SAT OPENINGS
THE TRIPLE DOOR
The rumor that Wild Ginger owner Rick Yoder was angling to open a jazz club has been around seemingly since the days of Louis Armstrong. But now the place is finally hereand it’s even swankier than the recently renovated Jazz Alley. (One local musician who tours nationally told me he’d never seen such a showplace.) With mostly local artists offering everything from blues to Celtic, the Door (the Triple?) isn’t directly up against the Alley, but it’s going for the same “adults-night-out” demographic. Tonight’s opening party (with free food!) features versatile saxophonist Sue Orfield (above) and is likely be sold out by the time you read this, but you might be able to get into the bar. 7 p.m., 9 p.m., and 11 p.m. Sat., Sept. 20. $15 ($7.50 lounge). The Triple Door, 216 Union St. (underneath Wild Ginger), 206-838-4333. MARK D. FEFER
SAT DANCE
TURF!
From the Jefferson Community Center on Beacon Hill to the Apollo Theater in New York City is around 3,000 miles, but it’s a path these B-boys and B-girls seem to have memorized. After winning two elimination rounds of the Showtime at the Apollo competition, TURF! returns for the nationally televised finals later this month, opening first with a West Coast tour. The young dancers combine the aplomb of Fred Astaire with a casual virtuosity, spinning on their heads, then finishing with a shrug. 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 20. $10-$15. Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., 206-292-ARTS. SANDRA KURTZ
photo: Marcy Guiragossian |
SUN THE FUNK
GEORGE CLINTON
Clinton didn’t invent funk by any means, but by putting “the” in front of it he proved himself the music’s canniest conceptualizer. His scatological humor, elastic wordplay, and all-shapes-and-sizes grooves are among the most durable in all of pop. And forget his hitswe don’t have space to begin listing all the bands he set in motion: Parliament, Funkadelic, the P-Funk All Stars, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, ad infinitum. Unless you’re completely d’voidoffunk, the current incarnation is guaranteed to knock you off your ass. 8 p.m. Sun., Sept. 21. $30 adv./$35. The Showbox, 1426 First Ave., 206-628-3151. MICHAELANGELO MATOS
WED BURLESQUE
THE QUEEN BEES
After Bee Season and Spellbound, spelling bees have never been hotter, their contestants never more sexy. So what better time for the big gals of the Queen Bees to use bees as the theme for their newest night of wit and subversion? Help these local troupers cover their costs to the International Drag King Extravaganza in Minneapolis next month, enjoy the gracious hostessing of nasty old lady Miss Sylvia O’Strayformore, and dance after 10 to the sweet strains of DJ Riz. But don’t come near these Bees if you’re allergic . . . to fun! 8 p.m. Wed., Sept. 24. $8-$15, Re-bar, 1114 Howell St., 206-223-9873. MARK D. FEFER
photo: Melissa Moseley |
SUN-MON POLITICS
AL FRANKEN
He shamed the shameless. He stomped reactionary attack wacko Ann Coulter flat. He “bitch-slapped” Bernie Goldberg, stripped Bill O’Reilly bare, survived Barbara Bush’s flaming basilisk breath, clown-creamed all the president’s jive men, and brilliantly hoodwinked Fox News into a lawsuit that made his cruelly amusing new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (Dutton, $24.95), an instant No. 1 seller. But what has Al Franken done for us lately? He’s coming to Seattle to make the world unsafe for hypocrisy . . . twicefirst, in conversation with fellow political-humorist-who-isn’t-kidding Molly Ivins, and then solo. With Ivins: 7:30 p.m. Sun., Sept. 21. $35-$55. McCaw Hall, 363 Mercer St., 206-628-0888. Solo: 7 p.m. Mon., Sept. 22. Free. UW Kane Hall, 206-634-3400. TIM APPELO
