MONDAY 1/12  

Collide-O-Scope 16th Anniversary

(FILM) For a whopping 16 years, Collide-O-Scope has been a fixture of Seattle’s underground film and performance scene. It’s an institution that’s evolved alongside our city’s venues and creative spaces, putting in a decade at the (dearly missed) Re-bar, shifting online during the pandemic era, and finding a four-year home at the Crocodile’s recently closed Here-After before landing at its newest venue, the Clock-Out Lounge! For the uninitiated, the 16th-anniversary show is the perfect entry point into the cabaret, the chaos, and the community that have cemented Collide-O-Scope as a resilient part of Seattle nightlife history. (Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) LANGSTON THOMAS

TUESDAY 1/13  

Colm Tóibín

(LITERATURE) Celebrated Irish author Colm Tóibín follows in the footsteps of literary giants like Henry James, James Baldwin, and Elizabeth Bishop, writing intensely human stories with unadorned, rhythmic prose. You’re most likely familiar with him through his sixth novel, Brooklyn, a breakout success that was adapted into the Oscar-nominated 2015 film of the same name starring Saoirse Ronan. Brooklyn revolves around young midcentury Irish immigrant Eilis Lace’s struggle to reconcile her past in Ireland with her new life in New York. Tóibín continued the saga with his 2024 sequel, Long Island, which picks up 30 years later as Eilis finds her marriage with her Italian husband Tony in disarray. Join him for this conversation at Town Hall for a glimpse into the mind of what the Boston Globe called “one of the world’s best living literary writers.” (Town Hall Seattle, 7:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL

WEDNESDAY 1/14  

Steve Gunn, Jeffrey Silverstein

(MUSIC) It’s understandable if you’ve had your fill of stoic, white-guy guitarists with limited (yet pleasant) vocal ranges. But you should leave a sliver of precious time in your hectic life for Steve Gunn. What he lacks in singing prowess, he makes up for in instrumental expressiveness. Gunn’s a guitarist of rare melodic elegance and deceptive soulfulness, as evidenced by his 2013 breakthrough, Time Off, which found him contending with the legacies of British psych-folk masters such as Michael Chapman and Bert Jansch. Since then, Steve’s kept busy with several collabs (Kim Gordon, Mdou Moctar, Mike Cooper, Natural Information Society, etc.) and solo works, steadily building a fan base, with help via Matador Records’ marketing might. This year, Gunn’s released Daylight Daylight and Music for Writers for the more underground No Quarter and Three Lobed labels. The former thrums with chamber-art-pop splendor; the latter zones out in glowing ambient-drone-fingerpicking space, sans vox. The Triple Door should be a copacetic setting for this music’s understated grandeur. (Triple Door, 7:30 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

THURSDAY 1/15  

Fatlesque Fest NW at Triple Door 

(PERFORMANCE) Fatlesque Fest NW is back with burlesque that challenges expectations and expands upon what the art form can look like onstage. Rooted in fat liberation and body positivity, the festival showcases performers from across the US, Canada, and the UK, with each night featuring a different cast and its own distinct energy. Headliners Lady Drew Blood and Lady Lola LeStrange anchor the lineup alongside a roster of featured performers serving humor and glamor. Produced by Puckduction, the same team behind Fat Con (also recommended), the fest carries a community- and visibility-first ethos into a bold, high-glam performance space. More than a showcase, Fatlesque Fest NW is a statement that celebrates joy, artistry, and bodies. (Triple Door, 7:30 pm, 18+) LANGSTON THOMAS

FRIDAY 1/16  

Monster Rally

(MUSIC) For the past 15 years, Cleveland’s Ted Feighan has created a trove of transportive sound collages as Monster Rally. Envision your mid-century Pan Am touching down for several minutes at a time on a volcanic tiki retreat as imagined by the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes; a bustling, sand-swept day market bearing bold spices and vibrant fabrics from across the empire; a Los Angeles Chinatown bossa nova jazz joint where the password is an inside joke. Alternately, the great thing about Monster Rally is that most of what your brain conjures when dosed with the sounds, Feighan has already made in visual form—most every release has been coupled with an extraordinary magazine cut-out piece of artwork that matches the escapist, exotically colored sounds he’s made, and his live shows are no different. By trade, a multi-instrumentalist beatmaker in the vein of Dirty Art Club, Teebs, or Madlib on his “Curls” beat shit, Feighan has chosen to open his studio for only the second time to outside vocalists (after his 2015 Foreign Pedestrians collab with Bay Area rapper Jay Stone), and the singles so far have displayed the telltale signs of crossover appeal. (Barboza, 6:30 pm, 21+) TODD HAMM

SATURDAY 1/17  

Mourning Sickness: Showgirls

(FILM) What can I say about Paul Verhoeven’s landmark 1995 erotic drama that hasn’t already been said? That I felt like a changed person after watching it for the first time? That it is tacky and absurd to a degree approaching transcendence? That never in my life have I seen anything quite like Gina Gershon flirting with Elizabeth Berkley by talking about eating doggy chow? Whether you love or hate the critically panned movie, I’m willing to bet that you’re probably not indifferent. (I’m solidly in the love camp myself, in case you couldn’t guess.) See the psychosexual NC-17 sensation and its bevy of naked breasts on the big screen—drag queen and self-described “bird-brained bombshell” Monday Mourning will give an introduction to the film, which is part of her “Mourning Sickness” series of camp and cult classics. (Northwest Film Forum, 7:30 pm) JULIANNE BELL

SUNDAY 1/18  

Seattle Opera: Daphne

(PERFORMANCE) One of my goals for 2026 is to start frequenting the opera—who’s with me? I want to see Seattleites step out of their Blundstones and Patagonias and into their opera gloves, faux furs, and antique opera glasses for an evening of art and glamour. I’ll be kicking off my Year of Opera with Strauss’s underrated masterpiece, Daphne, inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Strauss’s take on the Greek myth tells the story of Daphne, a woman who loves nature but has no interest in human romance, who turns into her favorite laurel tree after mourning the death of her suitor. Not only will this whimsical tale be brought to life on stage by the Seattle Opera, but the Seattle Symphony will join, playing the lush, pastoral score. (McCaw Hall, various times, all ages) AUDREY VANN

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