Derrick SantiniDyme DefSXSW Send Off Party, with Dyme Def, Grynch, Pearly Gate Music, Thee Emergency, THEESatisfaction. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9 p.m. $10. Tonight, a mash-up of genre-spanning local acts share the same stage before heading off to Austin for SXSW. Like most cities, Seattle’s musicians and their followers form around a sound. It’s natural enough, but it makes for an unfortunate extension of the high school cafeteria: you know, everybody sitting at the table with their own. But when Ballard-based lyricist Grynch, the Dipset-like Dyme Def, the sincere Pearly Gate Music, retro rockers Thee Emergency, and spaced-out soul sistahs THEESatisfaction come together for one fucking cool showcase, the potential for an enterprising promoter to get inspired multiplies. In theory, at least. If nothing else, the fact that three performers from the hip-hop scene have ventured beyond the usual circuit is enough, even if it is just for one event. KEVIN CAPPThe Strange Boys, with Chain and the Gang, Night Beats, Lovvers. Comet Tavern, 922 E. Pike St., 323-9853. 9 p.m. $10. As indie rock attempts to reinvent itself by mashing together every genre known to humankind, incorporating every instrument from the furthest reaches of the globe in search of truly new, uncharted sonic territory, there’s something comforting about sassy, scratchy garage rock bands like Austin outfit the Strange Boys. The garage is the last bastion of bona fide rock and roll as we know it, and that the Strange Boys’ second full-length, Be Brave, sounds like it could’ve been recorded fifty years ago is to the band’s credit. Replete with organ, harmonica and horns, but driven by the jangly, twangy guitars of fledgling rock and roll, Be Brave evokes the spirit of the genre back when it was truly music for revolutionaries. SARA BRICKNERMavis Staples. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave., 441-9729. 9 p.m. $35. Proof that some acts do retain their flavor with age, soul matriarch Mavis Staples is a force to be reckoned with outside the shadow of the Staple Singers. These days, in addition to the power of her rich, trademark rasp, Staples carries herself with a wise, seen-it-all air and sense of humor that givers her present-day stage show the charm of a visit with your favorite grandparent-aged relative. Besides the uncanny feeling that you’re learning something just from being in the room, you can feel the love – and you feel embarrassed that your elder is sharper than you to boot. On her 2007 album We’ll Never Turn Back, Staples revisited the civil-rights consciousness that she, Pops Staples, and her sisters addressed in the ’60s, but her verve is perhaps best evinced by onstage quips like “someday, Beyonce’s gonna look like Mavis, mm-hm.” SABY REYES-KULKARNI