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WEDNESDAY
STAGE
THE ATOMIC BOMBSHELLS
Tired of bland holiday cheer? Done with Dickens and numbed by The Nutcracker? Would you rather know who's naughty than who's nice? Forget the North Pole, then, and head the sleigh toward Lower Queen Anne and the Atomic ladies, whose Gone Bad bump-and-grind burlesque promises to spike the eggnog and set your Yule log blazing. You may have been bad this past year, but they aim to be badder. 10 p.m. Wed., Dec. 15. $10. Mirabeau Room, 529 Queen Anne Ave. N., 206-217-0654. STEVE WIECKING
THURSDAY
VISUAL ARTS
SELL OUT
Billy Howard closes out the year with a sizable sale of art by a heap of artists, including gallery favorites Victoria Haven, who recently won the Seattle Art Museum's Betty Bowen award, cera-mic artist Yuki Nakamura, and photographer Perla Sitcov. Also on tap are Susan Robb, who does crazy things with inflatable vinyl and other unusual materials, and Portland's Damali Ayo, a conceptual and performance artist known for her provocative pieces (she once conducted her own "reparations" pro-ject by sitting on a sidewalk accepting money from white passersby and handing it out to black passersby). Reception 6–8 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 16. 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sat. Free. Howard House, 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399. ANDREW ENGELSON
FRIDAY
FILM
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Young George Bailey is beaten until he's bleeding from the ear. Later, the older George shakes his uncle by the lapels, berating the "stupid old fool" as if in a film noir scene. Eventually he despairs, "I'm at the end of my rope! I wish I'd never been born!" Long before American Beauty, Frank Capra gave us the original midlife crisis movie, with Jimmy Stewart (pictured) in the Kevin Spacey role. Life has passed George by, and he's trapped by career, mortgage, and marriage. Despite Capra's 1946 postwar optimism about family, community, and the bountiful promise of the suburbs, you still can't shake George's dark vision of reality. (PG) Various times Fri., Dec. 17–Thurs., Dec. 30. Call for prices. Grand Illusion, 1403 N.E. 50th St., 206-523-3935. BRIAN MILLER
FRIDAY
FILM
THE AWFUL TRUTH
Love turns into lust for revenge in this classic 1937 screwball comedy. Almost-exes Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are about to remarry, but each would rather torpedo the other's future happiness than please a new spouse. It's a given in the comedies of this era that sex is channeled into dialogue, and here that erotic subcurrent carries the additional charge of jealousy—neither Dunne nor Grant can bear to see the other share the marital goods with anybody else. Ralph Bellamy plays yet another memorable third leg as Dunne's dim Okie oilman, while she plays wonderfully against type impersonating Grant's floozy of a sister. And Grant is simply Grant, the perfect cherry on this cinematic sundae. (NR) Various times Fri., Dec. 17–Thurs., Dec. 23. $5–$7.50. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 206-267-5380. BRIAN MILLER
FRIDAY
MUSIC
LIL JON AND THE EASTSIDE BOYZ
A friend refers to "Stop F***in Wit Me," from Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz's new Crunk Juice (TVT), as "the rudest, most cringe-inducing rap track I've heard in a while—and that's saying something." It's hardly a surprise, though: Lil Jon's yell-heavy, blunt-force-trauma style is hardly subtle. But he knows his way around a beat, as anyone who finally gave up resisting either Usher's "Yeah!" this summer or Lil Jon's own "Get Low" last summer can avow. And if his stuff is tailor-made for clubs and trunks, well, hearing it in the venerable Moore Theatre will be, shall we say, interesting. 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 17. $35. Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., 206-628-0888. MICHAELANGELO MATOS
