We Avoided a Strike, Now the Real Fight Begins
As we celebrated Labor Day, we had the chance to reflect on how deeply strange it was to find ourselves, as Seattle School Board Directors, on the employer side of a potential strike from educators last week. Both of us are lifelong supporters of organized labor. Joe spent 19 years working in the labor movement…
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Dear Hendrix
Dear Hendrix, I don’t know the exact number by heart, but it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve played around 10,070 rock shows in my life—give or take a dozen—with my band the Black Tones. And while your father and I will be happy with whatever career you choose, with a first name like Hendrix,…
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Welcome to The Stranger’s September 2026 Issue
I was going to write this whole bit about the Genius Awards from the perspective of a Costco sheet cake, but then fucking Dolly Parton died, so fuck jokes. She was 80 years old. Older than old enough to die, yet I’m somehow shocked and devastated. The great, especially the great who are good, remain…
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Stay With Us
Dear Readers: I’m on a vacation (and bed rest) this week. Please enjoy this selection of letters from three previously published columns. — Dan Borrowing Gen Z’s love for labelling everything, I’m a 46-year-old homoromantic asexual Canadian faggot. For me that means I’d like to love and be loved by another man but I’d hate having sex…
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Slog AM: Greatest Country in World Thinks Its Schools Suck, Trade War With Mapled, Northern Neighbor Continues, Real War in Persia Also Continues
The NTSB is investigating after an Amazon cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport, crashed into a van with seven people inside, and kept going past the airport perimeter fence, hitting a Toyota Corolla SUV. The crash killed five and injured five more. A 32-person National Transportation Safety Board team documenting the scene…
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Stranger Suggests: Your Agenda This Week, September 7–September 13
MONDAY 9/7 Death Cab for Cutie LIVE on KEXP (MUSIC) For Seattleites, Death Cab for Cutie needs no introduction. Frontman Ben Gibbard started the indie rock band nearly three decades ago while attending Western Washington University. Since then, they’ve released 11 studio albums and won the adoration of listeners all over the world thanks to…
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The Stranger’s Noise Complaint: Roosevelt High School Jazz Band Combo
Welcome to Noise Complaint, The Stranger‘s new audio and video music podcast featuring live performances right here at The Stranger HQ. Streamed live and released every other Friday, we invite a great band, musician, or wonderfully weird act to perform. Tune in, discover something new, and support art in your city. This Week’s episode features Roosevelt…
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I Have the Best and Craziest 7 Bus Story Ever
The storied Route 7 now has an expiration date: 2032. At that point, King County Metro will change it to RapidRide R Line, a bus that will run between Rainier Beach and downtown Seattle. This new line will require the transformation of Rainier Avenue, a former highway with a reputation for fast cars that regularly…
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How a Great Director Made a Very Bad Film That He Is Proud Of
British director John Boorman had already made six movies before he got the chance to direct Exorcist II: The Heretic, the 1977 sequel to William Friedkin’s 1973 blockbuster about demonic possession, The Exorcist. Boorman was hardly a novice. He even had two stone-cold classics, Point Blank and Deliverance, to his name. But in making a…
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Your Bumbershoot-Inspired Syllabus
Bumbershoot’s lineup is an unusually bookish bunch this year: Lucy Dacus has a famous Goodreads account with over 2,100 books cataloged, Noname founded a book club with chapters all over the country, Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hanna penned the memoir Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, and Death Cab for Cutie frontman…
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The Best Bang for Your Buck Events in Seattle This Labor Day Weekend: Sept 4–7, 2026
Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer, but don’t let that stop you from having a good time at events from the Seattle Indies Expo to Thunderpussy LIVE at the Colisevm of Art and from Rhinestone – A Celebration of Dolly Parton to MEZZFEST III. For more ideas, check out our top picks…
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Slog AM: Sound Transit Killed 2,000 Fish, Gen Z Is Talking Less, JD Vance Says War in Iran Isn’t a War
Fish fry: The first-of-its-kind light rail floating bridge is zapping the fish in Lake Washington. Sound Transit revealed its operations along I-90 have killed around 2,000 fish since the bridge opened in March—mostly perch and bass, but a few salmon are in the mix as well. Not killing fish was one of the requirements for…
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