Wednesday 3/15

Pick Up a Copy of The Stranger's Arts + Performance Magazine

Pacific Northwest Ballet rehearsal photo by Kristen Marie Parker.

(ARTS) Yes, you read that right. I said PICK UP a copy of The Stranger! We're back in print, motherfuckers! We've brought back our Art + Performance Magazine and, starting today, it's available both online and in print. It's packed with some of the season's most exciting happenings. This week Sigur Rós singer and guitarist Jónsi makes his US museum debut at the National Nordic Museum with FLÓÐ (Flood). The exhibit is a multisensory experience—video, sound, scented fog—that, he told Jas Keimig, is inspired by the big wave and how we’re all gonna die and everything is gonna flood." Also coming soon is the Pacific Northwest Ballet's spring production Boundless (at McCaw Hall March 17-26). Stranger Editor Rich Smith went behind the scenes with photographer Kristen Marie Parker to get a glimpse of the dancers' grueling rehearsals. Plus: Interviews with filmmaker Clyde Petersen, poet Paul Hlava Ceballos, and ceramicist Emily Counts! There’s nothing like print media. We love it, and we know you love it, too. It feels good to be back. (The Stranger's Arts + Performance Magazine is on stands now through June) MEGAN SELING


Thursday 3/16

Diary of A Country Priest and Pickpocket

(FILM) The 20th-century French director Robert Bresson might be the most spiritual filmmaker in the history of cinema. And with the Diary of a Country Priest, a film he completed in 1951, we find his superb spirituality in a state of crisis. Eight years later, Bresson would make a film, Pickpocket, that described spirituality in a state of perfection. The dour priest in Diary wants to be like the heavenly thieves in Pickpocket—so certain, so committed, so absorbed in the motions of their craft. If the country priest had even an ounce of this kind of dedication, he would save lives. But he can't. All he can do is offer a fascinating subject for a genius that has few matches, Bresson. (The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave S, Diary of A Country Priest shows March 16 and Pickpocket shows March 17-20, $12.50) CHARLES MUDEDE


Friday 3/17

Return to Seoul

(FILM) You may think that you’ve experienced a story like the one being told in Return to Seoul based on a description of its plot, but that is only the beginning of the journey it has in store. It is a film that immerses you in the life of the charismatic yet chaotic 25-year-old FrĂ©dĂ©rique "Freddie" BenoĂźt who has returned to South Korea. She is there supposedly by chance but decides to seek out her birth parents who she has never met. With a mesmerizing debut performance by Park Ji-Min, it is a work that sees her character radically change over the years as she searches for some sort of tranquility. No matter how many immense leaps through time the film takes, it paints an intimate portrait that ensures even the quietest moments are bursting with emotion. (SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, various showtimes March 17-19, $14) CHASE HUTCHINSON


Saturday 3/18

Witch Ripper with Heiress, Into the Storm, and Void Dancer

(MUSIC) It's a special moment when artists fully embrace that there are absolutely no rules to any of this and go all in with experimentation. It's even better when the result is as good as The Flight After The Fall, the new five-song full-length album by Seattle band Witch Ripper. It's obvious these dudes used their pandemic time away from live shows to the fullest as they concocted this proggy, riff-centric beast of a heavy metal album that’s overflowing with soaring choruses. For this official album release show, they have stacked the lineup with three other crushing local bands: melodic death metal headbangers Void Dancer, underrated post-hardcore band Into the Storm, and one of the heaviest bands in the Pacific Northwest altogether, Heiress. Enjoy yourself a nice frosty glass of the limited Witch Ripper IPA by Future Primitive brewing (available at the show) as you bang your head to four of this city’s finest. (Substation, 645 NW 45th St, 9 pm, $15) KEVIN DIERS


Sunday 3/19

Kkokio Korean Fried Chicken Asian Fusion

 
 
 
 
 
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(FOOD & DRINK) And there it was. A new Korean fried chicken joint on Rainier Avenue. It's called Kkokio. It opened here four days before my birthday, February 4. Now was the time to stop everything I was doing and make a visit. The place was busy. The young man at the counter was polite. I ordered 10 drums and 10 wings of original "Krispy Fried Chicken" and kimchi fried rice to go. The result? The fried chicken hit the spot. It was not crusty like the shell of a crustacean or super salty like the sea. Also, the meat was of good quality. As for the kimchi with rice, which was under a fried egg, the best word to describe it in English is: yummy. The surprising thing was the lack of heaviness experienced after eating this meal. I always expect to be punished, gastronomically, for eating fast food. But in this case, everything went down. (Kkokio, 810 Rainier Ave S, open Wed-Thurs 11 am-7 pm, Fri-Sun 11 am-9 pm, and Mon 11 am-7 pm) CHARLES MUDEDE


Monday 3/20

Daffodil Day

Free! Courtesy of Pike Place Market

(SPRING) You made it. The clocks have jumped ahead, the thermometer is no longer stuck at 45 degrees. Spring is here. Today, while supplies last, celebrate your S.A.D. survival with a trip to Pike Place Market where vendors—Blong's Garden, Neng Garden, Nguyen Family Farm, and Shong Chao's Farm—are giving away free bunches of stemmed sunshine. The market is also celebrating Women's History Month by giving away free women! LOL, JK. There are no free women. But they are celebrating the fact that nearly 50% of all businesses are owned or co-owned by women. Go show them some love! A few of my favorites Piroshky Piroshky, Robot vs Sloth, Rachel's Ginger Beer (get the caramelized pineapple to match your daffodils!), and the Confectional (get the peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake because who cares if it doesn't match your daffodils!). (Pike Place Market, 1501 Pike Pl, 11 am-2 pm or while supplies last, free) MEGAN SELING


Tuesday 3/21

Macie Stewart, Lia Kohl, and Sheridan Riley

(MUSIC) Chicago-based cellist and performance artist Lia Kohl subverts conventional notions about how her instrument should sound. On 2022's Too Small to Be a Plain, she weaves field recordings (birdsong, burbling water, people's voices, crickets, etc.) into spare, methodical improvisations and introspective, sonorous drones that nibble at the peripheries of your consciousness like playful rodents. Kohl's new album, The Ceiling Reposes, deploys live radio samples captured primarily during a trip to Vashon Island. These lend a gently disorienting affect to the mutedly radiant and electronically glitched drones Kohl produces on her cello, as well as on kazoo, bells, synths, and other instruments. It's an engrossing headphone listen, and it'll be interesting to see if it translates to the stage. Kohl cut a record with tonight's headliner, Macie Stewart, Recipe for a Boiled Egg, that's even weirder and more jagged than her solo stuff. Seattle drummer/composer Sheridan Riley, whose Participant EP makes avant-garde music sound fun, opens. (Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave NW, 8:00 pm, $15, 21+) DAVE SEGAL

This story has been updated since its original publication.