AFest 2001
(PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL) Hot on the heels of Northwest New Works comes another performance cornucopia: AFest 2001. Though the prime creators are all of Asian or Asian American origin, that's about all the works have in common--the selection includes a wide variety of dance (Cheronne Wong, Rivergrass Dance Theatre, Lee Swee Keong), solo theater (James Sie, Andrew Kim), and music (Byron Au Young). Up first is dance/installation hybrid The Three Yells, with Remember Me--Installment 6. Choreographer Veronica Lee and visual artist Lester Lee both hail from Singapore and fuse Eastern tradition with a Western avant-garde approach. A meditation on memory, Remember Me features raining papers, painted fingers, persistent typewriting, and plunging thread, along with high-energy movement. BRET FETZER
Performances are at Northwest Asian American American Theatre, 409 Seventh Ave S, and Nippon Kan Theatre, 628 S Washington St; call 340-1445 for details. Through May 28.
Rufus Wainwright
(MUSIC) Dear Editor: I never thought it could happen to me. I was a 200-percent straight man with a long-term girlfriend and a condo in West Seattle. I'd never entertained a queer thought in my life... until I heard the Rufus Wainwright record a couple of years ago, that is. The opening line of his heavenly tenor ("I don't wanna hold you and feeeel so helpless...") was all it took and ker-SWOON, I'd ditched the bitch, moved to the islands, and camped out (as it were) waiting for Rufus to follow up his earth-shattering, new-new-romantic, Thom Yorke-in-the-Weimar debut. His second record, Poses, is due later this month--hooray. Meantime, I'll try and catch his gleaming eye when he presides over the Croc tonight, majestic pipes, long, lean corpus, and all. Wish me luck! NAME WITHHELD
Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9:30 pm, $15.
Direct Animation
(FILM) Direct animation refers to a kind of filmmaking that is made without cameras, but with images produced directly on the film by drawing, scratching, writing, photocopying--any process for which the film becomes a canvas. One of the earliest practitioners was poet-artist-ethnomusicologist-curmudgeon Harry Smith, whose batiked and hand-drawn animation anticipated the psychedelic style of the '60s. As part of this little festival, which includes workshops by guest filmmaker Devon Damonte, there will be screenings of two sets of direct-animation anthologies. Masterworks includes films by past innovators such as Smith, Stan Brakhage, and Norman McClaren; Currents has the newest work of this strange art-and-film crossover. EMILY HALL
Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. See Movie Times for details.
The General
(SILENT FILM) Yeah, yeah... Buster Keaton, classic silent cinema, blah blah blah. But guess what! Buster Keaton's work holds up better than ANY of the so-called classic screen comedians--Chaplin, Lloyd, the Marx Brothers (all of whom I'd take a bullet for)--and The General holds up better than most Keaton films. Buster plays Johnnie Gray, a Dixie boy who loves only three things: the South, his train, and a girl named Annabelle Lee. When the war of Northern aggression breaks out, all three of his loves fail him--the Confederacy tells him he's more important as an engineer than a soldier, Annabelle thinks him a coward, and his train is stolen by Yankees. Spoiler alert: He prevails, hilariously. SEAN NELSON
Hokum Hall, 7904 35th Ave SW, 937-3613. See Movie Times for details.
Rosemary Clooney
(MUSIC) Despite having been a student of Seattle's own Lincoln High School, legendary vocalist Rosemary Clooney hasn't graced a Seattle stage in nearly 30 years. This weekend, however, she joins the Seattle Men's Chorus for two performances at the Paramount, each featuring two sets. First up, the SMC will ambitiously warm up the audience by singing its own interpretations of Clooney's hits, including a rendition of "Mambo Italiano" (mambo dancers included), before the lady of the evening makes her grand entrance, blessing ticket holders with a glittering set laden with personality-driven standards and culminating with the "Sisters" number from White Christmas. KATHLEEN WILSON
Paramount Theatre, Ninth & Pine, 628-0888, 8 pm, $14-$54. Also Sun May 6, 2 pm.
Crossing Borders
(READING/BENEFIT) Now that the vogue of East Indian literature has hit its peak, we can all actually enjoy the work without the bothersome hype. This week, four Indian writers participate in a panel moderated by KUOW's Marcie Sillman, with time for audience participation. The event is organized to benefit Seattle's chapter of Chaya, an organization that serves South Asian victims of domestic abuse. Of the four--Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Pico Iyer, Pramila Jayapal, and Abraham Verghese--travel essayist Pico Iyer is my current favorite; his status as a world citizen (he has been described as "the poet laureate of wanderlust") lends him that invaluable writerly quality of seeming to be everywhere at once. TRACI VOGEL
Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 275-2493, 11 am-5 pm, $30/$25 adv.
Kelly Hogan & the Pine Valley Cosmonauts
(MUSIC) Kelly Hogan has a honeyed voice that captures hipsters and hicksters alike from the very first listen. Her long history of music-making includes fronting the Jody Grind and playing guitar in the Rock*A*Teens in Atlanta before heading north to Chicago, hooking up with Bloodshot Records, and turning heads with her fearsome stage presence and powerful country soul. Last year's Beneath the Country Underdog was produced by the Mekons' Jon Langford (who also played on the album). Brimming with a stripped-down Dusty Springfield vibe and excellent original songs and covers of Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, and the Magnetic Fields, the album showcased Hogan's penchant for intoxicating torch and twang. Like her sometimes collaborator and tourmate Neko Case, Hogan is a firecracker live, joined by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, featuring members of the Mekons, the Waco Brothers, and the Bottle Rockets. NATE LIPPENS
Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9:30 pm, $10.
Emerald Downs
(HORSE RACING) The great thing about playing the ponies is how swiftly easy it is to learn the difference between Right and Wrong. Take a break from the world governed by pantywaist deferral, where "We'll call you," and "Would gladly take another look at your work in the future," and "Maybe next week" hold sway. Ten live races a day plus 10 or more simulcast races afford plenty of opportunities to discover the meaning of life. And if the answer doesn't agree with you, another moment of truth is just minutes away. DOUG NUFER
Emerald Downs, between 37th NW and 15th NW, Auburn (I-5 South to S 272nd St exit), 888-931-8400, Thurs-Fri, 6 pm; Sat-Sun & holidays, 1 pm.
In a Lonely Place
(FILM) This unrelentingly bleak and romantic noir offers both the greatest film by the great Nicholas Ray (which is saying something) and Bogart's best performance (which is really saying something). The "lonely place" is Hollywood, just after WWII, where an alcoholic screenwriter (Bogie) with a hellish violent streak stands accused of murder until his gorgeous blond neighbor (Gloria Grahame) offers a (false) alibi for him. Naturally, they fall in love. But it isn't long before his dark nature shines through, and she starts wondering if maybe she didn't vouch for the wrong anti-hero. The suspense is gripping, and so is the b&w photography. But what really makes Place rock is the tenderness behind Bogart's acid-tongued, two-fisted scribbler. The second that Grahame shows him kindness, he becomes a big girl's blouse, capable of investing fluffy lines like, "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived for a few weeks when she loved me," with the conviction that begets classics. SEAN NELSON
Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935. See Movie Times for details.
Sonia Gomez
(TALK) When Sonia Gomez, Seattle writer and thought-provoker, saw the title of her Hugo Talk--"Poetry in Motion: The Unbearable Lightness of Boeing"--printed on the poster, she was a little surprised. "Charles Mudede very cheekily made that title up!" she says. "My talk is only very incidentally about Boeing, and given that it's a current topic, I wouldn't want to mislead anyone." So what is Gomez's talk about? "It's more a sort of ode to flight," she says. "It's going to draw on a number of different thematic threads: birds, early years of aviation, flying machines, modern jet travel, and some personal memoir. The piece is constructed out of little windows onto these themes." This is the last of this year's Hugo Talks, and given how extraordinary the series has been, I encourage you not to miss it. TRACI VOGEL
Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $7.
Top of the Pops
(CLUB NIGHT) Every alcoholic worth his tequila salt knows that the only event worth attending on a Wednesday night in Seattle is the Baltic Room's Top of the Pops. Touted as a night for mods (if you arrive on a scooter the $5 cover is waived), the actual turnout tends toward a group of indie rockers and black-clad moptops who have more libations in common than Lambrettas. Stuart McLean, Mark McElwane, Jesse, and Nadine Faez spin a mixture of damn near every hit strong enough to swim its way across the Atlantic, while inebriated hipsters bop until their legs buckle. If Vespas make you hot, or if you just like swaying drunkenly to the Stones, then go late, bring cab fare, and prepare for some good old-fashioned debauchery. NATHAN ALLBEE
Baltic Room, 1207 E Pine St, 625-4444, 9 pm, $5.
