TUESDAY 8/8

YU PING CHEN--The latest "Composer Spotlight" brings to town this composer/performer who will perform traditional Chinese and Persian melodies, plus her own compositions for the yangquin, or hammered dulcimer. According to the press release, the yangquin originated in Persia (in Iran it is called the santour), and came to China three centuries ago during the Ming Dynasty. See, you do learn something new every day. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919, 7:30 pm, free.

WEDNESDAY 8/9

SEATTLE SYMPHONY CHORALE--The summer sing-along series comes to a close with your chance to perform two great masterpieces. Describing the music of Gabriel Fauré, Arthur Honegger could think of no other composers whose works were "more purely and uniquely music, except, perhaps... Mozart and Schubert." Perform the uniquely elegant Requiem and see if you don't agree. As for Honegger's comparisons, even more than with Mozart, any encounter with the masterpieces of Schubert brings us to imponderables like how such simplicity and seeming effortlessness could create such perfection. (Given a rival and a more scandalous death, there could have been a hit Broadway play called Peter.) His beloved Mass No. 2 in G, with its lovely, limpid Benedictus--sorry, the soloists get the best moments--poses the question as much as any other of his masterworks. St. Mark's Cathedral, 214 10th Ave E, 215-4747, 7 pm, $8.

RADIO SHOWS
by Mark Pinkos

FRIDAY 8/4

FIRST HOUR FOLKUS--Host John Sincock presides over this oddly named program focusing on the contemporary folk scene. This would ordinarily be pretty forgettable, except that this week he will be interviewing Lucinda Williams, who towers over just about every other contemporary roots-folk-Americana artist out there. KBCS 91.3 FM, noon.

SATURDAY 8/5

E-TOWN--No, this isn't yet another brave-new-world radio program that weighs in heavily with Internet propaganda. The "E" here stands for environment, which is E-Town's beat, though it does seem as if another "E" has almost completely eclipsed this "E" in recent years. Society keeps piling up the garbage, damming the rivers, and increasing our population at an unsustainable pace. Are there any easy answers? Tune in and find out. KBCS 91.3 FM, 4 pm.

LIVE ROOM--A Seattle fireside tradition, The Live Room at KCMU hosts local bands of all statures and genres. This week they have PRIS cued up and ready to go; their sound is stated as being analogous to a "violent explosion of creamy pop goodness." KCMU 90.3 FM, 8-9 pm.

SONARCHY--Sonarchy, like the name implies, is a show that explores frontiers and ideas in music that rarely get explored over the airwaves (even on the public end of the dial). The joint should be jumpin' tonight as Gravelvoice Archive, a four-piece outfit featuring noted Seattle free-jazz scene alumnus Eyvind Kang, engage in a skronky-free improv brawl to the death. KCMU 90.3 FM, 11-12 pm.

MONDAY 8/7

LOVELINE--This show's popularity should have crested long ago; everyone knows the divorce rate between fads and America's fickle 15- to 25-year-old demographic is nearly 100 percent. Yet Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew still continue to command prime airtime every night of the week. Now, why is this? My guess is that Loveline's audience has a narcissistic obsession with failure and dysfunction--they binge and purge on it. Long after shows like Survivor and Behind the Music have faded into cultural white-noise memory, Loveline will still be trying to place a Band-Aid on the gaping wounds of America's youth. KQBZ 100.7 FM, 10 pm.

REGIONAL MUSIC

NEKO CASE & HER BOYFRIENDS: Thurs Aug 3, Capitol Theatre, Olympia

CRACKER, KITTY SNYDER: Thurs Aug 3, Crystal Ballroom, Portland

FOO FIGHTERS, SMASHING PUMPKINS, CATHERINE WHEEL, DEFTONES: Fri Aug 4, BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, BC

SUPERSUCKERS: Fri Aug 4, Berbati's Pan, Portland

WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: Fri Aug 4, Clark County Fair, Vancouver, WA

GATEMOUTH BROWN, SHEMEKIA COPELAND: Fri Aug 4, Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Portland

KEN STRINGFELLOW, JON AUER: Sat Aug 5, Berbati's Pan, Portland

SUPER DIAMOND: Sat Aug 5, Paradigm, Portland

KORN, MOBY, MXPX, POWERMAN 5000, FENIX TX: Sun Aug 6, Portland Meadows, Portland

764-HERO, LOVE AS LAUGHTER, WOLF COLONEL: Mon Aug 7, Lola's Room, Portland

DIDO: Tues Aug 8, Aladdin Theater, Portland

SAWYER BROWN: Wed Aug 9, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma