The Stranger

Timothy Egan is one of those big-name authors who many Seattleites don’t even realize is from Seattle. His meticulous, gorgeously written historical accounts win awards and typically wind up on everybody’s year-end best-of lists. His columns for the New York Times are passionate, intelligent arguments for the advancement of liberal thought. Plainly, he’s one of our best, and Seattle had better turn out to recognize Egan for the debut of Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, a biography of a Seattle photographer who documented Native American life at the end of the 19th century. (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, www.townhallseattle.org, 7:30 pm, $5) by Paul Constant

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For this show, you’re going to want to papier-mâché yourself into a glorious costume and spray-paint that costume yellow or silver or navy blue—add some mesh! Add some rhinestones! Then, pop a few Truckers Luv It energy pills (actual product) and get your ass to Chop Suey. All the bands on this bill are perfect for Halloween, but most perfect would have to be the Ononos, a band of visually arresting light beings. Their pulsing, sexy future-synth is like standing in the spinning vortex tunnel of a haunted house—it will give you vertigo, but you haven’t had this much fun in eons. (Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison, www.chopsuey.com, $7, 8 pm, 21+) by Emily Nokes

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Matthew Lillard’s directorial debut brings KL Going’s award-winning young adult novel—about a suicidal fat kid in Seattle drawn into a friendship (and a punk band) with a troubled dropout—to the big screen. It’s terrific and laced throughout with richly humane moments that nail down big, well-known concepts—the push-and-pull of family love, the thrill of live music, the shittiness of loving a junkie (even platonically)—with affecting precision. Secret weapon: Billy Campbell’s hard-ass dad with a heart of gold. (See Movie Times) by David Schmader

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The Sea and Cake have turned nonchalant rhythms and breezy melodies into one of the most consistently pleasant back catalogs in indie rock. That may sound like damning with faint praise, but these Chicago veterans are like Steely Dan (fuck the haters) on a perpetual beach-bound holiday: slick craftsmen who wear their virtuosity like sweaters loosely tied around their waists. The Sea and Cake spin countless variations on their cerebral lounge-rock theme, finding ingenious ways to elevate your mood, gently. (Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, www.thecrocodile.com, 8 pm, $13 adv/$15 DOS, all ages) by Dave Segal

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Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra charts the sweeping, trans-Mediterranean lust between a Roman general and an Egyptian queen that became a personal and geopolitical tragedy. Four reasons to get excited: director John Langs (Hamlet, Crumbs Are Also Bread, The Adding Machine), whose imagination simultaneously sharpens and embellishes plays; ace actors (and real-life couple) Hans Altwies and Amy Thone in the title roles; Charles Leggett and Darragh Kennan in supporting roles; and set designer Jennifer Zeyl. (The Playhouse, 201 Mercer St, www.seattleshakespeare.org, 2 pm, $36, 2 pm) by Brendan Kiley

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Hysteria was essentially invented in late 19th-century Paris by a man who held “lectures” every Tuesday in which he “demonstrated” women having hysterical attacks by instigating them using hypnotism, electric shock, and genital manipulation, among other techniques—then photographed them, sometimes in front of the assembled crowd. Seattle artists Amanda Manitach and DK Pan are staging a “multimedia spectacle” updating the subject, involving ideas of “sexually transmitted genius.” And what’s more, “a male body will be compromised in the name of science and art.” They have a real chaperone/collaborator: Dr. Mari Kitahata, UW Center for AIDS Research director of clinical epidemiology. (Jacob Lawrence Gallery, UW Art Building, www.art.washington.edu, 7 pm, free) by Jen Graves

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