ART
NEPO 5K Don’t Run: The End is NEPO
We think people who run are DUMB. So walk (or dance, skip, hop, or jump), don't run, through this annual 5K of art installations and performances made by local artists. (We actually don’t care what you do, but they don’t have a permit for running.) This is your last chance. This is the fifth and final year for ephemeral works scattered in the streets and alleys by artists such as DK Pan, Francesca Lohmann, Carolina Silva, Rumi Koshino, Britta Johnson, Jennifer Zwick, Gretchen Frances Bennett, and Elias Hansen. The NEPO 5K Don't Run is so goddamn likable. I’ll miss you much. JEN GRAVES
READINGS & TALKS
Naomi Jackson & Anastacia Tolbert
Naomi Jackson's debut novel, The Star Side of Bird Hill, covers a lot of ground. An overworked and depressed single mother sends her two girls to Barbados to live with their grandmother. Parallel coming-of-age stories ensue. The great Jamaican novelist Marlon James heaps praises on the book, calling it "the unwritten history of women without men," which is reason enough for me to check out the reading. Current Hugo House poet in residence, fighter of social injustices, performer, and educator Anastacia Tolbert will don one or all of her many hats and perform something funny and powerful. RICH SMITH
See all suggested readings and talks
PERFORMANCE
John Baxter is a Switch Hitter
In 2008, Seattle hosted the Gay Softball World Series, which involved almost 200 teams and ended with a federal lawsuit accusing one powerhouse team from San Francisco of using secretly straight players as ringers. John Baxter Is a Switch Hitter, a world premiere by Ana Brown and Andrew Russell based on that saga, stars a pack of great local actors including Reginald André Jackson, Betsy Schwartz, Adam Standley, Stranger Genius Award nominee Charles Leggett, and many others. Plus it has a choreographer (Marc Kenison, aka Waxie Moon) and a fight director (Peter Dylan O’Connor). Dare we hope for a dance fight? BRENDAN KILEY
See all suggested theater, dance, and comedy events
FILM
Road House with David Schmader
The hero of Road House is Patrick Swayze. He plays a professional bouncer (or "cooler"). His job is really hard, his past is a bit mysterious, and the blond and nordic Kelly Lynch is his love interest. The villain in all of this is none other than Ben Gazzara. The movie is very, very bad, which is why it's very, very good that one of our city's greatest comic minds, David Schmader, is hosting and annotating it tonight. Can Schmader do for Road House what he did for Showgirls? Go and see. (Triple Door, Wed Aug 26, 7:30 pm, $15 adv/$17 DOS, 17+) CHARLES MUDEDE
FOOD & DRINK
Snouts & Stouts
Days are getting shorter, mornings are getting chillier, and the lake will soon no longer be a refuge for the hot and drunk. Before summer fades away entirely, take advantage of Little Water Cantina’s monthly Snouts & Stouts event, which includes a whole hog roast, plenty of local beer (courtesy of Two Beers Brewery), and live music (provided by Sweetheart of the Rodeo). For $17, you get a pork taco platter (roast pork, rice and beans, handmade tortillas, plus all the fixings) and a pint of beer. Best of all, you can enjoy it from Little Water Cantina’s huge back patio overlooking Lake Union. The event is kid-friendly and doesn’t take reservations, so you're advised to get there early. KATHLEEN RICHARDS
See all suggested food and drink events
FESTIVALS
Roachella 2015
If Pizza Fest didn’t sate your ravenous appetite for degenerate rock and roll, get some more scuzzed-out punk, garage, and dark-hearted post-punk at Roachella. The four-night extravaganza is a gluttonous banquet of bands that somehow can still infuse rock with a sense of danger—not an easy feat in 2015. Some of the highlights include scathing punk miscreants LYSOL, the Liars-like avant-goth-rock of Marriage + Cancer, and the overpoweringly nihilistic black metal of Same-Sex Dictator. As Seattle becomes more sanitized and pricey, Roachella fights to keep the music scene bracingly filthy. DAVE SEGAL
QUEER
Gay Day at Wild Waves
Wild Waves is "one of the greatest places in Seattle," says a friend who just went. The usual crowd is tattooed country folk, but today the water park will be overrun with queers and their allies (and ticket proceeds will benefit Camp Ten Trees and LGBT homeless youth). According to my source, there are legitimately thrilling slides, aquatic play areas, a wave pool, a beer garden, and lots of kinds of carnival food, including elephant ears. "And there's not a lot of supervision, because children are the authority," my source says, referring to the teen lifeguards. This Gay Day Picnic Party Fundraiser also has entertainment and raffles. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
