Neumos was sold out Saturday night, and over-sold. By the time the Mountain Goats appeared for a sweaty, high-humidity singalong ("St. Joseph's baby aspirin," "Way out in Seattle"), there was not an unpeopled space on the main floor. Security policed a thin strip around the edges of the room, ordered people off chairs, cleared the knot of people on the back stairs hoping for a better view. Upstairs, where the sound is not as good,......

Hollywood Knowledge: Tonight the Northwest Screenwriters Guild hosts a talk with special guest actor/screenwriter Walter Dalton. Dalton has written for TV (Laverne and Shirley, Barney Miller, Benson) and appeared on it (Rhoda, Mork and Mindy, Northern Exposure, and Millennium). He'll discuss a Hollywood career's ins and outs, then hang around for a Q&A session. Saturday he'll lead a workshop on pitching. Friday 7-9pm, Saturday 10am-2pm // NWSG, Clear Channel Bldg, 351 Elliott Ave W......

Sitting in the renovated opulence of the Triple Door, waiting for The Mountain Goats' show to begin, we were a little disturbed that so many teenagers were there with their moms. Don't get us wrong--we dig on all-ages shows (how else would we have wiled away lazy Saturday nights when we were teens?). But it was a bit of a surprise that the esoteric acoustic-alternative of a guy who started releasing albums recorded on......

MUSIC: The Mountain Goats bring their brand of oddball-but-strangely-touching songsmanship to Neumo's. * Sample tracks on MySpace. 8pm // Neumo's // $15 ROBOTS: MIT Media Lab director Cynthia Breazeal was involved in the creation of Cog the humanoid bot (which will not have sex with you) and Kismet the sociable bot (which, also will not have sex with you). Breazeal will speak about her research in "human-robot interaction" without once mentioning artificially intelligent handjobs. 7pm......

Oh Walkmen. Sure, with the release of your latest album, you're not quite the critical darlings you once were, but you certainly don't deserve to play to a venue that's only a third full. When Seattlest got to the Showbox on Friday night, we were shocked (shocked!) at how empty it was: one of the bars was closed, the other bar area was far from packed, and the floor held groups of people scattered......

If you are more into reverb (and we think that you are), go see Built to Spill at the Showbox tonight. They are one of our all time favorite bands (Built to Spill fun fact: They often play a really long version of Neil Young's 'Cortez the Killer' which is a great opportunity to grab a beer or two. If you are not drinking, it is an excellent opportunity to grab a Shirley Temple or......