The Stranger

Smoke Farm, about an hour's drive north of Seattle, is 360 acres of trees, fields, and streams and a few weathered buildings made of wood. Weird things happen up there: performance festivals, science seminars, late-night bonfires. This weekend is the inaugural "Burning Beast" festival wherein eight teams of excellent chefs—including Tamara Murphy of Brasa and Matt Dillon of Sitka and Spruce and the Corson Building—will cook beasts over wood fires: lambs, pigs, rabbits, goats, eels. You get to wander from fire to fire, eating and drinking, then fall asleep under the stars. (Smoke Farm, 12731 Smokes Road, Arlington, 800-838-3006. All day, $65. Camping is encouraged.) by Brendan Kiley

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

Werner Herzog's latest documentary explores the desolate and unforgiving terrain of Antarctica, but the film itself is full of life. Having set out to avoid making another penguin movie, Herzog focuses on the patchwork of interesting souls living among the ice—from the banker-turned-driver of "Ivan the Terra Bus" to the linguist living and working on a continent with no native languages. The stories are fascinating, the images startling, and the overall prognosis for the continent bleak. (See movie times, www.thestranger.com, for details.) by Bradley Steinbacher

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

A young and superhot Jack Nicholson, at the height of his acting powers, is maverick sailor Billy "Bad Ass" Budduski; a very young Randy Quaid, at the apex of his spazziness, is the virginal young sailor Budduski has to deliver to navy prison. The plot takes the sailors on a road trip to seedy 1970s diners, whorehouses, and bars to show the cracked-up Quaid one last good time before the brig, and the result is one of the best American films ever made. Darryl Ponicsan, who wrote the novel Detail is based on, will introduce the film. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 329-2629. 7:30 pm, $8.50.) by Paul Constant

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

"Gay disco" is about as redundant as "delicious pizza," but Havana's weekly Wednesday affair, Studio, has recently come out as "gay-ass." Not that this will change anything—the night's mix of classic, rare, and Italo disco consistently draws a cool, friendly crowd blessedly free of bridge-and-tunnelers. Conflict of interest: DJs TJ Gorton and HMA are regular Line Out contributors. Further conflict: Stranger music critic Michealangelo Matos DJs the happy hour immediately preceding. Can you stand one more? One of the DJs is sleeping with one of our editors. But one of the DJs always is. (Havana, 1010 E Pike St, 323-2822. Happy hour at 7 pm, free. Studio at 9 pm, $3, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

Charlie Chaplin's most ingenious sound film (originally conceived by Orson Welles) is black as pitch and funny as fuck. A Bluebeard tale set in the 1920s, Monsieur Verdoux follows the titular Parisian bigamist as he checks in on his rich, doomed wives scattered across the country, all the while plotting the murders of the most vulnerable among them. Interestingly, Verdoux is not merely evil; Chaplin makes him as authentically caring and sentimental as he is crass and avaricious. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 267-5380. 7 and 9:30 pm, $8.50.) by Annie Wagner

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

Performances by Implied Violence are confusing, thrilling spectacles—carefully choreographed explosions of words, weird props, live music, and goop. BarleyGirl is a distillation of 100 short plays written by IV founder Mandie O'Connell that simultaneously chronicles the inner world of its heroine and the American Civil War. Featuring live baby chickens, papier-mâché horses, an orchestra (with members of the Dead Science and Orkestar Zirkonium), 60 individually controlled sound domes pointed at the audience, and buckets of stage blood. You really shouldn't miss it. (A warehouse in South Lake Union, 801 Aloha St, 356-5948. 8 pm, $10–$20. Through Aug 2.) by Brendan Kiley

Link  |  Post Comment (0)