Our music critics have already chosen the 44 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 genre—from the Seattle Walk Report Book Launch to a weekend of stand-up with Michael Che, and from the Seattle Design Festival to the last of Canlis's Hawaiian Nights. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
Found something you like and don't want to forget about it later? Click "Save Event" on any of the linked events below to add it to your own private list.
Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKTyler Malek: Author Talk: Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook
When they first founded their Portland-based artisan ice creamery Salt & Straw, cousins Tyler and Kim Malek had no recipes to speak of. That changed when they developed a revolutionary base to serve as a canvas for their flavors, which range from traditional (Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons or Chocolate Gooey Brownie), to playful (Pots of Gold and Rainbows, made with Lucky Charms), to the downright outlandish (Salted Caramel Thanksgiving Turkey and Dracula’s Blood Pudding, the latter a Halloween special made with pig’s blood), and which frequently incorporate ingredients from local businesses. Now you can re-create the experience at home (sans lengthy queues!) with the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook, which features recipes as well as ways to harness inspiration so that you can concoct oddball flavors of your own. Tyler will visit Book Larder to divulge his ice cream secrets and sign copies of the book. JULIANNE BELL
Beth Macy: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America
The opioid crisis is bad, and it's getting worse. Since 2014, opioid-related overdoses have steadily risen, along with ODs involving multiple drugs and meth. Last year, fentanyl-involved deaths doubled their 2017 total in King County, according to the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. In her new book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, Beth Macy, who's been reporting on this stuff for the Roanoke Times for a while, chronicles the complex of circumstances that led to this crisis with pathos and precision. She begins in the mid-1990s, describing Purdue Pharma's concerted effort to market OxyContin as a supposedly risk-free pain killer. She then shines a light on all the cracks in the local, national, and global health care systems that allowed the crisis to proliferate. If you've checked out of this story, check back in with Dopesick and get caught up. RICH SMITH
Filipinx Reading with Michelle Peñaloza and Friends
Discover Pinoy talents like the excellent Seattle-based poet and essayist Michelle Peñaloza (landscape/heartbreak, Last Night I Dreamt of Volcanoes) and friends.
MONDAY-SUNDAY
VISUAL ARTThesis Exhibition
The graduates of the PCNW's certificate program—Gabriela Cocuiba, Elisabeth Hein, Selena Kearney, Sarah D. King, and James Kuan—reveal what they've done over the past year.
Closing Sunday
TUESDAY
READINGS & TALKSSeattle Walk Report Book Launch
Seattle Walk Report is exactly what it sounds like: reports of walks in Seattle. Popularized on Instagram (@seattlewalkreport), the project was started in 2017 by an anonymous illustrator who prefers to simply go by Seattle Walk Report. Is she secretly MacKenzie Bezos? Nikkita Oliver? Her identity is so secret that I don't know her name, even though a few of the comics have appeared in The Stranger. Seattle Walk Report's 150-plus pages of twee, guidebook-style comics create an endearing collection of the small details that make Seattle a home. An abbreviated list of its findings: Churros. A scary teapot shaped like a sad dog. The Wedgwood Rock. A parking meter wearing a tie. The oldest building in Seattle (it's by the Capitol Hill Goodwill). A ground-level mailbox in Georgetown (maybe a mailbox for dogs?!). A starfish AND a crab chilling on Alki Beach. The terra-cotta on a West Roy Street apartment building. One confident duck. CHASE BURNS
WEDNESDAY
FOOD & DRINKOutdoor Oyster Party with Taylor Shellfish & Lil Woody’s
Revel in an alfresco fĂŞte with grilled oysters from Taylor Shellfish, Li'l Woody's burgers slathered with a smoked Taylor Shellfish oyster spread, and classic Spanish seafood paella from Ciudad chef Joseph Bayley. Wash it all down with sangria, cocktails, and Modelo beer.
FukdtuP Variety Show
I went to FukdtuP’s soft opening in July and I can confirm that the show is, indeed, fucked up. Not in a horrifically offensive way at all, but I saw some performances that were equal parts terrifying and enthralling. There was creepy children’s music, a performer stapling tips to their body, and a very real boa constrictor. To describe it any more would be to ruin the fun: You just have to go. Hosted by the charismatic Seattle drag entertainers Miss Texas 1988 and Strawberry Shartcake, this cabaret-style variety show pushes the envelope of propriety and acceptability—and thank God for that. It’s the perfect mid-week excuse to have a beer (or three). Be sure to leave your phone in your pocket. The hosts want you to be as “in the moment” as possible—and trust me, that’s a good place to be. JASMYNE KEIMIG
MĂ©xico en el CorazĂłn
Celebrate the exciting art and culture of our southern neighbor at this free show.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
READINGS & TALKSJennifer Dumpert: Dreaming on the Edges of Mind
I dream all the time. Sometimes I remember fragments, sometimes entire sequences, and sometimes I can’t tell if I am awake or asleep, and things can get pretty strange and hallucinatory. It might be liminal dreaming—also called hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, those hazy dream states of transitional consciousness we pass through as we fall into sleep at night and rise towards wakefulness in the morning. Apparently, you can access and linger in these states, according to Jennifer Dumpert. Town Hall Seattle and Cascade Psychedelic Community welcome the San Francisco-based lecturer, author of Liminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep, and founder of the Oneironauticum—an international organization that explores “the phenomenological experience of dreams as a means of experimenting with mind”—for a talk on just how to do so with practical exercises and techniques, and how to “engage our dreaming minds to help us answer personal or intellectual questions or even encourage the healing process.” LEILANI POLK
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART20/20: A 20th Anniversary Survey
Twenty artists—among them Viola Frey, Akio Takamori, Fay Jones, and Mary Anne Peters—who've participated extensively in the James Harris Gallery's 20-year history are celebrated in this anniversary exhibition.
Closing Saturday
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCERigoletto
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
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEThe 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.
Lungs
Listening to a manic PhD student and a human man-bun argue about whether they should bring a child into this hell world might not sound like a good way to spend part of your evening, but after watching Really Really Theatre Group's production of Duncan Macmillan's 2011 chamber play Lungs, I can comfortably say I recommend it. On a bright, bare set designed by Lex Marcos—tiled with huge pieces of extremely well-sanded plywood, so it almost looks like the white room in The Matrix—the man, played with warmth and a deceptively lulling calmness by Arjun Pande, announces his desire to help produce a child. This statement unleashes a torrent of hopes, joys, fears, and misgivings from within his partner (Erika Vetter, who plays her role with incredible skill and dynamism). What follows is nearly 100 minutes of smart, charming, rapid-fire dialogue about a deal-breaker issue for many: Should we have a baby? Macmillan's language sparks with enough wit and intelligence to hold your interest. RICH SMITH
THURSDAY
COMEDYThe Woggles
For some very, VERY offbeat laughs, watch the Woggles—some improvisers posing as the ex-members of the Australian kids' show The Wiggles—ineptly tackle basic improv challenges. That's right: They're brilliant performers masquerading as very not-brilliant performers. Next-level shit!
Chavisa Woods: 100 Times
The author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country, which contains the Shirley Jackson Award-winning novelette “Take the Way Home That Leads Back to Sullivan Street,” turns to the essay format. She meticulously documents 100 instances of sexist violence, harassment, and discrimination which she's experienced as a queer woman. 100 Times is an attempt to give an individualized face and voice to victims of perpetual, systemic sexism. Woods will appear with fellow author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.
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 can’t 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, it’s free. Coming up this week: Patricia Murphy and Will Jimerson on youth and guns. KATIE HERZOG
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
FOOD & DRINKThe Auction of Washington Wines 2019
This annual nonprofit wine event has raised over $46 million for charity in its 33 years of existence. At their winemaker picnic and auction at Woodinville’s Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, guests can choose from more than 100 wines spanning 30 different wineries, chat with the winemakers about their process between pours, and bid on future releases after tasting barrel samples. Al fresco food offerings will include Beecher’s cheese, a gnocchi bar, Neapolitan-style pizza from Tutta Bella, and a hearty menu from chef Shawn Applin of RN74 that features lamb merguez sausage sandwiches on brioche rolls, duck fat fries, and an heirloom tomato salad. Pastry chef Kate Sigel of the Thompson Hotel’s new restaurant Conversation will cap things off with a butterscotch-filled triple chocolate cookie ice cream sandwich for dessert, along with cookies from Hello Robin, ice cream from Molly Moon’s, cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes, and treats from Tutta Bella. The festivities will wrap up with Saturday’s gala, a multi-course affair with food from 13 chefs, including Derek Simcik of Conversation, Jun Kobayashi “Tsuyoshi” of Shiro’s, and Mi Kim of Raised Doughnuts. JULIANNE BELL
4.48 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.
Forward — Part 3
Casey Curran's piece as part of the Forward series has presence. It's as if the slightly smaller than life-size figure—composed of crinkly gold reflective paper and some sort of wire or string—sitting at the desk is in the middle of contemplation. This sculpture by Curran is part of Forward, an "annual, evolving exhibition series" curated by Shaun Kardinal in which artists transform another artist's work they have received, exhibit it, then pass it on to someone new to be reinterpreted again. Curran transformed and built off artist Anthony White's PLA-stitched, folded up Priority Mail envelope, which—in this iteration—is spray-painted gold. White in turn riffed off of the origin of the piece, artist and writer Tessa Hulls's postcard sculpture, which Curran has turned into a halo of sorts. It's a chain of inspiration made concrete in lineage. "Part 3: Means" is the third iteration of the Forward series, debuting the second round of revisions. There are 14 works by 13 other artists like Mari Nagaoka, Markel Uriu, Barry Johnson and Rafael Soldi. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday
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 the schedule this week: Cake Life Everyday's "li’l cupcake burgers" with vanilla cake, brownie "patties," and vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream lettuce and condiments.
Indy Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Temple of the Doomed Ark
The sketch troupe the Habit and Seattle Public Theater will take aim at all three Indiana Jones movies, smashing the second and third into a silly version of the first. The producers say, "Indy Jones dutifully denies that the Crystal Skull ever even happened." It's directed by Mark Siano, who had a big hit with local theater production Bohemia last year.
Specswizard and Keef Cross
Charles Mudede has written: "SpecsWizard is a veteran. His entire life has been devoted to the art. It’s almost impossible to imagine him doing anything other than rapping, making beats, and painting mystical urban images on walls." See his character designs for the forthcoming Gibson Comic Anthology alongside pieces by tattoo and comics artist Keef Cross.Â
Opening Thursday
FRIDAY
FILM'Phonic Seattle' Movie Premiere
Not content to enliven Seattle's music scene with two great rock groups—Tres Leches and AIAIA—Alaia D'Alessandro has recently completed a documentary film titled Phonic Seattle. Her aim with this project is to examine how Seattle musicians are adapting to the tumultuous economic changes happening here. Toward that end, D'Alessandro enlisted three musicians—CarLarans, Julie-C, and Reese Tanimura, the last of whom also serves as managing director of Northwest Folklife—to take her on a tour of non-traditional spaces around the city that are bolstering the music scene, in order to observe performances and converse with DIY artists striving to thrive in tough circumstances. In the course of hitting eight different spots, D'Alessandro threads interviews with music. Northwest Film Forum will premiere Phonic Seattle, with a panel discussion involving many of the people depicted in the film. DAVE SEGAL
Summer Crayfish Party
Feast to your belly's content on crayfish, crustaceans that resemble tiny lobsters, with traditional Scandinavian fixings after getting boozed up at an aquavit reception.Â
Sunset Supper
At this annual event commemorating Pike Place Market’s anniversary, more than 100 local restaurants, wineries, breweries, distilleries, and other vendors commune on the cobblestones during a balmy August evening, as the sun sinks low in the sky and casts a soft glow, and guests soak up food, drink, and live music. In attendance this year: swanky farm-to-table joint Aerlume; seafood institution the Athenian; handcrafted pasta makers Pasta Casalinga; charmingly old-timey ice cream parlor Shug’s Soda Fountain; plus countless others and a litany of local beer, wine, and spirits producers. Proceeds go to the Pike Place Market Foundation, which aims to support the market’s community by providing housing, childcare, healthy food, and other services. JULIANNE BELL
Fake and Gay Seattle!
Adam Kraft throws great parties. The San Francisco-based promoter flew through Seattle earlier this year with an inaugural Seattle edition of Fake and Gay, bringing performers Dorian Electra and Grace Towers up to the Timbre Room. The night alternated between hyper-pop DJ sets and expertly curated performers, including local drag legend Amoania. This go-around, Florida Man, a Miami-based drag queen who achieved unexpected international fame after performing a number as a sexy Voldemort, will bring her sexy Voldemort performance to the gig. Pearl, a former RuPaul's Drag Race finalist, will perform as ROXANNE, and rounding out the evening's festivities will be local queens Irene Dubois and Beau Degas. Adam Kraft and Arson Nicki will DJ. CHASE BURNS
Glory Hole: Bonfire: a drag / art show
This lineup of local drag performers—One, Miss Texas 1988 (who Jasmyne Keimig attests "quite literally throws herself into her performance, using her best tool—her body—to express and heighten emotion"), Stasia Coup, Angel Baby Kill Kill Kill, and Arrhythmio—should be enough to get you to this show.Â
Erik Davis: Drugs, Weirdness, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies
From the late '70s onward, I've avidly read Erik Davis's perceptive music criticism, which drew upon his vast knowledge of esoteric belief systems in addition to his lusty appetite for psychedelic sounds of many varieties. In 2005, he transmuted his interest in music and the occult into a 33 1/3 book on Led Zeppelin IV, and before that published 1998's Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information. So, it's no surprise to see Davis touring behind a book titled High Weirdness, which examines how literary subversives Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson's psychedelically spiritual writings from the '70s have altered America's cultural landscape. DAVE SEGAL
The Seed of Controversy: GM Crops, Seed-saving and the Future of Food
SoundBio Lab's Orlando de Lange will talk about a tiny organism that's essential in saving the future of food: seeds.Â
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYDrew Barth
A local comedian who’s become popular nationwide, Drew Barth was hit by a vehicle in 2018 and suffered a broken knee and shoulder in addition to undergoing emergency surgery to treat a blood clot in his brain. He’s made a recovery from that trauma and surely has siphoned some humor from its pain. But Barth’s bread and butter are relatable, G-rated jokes delivered in a perfectly modulated radio/TV announcer voice. Like a Northwestern Jerry Seinfeld, Barth offers precision-tooled, self-deprecating stories that hit way more than they miss. His is not the spiciest act, but to extract laughs from such utterly well-worn premises (relationships, shopping, grooming, watching TV, etc.) is a challenge that Barth meets with good-natured wit. DAVE SEGAL
'Filibus' with Johann Wagner and Sage Fischer (Dolphin Midwives)
Seattle's newest movie theater will screen Mario Roncoroni's 1915 Italian silent film (based on the story by science-fiction writer Giovanni Bertinetti) Filibus, which follows the exploits of a "cross-dressing futuristic sky pirate who pounces on her prey from a zeppelin manned by a crew of loyal henchmen." Johann Wagner and Sage Fischer of Portland's Dolphin Midwives will provide a live soundtrack.
Hawaiian Nights
Canlis knows how to throw a party. Seattle’s illustrious fine-dining institution is notorious for its extravagant New Year's Eve blowouts—this year’s Hawaiian-inspired luau featured real waterfalls, a koi pond, and live animals; the previous year’s glamorous 1950s-inspired affair boasted a period-accurate, Spady-family-approved re-creation of a mid-century Dick’s Drive-In; and a prior ski-chalet-themed soiree had hot tubs, real snow, and Saint Bernard dogs. A ticket doesn’t come cheap, though, so it’s all the more exciting that they’ve decided to throw an “unfancy, laidback, lowbrow” weekend bash in their parking lot this summer for the rest of us non-one-percenters. They’ll transform the lot into an island paradise with an actual pool, and have teased thatched tiki huts, a pig roast, a bar, pizza, kalbi ribs, shishito peppers, and mac salad. Bring your bathing suit. JULIANNE BELL
Devour
If you like leather, kink, and cocktails, prepare to be swooned into the night by the luxe burlesque babes of Valtesse at this speakeasy-style show.Â
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.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
COMEDYMichael Che's Liberal But Gangsta Tour
“Sometimes I say horrible shit. I don’t even care,” Michael Che admitted in one stand-up set, and that’s mainly what gives his material its punch. While he acts as co-anchor on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” and also writes for the show, Che confesses that he doesn’t follow politics. Before the 2016 election, he thought Hillary would win, because white women always get what they want. Oof. Che says Caucasian ladies usurped the toughest areas of Brooklyn, they rescue pit bulls for fun, and, he surmised, they even killed Biggie. Che’s thoughts on race and homophobia are similarly skewed and hilarious—as is his telling of the world’s oldest sexting joke. DAVE SEGAL
Seattle Design Festival 2019
Now in its ninth year, Design in Public's Seattle Design Festival explores how urbanism, architecture, and design can further justice, ecology, and community by featuring art installations and events in public spaces. The theme this year, "balance," is inspired by the equilibrium of the natural world contrasted with institutional injustices within our society, offering attendees plenty of opportunities to ruminate on changes they'd like to see happen in Seattle. After a Design Crawl (Aug 17) that invites you to stop for open studios, workshops, and exhibits as you wander through Capitol Hill, other notable happenings in the festival's first couple of weeks include a Northwest Film Forum screening of Jill Magid’s 2018 documentary about Mexican architect Luis Barragán, The Proposal (Aug 17), and a Lid I-5 Study Area Tour with the Freeway Park Association (Aug 17).
Seattle Hempfest 2019
The "premier flagship event of the global cannabis culture" may sound like a big claim, but as far as anyone can tell, Seattle's massive Hempfest isn't stretching the truth when it bills itself as such. Returning for the 28th year and touting itself as a major influence on weed legalization in Washington State, the cannabis convocation will bring three days of talks, pot-loving celebrity guests and congresspeople, and hundreds of vendors to Myrtle Edwards Park, where throngs of Seattle stoners will be greeted by four stages buzzing with live music, panel discussions, lectures, and other entertainment.
Seattle Tattoo Expo
The Pacific Northwest is a legendary province for permanently decorated flesh, but it's not the only one. This three-day expo hosted by Hidden Hand Tattoo features professional ink-givers from all over the world, including artists from local parlors like Action Tattoo, Art Never Dies Tattoo, and Super Genius Tattoo, plus visiting artists from San Francisco's Castro Tattoo, Poland's Lukasz Smyku, and Austin's Black Dagger Tattoo, just to name a few. The three-day expo promises the chance to see displays, attend seminars, and even get yourself inked up by the right artist for you.
The Queen
When people talk about drag documentaries, they talk first about Paris Is Burning. That 1990 film about NYC's ball scene has been an inspiration for countless other queens, films, and shows—FX's Emmy-nominated Pose, most notably. But long before Paris Is Burning, there was The Queen, a 1968 documentary about a Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. The Queen features stars: It's narrated by early drag pioneer Flawless Sabrina and famously includes a scene of drag performer Crystal LaBeija reading the house down for not awarding queens of color their crowns ("I have a RIGHT to show my color, darling!"). NWFF's opening night screening will feature a performance by Cookie Couture. CHASE BURNS
SATURDAY
FESTIVALSSeattle Night Market: Aloha
Partake in Polynesian cuisine from over a hundred food trucks and pop-up vendors.
Break a Leg!
Korean food fanatics all over Seattle shed a tear when culinary power couple Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi closed their inventive Capitol Hill noodle shop/barbecue spot/soft serve counter Trove this June. The silver lining: they still have a lease on their Pike Street space and will be using it to host a series of pop-ups, classes, and private dinners. This pop-up, their first of the new series, will feature a spread of a whopping 36 small plates that complement one another, inspired by the Korean tradition of hanjeongsik—a full-course meal with a bounty of banchan (small side dishes) in an array of colors and flavors. The cheeky name “Break a Leg!” comes from a common appreciative remark that the table is laden with such an abundant feast that its legs appear to be groaning. JULIANNE BELL
Fantagraphics Biennial Summer Yard Sale
If you're a devotee of comics, graphic novels, weird art, and maybe even cartoon erotica, you can't miss this bonanza of Fantagraphics' rare, out of print, and just plain odd selections. They're advertising "$1 and $5 books and $25 you-fill-em bags," so you may be able to fill that sad, yawning chasm in your bookshelves.
SUNDAY
COMEDYVonnegut Unexpected: Kurt Vonnegut Improvised
Every Sunday, the improvisers of Unexpected Productions will take some instinctual liberties (paired with audience suggestions) with Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and other works by the late writer Kurt Vonnegut.
The Original Coffee Break: Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
Cultures all over the world have their own traditions for gathering and sharing a cup of something caffeinated while socializing: teatime, the Swedish practice of fika, the coffee break. As the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia has developed a daily ritual around the brew that lasts a couple of hours and honors the process, from roasting the beans to steeping to sipping. (According to Ethiopian legend, coffee was first discovered by a goatherd named Kaldi, who noticed his flock seemed to dance with energy after getting hopped up on the red berries of a shrub, and decided to try them himself.) At this event hosted by Milen Medhane—owner of the Ethiopian cafe and restaurant Kaffa Coffee in Rainier Beach—and Atlas Obscura Society Seattle field agent Christopher Blado, guests can participate in an authentic coffee ceremony that includes pan-roasting fresh beans and heating and pouring water from the jebena (a traditional water vessel).
