Have you heard that New Year’s Eve is on Thursday, and there are over 100 New Year’s Eve events on our Things To Do calendar? If that’s overwhelming, our critics have picked the very best events for New Year’s Eve and the rest of the week, from a Shabazz Palaces concert to Shine NYE, and, of course, Amy Schumer. Find even more things to do this week on our Things To Do calendar.
MONDAY
FILM
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
“We still have so much to learn from the sounds, words, and cinema of the post-humanist world. Blade Runner is also packed with amazing urban details: the sushi bar, the hotel room, the nightclub. I could live here forever.” -Charles Mudede
READINGS & TALKS
Jamison Green: Making the Case for Transgender Health and Rights
“Health-care issues abound for transgender people. In addition to facing a disproportionate amount of violence in this country, many have to deal with a health-care system that doesn’t account for their needs and/or rejects them outright. … Dr. Jamison Green is trying to change all that.” -Rich Smith
TUESDAY
PERFORMANCE
The Book of Mormon
“Has there ever been a better time to see a musical send-up of organized religion? Is there anything funnier than watching Mormon missionaries tap-dancing?” -Christopher Frizzelle
MUSIC
Red Fang
“Red Fang still sound like your favorite musicians in your hometown got together, got drunk, and challenged each other to write the grimiest heavy rock record possible.” -Brian Cook
Blag Dahlia, Nick Oliveri
“If you’re feeling Grinchy during this week of pagan light celebrations, I’d guess that Nick Oliveri and Blagh Dahlia feel the same. They’re both certified rock-and-roll miscreants.” -Joseph Schafer
Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band
“There’s something undeniably refreshing about being treated to effortlessly tight Latin jazzon what promises to be a gray-skied and frigid end of the year: Hearing Poncho Sanchez and his unendingly funky ensemble tear through decades’ worth of searing-yet-smooth classics will warm the coldest hearts.” -Kyle Fleck
Racer Sessions: Hines/Zemanovic Duo
“Tonight’s Racer Sessions—the weekly out-jazz/improv night held every Sunday at Cafe Racer—should pique the interest of non-jazz heads and music-school nerds alike. New Orleans-based Hines/Zemanovic Duo will be hosting the night, performing their mesmerizing jazz-rock that sometimes verges on math-rock twinkly-ness and even prog-metal-like grandiosity.” -Brittnie Fuller
WEDNESDAY
MUSIC
Dwarves
“The Dwarves have carved a scummy, flesh-and-leather gash for themselves in rock history. Known as much for PR and onstage stunts as for their music, the band was supposedly axed from the Sub Pop roster in the ’90s for carrying on with the hoax that guitarist He Who Cannot Be Named had died.” -Todd Hamm
Digable Planets
“Before he was Palaceer Lazaro, but after he was born Ishmael Butler, the man who now leads Shabazz Palaces was Butterfly, one third of Grammy-winning jazz-rap maestros Digable Planets.” -Kyle Fleck
THURSDAY
PERFORMANCE
Amy Schumer
“This year, Amy Schumer starred in a movie she wrote, Trainwreck, released an HBO comedy special, and hosted Saturday Night Live, plus she scored a couple Emmys for her eponymous and frequently hilarious show that uses humor as a tool to poke fun at the patriarchy, Inside Amy Schumer. That’s a lot. I can think of no better way to celebrate her success than getting blitzed on André champagne, laughing your face off, and making out with strangers at KeyArena.” -Rich Smith
MUSIC
“The Rolling Stones,” Great Spiders, and SSDD
“To put it gently, the real Rolling Stones are past their prime. By contrast, the Northwest musicians who sporadically play the venerable British legends’ timeless songs to rapturous throngs while throwing scare quotes around their name are operating at their peak.” -Dave Segal
La Luz
“It’s as if the Shangri-Las and the Ventures formed a supergroup with four-part harmonies, sun-warped guitars, and sinuous rhythms, but the lyrics dig deeper than that description suggests, since Charles Burns’s devastating graphic novel Black Hole provided thematic inspiration.” -Kathy Fennessy
Shabazz Palaces
“Forgoing the splintered crutch of crowd-participation shtick, Shabazz (Palaceer Lazaro and Tendai Maraire) opt to wow you with overwhelming bass pressure, oblong funk, atmospheric strangeness, and lyrical wizardry that takes months of rigorous study to decipher.” -Dave Segal
Resolution 2016
“The 2004 hit ‘Call on Me’ by Swede Eric Prydz was somehow even dumber, even more pleasure-center-blasting than the Technicolor disco Daft Punk were plying at the time; ItalianBenny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” wasn’t much more than an irritatingly inescapable riff on a monstrously buzzing bass line. And yet, these Eurotrash superheroes were undeniably the beginning of EDM’s cultural ubiquity, all shrieking high end and bowel-busting sub bass, silly vocal hooks, and skull-punishing ‘drops.'” -Kyle Fleck
The Dip, Tomten, DJ Nitty Gritty
“The Dip play real groovy and soulful, head-bobbin’ funk. They don’t go boogie, heavy, or deep, but keep enough of a steady simmer steaming to keep the dance floor uptight without wearing anyone out.” -Mike Nipper
New Year’s Eve with DUG and Emerald City Soul Club
“Many of the area’s coolest folks will be working up healthy sweats at Lo-Fi tonight to the selections (original vinyl only!) of the DUG and Emerald City Soul Club DJs. These venerable crews possess in their nerdy brains over a century’s worth of collective knowledge about northern soul, funk, boogie, R&B, and other dance genres that make your hips smile.” -Dave Segal
Above the Fray: Adra Boo, Amos Miller
“You can drink fancy-pants champagne and craft cocktails by local bartender du jour Jay Kuehner, but more importantly, you’ll get to enjoy the gorgeous and magical voice of one Adra Boo (singer of Fly Moon Royalty) while Grammy-nominated producer/musician Amos Miller plays the tres-glamorous Cloud Room piano. After the music, step out onto their patio to catch a glimpse of the annual Space Needle fireworks show.” -Kelly O
Benny Benassi
“Benassi’s distorted keyboard blasts sound as if they’re made by a pipe organ filled with furious cyborg bees. It’s like a chainsaw engineered by Robert Moog—maybe that’s why Benassi filled the music video for his smash hit ‘Satisfaction’ with women wielding power tools.” -Joseph Schafer
FOOD & DRINK
New Year’s Eve Dinner at Brimmer & Heeltap
“For New Year’s Eve, chef Mike Whisenhunt is offering a decadent and creative eight-course menu featuring rich ingredients and Asian flavors. Dishes include caviar and egg-yolk custard with garlic chives, duck-liver pâte, pork dumplings with black trumpet mushrooms, smoked black cod, grilled short rib with marrow butter, tonkatsu broth, and persimmon soufflé.” -Angela Garbes
See more New Year’s Eve dinners on our Things To Do calendar.
QUEER
Shine NYE 2016
“There is perhaps no decision you face all year as important as your choice of New Years Eve venues. And while there are some pretty hot tickets in town (Bearracuda at Chop Suey sure is tempting) my recommendation is Shine at Kremwerk, if for no other reason than the spectacle of it all. Partygoers are encouraged to “manifest the SHINE theme as you see fit — sequins, glitter, metallic outfits” so prepare to be dazzled.” -Matt Baume
FRIDAY
MUSIC
Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven
“I happen to have seen both these bands play both during their respective heydays and since reforming as a hydra-like unified front, and there’s no question that they are both better now, seasoned by time and the vicissitudes of success. It’s hard to imagine a more optimistic way to break in 2016.” -Sean Nelson
Research
“Going out on the precarious clubland limb that is National Hangover Day, Kremwerk’s booked some key figures from the Vancouver label 1080p.” -Dave Segal
THEATER
Spin the Bottle
This is Seattle’s longest-running cabaret and has seen just about everything—dance, theater, comedy, paper airplanes, tears, stunts, music, romance—from just about everyone.
SATURDAY
MUSIC
Pocket Panda
“Seattle folk-pop ensemble Pocket Panda, if you couldn’t tell by their name, are just a tiny bit precious….Luckily, they avoid too much indie-MOR insufferableness by infusing their sound with classy swaths of gauzy keyboards and the expected, albeit welcome, mandolin and violin curlicues. It’s clear these are some extraordinarily talented musicians, and the music sounds pristine enough for some mainstream radio play.” -Kyle Fleck
Trip Like Animals
“When it’s done well, heavy psychedelic rock is some of the most satisfying music in this godforsaken world. Seattle’s Trip Like Animals contribute their share of quality psych that’s blessed with moderate gravitas.” -Dave Segal
The Gears
“While the Gears certainly have a punk snarl, they aren’t anywhere near what one would consider hardcore punk; their sound is characterized by surf-rock and pop sensibilities alongside laughably fun lyrics like, ‘Don’t be afraid to pogo!’ Whatever the case, here’s your chance to relive the past and pretend you were there in the first place.” -Kevin Diers
SUNDAY
MUSIC
The Westerlies
“A highbrow brass quartet from New York via Seattle, the Westerlies perform their own music and interpret the works of important composers like György Ligeti, Duke Ellington, Béla Bartók, and Stephen Foster, as well as covering myriad traditionals.” -Dave Segal
ART
Backstreet Bazaar
On the first Sunday of every month, Hillman City Collaboratory throws a little street festival, featuring live music, food, and local artists. HCC is an energetic new place worth visiting.
COMEDY
Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery
On the first Sunday of each month, comedy, variety, and “a parade of wonder and awkward sharing” are hosted by the self-proclaimed “mustache wizard” Emmett Montgomery.
