King Lear
(THEATER) As a distinguished theater veteran with decades of craft behind him from Ashland to New York, and years of teaching experience at Cornish and the University of Washington, Tony-nominated Seattle actor Clayton Corzatte has earned the right to carry himself with regal bearing. New City artistic director John Kazanjian obviously agrees: He and Corzatte are bringing to life the doomed monarch King Lear. The fine supporting cast for this promising venture also includes Susan Corzatte, the skilled Peter Crook (so good as Joe in Intiman's Angels in America), Todd Moore, and David Klein, among others. Don't allow your "vile jellies" to miss this production -- seating at the First Christian Church provides space for just 40 people nightly, so if you hope to see it you should call for reservations now. -- STEVE WIECKING
First Christian Church, 1632 Broadway, reservations 328-4683, runs Nov 11-Dec 18, Wed-Thurs at 7:30, Fri-Sat at 8, $15.
The Little Mermaid
(ICE EXTRAVAGANZA) Those smart folks at Disney know that seafood keeps better on ice, so starting today on the icy floor of KeyArena they'll be serving up all kinds of colorful fish and even some delicious crab. Unfortunately, you have to watch it skate and sing. Disney on Ice invites us to hold down our grumbling stomachs and lose ourselves in the twirling blades and Oscar-winning score of this Mouse Kingdom classic. Apparently no one at Disney sees the irony of staging the ocean floor exploits of The Little Mermaid over frozen water -- no, wait. The press release swears that "Under the sea -- on ice -- is the coolest place to be!" Well, there you go. I stand corrected. -- STEVE WIECKING
KeyArena, Seattle Center, tickets through Ticketmaster at 628-0888, runs Thurs-Sun Nov 11-14, $12.75-$18.75.
Chomskython
(VIDEO) Just in time for the impending doom of the World Trade Organization's visit to Seattle, 911 Media Arts and super-lefty rag Eat the State are giving you a chance to watch a bunch of videos featuring that wacky little troll of the radical left, Noam Chomsky. Check out Noam's views on the WTO (bad!), genocide (super-bad!), and Rush Limbaugh (worse than genocide!). Tonight's films are Politics, Media and "Free" Trade and Population Control; Saturday night features the documentary Manufacturing Consent. -- BRADLEY STEINBACHER
911 Media Arts, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552, 7 pm (Sat at 8 pm), $5/$3.
We Love You, Jar Jar
(ART) Mounting a multimedia defense of the indefensible, Spencer Moody, Jesse Paul Miller, and others celebrate everyone's least favorite gay West Indian reptilian Star Wars character. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
Milky World Gallery, 111 Battery St, 374-0933, through Dec 1.
Inanimate Psyches
(FILM) San Francisco's art collective, Survival Research Laboratories, take the best of science and cinema -- making movies about robots that destroy things -- and have been amusing and terrorizing audiences for years with their shenanigans. Also in this program are a couple of the beautifully creepy animated films of the Brothers Quay, featuring puppets moving through their own twisted reality, often on skewed sets of forced perspective. Part of the film series of the Artificial Life project at Consolidated Works. -- ANDY SPLETZER
Consolidated Works, 410 Terry Ave N, 860-5245, Thurs-Sat Nov 11-13 at 8, $7.
NW Bookfest
(EVENT) The Northwest Bookfest has grown fatter and happier this year, as it moves into its new venue at the Washington State Convention Center. A sprawling, loose-leaf affair, the Bookfest features readings by popular writers such as Ivan Doig, David Guterson, J.A. Jance, Chuck Palahniuk, and Dan Savage, as well as less well-known but equally excellent writers such as David Gates, Robin Hemley, and Andrew X. Pham. There will also be a book art display, a cooking stage, activities for kids, and The Stranger's very own "textbook destruction" booth. Come by and say hi! Visit www.nwbookfest.org for a full schedule. -- TRACI VOGEL
Washington State Convention and Trade Center, downtown Seattle at Eighth & Pike, 517-1474, Sat-Sun Nov 13-14, 10 am-6 pm, donation.
Stephen Mitchell
(READING) With his translations of The Book of Job and The Gospel According to Jesus, Stephen Mitchell accomplished what my parents and the Pope and even Mahalia Jackson could not: He made me respect the Bible. Scraping away centuries of moralistic dogma to reveal the oceans of poetry underneath, Mitchell rescues the best of the Good Book; the best of Mitchell's writing (such as his introduction to Job) is so lucid and shocking and brave it will make you hyperventilate. Never mind that he's recently devoted himself to the production of cheesily packaged, flagrantly overpriced "fairy tales for adults" (such as his latest, The Frog Prince); I'm sure Mitchell's tithing a good portion of these cash cow's profits to a most fascinating and progressive church. -- DAVID SCHMADER
Elliott Bay Books, First St and S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
Sex Workers Masquerade
(GALA EVENT) What's a troll to do on a Sunday when he can't find a hooker to save his life? Either Autofellate (which is easy), or head down to Berbati's Pan for Portland's first Sex Workers Masquerade Ball, featuring the music of Viva Las Vegas, Freight Train Casanova, Johnny Legend, and DJ Gregarious. Partial ticket sales go to Danzine, a non-profit sex workers organization. Tickets run from $10-$20 (which I make on a "no-frills" hand-job), and a mere $5 with a canned food donation to the Women's Intercommunity AIDS Resource. -- JEFF DeROCHE
Berbati's Pan, SW Second/Alder, Portland, $10-20, doors at 8 pm, "dress to the nines."
Gaylen Hansen
(ART) Hansen's thickly painted canvases are a regular pleasure. Working in Eastern Washington, Hansen uses Western scenes and wildlife to tell tall tales in oil on canvas. Included in this show is a rich still life of gloves, pipes, and tubes of paint that clarifies Hansen's debt to Philip Guston, even as it shows his own joyful relationship with paint. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
Linda Hodges Gallery, 410 Occidental Ave S, 624-3034, through Nov 27.
'Business Week'
(MAGAZINE) Never mind The Nation or Z or Mother Jones. Bona fide saboteurs should run out to Steve's News at the top of every week and pick up the latest issue of Business Week. With a huge staff of journalists reporting on the latest details of capitalism, BW is on top of every insidious trend going on in our culture: deceptive marketing tactics, dystopian developments in the pharmaceutical and banking industries, alienation-inducing lifestyle changes. Those who think BW is simply a corporate mouthpiece will be surprised to discover that by striving to keep its suit-and-tie readership in-the-know, the mag works as an unwitting informant for the masses. Know Your Enemy! -- JOSH FEIT
A news stand near you.
Super 8 Lounge
(FILM) If you're serious about attending this event, you'd better get there early, because the basement of the Alibi Room has been filling up to capacity and beyond. The reason? A mixture of low-tech super 8 fetishists and quality programming. The Emerald Reels Super 8 Lounge is a monthly, curated screening; sort of the film flipside to Joel Bachar's video-dominated Independent Exposure. This month, films by nationally known Super 8 enthusiasts Danny Plotnick and Martha Colburn will be shown, along with a screening of a twisted short called Space Cowboy: A Tribute to Steve Miller. -- ANDY SPLETZER
Alibi Room, 85 Pike St in the Pike Place Market, 623-3180, 9 pm, $3.
Robyn Hitchcock
(LIVE MUSIC) Peter Buck sure loves Robyn Hitchcock. Buck has always named Hitchcock's Rickenbacker guitar sound as a huge influence, and because he's Peter Buck, he's been able to give something back to the 40-something British singer-songwriter. In fact, he's given Hitchcock much more than just this gig at his wife's club. Over the years, Buck has lent his R.E.M.-superstar status to a number of Hitchcock's recordings, playing on his records and helping secure their U.S. release and distribution. All of that has helped Hitchcock slog through years of obscurity and some bad music. Now he's revitalized, gone back to his folk roots, and is singing songs you will probably want to hear. -- NATHAN THORNBURGH
The Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9:30 pm, $14 advance/$16 day of show.
Marc Almond
(LIVE MUSIC) With Britain's most delectable eyebrows and just a hint of foundation, Marc Almond mixes sex and sulk as well as anybody. His first U.S. release in eight years came out this fall and proved that his gloomy electro-ballads still hit a nerve, despite our bullish millennial economy and cultural Disneyfication. Not only is "Tainted Love," his 1981 Soft Cell hit, still making DJ playlists throughout the land, but some critics are also thumping nostalgia by claiming that his newest work is his best yet. It should be a fine start to Seattle's rainy, beat-filled winter. -- NATHAN THORNBURGH
The Fenix, 315 Second Ave S, 343-0716, 8 pm, $25 advance.
