THURSDAY JAN 24


The Standard

(MUSIC) Unlike the Standard's eponymous debut, which was a clean, colorful blast of punk and prog rock energy, the newly released August takes some real concentration to appreciate. It's moodier and more ambient than the debut, with conspicuously fewer hooks. Frontman Tim Putnam barely uses his evocative voice, while songs wander about freely, almost negating themselves by slowing or breaking down just at the point where the listener anticipates gratifying bursts of melody. I hope that all sounds complimentary, because it is. (Graceland, 109 Eastlake Ave E, 381-3094, 9:30 pm, $7.) JEFF DeROCHE


FRIDAY JAN 25


Stormy Weather

(THEATER) Two charming, funny fables that use natural disasters (a tornado and an avalanche) as vehicles for exploring that cataclysmic act of a god called love. An ensemble cast that includes such mega-talents as Heidi Schreck, Matt Ford, Corey Quigley, and Audrey Freudenberg, moves briskly through short, ingeniously staged and economically designed pieces, which were written and directed collaboratively by Juliet Waller and Bret Fetzer (who works for this paper). (On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888, Thurs-Sun at 7:30 pm, $12.) SEAN NELSON


Stepping from the Shadows

(ART) The last time I attended an art opening at the IMC, there was a moment that landed on the farther side of real, when a young white kid started rapping about Traci Vogel, The Stranger's former arts editor. At the time I was pawing through a table strewn with guerrilla art-and-activism stickers, and it seemed to me that urban culture had briefly found a nexus--a place where smart people paid attention. IMC's latest art venture brings graffiti artists from around the country inside--with works on canvas and installations. It includes an absolutely spectacular and sprawling piece by Amir H. Fallah, and PARS' sad and lonely paintings on the undersides of trays and street signs (he's recently started making little Japan Pop-style dolls as well). This is where the real public art happens. Independent Media Center Gallery, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721, 7-10 pm. Exhibition goes through Jan 31. See review p. 57.) EMILY HALL


SATURDAY JAN 26


Bragging Rights Boxing

(PRIZEFIGHTING) Rumor has it Chuck Palahniuk spent three months researching for Fight Club by dragging his friends out to bars in Portland, then picking fights with strangers in an attempt to experience the pride and sorrow that is physical competition. Boxing is like those moments you experience while watching a great film, or discovering the meaning behind a poem, illuminating all the humanity and beauty that you've been searching for. Tonight, Emmett and Robert Linton headline a card featuring several local fighters. (Exhibition Hall, Tacoma Dome, 8 pm, $20/$75. Tickets available from Ticketmaster at 628-0888, or www.ticketmaster.com.) MATT SORENSON


SUNDAY JAN 27


Gosford Park

(FILM) If you've been dragging your feet about seeing the new Robert Altman film, you can hardly be blamed. His last few efforts (including Short Cuts, but especially Cookie's Fortune and that Dr. T disaster) have been less than mind-blowing. Gosford Park, however, is a feast as sumptuous as anything the man behind McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Nashville has ever done, redolent with fantastic performances from dozens of actors, and intuitive class consciousness, and brilliant sound design and cinematography. Go now. (See Movie Times.) SEAN NELSON


MONDAY JAN 28


All Things to All People

(VARIETY) Although I've heard great things from great people about the quality of this monthly showcase, I haven't yet seen it for myself. But tonight I'm going for sure: The excellent Portland lo-fi pop band Urban Legends will perform for the first time in Seattle, and in the midst of the this-and-that indie whiteboy aesthetic, two breakdancers are gonna straight bum rush the show! This is the first hiphop element to be included in the utopia that is "All Things." 'Bout time. (Showbox Green Room, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 9 pm, $5.) BRIAN GOEDDE


TUESDAY JAN 29


Kandahar

(FILM) The current war being waged by our awful (at times) government is nevertheless worth fighting, and winning, because it has deposed the fascistic, fundamentalist Taliban. This film, by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, is a great primer in the moral calamity of modern Afghanistan, told through the burqa-bound (and beautiful) eyes of a woman fighting her way into the title city to try and save her suicidal sister. It's a beautiful horror story. (See Movie Times.) SEAN NELSON


WEDNESDAY JAN 30


Seattle Research Institute

(READING) Seattle's intellectualism will spark to life tonight in three forms. In animated form: Nic Veroli, political philosopher and activist, will give a lecture titled "Joy, Terror, and the Global Corporate Order." In physical form: Veroli's essay and others will be available in the anthology Politics Without the State, which will be published by "the Bay Press of the 21st century," 10th Avenue East Press. In political form: This is the inaugural lecture of the Seattle Research Institute, an organization that produces texts and theories that exist between the university and the city. (Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $5 suggested.) BRIAN GOEDDE