WED POETRY
W.S. MERWIN
In this benefit for Port Townsend’s 30-year-old nonprofit Copper Canyon Press, the Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran poet and translator will read from any ofthough not limited tohis three new books. First is Voices, his translation of the Italian poet Antonio Porchia (1886-1968). Second is Transparence of the World, his translation of the French poet Jean Follain (1903-1971). Third is his own collection, The Pupil, whose subjects include his Hawaiian home on Maui, the stars above, an elegy for Ted Hughes, the death of Matthew Shepard, and what he calls “the light and darkness, day and nightthat whole thing.” As he notes, the pupil is a term of both learning and seeing: “It’s the dark spot in the middle of the eye through which one sees light.” 7:30 p.m. Wed., April 23. $10. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 206-624-6600. BRIAN MILLER
SUN ROCK
SUB POP ANNIVERSARY
Another year, another birthday. Your friends at Sub Pop Records have been going out of business since 1988hey, relax, those are their words, not mineand for this, their 15th anniversary, they’ve called in the Juno Award-winning Constantines, the frantic Thermals, the elaborate Kinski, and Rosie Thomas, James Mercer, and Sam Beam. Fans of the Shins and Iron and Wine will recognize those last two names, while fans of balladeer folk, post-punk, and the crossroads of indie and emo will be nodding their heads at the rest. But hell, even if you don’t know any of the party’s performers, go tonight and ask a Sub Pop employee (perhaps one of those pictured below) if grunge is coming backI think they really like that question, and I’m sure they’re not tired of hearing it. 8 p.m. Sun., April 27. $8. Crocodile Cafe, 2200 Second Ave., 206-441-5611. LAURA CASSIDY
SUN CLASSICAL
MUSIC OF REMEMBRANCE
This concert series, devoted to music connected with the Holocaust, has become one of Seattle’s prime showcases for new music. One of its recent commissions, Paul Schoenfield’s blistering, bitter Camp Songs, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year. For MoR’s newest commission, director Mina Miller’s turned to composer Lori Laitman (pictured) for Fathers, a song cycle for baritone and piano trio based on the poetry of a Holocaust survivor. Also on the program, cabaret and concert music composed in the “model camp” at Terezin, Hitler’s psychotically cynical attempt to persuade the world he wasn’t mistreating Europe’s Jews. 7:30 p.m. Sun., April 27. $20-$25. Benaroya Recital Hall, Third and Union, 206-365-7770. GAVIN BORCHERT
TUES POP
AVRIL LAVIGNE
Big ups to Avril’s marketing firm. There’s exactly oneonefull-speed-ahead pop-punk track, “Sk8er Boi,” on her crap debut Let Go, yet her videos, outfits, and snotty persona have got the world thinking she’s Joan and Lita combined for the 21st century. Uh, no. The majority of the album is unbearable, hookless Lilith Fair power balladry, including the “rap-tinged” (sweet Jesus) “Nobody’s Fool.” But in all earnestness, “I’m With You” is an excellent romantic fantasy about being Sahara Desert lonely and getting a not-necessarily-even sexual break with an empathetic stranger. Whoever wrote most of it for her, score. 7:30 p.m. Tues., April 29. $22.50-$27.50. Tacoma Dome. 206-628-0888. ANDREW BONAZELLI
PROFILES IN SCIENCE
How do socks get separated in the laundry? Where do they go? And how do apparently immobile, couch-bound “indolent offspring” manage to get beer, cigarettes, and pizza? These and other mysteries are explained by what a deadpan narrator calls “Chungian Motion” in local director Wes Kim’s hilarious science-film spoof, Profiles in Science, one of seven worthwhile short films culled from last year’s Portland Film & Video Festival and being shown as part of the Satellites fest. Profiles takes experiments in stop-motion photography as its starting point, then drolly proceeds from inert starfish to inert slackers. Other worthwhile titles include ex-Seattleite Evan Mather’s part-animated The Icarus of Pittsburgh, which flies a rabid fan over a 1979 Steelers game in a helium-filled wet suit. 8 p.m. Sat., April 26. $5. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave. N., 206-682-6522. BRIAN MILLER
