The Stranger

It’s just barely still cold enough to take advantage of one of winter’s greatest food experiences—a big mug of creamy hot chocolate and a plate of cookies. And for that, you should head straight to Caffe Torino. The cookie selection is a dream. There is a Nutella cookie, a delicate smear of the chocolate hazelnut spread sandwiched between two of the most buttery, flaky cookies you’ve ever had. There’s a polenta cookie, which is golden and crispy and just slightly sweet. Whatever you choose, be sure to pair it with a bicerin, a traditional Italian drink composed of layers of espresso, hot chocolate, and cream. (Caffe Torino, 422 Yale Ave N, caffetorinoseattle.com, 9 am–4 pm) by Megan Seling

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There are really just two types of rappers: those who came before Rakim, and those who came after him. Before Rakim, whose moment was between 1986 and 1990, there was only good wack and bad wack (all rappers were essentially wack). After Rakim, there was wack and not wack. What Rakim did on Eric B.–produced tracks like “Eric B. Is President,” “I Know You Got Soul,” “Move the Crowd,” and, later, “Follow the Leader” was not only explode the traditional nursery rhyme–like confines of rap but also compress, in lines, dizzying amounts of words, images, and information. Rakim is the greatest rapper to ever walk this earth. (Neumos, 925 E Pike St, neumos.com, 8 pm, $20, 21+) by Charles Mudede

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This bit alone made me want to go: “Starting in the late 1940s, she shot an average of a roll of film a day. She moved to Chicago in the mid-1950s, and spent the next 40 years working as a nanny to support her passion for photography. Maier died at the age of 83 before her work was ever publicly recognized or exhibited.” It was discovered in 2007. It’s a world never to be spoken about by the woman who crafted it, gathering up images on her silent, anonymous glides through the city where she, and hundreds of thousands of regular, fascinating people, lived before they disappeared. (Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, pcnw.org, 11 am–10 pm, free) by Jen Graves

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Having created some of the most powerful and poetic rock and roll ever made, Patti Smith could’ve spent the rest of her days basking in the glow of her groundbreaking genius of yore. Instead, she keeps pushing forward, regularly releasing good new music and blowing the minds of even die-hard fans with her National Book Award–winning memoir Just Kids. Tonight, Smith returns to live performance, gracing the stage of the Neptune with guitarist Lenny Kaye—Smith’s collaborator for the past 35 years—by her side. (Neptune Theater, 1303 NE 45th St, stgpresents.org, 8 pm, $36 adv/$38.50 DOS, all ages) by David Schmader

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What does it mean to be “on the road” today, as opposed to in 1969? Prior to a screening of filmmaker James Benning’s 2012 remake of Dennis Hopper’s classic Easy Rider—shot in the same locations, with different music—come three short films from the annual Seattle-to-Snoqualmie art trek The Long Walk. The local shorts include pieces by Rodrigo Valenzuela (Are You Doin’ Some Stuff? A Journey into the Slow Movement Movement) and Gabriel Miller (A Kind of Experiential Geography), as well as The Long Walk (edited by Britta Johnson). A Q&A about The Long Walk follows. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, nwfilmforum.org, 8 pm, $10) by Jen Graves

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The success of Hugo House’s literary series often depends on the headliner, and You Are Here has a great one: Cheryl Strayed, author of the Oprah-approved memoir Wild and the genius behind the Rumpus advice column Dear Sugar. But there’s not one bad or shaky name on the bill tonight: Poet and novelist Chris Abani, who always knocks ’em dead in Seattle, joins Strayed with local raconteur/novelist Jonathan Evison to create new work on the titular theme in conjunction with songwriter Joy Mills, who’s Seattle’s liveliest country-flavored act since Neko Case. (Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, hugohouse.org, 7:30 pm, $25) by Paul Constant

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