THURSDAY MARCH 4

CHICK COREA AND ORIGIN

(Jazz Alley, through Sun March 7) Why won't those fusionheads listen? They should know that jazzers should play jazz, rockers should play rock, and New Age synth crapmeisters should just unplug and go home. And yet for most of the last 30 years, pianist Chick Corea has insisted on cooking all three styles together in one weird-ass batch. This time around, he comes to Seattle with a group that's acoustic, which might help, but it has long been a part of Corea's strange genius to make perfectly good acoustic instruments sound like synthesizers. Additionally, somewhere along the way, this East Coast native moved to Hollywood Hills and became a Scientologist.--Nathan Thornburgh

MANAH, K3+3, FABRIC, MABUSE

(OK Hotel) The second annual Tonehole music festival continues with the space travels of Mabuse (in the lounge), starring two members of the Voodoo Cleanup Crew. Troy Swanson (keys) and Steve Cavit (drums) have developed a heady rapport, and it's bound to jar a few jaws tonight, as they'll be joined by Brad Houser's Laswell-sized bass envelope. The ballroom starts off mellow with Fabric, a smart progressive-groove quintet, and the telepathic jazz of K3+3 (an expanded version of raku, or the "Kerouac Trio"). Lastly, a revved-up version of Manah--featuring Steve Gauci (Sauce) on tenor sax--will be augmented by two Brazilian-styled drummers, Jessica Lurie's dancing alto sax, and an especially festive world-jazz vibe.--James Kirchmer

MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME

(Parker's Casino) Bwaawk! They lost creative pillars Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to lucrative production gigs just before getting their big shot at fame courtesy of Purple Rain. They mounted a comeback effort just before America was ready to re-embrace funk. Basically, they had some bad luck. Do you want to compound their difficulties by ignoring their visit to Aurora Avenue North's answer to the Ballard Firehouse? Of course not. Jerome!--Eric Fredericksen

THE STEVE GAUCI TRIO JAZZ JAM

(Floyd's) One of the side effects of Seattle being a second-tier jazz city is that good players tend to pack up and move to sexier jazz destinations as soon as their chops will let them. It's a slow bleed, but it means that new players are always in demand. The jazz jam is one way of preparing the next generation, whereby a tight band will open up the mike to anyone who wants to sit in on standards and run solos. Bebop and Destruction has been doing this well for eons at the Owl 'n' Thistle, but they're getting out of the open jam business soon, so check out Steve Gauci and his tight trio, playing Thursdays at Floyd's. Floyd's may be a bit of a sports bar, but unlike the Owl 'n' Thistle, it can't be reached by staggering, vomiting, Pioneer Square castoffs. Hallelujah.--NT

YOUNG COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE ORCHESTRA

(On the Boards, through Sat March 6) Many of you might be familiar with this large local group via their landmark score to Fritz Lang's Metropolis (just recently released on CD). The tendency to blend art forms into their works continues with this premiere of SCREAM!LionDogs, a movement-theater work choreographed by Haruko Nishimura (also their pianist). Inspired by the brutal 1992 murder of an Asian American youth by Neo-Nazi skinheads in Olympia, the live score (by Joshua Kohl, Adam McCollom, and Ian Rashkin) includes some punkish taiko drumming parts. It's a somber subject, but humor is certain to creep into the performance's weighty, apocalyptic thrashings and take you by surprise.--JK


FRIDAY MARCH 5

NEIL YOUNG

My cool rocker aunt Kathleen Wilson told me that Neil Young is the "shit". (That's why she's so cool: she uses profanity in front of me. My parents never do. I don't like adults being profane usually, unless they're Jeremy Enigk or it's really necessary--but Aunt Kathleen explained that "shit" is the only way to describe Mr Young. What's that....? Sorry auntie. I mean, "the shit.") Anyway. She told me that he's the godfather of grunge and totally cool even if he is 120 years old and Canadian, and instructed me to tell you that his Paramount shows are all acoustic (bor-ing!) and be sure to shout for "Out of the Blue".... and then started muttering something about "goddam tickets150bucksgoddamnonlyMicrosoftpeopleabletogogoddamnneeda(expletive deleted)drink...." and stormed off in the direction of Pine St. I'm not sure about this one. Why would anyone pay that much money to see someone who's almost dead?--Tommie Pickett, age 9 1/2

MK ULTRA, MAXX AVERAGE CORPORATION, THE ADDING MACHINE, SUBMINUTE: RADIO

(Breakroom) There's an informal daily swapmeet which takes place atop the dumpster in front of my building. Every day people place an array of perfectly usable things out there, and within five minutes it has all been carted off, no matter how large, ugly, or boring the items may be. Once, however, there was a whole box of 7-inches by the Adding Machine sitting out there for two long days, in the rain. I couldn't figure out which was worse, that no one was picking them up, or that someone who had something to do with either the band or the imprint felt they had to unload them that way. Then I decided it was the work of a publicist who said they sent them out, but never did, and was now trying to destroy the evidence of their lameness. Busted.--Kathleen Wilson

MURDER CITY DEVILS, BOTCH, THE BANGS, COLD WAY WALKING

(RKCNDY) I don't really approve of girls playing rock music because... well, there's something not quite right about it, the way they flaunt their guitars and their bodies, it makes me feel a bit funny inside... but my slightly scary aunt Kathleen Wilson always slaps me 'round the face and tells me to "shut up and grow the [expletive deleted] up" whenever I mention it, so please don't tell her I said this. She says some of the coolest music of the '80s was made by women like Jane Jett and the Bungles, but that's sooooo old! (Anyway, I think she drinks.) I'm staying in tonight. --TP, age 9 1/2

You better be staying home tonight, Tommie--KW

SUPERSUCKERS, ZEKE, VALENTINE KILLERS

(Crocodile) See Sat March 6.


SATURDAY MARCH 6

C AVERAGE, BANGS, SEAN NA NA

(Breakroom) I LOVE LOVE LOVE C Average! They have the coolest songs about wizards and elves and fantasy sword-play, and I bet they've got the greatest collection of Dungeons and Dragons figurines back in their mom's house in Olympia, too. I like the way their hair is all long and scraggly, and I like the way they're noisy but not too noisy--because there's only two of them! When I get a few years older, I'm going to be just like these guys.--TP, age 9 1/2

NEIL YOUNG

(Paramount) See Fri March 5.

SUPERSUCKERS, MURDER CITY DEVILS, PROMISE KEEPERS

(Crocodile) These bands scare me. They play their instruments too loudly and their clothes have strange stains on them. I've never seen them naked--and I don't want to--but I bet they all have prison tattoos saying "MOM" and "I HATE YOU" on their chests. I don't like the way they don't shave, and I don't like their "joke" songs about people in wheelchairs and fighting. It's not funny being in a wheelchair, and it's not funny to fight either. My friend C. J. once got a real nasty bruise above his eye from a playground fight. And he didn't even start it! When my weird cousin Alex sees any of these bands walking down the street, she starts to giggle and talk really loud to her friends... like she's pretending she doesn't notice them. But I know she does really. I'll be staying in again.--TP, age 9 1/2

WAYNE HORVITZ ENSEMBLE, SKERIK/CARTER/FLORY/TEUBER HORN QUARTET, MISS MURGATROID & PETRA HADEN, GUITAR MONKS

(OK Hotel) With a loopy, Brazilian-flamesavored double- guitar and drums trio in the lounge (Guitar Monks), the Tonehole Music Festival's final night offers a comfortable retreat. Back in the ballroom, ex-That Dog violinist Petra Haden teams up with Portland's Miss Murgatroid, a quirky accordionist whose amateurish air begs the question "Is it intentional?" Next, prepare to find out if Skerik can actually write tunes before a performance, as he's prone to composing via improvisation. Wayne Horvitz, however, is a proven composer, and his all-female, electronics-friendly chamber group will feature selections written for choreographer Liz Lerman.--JK


SUNDAY MARCH 7

KAYA

(700 Club) I was sure I'd read the flyer wrong. There was just no way that all of Seattle's rawest, realest talent could be squeezed into one night. Believe it, people. Every Sunday night, Nikol Kollars (ex-Strange Voices front diva), Felicia Loud (who could really give Erykah Badu a run for her money), members of Maktub and Source of Labor strut their stuff alongside DJs Vitamin and Kamikaze. As if that weren't enough, they throw in an MC or two just to change things up a bit. You'd be foolish to miss this.--Courtney Reimer


TUESDAY MARCH 9

JACOBITES, THE RAPTURE

(Crocodile) See calendar box.


WEDNESDAY MARCH 10

BUILT TO SPILL, THE DELUSIONS, OCTANT

(Crocodile) It's pretty cool that indie demi-gods Built To Spill have chosen unsigned locals the Delusions to open for them on their American tour. Then again, we'd expect nothing less from the Northwest's nicest band, ever. Octant is a sweet little project of Mocket/Satisfact's Matt Steinke, featuring his own robotic machine that's probably the most polite being to ever man a drum kit.--KW

FUEL, SECOND COMING

(RKCNDY) Crap-ass show of the week alert. Fuel takes all the worst aspects of bands like Korn, Tool, Bush, and every other cruddy, over-hyped alterna-hard-rock pile of poo and throws in sickening "sensitive" spots--guaranteed to make listeners with any taste at all feel like somebody pulled a shade cord on their back muscles. This is truly awful stuff, perfectly suited to the astonishingly bad opening band Second Coming, who managed to get a major label contract simply because it features some castoff original members of "Seattle" bands.--KW

THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE

(Sit & Spin) Inspired by Zappa, the Fugs, Captain Beefheart, and the Velvet Underground, the teenage Milan Hlavsa formed a punk band in 1968, but he was totally oblivious to the dire political situation around him. Soviet tanks had just rolled through the streets of Prague. The band was good enough to really piss off the state, and by 1976 they were jailed. Vaclav Havel (then a playwright and dissident, and now president) was inspired by this outrage to draft Charter 77, a human rights manifesto that ultimately spawned the Velvet Revolution. Recently reformed, the Plastic People have lost absolutely none of their freakish chops, and this marks their very first tour of the States. Never underestimate the power of rock 'n' roll.--JK