Ariel Gore, Bee Lavender

(READING) In the introduction to the book Breeders, Ariel Gore writes about the contemporary generation of young mothers: "With more choices than our grandmas ever dreamed of, and less support, many of us have struggled with the judgment of our peers and elders who told us we couldn't do it as students, as travelers, as dykes, as breadwinners, as single girls or as alterna-freaks." The 36 stories in this book articulate how difficult young motherhood is for Gen-Xers (and post Gen-Xers), and how funny, complicated, and rewarding it is as well. Gore is the founding editor of Hip Mama, the parenting magazine, and Bee Lavender is managing director of hipmama.com. Today they are joined by the Dolly Ranchers Band. brian goedde

Cafe Solstice, 4116 University Way NE, 7 pm, free. For information call University Bookstore, 634-3400.

Michael Randall Ealy Social Justice Foundation

(MEETING) Feeling like the Seattle Police Department isn't accountable to the public? Feeling like the Office of Professional Accountability--an "independent" citizen review panel created by the Seattle City Council two years ago that still isn't up and running, and has to get approval from the police chief to actually do anything--isn't actually doing anything? Join like-minded citizens for a meeting of the Michael Randall Ealy Social Justice Foundation, named after Ealy, a 35-year-old black man who (his family's lawsuit claims) was killed in police custody while handcuffed and held to the ground. JOSH FEIT

Tonight, and subsequent first Thursdays, 6:30-8 pm, A.M.E. Zion Church, Social Hall, 1716 23rd Ave at Olive St. Call 320-7069 or e-mail opealy@uswest.net for further details.

Fat Girl Follies

(THEATER) Peggy Platt is fat, and she's not afraid to talk about it. Platt is probably best known as half of Dos Fallopia, the sketch comedy duo known for country-western mother-daughter team the Spudds and other broadly satirical characters. But she's also a stand-up comedian in her own right, with a sharp eye and a skewed perspective, shaped in part by America's uncomfortable relationship with weight. The autobiographical Fat Girl Follies is a mix of monologues and comedy sketches that promises to be less joke-oriented than usual. Anyone who's seen some of Dos Fallopia's surprisingly multi-layered pieces, which manage to encompass a remarkable richness of character and observation without sacrificing entertainment value, will welcome this show's potential. Also featuring Kelly Wright from the Washingtonians! and Tove Hanson (recently seen in Why? Why? Why? at Consolidated Works), as well as songs by the other half of Dos Fallopia, Lisa Koch. BRET FETZER

On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888. Thurs-Sat at 9, Sun at 3 & 8; $13 Thurs & Sun, $15 Fri-Sat ($10 preview on Thurs Aug 2). Through Aug 26.

The Roots

(MUSIC) The most remarkable thing about the Roots is not that they are champions of what is called "organic hiphop"--that is, rapping with live instruments. Many groups have used live instruments. The most remarkable thing is that none of these other groups have been able to match the Roots' insight on what to do with "organic hiphop." Where most groups just superimpose rapping over funky basslines, on each album from the Roots--from '95's Do You Want More? through '99's Things Fall Apart--the interactions between voice and music have gotten progressively more intricate. Granted, that's on their records. Not all the Roots will be at this show (it was announced just last week). Local groove band Phat Sidy Smokehouse will be backing up Black Thought, ?uestlove, and beatboxer Scratch instead of Leonard Hubbard and James Grey. We have yet to see how this interaction will play out, but whatever the outcome, I think it will be a highlight for Seattle hiphop this summer. Last thought: If by chance Erykah Badu is in Seattle early for her Pier 61/62 concert... nah, that would be too great a story. BRIAN GOEDDE

I-Spy, 1921 Fifth Ave, 324-9492, 10 pm, $18.

Sleater-Kinney

(MUSIC) If the glorious clamor of Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss hasn't yet carved out a special place in your heart, I've got nothing to say to you. Feel free to continue your bitching about Corin's stuck-pig squeal and the band's lack of a bass player while the rest of us head down to the piers to bask in the beauty of one of the greatest rock bands the world has ever produced. Tonight, Sleater-Kinney is serving as opening band for its role-model goddess Patti Smith, and I expect the let's-please-Mommy tension will kick the ladies' chemistry into ferocious overdrive. Last time I saw 'em, S-K brought the house down with its rendition of "Fortunate Son." Knowing the band's new amenability to covers, I simply must insist that S-K learns and begins performing Television's "See No Evil." DAVID SCHMADER

Pier 61/62 on the downtown Seattle waterfront, 8 pm, $28. For tickets go to the box office at Pier 61/62, visit summernights.org, or call Ticketmaster at 628-0888.

The Bunny Chronicles

(ART) Who is the bunny? Where is she? Why does she seem so sad? Why is she wearing a negligée? These and other questions go quite unanswered by Tomiko Jones' series of photographs, which narrate a haunting, vague story of wanderlust, loneliness, and any other unsettling emotions we might care to project onto it: the self-portrait as imagined landscape. EMILY HALL

The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557, opening reception 6-10 pm. Through Aug 19.

Bitches in Heat

(FILM) How do you like your bitches? I like mine in black and white, preferably with shoulder pads the size of surfboards, voracious appetites for booze, and an unquenchable need to destroy hapless male victims. Why? Because with a relish seldom seen on the modern movie screen, they embody the subconscious terror of the strong female that lurks at the heart of 20th-century man. The Northwest Film Forum is running a retrospective of these noir-era "women in film" (your Gloria Swansons, your Liz Taylors, your Bette Davises) under the moniker "Bitches in Heat." The three-week series kicks off with Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's Devil Is a Woman, and continues Monday with Barbara Stanwyck's ball-smashing turn in Double Indemnity (made by one of the cinema's least-identified woman-haters, Billy Wilder). Strap on a pair and check it out. SEAN NELSON

Devil Is a Woman plays Fri-Sun Aug 3-5 at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9; "Bitches in Heat" runs through Aug 23. Check Movie Times or www.nwfilmforum.org for further details.

Pootie Tang R.I.P.

(WEBSITE) You can't see it in theaters any longer, but you can smell it in the air: A cult classic has been born. After a dismal showing at the box office (the crucial first step for any cult classic) and following a marketing campaign designed by a film studio that obviously didn't get it, Louis C. K .'s Pootie Tang--like Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman before it--is now officially destined for the video shelves of comedy aficionados everywhere, for all time. So until the DVD comes out (it can't be long now--let's just hope for special features that detail Paramount's interference with the project), feel free to visit the director's website, where you can read the dozens of reviews by people who appreciated the film's hilariously surreal parody of the culture of black hipness, view clips from C. K.'s excellent shorts, and enjoy several other very funny bits and pieces from one of the funniest comedians alive. SEAN NELSON

www.louisck.com.

Much Ado About Everything

(COMEDY) Toward the end of the callow and tacky '80s, some out-of-town friends came to visit me in New York City. They wanted to see a Broadway show; I wanted to go try out my new fake ID. Politeness prevailed. We went to the half-price ticket place in Times Square, and ended up at Jackie Mason's The World According to Me. I was bored, irritated, bored--who cared, I thought, what this homunculus thought? With his self-deprecating arrogance, the musical Yiddishness of his inflections, and corny-as-corned-beef jokes, he seemed to me like a parody of a caricature of a person. I didn't understand at all that this was the point. Now, all these years later, Mason still irritates me witless, but I respect the hell out of his right to do so. EMILY HALL

A Contemporary Theatre, 700 Union St, 292-ARTS. Mon-Thurs at 7:30, Fri-Sat at 8, Sun at 2; $36-$41. Through Aug 18.

Toots & the Maytals

(MUSIC) Frederick "Toots" Hibbert has a marvelous voice, at once rough and stunningly melodic. He is cited as being the godfather of ska--the up-tempo, muscular, sometimes spazzy son of reggae. Although I don't think he'll go as buck wild at EMP as he does on 1973's version of "Funky Kingston," he'll raise the roof with "54/46 Was My Number," and hopefully he'll also perform "Sailin' On" (a song I want played at my funeral). I bet he'll also sing our unofficial state song, "Louie Louie," which is an embarrassment to us, but when he does it, I swear, it sounds fantastic. BRIAN GOEDDE

Sky Church at the EMP, 325 Fifth Ave N (Seattle Center), 770-2702, 8 pm; $15 general, $10 museum members.

Plaid

(MUSIC) Critics slapped the "Intelligent Dance Music" label on Plaid, meaning its electronic compositions don't feature J. Lo vocals and are too artistic to be pumped through the speakers at your gym. Plaid's approach is simple and surgical, sliding minimal beats through infinite tunnels of dreamy melodies. The duo's narcotic compositions create more with less, cutting and pasting William Orbit beauty with an Aphex Twin sinister grin. This isn't to say there's no room left to dance. Tracks like "Zala" on the newest album, Double Figure, should get the kids out of a stoned trance long enough to trace the beats with a couple fast-moving shakes of the head. JENNIFER MAERZ

Showbox, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, $15/$17.