The Stranger

The first time I ever saw Jake the Snake, I was trying to introduce my first boyfriend to my father. But Dad wasn't having it. He was too busy pounding his fists and screaming at the TV while Jake the Snake shoved his boa constrictor into Ravishing Rick Rude's violently mustachioed face. Boyfriend was terrified. Years later, I saw Jim Rose with the same BF. We walked into the show just as Rose killed the lights and began chasing members of the audience with a flashlight and a chainsaw. Again, boyfriend terrified. I haven't thought of Jake or Jim in years. Most likely both have mellowed with age, though they're both still terrors. I'll be going without that boyfriend. He's still a pussy. Some things just don't change. (Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave, 628-0888. 8 pm, $15 adv/$18 DOS, 21+.) by Kelly O

Link  |  Post Comment (3)

Local literary treasure Rebecca Brown writes like Braque used to paint—some historical footage here, a few fucked-up found objects there, some sensual and fractured memories over there—and conflates them all into work that is both urgent and surprising. Tonight she celebrates her new book, American Romances (published by City Lights), with wine and conversation. The essays dive into the muckiest, most beautiful crannies in and around Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Beach Boys, Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and fucking in the sand. But this isn't a reading, mind you—it's a party. Prepare yourself for brainy, sexy fun. (Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842. 7 pm, free.) by Brendan Kiley

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

West Seattle Summer Fest takes over three blocks of California Avenue Southwest for three days this weekend. Mudhoney play tonight, among other bands. Team Gina (sweet lesbian electro-rap), We Are Golden (Stranger Genius Award–winning performer Sarah Rudinoff's band), Caspar Babypants (the Presidents of the United States of America's Chris Ballew playing children's songs), and Thee Sgt. Major III (rock) play tomorrow, among many other bands. Also at the festival: food, beer gardens, family stuff, a skateboard exhibition, etc. The festival is 27 years old this year. (West Seattle Junction, www.westseattlefestival.com. 10 am–8 pm, free, all ages.) by Christopher Frizzelle

Link  |  Post Comment (10)

Tonight's concert marks the culmination of the Vera Project's seventh annual "A Drink for the Kids" fundraising campaign, in which Seattle's 21+ supporters raise money for the rad all-ages venue simply by drinking. Doesn't philanthropy feel awesome? Or is that the booze? Not only less annoying than a pledge drive, tonight's is a hell of a lineup: Headlining is Robin Pecknold of beardo darlings Fleet Foxes performing a rare solo set. Opening are Throw Me the Statue, whose forthcoming Creaturesque continues their fine take on catchy, clever indie rock laid out on last year's arresting debut, Moonbeams. (Neumos, 925 E Pike St, 709-9467. 8 pm, $15, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

Link  |  Post Comment (2)

Carnivores unite! It's the second-annual world's greatest feast in a field, featuring a dozen of Seattle's best chefs cooking whole beasts over hot coals, all day long. The setting (and the beneficiary of this fundraiser): the ridiculously beautiful, endlessly bucolic Smoke Farm (a nonprofit haven for artists, philosophers, and other oddballs an hour north of the city). Among the chefs: organizer Tamara Murphy (Brasa, Elliott Bay Cafe), Matt Dillon (Sitka and Spruce, the Corson Building), Dustin Ronspies (Art of the Table), and Jonathan Sundstrom (Lark). New this year: venison. Continuing from 2008: a river to swim in. (Smoke Farm, Arlington, www.smokefarm.org. 6 pm–midnight, $75, all ages.) by Bethany Jean Clement

Link  |  Post Comment (16)

Local psychedelic-arts collective Portable Shrines has hit the jackpot tonight, landing two of America's finest mind-warpers. Indian Jewelry, from Texas, excel at both erecting majestic drones and forging a sort of tantric garage rock that makes a thrilling virtue out of repetitive, distortion-saturated riffing. Brooklyn's Psychic Ills have morphed from 13th Floor Elevators/Spacemen 3 acolytes into a much stranger beast, a kind of lysergic dub unit. On the recent Mirror Eye, their tracks throb, glow, and drift in a disorienting haze. (Funhouse, 206 Fifth Ave N, 374-8400. 9:30 pm, $7, 21+.) by Dave Segal

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

After smashing runs at Sundance and Cannes, and a gala SIFF homecoming, Humpday lands in Seattle for a proper run. In Humpday, two thirtysomething, heterosexual male friends decide to have sex on camera and submit the results to HUMP!, The Stranger's amateur-porn competition. As I wrote in this year's SIFF guide: "From this ridiculous premise, writer-director Lynn Shelton spins a small miracle: a deep, hilarious, completely contemporary relationship comedy that explores with almost scientific precision how such a ridiculous premise would play out in real life." Go see it. (See Movie Times: thestranger.com/film.) by David Schmader

Link  |  Post Comment (5)