Today's pick:

1. I’m somewhat hesitant to recommend Mad Rad, whose music runs the spectrum of taste from tolerable to stupid. They spend versus yelling about panties and how “superdope” they are. Given all the smart hip hoppers in Seattle, the attention given to Mad Rad can be frustrating.

But their shows are something to behold. Their energy is unnatural. At least one of them clearly went to theater school (which makes sense, because their white hipster-hop can seem more like a staged parody of hip-hop than a contribution to it). And tomorrow’s an anniversary of sorts—it was a little more than a year ago that Mad Rad got banned from Neumos after getting into a fistfight with a security guard there.

Tonight, the Neumo’s ban is officially lifted. That, and the fact that the show is free, means it’s bound to be a spectacle.

Opening is Macklemore, a real-deal rapper whose latest, The Unplanned Mixtape, is an artistic leap that seemingly gratified not just the rapper, but the whole city. His video for “The Town” is his eloquent thank-you note.

Tonight at Neumos, 925 E Pike Street. 8 pm, 21+. Free.

On tomorrow's calendar:

1. Tomorrow night is the first show in Is That Jazz?, an avant-jazz series at the Seattle Composers' Salon. The show tomorrow features Sunship, a guitar and sax combo, and a Sun Ra tribute band. The press release for the event says to "expect flying objects."



The Chapel Performance Space in Wallingford, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N. $15 suggested donation. 8 pm.

2. Last year, when cops broke up the West Seattle "Nickelsville" homeless encampment, two things happened: Nickelsville continued, but with its ranks considerably downsized.

The brighter spin-off is People's Place, which occupies a house in Beacon Hill and, unlike the SHARE/WHEEL-run Nickelsville, tries to set up residents with work opportunities and more permanent living situations. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote about People's Place back in October.

People's Place is holding a cross between an information session and a fundraiser tomorrow evening. It's $35 for a great cause.

At El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Avenue South, tomorrow night. Suggested donation is $35.

3. Comixtravaganza is the Seattle Public Library's (actually successful) attempt to get down with the kids. It's an on-and-off series of comic/graphic novel-centric programming that lasts throughout the next couple of weeks, and it includes cartooning workshops, drawing contests, and readings by popular cartoonists.

Tomorrow night, Greg Stump is teaching a free class as part of Comixtravaganza (Stump co-authors the popular and sad "Urban Hipster" series with David Lasky, and also does those illustrated letters to the editor for the Stranger).

Tomorrow night at South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Ave S. Free.