Our music critics have already chosen the 30 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts and culture critics' turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genreâfrom Michelle Peñalozaâs Literaoke Book Launch to a #MeToo-refined production of Rigoletto, and from The Bar Plays to a reading with Chuck Klosterman. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
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MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKAuthor Talk: The Big Bottom Biscuit
Big Bottom Market in Sonoma County, California, is not named for large posteriors, but for their generously sized, flaky, Southern-style biscuits that draw visitors from near and farâand which were named one of Oprah's favorite things. Now you too can feast like the billionaire mogul-philanthropist herself with Michael Volpatt's cookbook The Big Bottom Biscuit, which will share his secrets to achieving his signature baked good at home. At this event, Michael will share stories from his shop and sign copies, and guests will get to try a bite from the book.
We Care Do You #2?
Last year, in response to a certain graffiti'd Zara jacket with an apathetic message worn by a First Lady, the Navy Strength crew recruited a dream team of bartenders, chefs, and friends from all over Seattle to sling food and drinks to benefit RAICES, an organization that reunites immigrant children with their parents at the border. This year, they're bringing the event back, this time featuring food and drinks from Adana, Pho Bac, Comadre Panaderia, Kamonegi, Hood Famous Bakeshop, Musang, Navy Strength, and other Seattle food scene superstars. A suggested donation of $15 gets you in, and all tips and a majority of drink sales will go to the cause.
MONDAY-THURSDAY
VISUAL ARTBill Whipple: New Abstractions
Long preoccupied with "viewer-activated, message-driven constructions," Whipple is switching to wood and found objects to make intricate objects that suggest warped machines, Seussian cityscapes, mechanized human interactions, or alchemical apparatuses.
Closing Thursday
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEThe Events
A handful of arts patrons and US Bank are funding free tickets for all who want to see Intiman's production of David Greig's The Events, directed by Paul Budraitis. Greig's play is a look at the aftermath of a deadly mass shooting. The show features two actors and a chorus, which, as in all the Greek tragedies, represents the figure of the general populace. (In this case, a rotating cast of local community choirs will play the chorus.) In this production, Claire is a lesbian choir director who witnessed the mass shooting, and "the Boy" plays the shooter and Claire's partner/psychiatrist (plus seven other characters). The shooting in the play, according to a favorable review in the New York Times, was inspired by the racist terrorism of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011. RICH SMITH
WEDNESDAY
READINGS & TALKSSilent Reading Party
The Silent Reading Party is one of the weirdest, most wonderful parties youâll ever go to, because no one talks to you and you can get some reading done. You curl up on a couch or in a wingback chair with a book or magazine or whatever you feel like reading, while Paul Moore plays piano and waiters bring you things. Whenever Paul starts playing Erik Satie, I find myself staring into the fireplace or closing my eyes and melting into the couch. The reading party, which turns 10 years old in 2019, is so popular that there is often a line out the door just to get a seat. The people who know what theyâre doing get there an hour before it starts. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
VISUAL ARTRomson Regarde Bustillo: More than can be held
Multi-layered and immersive, the work of Seattle-based artist Romson Regarde Bustillo is deeply satisfying to take in. The richness of color, form, and content is grounded by a sense of gravity and landscape. Consisting of large scale collagraph prints, video, sound, and performance, More than can be held will engage âthe nuanced networks of visual cues, codes and colloquialismsâŠthat are employed by communities to negotiate, claim, and reclaim space.â On opening night, Bustillo will be joined by 15 collaborators who will engage in improvisational performances and readings. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Friday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCE7th and Jackson
Three friends from different communities in the International District dream of having their own nightclub. Even when Pearl Harbor is bombed and the country gears up for war, they swear loyalty to their visions. Sara Porkalob's musical, scored to jazz classics from the likes of the Andrews Sisters, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald, takes place over three decades in one of the most fascinating parts of Seattle.
The Bar Plays
For this double feature, Ryan Guzzo Purcell and his Williams Project will transform Washington Hall into a real live working bar. Audience members will come in, sit down, knock back a beer, maybe throw some dice, and watch a fine production of Tennessee Williams's Small Craft Warnings paired with William Saroyan's comedy, The Time of Your Life. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll leave with a lilt that will annoy your friends all night. As for his choice of non-overtly political material, in a press release Purcell says, "In these plays there are homeless folks, addicts, alcoholics, and folks struggling to make a living. But instead of making these people 'problems' or 'issues,' these plays do the more remarkable thing of allowing them their full humanity as our neighbors, friends, lovers, and family." Not a bad tack in this market, I'd say. RICH SMITH
Legend of El Dorado
Three women on a summer trip turn into sexy, fishnetted robbers on motorcycles in the cozy cabaret's latest production, featuring all-new choreography and a soundtrack with singing by Brent Amaker.
THURSDAY
COMEDYThe Gateway Show
Itâs an experiment in stand-up: Three comics do their sets. Then these four comics get super, duper stoned. Then they perform again while occupying this much hazier headspace. Or attempt to perform again. Will the bake bring out another dimension of their comedy, or will they bomb, one by one, in forgetful spells of heaping laughter (or awkward pauses)? LEILANI POLK
Author Talk: Little Book of Jewish Sweets by Leah Koenig
Brooklyn-based author Leah Koenig has penned six cookbooks about Jewish cooking, and her writing and recipes have appeared in the New York Times, Bon AppĂ©tit, and Food52, among others. Her latest, Little Book of Jewish Sweets, applies her refreshingly modern approach to confections like cookies, cakes, puddings, pastries, and other treats, resulting in delights like fig baklava, orange-chocolate rugelach, cinnamon-almond babka, and mocha black-and-white cookies. Sheâll appear at Book Larder for a chat about baking, and guests will get to sample a recipe from the book. JULIANNE BELL
Food Truck Taste Off
Taste signature dishes from a myriad of food trucks and vote for your favorite. Plus, enjoy music, raffle prizes, and a beer and cider garden. Proceeds will support Solid Ground's mission to fight poverty.
Washington Mead Fest
Mead, the ancient fermented honey drink, was traditionally the beverage of choice for Vikings. Today, however, a rising number of craft producers are making the age-old brew their own. At this event, Ballardâs Scandinavian beer hall SkĂ„l (named for the Norwegian word for "cheers") will showcase mead from a variety of local makers, including Dragonâs Lair Meadery (Lakewood), Garden Patch Fermentation (Burlington), and Sky River Mead (Redmond). Donât forget your horned helmet. JULIANNE BELL
Chuck Klosterman: Raised in Captivity
Traditionally, Chuck Klosterman keeps his wry writings in the nonfiction realm, like his collections of essays on pop culture matters ranging from internet porn to reality in films to progressivism in American football (ala 2003âs Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto), or his music-driven work, like his exploration of the relationship between death and rock stars (2005âs Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story), or even his more recent examination of modern perceptions in a thought experiment sort of book, 2016âs But What If We're Wrong? His latest outing, Raised in Captivity, is âfictional nonfiction,â which the press materials describe as âa collection of stories so true they had to be wrapped in fiction for our own protection.â Among the synopses: An obscure power-pop band wrestles with its newfound fame when its song becomes an anthem for white supremacists; a couple considers getting a medical procedure that will transfer the pain of childbirth from the woman to her husband; and a lawyer grapples with the unintended side effects of a veterinarianâs rabies vaccination. LEILANI POLK
Radical Altars
Local poet Jane Wong, whose multimedia exhibit After Preparing the Altar, the Ghosts Feast Feverishly is on view at the Frye, will invite poets Diana Khoi Nguyen (author of Omnidawn and a National Book Award finalist) and Michelle Peñaloza (author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire) to read their work and join her in a Q&A session.Â
Thursdays with KUOW
American news consumers do not trust the media. And can you really blame them? On the one side, you have Fox News railing about HER E-MAILS, on the other side, you have Rachel Maddow shouting that THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, and in the middle, you have sources like NPR, which most people think of as a good soporific if you canât sleep. So, how do news stories actually get made? KUOW is going to bare all (or at least some) during a series of weekly talks and presentations by KUOW reporters. And like the press should be, itâs free. Coming up this week: environment reporter John Ryan on covering climate change. KATIE HERZOG
Capitol Hill Art Walk
Every second Thursday, rain or shine, the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events. Check out our critics' picks for this monthâincluding Anna Mlasowsky's When you see me, cry at Goethe Pop-up Space, Scream for Queer Art, and Imminent Mode: FAST FORWARD at Vermillionâhere.
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
PERFORMANCESusan: A Work-in-Progress Performance by Ahamefule J. Oluo
Be one of the privileged few to see an early iteration of Susan, jazz trumpeter supreme (of the brilliant group Industrial Revelation) and stand-up comedian Ahamefule J. Oluo's musical about his mother. Reportedly, the show follows Susan "from Section 8 housing in 1980s Seattle to the mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta to the Clallam Bay Correctional Facility." Musically fleshing out Susan and Ahamefule's dramatic stories are Industrial Revelation members D'Vonne Lewis and Josh Rawlings, as well as vocalists Tiffany Wilson and Okanomodé Soulchilde (who both composed the vocals and lyrics) and Marina Christopher, Haley Freedlund, and Jerome Smith. Jennifer Zeyl will direct.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCE4.48 Psychosis
The English playwright Sarah Kane was known for her ferocious, non-naturalistic approach to theater, dispensing with realism in favor of depictions of extremes. 4.48 Psychosis deals with her experience of depression. According to her fellow writer David Greig, the title refers to 4:48 am, when Kane would regularly wake up in the throes of anguish. Copious will stage the play with video projection and sound design; they give a content warning for discussion of suicide and self-harm.
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINKLi'l Woody's Dessert Month
Seattle is host to a wealth of bakers and ice cream makers. For the month of August, local burger joint Li'l Woody's is teaming up with some of the city's favorite up-and-coming sweets suppliers, like Natalie Popkave of Bee and the Baker, Christina Wood of the sourdough pastry pop-up Temple Pastries, Kait Winowitch of Cake Life Everyday, and Kevin Moulder of Tres Lecheria (a tres leches spinoff of Cubes Baking Co.). Each week, a new special will arrive on Thursday and be available through the weekend, or until they sell out. On schedule this week: the Bee and the Baker's blackberry fig pie with a bacon blue cheese crumble inspired by Liâl Woodyâs âThe Fig and the Pigâ burger.
Alicia Lisa Brown: Paintings
Brown interprets the concept of mimicry in the context of post-colonial Caribbean culture and contemporary art, particularly the imitation of the dominant culture and of the upper classes. She works with motifs of collars, hair, pearls, spoons, lace, and canes.
Opening reception Thursday
FRIDAY
COMEDYRobots Falling Down Stairs
Excellent local improvisers Graham Downing and The Stranger's own Arts Calendar Editor Joule Zelman are Robots Falling Down Stairs. Join them as they go on "strange and wonderful journeys into the labyrinths of their own bionic hearts."
Socially Inept
If you're a tech bro and you're not prepared to get roasted, be warned: This night of comedy will poke fun at coders, programmers, and the megacorps they work for, courtesy of four local comics and some brave audience volunteers. As Dave Segal has written: "Roasting tech culture may be considered low-hanging fruit in the Seattle comedy world, but that just makes the challenge of conceiving funny observations about it all the more compelling."Â
South Lake Union Block Party
Every year, South Lake Union throws itself a party featuring diverse musical pleasures from local bands (this year's lineup includes the Dandy Warhols, Naked Giants, Whitney Mongé, Polyrythmics, and Sisters). There will also be food trucks, a beer garden, a free print-your-own-poster station, a "letterpress steamroller smackdown," and a "Community Village" featuring booths from local businesses. The event is co-sponsored by Amazon and will benefit FareStart, a James Beard Award-winning nonprofit that aims to empower people experiencing homelessness through job training and employment in the foodservice industry.
The Westminster Daddy Show: A Burlesque Daddy Pageant
Host Sailor St. Claire and Kaleb Kerr celebrate the many-gendered daddies of Seattle as performers face off in this "examination of the modern daddy." The show appears to be a burlesque riff on Saturday Night Live's skit by the same name, wherein a "pack of daddies" prance around a stage showing off their breed-appropriate attributes. Part of the fun here will be scoping all the region-specific daddy stuff. Will there be a leather-bound daddy? A Durkan daddy? A gym-sculpted tech daddy? A day-hike daddy??? Audience members will vote with their voices for their daddy of choice, and one special daddy will be inducted into a hall of fame. There will also be a raffle benefiting Motley Zoo Pet Rescue, just in case you need a goody-goody reason for going. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYYogi Paliwal
Yogi has written for IGN and Frank and Funny greeting cards and "enjoys the simple things in life, a grilled cheese sandwich, Bob Ross, whittling, and he gets bored writing his own bio." But don't let his modesty fool you: He's opened for Marc Maron and Tig Notaro and performed at Sasquatch and other fests.
The Future is 0: Summer Series
Iâm often told of a magical TV show that aired during the even more magical era that was Seattle in the 1980s and â90s, a time when everyone lived in a punk house and everyone sucked gay cock. That TV show was Almost Live!, and it was basically like Seattleâs SNL, and everyone loved it. While I never watched Almost Live! live, I've spent a good deal of time watching it on (gasp) the internet, and Iâd like to posit that The Future Is 0âa live game showâcarries on the tradition of Almost Live!âs nerdy, affable, charismatic humor. But, of course, they are not the same thing, and Seattle has sucked since Almost Live! ended and the Kingdome exploded. CHASE BURNS
The Neverborn
Two murderous orphaned sisters seek out their "probably not dead-research scientist mother" while dodging the law, wannabe avengers, and "a haunted baby painting" in Kelleen Conway Blanchard's new play, directed by Catherine Blake Smith.
SATURDAY
COMEDYMinority Retort
In an interview I conducted with Central Comedy Show co-host Isaac Novak, he observed that most comedy bills in Seattle still consist of about 80-percent white males. One imagines that is also the case in Portlandâor perhaps itâs even greater, seeing as the Rose Cityâs population has a higher Caucasian percentage than the Emerald Cityâs. With this statistic in mind, Portland-based stand-up comedy event Minority Retort offers a platform to redress this imbalance by championing comics of color. DAVE SEGAL
Miscast
Funny and spontaneous performers are paired with actors following a script to reshape scenes from real movies and series that the improvisers aren't familiar with in this series directed by John Carroll.Â
Zach & Kayla
Talented improv power duo Kayla Teel and Zach Wymore (both Jet City show alums) will play around with words and loop pedals.
The Producers: Outdoor Movie & Beer Garden
Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, and Mel Brooks will make you chuckle at this outdoor screening of The Producers. Bring your own picnic; they'll provide the beer and wine.
Diaspora Co. Collaboration Dinner
Join Diaspora Co., a queer-women-of-color-owned business committed to putting "money, equity, and power" into the hands of Indian farmers, for a four-course dinner featuring Diaspora Co. spices and natural wine.
Jack's Low & Slow Festival
Jack Timmons will commemorate a half-decade since his smoked-meat temple Jackâs BBQ opened the way any self-respecting barbecue nerd would: by smoking an entire steer. Besides heaps of succulent Texas barbecue, frozen margaritas, and Shiner Bock beer, the day will include such festivities as horseshoes and âchicken shit bingoâ (which is exactly what it sounds likeâchickens depositing their droppings on a bingo board). KEXP DJ Greg Vandy of The Roadhouse will provide bluesy tunes throughout the day, and the impressive lineup of live music features retro âdoom-wopâ crooner Prom Queen, alt-country rocker Brent Amaker's new DeathSquad, cosmic country quartet HYWAYS, Led Zeppelin tribute band Custard Pie, rootsy delta blues artist Brett Benton, and Texas singer-songwriter and âpiano manâ Robert Ellis. JULIANNE BELL
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, Part I, Chapter 2
Seattle composer, musician, and substitute teacher Neal Kosaly-Meyer will continue his amazing feat of reciting Finnegans Wake from memory, chapter by chapterâas if reading the modernist monster wasn't hard enough. In praise of Kosaly-Meyer's feat, Charles Mudede wrote, "Maybe this is the only way the novel could be saved. Itâs not all that amazing to memorize something that everyone understands; itâs very impressive to memorize something understood by only one person, who has been in the grave for many years."
Literaoke Book Launch: Michelle Peñalozaâs 'Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire'
Michelle Peñaloza, a former local literary mainstay, has returned home with a debut full-length collection of poetry in tow. The book's called Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire, and in a series of powerful, straightforward, narrative lyrics, Peñaloza reflects on the loss of a father, a relationship, and the legacy of colonialism. Rather than merely read at us for 45 minutes, Peñaloza is throwing a big-ass karaoke launch party. Seattle greats such as Anastacia-Reneé, Troy Osaki, Quenton Baker, Jane Wong, and a few others will accompany her onstage, and if there is a god in heaven, they will sing as well. There is perhaps a surprising overlap between people who love karaoke and people who love poetry, though not so surprising when you consider that they're the two funnest things in the entire world so long as you don't think too hard about them. RICH SMITH
'Simon Hanselmann: Bad Gateway' Signing
Seen the Bellevue Arts Museum exhibition on comic artist Simon Hanselmann and need more? Visit Hanselmann's publisher to hear from the artist, buy his books (starring the stoner witch Megg and her kitty boyfriend Mogg), and get his signature. Here's Jasmyne Keimig on Hanselmann's latest, Bad Gateway: "You know that moment when you're in the middle of a hangout with your friendsâslamming beers, intermittently hitting a bong, shoving chips into your mouth, binging old episodes of Project Runwayâand suddenly a drunk-stoned realization overtakes you. Maybe all this eagerness to get and stay intoxicated comes from a place of deep unhappiness and frustration with a perceived lack of control over your life. The characters in Simon Hanselmann's comics constantly wrestle with this moment. Instead of letting the smoke clear, going to bed, and shaking off this momentary recognition of existential anguishâthey lean into it. With drugs, with drink, with darkness, with weird sex, with selfishness, with addiction, with a lack of empathy."
Georgetown Art Attack
Once a month, the art scene of the tiny airport hamlet of Georgetown ATTACKS all passersby. In more literal terms, it's the day of art openings and street wonderment. If the westerly locations are too far, there's a free Art Ride! Check out our critics' picks for this monthâlike The Eyes Have It at Studio eâhere.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEArc at 20: A Twentieth Anniversary Retrospective Performance
Revisit 20 years of the innovative Seattle dance company's programming during this retrospective festival, with different lineups every evening. Marie Chong, Wen Wei Wang, Edwaard Liang, Jason Ohlberg, Bruce McCormick, and Elizabeth Cooper are just a few of the choreographers featured, and there will be a special In Memoriam performance for Kabby Mitchell III, the first black dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Lovers of the art of movement should make this event a priority.
Rigoletto
The powerful men charged with sexual assault in the #MeToo era are doing just fine. Seattle Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto is here to show us it was ever thus, and that it shall ever be so long as we continue to uphold longstanding social and political norms around consent, harassment, and male power. Rigoletto is a classic opera based on a Victor Hugo play called Le roi s'amuse. The story follows the Duke of Mantua on his various sexual conquests. He loves cuckolding courtiers while his court jester, Rigoletto, mocks the cucks. But shit hits the fan when the Duke goes after Rigoletto's own daughter, Gilda. To exact revenge, Rigoletto puts out a hit on the Duke, but it all goes horribly wrong. Director Lindy Hume updates Verdi's opera by replacing jolly old misogynists in codpieces with men in suits in executive offices, calling greater attention to the violence against women and the power imbalance. The aesthetics and tone of Hume's production, she says, were inspired by Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" sex parties, which were detailed by national outlets in 2013. RICH SMITH
SUNDAY
FILMEverything Is Terrible!
The video and performance collective Everything is Terrible makes truly bizarre videos on the Internet, including ones about the creepy yoga farmer Yogi Ogi Dogi, pubic hair dying, and the demi-child-god Duane. Witness their weird and wonderful mashups.
