But Helmet isn’t the only road trip-worthy band playing Seattle next Wednesday. That same night, Scissor Sisters will channel a campier, more disco-oriented party vibe over at Showbox SoDo. DJ Sammy Jo and Casey Spooner will open, ticket info here. And last week I had the pleasure of catching up with Sisters singer Ana Matronic to talk about …

… she and Jake Shears’ Northwest roots.

… how the Scissor Sisters got started.

… being huge in England but a cult phenomenon in the …

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Usher will kick off his forthcoming OMG tour at Seattle’s KeyArena on Nov. 10, KeyArena announced today. The R&B superstar – best known for “Yeah!” “Caught Up” and other hits – will be out on the road in support of this year’s “Raymond V. Raymond” and “Versus” releases. Ticket details have not yet been released.

Vampire Weekend has scheduled two dates at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre to make up for missing last weekend’s show at Marymoor Park as front man Ezra Koenig battled vocal issues. The new shows will start at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 22 and 23, promoter STG Presents announced Thursday. Tickets for the Marymoor show will be redeemable at either performance. Rules for exchanging tickets were posted on the band’s fan site and are as follows:
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Northwest power-pop faves, the Posies, will wrap their forthcoming fall tour on Dec. 11 at Seattle’s Showbox on the Market. The band just announced dates for a co-headlined tour with Brendan Benson that will kick off on Nov. 5 in Milwaukee. Posies Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow will pull double duty by performing during Benson’s sets. And Seattle pop pranksters, Aqueduct, will also add support.

The Posies are going out in support the Posies forthcoming new album “Blood/Candy.” You can listen to its lead track “Licenses to Hide” here. …

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It was the year’s most anxiously awaited pop happening Saturday night when more than 20,000 “little monsters” converged on the Tacoma Dome to witness the spectacle of Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour.

“Little monsters” being the 24-year-old pop phenomenon’s pet name for her followers, many of which wholeheartedly embraced her message of tolerance and individuality with flamboyant, sometimes gender-bending fashion – face paint, vividly hued wigs, aluminum cans used as curlers, corsets and fishnet stockings (photo gallery here.)
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Lady Gaga wrapped up about an hour ago at the Tacoma Dome. Opening act Semi Precious Weapons is scheduled to go on right about now at the official after party at Jazzbones. And you never know who else might show up, right? Meanwhile, here’s Gaga’s set list, and you can check out a photo gallery posted by staffer Lui Kit Wong here.

Lady Gaga Monster Ball set list
Tacoma Dome
Aug. 21, 2010

Intro
Dance in the Dark
Glitter and Grease
Just Dance

…

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All we hear is Lady-O Gaga

I’m a jaded rock critic, hence my initial resistance to Lady Gaga. Sure, her hits are kinda catchy, but they’re also kinda disposable. She’s sooo edgy, but really Madonna had all the gender-bending and sacrilegious video imagery down to a science way back in 1990 (and, really, Peaches pushes the boundaries way further than both of them.) But I must confess, I’m on board for the Artist Formerly Known As Stefani Germanotta’s stop Saturday at the Tacoma Dome. Mostly I want to see what kind of wacky outfit she shows up in – you know, if she’ll reprise her telephone-head ‘do or dust off that Kermit the Frog stole she wore that one time.

The after party, featuring Monster Ball opener Semi Precious Weapons, is at Jazzbones, by the way.
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Came across this priceless video of the Stefani Germanotta band, filmed well before that band’s namesake figured out her world-conquering Lady Gaga thing. Needless to say, I had to post. Don’t think she’ll be doing this one Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

“Fashion is everything,” Lady Gaga once told MTV. “When I’m writing music, I’m thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It’s all about everything altogether — performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it’s everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us.”

Well, we don’t know if you need to be that into Gaga when her Monster Ball Tour takes over the Tacoma Dome on Aug. 21. Rushing the stage and licking stuff will get you tossed in the clink. Or at least put on Thorazine.

But one thing’s for sure. The Gaga has parlayed with her bizarre sense of style and penchant for shocking people, from rockin’ that Kermit the Frog stole in Germany, to meeting the Queen of England dressed like an extra from “The Watchmen” and more recently showing up in the pages of Vogue Hommes Japan looking, quite convincingly, like a dude. (There was even debate about whether dashing model “Jo Calderone” was actually her.)

So who knows what she’ll turn up in next week? But in honor of pop’s premier chameleon, we’ve compiled a gallery of some of her most striking looks. Hit the “more” button below to check it out and vote on your favorites. Then you can also help us deconstruct the whole Lady Gaga phenomenon. Whether you’re infatuated or “p-p-poker face” makes you want to p-p-punch somebody, e-mail your thoughts on what makes Gaga tick. Send your name, hometown and contact info to ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com and I’ll use some of the best comments in next week’s GO.

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Based on this poster, All-American Rejects are playing to an intimate crowd of Intel/Best Buy contest winners at the Vault at Varsity Grill tonight. Say, didn’t they play someone’s South Sound prom a few months back? Trying to remember where that was.