It's a regular two-day weekend, whatever that means to you right now, and we hope you get some time away from your responsibilities to enjoy some good old-fashioned virtual entertainment. To help you decide where to tune in, we've rounded up our picks for the best social distancing-friendly events, from Last Call at Re-bar to Christopher Frizzelle's Quarantine Book Club (no prep required), and from the Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam to Project Pride, hosted by NPR's Ari Shapiro. Read on for all our top picks for the weekend, and, for even more options, check out our roundup of the best movies to stream this weekend and our complete streaming events calendar.


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FRIDAY

COMEDY

Improv Happy Hour: Unexpected Experiments
If aspects of your life in quarantine are starting to feel too predictable, shake things up with an hour-long happy hour with Unexpected Productions' improv crew. The theme is "couples." The series ends tonight, so don't miss out.

Laughter in Lockdown
Throw virtual tips at famous New York comics and writers like Judd Apatow, Ray Romano, Ronny Chieng, Wanda Sykes, and others. They'll donate all the proceeds to vulnerable New York comics through the Actors Fund.

COMMUNITY

Solitude Social Club
Hugo House's bookish happy hour will give the digital floor to guest writers every Friday evening. This week, tune in to hear how Sadie Dupuis (the frontwoman of indie-rock band Speedy Ortiz) is finding happiness and meaning through literature during this period of isolation.

MUSIC

Dropkick Murphys, Bruce Springsteen
Boston's prized punkers the Dropkick Murphys are getting the full run of an empty Fenway Park for this fundraising livestream concert, and they've enlisted the help of their good friend (checks notes) Bruce Springsteen!?! And they're going to be trading songs back and forth on the night? Well... damn! Proceeds benefit the Boston Resiliency Fund, Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, and Feeding America. BOBBY ROBERTS

Golden Hour Festival Presented By Kygo
Enjoy performances by Alan Walker, Jimmy Buffett, OneRepublic, and other big-name singer-songwriters. 

High Dive Virtual Concert: Dearheart
Local post-emo four-piece Dearheart will play live on the internet, courtesy of High Dive. 

Kremwerk x 5K Livestream
This at-home dance party with local electronic artists Ræ-mün, Astronaut, Unknown ?layer, and NiQW is brought to you by Kremwerk. 

Nathan Chan Live Interview and Solo Performance
Head to Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra's Instagram for a live performance and chat with Nathan Chan, who was originally scheduled to play Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 in person this weekend.

Sharon Van Etten: 'because i was in love' Anniversary Concert
An impressively large number of the most personally thrilling musical moments I've experienced over the past couple years have been due to Sharon Van Etten. The New York songwriter just gets it right: Her music is wholly, rewardingly moving without being cloying. Her songs skillfully explore the raw, dangerous edges of those battered-heart and frayed-nerve emotional landscapes you'll find in most pop songs. But in the end, Van Etten finds hope and catharsis inside those familiar chords. She's also a masterful live performer, fully in command of her gifts but never precious about them. Sharon Van Etten possesses the kind of talent that leaves me awestruck and dumbfounded. To put it simply: Watch this show.  NED LANNAMANN

Slay at Home: A Virtual Metal Music & Art Festival
It was only a matter of time before the dark forces of rippage and shreddage, headbanging monsters of heavy metal music one and all, convened for probably the densest, hardest, most hell-raising-est COVID-19 fundraiser in our lockdown's brief-but-still-too-long history. And so: the Slay at Home fest, two days of finely polished, sharp as hell, horn-throwing metal in the name of supporting MusiCares and Global Giving. Artists include Cadaver, Allegeaon, Khemmis, Mantar, Nite Soil, and many more.  BOBBY ROBERTS

Stripped - Facebook Live Event #2
Let '80s new wave and synth-pop tribute group Prom Date Mixtape take you back a few decades for a night of high-energy dance music, stripped down to acoustics and brought to your computer. 

XRAY.fm House Show: Y La Bamba
Luz Elena Mendoza’s folk-art-rock project Y La Bamba reveres Mexican tradition, with songs touching on themes of humanity and higher faith in ways that are relatable and enjoyable to the ears they fall upon. Let those sounds rain down inside your living room as part of XRAY.fm's House Show livestream series. BOBBY ROBERTS

PERFORMANCE

Allegiance
Broadway On Demand is making Allegiance, the Broadway musical written and composed by Jay Kuo, set during the Japanese American internment of World War II, available to watch online for account holders for one night only. Before the event, tune into a virtual toast with special guests George Takei, Lea Salonga, Marc Acito, Lorenzo Thione, Jay Kuo, and Telly Leung.

Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam
Puppetry's already pretty strange—it involves a certain amount of suspension of disbelief to invest emotions into a bundle of cloth on strings. Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam apparently kicks the weirdness up and rides it into Bizarro Land. They'll return from their hiatus with an online edition.

The Shows Must Go On! Hairspray
When we first vanished into our little squirrel holes a few months ago, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber started releasing stage-to-screen adaptations of his musicals every week on YouTube. By now he’s run out of his own musicals to show, but never fear, he’s got connections! And so now we’re treated every Friday to a new musical theater gem, available to watch for just 48 hours before it vanishes back into whoever’s vault he plundered. This weekend’s treat is Hairspray Live, the TV adaptation of the movie adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the John Waters film. With that many leaps from medium to medium, how does the story of body positivity, feminism, and racial injustice fare? Not as badly as it could have! Hairspray, in all of its incarnations, has always ended with the racists defeated, television integrated, and everyone cheering like everything’s been solved. But oh no, in real life, injustice isn’t defeated in one climactic boss battle! NBC’s live version ends with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson singing “Come so Far (Got So Far to Go)” and boy oh boy does the second half of that title feel true today. MATT BAUME  

Tacoma Arts Live's 2020 Gala: Garden of Delights
Tacoma Arts Live's annual fundraising event has moved to the virtual world. Bid in the online auction or just stream live performances from local artists on YouTube and Facebook.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

MUSIC

Ministry Weekender
Rave at home with DJ EZ, Diplo, Solardo, A-Trak, and others at this two-day music festival presented by Ministry of Sound. Any donations made during the event will be given to WHO Solidarity Fund, which helps countries "prevent, detect, and respond to" the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Pat Graney's Faith Triptych
These three performances from renowned choreographer Pat Graney (titled "Faith," "Sleep," and "Tattoo," respectively), originally commissioned by On the Boards, span the course of a decade, from 1991-2001. Stream all three parts featuring 12 of the original cast members (including KT Niehoff, Peggy Piacenza, and Amii Legendre).

VISUAL ART

Jeffrey Veregge: A Better Tomorrow - Works Inspired by the 1962 World’s Fair
Inspired by the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and Century 21 Expo, Jeffrey Veregge (Port Gamble S’Klallam) follows up is 2019 exhibition Bold Americans: Above and Beyond–which highlighted achievements in aerospace and aeronautics—with a tribute to "a time when Americans set aside differences to achieve what was considered impossible, held strong beliefs in science and mathematics, and looked to the future with ingenuity and hope." Check out his pop art- and Coast Salish-inspired designs in this online exhibition. 
Closing Sunday

SATURDAY

COMEDY

Twisted Flicks
Based on audience suggestions (which you, the audience, can input via Twitch), Jet City improvisers will add their own dialogue, music, and sound effects to incredibly cheesy B-movies.

WIUP Mystery Hour: An Improvised Radio Comedy Online
If you love old-timey radio mysteries, imagine one without a script. WIUP improvisers will go on the air with thrilling whodunit stories (complete with sound effects) fueled by audience suggestions. 

COMMUNITY

Bob Ferguson's Virtual Shrimp Feed
Washington Attorney General and Stranger valentine Bob Ferguson will welcome congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and other local representatives to join him virtually for his annual Shrimp Feed. The event usually involves actual shrimp to eat, but since this year's event is virtual, you'll have to bring your own crustaceans.

Miss Quarantine
The winner of this virtual pageant will win a $50,000 scholarship to Duolingo, logins to "some of the most password-protected Zooms in the country," and the title of Miss Quarantine. Based on the promo, it looks like the age requirements are looser than your standard Drop Dead Gorgeous event. Hooray! 

Night In For Good 2020
Bid on silent auction items virtually and enjoy an '80s throwback performance by Prom Date Mixtape at this fundraiser for Project Kids' Cancer Cure Guild.

FOOD & DRINK

Cues & Brews BBQ Bash for Frontline Foods Seattle
Jack's BBQ, Reuben's Brews, and Snohomish Pie Co. are teaming up for a dinner package benefiting Frontline Foods Seattle, a volunteer-led mission to feed those working on the frontlines. The parcel includes a four-course tasting menu from  Jack’s BBQ and Snohomish Pie Company, an exclusive virtual Zoom dinner with the BBQ pitmasters and brewers (and your neighbors), and a four-beer pairing from Reuben's Brews for an extra $25.

Shuck-a-Long
Local restaurant mavens and seafood queens Renee Erickson and Julia Sullivan will lead you on an oyster-shucking journey via Zoom. The package that comes along with the class includes four dozen oysters, including Pelican, Hama Hama, Blue Pool, and Sea Cow varietals, along with Henrietta Red Green Curry Butter and other optional add-ons. 

MUSIC

Baby Van Beezly: Quarantine Livestreams
DJ Baby Van Beezly will bring emo classics by the likes of My Chemical Romance, the Used, Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy, and more from her living room. 

Banding Together: A Concert for the Colorado Music Fund
Join the Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, the Lumineers, Grace Potter, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and other folk-rockers for an evening of music benefitting the Colorado Music Fund. It'll be livestreamed on 97.3 KBCO,  CBSN Denver, and YouTube.

David Guetta: United at Home
One of EDM's biggest stars is doing his part to help raise funds for fighting COVID-19... by doing what he does best and delivering hours upon hours of high-energy dance music that will likely leave your living room a sweat-soaked neon wasteland once he's done. This time around, after leaving Miami in his wake, he's taking on New York and if you don't think that's going to add an extra level of energy to the night, just watch. And keep that wallet open, too. BOBBY ROBERTS

Earshot Jazz Live at the Forum: Johnaye Kendrick
Local chanteuse Johnaye Kendrick will belt out jazz tunes with accompaniment from Bill Anschell on piano, Chris Symer on bass, and D'Vonne Lewis on drums. 

Last Call At Re-bar
Re-Bar will be hosting Last Call, an opportunity for patrons to say one final goodbye to the venue As We Know It. Four Re-bar regular DJs—Morgan J, Nick Cressman, Alfonso Tan, and Robbie Nielsen—will be playing 4/4 all night long. While this isn't the very, very last livestreamed event, this stream will provide space for those to say goodbye and dance their faces off from the comfort of their own living rooms.  JASMYNE KEIMIG

Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day
For three days, relive the Led Zeppelin's first headline show in 27 years, which took place at London's 02 Arena in 2007, for free on YouTube. 

Nectar Virtual Concert Series presents: Dub Lounge International & Ian Ayers
Cue up some funk in your house with Dub Lounge International and Ian Ayers (of Ian Ayers & the Soul Purpose).

Quarantine Comes Alive
When you invoke the power of Frampton this nakedly, you'd better be ready to deliver on that man's formidable '70s might, and this Live for Live Music fundraiser for COVID relief is doing its damndest, with a lineup that includes Greensky Bluegrass, the Infamous Stringdusters, the California Honeydrops, Galactic, Fruition, Moon Taxi, The Motet, Ivan Neville, Railroad Earth, Turkuaz, and 50 other bands. BOBBY ROBERTS

PERFORMANCE

The Golden Thread Live Online Arts Experience
This virtual interdisciplinary arts show with performances by poet and musician Grae Violett, stage actors Alexandra Varriano and Caleb Ryden (reading works by Alina Rios), painter David Johannson, dancer Hannah Cavallaro, and others will donate a portion of proceeds to Mary's Place.

Kings ~ A Drag King Show ~ PROM
Masc up your look to the prom-worthy nines (or just stay in your pajamas) for a night of drag numbers and virtual hangs with your favorite drag kings. 

READINGS & TALKS

Fiyah Virtual Reading Series
The quarterly speculative fiction lit magazine FIYAH, dedicated to stories by and about black people of the African Diaspora, will host a free livestreamed reading with contributing authors like Eden Royce, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali, Jen Brown, Sarah A. Macklin, Marika Bailey, and others. 

Quarantine Book Club: 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a captivating story of betrayal. Modern Library lists it as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. It was eventually made into a movie starring Maggie Smith, who won a best actress Oscar for playing Miss Jean Brodie. At the end of the four weeks, we will watch the movie together, and compare it to the book. I just taught The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as a book-club class at Hugo House over the course of four weeks this past winter, and it went really well, all the students loved the book, and one of them, amazingly, was the bestselling novelist Maria Semple, who said afterward: "Christopher’s passion and insight left me near-delirious with an excitement and optimism I’ve since carried into all my reading and writing.” I loved teaching this class so much, and I want to make it accessible to as many people as possible, so I'm offering it at a fraction of the cost of similar classes elsewhere, and (just like we do the silent-reading party) on a sliding scale. Pay what you can. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

SCIENCE

Launch America
The NASA/SpaceX launch that was scrubbed on Wednesday will (again, weather permitting) take place today. Participate in the mission through NASA's virtual guest operations. 

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

Auktion 2.0
For one week, the National Nordic Museum will offer experience-based auction packages that you can look forward to using once it's safe to go out into the world like normal again.

Lucky Collector Car Auction
Lucky Collector Car Auction and the LeMay Family Collection Foundation will host an auction featuring over 200 cars, boats, bikes, and ephemera for all you motorheads out there. 

MUSIC

Morlot Conducts Strauss & Ravel
Hear a past performance of former Seattle Symphony music director Ludovic Morlot conducting pieces by Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel. 

PERFORMANCE

Lincoln Center Dance Week
The Lincoln Center's week-long retrospective features more than 40 years of iconic dances performed by companies from all over the world on the Lincoln Center campus in New York. It also offers the chance to take online classes with the Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and New York City Ballet.

SUNDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Citizen Cafe Sunday Funday Pop-Up
The Queen Anne cafe will mark its reopening with a pop-up and Northwest Harvest food drive in their outdoor beer garden. Wear a mask, keep your distance, and stop by to browse to-go goodies from Hello Robin, Tres Lecheria, and Rubinstein Bagels. Don't forget to bring canned food to donate.

Sawyer Cooking Class
For this edition of the Tasting Collective's Restaurant in the Home series, Sawyer's Chef Mitch Mayers (a 2020 James Beard finalist for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific) will show you how to make a three-course meal of tuna crudo, pan-seared sirloin steak, and nectarine cobbler. The shopping list is on the ticket page. 

MUSIC

KTBA Fueling Musicians Stream-a-Thon Hosted by Joe Bonamassa
Legendary blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa and the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation will welcome 45 artists to the digital stage to raise money for musicians affected by COVID-19.

PERFORMANCE

Finding Trails Festival
This new virtual theater festival will feature short plays about the environment. 

Virtual Celebration with Andrew Barth Feldman
Musical theater actor Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen) will host this online concert and fundraiser for the Barbra Barth Feldman Performing Arts Center at Lawrence Woodmere Academy, Feldman's alma mater. The lineup features Feldman himself, the kids of Zneefrock Productions, and a few special guests.

QUEER

Project Pride
Pride month begins... (checks calendar) oh damn it begins tomorrow. And to kick it off properly, Ari Shapiro hosts this combination time capsule from the Smithsonian and virtual concert celebrating LGBTQ+ history and culture. Between looks at key moments in queer American history, you'll see some performances and appearances from notables including Cameron Esposito, Big Freedia, Tig Notaro, the Pet Shop Boys, mxmtoon, Roxane Gay, and many more. BOBBY ROBERTS

READINGS & TALKS

Anthony Townsend: The Future of Driverless Cars
Remember five years ago when The Guardian predicted that humans would be "permanent backseat drivers" by 2020? Well, that obviously hasn't happened, but self-driving cars are being tested for future use. If that freaks you out, hear urban technology writer Anthony Townsend argue that the vehicles will make rides "safer, smoother, and more efficient."

Virtual Lecture: Covid Copenhagen
Danish photographers Lasse Bak Mejlvang and Mads Eneqvist have been documenting the impact of COVID-19 on their hometown of Copenhagen. See what they have to say about their findings in this virtual presentation.