Tori Amos/WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14
Hollywood Records
Tween titan Selena Gomez.
Carrie Swan
The Ames.
Location Info
2209 N.W. Market St.
Seattle, WA 98107
Category: Retail
Region: Ballard
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Since Tori Amos' 1992 solo debut, Little Earthquakes, her many releases have run the gamut from chamber pop to techno, but Amos' music and her activism with RAINN—The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network she co-founded—have been a resource for women who look to her for emotional support. Her shape-shifting discography, including this year's Night of Hunters, the singer's first classical crossover album—which also features daughter Natashya on a few tracks—has rewarded fans with an unpredictable, ambitious oeuvre as self-possessed and downright rockin' as the artist herself. Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., 467-5510. 8 p.m. $49. All ages. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT
Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio/WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14
I'm always amazed at just how many Seattleites have never been to the Pink Door; notwithstanding a steady stream of tourists, for city residents, it's a chronically overlooked institution kind of like the Statue of Liberty is for New Yorkers. Its dimly lit interior, rich food and craft cocktails, dangling trapeze artists, and half-crazed waitstaff in tandem with a rotation of house bands provide an evening's entertainment like no other. For a swinging, Prohibition-era jazz fix, Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio is just the thing: Drawing on influences from Fats Waller to Billie Holiday, the trio (originally a quartet) lays down luscious harmonies and feel-good, up-tempo jazz melodies, as if the Squirrel Nut Zippers met Django Reinhardt in a speakeasy. And watching bandleader MacGill (who has a pencil-thin-mustache/John Waters thing going on) surrounded by free-flowing booze and gorgeous hipsters makes you think you might actually be in one. The Pink Door, 1919 Post Alley, 443-3241. 8 p.m. Free. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT
Dancer & Prancer/WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14
It's that time of year again: trees, lights, stockings, nog, and, of course, surf-rock covers of Christmas classics! Festive fruitcakes Dancer & Prancer (whose members are Seattle punk-rock lifers you've probably seen in such bands as The Intelligence, the Coconut Coolouts, and others) bill themselves as "Seattle's Number One Holiday Surfin' Band!"—an indisputable claim—and, like Santa, visit only once a year to shower you with their gifts. According to their fancy website dancerandprancerwebsite.com, their repertoire includes such favorites as "Jingle Bell Rock," "Frosty the Snowman," and "Sleigh Ride," all done up in traditional surf-rock style with reverb-wet guitar licks and a steady, splashing backbeat. (They also share a "special Christmas message" about getting your chimney cleaned.) It's possibly the most inspired surf-rock covers project this side of those black-metal songs on YouTube ("the Darkthrones," "the Mayhems"). With TacocaT, Wiscon. Funhouse, 206 Fifth Ave. N., 374-8400. 9:30 p.m. $6. ERIC GRANDY
Tommy Stinson/THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15
Tommy Stinson spent nearly the first 20 years of his life working with a egomaniacal, musical-genius control freak. Then he went to work for Axl Rose. Stinson, who was scandalously young when he began playing with the Replacements in 1979, has made a career of doing what a kid who got handed a bass at age 12 and went on to spend his formative years in one of the most important American bands ever would do—he just keeps playing. From his work with his own bands Perfect and Bash & Pop to his current gig as the most credible member of Axl's B- squad, Stinson has proven himself a solid sideman and a true rock-'n'-roll survivor. Sonic Boom Records, 2209 N.W. Market St., 297-2666. 6 p.m. Free. All ages. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Jay-Z & Kanye West/FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16
I don't know if I'm old or it's just 2011, but I'm not sure there's any performer I'd rather watch from the bunker bleachers of the Tacoma Dome than at home on YouTube. If there were, it would surely be one or both of this week's two Titan-size shows—Prince, and Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne collab. Oldsters and rockists will balk at two "mere" rappers being discussed in the same breath as Prince, but in terms of star power, hits, and egos big enough to fill an arena, Jay-Z and Kanye together must be on something like equal footing with the Purple One, at least circa 2011. These two world-eating, unrepentantly 1-percenter rappers (to the point of seeing the Occupy protests as an opportunity to sell merch) are, if not at the top of their games, still on some comfortably lofty plateaus. Even from the cheap seats, they should look huge. Tacoma Dome, 2727 E. D St., Tacoma, 253-272-6416. 7:30 p.m. $49.50–$199.50. All ages. ERIC GRANDY
Three Imaginary Girls Holiday Party/FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16
Three Imaginary Girls' local music blog may specialize in coverage of "sparkly indie pop," but this year's edition of its annual holiday showcase offers a fair amount of variety. Headliner Eef Barzelay, best known as the singer of New York–based alt-country band Clem Snide, pens mournful, solo acoustic tunes, while Illinois' Heliogoats play a straightforward variety of folk rock. Local quartet Mal De Mer, whose easygoing power-pop resembles that of The Lonely Forest, comes closest to living up to TIG's mission statement. Seattle Weekly columnist John Roderick will be in attendance before the show, donning Santa garb and posing for photos courtesy of SW photographer Laura Musselman. Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave. S., 722-3009. 7 p.m. $11. ANDREW GOSPE
