A new week in Phase 2 means a mixed bag of events happening virtually, in-person (modified to accommodate physical distancing, of course), and, sometimes, a combination of both. We're here to guide you through our top picks in every genre—from an evening of music and conversation with Jay Inslee and Paul Simon to drive-in screenings of The Land Before Time, and from Ethan Stowell's Pinchy Bois Pop-Up in Ballard to a Virtual Laser Show with KEXP's OCnotes. In addition, check out our guides to supporting black-owned businesses and artists in Seattle, educating yourself through anti-racism resources, and donating to social justice causes. Find even more events on our complete streaming events calendar and our resistance & solidarity calendar, and check back on Friday for a roundup of the best local virtual events this weekend.
Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | All Week
All events are online unless otherwise noted. Don't forget to wear a mask to all in-person events!
MONDAY
COMMUNITYFrida Kahlo Birthday Happy Hour
The National Museum of Women in the Arts will raise a glass to the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo on what would be her 113th birthday (which, appropriately enough given the artist’s Communist politics, is also the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution). Pour yourself a tequila (her favorite drink) in her honor and learn about her work and personal letters at this virtual event.
Grace Potter's Twilight Hour
The renowned Vermont-hailing singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist livestreams a stirring set of her bluesy rock straight from her childhood home. BOBBY ROBERTS
Arianna Bradford
Portland-based photographer Arianna Bradford invites you to hang out with her the day before her book launch to talk about what went into making Shame On You: Big Truths from a Bad Mom, including a reading from the book, some conversation with friends, some questions from the crowd, and prize giveaways, too. BOBBY ROBERTS
MONDAY & WEDNESDAY
MUSICChamber Music Society 2020 Virtual Summer Festival
The Seattle Chamber Music Society has moved this year's summer concert series online, bringing 12 evening-length performances of works by Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, and other well-known composers throughout the month of July.
TUESDAY
COMMUNITYBlack Appreciation Day
The Seattle Change Coalition presents this march and festival celebrating Black lives.
Judkins Park (Atlantic)
Lunch-and-Learn: Laureen Nussbaum
Holocaust survivor and memoirist Laureen Nussbaum will join the Holocaust Center for Humanity to talk about her family's experience leaving Nazi Germany in 1936, which they were able to do by obtaining paperwork claiming they were not Jewish.
Quaran-Tiki Tuesday!
Slip on the tropical shirt you got for your canceled vacation and drink Tiki cocktails in a socially distant manner.
Sol Liquor Lounge (Capitol Hill)
Music in the Park
Head to Snohomish's Willis D. Tucker Community Park every Tuesday in July for live music performances, craft activities, and food vendors. Performers are still TBA.
Willis D. Tucker Community Park (Snohomish)
Ringo's Big Birthday Show
Living Beatle Ringo Starr is turning 80 years old! Join him, Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Ben Harper, Dave Grohl, Gary Clark Jr., Sheryl Crow, and other stars for a live performance on YouTube benefiting Black Lives Matter, the David Lynch Foundation, MusiCares, and WaterAid.
Stand with The Facts: How Bots and Trolls Leverage a Crisis
How do you discern a real person from a bot on your social media feeds, and how are bots and trolls exploiting the Black Lives Matter movement for their own benefit? KUOW’s All Things Considered host Kim Malcolm and UW's Kate Starbird will break it down in this virtual talk.
Trixie Mattel
The beloved Los Angeles-based drag queen, comedian, and singer known for winning the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars brings an arsenal of music, comedy, and costume changes to Twitch for another night of absolute fabulousness. BOBBY ROBERTS
Paige McKenzie, Nancy Ohlin
For reasons that don't really need to be gone into too deeply, many people are looking for some Young Adult fantasy fiction to replace a certain seven-book series that's been pretty tainted by its creator. And if you enjoy stories of young witches coming together, becoming friends, and fighting evil (hey, this also sorta sounds like a better version of Buffy, too), you might want to tune into this livestream for Paige McKenzie and Nancy Ohlin's newest novel, B*Witch. BOBBY ROBERTS
Unrig: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy with Daniel Newman
Daniel Newman offers welcomed solutions to America's broken democracy in his newest graphic novel, Unrig. Join him for a virtual launch party with Fix Democracy First, the League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County, and special guest Estevan Muñoz-Howard, an author at Proteus Fund.
Virtual Drag Queen Storytime: 'Be Amazing'
Teen Drag superstar Desmond goes online to pick up where the regular summer Drag Queen Storytime series had to be put on pause due to COVID, with a reading from his debut picture book Be Amazing: A History of Pride. This storytime promises to introduce viewers to a lot of amazing history and the people who made it. BOBBY ROBERTS
TUESDAY-THURSDAY
SHOPPING40th Anniversary Summer Plant Sale
The Volunteer Park Conservatory's 40th (!) summer plant sale has moved its leafy friends online for social distancing-friendly shopping. Snag houseplants and tropicals, pots, grooming tools, merch, and more for pickup on Friday-Sunday.
WEDNESDAY
COMMUNITYAn Evening of Music and Conversation with Jay Inslee and Paul Simon
Join Washington Governor Jay Inslee and folk-rock legend Paul Simon for an evening of "uplifting beats and good conversation" on the internet.
Virtual Silent Reading Party
The first worldwide silent-reading party was such a huge success that we're making it weekly. Every Wednesday at 6 pm we're going to throw these parties, at least until stay-at-home is over. Attendees at the first Zoom silent-reading party included famous actors, writers, composers, artists, families, teenagers doing their homework, people staring into space listening to the music because it was just so beautiful, cats, and even one household on Orcas Island that was eating dinner and decided to broadcast the reading party as their background music. (What a brilliant idea!) It wasn't just a great party to be at. Behind the scenes, this was a roaring success as well. The Stranger brought in revenue from the reading party for the first time ever, our musician Paul Matthew Moore made ten times more on Venmo tips than he's ever made in the tip jar at the Sorrento (thank you for your generosity—he deserves it!), and hundreds of people at the party have written us emails, clamoring for more. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
Baby Gramps
The Seattle legend lends this livestream concert his unique mix of traditional blues, throat-singing, and freak-folk. If you live in the Northwest and still haven't seen Baby Gramps, here's your latest chance to get with it. BOBBY ROBERTS
Elise Hooper: Fast Girls
Elise Hooper (The Other Alcott, Learning to See) will join Third Place Books for an evening of "stories, history, and Olympic trivia" in celebration of her new book, in which she explores the history of women athletes, members of the first integrated women's Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Nazi-occupied Berlin.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
FILMMarymoor Park Drive-In
Drive over to Redmond for drive-in movies throughout the summer, starting with '80s classics Back to the Future II (Wed, sold out) and Dirty Dancing (Thurs).
Marymoor Park (Redmond)
Outdoor Cinema at ShoWare: 'The Land Before Time'
Get ready to dissolve into nostalgic tears as baby sauropod dinosaur Littlefoot and his friends search for the Rock That Looks Like a Long-Neck, which will point them to safety and plenty in the Great Valley. Remember: Dreams see us through to forever! Enjoy these outdoor screenings from the safety of your car or motorcycle.
accesso ShoWare Center (Kent)
THURSDAY
COMMUNITYLove in the Time of COVID - BIPOC Solidarity & Mutual Aid
This virtual event on YouTube and Facebook Live will highlight BIPOC solidarity and mutual aid with things like storytelling, live music (including sets by DJ Nia and several local Indigenous performers), and community updates.
The Supreme Court and Abortion Rights
Join Los Angeles's Hammer Museum for an online breakdown of the recent Supreme Court rulings striking down a Louisiana law that could have left the state with just one abortion provider. Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson will moderate.
Movie Madness University Online: A Hard Day's Night with Shawn Levy
Movie Madness University is back with the perfect summer assignment: Join author and film critic Shawn Levy for a seminar on the breezy 1964 Beatles vehicle A Hard Day's Night! The film follows the Fab Four on a high-velocity romp through London on the day of a concert as the clock ticks down to showtime. Director Richard Lester’s snapshot of the exuberant young Beatles is part music video, part mockumentary, and pure, life-affirming fun to watch. In this MMU Online seminar, Shawn will explore the cultural and historical context of the film, dig into what it tells us about the Beatles themselves, and examine how director Richard Lester’s stylistic innovations would influence music videos and filmmaking for years to come. BOBBY ROBERTS
Olympia FB Live Streaming Event
Three Dollar Bill Cinema and the Seattle Queer Film Festival present a virtual screening of Olympia, a documentary about the beloved gay actor Olympia Dukakis, who plays Anna Madrigal in the film adaptation of Armistead Maupin's Tales of The City.
Plan 9 From Outer Space with Baron Von Terror
In this wonderfully campy Ed Wood classic, an evil alien mastermind unleashes an army of undead zombies in Hollywood, California. Central Cinema's Baron Von Terror will provide much-needed commentary during this virtual screening.
'Suppressed: The Fight to Vote' – Screening and Panel Discussion
Robert Greenwald's documentary weaves together personal stories from voters across the state of Georgia to spotlight voter suppression in the 2018 midterm election. Watch a free screening and stay on for a Q&A with the director, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and Common Cause Georgia's Aunna Dennis.
Pinchy Bois Pop-Up
Ethan Stowell's summer pop-up at his Ballard restaurant Bramling Cross brings buttery lobster rolls and whole lobster, the pinchy bois in question, to your belly with sides of Old Bay fries and worms in dirt (a mixture of cookie crumbs, pudding, and gummy worms) for dessert. Preorder for pickup.
Bramling Cross (Ballard)
Grounded with Terror/Cactus
BIG BLDG's cozy weekly music series will return with a virtual performance by local favorites Terror/Cactus, who "definitely make music that embodies the paradoxical tension between modernity and tradition," as Dave Segal once wrote.
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes got her start at the tender age of 13, and in 1996 she became the youngest country star since Tanya Tucker more than two decades before. While I knew Rimes had been around a while, I had no idea she had been so prolific—at age 30, she already has 15 albums under her belt. Over the past two decades Rimes has veered from her country roots in favor of more traditional pop, but whichever style she adopts, her voice is always up to the task. That and her sense of adventure with each release is what has always set Rimes apart from the Faith Hills and Shania Twains. MARK LORE
Lucius - Streaming Shows!
Fiery Brooklyn five-piece Lucius are teaming up with the Seattle Theatre Group for a month-long virtual concert series "to promote local engagement and fundraising for small businesses facing financial hardship."
NVCS Presents: Karma Rivera
PDX hip-hop artist Karma Rivera will take over Nectar's virtual stage.
Strict Tempo: Statiqbloom, Plack Blague, Cyanotic, Octonomy
DJ Vox Sinistra will host this dark, post-industrial electronic dance party on Twitch with Statiqbloom, Plack Blague, Cyanotic, and Octonomy.
Virtual Laser Show: KEXP’s DJ OCnotes
KEXP DJ OCnotes has curated a Northwest-heavy playlist of African-inspired hip-hop, funk, soul, and R&B to bliss out to while you watch a virtual laser show.
Broadway Beyond The Curtain - Series One
The Seattle Theatre Group will reveal recorded interview sessions with Broadway and STG Season artists, including Gerald Ramsey (July 9) and Nikki Long (July 16).
Lush Laughs with Ophira Eisenberg & Bethany Van Delft
This online episode of Lush Laughs, co-hosted by NPR's Ophira Eisenberg (Ask Me Another) and The Moth's Bethany Van Delft features special guest Nori Reed. BOBBY ROBERTS
An Evening with Gabriel Bump, Crissy Van Meter, and Kimi Eisele
Fiction writers Kimi Eisele (The Lightest Object in the Universe: A Novel), Crissy Van Meter (Creatures: A Novel), and Gabriel Bump (Everywhere You Don't Belong) will give a group reading of their newest books online.
ALL WEEK
COMMUNITYAlways Yours, Always Wild: Jungle Party at Heart
While they are open for regular visits, the Woodland Park Zoo will host their 44th annual Jungle Party, which celebrates their ongoing wildlife conservation mission, online this year. Look forward to virtual auctions, behind-the-scenes experiences, chances to learn about their Fund-Our-Future campaign, and more.
Christina Tosi’s Baking Club
The illustrious New York pastry chef and junk-food queen Christina Tosi, whom you might know from her Momofuku Milk Bar empire, hosts daily baking sessions on her Instagram, wherein she reveals some secrets of her craft (like how to make the perfect cheese soufflé).
Doe Bay Artist Residency Program
Local artists have been invited to post up in the Orcas Island-adjacent Doe Bay resort (which is currently operating at 50% capacity) to bring live music to the people throughout the summer. Catch sets in-person from resident performers like fierce foursome Thunderpussy.
Northwest Fine Arts Competition Virtual Show
Check out work by over 20 Northwest visual artists (including Jurors’ Choice winner Martha Thomas and others like Lauren Black, Lana Blinderman, Meg Carlson, and Marty Chakoian) at this virtual art exhibition. If you fall in love with a piece, you can buy it straight from the website.
Shoreline Recycled Yard Art Contest
Shoreline residents are invited to rummage through their blue bins for recyclable materials and make works of art to place in their yards. The theme is "summer fun," and participants who enter photos of their work will be entered for a chance to win a gift basket from Recology.