THURSDAY
MUSIC
GINA GERSHON AND GIRLS AGAINST BOYS Hyperventilating. Can barely spit out details. Gina G. Bound‘s grease-monkey lesbian con artist. Recent model of Maxim‘s “sexiest shoot ever” (quotation marks unnecessary). Promoting indie Prey for Rock & Roll, saga of aging chick-rock bar band. Performing Joan Jett-style chick-rock bar band originals from said film. Backed by GVSB, sexiestalbeit agingindie boy band ever. GVSB to play originals, too. Fugitive-caliber train wreck? Showgirls, the club tour? Still foxy, vocally gifted starlet justifying January’s Sundance one-off fronting the Axl-free Guns N’ Roses? Maybe a combination of all three? Can’t wait. Must see. HYPERVENTILATING! 9 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 2. $15 adv. Crocodile Cafe, 2200 Second Ave., 206-441-5611. ANDREW BONAZELLI
THURSDAY
FILM THIS GUN FOR HIRE
A diminutive pretty boy previously relegated to B-movies and best-friend roles, Alan Ladd came into his own in this 1942 crime flick as the smilingly smooth-faced killer caught in a web of double crosses and political intrigue. Before this film, only your swarthy, heavy types would gun down a man on-screen without remorse; after Ladd, assassins only got handsomer and sexier, and his stolid lure here draws the eye of fellow ’40s sensation Veronica Lakeat least the one eye not covered by her signature peek-a-boo do. Together they’re one cool couple, the paradigm for Bonnie & Clyde and other natural born killers to follow. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 2. $6. Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St., 206-625-8900. BRIAN MILLER
FRIDAY
STAGE
MING THE RUDE
The Empty Space has had a reputation for adventurous irreverence since the early ’70s, when it headed out for a series of theatrical romps in Volunteer Park. Playing with the classics and deconstructing hoary old chestnuts, the company’s group of artistsincluding the Weekly’s own Roger Downey, then manager of the original collectivedrew very happy crowds to its giddy experiments. The theater hopes to embrace that spirit again with Ming, a sci-fi musical comedy authored by longtime Spacemen John Engerman, Bob Wright, Phil Shallat, and Rex McDowell, and directed by the redoubtable Lori Larsen, a true Seattle original who has arguably done her best work at the Space. Previews begin 8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 3. Ends Sun., Nov. 9. $10-$35. The Empty Space Theatre, 3509 Fremont Ave. N., 206-547-7500. STEVE WIECKING
FRIDAY
PHOTOGRAPHY
POCA LUZ
For the past several years, Seth Thompson, an instructor at Photographic Center Northwest, has made regular visits to a pair of remote, centuries old, thinly populated towns in Mexico’s north- central mountains, where he trades portraits for the opportunity to shoot the dim interiors of residents’ homes. Using only natural light, Thompson has drawn out colors, shadows, and reflections that only appear through long exposure, and found a spiritual quality to the rooms that echoes the local churches (which he also shot). “A lot of these homes have a mix of religious iconography and popular culture,” says Thompson, who sees a parallel between the two. “Poca Luz” (or “little light”) will present about 30 of Thompson’s subtly stirring interiors. Artist’s reception: 6-8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 3. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave., 206-720-7222. MARK D. FEFER
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
DANCE
GAMES
Among the multitudes of workshops, readings, and performances in this two-day “cultural inquiry” from Hugo House, three local dance groups investigate what it means to play around with movement. Sheri Cohen and her company demonstrate the “Tuning Score,” a set of instructions for improvisation that let the dancers direct each other with verbal cues like “start,” “stop,” and “reverse.” The idiosyncratic movement style of Maureen Whiting (pictured) lends itself to chaotic events, as she invents new and nonsensical “rules of the game” with video artist David Craven and writer Fionn Meade. And the dancers and vocalists of Foot in Mouth explore Russian roulette and other “deadly games.” Fri., Oct. 3-Sat., Oct. 4. Various times and venues on Capitol Hill, see hugohouse.org/games for details, $12- $14. 206-322-7030. SANDRA KURTZ
