With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing across the state, it's more imperative than ever that you wear a mask and keep your distance at the in-person events listed below (like the Bike Works Warehouse Sale in Columbia City on Sunday and King County Equity Now Coalition's Pay the Fee Rally at 23rd and Jackson on Saturday). With that in mind, there are also lots of great events happening that don't require leaving your house, from a virtual watch party of The Craft with Rachel True to the Japanese culture festival Seattle Bon Odori, and from the REFILL Benefit Concert for the Seattle Artist Relief Fund to a Play Your* Part production of Oedipus the King. Read on for all of our top picks for the weekend, or check out our guides to movies to stream this weekend and the latest restaurant news. For event more options, check out our complete streaming events and protests & resistance calendars, as well as our guides to the best movies to stream at home this weekend and anti-racism resources and events.
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FRIDAY
COMMUNITYFriday Night Feminism: An Evening with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
Drawing from her new book, Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman's Guide to Politics and Political Change, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal will join NARAL Pro-Choice Washington for a virtual talk on her personal experiences with immigration and abortion, and her role in politics.Â
Solitude Social Club
Hugo House's bookish happy hour gives the digital floor to guest writers every Friday evening. This week, tune in to hear how essayist and memoirist Marianne Leone (Jesse, Ma Speaks Up) is finding happiness and meaning through literature during this period of isolation. Author Chris Cooper (American Beauty, October Sky) will also drop in.Â
Tasveer Author Meets: Megha Majumdar
The Kolkata-born, New York-based Catapult editor and author of the bestselling novel A Burning will join Tasveer for a virtual talk and Q&A.
Fade to Black: 'The Craft' Watch Party with Rachel True
Langston Seattle and dark-minded burlesque maven Isabella L. Price will continue their BIPOC-focused virtual film series Fade to Black with a watch-along of the 1990s cult film The Craft. Rachel True, who plays Rochelle, will join the party.
MUSIC
Cosmozoa: in the garden
Watch local duo Cosmozoa perform "mythical songs" and poetry from a courtyard, streamed live on Facebook.
HDLSC Presents: Wild Powwers
Former Stranger writer Amber Cortes wrote of Wild Powwers, "Fans of guitar-driven rock will dig this trio's wily, grungy ways. Each member contributes to the band's immense sound: Jordan Gomes builds full and heavy bass lines, Lupe Flores wails on the drums like there's no tomorrow, and guitarist and vocalist Lara Hilgeman's forceful voice will rip you apart (in a good way)." Catch them live from High Dive's virtual stage and donate your dollars to King County Equity Now Coalition.Â
NVCS Presents: Pressha and J-Justice
Local electronic artist Pressha and SunTzu Sound founder J-Justice will take over Nectar's decks for a YouTube concert benefiting the Northwest Community Bail Fund.Â
The Sinister Six
Local band the Sinister Six will play garage rock "the way you really want it to be" live from Tony V's Garage. Tune in on Facebook Live.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEThe 5th Avenue Theatre Awards 2020 Roadtrip!
Join the 5th Avenue Theatre on a virtual "road trip" to high school theater departments around the state on Facebook Live, where programmers will honor teens' musical theater abilities.Â
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
COMMUNITYVote in the Primary Election
There's an important Washington State Primary Election on August 4, and the Stranger Election Control Board has painstakingly interviewed candidates via Zoom to help you fill out your ballot. Grab a pen, read their endorsements, and stuff your nearest ballot box with purpose.Â
Cafe Nordo Retro Dinners
Cafe Nordo will pay homage to Twin Peaks with a four-course "mind-bending" breakfast-for-dinner menu (best enjoyed in your finest knitwear and saddle shoes) to kick off their Retro Dinners series. This is an in-person affair, so parties must be smaller than five people.
Cafe Nordo (Pioneer Square)
WoodyFest 2020
The Woody Guthrie Coalition's annual festival celebrating folk music and the tremendous impact Guthrie had on the form moves online for 2020 with three days of live music, panel discussions, and more, with guests including Glen Hansard, Crys Matthews, Monica Taylor, Red Dirt Rangers, Butch Hancock, Arlo Guthrie, and more.
Oedipus the King
Play Your* Part is a theater company that partners with nonprofits to bring productions to underserved, "under-invited" communities. For this ASL-incorporating adaptation of Sophocles's Oedipus the King, perhaps one of the most fundamental works of Western literature, they'll stage the play digitally.Â
Saint Joan
Despite George Bernard Shaw's trenchant atheism, his classic depiction of the Maid of Orleans stresses her strength, bravery, faith, and humanity in the face of political and religious oppression. The original date of this production, staged by Mathew Wright, was canceled due to COVID-19. This is a digital rendition.Â
Strictly Seattle 2020
If you love dance, you can't miss this online festival of innovative choreography and experimental virtual workshops with Velocity Dance Center.
SATURDAY
FESTIVALSVirtual Seattle Bon Odori
This celebration of traditional Japanese culture will bring dance performances, live music, and more to Seattle for the 88th year, but on YouTube this time.Â
Drive-In Concert with Marina Christopher and Los Felipe Music
Seattle jazz bassist and vocalist Marina Christopher will join singer-songwriter Los Felipe for a drive-in concert in Ballard.
The Canal (Ballard)
Electric Sunset
Held every year at Sunset Electric (an apartment complex on Capitol Hill), this electronic music festival will come to your apartment or house with a night of virtual DJ sets from Pragma, SOULSEEk, Trexo, and Aqualos.
NVCS Presents: Nite Wave: Best '80s Party Ever! (so Far)
This high-energy virtual show is an '80s jukebox, complete with hits from Duran Duran, INXS, The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode, and more. Donations will benefit Northwest Harvest.Â
BLM Book Club: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Join Ada's Technical Books for a new Black Lives Matter book club on Zoom and discuss Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. Books for future dates include Khalil Muhammad's The Condemnation of Blackness and Jonathan Metzl's Dying of Whiteness. Â
Quarantine Book Club: 'Giovanni's Room'
"Nothing is more dangerous than isolation, for men will commit any crimes whatever rather than endure it." James Baldwin wrote those words in 1954, while at the same time drafting Giovanni's Room, one of the most beautiful and frightening novels of the 20th century. In it, Baldwin imagines his way into a white man's mind—a tall, blond, cowardly white man, isolated by his own obliviousness. Though the book is widely considered a landmark of queer literature, it is many other things too: a suspense novel, a murder mystery, a love triangle (the narrator is torn between the love of a man and the love of a woman), a tragedy, and an unflinching depiction of the dark sides of whiteness. It's a slim, intense novel—only 169 pages—and while it is now considered one of the most daring and successful artistic gestures in American history, it was initially rejected by Baldwin's publisher, and more than one person told him it was not a good idea. They did not believe the world was ready for a book like this, and didn't believe Baldwin's reputation would survive. They were wrong. The book was a bestseller, and almost instantly regarded as a masterpiece. Over four weeks beginning, we will be reading Giovanni's Room and meeting weekly to discuss it, at a pace of about two chapters a week. For each weekly meeting, I will prepare a brief talk about some aspects of Baldwin's life or a close analysis of something in the text, and everyone else in the club (including you!) will have opportunities to share and discuss their reactions to the novel as well. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
This week is the last session, but if you buy a ticket before Saturday morning, you’ll be sent recordings of the previous three meetings. The next Quarantine Book Club, which will start in August and discuss Joan Didion’s creative nonfiction, is also on sale now.
Pay The Fee Rally
Mediums Collective and King County Equity Now Coalition will host this rally demanding investments in a youth achievement center, Black community ownership, affordable housing, and "anti-gentrification." The group will march from 23rd and Jackson to Judkins Park, where you can expect speeches and performances from Africatown Seattle, Creative Justice, the Black Voices Collective, and other local groups.
23rd and Jackson (Chinatown-International District)
The Not-Creepy ZOOM Gathering for People Who Are Single and Want to Fall In Love
Nice people looking for socially distant romance with other nice people can gather at this singles' night on Zoom that promises to provide a respite from "cruise-y bar scenes and soulless dating apps." Be sure to have a notebook handy for some writing exercises. Ten percent of proceeds will benefit the National Bail Out Collective for their Black Mamas Bail Out Fund.
Mountain to Sound Outfitters Boat Swap
Buy and sell kayaks, SUPs, canoes, and other human-powered watercraft (plus gear) at this outdoor sale.Â
Mountain Sound Outfitters (West Seattle)
Pratt Live! A Virtual Telethon
Support the Pratt Creative Resilience Campaign, which was created to help the fine art center bounce back from COVID-19-related financial setbacks, at this virtual live auction. After bidding, you'll get to see artist demos (including a number with hot molten bronze) and artists' finished works.Â
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEMet Stars Live in Concert
In the Metropolitan Opera's new pay-per-view recital series, you'll be able to see live performances from around the world (from a Norwegian castle to a terrace on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea), filmed on satellite cameras streamed live online. The series kicks off tonight with arias from Jonas Kaufmann, coming at you from a former abbey in the Bavarian countryside.
Kaiser Permanente Seattle to Portland Virtual Challenge
This remote replacement for the Seattle to Portland bike ride challenges cyclers to commit to a daily bike-riding goal to reach 200 miles by August 6. You can log your miles to earn virtual "badges."
Queen Anne Summer Sidewalk Stroll
Mask up and stroll along Queen Anne Avenue North for deals deals deals at local businesses.
Queen Anne Ave N
SUNDAY
COMMUNITYBeach Naturalist Program
Meet beach naturalist volunteers at any number of nearby sites to learn about the creatures that dwell in our local waters. The teams will be wearing masks and staying six feet apart.Â
Various locations
East West Psychic Fair
Local astrologers, healers, and psychics will give virtual sessions at East West Bookshop's Psychic Fair.
REFILL 2020 Benefit Concert
This virtual benefit concert will raise money for the Seattle Artist Relief Fund, a Black-led community response to local creatives affected by COVID-19. Tune in and donate on KEXP's YouTube channel and enjoy performances from local artists like Perry Porter and Chong the Nomad, plus giveaways and other surprises.Â
The Women's Compline Choir at Saint Mark's
2019 marked the first time in 64 years that a women's choir led the Saint Mark's Cathedral Compline (which offers "a little peek into the ineffable," as Rich Smith has written). For this virtual concert, enjoy a quartet of voices on the cathedral's website and Facebook Live.
Bike Works Warehouse Sale
Wear a mask and send one person per household to shop for frames of all sizes, plus used accessories and "as-is" bikes ready to be built up or refurbished.
Bike Works (Columbia City)Â
Retail Therapy Shop: Maker’s Market
This Fremont Sunday Market pop-up in Ballard will bring goods from Tuesday Shop, Samantha Slater Studios, and Planet Music.Â
Northwest Marketplaces (Ballard)
