MONDAY 8/31
(PERFORMANCE) Jane Don’t is Seattle’s latest star to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race. If you’ve seen her locally, you already know she was poised to do well. Her drag style uses vintage aesthetics in contemporary ways, combining her knowledge of queer history, fashion references, and her own innovative sewing skills. With a fully glamorous mug, she delivers high-camp performances full of witty pop-culture and classic diva references. Her talents especially come out when she’s handed a microphone to show off her seemingly effortless grasp on comedy. On the show, that skill in particular led her to high praise from comedy giants such as special guest judges Sarah Sherman and Atsuko Okatsuka. If you haven’t gathered yet, she absolutely crushed it, right up until a shocking elimination in the top 5 of Season 18. She made a record-smashing run of high placements, and claimed the title of Miss Congeniality during the finale. Jane Don’t truly made Seattle proud, and proved to the world she is one of the best in the business. She will kick off her extensive Don’t Does America tour in her hometown. (Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30, 21+) NICO SWENSON
TUESDAY 9/1
Get yourself some Maui Wowie and snacks and watch 9 to 5
(FILM) Somehow, at the ripe age of 35, I saw 9 to 5 for the first time earlier this year (I know, I know) and couldn’t believe how sharp, funny, joyful, and subversive it was, even today. I have a half-baked conspiracy theory that the streamers bury it on purpose, because what do you mean there’s a scene where Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin all get zooted on Maui Wowie and indulge in elaborate fantasies of murdering their boss? (Dream blunt rotation for real.) Or that there’s a part where they’re all dressed up in medieval princess costumes? Not to mention the fact that the film does a much better job of tackling issues like female solidarity, sexual harassment, and sexism in the workplace than a lot of current-day media does, but I digress. In honor of Dolly, I propose this weeknight plan: Pick up some Maui Wowie in your preferred form at your friendly local dispensary, swing by the grocery store for some buttery microwave popcorn and Dolly Parton’s original whipped cheesecake or chocolate pie, and press play on this delightful classic, which is streaming for free on Philo. (Normally I’d recommend you rent it from Scarecrow Video, but that might not be feasible right now, for obvious reasons). Then read Fonda’s touching tribute to Parton. JULIANNE BELL
WEDNESDAY 9/2
(MUSIC) Singer-songwriter, mezzo-soprano, and classically trained pianist Tori Amos needs no introduction. The influential feminist musician’s newest album, In Times of Dragons, tells the story of a woman who transforms into a half-human, half-dragon figure and is described as a “metaphorical story about the fight for Democracy over Tyranny, reflecting the current abhorrent non accidental burning down of democracy in real time by the ‘Dictator believing Lizard Demons’ in their usurpation of America.” Recorded at Amos’s home studio in Cornwall, the album invokes spiritual muses like Teresa of Ávila, the Celtic deity Lugh, and the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. It also includes characters like a gay witch from Brooklyn and the motorcycling “Gasoline Girls” who “kiss girls”—I’m sold. The Baltimore-based artist/producer Bartees Strange will open. (Chateau Ste. Michelle, 7 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL
THURSDAY 9/3
(VISUAL ART) Becca Fuhrman’s vibrant, color-dense imagery often centers around female protagonists—a celebration of feminine strength, sensuality, and balls. There’s also a thread of the autobiographical peeking out from the nip slips and opulent patterns. In Eat it All, Fuhrman’s first solo Seattle show, the autobiographical punches through as a “rebellious act of survival born from living in the pressure-cooker of beauty culture,” and a protest against the consumerist edict to do anything but grow old. This new body of work is about bodies, our relationship to mortality, and the intensity of being alive. Supple flesh, skulls, a roll of dice, and fallen flowers are traditional vanitas motifs given a fresh spin as they weave throughout paintings and sculptures, like little defiant Easter eggs screaming fuck you to the patriarchy. (Hometeam Gallery) AMANDA MANITACH
FRIDAY 9/4
(MUSIC) With a sound described as “Charli XCX on whippets” and a look modeled on the MySpace-era aesthetic and Y2K bimbo queens, Slayyyter is the bratty, trashy-fabulous diva that the chronically online gays have been waiting for. The “anti-pop star” and former Cookie Monster pajamas girl’s third studio album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, is a no-skips wonder that sounds like it’s been freshly ripped from a hot pink iPod Nano, inspired by her teen years in St. Louis. The lead single “Beat Up Chanel$” evokes, as the lyrics go, “drunk high school nights in parking lots, hanging at the skate park watching the boys, longing for designer items I couldn’t afford,” while “Brittany Murphy” expresses Slayyyter’s suicidal thoughts and her identification with the late Uptown Girls actress. The Showbox stop on her world tour is an opportunity to see an unstoppable artist at the top of her game—plus, a dollar of each ticket sold will be donated to local LGBTQ+ organizations. (Showbox, 8 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL
(COMMUNITY) The perfect way to spend a late summer evening is to gather at Green Lake at dusk and learn all about Seattle’s local bat species. Bats Northwest is hosting this informational talk. The length of which depends on the weather and the bats. You can bank on it lasting at least 1.5 hours, though. You will leave as a bat expert. The event is free. But it is a BYOC (bring your own chair) event. (West Green Lake Beach, 7:15 pm) NATHALIE GRAHAM
SATURDAY 9/5
(MUSIC) Phew! Another music festival? But it’s September! Isn’t it time to go back to school and drink hot cocoa under a cozy blanket and pretend to care about football? No! There is still summer fun to be had, as exhausted as you may be, because Bumbershoot is taking over the Seattle Center September 5 and 6 with two days of music, comedy, art, wrestling, fashion, and so much more. (Like, literally there is a mermaid???) We know how overwhelming festivals can be, and this year’s Bumbershoot lineup, while smaller than previous iterations, is still loaded with so much good shit. Bikini Kill! De La Soul! Noname! Peaches! So we did your homework for you and wrote up every! single! band! playing over the weekend, as well as all the fun arts and culture and cat stuff. We crammed it all into an exhaustive guide that you can pick up around town, at the festival, and online at TheStranger.com. Sleep is overrated anyway. (Seattle Center, times vary, all ages) MEGAN SELING
SUNDAY 9/6
(FILM) In French New Wave director Jacques Rivette’s delightful 1974 film Céline and Julie Go Boating, magician Céline (Juliet Berto) and librarian Julie (Dominique Labourier) cross paths in a park in Paris and instantly form a playful bond. Soon, the pair stumbles upon a haunted house that replays a murder-mystery melodrama in an incessant loop, and they become entangled in its repetitive narrative. Rivette worked closely with his two stars to create the film, which ranks at #78 on Sight & Sound’s list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. (Fun fact: It partially inspired the 1985 buddy comedy and Madonna vehicle Desperately Seeking Susan.) At 193 minutes long, this movie isn’t for those with short attention spans, but dreamers will definitely fall under its spell and shouldn’t pass up the chance to see it screened at our film Genius Award winner, the Beacon Cinema. (They’ve also got a bunch of other cool stuff scheduled for this month, including Jess Franco’s 1988 Eyes Without a Face remake Faceless, Charlie Kaufman’s debut Synecdoche, New York, and the Bette Davis melodrama The Little Foxes—check it out!) (Beacon Cinema, 6 pm) JULIANNE BELL
Esteemed Italian restaurant Mezzanotte’s end-of-the-summer block party is back for the third year in a row! Take a “Georgetown pause” and come check out this all-time lineup of staff, friends, and locals as Mezzanotte’s garden patio sonically transforms to rival even the sounds of passing planes. For the cost of $20 (a Seattle fiver), there are eight bands—Fan Club, Sux, Ononos, Dish Pit, Scott Yoder, Brat, Microfoam, and Understater—and it starts at 4 p.m. and wraps up around dark (take that, Zoo Tunes), so you can be in bed early Sunday night. All ages are welcome, and kids get in free. (Mezzanotte, 4 pm, all ages) DYLAN BUECHE
