Tonight's pick:

1. Shabazz Palaces invaded Seattle’s brain in no time flat. That’s mostly due to the fact that someone let their big secret out of the bag—that the group is the new project of Digable Planets rapper Ishmael Butler. The intention was to let the music speak for itself, though, and that definitely happened.

Shabazz is out-there music that is easy to grasp. Their horn samples, buried under deep creepiness, the friction of plinking “thumb pianos” and buckshot thuds, and, above all, their somewhere-orbiting-the-Central-District flows, are inciting a fresh jolt of hometown pride.

Their mixtape/video “Belhaven Meridian” is as strange and great as its title.

For all that, Shabazz Palaces haven’t played a single hometown show—but that’s changing on Friday night. True to form, they’ve been mum on details, but it definitely looks to be the best $10 you’ll spend so far in 2010.

Tonight, at Neumos. $10.

On Tomorrow's Calendar:

1. Mayor Mike McGinn is having his day-long self celebration on Saturday. To start, there's a "City Hall Open House" with Mayor McGinn from 1 pm to 5 pm, in which McGinn and "other public officials" will spend a couple hours greeting the crowd and schmoozing and giving personal tours of city offices. At 3, McGinn is slated to give his inauguration speech.

On the flip side, there's a free, McGinn-hosted rock show set for 8 pm. The bill includes The Maldives, Gabriel Teodros, and Hey Marseilles.

I'd rather be Teodros than The Maldives in this situation. Both bands are safe and family friendly, and I dig The Maldives immensely , but in this venue, Teodros, a Westlake backpacker-turned-Hidmo anchor, whose sophisticated debut record is a fountain of hip hop happiness, is liable to say some real shit about the way this city is run. From the smart mind of Teodros, that's something to look forward to.

All day Saturday, at City Hall (1 pm to 5pm) and Showbox SODO (8 pm). Both events are free.

2. Atul Gawande, a New Yorker staff writer and author/surgeon/Harvard professor is reading from his newest book, The Checklist Manifesto, on Sunday night. In my estimation, Gawande's shining moment was "McAllen, Texas and the high cost of health care," his article about the causes of exponential growth in health care costs, an article Rahm Emanuel made required reading in the White House and that I've been using as my main source material in arguments with people.

Sunday night, 7:30 pm, at Town Hall. Admission is $5.

3. People in New York City are used to weird stuff happening on the subway train, whether it's discreet vomiting, or casual fisticuffs—after all, everyone rides it, it's the circulatory system of the city. Seattle's train is obviously not quite that, but there is a group trying to start some NYC-type wackiness: The Emerald City Improv is encouraging people to meet at Westlake Center on 4th and Pine on Sunday at noon, board the Light Rail train at 3rd and James, and then, once underway, uh, take their pants off.

In order to participate, the Emerald City Improv group says you must be "1) Willing to take pants off on light rail and 2) Able to keep a straight face about it." If you can do those two things, Seattle, you are truly ready for a train.

Sunday at noon, meeting at 4th and Pine.

4. Tomorrow is the monthly Georgetown Art Attack, an art street fair with food by Skillet Street Food (they of the excellent lunch-time airstream and delicious poutine ) and local art presentations in galleries and coffee shops around a few-block radius in the neighborhood.

Fantagraphics, which is in the same area, is also holding its annual preview—an exhibition of comic art from local artists like Peter Bagge (Hate) and national legends like Jason (The Left Bank Gang)

Saturday, in Georgetown, from 6 pm to 9 pm (Fantagraphics is at 1201 S. Vale Street).

5. The University Book Store turns 110 this year, a pretty decent run for an independent bookstore, albeit one that's propped up by a captive textbook market and subsidies from the State of Washington.  The store is celebrating in true booknerd fashion by issuing 110/110—110 essays by 110 different local authors (Cliff Mass, Garth Stein, Stacey Levine, David Guterson), describing their favorite U Bookstore shopping experience in exactly 110 words.

The book comes free with a purchase of anything written by one of the contributors. The book's launch party features free cake.

Sunday, noon to 5 pm, at the University Book Store, 326 University Way NE. Free.