The Stranger

If Sandra Bernhard and Tim Miller had a performance-art baby, it would look freakishly like Mike Albo, the acclaimed NYC writer/performer—he has performed at PS 122 and writes the Underminer column for Gawker—making his Seattle debut. Like Bernhard, Albo is hilariously obsessed with pop culture; like Miller, he's an eloquent gay who's not averse to taking his clothes off. If you love deep, intelligent snark, don't miss Albo. (Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, www.brownpapertickets.com. 8 pm, $15 adv/$18 DOS, 21+.) by David Schmader

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The foolish go to Fremont Oktoberfest to drink beer; the wise head to Fremont Oktoberfest to drink beer and listen to music. Saturday's aural offerings are strong enough to froth your head, with the Lonely H serving pull-tab classic rock, Thee Emergency tapping into sweaty garage soul, and the Saturday Knights pouring 40s of funk. Drink up. (N Canal St, www.fremontoktoberfest.com. 11 am–midnight, $20 for admission and four drink tokens, 21+.) by Jonathan Zwickel

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Elevator Repair Service, an experimental theater group from New York City, reads the entirety of The Great Gatsby—start to finish, the whole book, every sentence. It's an anaerobic endurance sport and an inspired idea. The Great Gatsby is a perfect prose performance, which is why staging always ruins it. The Great Gatsby starring actors? They'll just be in the way. The Great Gatsby starring the sentences in The Great Gatsby? Hell yeah. It's long, but the end is great.See Review (On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888. 4 pm, $24.) by Christopher Frizzelle

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Originally released in 1985, Gus Van Sant's directorial debut features the least conflicted homosexual protagonist in cinema history. Based on Walt Curtis's autobiographical novel of the same name, Mala Noche follows a young Portland man's sweetly obsessive love for a teenage Mexican immigrant. Shot in tough black and white, it's ravishingly amoral, bracingly original, and back on the screen in a new 35 mm print. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 329-2629. 7 and 9:15 pm, $8.50.) by David Schmader

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In 2007, Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker was asked, on The Colbert Report, to explain how the brain works in five words. He answered: "Brain cells fire in patterns." That's perfect Pinker—clever, concise, and correct. His most famous book, The Language Instinct, is about apes, anatomy, semantics, anthropology, and why deaf babies babble with their hands the same way hearing children do with their voices. His new book, The Stuff of Thought, concerns cognitive evolution and cussing. Whatever he talks about, it's going to be fascinating. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. 7:30 pm, $5.) by Brendan Kiley

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The author of No Logo has a new book that names the latest stage of capital—The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Her point is this: In recent years, capital has absorbed major disasters into its profit-making logic. The tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, 9/11—all have offered fresh (and spectacular) opportunities for the extraction of surplus value. With this turn in her thinking, the Marxism of Klein meets the Marxism of Mike Davis. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255. 7:30 pm, $5.) by Charles Mudede

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