'Hair'
(THEATER) 5th Avenue's Hair is a smashing, literal adaptation of the 1968 rock musical in which a gaggle of smart, sarcastic, and irreverent Greenwich Village hippie teenagers spoof racism, war, and square culture with a slew of fantastic songs. The divine singing voices--especially that of Claude (Louis Hobson), who croons the showstopper "The Flesh Failures"--glow like perfectly tuned cellos and violins. And yes, the far-out-looking boys and girls get naked. (5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave, 292-2787, $12-50, Tues-Wed at 7:30 pm, Thurs-Sat at 8 pm, Sat and Sun matinees at 2 pm. Through May 4.) JOSH FEIT
FRIDAY MAY 2
The Helio Sequence
(MUSIC) Another stunning two-piece from the Northwest, Portland's Helio Sequence use a laptop to sequence hypnotic rhythms--but drummer Benjamin Weikel and singer-guitarist Brandon Summers are plenty mesmerizing on their own. Theirs is a frenzied psychedelia--inventive, exciting, and rooted in organic experimentation that keeps audiences guessing at just how elastic each song will become. Rumor has it that Weikel has been collaborating with Modest Mouse in the studio and will be revealed as Jeremiah Green's replacement when the band resumes touring next month. (Graceland, 109 Eastlake Ave E, 6 pm all ages, 10 pm 21+, $8 adv.) KATHLEEN WILSON
SATURDAY MAY 3
Bernard Purdie's Party
(RECORD RELEASE PARTY) Usually porn music is forgettable, and with our current obsession with reality- based porn--the sounds of actual sex between actual people (housewife, babysitter, yard hand)--bad porn music has for the most part been removed from the internal world of the fucking cinema. But there were rare moments in the past when a porn soundtrack rose above its hardcore context and could be enjoyed for what it was: good music. Lialeh, a black porn film released in 1974, had such a soundtrack, composed by Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. Local label Light in the Attic has done something truly original by salvaging this soundtrack from its deep and dirty past. With the Sharpshooters spinning lots of sex. (Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, 233-9873, 10 pm, $5.) CHARLES MUDEDE
See also Speakerfreak, page 51.A-Frames
(MUSIC) Goddamn--the new A-Frames record, 2, is so good. The local trio play angular post-punk touched by a bit of Joy Division and the Fall, and their second release pulses with clinical/robotic rhythms underwired with a dark, brooding sensuality. They are brawn and brain in one band, and tonight is their celebratory record (read: vinyl) release party. See them while you can, before one of Seattle's best acts goes cross-country touring on us. (Zak's, 206 Fifth Ave N, 448-0961, 9:30 pm, $5.) JENNIFER MAERZ
SUNDAY MAY 4Beat-Bop
(MUSIC) The Baltic Room's Beat-Bop on Sunday night offers an excellent mix of future jazz, downtempo, soul, real hiphop, and broken beat--in a word, the sound of modern London. Indeed, when I was there last Sunday with my sister (who lived in London until recently), she said to me, as DJ Michael Antonia spun a rare, bouncy broken-beat cut, "When I close my eyes I'm right back in London." When she opened her eyes she saw the Space Needle, and all of the phony stars that glitter above the bar and dance floor. (Baltic Room, 1207 Pine St, 625-4444, 9 pm, no cover!) CHARLES MUDEDEMONDAY MAY 5'X2'
(MOVIES) There are many reasons to be excited about the sequel to X-Men, the finest comic-book movie since Superman II. Among those reasons: extended banter between Professor X and Magneto (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, reigning don of epic pop cinema), war-on-terror allegory aplenty, the arrival of Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), the reappearance of Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and the heralding of summer. As pop trash goes, it doesn't get much better. Ultimately, though, anticipation for X2 can be summed up in a single word. That word is "dude." Dude! (Opens Fri May 2 at various theaters. See Movie Times for details.) SEAN NELSON
TUESDAY MAY 6Turtle Press
(SHOP) As far as I'm concerned there are only two stores that really matter on Ballard's Market Street: Sonic Boom and Turtle Press. No doubt you know about Sonic Boom, so I'll use the rest of this space to tell you about Turtle Press, the adorable paper and art supply store. It has everything--handmade paper, drawing journals, and tons more fancy-pants art stuff--and it just expanded its art supply section to include more paints and brushes. Go to Turtle Press, spend a lot of money, and let your creative juices flow. (2215 NW Market St, 706-3186, open Mon 11-5, Tues-Sat 10-6; closed Sun.) MEGAN SELING
WEDNESDAY MAY 7Rebecca Brown
(READING) Local literary force Rebecca Brown reads from her new collection of essays and short stories, The End of Youth, published by San Francisco's City Lights. As the title suggests, the theme running through these pieces is the loss of youth, but not so much physical youth as youth's hope, the sense that things just might get better and end happily ever after. Brown's prose cuts into the fiction of what is in reality a meaningless world. (Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway E, 323-8842, 7 pm, free.) CHARLES MUDEDE
