Atlantic
Lupe's just a rebel.
Atlantic
Lupe's just a rebel.
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Calvin Trillin
How do you meet the love of your life? Wrote humorist Calvin Trillin: "wander into the right party," which is where he met Alice Stewart in 1963. Their nearly 40-year marriage, chronicled regularly in the humorist's New Yorkercolumns and books like Alice, Let's Eat, took the form of a Burns and Allen routine with gender-roles reversed—he the bumbling husband, she the voice of wisdom, a "dietician in sensible shoes." About Alice (Random House, $12.95) expands on a New Yorker essay from early last year, in which Trillin presented his wife, who died in 2001, as the accomplished woman she was— writer, educator, television producer— multidimensional beyond a literary Alice Kramden and the "sensible" image. The essay became a testament to, and made Trillin a reluctant spokesperson for, a thriving marriage. He admits to one secret: He never stopped trying to impress his wife. "'You have never again been as funny as you were that night,' Alice would say, 20 or 30 years later. 'You mean I peaked in December in 1963?' 'I'm afraid so.'" Trillin is sentimental while providing an ample arm's length of humor. "They may not have known her," he writes of his readers, "but they knew how I felt about her." And with that, we've all wandered into the right party. University Book Store, 4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, www.bookstore.washington.edu. Free. 7 p.m. Also: Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., Lake Forest Park, 366-3333, www.thirdplacebooks.com. Free. 7 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 1. KATE SILVER
Music
Lupe Fiasco
Like any hustler-turned-honcho worth his salt, Jay-Z is known for making grand comments on the unclaimed fame of hungry younger artists—to date (and most famously) Talib Kweli, Rihanna, and in 2002, Lupe Fiasco (Wasalu Muhammad Jaco to his friends and family), who was then just 21. The young Chicago rapper's Food & Liquor was finally released on Atlantic last fall, after spending time in the recording-industry netherworld of negotiations (during which much of it leaked online). He'd even declined to release it on Jay-Z's Def Jam, while accepting the production help from Jay that's undoubtedly resulted in Food & Liquor's Grammy nominations. It's nice to have friends, right? But the real strengths of Lupe's first full-length lie in his fresh lyrical delivery and honest take on both the difficult parts of growing up (in its first single, "Daydreaming") and the unique joys ("Kick, Push," an ode to love and skateboarding). He hasn't toured much thus far, and tonight he's matched with a rock-solid lineup of local talent including Common Market, Choklate, Massive Monkees, Gabriel Teodros, and Dyme Def. Dudes aren't going to let Lupe coast. HUB Ballroom, UW campus, www.ticketswest.com. $14–$18. All ages. 7 p.m. RACHEL SHIMP
