Lynda Benglis

(ART) Lynda Benglis was among the forward-thinking process artists of the late '60s, along with Richard Tuttle and Barry Le Va, and a bit of a feminist provocateur as well (to wit: her famous portrait-with-dildo ad in Artforum). Her work always insists on its own physicality, from her famous Adhesive Products--polyurethane poured over wire armatures and mounted to the wall, looking like nothing so much as giant crustaceans trying to burrow through to the other side--to her current work being shown at the Bryan Ohno Gallery, the materials and the process are as important as the work itself. This exhibition showcases her knot sculptures from the late '70s as well as work from the last 10 years: sculpture in ceramic and glass. EMILY HALL

Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main, 667-9572. Tues-Sat 11 am-5 pm. Through Dec 2.

Ken Stringfellow

(LIVE MUSIC) I once saw Ken's old band the Posies play a concert under the name Big Star. Never quite understood that. Skinny-tie rock masquerading as dark, desolate, soulful '70s rock. It didn't seem to fit then, and still doesn't. Since, Ken's turned quite soulful himself--as his sprawling 1997 solo album This Sounds Like Goodbye proved, boasting distortion, fuzzy guitars, an almost inconsolable belief in romance and friendship, and even a little humor--all of which carries well in his acoustic sets. Nice guy, our Ken. EVERETT TRUE

Gordon Biersch, 600 Pine St, 264-9766, 9 pm, free!

Two Lane Blacktop

(FILM) It's no coincidence that Two Lane Blacktop, the definitive existential road movie, is also one of the most accurate and well-researched hot-rod films ever made. By familiarizing themselves thoroughly with the milieu, director Monte Hellman and his screenwriters (including the great Rudy Wurlitzer) were able to view the proceedings without the kitsch fetishism that pervades most cinematic studies of subcultures. Instead, all the car talk, the close-ups of modified engines, and the omnipresent roar of automobiles are treated with the same blasé, near-documentary diffidence as the rambling anti-narrative: Two obsessive street racers in a souped-up Chevrolet challenge a fast-talking businessman on the run in his new GTO to a cross-country race, the winner to claim both cars. Who wins? Nobody, of course. Not even the filmmakers, who sign off with a startlingly nihilistic flourish. BRUCE REID

Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935. See Movie Times.

The Habit

(SKETCH COMEDY) The only thing that makes Seattle's current gross excess of sketch comedy tolerable is that some of these groups are genuinely funny, and one of the funniest is the Habit. These four guys (Ryan Dobosh, John Osebold, Jeff Schell, and Mark Siano) and their assorted guest performers fuse wit and stupidity into absurdly entertaining sketches. Past shows have depicted the judicial inquiries of woodland creatures, the horrifying fate of Easter Peeps, a medical benefits rap, and the inner life of vending machines; this new show will apparently feature sketches based on the art of seduction, and "soup fairies." BRET FETZER

Annex Theatre, 1916 Fourth Ave, 728-0933. Fri-Sat at 11 pm; $5. Through Oct 28. [Bret Fetzer is the incoming artistic director of Annex Theatre --Eds.]

The Bra Show

(AUCTION/BENEFIT) Wearing bras made from blown glass, electrified headlights, or coffee cups might not offer your ta-tas support, but buying them certainly will. Conceived in 1998 by sisters Patti and Ellen Southard after losing a lifelong friend to breast cancer, the Second Annual Bra Show and Auction has raised more than $20,000 this year for numerous breast-cancer organizations. The works of art for sale by sustainable-materials designer John Wells, Lopez Island-based painter C. J. Marin, and sculptor Geoff Shaw, among others, celebrate the lives of women living with or lost to this disease. So wear a pretty dress with a plunging neckline, drink some champagne, and follow the bouncing breasts to a cure. TAMARA PARIS

Phelps Center at Pacific Northwest Ballet, 301 Mercer St. Doors open at 6:30 pm, auction registration and champagne from 6:30-7 pm, silent auction from 7-8 pm, and live auction beginning at 8 pm; $50 per person. For reservations, call Kip Toner Benefit Auctions at 1-800-248-2464.

Radio Nationals

(LIVE MUSIC) Radio Nationals' EP of earlier this year, Exit 110, calls to mind several twang-punk comparisons, most of which this band outdoes in terms of sheer fire and force: Richmond Fontaine, Giant Sand, Uncle Tupelo, X. Now that the Meat Puppets are touring again, I'm making an early bet that Radio Nationals open for them here, and that they might give even those OGs a run for their money. Yeah, they're that good. GRANT COGSWELL

Sit & Spin, 2219 Fourth Ave, 441-9484, 9:30 pm, $7.

First Target

(TV) So, let's say you're a beautiful, tall blonde who has a hunky boyfriend--but you hardly ever get to see him because he's always out in the wilderness (Hunky Boyfriend is a river guide), and you're always so busy with your job... as a top agent for the U.S. Secret Service. Just when you think you can get away for a romantic weekend with HB, you get a big assignment: to accompany the President of the United States to Seattle for a national-park commemoration ceremony. While on assignment, you discover that the President is being targeted for a sophisticated assassination attempt--and it's up to you (with the help of Hunky Boyfriend) to protect him! Starring Daryl Hannah (Splash, Steel Magnolias, Roxanne) as Secret Service agent "Alex McGregor" and Doug Savant (Godzilla, the gay guy on Melrose Place) as Hunky Boyfriend. MIN LIAO

Premieres tonight on TBS at 7 pm.

Theater Tease-O-Rama

(THEATER) Movie previews have become as popular as movies themselves, perhaps because they're often more enjoyable than the movies they're advertising. Theater Schmeater and GREX have shamelessly stolen this idea, reducing the upcoming fringe theater season into 10-minute, bite-sized chunks. Participants include A Theatre Under the Influence, Disgruntled Bit Players, Greenstage, GREX, Open Circle Theatre, Re-Act, Seattle Theatre Project, Theater Babylon, Theater Schmeater, and Up in Your Grill, and the whole schmeer will be hosted by the winsome Miss Intermission. It's a superb opportunity to figure out what to go see (and what to avoid) in the coming months. BRET FETZER

Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave, 985-1019. Tonight only, 7 pm; $6.

Rebecca Brown & Grey Spider Press

(READING/BENEFIT) Grey Spider Press is a strange and beautiful anomaly in the world of mega-publishing--a two-person run, hand-set press based in a barn in Sedro Wooley, where it puts out limited editions of incredibly intricate, literally astonishing books of poetry and prose. Such a venture is hardly bound for monetary success, and Grey Spider has been delicately sustained by grant funding since the 1980s. Now, it finds itself on tenuous footing again, on the eve of publishing Rebecca Brown's Excerpts from a Family Medical Dictionary. Help grease the wheels of this worthy project by attending a benefit reading featuring Brown, Jody Aliesan, Peter Pereira, refreshments, and a display of Grey Spider editions. TRACI VOGEL

Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $3-$25 sliding donation scale.

The Robe

(FILM) The Robe is a film that truly should only be seen in a movie theater. It's not so much that it is good--the film is too goofy, too inane, too wantonly moralistic for that--as it is spectacular. The great Cinemascope frame is filled with ridiculous Hollywood sets (of Rome, of Palestine), and then the whole plaster-and-pasteboard extravaganza is rendered in the delirious tones of Technicolor. The titular robe is the garment Jesus was wearing as the protagonist Richard Burton led him off to crucifixion. And, as befits the robe of God, it fills the screen, gloriously red and 20 feet wide. Seattle's own raconteur and ex-Hollywood fixture Otto Lang will host this screening, and should regale us with numerous lengthy tales. JAMIE HOOK

Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, 654-3100, 7:30 pm, $7.

Geist

(MAGAZINE) Overwhelmed by the behemoth of U.S. commercial culture, nine-month winters, and the kind of stark, uninhabited horizons that drove our prairie forefathers nuts, Canadian literary culture has a kind of hostage eccentricity--the cagey, lowercase secrecy of a defeated people. Geist, a kind of Canuck Harper's, gathers various obscure and often astonishing pieces of writing from the 11 provinces and serves them up with a knowing wink that somehow manages to be intimate rather than ironic. Published quarterly just a block down Homer Street from Vancouver's punk-rock mecca the Starfish Room, its 10th anniversary issue features a tongue-in-cheek national motto contest, a startlingly original short story by Annabel Lyon, and the work of Brian Jungen, who makes Northwest Coast tribal masks out of Nike Air Jordans. Get to know your neighbors to the north... Seattleites share with them--more than with our own country--what makes this city great. GRANT COGSWELL

Geist is carried by Ingram Distributors, who supply most newsstands, who stock what people ask for. Ask.