Signal Boost: Seattle Needs Knitters!

Visual Art • History • Queer

Seattle's AIDS Memorial Pathway Continues to Bloom

by Jasmyne Keimig • Monday at 3:10 pm

Pretend like those fences and Honeybuckets arent even there.
Pretend like those fences and Honey Buckets aren't there. JK

Amidst all the construction and Honey Buckets on the Broadway mixed-used development and plaza just above the Capitol Hill Link station, public art is quietly blooming.

As part of the AIDS Memorial Pathway (AMP) project, last December saw the installation of the poet and interdisciplinary artist Storme Webber's "In This Way We Loved One Another" inside the Capitol Hill Housing’s Station House. Fashioned as a tribute to the missing narratives of women and Black people lost to the AIDS crisis, the installation is viewable to the public from the street on E John.

And last Friday, crews installed one group of Seattle-based design practice Civilization's three groups of statues called "We’re Already Here." Placed on the north end of the plaza, the south end of the plaza, and near the edge of Cal Anderson Park, the statues resemble protest signs that evoke "historic moments of public convergence."

Webber's and Civilization's pieces are two of four planned artworks on the $2.9 million AMP, a public art project memorializing the history of Seattle's AIDS crisis. Initiated in 2015, the project is jointly funded by Sound Transit, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Seattle Parks Foundation, developer Gerding Edlen, and community fundraising efforts.

One of the sign/statues from Civilizations Were Already Here.
One of the sign/statues from Civilization's "We're Already Here." JK
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EverOut

The Best Things To Do from Home in Seattle This Week: March 1-7, 2021

by Stranger EverOut Staff • Monday at 2:00 pm

The Seattle International Dance Festivals pared-down Winter Mini-Fest will bring dance films and live dance events from the likes of the Khambatta Dance Company (pictured) to your computer screen this weekend.
The Seattle International Dance Festival's pared-down Winter Mini-Fest will bring dance films and live dance events from the likes of the Khambatta Dance Company (pictured) to your computer screen this weekend. Seattle International Dance Festival via Facebook

EverOut is The Stranger's new website devoted to things to do in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest. It has all the same things you're used to seeing from Stranger EverOut and Stranger Things To Do, just in a new spot!
The first week of March is off to a good start thanks to virtual editions of annual festivals, major author appearances, and more noteworthy happenings on the internet. Freshen up your at-home routine with our latest roundup of picks, from the Asian American Film Festival to Taste Washington, and from a Word Works lecture with Jericho Brown to Timothy White Eagle's workshop performance Death and the Mourning After. Plus, check out our StreamLocal events hub, and stay tuned for a roundup of the best socially distanced things to do this weekend. 

MONDAY

MUSIC
Stephanie Anne Johnson's Pacific Northwest Guitarist Spotlight: Greg Fulton
Tacoma-bred R&B/soul artist Stephanie Anne Johnson will link up with guitarist Greg Fulton for the second installment of this collaborative virtual concert series.

Read on EverOut »

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Film/TV • Music

If You’re Looking For a Good Reason to Stan Billie Eilish, Her New Concert Doc Shall Provide

by Jenni Moore • Monday at 12:55 pm

1614629963-_117305660_billie_eilish_photo_0101.jpg
APPLE TV+

There’s just something super sweet about watching a young artist get to collaborate with, or even just receive a nod of approval from the artist who inspired them. This gets some attention in Ariana Grande’s recent Excuse Me, I Love You doc, with the singer getting giddy when she’s told she got the approval of her inspiration Mariah Carey. It's a tender, full-circle moment.

Billie Eilish’s The World's a Little Blurry is a two-and-a-half hour concert documentary that showcases a similar full-circle moment between fan and idol: herself and Justin Bieber. The film recounts how she quickly went from normal teenager to world famous popstar with millions of followers. Similar to Bieber’s 2011 concert doc Never Say Never, The World's a Little Blurry begins with home footage of Billie and her brother Finneas playing “Ocean Eyes” in their home, and then getting very excited when they hear it played on the radio for the first time. It then fast-forwards to Billie in 2018, greeting excited fans outside a venue.

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I, Anonymous

This Wednesday! It's the I, Anonymous Show with Special Guest Matt Braunger!

by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey • Monday at 12:15 pm

1920x1080_IANON.jpg

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Do you miss live comedy? ("YES!") Do you want to support The Stranger and Portland Mercury AND laugh your buttz off in the process? ("YES! YES!") Then the upcoming Wednesday, March 3, I, Anonymous Show (Livestream Edition) is for you! Here's how it works: We get the funniest local and national comedians to riff and heckle the wildest, jaw-droppingly wrong, and uncensored I, Anonymous submissions from the famous column, and in return you get a jam-packed evening of laughs!

The previous I, Anonymous Shows have been wildly funny and entertaining (and included some fun audience participation!), so you truly do not want to miss this one! Joining your delightful host Kate Murphy (a Portland Mercury "Undisputable Genius of Comedy") will be the following murderers' row of hilarious comedians:

• ARLO WEIERHAUSER (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Portland's Funniest Person 2017, Lez Standup, Mercury Genius of Comedy, and former I, Anonymous Show host)

• SHAIN BRENDEN (Mercury Undisputable Genius of Comedy, WW's Funniest Five, Portland's Funniest finalist, San Francisco Sketchfest, 10,000 Laughs Comedy Festival)

• And the fantabulous MATT BRAUNGER (MADtv, NBC's Up All Night, BoJack Horseman, Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, The Late Late Show, Comedy Bang! Bang!)

Dang, folks! That is one helluva lineup right there! So if you need some guaranteed laughs, the I, Anonymous Show is the cure you've been looking for. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW for the livestream I, Anonymous Show—coming at ya WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, at 8 pm! IT'S A LAFF RIOT WE'RE TELLING YA!

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News • City • Drugs • Olympia

Washington's Supreme Court Decriminalized Drug Possession Statewide. What Happens Next?

by Rich Smith • Monday at 10:20 am

Carrying small amounts of drugs is legal in Washington now. The next moves happen under this roof.
Carrying small amounts of drugs is legal in Washington now. The next moves happen under this roof. Lester Black

A major front in Washington's war on drugs suddenly evaporated last week when a majority of the justices on the state Supreme Court declared the state's felony drug possession law unconstitutional, which decriminalized the act of carrying small amounts of drugs.

The ruling created big waves in the criminal legal system and in the Legislature, predictably prompting conservatives to lose their goddamned minds, moderates to stiffen slightly, and those fighting the racist drug war to cheer.

We'll discuss all of that in more detail in a bit, but let's go over the decision real quick.

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EverOut

Your Guide to Things to Do in Seattle this March 2021

by Stranger EverOut Staff • Monday at 10:00 am

A collection of narrative panels by the great 20th-century Black artist Jacob Lawrence (Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle) will be unveiled in tandem with the public reopening of the Seattle Art Museum on March 5.
A collection of narrative panels by the great 20th-century Black artist Jacob Lawrence (Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle) will be unveiled in tandem with the public reopening of the Seattle Art Museum on March 5. Courtesy of Seattle Art Museum

EverOut is The Stranger's new website devoted to things to do in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest. It has all the same things you're used to seeing from Stranger EverOut and Stranger Things To Do, just in a new spot!
Seattle went into lockdown one year ago this month (pause for the requisite sigh), and only now is the end of the pandemic slowly coming into view. Until we can all safely frolic among strangers in the streets again, whenever that may be, we're here to guide you through the biggest online and socially distanced events this March, including ways to celebrate Women's History Month and St. Patrick's Day. Keep reading for details on everything from Taste Washington to the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, from a reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen to a conversation with Rebecca Solnit and Carrie Brownstein, and from Seattle Opera's online production of Mozart's Don Giovanni to the public reopening of the Seattle Art Museum. For even more options, you can always check out our complete streaming and on-demand calendars, as well as our ever-evolving guide to in-person things to do in Seattle. 

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Be Bold Now 6th Annual International Women's Day Celebration Virtual Event
At this celebration of International Women's Day, speakers will hold forth on how to speed up the processes of gender justice and parity. This year's online program will include specially made goodies delivered to your home, like a truffle chocolate bar from Seattle Chocolate and a "Nasty Woman" pinot noir from the Willamette Valley. 
(Thurs March 4)

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Slog AM/PM

Slog AM: Trump's CPAC Speech, Minimum Wage Hike Feels Like It'll Never Happen, Did Jodie Foster Wear Pajamas for the Golden Globes?

by Matt Baume • Monday at 8:30 am

CPAC looked fun this year.
CPAC looked fun this year. ZU_09 / Getty Images

Trump’s CPAC Speech Was Full of Lies. Ancient preschooler Donald Trump addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend, wowing the crowd of chumps with his usual delusions. The election was rigged (no it wasn’t), he fixed trade relations with China (no he didn’t), immigrants are coming to get you (no they aren’t). There was also a literal golden idol of Trump, about which the weirdest detail is that it was wearing red flip-flops like Dorothy Gale in a YMCA shower.

There’s another Cuomo accuser. A former aide is the second person to accuse Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment. He nonpologized, saying that his actions may have been misinterpreted. (If your statement contains the phrase “to the extent that” you probably aren’t really sorry.) Democrats are calling for an investigation into Cuomo’s actions. Are men really necessary?

The Golden Globes were very nice. Chadwick Bozeman, The Crown, Schitt’s Creek, and Nomadland were among the big winners. Jodie Foster and her wife appeared to be wearing pajamas, which is a practice that should absolutely continue after quarantine.

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Film/TV • Unstreamable

Zoo Is Unstreamable

by Chase Burns and Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 7:30 pm

Slog is never far away from Zoo.
Slog is never far away from Zoo. SEAN KIRBY, ZOO

Unstreamable is a weekly column that finds films and TV shows you can't watch on major streaming services in the United States.

ZOO
USA, 2007, 75 min, Dir. Robinson Devor

I recently learned that filth elder John Waters is a big fan of Zoo, a documentary that Stranger senior staff writer Charles Mudede helped write. I knew this dreamlike documentary about "Mr. Hands," the Enumclaw dude who died after getting fucked by a horse, had fans in strange places, but I was surprised to learn Waters was among them. I made this connection while reading Waters' recent book Carsick, which is about him hitchhiking across America. In the first chapter, Waters writes a fictional scene where he lives out a fantasy: his best possible hitchhiking experience. In this fantasy, he encounters a young art-house hunk named Harris who has a shockingly girthy knowledge of films. That's where this paragraph comes:

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Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: FDA Panel Approves Johnson & Johnson Vaccine, Macklemore Loves Polos, and a Fuck Palace on Smith Tower

by Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 5:55 pm

Yo, thats [eighty] dollars for a [polo]!
"Yo, that's [eighty] dollars for a [polo]!" Bogey Boys
Here's your daily evening round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!)

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is on its way, baby! An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted to approve the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The agency is expected to formally authorize its use on Saturday, with the nation's first shipments of the virus-fighting juice heading out just days after. Washington "will likely" be allocated 60,900 doses next week. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine does not match Pfizer's or Moderna's efficacy rates, but it still works well against severe disease and hospitalizations. As Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Thursday, you should take whatever vaccine is made available to you.

Grades 6-12 in the Lake Washington School District will not return to in-person classes this school year: 30,000 students will stay in the remote learning model throughout the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. The district explained that a shift to a hybrid model and schedule disruptions would "create more challenges and problems for secondary students than benefits."

It's Johnny Cash's birthday: I love having any excuse to look at these pictures of the Man in Black wearing thigh-high boots. (Click the pics to see the thighs.)

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Food & Drink • EverOut

This Week in Seattle Food News: Three New Japanese Restaurants Have Opened, By Tae Leaves Chophouse Row, and Dick's Is Coming To Bellevue

by Stranger EverOut Staff • Friday at 5:00 pm

Capitol Hills new Japanese barbecue spot Ishoni Yakiniku serves comfort food like kimchi udon noodles with pork belly.
Capitol Hill's new Japanese barbecue spot Ishoni Yakiniku serves comfort food like kimchi udon noodles with pork belly. Ishoni Yakiniku

EverOut is The Stranger's new website devoted to things to do in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest. It has all the same things you're used to seeing from Stranger EverOut and Stranger Things To Do, just in a new spot!
Seattle now has three new Japanese restaurants, including the creative izakaya Itsumono, the Japanese barbecue destination Ishoni Yakiniku, and the sushi bar Kamakura Japanese Cuisine Fremont. Plus, By Tae has exited its Chophouse Row home, and several new exciting restaurant openings are on the horizon, including a Dick's Drive-In in Bellevue and a Cycle Dogs restaurant in Ballard. Read on for that and more food-world updates. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.

NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS
Dough Zone Dumpling House
The rapidly expanding dumpling chain has expanded with a new location in the former space of Swiftwater Cellars in downtown Bellevue, serving its signature juicy xiao long bao (soup dumplings), q-bao (fat, fluffy-crisp pork buns seared in a pan), lacy pot stickers, and other Chinese dishes. The chain has also closed its original Bellevue location inside Crossroads.
Bellevue
Pickup, delivery, or limited indoor dining

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Transportation

Boeing Should Sell Its Renton and Everett Plants to China

by Charles Mudede • Friday at 4:28 pm

Window view of a Boeing 777 engine. Yes. That engine.
Window view of a Boeing 777 engine. Yes. That engine. Fabian Gysel/gettyimages.com

The headline for this post is not a joke. It's something that Boeing and civic leaders should consider, because the evidence shows us that the plane manufacturer is leaving our region and that it may be irrelevant by 2025 anyway.

The news today (another Boeing plane, this time operated Russia's Rossiya Airlines, had engine problems) is not actually that bad. The same is true for the incident that happened over Denver this weekend. As terrifying as that fiery engine looked, the situation was not at all dangerous for those in the air (the same, of course, cannot be said for those on the ground). The same is true for the incident in the Netherlands (falling bits of plane, the emergency landing, and so on), which happened on the same day as the one in Denver. These incidents can all be reduced to a public relations nightmare for Boeing, but not expanded in any meaningful way to the catastrophe of the 737 Max.

The aviation experts I communicate with regularly even point out that the maker behind the rash of bad engines, Connecticut's Pratt & Whitney, has had a long and complicated relationship with Boeing, a corporation that was once about engineering and, since 1997, has devoted every ounce of its existence to a program that in neo-classical economics is called Shareholder Value Maximization.

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Food & Drink • Politics • Housing • Neighborhoods

After Opposing an Increase in Minimum Wage, Dick's Expands to Bellevue with Jobs Starting at $17/Hour

by Matt Baume • Friday at 4:00 pm

Mock-up of the future Dick’s Drive-In
Mock-up of the future Dick’s Drive-In Dick's Drive-In

Dick's Drive-In President Jasmine Donovan spent quarantine driving all over the Eastside. “Bothell down to Issaquah, to Sammamish,” she recalls. She was on the hunt for the next Dick’s Drive-In location, and found it squeezed in between retailers and a temporarily-dark movie theater in Bellevue. The next Dick’s site will be at the Crossroads Shopping Center, a '90s-style mall in the suburbs, and is slated to open before the end of the year.

This is a weird time to open a restaurant, Jasmine acknowledges. But despite the pandemic, Dick’s has managed to reach some level of stability. That allowed them to make good on an old promise that once new locations opened north and south of the city, they’d expand eastward.

The suburban growth of the last few years has helped keep the company going as foot traffic fell at formerly-popular spots like Capitol Hill and Queen Anne.

“Broadway has been one of our hardest-hit locations,” Jasmine says, citing the drop in commuters, entertainment, and nightlife. “Broadway and Queen Anne are really not doing well, business-wise.”

That may be alarming for Dick’s fans to hear, particularly given an interview from 2019 in which Jasmine said that the company’s focus “is to move outside the city at this time.”

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EverOut

Your Guide to a Socially Distanced Weekend in Seattle: Breakfast Sandwiches, Black Businesses to Support, Beer Festivals, and More

by Stranger EverOut Staff • Friday at 1:20 pm

Get yourself a luxe breakfast sandwich from the pop-up Eggs Isle, coming to Chucks Hop Shop in the Central District this Sunday. (And while youre in the neighborhood, stop by Black-owned businesses like Cafe Selam and the Postman to cap off Black History Month.)
Get yourself a luxe breakfast sandwich from the pop-up Eggs Isle, coming to Chuck's Hop Shop in the Central District this Sunday. (And while you're in the neighborhood, stop by Black-owned businesses like Cafe Selam and the Postman to cap off Black History Month.) Eggs Isle

EverOut is The Stranger's new website devoted to things to do in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest. It has all the same things you're used to seeing from Stranger EverOut and Stranger Things To Do, just in a new spot!
We're back with more suggestions for activities and IRL events to help you give February a proper sendoff, from Black Restaurant Week Northwest and other ways to cap off Black History Month to an early spring sale at Swanson's Nursery, and from Brouwer's Cafe's Hard Liver Barleywine Festival to a slew of last-chance gallery shows (like Natalie Krick's Repetition Suppression at Specialist). For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week, the best movies to watch this week, and our complete, ever-evolving guide to in-person things to do in Seattle. 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Support Black-owned businesses in Seattle's historically Black neighborhoods. Especially in areas like the Central District, where Black-owned restaurants and shops like the famous Ms. Helen's Soul Food Bistro have been forced to close to make room for micro-apartment complexes and expensive grocery stores, helping to keep Black-owned businesses alive is a civic duty. As Black History Month winds down, take this weekend (and every weekend you can) to visit Black-owned restaurants in the neighborhood, like Cafe Selam, Central Cafe and Juice Bar, Communion, Fat's Chicken & Waffles, Joyce's Market and Cafe, Meskel, Taste of the Caribbean, and Ezell's Famous Chicken, as well as the Postman, a creative third-party shipping center (buy their t-shirt!). Over in South Seattle, stock up on books on the African diaspora from the newly reopened Life Enrichment Bookstore (Columbia City), which was at one time the only Black-owned bookstore in the region (now there's also Estelita's Library on Beacon Hill, whose online shop has books on ethnic studies and Black liberation movements).

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CHARITY! • Housing • Signal Boost

Seattle Needs Knitters

by Matt Baume • Friday at 1:00 pm

Yarn is my only friend now.
Yarn is my only friend now. PixelsEffect / Getty Images

If you’re still looking for a new skill to pick up in quarantine — or just some way to keep your hands busy while you anxiously fidget — consider knitting on your neighbor’s behalf. Wellspring Family Services, a Seattle nonprofit that helps families facing homelessness, is looking for volunteer knitters to hand-make hats, scarves, blankets, and more.

“We want to make sure we’re serving families with dignity,” says Karly Lee, program manager of Wellspring’s Baby Boutique. Parents frequently request “items they’ll want to give their children … a personal item, that someone made and put effort into.”

On average, the Baby Boutique works with a little over a thousand families a year, which works out to around 1,300 children. Typically, a case manager or social worker connects the family with Wellspring to set up an appointment. Then the family comes to browse items in a setting that works like a normal retail shop — except that the items are provided free of charge. (During quarantine, orders are placed over the phone and picked up outside.)

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THIS WEEKEND! Get Naked and Join the HUMP! Film Festival's ALL-NUDE Watch Party!

by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey • Friday at 10:25 am

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HEY SMUT LOVERS! There are only TWO WEEKENDS LEFT to catch the 2021 HUMP! Film Fest, and this Saturday is extra special because we're throwing an ALL-NUDE WATCH PARTY in which you can watch the show buck-nekked along with tons of other nude HUMP lovers! For this one-time only offer, we've set up a Zoom room for you to join other HUMP fans—or you can watch the show clothed and by yourself... it's your choice! If you do decide to join, you gotta be in the buff, but don't sweat it, because there are rules that will keep you and your naughty bits safe. Read about it here!

As a reminder, HUMP! is the annual film festival where sexy amateur filmmakers share their lustiest five-minute dirty movies with the world. This delightfully sex-positive fest features all sorts of horny fun, including hardcore, softcore, live action, stop action, animated, musical, kinky, vanilla, straight, gay, lez, bi, trans, and genderqueer flicks that are guaranteed to have you squirming in glee!

So feel free to watch Saturday's screening with fellow nudies (or by yourself), but don't miss out on Sunday's screening where you can watch HUMP! with a select group of the festival's directors and performers, in which you can ask questions and get a real behind-the-scenes peek at how HUMP flicks are made. SO! MUCH! FUN! And, looking into the future, here's what you can expect for the final weekend of HUMP 2021:

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