Mark Gardiner
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WEDNESDAY
PERFORMANCE
MOISTURE FESTIVAL
You want variety in your entertainment? You got variety. This second annual festival offers more than 30 acts over 12 days—clowns, dancers, jugglers, acrobats, bubble blowers, spoonmen, big-top freaks, drag queens, and disparate other performers (like this high-flying heart-stopper from the Aerialistas, pictured). Local troupes such as UMO Ensemble and Cirque de Flambé will rub shoulders with artists imported from as far away as Berlin, with every show fit for all ages—until the late-night hours on Friday and Saturday, when the adults can feel free to play. Opens 8 p.m. Wed., March 30. Various days and times through Sun., April 10. $5–$20. Hale's Palladium at Hale's Brewery, 4301 Leary Way N.W. www.brownpaperticket.com. STEVE WIECKING
THURSDAY - SUNDAY
STAGE
LAUREN WEEDMAN
Aside from her resonantly wicked ability to portray others' deficiencies, there's a reason Weedman is an exceptional solo artist: She knows how damn unusual it is to be a solo artist. Her shows, in fact, have increasingly explored her odd predilection for putting under the microscope her need to be in the spotlight. Wreckage, which she's restructured after a flawed but fascinating workshop version here last June, is her most ambitious piece yet: a whopping, warts-and-all evaluation of her personal failures onstage and off—and an admission that, sometimes, the line between the two has been awfully blurry. Opens Thurs., March 24. 8 p.m. Thurs.–Fri.; 7 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Also 10 p.m. Sat. Ends Sun., March 27. $12–$15. East Hall Theatre, 1525 10th Ave. E., second floor, 206-706-3710. STEVE WIECKING
FRIDAY
VISUAL ARTS
DOUG AITKEN
Aitken burst onto the art scene in 1999 when his stark video installation Electric Earth nabbed the International Prize at the Venice Biennale. Since then, the L.A.–based artist has been creating existential, moody, multichannel videos, including Interiors, a meditation on urban isolation that pursues four storylines simultaneously. Aitken is a master at combining image and music—in the past, he's done music videos for Iggy Pop and Fatboy Slim, among others—and one of the lonely and lovely stories in Interiors features OutKast's André Benjamin (pictured). Artist lecture and opening reception: 7 p.m. Fri., March 25. Gallery hours: 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun.; 11 a.m.– 8 p.m. Thurs. $6–$8. Henry Art Gallery, UW campus, 206-543-2280. ANDREW ENGELSON
FRIDAY - SATURDAY
MUSIC
PATRINELL WRIGHT & THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE GOSPEL CHOIR
Sure, it's not exactly news that the TEGC are playing—they're always playing, in any number of venues not all strictly made for music appreciation. But this event is special, in part because Wright herself has a terrific new solo disc out, I'm So Glad! A Spiritual Reunion of Drums and Voices, in which she sings gospel standards over African drumming. It doesn't always mesh as cleanly as you want it to, but the best stuff soars, and it gets major conceptual audacity points. Plus, the evening provides a great way to spend Good Friday and Holy Saturday. 8 p.m. Fri., March 25–Sat., March 26. $10–$14. Kenyon Hall, 7904 35th Ave. S.W., 206-937-3613. MICHAELANGELO MATOS
WEDNESDAY
MUSIC
A BENEFIT FOR BONNI SUVAL
You might hear people say that the music scene's inner circles are cliquey and snobbish, but when a musician falls on hard times, the community rallies in support—and you can double that when the Recording Academy's MusiCares foundation finds out. This fund-raiser will aid Fear of Dolls' Suval (pictured), a New York–based singer who was hit by a drunk driver outside Chop Suey after her band performed there. Like most artists, Suval doesn't have insurance. With a lineup this strong in support—Rocky Votolato, Jesse Sykes, and Matt Brooke & Jen Ghetto, among others—it isn't hard to help her out. 8 p.m. Wed., March 23. $8 suggested donation. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 206-709-9467. LAURA CASSIDY
