January 27
Wednesday
Haelos
Many groups have tried to replicate the seemingly easy magic of Portishead. But cool beats and a beautiful voice are more difficult to make work than it first appears. Haelos may very well have cracked the code, though. Appearing early least year with “Dust”—a single that featured a seductive duet between Lotti Benardout and Arthur Delaney or Dom Goldsmith (I can’t tell which) set over a humming, crunching, clapping beat that culminates with the refrain “this love ain’t mine”—the East London trio was quickly signed by Matador Records and has since proved more than a fluke, releasing a series of slinking, after-party tracks bode well for its debut full-length release this March—to be followed by a Coachella slot this April. This will be the trio’s first time in Seattle. Let’s give them a warm welcome. Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave NW, 784-4880, sunsettavern.com. $12 adv, 9 p.m., 21 and over. MARK BAUMGARTEN
January 28
Thursday
Geraldine Brooks
Not one to shy away from the most well-worn tales in the long, harsh arc of humanity, Geraldine Brooks has committed her latest work of historical fiction The Secret Chord to an Old Testament favorite, King David. Slayer of a giant, writer of psalms, builder of a nation, wooer of Bathsheba, father of King Solomon—this profile serves as the “scaffolding,” as Brooks puts it, that the author utilizes in building a story that the New York Times called “thundering, gritty, emotionally devastating.” A Pulitzer Prize winner for her 2005 novel March—a Civil War tale in which she imagines the military service of the father from Little Women—Brooks likely pulled from her time as a Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in telling her Iron Age tale, so perhaps she will speak of the more modern and less fictitious event in the region during this Seattle Arts & Lectures appearance. Susan Brotman Auditorium at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., 621-2230, lectures.org. $15-$60, 7:30 p.m. All ages. MARK BAUMGARTEN
January 29
Friday
Constellations
According to multiverse theory, there is a version of your life in which you see this play and another in which you do not. In the former version, you will wake up the next day well aware of the genius of young British playwright Nick Payne, who was propelled by this 2012 drama into the upper echelon of contemporary playwrights. You will recall the romance of theoretical physicist Roland and beekeeper Marianne told with wit and brevity as this production directed by Desdemona Chiang explores the couple’s own relationship through the kaleidoscopic lens of the multiverse. And your perspective on the world will shift ever so slightly. In the other version of your life you will never know any of this. You will sit at home, you will eat takeout and you will binge watch Everybody Loves Raymond. It’s your choice. Seattle Repertory Theatre, 155 Mercer St., 443-2222, seattlerep.org. 7:30 p.m., $34-67. Through February 21. See our review next week. MARK BAUMGARTEN
Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival The Timber! Outdoor Music Festival, held each summer in Carnation, Wash., was just too much fun—too successful, too many awesome bands, too much revelry to contain it all in one fest. Enter Timbrrr!, Leavenworth’s wintry version: Two days and nights of revelry and music with some frigid temps and snowy peaks thrown in. Artists this year include Fruit Bats (you definitely know their sweet single “When U Love Somebody”), Seattle’s soul diva Grace Love & the True Loves, the jazzy, horn-forward Industrial Revelation, and trippy, electronic Hibou. Other cold-season perks: Hot toddy happy hours at the Festhalle, discounts on Stevens Pass lift tickets, four hours of highly competitive “Leisure Games”—Including Corn Hole, Tether Toss, and Giant Jenga—and way more than enough beer, brats, and ye olde Bavaria font to keep the tourists happy. Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival, 1001 Front St., Leavenworth, timbermusicfest.com. $30-55. 4 p.m. SARA BERNARD
Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture
Architecture may define the character of a home, a city or even a nation. But can it also help change the character of a nation? Visionary architect Louis Kahn thought so. He spent his career dreaming up new forms, and his magnum opus, the National Assembly Building of Bangladesh—part of a complex of buildings in Dhaka that became symbolic of order and cooperation during great national strife—remains one of the great triumphs of 20th century engineering. Curated by the Vitra Design Museum, Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture is the first major retrospective of Kahn’s life and work, including models, interviews and drawings from his extensive travels. On January 29, from 4 to 6 PM, there will also be a special screening of My Architect, a biographical documentary of Kahn by his son. Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 519-0770, bellevuearts.org. $12, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. T.S. FLOCK
Velocity Bridge Project
With a little tweaking, Velocity Dance Center’s Bridge Project could stand in for a reality television competition show–four emerging choreographers who are still clarifying their vision and honing their skills get four weeks each to make a new work. Velocity supplies the rehearsal space and a stipend, while the audience gets the results. This year’s cohort includes Nathan Blackwell, Stephanie Liapis, Ashleigh Miller and ilvs strauss–the works range from social commentary and psychological investigations to a combination of text and movement. See them now so that later on you can brag that you did. Velocity Dance Center, 1621-12th Ave., 206-325-8773,www.velocitydancecenter.org. $18-$25. 8 p.m. Through Jan. 31. SANDI KURTZ
Janaury 30
Saturday,
Mommy Long Legs
This band is a goddamn riot. Rocking a trash-fi punk sensibility the four-piece dubs “barfcore/fartcore,” the group has written some of the most gloriously scrappy power-chord-powered jams to wriggle their way out of Seattle’s basements in years. “Assholes,” the band’s latest anti-asshole single, is a masterclass in less-is-more song craft, eking anthemic hooks and crazy energy out of the atonal scritch-scratch noise of the pick against the guitar strings. The band does more with this noise over the course of two-and-a-half minutes than most bands manage to do with 15 chords over the course of five. Every song the group writes is designed for scream-alongs, something they make easy with their instantly catchy melodies. The icing on the cake is the band’s literal embrace of trash, frequently performing wearing bizarre neon colored wigs amidst a carefully curated onstage sea of Goodwill detritus. Mommy Long Legs’ glittery garbage-heap is more than worth a wade-through. With Wimps, Boyfriends. Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave. S., 722-3009, columbiacitytheater.com. 8 p.m., $10 adv./$12 DOS. 21 and up. KELTON SEARS
The Intruder Release Party
If it weren’t for The Intruder, this newspaper might not have a dedicated weekly comix section. Started back in 2012 with ringleader Marc Palm as its unofficial “editor,” the free quarterly newsprint comics anthology has served as a vital incubator and showcase for a rising crop of Seattle cartoonists and illustrators, a scene that has exploded in the past couple of years thanks to the Short Run festival and Cafe Racer’s monthly Dune drawing night. The Intruder’s unwieldly crew of artists—including countless Seattle Weekly contributors including Tom Van Deusen, Joe Garber, Seth Goodkind, Brian Dionisi, Marie Hausauer, Max Clotfelter, Brittany Kusa, Ben Horak, Darin Shuler, Scott Travis, and James Stanton—have packed their drippy, psychedelic doodles into the 18th issue, which will be available at tonight’s release party. Catch the crew before it’s too late—The Intruder is officially ending its run after its 20th issue, so enjoy the madness while you can. Spin Cycle, 321 Broadway E. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Free. KELTON SEARS
January 31
Sunday
Seattle Chamber Music Society In many of Schubert’s instrumental works, his characteristic fecundity and generosity can come off as sprawl; but the epic journey that is his String Quintet leaves you with a sense of visionary expansiveness. Despite its size—nearly an hour—it’s rich with moments of profound intimacy and inwardness to equal any of his songs. It’s a work of extremes, in more than its length. The beatific calm and vast silences of the slow movement are interrupted by an aria for violin and cello that throbs like Verdi, while this mood scheme is flipped in the third movement—a stamping dance surrounds a nearly motionless chorale. This 1828 work, finished just a couple months before Schubert’s death, will provide a grand climax to the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Winter Festival. Also on the program, music by Arensky, Lutoslawski, and Ravel, with Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata on the free pre-concert recital at 2. Benaroya Recital Hall, Third Ave. & Union St., seattlechambermusic.org. $50. 3 p.m. GAVIN BORCHERT
February 2
Tuesday
Robert Gates
There are two kinds of books powerful people tend to write when they are no longer in power: Memoirs, either of the sugar-glazed or tell-all variety; and how-tos, as in, “how to be successful, just like me.” Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already penned two memoirs (the last one told plenty, to the chagrin of the Obama administration), and now he is on to how-tos. His just-released A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service, promises to show leaders how they can create top-to-bottom change in their organizations. With grassroots organizing so en vogue, I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard anyone celebrate top-down management of large organizations. But you can’t blame Gates for writing what he knows. He’s served under every president since Nixon, with the exception of Clinton, and has rarely been a wooden figurehead in his leadership roles. Now living in Skagit County and serving as president of the Boy Scouts of America, he’s overseen, most notably, that organization’s shift to allow gay adults volunteer as leaders. Now that’s change you can believe in. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 652-4255, townhall.org. $5. 7:30 p.m. DANIEL PERSON
