Rockaraoke / Wednesday, September 15
The Fun Star
Impropriety with the Scissor Sisters.
K Records
Nice pigtails, Karl Blau.
Related Content
More About
Rockaraoke has always made regular karaoke seem like tiddlywinks, but the concept was flawed. For years, they've tried to get this idea of live-band karaoke going, but the lack of a teleprompter held things back. There are bands that can play a ton of tunes, but the problem was singers had to have the lyrics memorized—and the performances wound up being sloppy messes. But the Crocodile now has a rockaraoke band (not to be confused with the band called Rockaraoke) that's figured out how to add the essential lyrics screen, and it's made all the difference in the world. This goes out to anyone who's gotten to the point where regular karaoke just doesn't deliver the punch it used to. The band is tight and can do it all: Barry Manilow, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eminem, the Dixie Chicks, Beyoncé, you name it. Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $5. JEFF ROMAN
Scissor Sisters / Wednesday, September 15
Night Work, the third album from New York's Scissor Sisters, is an homage to all the nighthawks of the world, the dancing queens who stay out 'til the wee hours, fully living up every possible minute they can get. The music, as heard on lead singles "Fire With Fire" and "Any Which Way," is impassioned and gloriously glam; a celebration of the communal bonds among clubgoers. It's much more emotive stuff than the group's earlier songs like "Tits on the Radio." The Sisters put on famously flashy live shows to match their dance-floor tunes—Lady Gaga hand-picked them to open for the early 2011 leg of her world tour. With Sammy Jo, Casey Spooner. Showbox SoDo, 1700 First Ave. S., 628-3151. 8 p.m. $30 adv./$33 DOS.ERIN K. THOMPSON
Kele / Thursday, September 16
Put your opinions about Bloc Party aside, because Kele Okereke's album, The Boxer, has next to nothing to do with his day job. The artist spent some time in Berlin, came out as gay this spring, and dropped his winning solo debut this summer. Singles like "Everything You Wanted" have been a boon for indie dance parties, and the remixes of "Tenderoni" (there are 50 user-generated ones to date on his website) have appeared smartly in many a DJ set. In the video for "Tenderoni," Okereke also comes out quite definitively as a hunk. It's refreshing to see an artist who came up in the aughts, when everyone had their 15, show that while hot, they're much more than a flash in the pan. With Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Innerpartysystem. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005. 8 p.m. $18. All ages.RACHEL SHIMP
Live and Let Die / Thursday, September 16–Sunday, September 19 See An Incomplete History.
Willie Nelson / Thursday, September 16
As alt-country hipsterati have embraced Willie Nelson over the past decade, his coolness cachet has gone through the roof, and he spends some summers touring minor-league ballparks with Bob Dylan. But 10 years ago, in the summer of 2000, the hankied one launched a veritable tour of small-town Washington fairs—no less than the Northwest Washington Fair (in Lynden), the Southwest Washington Fair (Chehalis), the Evergreen State Fair (Monroe), and the Benton-Franklin County Fair (Kennewick). I'd love to tell you about Willie's free show in Lynden, which my folks and I made a special trip north for, but we filled up on ice cream at the Lynden Christian booth and could no longer stand up. Don't you go doing the same when you Do the Puyallup with Willie, now, ya hear? Puyallup Fair & Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup, 253-841-5045. 7:30 p.m. $25–$50. All ages.CHRIS KORNELIS
Verellen Amps Showcase / Thursday, September 16 See Rocket Queen.
Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme / Friday, September 17
If there's doubt that funk is anything but alive, well, and ass-kicking, critics need look no further than the furious energy of this local 10-piece and its charismatic frontman. Fresh off a Bumbershoot performance and the May 2009 release of their debut album Us Is What Time It Is, Gravy and his crew have repeatedly proved their ability to whip a dance floor into a heated frenzy. Calling to mind the soulful antics of the late '60s and early '70s, they take on some of the best characteristics of the likes of Sly and the Family Stone or James Brown without existing in the cover-band niche. With Black Cherry Crush, Kamiak Musik. Crocodile. 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416. 8 p.m. $8. NICK FELDMAN
Night Beats / Friday, September 17
While this Seattle three-piece's soulful sludge rock invokes the heady psychedelia of Cream, the 13th Floor Elevators, and the Doors to the best possible end, there's a sultry edge to it: The slurred riffs and Lee Blackwell's howling (his real name: Danny Rajan) are heady enough to spawn a spontaneous bacchanalian orgy on the Funhouse's beer-slick floor. That the band is selling "limited-edition condoms" in addition to things like shirts and buttons just drives home the point that this is music for people who like drugs almost as much as they like to fuck. Almost. With Unnatural Helpers, Zig Zags, Broomsticks. Funhouse, 206 Fifth Ave. N., 374-8400. 9:30 p.m. $6.SARA BRICKNER
Ravenna Woods / Friday, September 17 See Through @ 2.
