Blue Rodeo with Luke Doucet

In the late '80s, Blue Rodeo's records were always for sale via that 39-cassettes-for-a-penny scam that appeared in Star magazine. Little did we know that these savvy roots-rockers from up north were digging Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers long before those punks in Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks. Of course, it was the '80s, which meant Blue Rodeo's earnest jams also sounded a lot like Crowded House, the Proclaimers, and cheesy Bruce (the one who busted Caucasian moves in the "Dancing in the Dark" video). Yet there's no denying that Diamond Mine album from '89; "Girl of Mine" is just an awesome chunk of country-soul. Hell, even last year's Small Miracles contains a good 20–25 minutes of country-rock heaven. The organ tones rule. With Luke Doucet. Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333. 7 & 9:30 p.m. $25 adv./$30. JUSTIN F. FARRAR

Triple Door Mainstage

$25 adv./$30. Mon., May 19, 7:00pmMon., May 19, 9:30pm

Langhorne Slim, Ferraby Lionheart

Dammit, Langhorne Slim, you sexy folk bastard! I experienced all five stages of grief coping with the fact that last summer I found my No. 1 record even before I had a tan: starting in denial ("In Camera the best record I'll hear all year? Bahhh, it's only June!"), then anger ("Why., Band of Horses? I was counting on you!), getting stuck in bargaining/depression ("Sure, Sound of Silver is pristine, but it's also [insert voice wobbles] sooo chilly. Wahhhhhhh. . . ."), and finally ending '07 in Arthur & Yu acceptance. It's only freakin' May, but I've just accepted that no record, no matter how anticipated, impressive, or open I am to it, is going to give me the complete listening satisfaction, the it's-so-good-the-pit-of-my-stomach-hurts, heart-'n'-spine-shivered feeling which I got upon hearing the sweet-ass, angsty perfection of Langhorne Slim's soul and organ-soaked debut. With Ferraby Lionheart. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9 p.m. $10 adv./$12. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR

Tractor Tavern

$10 adv./$12. Mon., May 19, 9:00pm

The Manchurian Candidate

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SIFF Cinema Mon., May 19, 7:30pm

One of the great texts of the Cold War, John Frankenheimer’s 1962 The Manchurian Candidate features a surprisingly nuanced, low-key Frank Sinatra, the straight-to-the-point sexuality of Janet Leigh, the brainwashed torment of assassin/war hero Laurence Harvey, and the scariest mother in screen history, Miss Angela Lansbury. Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber actually did a fine job as the killer and his manipulative Commie mommy in the underrated 2004 remake by Jonathan Demme, but this one sets the gold standard for black comedic Cold War paranoia. Adapted from the Richard Condon novel, the film has a dusting of disgust on its negative: both right-wingers and Adlai Stevenson eggheads are made to look equally ridiculous. And the 360-degree rotating Red Army tea party with Harvey and his fellow GIs, captured in Korea, remains a marvel of psychic disorientation—it’s funny, horrifying, too freaky even for Abu Ghraib. (Also, unrelated: There would be no Jason Bourne without this movie.) The United Artists retrospective continues all this week through Wed., May 21. See the SIFF Web site for your last chance to see Midnight Cowboy, Raging Bull, Dr. No, and Last Tango in Paris before this year’s festival begins. SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer St. (McCaw Hall), 448-2186, www.siff.net. $5–$10. 7:30 p.m. BRIAN MILLER

Looking for America

Extra Info

Lisa Harris Gallery Daily from Mon., May 19 until Sat., May 31, 10:30am-5:30pm

She’s been on 11 blind dates in the last two months; not one of the men has called back. She wants to have a midnight tryst with a handsome cab driver, preferably one who speaks English. She plans on quitting smoking and buying a washer/dryer for her apartment. Who the hell is she? One blur among the countless faces passing through Grand Central Station each day. Shelly Karver’s “Looking for America” (through May 31) showcases a decade’s worth of these black-and-white commuter candids, which she then amends with oil paint and text to provide fictional biographies. Each altered photograph portrays the loneliness and obscurity that comes with our daily transit through the city. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Pl., 443-3315. wwwlisaharrisgallery.com. Free. 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. ERIKA HOBART

To Do List

Saturday, May 17

Dead Meadow, SubArachnoid Space, Whalebones, Patrol
Man, the stoners haven't had a pairing this perfect since Comets on Fire pl... More>>
El Corazon, Sat., May 17, 7:00pm, $10 adv./$12

Peter Bagge
Artist Peter Bagge will show off a form of panels from Hate, his pioneering... More>>
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Sat., May 17, 6:00pm-9:00pm

Thee Emergency (CD release), the Valley, the Hands
With Dita Vox at the helm, Seattle garage-rock band Thee Emergency speciali... More>>
King Cobra, Sat., May 17, 8:00pm

174 more things to do today>>