Can't Miss It: Thursday
FREE MAN: One of the great ironies of the Obama era is that it both spawns new conversation about race even as it encourages too many to buy into the strange idea that Obama's election moves us into a post-racial era. Tonight at the Northwest African-American Museum, Regina Mason is discussing her co-edited new edition of The Life of William Grimes, Runaway Slave. Mason, Grimes's great4-granddaughter, has worked with historian William L. Andrews to re-release the iconic book, which was, at its publication in 1825, the first story of a runaway slave published in America. The historical trajectory between Grimes's story and the last presidential election is probably the story of our lifetimes, the meaning of which is, as yet, unapparent. So stop watching TV and go see Mason speak.
6 p.m. // NAAM, 2300 S. Massachusetts St. // free!
POST-KRAUT-ROCK-SOMETHING: Kinski is one of those Seattle bands we always mean to see but never get around to. Musically, they sound like an instrumental-only Sonic Youth plowing through an avant-garde interpretation of Black Sabbath, which is about as awesome as it sounds except, not being stoners, there's only so into intrumental bands we can get. But we've always been of the impression that post-rock outfits like Mogwai and Kinski are best appreciated live, where the sonic holocaust can overwhelm you. Kinski plays with Master Musicians of Bukkake, and Shining Ones.
8 p.m. doors // Neumos, 925 E. Pike // $7, 21+
MERDE!: Alain Delon and Romy Schneider just wanna be left in peace to joyously spend their days sunning and screwing in lovely St. Tropez. But this film, La Piscine, being part of SIFF's French Crime Wave, that just ain't gonna happen. Eventually, an ex is gonna show, some bad stuff's gonna go down, and damn it if Jane Birkin ain't gonna be pretty.
7:30 p.m. // 301 Mercer St.// $10
