1. Blogger Jim Demetre of Artdish has done the serious labor of assembling a list of what’s going on this month art-wise (locally) and it’s a bookmark-worthy reference.

2. Two enticing things to add to that list that were just announced today: Author and art historian Peter Selz (“Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond,” 2005) will lecture July 20 at 7 pm at the Frye. He’ll talk about the development of sociopolitical artistic activity in California and beyond since 1945, and about contemporary artists’ responses to issues such as censorship, capital punishment, September 11, and the war in Iraq. One week later, same time, same place, the artist Robert Yoder will speak about the making of Sluice Gate, the abstracted carpet that now adorns the Frye’s entryway. Does the rug break the non-abstract rule of the museum, the P-I’s Regina Hackett asked? I like where that question leads. Maybe some of that will come up during Yoder’s talk about his first textile work.

3. Tonight is Artwalk. I’m going to, among other spots, Punch, where Justin Beckman “explores the habits and activities associated with his recent five years in Eastern Washington through an installation of photo-based media and video” featuring “guns, motocross, and rodeo.” The show’s called Eastern Philosophies: Part One.

That sounds a little like Tony Weathers’ great piece in the Grown Accustomed show at Crawl Space, which you can see on weekend afternoons (this is the final weekend). Weathers put video screens on the floor under a raised church pew, and the screens show manipulated footage (slowed-down, spliced) of the tedium/excitement and lowbrow leisure of a backcountry motocross race. Also terrific is Anne Mathern’s video, No. It features Mathern shaking her head and saying “No” over and over again. The word passes between two small speakers, one mounted on each side of the screen at ear level, as she turns her head. Her unchanging, slightly wary expression makes the word “No” waver between being mere senseless repetition and an eerie response to an unknown threat. And definitely do not miss Rachel Rampleman’s Poison (Sarah Fucked Bret). It’s a 30-minute documentation of Rampleman’s own sister, Sarah, telling the story of her gross but touching groupie dalliance with Bret Michaels of Poison.

4. Oh, and out of curiosity and on a credible recommendation, I’m going to this, too, tonight: JOHNNYWOW! STUDIO/GALLERY, Slabtown Bride-Mart: Solving the Family Values Crisis. 619 Western Ave, fourth floor. Evidently, JohnnyWow is a guy, and maybe even one over the age of 60.