Friday 8/10
Alki Beach Music Fest--Alki Beach is the only place in Seattle that is set up to be a scene. It has a bona fide "strip" to cruise up and down in your car while blasting music. And it has the beach, of course, which, as Baywatch has shown us, is ripe for making scenes. This weekend the Northwest Programs for the Arts was going to set up a weekend festival including food, live music, a vollyball tournament. But they had a last-minute fall-out with the city government, and the event has been canceled. The people of Seattle, however, don't need their government to throw a party: this weekend, go out to Alki Beach during the scheduled hours and blast music, get drunk, and make out. Alki Beach, West Seattle, Friday from 5 to 10 pm, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 10 pm.
Saturday 8/11
Ready, Set, Cook--Taking a cue from the morbidly addictive Food Network show Iron Chef, tonight chefs Tamara Murphy of Brasa and Marianne Zdobysz of the Madison Park Cafe will challenge each other in a cooking competition. The chefs will shop at the University District Farmers Market and make an original dish on the spot. The audience will judge the dishes based on creativity, eye appeal, and taste. It's gonna be a bloodbath. University Heights Community Center, University Way and NE 50th St, 10 am, free.
cleansing the doors of perception--That's right, folks, Michael Tsarion will totally blow your mind right out of its pathetic stasis. Tonight's topic is Astro-Theology and Sidereal Mythology, which includes explanations on why women are marginalized by modern religion, what the symbols of religion, royalty, government, and business mean, and why there are "23 zodiacs secreted into the architecture of Washington D.C." (For real.) Tomorrow night's discussion (August 12) is on the Subversive Use of Sacred Symbolism--why Hollywood is called "Hollywood," and explanations of the names Pepsi, Sprite, Nissan, and many other beloved soft drinks and automobiles. Seattle Metaphysical Library, 1000 E Madison St, #B, 329-1794, $10 advance tickets for each night (suggested donation), $15 at the door.
Sunday 8/12
Lambert House Birthday--This resource and activities center for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth is turning 10 this week. To celebrate, they are having a Family Reunion BBQ Picnic, and inviting current and former youth, volunteers, board, and staff to raise a plastic cup of lemonade to this long-standing Seattle institution. T.T. Minor Elementary School Playfield, 18th Avenue and Union St. Call 322-2515 ext. 12 to RSVP.
Tuesday 8/14
Experience Homo Project--Speaking of queer youth, the EHP is a one-day conference by and for queer youth, featuring workshops and forums on writing, fashion, activism, music, and self-defense. Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway, 587-3800, 10-5 pm, free.
Wednesday 8/15
beowulf--The Generations Radio Theater will read parts one and two of this ancient epic from the British Isles. King Beowulf is getting up there, "long in the tooth" if you will, and it is now that he must face his most fearsome adversary. I won't tell you how this canonized story ends, even though you'll probably be snoozing by the radio by the time it does. KUOW 94.9 FM, 10 pm.
