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MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKPop-Up Wine Tasting
To launch their brand-new wine program, Cafe Pettirosso is hosting a tasting starring a variety of local wineries, with bites from their upcoming new menu and exclusive discounts on featured wines.
Robert Gates
As part of the Unique Lives & Experiences series, hear from former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who served under Presidents Bush and Obama.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
COMEDYHari Kondaboluâs New Material Night
Hari Kondabolu, fresh off recording a comedy special, will work out new stand-up material.
MONDAY-SATURDAY
ARTClay & Politics
The clay artists in this group show curated by Richard Notkin have tackled our hideous political era with sculptures that are, variously, on-the-nose (James Budde's self-explanatory Mr. Orange), pithy (Eric Nelson's the way of war, an earthenware bowl with a grenade nestled inside), and conceptual (Dennis Meiners's surveillance camera covered in vintage animal designs). For me, the most affecting works are a little harder to decipher. Katherine Skeels's The End Game is a black-and-white ceramic plate covered with the profile of a scowling man, whose lines surround sketches of hands, standing figures, mournful faces, and guns. While they don't seem allegorical, the images resemble harrowing portraits by Weimar-era artists like KĂ€the Kollwitz and Otto Dix. Ronna Neuenschwander's Hands Up is a sinister take on antique porcelain figurines: A baby-faced girl in a mosaic-decorated skirt delicately holds up her hands, while metal tubes like gun barrels jut out of her pedestal. Blatant satire has its value. But works like these link contemporary American unrest and authoritarianism with the self-inflicted cataclysms that have plagued the West in the past few centuries. JOULE ZELMAN
Opening Monday
Children's Film Festival Seattle
The Children's Film Festival is founded on two premises: 1) Children are not stupid and 2) they deserve beautiful world cinema just like us grown-ups with underused film degrees. The organizers at Northwest Film Forum believe that art can do heavy lifting for "racial equity and diversity, inclusivity, social justice, [and] global awareness" through brilliant storytelling and lovely sound and imagery. For this year's theme, "Dream the Future," the festival reaches across the globe (Bamse and the Witch's Daughter from Sweden, 5 Rupees from India, Hero Steps from Colombia) and revives masterpieces of the past (Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky, Karel Zeman's Invention for Destruction), in a splendid mix of live action and animation. There are also shorts programs, film workshops for your baby Bergmans, and even a pancake breakfast. Don't have a tadpole to bring to the movies? Go anyway. The films are age-appropriate, but they don't talk down to kids and they won't talk down to you. JOULE ZELMAN
MONDAY-SUNDAY
FILMAnd the Winner Is...
Watch the nine Best Motion Picture Oscar nominees on Cinerama's big, big, big, big screen.
Burger Month
This month-long collaboration between Li'l Woody's and the culinary luminaries of Seattle features weekly burger specials. Monday will be the last day to try the Ranch Lamb Burger, with "lamb, curry lime mayo, pickled red onion, shaved raw cauliflower, arugula," from Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita. The Osaka Burger, with "Painted Hills grass fed beef, miso aioli, karashi aioli, caramelized onions, shredded cabbage, Calbee chips, aonori seaweed sprinkled on top of a sunny side up egg," from chef Shota Nakajima of Adana, will be on the menu for the rest of the week.
TUESDAY
FOOD & DRINK2018 Sound Food Uprising Summit
This food-justice-minded convention assembles members of the Pacific Northwestâs food community to discuss topics like transparency, business practices, food systems, and more. Plus, check out interactive stations, like a hands-on knife-skills booth from the Pantry that will teach you how to cut âoblong, odd, and/or obtuseâ fruits and vegetables once and for all, a curated pop-up cookbook shop from the Book Larder with picks from the speakers, a Firefly Kitchens booth where you can taste all manner of tangy lacto-fermented goodness, and a Story Corpsâstyle recording booth where you can share your most vivid food memory for posterity. JULIANNE BELL
Jojo Moyes: Still Me
In this new book by the author of After You and Me Before You, Louisa Clark penetrates the ultra-rich world of a New York family and meets a man who makes her remember her past.
Ross McMeekin: The Hummingbirds
In this literary noir, we meet Ezra Fog, a young man who was born into a bird-worshipping cult but has since found refuge as the steward of a humongous rental property in Los Angeles. The place is occupied by a sneaky movie producer and an aspiring actress, Sybil, who can't keep her eyes off Ezra. The two try to manage an affair under the nose of the husband, but that doesn't go over very well. The Hummingbirds is Seattle writer Ross McMeekin's debut novel, which is kind of hard to believe given his own generous stewardship of the literary arts in town. He's published stories in a bunch of top-tier literary mags, he teaches at Hugo House, and for years he's edited Spartan, a terrific local literary magazine that publishes minimalist prose. RICH SMITH
Thisbe Nissen
Thisbe Nissen, whose previous novels include Good People of New York and Osprey Island, will read from a new novel about a married woman having a mid-life crisis after a torrid affair. This looks like a funny take on the marriage-breakdown subgenre, set among the intelligentsia in a politically fraught period in the Midwest. Leslie Jamison said it's full of the "sweet, crazed, exhausted, love-saturated, tension-flecked bustle of family."
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTJacob Lawrence Legacy Residency with C. Davida Ingram
Tucked inside the University of Washington School of Art is the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, a hidden gem that features one of the city's most innovative and dynamic exhibition schedules. In 2015, the gallery established the Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency in order to dedicate every FebruaryâBlack History Monthâto artists and ideas of the African diaspora. This year's residency honors the 100th anniversary of Jacob Lawrence's birth. The featured artist is 2014 Stranger Genius C. Davida Ingram, whose exhibition A Book with No Pages promises to engage community organizers, artists, and healers in radical acts of imagination and solidarity. EMILY POTHAST
Opening Tuesday
Native Portraiture: Power and Perception
This exhibit invites you to contemplate structural oppression and appropriation of Native subjects in portraits by non-Native people, as well as Native artists' reflections and reworking of this stereotypical iconography.
Closing Saturday
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
ARTDay in the Life of Bruce Lee: Do You Know Bruce? Part 3
The third exhibition in the series Do You Know Bruce explores his "every day" and personal life, from his "habits, routines, and work-out strategies to his written and visual art, reading, and time with family and friends."
Closing Sunday
Hamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda is responsible for Hamilton's book, music, and lyrics, and he has squashed a dizzying number of words and concepts into this stunning production. You don't like musicals? Fine. Try Hamiltonâits hiphop, jazz, and rap numbers have made people all over the country rethink their rigid anti-musical stance, and offered them juicy, controversial history about one of their Founding Fathers. The wildly popular show will be here for more than four glorious weeks. Joseph Morales and Nik Walker will star as Hamilton and Burr.
Two Trains Running
Everyone should be well aware of Fences, August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece about black family life in the 1950s. But everyoneâespecially Seattleites concerned with issues of gentrification, activism, rising racial tensions, and economic inequalityâwould also do well to spend as much time thinking about Two Trains Running, the next in Wilson's 10-play cycle. Set in a Pittsburgh diner, Wilson reckons with the revolutionary decade of the 1960s, when expectations for the future of the civil rights movement were as high as they were uncertain. Everyone should also know that Wilson's a hometown hero, having spent the latter years of his life writing in the Victrola on 15th or the (old) Canterbury on 19th. Seeing his plays at the Rep, where his cycle of plays was produced in full, carries a special resonance. Juliette Carrillo will direct. RICH SMITH
WEDNESDAY
FILMCampout Cinema: Basquiat
The very last scene of this movie always breaks my heart. It shows Jean Michel Basquiat, played by a young Jeffrey Wright, riding a bike into what can only be described as the filmâs sunset. We know he will soon be dead and that his short, mostly poor life will be transformed into a multi-million-dollar art industry. Julian Schnabel has made only two great moviesâBasquiat is by far his best. (His second best is, of course, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.) Basquiat also has David Bowie playing Andy Warhol. Sorry, but there are few things in the world that can actually be cooler than Bowie playing Warhol. CHARLES MUDEDE
Varla Jean Merman in: BAD HEROINE
Glamorous drag chanteuse Varla Jean Merman (aka Jeffery Roberson) has had a Broadway run in Lucky Guy, guest-starred on Ugly Betty, and even sung in a Giancarlo Menotti opera in the title role of The Medium. See her wield her bizarre comedic and vocal talents.
Civic Cocktail: American Lands + New Leadership
This edition of Civic Cocktail will focus on two topics: "American Lands" with former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, who'll speak about land use and climate change, and "New Leadership" with KC Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht and Interim Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best on policing.
Gregory Orr
Gregory Orr is a legendary and much beloved poet who I once used as an example of bad poetry reading in an essay called "Stop Using Poet Voice." I just want to stress here that Orr's work is much bigger and better and more important than his reading voice, and you really should check out The Caged Owl (published by Copper Canyon Pressâthey're local, guys!) if you're looking for a lesson on how to turn your trauma into poems without discrediting either. RICH SMITH
Ken Armstrong: A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America
Ken Armstrong is the co-author (with T. Christian Miller) of A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America, which tells the horrifying story of a rape victim whose story of a masked attacker was dismissed by Seattle police. Only when a Colorado detective named Stacy Galbraith was called to investigate a similar crime did the truth begin to emerge: The young woman was no liar, but had been attacked by a serial sexual predator and blackmailer. Hear more about this important story from Armstrong.
Silent Reading Party
The silent-reading party turns nine years old in 2018. For almost a decade, people have been gathering in the Fireside Room of the Sorrento Hotel to escape the distractions of the city, and the distractions of their cell phones, to read silently to themselves in overstuffed chairs or couches in front of the fire while waiters bring them things and Paul Moore plays exquisite piano. Itâs an odd phenomenonânothing happensâbut itâs as popular as ever. At last monthâs party, there was a line out the door. Get there at least an hour early for prime seating. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTClaire Cowie: 'Selvedge' | Brad Winchester: 'RINSE/REPEAT'
Claire Cowie works in watercolor, collage, and sculpture to produce imaginary worlds that resonate with the emotional and perceptual experience of intimacy, imagination, and physical space. Sometimes these spaces are densely populated with animals, figures, and architectural elements; other times they are haunted by an absence so profound that you can't quite put your finger on what's missing. Brad Winchester is a painter whose recent work has bypassed painting altogether to deconstruct the physicality of the canvas, using unwoven linen to create sculptural objects with or without stretcher bars. This is his first exhibition at James Harris. EMILY POTHAST
Closing Saturday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
ARTLaura Van Horne
Pretty shapes resembling colorful cells, buttons, or slices of fruit populate Laura Van Horne's abstract work inside the TASTE cafe.
Opening Wednesday
Right On! Rites, Rituals, Remembrances
Jewelry art lies somewhere between the museum piece and more quotidian, historically less exalted forms of craftsmanship. But jewelry can have another dimension: It can connect the wearer with a sacred tradition, a personal source of power, or plain good luck. Right On! Rites, Rituals, Remembrances is a collection of fetish objects and talismans by more than 20 jewelry artists. Trudee Hill's interlocking circles represent family; Wolfgang Vaatz's cuff bracelet contains an entire landscape; Checha Sokolovic's Sun Goddess series turns PVC and stainless steel into radiant curls of light. But the least traditional wearable artworks are Marita Dingus's found-materials necklaces. Wrapped Figure and Dancing Figure, are dangling, playful, loose-limbed cloth dolls with distinct faces. The artist has invested these objects with power, but whence does it come? What do they represent? Dingus's necklaces expand the definition of the sacred with her homey aesthetic and everyday materials. JOULE ZELMAN
Opening Wednesday
The Gin Game
One of the all-time chestnuts of the legitimate stage comes to Issaquah featuring two of Seattleâs all-time favorites, Kurt Beattie and Marianne Owen, as aging residents of a nursing home who sublimate the dread of death by playing cards and tearing each other apart with words. However familiar the play might be from drama classes and monologue books, The Gin Game has a seemingly infinite capacity for renewal in the hands of the right actors, which is to say that the only way this show can go wrong is if the building floods. SEAN NELSON
Ibsen in Chicago
This is the world premiere of a new play by David Grimm. Through his 2000 production Kit Marlowe, Grimm created a dramatized version of theatrical history that focused on the man surrounded by myth and rumor: Marlowe might have been a spy, or a heretic, or even the person who wrote Shakespeare's best-known works. This new play, Ibsen in Chicago, also deals with history and theatricsâthis time, it's about Scandinavian immigrants putting on an Ibsen play in Chicago in 1882. Look forward to direction by Seattle Rep Artistic Director Braden Abraham.
The Maltese Falcon
Book-It Repertory Theatre and Cafe Nordo will collaborate on a stage version of the lush and gritty noir classic The Maltese Falcon, adapted by Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon. As private dick Sam Spade seeks the priceless jewel-encrusted falcon for some sketchy clients, you'll tuck into Nordo's special themed menu.
THURSDAY
ARTCapitol Hill Art Walk
Every second Thursday, rain or shine (or wintry mix), the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events. In February, don't miss Marie Hausauer: Baby Boomer and Janet Nechama: The Capitol Hill I Remember.
Winter Light: The Films of Ingmar Bergman
I know. Itâs Ingmar Bergman. I know, most of his films are very slow. I know, you want to see lots of action and explosions and all of that sort of thing. I know, I know, I know. But you must still watch Bergman's films. Look at it this way: A film like The Commuter, which must not be missed, is your fat-rich steak, and a movie like Bergmanâs Through the Glass Darkly or Silence or Persona is your broccoli. You just canât eat steak all of the time. You will die from just eating steak. You need your veggies. You can almost live forever on a diet of just films of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. CHARLES MUDEDE
This week's screening will be The Magician.
$1 Scoop Pop-Up
Try Salt and Straw's much-coveted artisanal ice cream with $1 scoops at this pop-up the day before their Ballard location officially opens on February 9. Proceeds benefit FareStart, whose mission is to provide âa community that transforms lives by empowering homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training and employment in the food service industry.â
Thoughtfully Paired
Enjoy carefully curated pairings of Westland single malts with food from local artisans, including Bellflower Chocolate Co., Macrina Bakery, and Jacobsen Salt Co. with Bee Local Honey. Fresh flowers from Pike Place's Carrot Flower Co. will be available for purchase.
Terese Marie Mailhot: Heart Berries
First Nations journalist and essayist Terese Marie Mailhot is out with her debut memoir, Heart Berries, which is about growing up on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. The coming-of-age story follows Mailhot from her "profoundly dysfunctional upbringing" to her struggle with PTSD and bipolar disorder, and ultimately to the writing life she's cultivated in response to all that. Sherman Alexie regularly champions her work in radio interviews and in conversations, so she's got his stamp of approval. I imagine she'll have many others when this one hits the shelves. RICH SMITH
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
COMEDYBechdel Test
In a better world than this, female characters in films would talk about whatever the fuck they pleaseâsay, horses, cramps, or ongoing global disasters at the hands of a small-fingered megalomaniac. But all too often in this world, female characters, when they talk to each other at all, discuss one thing and one thing only: men. Thereâs even a term for itâthe Bechdel Test, named for the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who, in a 1985 comic strip, featured a character explaining that she goes to a movie only if it has at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Inspired by the Bechdel Test, Jet City Improv re-creates films that fail the test, but with a Bechdel-approved twist. You name the movie; they make it pass. Woody Allen, take note. KATIE HERZOG
PYLON III
Pylon III wraps up a trilogy by Coleman Pester of Tectonic Marrow Society. Dave Segal called the previous installment "an overwhelmingly beautiful and harrowing experience." In the same vein, Pylon III will explore the tensions between human bodies, architectural sets, and technology.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEDear White People
Samuel L. JackYouSon's variety show is meant to "Bring levity to political language and invite new perspectives" through a mixture of live music, burlesque, poetry, dance, and spoken word. Featured talent includes Taqueet$, Boom Boom LâRoux, Anastacia Renee, and the Black Tones.
Frost/Nixon
There are about 27 reasons to see Strawberry Theatre Workshop's all-female production of Peter Morgan's classic play about the disgraced president reflecting on the Watergate scandal for the first time on television, and Stranger Genius Award winner Amy Thone playing Nixon is like 14 of those reasons. Alexandra Tavares grilling Thone/Nixon as the ever-intrepid Sir David Frost is about 10 of those reasons. The other three have to do with the fact that Trump would never be, in any kind of hell, least of all this one, as forthcoming, as deviously charming, and as disarmingly honest as Nixon was in this absorbing and infinitely fascinating interview. RICH SMITH
Prehistoric Body Theater Workshop/Performance
In collaboration with paleontologists Dr. Greg Wilson and Dr. Dave Evans, Ari Rudenko directs a prehistoric animal dance that combines Japanese butoh theater and Indonesian traditional/contemporary dance influences with "a science-based comparative examination of the anatomy, locomotion, and theoretical behavior of key extinct species featured in the performances." From February 3 to March 8 on Saturdays and Thursdays, take part in free workshops. In May, watch Ghosts of Hell Creek, a dance depicting one of the last birdlike dinosaurs in the days before the cataclysm that ended the reign of the "terrible lizards," and one of the first mammals to emerge from the wreckage.
Cupid Ain't @#%!
J Mase III plus queer/trans cohorts of color are showcasing Valentine's Day angst in the form of edgy poetryâ"funny, sad and just a wee bit arousing."
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEAmerican Hwangap
In East Asia, hwangap marks the completion of the Eastern Zodiac around one's 60th birthday, signifying a "rebirth." In Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap, Min Suk Chun leaves his family in a West Texas suburb to return to his native Korea. On his 60th birthday, he returns to his ex-wife and now-adult children as they struggle to reconcile their broken past with the "mercurial, verbose and often exasperating patriarch now back at the head of the table."
The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559
This kid-friendly play deals with some timely and tragic themes. When Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor, 12-year-old Ben Uchida and his family are rounded up in internment camps. How does a young innocent process the reality of systemic oppression and hate?
Peerless
In Jiehae Park's take on Macbeth, two competitive Asian American twin sisters hatch deadly plans for a white male who claims a fraction of Native American heritage when he wins an affirmative action spot at "The College."
Romeo & Juliet
This cozy speakeasy, tucked under Pike Place Market, specializes in charismatic, cheese-cakey, nearly-nude entertainment (plus more covered-up brunch shows for the young and the prudish). Expect something a little sexier than your typical Shakespeare adaptation at this modernized cabaret show version of the tragic tale, paired with an original soundtrack. Make it a dinner date and order food and cocktails.
Swan Lake
It doesn't get more ballet than Swan Lake, but that isn't a bad thing. You've got Tchaikovsky's signature score. You've got choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's translation of the dramatic swoops and lines of the eponymous pond-dweller into a high-velocity revenge narrative. And, with Pacific Northwest Ballet's production, you've got Kent Stowell's streamlined reconfiguration of all that, repackaged and redesigned by the great Ming Cho Lee. It's going to be hard to top Carrie Imler's version of the Black Swan's space-time-defying fouetté series, but if there's anyone who can at least meet Imler's power and control, it's Lesley Rausch and Noelani Pantastico, both of whom absolutely nailed the challenging principal role in Balanchine's "Diamonds" in the fall. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY
ARTSight Unseen with Nick Bartoletti
Local music fans may know Nick Bartoletti for his modular-laden industrial techno and as a member of Crypts. He's also one of the city's foremost video artists, whose work has been featured at Onn/Of Festival, Vibrations, and Ghost Gallery. Bartoletti specializes in video synthesisâusing analog synthesizers to modulate visual signals instead of sound waves. For this event, he'll be setting up multiple cameras and projectors to fill the entire room with live video feedback, creating immersive patterns that are colorful, psychedelic, and responsive to their surroundings. EMILY POTHAST
Thriftease: A Found Fashion Show & Strip Auction
A wise twink once described Mona Real as "what would happen if Divine walked into Fremont Vintage and came out with the whole store." There are few queens who serve thrift-shop fantasy like Mona Real, and Thriftease is Seattle's chance to finger around her closet (and take home the goods). Queer go-go queens and dive-bar divas will model vintage finds, curated by Real, and the audience will bid on the itemsâeverything beginning at an affordable $1. Winning bids help the models strip down to their panties, so prepare for butts. CHASE BURNS
The Seattle Process with Brett Hamil
Described as "Seattle's only intentionally funny talk show" and "a mudpie lobbed into the halls of power," The Seattle Process with Brett Hamil offers politics, exasperation, information, and comedy. Past esteemed guests have included Stranger Genius Lindy West, Kshama Sawant, former Stranger associate editor David Schmader, and Pramila Jayapal. This installment features Cary Moon and interim council member Kirsten Harris-Talley. Plus, Kevin Murphy of the Moondoggies will give a closing performance.
David Lynch: From 'The Alphabet' to 'Eraserhead'
If you were baffled and fascinated by Twin Peaks: The Return last year, you know that David Lynch evokes images of glamorous people in nightmarish, surreal labyrinths. This screening will take you back to the renowned Canadian filmmaker's early years, with his short animated work "The Alphabet" and the distressing black-and-white freakfest Eraserhead.
I Am Not Your Negro
An ingeniously constructed documentary about one of the 20th centuryâs greatest, and more conflicted, artist/polemicists, this film is built from the proposal for Remember This House, the book James Baldwin never finished. As Samuel Jacksonâs voice-over mingles with archival footage of Baldwin laying waste to his intellectual opposition on TVâand by the way, letâs pause for a moment to consider a time when a figure as radically attuned, and as volcanically erudite, and as sexually nonconforming as James Baldwin could have appeared regularly on network televisionâdirector Raoul Peck conveys the sense of a writer who has come to understand an idea that is bigger than he has the mortal strength to convey, which would almost make the film a tragedy within the context of the larger systemic tragedy its subject yearned to articulate. But even a glimpse of Baldwinâs prose is such a feast for mind, body, and soul that a film like I Am Not Your Negro can only be received with joy, humility, and deepest admiration. SEAN NELSON
Brewology
What if your sixth-grade museum field trip grew up to be the boozy evening of your dreams? Such is the premise behind this geeked-out craft beer fest, where youâre invited to imbibe as many four-ounce samples as you can handle from 25 breweries and cideries and learn the science behind your favorite beverages. Talk to the brewmasters to get the scoop on their processes, take a toasty trip through the Science Center, and participate in hoppy hands-on activities and demonstrations that would make Bill Nye proud. JULIANNE BELL
Night Lab: Aphrodisiac Drink Workshop
Learn to mix up some libidinous libations with amorous ingredients, like chocolate, chile peppers, mango, cardamom, jasmine, and saffron, from Ada's resident mixologist Jimmy LaRue.
Epicuriositease (Burlesque in Burien)
Burien's "Mistress of the Macabre" La Petite Mort will curate a night of live music, burlesque, and circus arts, paired with a wine tasting. Some performers include Nani Poonani, Marquis Facade, and Anna Clara Buoyant.
Natalie Graham and Brittany Perham
Celebrate new poetry collections by Natalie Graham and Brittany Perham by hearing them read.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYCotton Gin: An Improvised Puppet Show For Grown-Ups
Rowdy, bawdy puppets, worn out from entertaining children, hang out at the Cotton Gin bar and entertain you with songs and jokes in this improv show.
Tint Dance Festival 2018
See works by choreographers of color, including Alicia Mullikin, Markeith Wiley, Mary Tisa, Noelle Price, and Zsa Mae, as well as the companies Au Collective and Northwest Tap Connection.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCETwisted Cabaret: My Twisted Valentine
One-man vaudeville/varietĂ© circus Frank Olivier performs a cabaret based on the premise that he's the only performer who'd shown up and has to do everything himself: juggling, acrobatics, unicycling, fire acts, tongue contortionism, and stuff you've never heard of. Olivier has been performing for decades, from The Johnny Carson Show to Broadway to the BBC, and he's like a clown car of talentsâjust when you think you've seen him do it all, another bizarro delight comes tumbling out. His specialty is making it look like he's completely losing control when in fact he is a fine-tuned genius.
SATURDAY
ARTGeorgetown Art Attack
Once a month, the art that resides in the tiny airport hamlet of Georgetown ATTACKS all passersby. In more literal terms, it's the day of art openings and street wonderment. In February, don't miss the openings for Kat Larson: carefull. or Trump's ABC, or the closing of Indira Allegra: BODYWARP.
Maja PetriÄ
Who knew that there were so many awards for light art? Maja PetriÄ knows, because she's either won or been nominated for a number of them. A PhD in DXARTS (digital art and experimental media) from University of Washington, she's now the artist in residence of Redmond. Her light boxes collect data through artificial intelligence and transform them into "unstable environments" that evoke the fragmentation and anxiety of her childhood in wartime Yugoslavia. In her hands, light can mirror human movement, the workings of the mind, and even cosmic phenomena. Explore Winston WĂ€chter's back gallery for proof of her artistry. JOULE ZELMAN
Opening Saturday
Saturday Secret Matinees
Grand Illusion and the Sprocket Society will continue their tradition of pairing an adventure serial with a different secret matinee movie every week. This year, the serial is Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, and the theme of the feature film will change every fortnight (maybe they stole the idea from the Stranger's new printing schedule. Though probably not). These themes include "Alien Invasion!," "Swashbuckling Heroes!," "Very Bad Deals," "Twisted Intrigues," "Atomic Monsters," and "Widescreen Thrills." The coolest part, from a film buff point of view? Everything will be presented on 16mm.
Brian Reed
Brian Reed, the host and co-creator of the popular Serial- and This American Life-produced podcast S-Town, will reveal how his team invented a new way to tell stories through unreleased audio outtakes and reporting details.
Seattle International Dance Festival Mini Winter Fest
Mexico's Compania Cuidad Interior will join Seattle's Khambatta Dance Company for two weekends of "internationally inspired" dance performances.
Craig Johnson: The Western Star
Craig Johnson is the author of nearly 20 novels and story collections that feature one Walt Longmire, a well-educated but taciturn former college football star and Marine veteran who now works as the sheriff of a remote county in Wyoming. Longmire also inspired six seasons of a fantastic TV show that ran until last year. Itâs rare to find a character/series/author in the western tradition that satisfies the twin requirements of feeling both contemporary and timeless, but Johnsonâs work does, and his reading voice is pleasing, too. SEAN NELSON
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs and Mare Blocker
Poet and academic Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs (Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia, How Many Indians Can We Be?, The Runaway Poems) and Mare Blocker (founder of MKimberly Press) will share work.
A Night of Black Women Magic & Multi-Genre Writing
Four notable black women writers and poets will read at this night of many genres and big talents: Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Reneé, Dr. Bettina A. Judd of UW, Cave Canem fellow Natalie Graham, and author and Seattle Globalist contributor Reagan Jackson. Pick up copies of their books.
SUNDAY
ARTSpecial Valentineâs Day Tour
Take a "love, lust, and romance" themed tour of the Frye for Valentine's Day. You'll see two very different versions of Venus, "a tragic tale of heavenly thwarted romance," and more heart-fluttering works.
Opening Sunday
Lunar New Year in Chinatown
Ring in the Year of the Dog at this massive Lunar New Year celebration that showcases the diversity, richness, and culture of the Asian community. See traditional dragon and lion dances, Japanese Taiko drumming, martial arts, and other cultural performances on the Main Stage, plus arts and crafts and family activitiesâand don't miss the $3 food walk.
Addo X Raised Doughnuts
The name of chef Mi Kimâs culty Raised Doughnuts pop-up refers not only to the yeasty, leavened properties of her wares, but also to her perpetual striving toward excellence: to âraise the doughnut barâ (her tagline). The former head pastry chef of Macrina Bakery has a brick-and-mortar store in the works, but for now you can catch her at this event at the former Crush space, where her new addictive mochi doughnuts (which just so happen to be gluten-free, not that youâd know it) will be served piping-hot out of the sizzling fryer. On the menu: plain and black-sesame glazed flavors, and one dunked in unctuous sweetened condensed milk. Wash them all down with a bottle of chef Eric Riveraâs cold brew soda, and you might just find yourself elevated to another plane. JULIANNE BELL
Chocofest 2018
Dive headfirst into chocoholic bacchanalia with 10, count âem 10, drink tickets in tow at this annual pre-Valentineâs Day bash. Indulge in libations from dozens of breweries, cideries, wineries, and distilleries and sate your sweet tooth with confections from Franâs Chocolates, Theo Chocolate, Chukar Cherries, Gelatiamo, and more. When you need to cut your sugar rush with something savory, there will also be bites from local restaurants and a cask beer section with unique ales available just for the evening. And know that all your hedonism supports a good causeâproceeds benefit Puget Soundkeeper Allianceâs efforts to protect Puget Sound waters. JULIANNE BELL
Northwest Women Stars of Food & Wine
This annual reception gathers tastemaking women chefs, winemakers, and sommeliers of the Pacific Northwest (and their fans) in the Columbia Tower for a night of bites and drinks. The lineup this year includes Chera Amlag of Hood Famous Bakeshop (she of the beloved ube cheesecake); chef and âhummus mavenâ Kristi Brown, owner of That Brown Girl Cooks!; Carrie Mashaney, Top Chef alum and executive chef of Mamnoon; chef Nicole Matson of How to Cook a Wolf; Tamara Murphy, chef and owner of Terra Plata; and many more. The event raises funds for Womenâs Funding Alliance, a nonprofit whose mission is to âadvance leadership and economic opportunity for women and girls in Washington State.â JULIANNE BELL
Anca L. SzilĂĄgyi and Julie Christine Johnson
Join Anca L. SzilĂĄgyi, (author of Daughters of the Sea) and Julie Christine Johnson (author of Crows of Beara) for an afternoon of myth and fairytale drawing.
A Conversation with Dashiell Hammettâs Granddaughter
Join hard-boiled detective author Dashiell Hammett's granddaughter, Julie M. Rivett, as she discusses Hammett's work (including his most famous novel, the Maltese Falcon).
Margot Kahn: This Is the Place
Margot Kahn will discuss her work as the editor of the collection This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home, a well-received anthology of women's perspectives about the complexity of the experience of home.
