FEBRUARY 26

“Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show”

Crispin Glover’s genius is misunderstood. The guy channels more than acts, which could be why all of his characters seem to exhibit the same uncanny dementia. His portrayals of pothead Layne in River’s Edge and geeky dad George McFly in Back to the Future displayed an insecure slipperiness that it seems Glover possesses in real life. Compare that with his spot-on portrayal of Andy Warhol in The Doors (he was the best-cast of all the recent cinematic Warhols), and it becomes more apparent that Glover isn’t acting at all, he’s just being himself. Tonight, Glover’s performance features three episodes of a new sort: First, he’ll screen What Is It?, a movie he wrote, directed, and cast exclusively with actors with Down syndrome, then he’ll present his “Big Slide Show,” a work of performance art in itself featuring projections from 19th-century books with pages full of Glover’s cut-and-paste reconfigurations of the text and his own “illuminated” drawings. Part 3 concludes the evening with a book signing by the man who predates Farrah Fawcett in going wacko on Letterman (by 10 years). Come on, man, at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Metro Cafe, 1522 14th St. NW. $20. (202) 518-7900. (Tina Plottel)