Crafting Sounds, Creating Meaning

(MUSIC CONFERENCE) This weekend, the folks at the Experience Music Project will set their sights on the music-geek elite with "Crafting Sounds, Creating Meaning: Making Popular Music in the U.S.," a four-day conference devoted to "the making of popular music"--from song composition and performance to music journalism and scholarship. Kicking off with this evening's welcoming reception, the conference continues with a mind-bending array of panel discussions and lectures; thankfully, the members of the rock intelligentsia are a perverse bunch, so expect as much dissection of Britney as discussion of minor tonalities in post-Pet Sounds America. Standouts among the many attendees include The New York Times' music queen Ann Powers, SPIN smarty Eric Weisbard, and most notably, keynote speaker Robert Christgau, the dean of American rock critics, and the man who's steered me to so much great music I'm considering having his name tattooed across my face in gratitude. (Thurs-Sun April 11-14, call 770-2675 for info.) DAVID SCHMADER

The Sky Is Falling

(ART) The word used to describe Ted Grudowski's work is "submersive," an invented term that borrows from "subversive" and "submerged" and maybe even "submissive" to identify the experience of looking into and through an art landscape. Grudowski's stereoscopic photographic collages (glasses provided) take on the subject of the Hanford nuclear site--a landscape at once real and absurd--and I don't know, but it seems to me that three-dimensional doesn't begin to describe the creepy experience of submitting yourself to something like this. With a soundtrack by Robin Guthrie (of Cocteau Twins). (Opening reception Fri April 12, 7-10 pm. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through May 12.) EMILY HALL

Soledad Brothers

(MUSIC) Forget Jon Spencer, man. One of the original purveyors of punk blues now sounds more played out than a Vegas-strip Elvis, as new white boys grind rock's roots in salty soul-shakers. Detroit duo the Soledad Brothers (Johnny Walker and Ben Swank) recently added a third member to their act, and their new Estrus release, Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move, is a raw, sultry explosion Spencer couldn't stroke in his wettest punk dreams. (Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, $8.) JENNIFER MAERZ

Academy Leaders

(FILM) Short films are usually given short shrift in the movie biz. They are often either a director's calling-card appetizer to land bigger and, hopefully, better main course work, or unique ideas on a shoestring budget. They are also one of the bathroom-break categories of the Academy Awards. So this two-part program served back-to-back (one at 7:30 pm, one at 9 pm) at the Little Theatre is a great way to see what you missed when you stretched your legs and drained your bladder. Since few short films get mainstream release, this series is one of the few places where you can catch a Whitman's sampler for short attention spans. And the best part is, if you don't like what you're seeing, it won't last that long. (The Little Theatre, Thurs-Sun April 11-14, see Movie Times.) NATE LIPPENS

Firewater

(MUSIC) Though vastly different in sound, Get off the Cross... We Need the Wood for the Fire and The Ponzi Scheme showcased former Cop Shoot Cop frontman Tod A.'s deft ability at blending Old World Eastern European music with gritty, noir-ish rock. The mood is dark but joyous, and A.'s (short for Ashley) deep yawp makes Firewater one of the few bands that can come off as gothic without resembling anything remotely "goth." (Graceland, 109 Eastlake Ave E, $10.) KATHLEEN WILSON

Cassis

(FOOD) I am shamelessly obsessed with this place. Last month I ate here on cold, dark nights, and discovered chef Charlie Durham's cassoulet (cassou-yay!) and his seductive knack for slow-roasted meats. But Durham's April menu offers some decidedly lighter flavors and seasonal favorites such as grilled asparagus, fava beans, ramps, and a fiddlehead fern salad; and of course there is ubiquitous springtime fresh halibut. But I can't wait to try his warm Manchego-cheese flan with arugula oil, or the seared foie gras with haricot verts (delicious fatty liver with French string beans); meat options sound amazing too, featuring spicy homemade lamb sausage with cumin potato salad, and a classic grilled rib eye with horseradish crème fraîche and dreamy pommes frites. (2359 10th Ave E, 329-0580.) MIN LIAO

Ben Marcus

(READING) Ben Marcus' first book, The Age of Wire and String, is sly, fragmented, arch, intellectual, infuriating, and utterly, utterly worth it. He somehow proves, like Max Frisch did brilliantly in Man in the Holocene, that the ganging together of odd, disparate, borrowed things can accumulate into something moving, brave, and complete, in this case a memoir of loss masquerading as a how-to manual. There's some indication that Marcus' new novel, Notable American Women, moves in the direction of another young postmodernist who protected a sad story's soft chewy center in a brittle smarty-pants shell (that would be Dave Eggers, in case you're not following me); we'll see how well such contemporary (and popular!) irony suits him. (Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.) EMILY HALL