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 a talk with Ibram X. Kendi to an evening with cartoonist Adrian Tomine, and from Outbound Herbivore's Digital Vegan Mini Market to a Doggy Date Night in Woodinville. 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.
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MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKBLT Pop-Up
Stop by the North Capitol Hill cafe for a classic BLT from local sandwich pop-up Friend of a Friend, knowing that proceeds will benefit Solid Ground Washington, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty. There'll be options for vegetarian and gluten-free people, too.
Harry's Fine Foods (Capitol Hill)
Mi Casa Es Su Casa
The recently formed Orquesta Northwest (the umbrella organization for Young Strings Outreach, the Ballard Civic Orchestra, and Cascade Conducting) will highlight Latinx classical music artists from Seattle, Mexico, Colombia, and New York.
Strike for Black Lives | A Day of Action
In solidarity with the labor movement, Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County will lead a #StrikeforBlackLives that encourages people to contribute to the fight for racial justice with online direct-action items. Check their socials every hour for new ways to help.
Strike for Collective Justice
Join youth activists from Black Minds Matter, Eastside 4 Black Lives, and Defund SPD for a rally in Pioneer Square demanding racial, climate, economic, worker, and social justice for all.
Occidental Park (Pioneer Square)
Ibram X. Kendi
An evening of conversation with the acclaimed author of National Book Award-winner Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, discussing his latest publication, How to Be an Antiracist, hosted by Dr. Charlene M. Dukes.
TUESDAY
COMMUNITYEvery Penguin in the World
Wildlife photographer and author Charles Bergman will introduce you to the 18 species of penguins that live across the Southern Hemisphere, which he's been documenting for the past 20 years of his career.
The History and Politics of Black Hair and Beauty
In her new book Doing Business with Beauty, sociologist Adia Harvey Wingfield examines hair salons—one of the fastest-growing businesses popularly owned and run by Black women. Join her for a virtual talk with local Black arts space Wa Na Wari.
Nu Moon Celebration
This teach-in on community care, food justice, and Seattle's history of police brutality will coincide with the new moon. Locals like Talaya., Gabriel Teodros, Dadabassed, Momma Nikki, Skye Dior, KO Nikkita, Rell Be Free, Kaila DeShawn, DJ Pax, Ebo Barton, and Ben Yisrael will give live performances.
MLK Memorial Park (Mount Baker)
Belltown Cocktails & Macarons Night
The unapologetically kitsch cocktail spot will welcome guests to nibble on almond, strawberry, and Irish Cream macarons paired with playful libations. Reservations are required, as seating is limited.
Snowy River (Belltown)
Tuesday Weekend Pop-Up with Garzón Latinx Street Food
Reserve a meal for takeout or limited outdoor dine-in from this local Latinx communal kitchen, which will pop-up in Lake Stevens for a day of food and live music.
The Pines (Lake Stevens)
Mars Surface Exploration: Past, Present, Future
Former NASA Lead Engineer Chris Voorhees will lead this virtual Science in the City, where you'll learn about NASA's first successful landing on Mars in 1976 and the significance of the later-to-come Pathfinder, the spacecraft that "changed the game for the exploration of Mars and launched the programs we know today."
Live on KEXP from Home: Buscabulla
Husband-and-wife indie-pop duo Buscabulla will play tracks from their latest album, Regresa, which expresses the couple's experience moving from New York back to their birth country of Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by hurricanes in 2017.
The Cloven by Garth Stein
The author of The Art of Racing in the Rain is out with the first edition of his new graphic novel series illustrated by Northwest comic artist Matthew Southworth. Learn about the life and times of its protagonist, genetically modified human organism James Tucker, at this virtual live reading and conversation moderated by Paul Constant.
Barbara Earl Thomas on The Geography of Innocence
In anticipation of Barbara Earl Thomas's exhibition opening in November at the Seattle Art Museum, the artist will evaluate her work in the context of the recent health and social-justice crises of the past year. She'll be joined in conversation by Catharina Manchanda, SAM's Jon & Mary Shirley Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art.
WEDNESDAY
COMMUNITYDoggy Date Night
Feel like spending some quality time with your doggo outside your house? The Whole Pet Shop and the Seattle Barkery Truck will post up in Woodinville for an evening of treats.
Zeeks Pizza (Woodinville)
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
German Cinema Now!: Maria Speth's 9 LIVES
Homeless youth share their stories in this documentary from 9 LIVES and Berlin filmmaker Maria Speth, screening as part of the Goethe Pop-Up Film Series.
All You Can EEEEEATSCON Week 1: The Great Bagel & Lox Debate
New York institution Russ & Daughters will lay down the law on what makes a great bagel (and, after that's established, what makes a great bagel with lox) in the first installment of this virtual edition of the Infatuation's annual food festival.
Virtual Planetarium: Mars Planet Tour
As NASA prepares to launch a new rocket to Mars, pretend you're an astronaut and explore the solar system virtually, where you'll discover NASA expeditions of yesteryear.
Verzuz: DMX vs Snoop Dogg
It's been quite awhile since the last Verzuz battle to seriously capture the internet's attention and imagination. Honestly, if everyone involved had decided to shut it all down after Jill Scott + Erykah Badu's triumphant team-up (leave it to them to turn a battle into a healing session) nobody would have been surprised. But now, a battle that seems like it might be a completely one-sided affair in Uncle Snoop's favor is on the docket, and even if DMX goes down, he's going to go down barking as loud as he can. Plus, the stories both these guys might tell is reason enough to ride out whatever (inevitable) technical difficulties might occur.
King County Council Law and Justice Committee Meeting Call-In
In memory of MiChance Dunlap-Gittens, a Seattle teenager and aspiring law student who was killed by King County deputies in 2017, the Youth Rights Ordinance invites you to call in during the King County Council Law and Justice committee meeting to demand legal rights for young people, keeping in mind that police disproportionately target youth of color—72% of youth prosecuted in King County in 2019 were BIPOC.
Adrian Tomine in Conversation with Randall Park
Rich Smith has written, "If you spend most of your life fixated on your failures rather than your successes, and if you hold grudges deeper and longer than your most lasting loves, then do yourself a favor and pick up Adrian Tomine's new comic, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist." Powell's Books will host Tomine in (virtual) conversation with actor/writer/director Randall Park.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
GEEKComic-Con @ Home
The mecca of all merchandising, the promised land of pop-culture religion, the convention that was once about comic-books and is now just sort of, like, one giant festival for marketing marks and advertising aficionados, is going online for 2020 because even when there wasn't a pandemic on, squeezing 100k people into San Diego's Convention Center was getting to be a bit too much in terms of crowding and also being a disgusting germ factory. So now, if you want to watch panels, watch trailers, watch people introduce new things for you to buy that you can't buy yet but you're excited and making a reaction video already, Comic-Con @ Home is five straight days of that regular Comic-Con experience, but on your TV instead! All panels will be available on the Comic-Con YouTube channel, and there's going to be about 350 of them spread out over the event.
THURSDAY
COMEDYHenry Cho
The "Clean Comedy Tour" coming to the Nowhere Comedy Club features stand-up from a Korean-American man raised in the South, which is why he has Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, and Larry the Cable Guy as special guests on his Comedy Central special What's That Clickin' Noise? Cho is supported on this tour by friend Aaron Weber.
Before Seattle Was a City: A Panel Discussion
What did Seattle pioneers Doc and Catherine Maynard enter into when they landed on Washington Territory in the 1850s? This virtual panel discussion will outline the early political players, the relationship between the colonial settlers and Native communities, and other important aspects of life in Seattle before Seattle was Seattle.
Mountaineers 2020 Virtual Gala
Outdoor advocacy organization the Mountaineers will hold their biggest fundraiser of the year live on YouTube, where you'll be able to bid on live auction items, hear keynote remarks, and be the first to hear a special announcement at the end.
Outbound Herbivore Digital Vegan Mini Market
Plant-based people of Seattle: The Outbound Herbivore has launched an online market brimming with locally made, animal-product-free food items, which you can order remotely at discounted prices and pick up in person.
Panel: Gilda Sheppard and Elliat Graney-Saucke
Documentarians Dr. Gilda Sheppard and Elliat Graney-Saucke will discuss Sheppard's new film Since I Been Down and Graney-Saucke's Boys on The Inside, both of which highlight individuals impacted by the intersectionality of incarceration, racial oppression, poverty, and addiction.
Deck'd Out #5 Dreamin' & Streamin' w/ Milk & Honey, Tek Jones
The online redux of Monkey Loft's rooftop DJ series will continue with an evening set from Milk & Honey, aka Everett Leftside and Zeebo, plus Tek Jones.
HDLSC Presents: Whalien
Bellingham jam-rockers Whalien will do what they do best—jam, rock—on High Dive's virtual stage. Donations will benefit the Northwest Community Bail Fund.
Mt. Joy
Philly-bred, LA-based rock band Mt. Joy will bring two livestreamed shows to NoonChorus.
Nick Cave
A streamed screening of a live 2019 performance from renowned Australian singer/songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer, and actor Nick Cave, shot by Robbie Ryan at the Alexandra Palace in London.
Pop Con 2020 Presents: POP TALKS: Moses Sumney
Join NPR Music and Pop Conference for a virtual conversation with indie folk-soul singer-songwriter Moses Sumney.
A convoluted remedy to my soft hands: a performance Maya Vivas
Multidisciplinary artist Maya Vivas and local Black arts space Wa Na Wari present a special performance in which "live video feed and premeditation converse while maneuvering through accrued diasporic therapies and rumination."
Seattle Dance Collective presents Continuum: Bridging the Distance
After being forced to cancel its second season, Seattle Dance Collective commissioned five new works for the digital stage, all created and filmed during quarantine by Seattle's Henry Wurtz. The videos will premiere every Thursday in July, wrapping up with Bruno Roque's The Space Between Us, "which explores the nonverbal cues we use to communicate with others during our daily interactions," according to Rich Smith, next week. This Thursday brings the premiere of Amanda Morgan's Musings, which "seeks to serve as an expression of hope that people will continue to think about their Black and Brown communities, and speak up for them looking ahead to the future."
Lyanda Lynn Haupt & David B. Williams
Local authors Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Mozart's Starling) and David B. Williams (Seattle Walks) will join together for a talk on the natural history of Seattle and its urban environment.
ALL WEEK
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.
Collide-O-Scope: Off the Rails
Just like the state of the world, this edition of the psychedelic video series Collide-O-Scope will go off the rails with a compilation of clips "somewhere between escapist video bliss and a tragicomic self-examination of (pop) cultural flotsam."
John Lewis: Good Trouble
The late civil rights activist and Georgia congressman John Lewis fought for voting rights, gun control, healthcare reform, and immigration over the course of his long career. Using archival footage and interviews from his late years, Dawn Porter's documentary Good Trouble explores Lewis's childhood, his 1957 meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and his lasting legacy on social justice movements of the present. After your screening ends, keep your computer screen open for a prerecorded discussion between Lewis and Oprah Winfrey.
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.
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.
