Film Noir
(FILM) As we say good-bye to SUMMER, the night grows longer. Why not indulge in the darkness by attending the Seattle Art Museum's 22nd annual film noir series? NIGHT FACES: THE FILM NOIR CYCLE, a 10-week series, kicks off with Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, and the irrepressible Dan Duryea in the 1948 classic CRISS CROSS, about an armored car driver seduced into a heist by a double-crossing woman and her criminal ex-husband. To celebrate the start of the new series, there will also be FANCY CAKES and sparkling water. -- ANDY SPLETZER
Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, 625-8900, Thursdays through Dec 16, 7.30 pm, series tickets $48, $40 for members.
Timothy Siciliano
(ART) Polymorphous perversity, BODY MODIFICATION, Hindu spirituality, insects, and cute children mingle in TIMOTHY SICILIANO's deliciously smart and naughty work. The Mamacitas, his new series of India ink drawings and sculpture, was inspired by a trip to Mexico City -- "orderly, crying little brides... a heavy yoke girdles a donkey-boy's waist... a stoic, bestial señora shackled and feasted on by a swarm of bees... [the show] ponders the madness of excess and control that binds us to family and culture," in the artist's words. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
Lead Gallery and Wine Bar, 1022 First Ave, 623-6240, reception Thurs Oct 7, 6-9 pm. Through Oct 29.
Jeffrey Simmons
(ART) Simmons shows work painted using an easel which SPINS AROUND in complicated patterns. For this show, he's showing three series: Trochoid, where the easel spins like a Spirograph; Moirés, where overlapping RINGS create op-art effects; and Science Fiction, where Simmons scrapes, outlines, and airbrushes his canvases to create a kind of abstract expressionist take on a sci-fi book cover. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770, opens Thurs Oct 7, 6-8 pm. Through Oct 30.
Coming Out Spiritually
(READING) If there's one thing queers need -- besides looser clothing, greater punctuality, and basic civil rights -- it's a heightened sense of the spiritual. Tonight, San Francisco author CHRISTIAN DE LA HUERTA takes the gays into the spiritual stratosphere with a reading from COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY, his ambitious new book that seeks to reclaim a spiritual connection for traditionally (and understandably) religion-wary homosexuals. Co-sponsored by Gay City. -- DAVID SCHMADER
Bailey/Coy Books, 414 Broadway Ave E, 323-8842, 7 pm.
Turf & Exhale
(THEATER) Local director SONYA BOOTHROYD and local choreographer CHERONNE WONG pair up to present an evening of socially responsible new performance works, co-produced by Seattle Mime Theater. Boothroyd's TURF blends dance, spoken word, and rap (performed by an impressively young and multi-cultural troupe) with video interviews of homeless youth, imprisoned women, and police chief Norm Stamper. Wong's EXHALE is an abstract movement journey about "overcoming cultural, social, and personal barriers." Still, you should check it out. -- DAVID SCHMADER
The Chamber Theater, 915 E Pine St, Fourth Floor, Oddfellows Hall, 903-9487, Oct 7-9 at 8 pm, Oct 10 at 2 pm, $10/$8.
Artificial Life
(ART) CONSOLIDATED WORKS kicks off its inaugural series of film, art, theater, music, and lectures related to the theme ARTIFICIAL LIFE with its visual art show, curated by Meg Shiffler. (The other components of the series open over the following two weeks.) A rich installation by Sandy Skoglund and a set of BUG- LIKE ROBOTS built by Los Alamos scientist Mark Tilden center a show which includes work by local artists Shawn Wolfe, Jim Rittimann, Lauren Grossman, and Matt Steinke, as well as L.A. artist Mark Bennett. From commodity culture satire to evolutionary nightmares, the theme is picked up, turned around, and examined from all angles. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
Consolidated Works, 410 Terry Ave N, 381-3218, opening reception Fri Oct 8, 6-9 pm. Through Nov 28.
Dune Birthday
(READINGS) Certain people here at The Stranger are avid Dune fans, feeling that in that book and
movie a rich world of metaphor swirls around something approaching spirituality. Others think it's all a bunch of GIANT WORM SHIT. New bloods BRIAN HERBERT (son of the great) and KEVIN J. ANDERSON present Dune: House Atreides, written as a prequel to Dune and based on Frank Herbert's notes. Since it's the anniversary of the late Frank Herbert's birthday, there will also be cake. -- TRACI VOGEL
University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free
The Get Up Kids
(LIVE MUSIC) Too hardcore for the emo kids, too emo for the hardcore kids, and too good for any of that bullshit, the GET UP KIDS are one of those bands who engender SLAVISH DEVOTION from their fans. Other bands will skip their own gigs to see the Get Up Kids, and they're right to. Move heaven and hell to see this show. -- ERIN FRANZMAN
RKCNDY, 1812 Yale St, 667-0219, $8 (all ages
National Flag Football Day
(SPORTS) Normally, I'd be goddamned if I would do anything PRESIDENT CLINTON asked me to do, but when he suggested that October 10 be declared National Flag Football Day? I jumped right on board. As you probably realize, Seattle is considered a laughing stock throughout the nation for our reputation as wheezing weakling asthmatics who wouldn't know a PIGSKIN from a PORK RIND. Therefore it is our civic duty to gather our friends together, partake in this rite of fall, and enjoy a little hetero/homoerotic grab 'n' tickle while we're at it. Don't forget to stretch out before and after, obey the "5-Mississippi" rush rule, and bring along a medical kit. Rah! Rah! RAH!! -- WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY
See you on the field, 2 pm SHARP!
St. Demetrios Greek Festival
(FESTIVAL) This is the last day to check out this venerable GREEK ORTHODOX FESTIVAL, which includes all the souvlaki, baklava, and GYROS you can stuff into your greedy gullet, as well as dancing, a raffle, lectures on the Greek Orthodox faith, icon painting, and whatever the Greek word is for tchotchkes. -- ERIC FREDERICKSEN
St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2100 Boyer Ave E, 325-4347, Fri Oct 8 noon-9 pm, Sat Oct 9 10:30 am-9 pm, Sun Oct 10 noon-7 pm, free.
Wit
(THEATER) Tonight, SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE kicks off a week of previews of Margaret Edson's WIT with a pay-what-you-can performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy. Wit tells the tale of Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a hyper-cerebral John Donne scholar who gets her know-it-all ass whupped by a CANCER diagnosis. Done well, it's a stunner, and tonight's your chance to catch it for next to nothing. -- DAVID SCHMADER
Seattle Repertory Theatre, 155 Mercer Street in the Seattle Center, 443-2222, 7:30 pm, pay what you can. (Wit continues Tues-Sun at 7:30 pm, with Sat-Sun matinees at 2:00 pm, through Nov 20, $29-$42.)
The Catheters
(LIVE MUSIC) Not long ago in the supermarket I ran into a kid I used to babysit. I hadn't seen him in 10 years, which would mean he's 18 or 19 now. I didn't even recognize him, because he had turned into the SEXIEST BOY ALIVE. And then I could barely look at him while we chatted because I felt like a dirty old lady. I never babysat for any of the Catheters, though, so tonight I'll be at the Croc with the kids who know how to rock. -- ERIN FRANZMAN
Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave, 441-5611, 9 pm, $6.
Weird Al Yankovic
(LIVE MUSIC) Here's the deal: When they look back on this era in popular music, it's not gonna be your Paul WESTERBERGS, Bruce SPRINGSTEENS, or your Bob Pollards who are declared geniuses. No, sirree. That title is gonna belong to MR. WEIRD AL YANKOVIC. Laugh if you want to (isn't that the point?) but Weird Al has a gift for taking popular art and simultaneously elevating it and debasing it. The real punchline is that it works on so many levels -- lowbrow, highbrow, lyrically, musically.... Besides, if you can't enjoy gems like "My Bologna" and "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" then you really, really need to learn to relax. -- ERIN FRANZMAN
Mount Baker Theatre, 104 N Commercial, Bellingham, 360-734-6080, 7 pm, $22.
