The Stranger

Mingle, the Saturday Knights' debut album, is Seattle's first summer blockbuster. MCs Tilson and Barfly are genial block-party hosts, dishing up goofy punch lines and technical tongue twisters like so much hot barbecue. DJ Suspence straddles genres, presiding over warm breakbeats, wheezy soul organs, horns, piano, and bitchin' Camaro guitars. With Daptone's the Budos Band opening (and possibly sitting in with the Knights). More than a record-release party, this is the official start of the summer party season. (Nectar, 412 N 36th St, 632-2020. 9 pm, $10, 21+.) by Eric Grandy

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

A hearty gang of 35 regular Seattle people (nonperformers), led by German artist Oliver Herring, are taking over the third floor of the downtown library. After interviewing and picking his volunteers, Herring writes tasks for each of them, and the all-day performance will begin with each person performing his or her artist-given task, such as "pick a cat hair or dog hair off somebody's sweater without somebody noticing and place it on somebody else." The 35 people will spend the rest of the day writing tasks for each other, creating a symphonic group portrait. (Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 386-4636. 10 am–5:30 pm, free.) by Jen Graves

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

After a couple years of divide and fail, Seattle is cramming its butt- load of gay pride into one supergay day. Things begin at 11:00 a.m. with the Pride Parade: two and a half hours of Dykes on Bikes, shirtless bartenders on flatbed trucks, and award-winning floats. That afternoon brings Seattle PrideFest, four and a half hours of live music, DJs, beer gardens, and wandering gay herds at Seattle Center. Last year, both events were incredibly fun. Here's hoping for a repeat. (Parade starts at 11 am at Fourth Ave and Union St and proceeds down Fourth Ave to Denny Way. PrideFest runs from 1:30–6 pm at Seattle Center. Both events are free.) by David Schmader

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

I'm still waiting for Silent Movie Mondays to tackle my favorite new discovery, Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl, but in the meantime I'll gladly settle for this classic swashbuckler. If you've never been, you're not going to believe your ears. The genius entertainer Dennis James accompanies the film on the Paramount's tricked-out Wurlitzer organ and the crowd hisses at the bad guys—you'll never think about "silent" films the same way again. (Paramount, 911 Pine St, 292-2787. 7 pm, $12 at the door.) ANNIE WAGNER by Annie Wagner

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

Cyndi Lauper's big gay music fest lands in Seattle with a lineup so great, it quashes all reservations. Topping tonight's bill: queers-for-life the B-52s (whose new album is 50 times better than it has a right to be) and, be still my heart, the West Indies–born/United Kingdom–bred legend Joan Armatrading, whose lavish love songs have inspired more lesbian sex than booze and The L Word combined. (And don't underestimate Cyndi Lauper; she always delivers.) (WaMu Theater, 1000 Occidental Ave S, www.ticketmaster .com. 6:30 pm, $56–$126, all ages.) by David Schmader

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

The impressionists are overrated and need some comeuppance; they're getting it at a new exhibit at SAM. Inspiring Impressionism pairs impressionist paintings with older paintings (Sisley vs. Goya, Renoir vs. Greuze), and the impressionists often lose. Take Monet's Still Life with Flowers and Fruit versus the 17th-century French baroque painter Monnoyer's Vase of Flowers on a Marble Table. Monnoyer gives us a feathery white lily too long in the vase: brown, sagging, slimy. Monet gives us overlit dahlias: dumb pom-poms. (Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, 654-3100. 10 am–5 pm, $20.) by Jen Graves

Link  |  Post Comment (0)