack Daws, Implied Violence, dk pan, and over a dozen more. There will be food, installations, performances, music, and motel furniture in the parking lot, which will become the lounge. It's going to be weird and great. (Bridge Motel, 3650 Bridge Way N, www.motelmotelmotel.com, 5 pm–midnight, free.) by Brendan Kiley

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"An experiment in confined space," this edition of Ten Tiny Dances is co-curated by local dance treasure Crispin Spaeth, who invites fellow choreographers to create short works for a four-by-four-foot stage. The latest installment features the cream of the Seattle dance crop, including Paige Barnes, Dayna Hanson, locust, Wade Madsen, Juliet Waller Pruzan, and of course, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group. (Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave, 800-838-3006. 7:30 pm, $12 adv/$15 DOS, all ages w/21+ bar.) by David Schmader

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Tonight, Schoolyard Heroes celebrate the release of Abominations, their fantastically morbid and exciting third full-length record. The usually raucous Heroes will perform their songs acoustically, and they sound shockingly good that way. The record will be for sale ($8.99—cheap!) immediately following the set. When they did this for 2005's Fantastic Wounds, there was barely room left in the store, so show up early. (Sonic Boom Records, 2209 NW Market St, 297-2666. 11 pm, free, all ages.) by Megan Seling

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The name tells all. Shoot 'Em Up burrows so deeply into the shitty clichés of shitty action movies, it comes out the other end looking like parody. There's the leering Bad Guy, eventually undone by his own hubris. There's the mysterious and masculine Good Guy, who kills a dozen commandos while having sex with the prostitute with a heart of gold. There are the evil government plots and the car chases and the hilariously gruesome climax. Shoot 'Em Up is the last word in shoot-'em-ups. (See Movie Times for details.) by Brendan Kiley

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Two Gallants' devastating punk-folk-blues is like a nail gun: It rivets you to where you stand. It's viciously cathartic, and better with a friend and a beer to tear in. Adam Stephens writes lyrics like a Dust Bowl gutter poet and fingerpicks guitar like John Fahey; Tyson Vogel drums like a springtime rain shower, steady but unpredictable. The pair is one of the sharpest songwriting duos around. (Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611. 9 pm, $10 adv/$12 DOS, 21+.) by Jonathan Zwickel

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