I love Central Cinema—home to beer, pizza, old-school previews, and DVD-projected flicks—so much I’d suggest going there to watch paint dry. So I doubly suggest going there to see Shaft, Gordon Parks’s 1971 blaxploitation classic featuring one smooth black detective, the Italian mob, and a classic Isaac Hayes soundtrack. (And don’t be scared to drink lots—at Central Cinema, there’s always a pee-friendly intermission.) (Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, 686-6684. 7 and 9:30 pm, $5, late show 21+.)

David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest...