Sandy Silva & Friends
(DANCE) Sandy Silva has carved out a niche for herself with her emphasis on the percussive qualities of dance. Fred Astaire used to make his tap rhythms an integral part of the songs he sang in his musicals; similarly, Silva functions as an entire drum section for music ranging from bluegrass to Celtic step dance to Spanish flamenco. Which is not to say that she isn't also a superb dancer--she takes these traditional dance forms and puts them to her own personal uses, including dancing a tango on a spinning hydraulic stool. BRET FETZER
On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888. Thurs-Sun at 8; $12-$14. Through Oct 14.
The Kingdom
(FILM) Fans of Danish director Lars von Trier's work wax ecstatic about Breaking the Waves, or more recently, Dancer in the Dark, but in my mind his finest accomplishment to date isn't (properly speaking) a movie at all. The miniseries The Kingdom--about the increasingly deranged behavior of the staff of a haunted hospital--has a narrative scope and a richness of character that his movies lack; the open-endedness of television allows von Trier to dwell on the most minute aspect of obsessive behavior without losing momentum--which is good, since both parts, consisting of four episodes apiece, are around four and a half hours long. Part Two slips a bit, sacrificing character integrity to up the ante of weirdness, but Udo Kier's touching portrayal of an oversized, impossibly fragile baby makes it worthwhile. BRET FETZER
Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, 654-3255. Fri-Sun Oct 6-8, 7:30 pm, $8/night or $15/three-night pass. Tickets are available from Scarecrow Video at 524-8554.
Birthday Bash
(LIVE MUSIC) Happy birthday, baby! It's gonna be a glam slam celebration for much-loved Sit & Spin publicist Ma'Chell Duma, featuring cocktails and cake at 9:30, followed by (you guessed it) live rock and roll from the fun and glammy Turn-Ons, the ferocious Razor Babes, the Ex-Best Friends, and a slew of DJs (including Ma'Chell herself, I believe). Watch the bands for big fun, dance to the DJs, look pretty, and keep your eye on the self-appointed lady of the hour, who promises to be decked out in a trademark circa-1960 pink nightie, and shamelessly overzealous. Oh Ma'Chell, you so crazy.... JEFF DeROCHE
Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, 441-9484, 10 pm, $5.
Disappearances
(ART EVENT) Ours is the century of disappearances, according to the English painter John Berger, "the century of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon." Several artists appear at the Hugo House this weekend to partake in an inquiry on the very subject of Berger's concerns, including the renowned Irish poet Eavean Boland. On-site visual artists will address the theme with large-scale installations. There will be panel discussions and musical performances. Don't miss out on the various disappearances, erasures, and occlusions. (For a complete schedule visit www.hugohouse.org.) TRACI VOGEL
Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030; Sat Oct 7, 10 am-10 pm; Sun Oct 8, 10 am-6:30 pm; $5-$6 (Sat reading by Boland, $8-$10).
Whole Lotta Art
(MORE ART EVENTS) Looking for a big splashy art event tonight? There are two. Head out to Sand Point for the New Prometheans International Fire Art Festival. Tonight, after a week of talk, talk, talk (panel discussions, cocktail parties), is the big payoff--a series of ignitions including the Pacific Northwest Fire Sculpture Championship and German artist Kain Karawahn, who will play six burning guitars in (yet another) tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Just as the embers die down, Planet STIFF should be in full swing. STIFF resists description: It's a night of experimental film and video, paired with performance and music, and also a party--but it has a kind of dreamy, continuous feel, and director Roderick Hatfield nails the event's fluid nature, calling it "a reception inside an installation." This year, along with a series of films curated by the usual suspects (WigglyWorld, 911, Three Dollar Bill), STIFF will feature music by the Melody Unit and Ota Prota, and a performance by Ishan Vernallis. EMILY HALL
New Prometheans International Fire Art Festival at Sand Point Naval Base, 8 pm, $12 (tickets available through TicketWeb or CoCA; must be 14 or over to attend); Planet STIFF at Consolidated Works, 410 Terry Ave N, 860-5245, 9 pm, $10 ($5 with CoCA or Seattle Underground Film Festival ticket).
Cheap Cars!
(AUCTION) Need a creative garden treatment? Try planting posies in the shell of a burnt-out Pinto! Looking for an innovative set design for a no-budget production of Waiting for Godot? Go for that post-apocalyptic theme and stack rusting autos on the stage! Or maybe you just want to hone your white-trash aesthetic while pissing off your dot-com neighbors? Buy a dozen completely non-functional vehicles and park them on your lawn! You can afford 'em all at the Lincoln Towing Abandoned Vehicle Auction every Saturday. A completely refundable cash deposit of $100 gets you the right to bid, and some heaps go for as little as a dollar! But who knows? You might even end up with something that runs! TAMARA PARIS
Lincoln Towing, 1201 N 125th St (1/2 block east of Aurora), 10 am. Visit www.swansenauctions.com for a list of what's available.
Perfect Stranger
(THEATER) One World Theatre is best known for brash, boisterous touring shows like Quixote and Mirette & Bellini, or their multimedia adaptation of the Theseus myth, "Minotaur." With Perfect Stranger, they take a turn toward what might be called "straight" theater--but though Carl Sander's play concerns a contemporary urban couple instead of carnival performers or lusty Cretan queens, it creates its own dislocated reality as an enigmatic guest disrupts the lives of Bob and May. Directed by Shawn Belyea, with longtime One World performers Mark Fullerton and Jená Cane and Compound member Seanjohn Walsh in the cast, the production promises to be rich and rewarding. BRET FETZER
Speakeasy, 2304 Second Ave, 325-6500. Thurs-Sun at 8, $12-$15, pay-what-you-can Thurs Oct 5. Additional performance Mon Oct 16, 8 pm, $12. Through Oct 21.
Rejection collection.com
(WEBSITE) Failure is rarely celebrated in our culture, but rejectioncollection.com is trying to change that. This website features a brutal archive of rejection letters posted by writers whose work has been dismissed by publications across the nation. Ranging from insulting ("All this stuff may go on inside you, but why would anyone else give a damn?") to sniveling ("I feel extra bad, but...."), they all lead to one conclusion: Most editors are bastards who will never, ever publish your sorry little novel and would only laugh harder if they knew about your hot, snotty sobs of disappointment. NATHAN THORNBURGH
www.rejectioncollection.com.
Dark Angel
(TV) We have the WB to thank for bringing the Hot, Nubile, Ass-Kicking Girl to prime time entertainment. But after a few thrilling seasons of Buffy and Faith, we're long overdue for the next stylish babe with chunky boots and a mean left hook. Enter Max (Jessica Alba), the curvy, pouty teen heroine of James Cameron's Dark Angel: She's a genetic mutant/human prototype with superhuman powers in the year 2020, who escapes the government laboratory where she was created and ends up in Seattle, hiding out from military henchmen. While on the run, Max hooks up with "guerrilla journalist" Logan, who persuades her to join his rebel cause and help fight the corrupt forces and oppressive regime of post-apocalyptic America. If last week's two-hour pilot episode was any indication, Buffy oughta watch her back--there's a new tough broad on the tube. MIN LIAO
Tuesdays on Q13, 9 pm.
Estrella 20/20
(LIVE MUSIC) Lawdy, puh-LEEZ have mercy on us ALL! Jay-pan's mighty Estrella 20/20 comin' AND thereby guaranteein' to mercilessly lay WASTE to everythang in their path. Sound forebodin'? Damn scrate! They got the blunt, stumblin' outta tune freak-nasty on all that punque ROCKS! Honestly, there ain't many contemporary "rock" bands that wiggle my bits, but the Ja-punk-anese keeps me attentive as they, as a nation, STILL got the "garage" where it oughta be! Hell, there ain't many bands, nowheres, which can outdo what them Ja-punk-anese do. Uh... well, MAYBE there's almost one here 'n' there, but the Ja-punk-anese got enuff spirit AND licks to make mockeries outta alla them gearhead 'n' Thunders posers! MIKE NIPPER
Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9 pm, $8.
The Gold Rush
(FILM) Charlie Chaplin's 1925 feature The Gold Rush offers us the silent comic at his most refined. The film is, of course, legendary: the boot-eating scene, the soft-shoe with the dinner rolls, the tilted house--in fact, it's all so canonized that it begs just a little to be messed with. Enter the Asylum Street Spankers and their energetic, goofy rockabilly that should clash quite nicely with Chaplin's melodrama. The prospect of seeing the Little Tramp cry while a banjo plucks away in the foreground, or seeing the great dance scene set to the good-natured oompahs of the guitar, makes me very happy. Chaplin is probably rolling in his grave--a great sign. JAMIE HOOK
JBL Theater at EMP, 325 Fifth Ave N, 367-5483. Tonight only at 7 and 9:15 pm, $7.50.
