The Stranger

I first fell for Varla Jean Merman in Girls Will Be Girls, the camp-cinema classic in which the voluptuous ingenue-for-life blows johns, eats lots, and lights up the screen like the illegitimate love child of Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman (which she claims to be). Tonight, performer Jeffery Roberson brings Varla's one-woman show to Re-bar. What she can do with Cheez Whiz will astound you. (Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, brownpapertickets.com. 8 pm, $25, 21+. Also Sat April 12.) by David Schmader

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Shellshag are known for four things: a relentless tour schedule; a stalwart DIY attitude; jumping on people, throwing their drums, crowdsurfing, and other mischief; and making more fuzzed-out, Breeders-like noise than two people should be able to. Akimbo are known for two things: grinding, fast, melodic metal and the best drummer in Seattle. Helms Alee are known for one thing: stoned freak-outs of the heavy, slow variety. (Comet, 922 E Pike St, 322-9272. 9 pm, $6, 21+.) by Ari Spool

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I believe in beauty. Beauty has real power and nourishes the imagination the same way the sun nourishes a flower. The sun in Caramel is Nadine Labaki, the film's director and lead actor. Labaki plays Layale, one of five women whose lives intersect in a beauty salon in the Christian section of Beirut. The women want love, sex, and satisfaction from a society that will not give it to them. Much, much more than the other women, Labaki's desire radiates from the screen, onto the faces of those looking up at her. (See Movie Times.) by Charles Mudede

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In a Cave, the latest album from Elf Power (veteran members of the Elephant 6 collective), is a seamless, fuzzed-out, indie-pop gem. At times, that seamlessness threatens to turn into hypnotic repetition, but Andrew Rieger's lyrics about dreadful psychedelic romances or precariously hopeful godlessness keep things interesting. Elf Power are lesser gods in the E6 pantheon—not as crazy-genius as Neutral Milk Hotel, not as cartoonishly pop as Apples in Stereo, nor as glamorously fey as Of Montreal. But, by mortal standards, they're still pretty freaking great. (High Dive, 513 N 36th St, 632-0212. 8 pm, $10 adv/$12 DOS, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

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Chronicling a couple years of life swirling around the aging Broadway star Margo Channing—the great Bette Davis in her greatest role—All About Eve is the rare star vehicle that's also a flat-out masterpiece. Writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's script remains the Platonic ideal of the dialogue-driven screenplay, enabling an array of rich, twisty performances. But towering above all is Davis, whose immersion into the profound grotesquerie of Margo Channing is total. (Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935. 6:30 pm, $5–$8.) by David Schmader

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In case you missed my 4,000 words on the subject in last week's issue: I'm totally gay for Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie. Same goes for tonight's headliner, Why?. Both bands write songs about existential worry and wonder, but while Mount Eerie find solace in the natural world, Why? get nauseated in the Whole Foods parking lot. Their dark, hiphop-inflected lyricism is airtight, telescoping from minute detail to overwhelming dread in the turn of a phrase, and the band's rhythms and melodies are equally agile. (Vera Project, Seattle Center, 956-8372. 7:30 pm, $9/$8 with club card, all ages.) by Eric Grandy

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