W. KAMAU BELL
Sat Jan 24 at 7 and 9 pm at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
Back in 2005, the marvelously prickly comedian W. Kamau Bell became the first to tell an Obama joke on Comedy Central. “That dude is cool,” Bell said, but his name is “too black” for America. “Who’s running for president? …Black Osama?!” Bell was just signed to Kill Rock Stars, which will record his Seattle gigs for a new album. From Ferguson to Selma, America’s conversation about race is spiking. Few comedians are better poised to make sense of it all than W. Kamau Bell.

IT’S GONNA BLOW: SAN DIEGO’S MUSIC UNDERGROUND 1986–1996 SCREENING
Sat Jan 24, 8:30 pm, at the Grand Illusion
A feature-length documentary that explores the scene rumored to become “the next Seattle” and birthed cult acts like Drive Like Jehu, the Locust, Rocket from the Crypt, Clikatat Ikatowi, and No Knife. Following a Q&A with director Bill Perrine, chill math-rockers Physics will inundate the space with their sweeping, electronically infused post-rock sagas. With influences ranging from the Melvins to Tangerine Dream, Physics fuse elements of krautrock, drone, and math rock.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Thurs-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. Jan 2 through 25 at New City Theater
There is one big flaw in the Civic Rep production of A Streetcar Named Desire, and a train car of virtues. The guy who plays Stanley is not good. Other than that, there are only things to love: the spare and perfectly claustrophobic set, the timelessness of Tennessee Williams’s textual torture devices (the dialogue, stripped of Southern dialects for this production, is more devastating than you remember), and phenomenal performances by Robin Jones (as Blanche DuBois) and Kelli Mohrbacher (as Stella).

THE VASELINES AND LOCH LOMOND
Sat Jan 24 at 8 pm at Neumos
The Vaselines had already made their name before Sub Pop came calling—one listen to 1987’s “Son of a Gun” and it was clear they were contenders—but the label helped them to reach a wider audience (famous fans like Kurt Cobain didn’t hurt). Then, just as new listeners were discovering their fuzz-pop gems, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee broke up. After they reunited, Sub Pop released their second full-length, Sex with an X. Not long afterward, band and label quietly parted ways. Did they jump or were they pushed? No matter. The Vaselines are back with a new album (V for Vaselines) and a label (Rosary Music) of their own. Better yet, these foulmouthed John Waters devotees don’t sound as if they’ve aged a day.

TACOS!
Sat Jan 24 at 7 pm at Barboza
Originally coined by a writer for Beastie Boys’ short-lived Grand Royal magazine, a taco riff is a riff so meaty and crunchy that, to quote MetalSucks contributor Justin Foley, “the Taco Riff does not need the rest of the song… the rest of the song is usually just window dressing.” With that in mind, Tacos! actually have the perfect moniker. There isn’t a single song on their self-titled album that isn’t a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade of taco riffs—the cataclysmic crescendo of “Sexy Nap,” the relentless pounding of “Wood Elf,” the bottom-feeder lurch of “Loopsss.” Even the exclamation point is well deserved—taco riffs!

Why are you still catching up on Orange Is the New Black? There's so much more out there. Check out The Stranger's Things to Do calendar for all of Saturday's recommended events.