The horrible David Horsey recently posted a cartoon about tipping that is nothing but stupid. We can closely match the type who might see in Horsey's "Seattle's Tipping Epidemic" a deep or legitimate general reading with one who believes they are having sex with another person but are instead fucking a rocking chair. (Admittedly, I stole the final image in that long sentence from some story or essay by Vladmir Nabokov—and I'm certain the Russian's chair did not rock.) Then there is Danny Westneat. Not too long ago, he became the Jimmy McMillan of tipping. But the latter's famous declaration, "Rent Is Too Damn High!," was justified and, despite its directness, had real depth. Westneat's "Help! Tipping in Seattle has become a psychological minefield," remained at the surface of a very complicated issue.  

Fall officially starts tomorrow, and we'll be ushering in the season with cheap and cheerful events from Luminata to the 2023 Italian Festival, and from 26.2 To Life to Free Entrance Days in the National Parks. For more ideas, check out our guide to the top events of the week.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Jack Symes & The River House Band
If you, like me, are overcome with humiliating memories at the mention of high school prom, this is your chance for redemption. Brooklyn-based songsmith Jack Symes will swap out typical school dance tunes (like the dreaded "Cha-Cha Slide") for songs from his latest album, Jack Symes & the River House. The album, which includes on-theme tracks like "Prom Song Pt. 2" and "A Little Love," is a perfect little corsage of contemporary indie rock, folk, and 1950s rock 'n' roll. Be sure to bring a date and don't forget to dress in your snazziest formal attire! AUDREY VANN
(Tractor Tavern, Ballard, $15)

During a confrontation last year, a Seattle Police officer hurled racist slurs and sexist language at his elderly Chinese-American neighbor. He also appeared to threaten to put her in jail. The woman recorded the audio of the incident, and a Chinese social services organization recently filed a complaint with the Office of Police Accountability (OPA). In the past, the OPA has recommended firing officers for making derogatory comments or using racial slurs, even when not on duty.

The audio serves as a snapshot of what court records describe as an ongoing campaign by Seattle Police Officer Burton Hill, who is also a realtor, and his wife, Agnes Miggins, to drive the woman, Zhen Jin, out of the Kenmore condominiums where they all live. Jin, who works as a Seattle Public School bus driver, also lives with and takes care of her blind, elderly Palestinian-American uncle. Neither Jin nor her uncle speak English fluently. 

King County District Court granted both Jin and Miggins reciprocal protection orders against one another. Miggins sought her protection order first; however, at a February court hearing Jin's attorney argued that Miggins wanted to use the court system as part of a harassment campaign against Jin. As part of the evidence, the attorney played a clip of Hill calling Jin a “dumb fucking ch***.”

Tokitae comes home: The Salish Sea orca who died in Miami after being in captivity there for 52 years finally made it home to her native waters. Her cremated remains made the trip home in a "4-foot-long, 20-inch-tall, 12-inch-across, 300-pound cedar box." A Lummi Nation elder traveled with her. The plan is to scatter her ashes in the sea in a private ceremony. 

King County won't house inmates in Des Moines jail: As Ashley reported, King County won't follow through on its plan to ship its inmates from two county jails to a regional Des Moines jail. The announcement comes as the Des Moines jail, known as South Correctional Entity, or SCORE, saw four inmates die within its walls just this year. According to Publicola, King County said the deaths didn't impact the decision. The county said it ended the deal because SCORE could not accommodate enough inmates to make enough difference in staffing strains and capacity burdens in King County's facilities. 

I was thirty seconds into my Zoom call with Emmett Montgomery and Derek Sheen and shit was already going off the rails. Instead of talking about Friendship Dungeon, the duo’s new monthly midnight variety show, the three of us started the interview by scooping up our dogs from their respective napping positions only to spend several minutes urging the animals to acknowledge one another through the computer screens.

Montgomery’s little Italian Greyhound mix Carmen Dracula, Sheen’s toy poodle Shadow, and my beagle Johnny Waffles squirmed and pulled away as if we were trying to squeeze them into baby clothes and pose them in a basket of vegetables for an Anne Geddes calendar.

I attempted to rein in the circus. “Okay, we should probably get started. You’ve said before that Friendship Dungeon is all about getting weird—I want to talk about how you guys are bringing the weird back to Seattle.”

“Lords of Portland” Portugal. The Man will head up north to support their latest album Chris Black Changed My Life. Metal’s favorite soprano Chelsea Wolfe has also announced a local date next spring. SNL mainstay Colin Jost will also stop by the Seattle area to give us his weekend update. Read on for details on those and other newly announced events, plus some news you can use.

ON SALE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

MUSIC

Briston Maroney: Ultrapure Tour
Neptune Theatre (Mar 18, 2024)

Built to Spill
The Showbox (Nov 24-25)

Chelsea Wolfe
Neptune Theatre (Mar 25, 2024)

“Seattle is the place where things started for me,” announced Turkish singer/percussionist Gaye Su Akyol after she and her fantastic band finished the second song of an exhilarating two-hour-plus set at Nectar Lounge last night. Born in 1985, she cited being inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana when she was 8 years old. Even if this admission smacked a bit of pandering to the locals, it was charming. Adding to the Seattle connection, the magnetic diva released a 7” single with Sub Pop this year whose A-side is a cover of Shocking Blue's “Love Buzz,” which Nirvana also cut for their 1988 debut single. In addition, the Glitterbeat label, run by former Seattle musician Chris Eckman, has released Akyol's last three albums. GSA and crew also recorded an in-studio session for KEXP with Wo'Pop host Darek Mazzone; it airs September 26.

At times, it felt as if I, a non-Turk, were eavesdropping on a private ceremony for Turkish nationals, and this sense of being an outsider just added another frisson to GSA's live Seattle debut. One felt privileged to witness such a communal sense of joy in that Middle Eastern nation's musical history and present, as this is a culture that doesn't get a ton of representation in Seattle. A similar scenario played out when the Turkish-Dutch group Altın Gün performed at the Crocodile in 2019. The room seemed to consist of 80% Turks, and they enthusiastically sang along with every song. No matter your ethnicity, though, you couldn't help getting swept away by the celebratory vibe.

You know the saying, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time?” 

Jaahnavi Kandula should be alive. Charleena Lyles should be alive. John T. Williams should be alive. The Seattle Police Department has been telling us who they are for a very long time. Why won’t we believe them?

I cried the first time I saw Kataka Corn perform. They were starring in the 5th Avenue Theatre’s 2022 production of The Wiz and days ago I had just moved back home to the Pacific Northwest after being away for almost a decade. During the show’s final song “Home,” Corn’s voice was as powerful as Aretha or Diana or Whitney when they sang, “A world full of love / Like yours, like mine / Like hoooooome.” I fucking lost it.

I blamed my emotional purge on the timing, but in the summer I saw Corn again in ArtsWest’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. They played Yitzhak alongside Nicholas Japaul Bernard’s Hedwig, and the two were explosive. When Corn sang the finale, “Midnight Radio,” it happened again! Tears! And I wasn’t the only one. The audience was full of people wiping their eyes.

Political consultants often tell Seattle City Council candidates that their paths to victory lie in sending voters pieces of mail with their faces and names on them. Some advise campaigns to spend at least 60% of their budgets on direct voter contact through mail and other forms of advertising.

Researchers show that mailers can increase a candidate’s name identification, but they show mixed results on whether the flyers persuade or turn out voters. But one thing is clear: the mailers are where campaign consultants make their money. 

(BOOKS) Four years ago, a crew of scientists set out for Thwaites Glacier, an unusually broad Antarctic glacier that had never been visited by humans before. Their goal? To learn as much as possible about the ice formation, which was purported to be deteriorating and potentially contributing to catastrophic global sea-level rise. Elizabeth Rush, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist...

Heart eyes x 100: I love the weather. I love the weather. I LOVE THE WEATHER. Today you can expect sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s. It's the perfect time to wear impractical fall clothing. Sweater vests with nothing under them à la Harry Styles and plaid pencil skirts sans the thermal tights. Go out into the beautiful weather and live your Gilmore Girls fantasy. 

Maybe the City should not pay this guy: The Community Police Commission called on the Chief of Police to put Daniel Auderer on unpaid leave—he's the cop who made fun of the woman another cop killed. While the Community Police Commission is an official part of the City’s accountability system for cops, they are pretty much toothless when it comes to actually holding anyone to account. The police department didn’t even flinch at the commission's demand in a letter they sent last week. SPD's spokesperson declined to comment and pointed the Seattle Times back to the department's earlier hand-waving statement.

I get it. Thanks to smartphones and Instagram, EvErYoNe Is A pHoToGrApHeR. But you and I know that’s not true. While I truly do appreciate that smartphones have made digital photography far more accessible to so many more people, I also worry that the art of photography will get lost in the deluge of images intended to hold attention for as long as it takes to scroll up.

Want to put some quality into your screen time? Here are five Seattle-based photographers to follow so your social media algorithm doesn’t just devolve into an endless stream of pictures of half-eaten burritos and your friends’ cats.

WEDNESDAY 9/20  

Dee's Nuts

(COMEDY) If you were one of the hundreds of comedy fans who packed into the Egyptian for The Stranger's inaugural Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy showcase last month, then you already know Dewa Dorje is hilarious. For further evidence, head to Here-After Wednesday night for Dee's Nuts, Dorje's monthly talk show-style comedy night where she gathers up some of her favorite fellow funny people to discuss everything from current events to beef jerky. This month's guests are Ev Jensen and Monica Nevi and Dorje says it's the last installment until 2024. Go! (Here-After, 2505 First Ave, 7 pm, $15, 21+) MEGAN SELING