THURSDAY, AUGUST 26: WHIM W’HIM POP UP DANCE SHOW AT THE SEATTLE CENTER: SEEING GHOSTS
Whim W’Him dancers Michael Arellano, Ashley Green, and Andrew McShea whipped up some new moves this year, and they've been showing them off at parks in the Greater Seattle Area all month. Today they will dance on the broad and very green South Fountain Lawn at the Seattle Center. Judging from the clips in this sort of sporting KING 5 piece, it looks like you can expect a lot of uplifting contemporary movement with a communal bent as silhouettes play against the purples and pinks and icy blues thrown off by the day's dying sun. Not a bad way to bliss out for a little while after dinner. RICH SMITH
The outdoor show starts at 8 PM on the Seattle Center's south fountain lawn, and it's free as a bird.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27: AUGUST EVENING BIRD OUTING
Birds! There’s so much we don’t know about them. Where do they come from? What are their dreams? Are they technically bats? And what do they like to do … after dark? We can at least address that last question by attending an evening bird walk with Seattle’s chapter of the Feminist Bird Club, to which all are welcome. A gentle stroll through Seward Park will reveal the vespertine activities of our local winged beasts — bring your own binoculars, wear a mask, and pack a few lights snacks and some water. If you are secretly an undercover bird, you have to identify yourself. MATT BAUME
Feminist Bird Club’s August Evening Bird Outing is this Friday, August 27, from 6:30 PM to 8 PM at Seward Park, 5900 Lake Washington Blvd South.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, THROUGH MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6: WATCH THIS MINI FILM FEST ONLINE
The greatest African director who ever lived is Djibril Diop Mambéty. His first feature-length film, Touki Bouki, was completed in 1972. And its key image—a young man (Magaye Niang) and a young woman (Mareme Niang) on a motorbike with bull horns attached to its handlebars—was boosted by the ultimate black-power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z for their 2018 On the Run II world tour. Mambéty's niece, Mati Diop, who is famous for directing Atlantics, directed A Thousand Suns in 2013, a documentary about the male star of Touki Bouki, Magaye Niang, re-watching the film 40 years later. This work is a part of a short but excellent package of films organized by The Cooley Gallery and Converge 45. It's called FROM AFAR. Its package also includes Edward Yang's masterpiece Taipei Story, and, in my opinion, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's best work Mekong Hotel, a slow but short horror story. I hear the days are getting cooler. This should make us smarter. And smart people watch the kind of films in FROM AFAR. CHARLES MUDEDE
FROM AFAR is available on Northwest Film Forums' website.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, THROUGH SUNDAY, AUGUST 29: CRYPTICON
The Pacific Northwest’s biggest horror-fandom convention is back on, but there’s no need for real-life death and disease: All attendees must be fully vaccinated and masked. This year’s guests include film critic Joe Bob Briggs, and Billy Zane, who once conspired with an iceberg. There are panels galore to look forward to, on topics ranging from prosthetic makeup to DIY scary doll jewelry. There will also be “A Night of Spooky Belly Dance,” which sounds like a real hoot, and also a Saturday night prom. Unlike in the movie Carrie, they are not all going to laugh at you, because horror fans are lovely, supportive people. MATT BAUME
Crypticon runs from Friday, August 27 through Sunday, August 29 at the Doubletree Hotel, 18740 International Blvd.
FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 11: IN HERE AT STUDIO E GALLERY
When we direct or motion to an object, a feeling, a place that is "in here" we are also defining "out there." I keep my cups "in here" (the cupboard) as opposed to "out there" (my studio space). The deep love I have for my grandparents is "in here" (my heart) as opposed to "out there" (literally who else would love my grandparents more than me), etc, etc. And in this group show hosted by Georgetown's studio e gallery—also called In here—five artists explore the concept of interior and exterior spaces and the line that divides them. Molly Magai, Tessa O'Brien, Emil Robinson, Gail Spaien, and Jay Stern all bring their distinct perspective to this contemplative exhibition. Perhaps you might have already guessed that the paintings that compose the show are rather quiet, snapshots of windows facing the sea, bedroom corners, laundry dry racks, a quick composition of the world just outside a car window... JASMYNE KEIMIG
In here at studio e gallery runs until September 11. The gallery is open Fridays from 12-5 PM and Saturdays from 11-5 PM. Masks are required.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28: A BIG-ASS MARKET IN WHITE CENTER
This Saturday’s Queer & Trans Night Market is likely the Seattle area’s biggest-ever market featuring exclusively queer, trans and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (QTBIPOC) vendors. Featuring music by DJ Kween Kay$h and free food while it lasts from the Salvadorean Bakery and Vietnamese deli Gõ Seattle Grab & Go, the market will showcase about 45 all-QTBIPOC vendors. The market invites everyone to shop offerings from a wide range of artisans, makers, and small business entrepreneurs. “White Center historically has a lot of immigrant and refugee communities, and a huge POC community,” says Tony Vo, one of the organizers and founding members of VietQ, the group putting on the market. “As it’s becoming more gentrified, there’s a lot more white-owned LGBTQ+ businesses, but this [pop-up market] was specifically catered towards queer and trans BIPOC people, and to reclaim space in a way.” MARK VAN STREEFKERK
Hosted by VietQ, a grassroots group of LGBTQ+ Vietnamese organizers, the Queer & Trans Night Market takes place August 28 from 6 PM to 9 PM at White Center Heights Park at 10208 7th Place SW. Find out more info here.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28: BAZZOOKAFEST AT JEFFERSON PARK
If you haven't had a chance to watch local filmmaker and musician Danny Denial's Seattle-set, post-apocalyptic web series BAZZOOKA, stop what you're doing and watch all seven episodes. Watch Eva Walker (of The Black Tones), Noah Sanemitsu, Cozell Wilson (of Beverly Crusher), and drag performers LÜCHI and Kyle Mooncakes KICK ASS as radical anarchists taking Seattle back from the crutches of evil, fascist, alien overlords. THX. Now that you're familiar with the show, you should be ELATED to learn that this Saturday, Denial has curated a stellar lineup of Black and brown talent from the region into a festival called BAZZOOKAFEST going down at Jefferson Park. The festival will feature artists from different disciplines—film, music, drag. Headlining the event is nationally recognized musician Kimya Dawson next to local favorites Ex-Florist (f.k.a. Guayaba), Mirrorgloss, Razor Clam, King Youngblood, Carlarans, Stereo Sauna, Taylar Elizzabeth, and Haley Graves. BeautyBoiz will also produce drag at the fest. While you can expect music and drag from 3-8 PM, the remaining two hours of the fest will be dedicated to films from local Black and brown filmmakers. JASMYNE KEIMIG
BAZZOOKAFEST goes down on Saturday, August 28, from 2-10 PM at Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill. The all-ages event is free, will be livestreamed, and masks are required (with some available if you forgot to bring yours).
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 28: JAIDA ESSENCE HALL COMES TO QUEER/BAR
I've given up on trying to remember how long this pandemic has gone on—multiple school years, a shit-ton of seasons, and what feels like twenty crownings of RuPaul's Drag Race winners across its globe-spanning franchise. But it was Milwaukee's Jaida Essence Hall who became our first RuPaul's Drag Race winner of pandemic times. If you can remember this far back, RuPaul crowned Jaida over Zoom after she lip-synced to the crown in her living room. Typically, a RuPaul's Drag Race winner gets flown worldwide, performing for screaming fans with fist-fulls of cash, from Brazil to Kentucky, but Ms. Covid and Mx. Delta have had other plans and robbed Jaida of her deserved fanbase and funds. But! Now's your chance to correct the error! Jaida's swinging through Seattle as a part of Queer/Bar's well-produced "Summer Series: The Return," and she's giving the penultimate performance. CHASE BURNS
The show starts at 9 PM on Friday and Saturday at Queer/Bar. Wear a mask. Be vaxxed and bring proof. Tickets are mostly sold out, but last week they released some tix at the door. Keep an eye out and show up early!
COMING UP: KAT CHOW READS FROM HER MEMOIR SEEING GHOSTS
Former NPR Code Switch reporter and UW Grad Kat Chow reminds us that haunting is a mutual activity. We haunt the dead, and in turn they live with us and continue to shape our lives. In Chow's case, it's her mother who she grieves and memorializes with a radio reporter's ear and eye for detail in her memoir, Seeing Ghosts. Critics are calling this one "a powerful remembrance" that "generally avoids oversentimentality and buoys what could otherwise be an overwhelmingly despondent narrative with bursts of joy and irreverence." UW communications professor and author LeiLani Nishime and literary legend Shawn Wong will join Chow for the virtual conversation hosted by Elliot Bay Book Company. RICH SMITH
This online event begins on Tuesday, August 31 at 6 PM. Find tickets here.