Mae West Fest V
(THEATER FESTIVAL) Something like 51 percent of the world's population is female, yet the theater world--among playwrights and directors in particular--is hugely, disproportionately male. Playwright/director Heidi Heimarck got fed up five years ago and founded the Mae West Fest as an opportunity for those of XX chromosomes to put something out there. The Fest started modestly with a handful of performances, but after four years it's grown to monstrous proportions, cramming 32 different shows (each of which gets three showings, for a total of 96 performances varying from 10 to 60 minutes) into four days. Topics range from Princess Diana to Sigmund Freud, from American Indian activists to the Kursk submarine disaster, from sex to fear to maxi pads. Where else will you see the Greek tragic heroine Antigone played by a sock puppet? (Go to www.maewestfest.org for complete schedule and ticket information.) BRET FETZER
Union Garage & Odd Duck Studio, 1418 10th Ave & one block south of there, respectively, 720-1942. Thurs-Sun, $5-$10, $40 for a festival pass. This weekend only.
In Search of Lost Time
(ART) The highbrow reference to (the correct translation of) Proust's famous meditation obscures how funny and original and cool Eva Goodman's installation is. The artist, who shuttles indecisively between Seattle and New York, fuses what she knows about topiary, photograph styling, metalwork, and glass blowing into a series of amazing eyeball-themed objects. If you are very patient, you can pay homage to the installation's title and watch time creep relentlessly by: in the glass eyeballs encased in melting ice, or the live and growing topiary eyeballs. Other objects are both cute and slightly sinister, such as a big ball of eyeballs hanging out at the beach, where the eyeballs look back at you. It's a clever, circular show: the viewer viewed, reflected, implied, made part of the gentle joke. EMILY HALL
Bubba-Mavis Gallery, 1158 Eastlake Ave E, 405-3223 (open by appointment). Opening reception 7-10 pm. Through Aug 17.
Two Bands with Crazy-Ass Names
(MUSIC) As far as bills go, tonight's lineup at Graceland could leave you feeling pretty dull by comparison. Japan's elusive Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her features a cinematic frontwoman who struts, shimmies, demurs, and writhes seductively, singing punchy rock lyrics as her band kicks out equally jabbing tunes. In a relatively short time, Pretty Girls Make Graves has proven itself to be one of Seattle's tightest live acts, and a band that is comfortable with its undeniable talents and whose performances showcase its members' professionalism. And, it should be noted, frontwoman Andrea Zollo is pretty cinematic, herself. The Bad Girls and the Moools round out this provocative show, making for what should be a grand night of rock 'n' roll style (and structure). KATHLEEN WILSON
Graceland, 109 Eastlake Ave E, 381-3094, 9:30, $8.
Hamletmachine
(THEATER) "Pretentious and portentous--Teutonic." That's how this theater prof I once knew described Heiner Müller, author of Hamletmachine, a play featuring such stage directions as "Laughter from the coffin. On a swing, the Madonna with breast cancer. Horatio opens an umbrella, embraces Hamlet.... The breast cancer radiates like the sun." At a pivotal moment, the actor playing Hamlet tears a photo of Müller in half--which is either some statement about the death of the author or reflective of some personal woe on Müller's part, which the play doesn't give me much reason to care about. So why am I recommending this overwrought nonsense? Because it's being done by Defibrillator Productions, which did an almost equally pretentious thing by turning some Kafka stories into a theater piece in the last Fringe Festival--and by all accounts it was a smash success. So who knows, maybe they'll pull this one off too; and if they don't, the attempt will at least be worth watching. BRET FETZER
Sand Point Building 30, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, 931-5629. Wed-Sun at 9; Sat July 28 at midnight; $12 (pay-what-you-can on Wed). Through July 28.
Felice Picano
(READING) Twenty-five years ago, Felice Picano, along with seven other American writers, including Edmund White and Andrew Holleran, started the Violet Quill Club to promote gay writing, and very wittingly canonized a new genre. But the club, and the genre itself, was set upon by AIDS, and in the aftermath Picano has proven to be an extraordinary literary chronicler of a time fraught with tragedy. His novel The Book of Lies fictionalized the Violet Quill Club; tonight, he reads from his long-awaited new novel, Onyx, which is also loosely based on his own life. TRACI VOGEL
Elliott Bay Books, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free advance tickets.
Crime Wave
(FILM) Success. Everybody has dreams of reaching the top in one field or another. In Crime Wave, screenwriter Steven Penny (John Paizs) has dreams of making the best "colour crime films" imaginable, though he's only good at writing the beginnings and endings of scenes. If you're not sure what those are exactly, well, neither am I, but it makes perfect sense in the context of this film. Set in a 1950s fantasy world, Paizs (also the writer-director) fills the movie with surreal bits and a good-natured, genial charm. If you ever wondered what kind of movie Tim Burton would make without his goth affectation, or David Lynch without his dark side, the answer is right here in Crime Wave. DAVID MANNING
Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, Fri-Sat at 11, $7.50.
Yume Bitsu
(MUSIC) This intuitive and primarily improvisational Portland quartet consists of two guitarists (one of whom sings upon occasion), a keyboardist, and a drummer. The band, whose name means "dream beats" in Japanese, creates a spacious instrumental sound that is as buoyant as it is challenging. Fans of Kinski and other contemporaries should take note of this band's impressionistic, transporting, dreamlike swell. JEFF DeROCHE
Graceland, 109 Eastlake Ave E, 381-3094, 8 pm, $7.
Ghost World
(FILM) It should come as no surprise to anyone who's read this week's film section that this weekend brings the release (at long last) of the film adaptation of Dan Clowes' Ghost World, a comic that defined the moral and psychic timbre of the 1990s better than any other work of art. The movie, directed by Terry Zwigoff (Crumb), is a good deal different from the book, casting its net onto a timeless, placeless vibe of dislocation. But, ably acted by Thora Birch, Scarlett Johannsen, and Steve Buscemi, and written by Clowes and Zwigoff, Ghost World the movie remains as true to its source, and to its audience, as anything we might have hoped for. SEAN NELSON
See Movie Times for details.
Grant Cogswell for City Council Kickoff
(CAMPAIGN EVENT) Local writer, Stranger contributor, and transportation activist Grant Cogswell is running for a seat on the Seattle City Council. With Dick Falkenbury, Cogswell worked to pass Seattle's first monorail initiative in 1997, and helped pass the second monorail initiative last November. Cogswell is challenging the monorail's biggest enemy, Richard McIver. Help Cogswell run McIver off the city council by showing up at Cogswell's kickoff party and handing him a check. The Pulses and half of the original Harvey Danger will perform. DAN SAVAGE
Victrola Coffee & Art, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520, www.cogswellforseattle.org, 5-8 pm, $25 suggested donation.
Looking for Mr. Kinky Right
(POWWOW) If letters to Savage Love and personals ads are any indication, there are a lot more kinky, obsessive, fetishistic men than women out there, so you'd think kinky heterosexual females could pick and choose. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that doesn't encourage women to discover their kinkiness and doesn't offer a lot of safe forums for them to explore it. So some experienced hands are here to offer helpful advice: professional dominatrix Mistress Matisse, Jane Duvall from smutty information website janesguide.com, and Allena from the Wetspot, Seattle's sex-positive community center. They'll talk about communication, setting boundaries, keeping it safe yet keeping it sexy, and other topics that will help you find a guy to satisfy your special, hard-to-reach itch, whatever it may be. BRET FETZER
Rendezvous, 2320 Second Ave, 720-7855, 8 pm, $8 (or FREE with a filled-out Women Seeking Men Alternatives ad).
Alejandro Escovedo
(MUSIC) At 50 years, Alejandro Escovedo's voice is full of character and integrity. The least famous and most earthbound of his celebrity family (his brother is Pedro Escovedo, his niece is Sheila E.), Escovedo has been charting a music career for almost three decades, which began in San Francisco with his former punk band the Nuns. While wisdom has always tempered his sadness and angst, Escovedo's most recent release, A Man Under the Influence, is shot through with visceral moments of heartbreak: The record is rich with sharp observations and sad confessions. Escovedo's eloquent guitar-playing and excellent band are a treat to hear, but what's most compelling is his voice--a gentle instrument that rends the heart quietly. JEFF DeROCHE
Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave NW, 789-3599, 9:30 pm, $12/$14.
