SATURDAY
DANCE
BIG BAMBOO BALL
Burn the floor, cut a rug, shake your groove thingie, or just plain put it in motion at this dance party sponsored by Northwest Folklife. There will be demos and mini-lessons in salsa, zydeco, and swing, allowing you to see it, learn it, and do it in three-hour blocks. Captain Leroy and the Zydeco Locals open the program, followed by Latin Expression. Northwest social dance celeb Lily Wilde (above) and her Jumpin’ Jubilee Orchestra lead the evening’s festivities, starting at 9 p.m. There also will be performances from Salsa Girls, Zah-Zu-Zay (14-member lindy specialists), and other local dance experts on Folklife’s big bamboo dance floor. 3 p.m.-midnight. Sat., Oct. 11. $10-$25. Fisher Pavilion, Seattle Center, 206-684-3000. SANDRA KURTZ
FRIDAY
VISUAL ARTS
HEAVEN AND HELL
For some of us, clothes shopping is by definition a living hell. For others, it is a very heaven. So how fitting that this show of artists interpreting the ideas of “heaven” and “hell” should be exhibited at Kuhlman, the menswear emporium for Belltown swells. On hand will be a clutch of Seattle’s cleverest, most gifted imagists, including curator Kipling West, Blair Wilson, Kamala Dolphin Kingsley, Erin Norlin (whose vision of the Foul Fiend is seen above) and Joe Newton, art director for a publication whose name escapes me at the moment. Combine this opening with a visit to Roq la Rue up the street (goth-themed dress mandatory) for a full night of after-death entertainment. Opening reception 7-9 p.m. Fri., Oct. 10. Kuhlman Clothing, 2419 First Ave., 206-441-1999. MARK D. FEFER
FRIDAY
FILM
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY
Since Universal Studios decided to insulate the Coen brothers’ latest film, Intolerable Cruelty (with Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney), from the prying eyes of Weekly film critics by screening it on Tuesday night, after our deadline, let’s ask our colleagues at The Village Voice about the “in-progress” version they saw at the Venice Film Festival last month. Dennis Lim: “The Coens trudge on into middle age with this rotely cynical marital farce.” Jessica Winter: “A tribute to gold-digging serial wives and the oleaginous divorce lawyers who love them . . . strident farce . . . empty of the sustaining affection that Minnesota’s favorite sons pay their most memorable characters . . . tiresome infirmity humor: ulcer jokes, asthma jokes, colostomy- bag jokes.” Then again, Variety liked it. (PG-13) Opens Fri., Oct. 10 at Metro and other theaters. BRIAN MILLER
TUESDAY
BOOKS
KAROL GRIFFIN
Here’s one author reading where audience bodies will likely bear as much text as the work being read. Skin Deep: Tattoos, The Disappearing West, Very Bad Men, and My Deep Love for Them All (Harcourt, $24) is a memoir of Griffin’s gradual self-discovery. After dropping out of college she became a librarian, phone-sex operator, tattoo artist, single parent, and photographer with an interest in retro body art. But don’t expect her to sign anything besides her book; if you want a sample of her needlework, you’ll have to visit her shop in Laramie, Wyoming. 5:30 p.m. Tues., Oct. 14. Elliott Bay Book Co., 101 S. Main St., 206-624-6600. BRIAN MILLER
TUESDAY
CLASSICAL
CRAIG SHEPPARD
So daunting are the interpretive and technical challenges of Beethoven’s sonatas that University of Washington pianist Craig Sheppard is only now, at 55, tackling his first complete cycleall 32, in chronological order, in seven recitals. The fourth is tonight and includes the charming “Pastorale” sonata and the three from Op. 31, arguably Beethoven’s finest up to that point in his life. Sheppard’s preparation for this series involved revisiting the composer’s original, notoriously chaotic manuscripts: “Beethoven’s handwriting shows so much better than any published edition possibly could how he wanted the works to be played,” Sheppard explains. “You only have to see and feel the energy on the page . . . All of this is the real Beethoven coming out.” 7:30 p.m. Tues., Oct. 14. $8- $10. Meany Hall, UW campus, 206-543-4880. GAVIN BORCHERT
