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Neal Brennan may be an Emmy-nominated writer, correspondent on The Daily Show, producer, director, and all-around successful dude, but that doesn’t mean he’s not awkward, okay?? Brennan dug into his own “defects” on his last tour, Unacceptable, but it was still a fun time, as self-deprecating humor almost always is. In celebration of his new Netflix comedy special, Neal Brennan: Blocks, which drops on November 8, Brennan will head back to the stage with more of what the New York Times dubbed his “hip-hop and Frontline aesthetic.” LC
Neptune Theatre, University District (Fri Sept 8)
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A certain well-read Englishman, Emmy winner, and host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver will deliver more liberal wit on his Seattle tour stop. Although you may have been introduced to Oliver as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart sometime between 2006 and 2013, his first love was stand-up comedy, and he still pulls it off. (What more could we expect from the voice of The Lion King‘s red-billed hornbill, Zazu? Of course he’s got a wacky sense of humor.) LC
Paramount Theatre, Downtown (Sat Sept 9)
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Slap on your fairy tale costumes, because you’re about to be enchanted!! I know that sounds corny, but there’s really no other way to describe the moonlight glow over the Seattle Japanese Garden, where the soft glimmer of lanterns will illuminate your path in celebration of Otsukimi. Beneath the moon, a range of artists will perform each night, including the Japanese Koto Club and Michael Dylan Welch of Haiku Northwest. Attendees can participate in a haiku contest, traditional tea ceremony, and paper boat launching. LC
Seattle Japanese Garden, Capitol Hill (Sept 1–2)
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Bring your own lanterns or buy one on-site at Fremont Arts Council’s annual autumnal equinox celebration, which will help ease you into the less-sunny season. The evening will kick off with an opening ceremony, followed by a parade around Green Lake, and a dazzling display illuminated art. The community always shows up for this truly magical evening—bring your date, bring your kids, bring your dog, and throw on any and all glow-in-the-dark and light up items you own. SL
Green Lake Park, Green Lake (Sat Sept 23)
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Wa Na Wari’s innovative and community-minded annual fundraising event celebrates Black art with an afternoon walk through the Central District, where fresh installations and performances will be on view in businesses, parks, porches, and other common spaces. Catch stimulating visual and sculptural art, video installations, live music, dance parties, community stories, and more. The Central District has been a hub of Seattle’s Black community for over 70 years, and Walk the Block brings visibility to its strength and growth while creating a bridge to new residents. SL
Wa Na Wari, Central District (Sat Sept 30)
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Back in 2021, former Stranger staffer Matt Baume wrote, “One of my very favorite things about living in Seattle — one of the things that convinced me to move here, in fact — is PAX, the giant video game convention held every Septemberish at the Convention Center, a sprawling throng of fandoms and beep-boop screens and clattering dice.” This year, the gargantuan convention will be bigger than ever before, taking over the recently expanded Seattle Convention Center and adding on Nintendo Live 2023, an “all-ages Nintendo celebration with Switch gameplay, stage performances, tournaments, photo ops, and more.” Get your Zelda cosplay ready. JR
Seattle Convention Center, Downtown (Sept 1–4)
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What’s summer without beer-fueled outdoor concerts, quilt and flower displays, impressive vegetables, baby bunnies, and a “SillyVille” farm experience complete with animatronic chickens?! Close out the sunny season in the most all-American way possible at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, where you’ll find everything from produce contests to a real-deal cowboy rodeo. Dad rock legends Chicago will perform on September 1; you can also catch Kehlani, the Temptations, Babyface, Styx, and other household names throughout the month. LC
Washington State Fair Events Center, Puyallup (Sept 1–24)
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After a four-year hiatus due to financial problems, low attendance numbers, and production shakeups, local collective New Rising Sun and nonprofit arts/education organization Third Stone have refreshed Seattle’s most iconic festival with lower ticket prices and an eclectic lineup that expands the definition of “artist.” With promised attractions like a cat circus, robots, nail art, and witches, this year’s 50th-anniversary event is reminiscent of Bumbershoot 2008, when I saw a sex-positive paper bag puppet show right after being trampled at the main stage while Paramore performed “Misery Business.” Ah, the good old days! Get ready for two days of local and national artists spread out across Seattle Center’s lush grounds, including PNW’s own Sleater-Kinney—who first played the festival in 1997!—the Revivalists, Jawbreaker, AFI, Brittany Howard, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Phantogram. AV
Seattle Center, Uptown (Sept 2–3)
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This Georgetown Italian street fair brings together the best in local Italian cuisine with live music, a vendor market, and family-friendly entertainment. If you close your eyes and ignore the architecture (and the language), you can almost imagine yourself at a market in Italy, eating delicious food amid the daily bustle. The procession of San Gennaro (the patron saint of Naples) is a hallmark of the festival, and will kick off Saturday morning. You can even register your kids for a chance to sing on stage with past winners of the Italian song competition show, Zecchino D’Oro. SL
Georgetown (Fri Sept 8)
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Hispanic Heritage Month runs from mid-September to mid-October, a time during which many Latin American countries celebrate their national independence days. MEXAM NW Festival 2023 is an exhilarating multi-event, multi-venue festival curated by the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle that showcases the vibrancy of contemporary Hispanic and Mexican American culture. The festival kicks off on September 8 with an art exhibit opening and night of Latin music and art, and concludes mid-October with a Día de los Muertos Concert and Festival Latinx. Most events are free and family-oriented, from a talk on the history of tacos to a parade through South Park, and much more. Expect tons of Latin American food, mariachi bands, folk dancing, arts and craft markets, fiestas, and community joy. SL
Multiple locations (Sept 8–Oct 15)
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R-Day is quintessential Seattle: it’s quirky, it’s fun, it’s free, it’s 21+, there’s live music, and of course, there’s Rainier. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the first R-Day, which celebrated the moment when Rainier Beer’s iconic “R” was restored to its place atop the Old Rainier Brewery in Georgetown. In addition to a herd of “Wild Rainiers,” wacky merchandise, eclectic art, and more, there will be live music from truly incredible bands. Check out PNW hard rock faves Red Fang, the woman-fronted guitar grooves of Cherry Glazerr, and Seattle R&B powerhouse Parisalexa. KEXP DJ Larry Mizell Jr. will keep the party going between sets. SL
5813 Airport Way S, Georgetown (Sat Sept 16)
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Break out the dirndls and lederhosen in celebration of “Seattle’s largest beer festival,” where you can taste over 100 German and domestic craft beers (excuse us, “biers”) and feast on Bavarian-style food like bratwurst and warm pretzels, in addition to a lineup of food trucks such as Dumpling Tzar, Woodshop BBQ, Fremont Mischief, and Pike Place Nuts. You’ll also find games like stein hoisting and “Texas chainsaw pumpkin carving,” pups in costumes during the special Dogtoberfest day (Sunday), a DJ tower with a dance floor, a “street scramble” scavenger hunt, and more throughout the streets of Fremont. JB
Fremont Oktoberfest, Fremont (Sept 22–24)
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I recommend queuing up some creepy spaceship sounds before you continue reading. Are you sufficiently on edge? You can keep those galactic bleep-bloop vibes going at They Came from Outer Space, SIFF’s new series of mysterious lights, eerie shadows, and otherworldly entities ranging from the yucky and scary (The Blob) to the precious and loveable (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). It’s about aliens, people, and they’re crash-landing at SIFF Cinema Egyptian all September long. Get into the “non-human biologics” while they’re still, uh, kinda unproven. LC
SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill (Sept 1–30)
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As a lover of all things analog—seriously, I spend far too much time sifting through 8mm reels and home movies at estate sales—I’d be remiss not to recommend this screening of rare artifacts from Scarecrow Video’s vast physical media archive. Scarecrow’s got everything from feature films to instructional videos, DIY presentations, and weirdo cultural ephemera tucked into their collection, and with help from the archivists at Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS), they’re working to digitize and preserve these pieces of local history. Queer, Seattle-specific memories found on the footage include clips from “Neighbors, R Place, and clubs of days long past, lesbian buddy detective films that look suspiciously like they were shot in the offices of the Stranger, [and] interviews with attendees of an International Association of Gay and Lesbian Square Dance Clubs convention.” The city’s queer roots run deep—head to this screening and let your eyes do the crate-digging through Scarecrow’s newly digitized treasure trove. LC
Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill (Sun Sept 3)
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If you didn’t catch HUMP! Film Festival’s 2023 offerings earlier this year, here’s your last chance to scope out Dan Savage’s lineup of titillating films featuring all genders and orientations. Before these vids go in the vault, you can feast your eyeballs on a final screening of the sex-positive fest that’s brought kinky inclusivity to the big screen since 2005. It’s worth a venture outside of your sex dungeon, but you can still wear the latex catsuit. LC
SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown (Sat Sept 9)
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Back in 2015, Stranger senior staff writer Charles Mudede wrote, “What is this city becoming? What have we lost in the rush and thrust of all these new developments? To whom does this growing city belong? The brilliant Local Sightings Film Festival will show films that reveal the answers to these questions, through features, shorts, and animation that are born here or hereabouts. There’s much to see and much to talk about.” The premise of the hybrid festival hasn’t changed much since then—Local Sightings will return for its 26th anniversary this year, offering up another round of curated screenings and transforming the city into a hub for indie filmmakers who forgo New York or LA for the Pacific Northwest’s endearing eccentricity. The always-great, hyperlocal film festival also offers opportunities for regional filmmakers, emotional storytellers, and documentarians to meet-cute at the festival’s events. I’m intrigued by the two-day found footage workshop, the short film program by “nonbinary trans and queer myth builders” Scumtrust, and the opening feature, Fantasy Gets A Mattress, starring local legend Fantasy A. LC
Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill (Sept 15–24)
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Look out for cigarette smoke and midnight jazz riffs: Greg Olson, Seattle Art Museum’s film curator from 1977 until the position’s elimination in 2020, will return with Dark Dreams: The Original Film Noir Series. Olson’s noir expertise has been long praised by local voices like film writer and professor Dr. John Trafton, who deemed this year’s lineup a “thrilling and mesmerizing journey for die-hard noir fans and the uninitiated,” and journalist Charles R. Cross, who called Olson “Seattle’s all-time-best film curator.” Nine films spanning 60 years of noir style will screen at SIFF Cinema Egyptian; I’m stoked for the free Top Pot doughnuts on opening night and the pre-screening noir playlists by film curator Tova Gannana. LC
SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill (Wed Sept 27)
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Listen up, lovers of apple-based libations: This festival billing itself as the “region’s largest hard cider tasting event” is poised to make a triumphant return, with over 150 drinks from more than 40 producers and both local and international options in the mix. The selection also includes mead, cider cocktails, fruit spirits, and more. JB
Lake Union Park, South Lake Union (Fri Sept 8)
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Scoop up al fresco bites and drinks from an array of restaurants, bars, breweries, and distilleries at this annual fundraiser for Community Roots Housing. Look forward to offerings from chef Kristi Brown’s lauded Communion, the West African food business Gold Coast Ghal Kitchen, okazu pan specialist Umami Kushi, Vietnamese street food staple Ba Bar, Renee Erickson’s French steakhouse Bateau and its sibling Boat Bar, and other local names. JB
Capitol Hill Station Plaza, Capitol Hill (Wed Sept 13)
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At this fundraiser feast put on by Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets and benefiting the Good Farmer Fund, over a dozen acclaimed Seattle chefs will be matched up with local farms to create a locally sourced spread. This year’s batch of culinary luminaries includes Ethan Stowell, Tamara Murphy of Terra Plata, Sheena Eliz of Manna and Mamnoon, Jack Timmons and Stew Navarre of Jack’s BBQ, Zach and Seth Pacleb of Brothers & Co., and Danna Hwang of China Harbor and Vivienne’s Bistro, and they’ll be whipping up dishes using fresh ingredients from Alvarez Organic Farm, Collins Family Orchard, Glendale Shepherd, Mariposa Farms, and Skinny Kitty Farms, among many others. Plus, there’s local beer and wine, games, raffles, and a silent auction. JB
Block 41, Belltown (Sun Sept 17)
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Award-winning baker, writer, and poet Kate Lebo essentially created a self-contained Pie 101 course in her charming 2014 book Pie School, which contains pie history and lore in addition to guides to creating flaky, buttery crusts and luscious fillings. Now, she’s updated it with even more pastry savvy, including 20 all-new pie recipes. At this event, she’ll present a cooking demonstration and share some slices with attendees. JB
Book Larder, Fremont (Wed Sept 20)
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Though pumpkin beer is a decidedly divisive beverage, Elysian Brewing Company’s annual squash-themed celebration continues to draw fans year after year. The great pumpkin in question—a gigantic gourd weighing in at several hundred pounds—is scooped out, scorched, filled with pumpkin beer, sealed, conditioned, and tapped at the event. What’s more, over 80 pumpkin beers, including around 20 from Elysian, will be poured. All proceeds benefit the all-ages programming at the Vera Project. JB
Seattle Center, Uptown (Sept 29–30)
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Honestly, I don’t know why Modest Mouse sits at the top of this bill. I mean, the Issaquah-rockers are great and all, but the Pixies with Cat Power? C’mon! Despite going through some lineup changes over the years, Pixies founding members Black Francis, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering are still going strong, playing all the crowd-pleasing hits that you’d expect from the influential alt-rock band (if you’re missing legendary bassist Kim Deal, catch her on tour with the Breeders later this fall!) And, an opening set from Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) will surely make your trek to the Seattle Center worth it. Marshall has a way of making her concerts feel intimate, no matter how large the venue is. AV
Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown (Fri Sept 8)
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Legendary singer, actress, and COVID-safe queen Patti LuPone will help raise money for the Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus with a musical voyage through her 50-year Broadway career. LuPone will belt classic show tunes by the likes Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Jule Styne, Stephen Schwartz, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. AV
McCaw Hall, Uptown (Sat Sept 9)
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Between the futuristic technology, jaw-dropping lewks, and Blue Ivy cameos, Queen Bey has the world buzzing with her Renaissance tour. And it makes sense, with her celebratory future-disco album, RENAISSANCE, to have a big ol’ ball to match. Experience the bliss of “BREAK MY SOUL” and “CUFF IT” performed live alongside 67,000 fellow fans, covered in glitter and sequins. Plus, let’s face it, opening for The Queen is simply unimaginable. In true Sasha Fierce fashion, Beyoncé will start the show with a set of career-spanning ballads before entering the intergalactic world of RENAISSANCE. No opener necessary. AV
Lumen Field, SoDo (Thurs Sept 14)
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Throughout his six-decade-plus career, Herbie Hancock has reached all corners of the expansive jazz genre, along with pioneering electronic music and modern R&B. His trailblazing 1973 album Head Hunters has been such an inspiration to funk, soul, and hip-hop that the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry (an archive of the most significant recordings of the 20th century). But all fancy accolades aside, Head Hunters is a delightfully timeless album that I keep in my back pocket for when I’m feeling musically fatigued. Plus, Hancock’s 47th (!) studio album is currently in the works, and will reportedly include features from music royalty like Wayne Shorter, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Snoop Dogg, and more. AV
Moore Theatre, Belltown (Sat Sept 16)
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The Arctic Monkeys are back in town for the first time since 2018 with tracks from their latest release, The Car. As the album’s title (and cover) suggest, the lyrics are full of vehicular references—but make no mistake—this is not an automotive concept album! Rather, cars are used to set the scene for childhood tales, and later, the disillusionment of fame. The album is undeniably cozy and nostalgic with orchestral flourishes, neo-soul-inspired instrumentation, and jazzy croons; bringing to mind the CDs that Starbucks sold back in the day (you know, next to the sugar-free gum and vanilla almond biscottis?) AV
Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown (Fri Sept 22)
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Black & Loud Fest is back and bigger than ever. More than 20 Black-fronted bands will take over all three stages of the Crocodile along with a spoken word poetry slam, a freestyle rap cypher, and a boozy Jack Daniels tasting. The lineup is both genre- and globe-spanning with highlights like world-renowned bassist Nik West (who has played with heavies like Prince, Quincy Jones, and Dave Stewart), British post-punk trio Big Joanie, Canadian punk band the OBGMs, Seattle’s own King Youngblood, and more. AV
The Crocodile, Belltown (Sat Sept 23)
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New York-based Pakistani singer-songwriter Arooj Aftab blends traditional Sufi devotional poetry with gentle folk guitar and ambient elements that perfectly cradle her ethereal voice. On her newest project, Love in Exile, Aftab collaborated with multi-instrumentalists Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily for a haunting meditation about “self-exile, and the search for freedom and identity, and finding it through love and music” (per press materials). With the album’s atmospheric electronics, neo-classical piano melodies, and heavenly vocals, it will surely sound just as magical live. AV
Neptune Theatre, University District (Sun Sept 24)
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Last year, Samara Joy won the coveted Grammy for Best New Artist, beating out pop radio heavies like Latto, Måneskin, and Wet Leg—and for good reason! On her Verve Records debut, Linger Awhile, Joy puts her own spin on classic jazz standards, making a case for her to join the likes of Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday as Verve’s latest jazz singing sensation. Don’t miss your chance to catch a national jewel at the very beginning of her career (Joy is only 23 years old!) AV
Jazz Alley, Belltown (Sept 28–Oct 1)
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Indie-folk troubadour Weyes Blood (aka LA-based singer-songwriter Natalie Mering) is known for her ’70s soft rock revival sound, lush orchestral arrangements, and Joni Mitchell-esque vocal range—she once described her vibe as “Bob Seger meets Enya.” She will stop by in support of her critically acclaimed 2022 album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, which explores universal topics such as loneliness, connection, and love. Don’t miss an opening set from indie pop artist, and Sub Pop labelmate, Lael Neale. AV
Paramount Theatre, Downtown (Fri Sept 29)
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The treasured Kremwerk complex, which former Stranger contributor Gregory Scruggs called the “undisputed monarch of Seattle nightlife,” is bringing back its forward-thinking electronic music and multimedia festival. Move and groove across two days (and four dance floors) with local and international record slingers like Skin On Skin, DJ Assault, Bianca Oblivion, DJ Warning, and plenty of others. Stay tuned to Kremwerk’s Instagram for future lineup announcements. AV
Kremwerk-Timbre Room-Cherry Complex, Downtown (Sept 29–Oct 1)
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Those goofy, irreverent McElroy brothers will bring their off-the-cuff cult fave podcast, My Brother, My Brother and Me, to the stage for a live edition of the “advice show for the modern era.” Are they qualified to give advice? Uh, it’s debatable—in my listening experience, the dudes might start out offering guidance, but each episode snowballs from there into segments like “Haunted Doll Watch,” “Munch Squad,” and “Celebrity Wine: Why Not?” You’ll probably laugh until you cry, though. LC WaMu Theater, SoDo (Fri Sept 1)
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Your fave doomed romance flick is parodied in this unsinkable musical comedy, which comes complete with original music and fast-paced action that’s more hilarious than tragic. Titanish will crash on stage again after winning the 2022 Broadway World Critic’s Choice Award for best new musical; the escapist spoof “has songs and satire on deck,” according to Crosscut. (Jokes about the Titanic are either too soon or arriving just on time, depending on your thoughts about June’s submersible implosion—either way, the production feels eerily timed.) LC
Seattle Public Theater, Green Lake (Sept 1–17)
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Long before Chasing Amy, J-Lo, and Air, two Hollywood rapscallions watched the screenplay for Good Will Hunting descend mysteriously from the heavens, and realized they were being tested by a higher power. Although their careers and lives would diverge, one being more of a golden boy and the other being…well…Ben Affleck, their friendship persevered. Matt & Ben is an acidic satire that spoofs the duo’s pursuit of a red-carpet dream, and the playwright understood the assignment—she’s Mindy Kaling, so she’s been on a red carpet or 20. LC
ArtsWest, Junction (Sept 7–Oct 1)
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If there’s anything I love more than reading for pleasure, it’s hate-reading for pleasure. Enter Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily, in which cool-kid comedian hosts Steven Phillips-Horst and Lily Marotta tear the memoirs of “drug-addled starlets, oddly obsessive restaurateurs, brass-knuckled female realtors, and boring gay politicians’ even more boring gay husbands” into paper shreds like so much hamster bedding. Pop culture stans should find something to like about the podcast—it’s been described with many tempting adjectives, including “unhinged, brilliant” (W Magazine), “drawly, ironic, camp” (Times of London), and “riotous” (Dazed). In other words, you are going to laugh your ass off, probably. Namaste, chicas!! LC
Barboza, Capitol Hill (Sat Sept 9)
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You might’ve caught Will Rawls’s work recently—the New York-based artist has popped up with installations and exhibitions at Adams and Ollman in Portland and the Henry Art Gallery over the last few years. As a choreographer, performance artist, curator, and writer, Rawls’s work is wide-reaching, and [siccer] is no exception. It’s part-live performance, part-stop-motion animation, and its title references the Latin adverb sic (which is typically used in brackets to denote an “error” when quoting someone, underscoring the perceived inaccuracy of their speech). To Rawls, “[sic] is a useful metaphor for how the language and gestures of Black bodies are captured, quoted or misquoted, and circulated to appear strange in various media.” As a writer, I’m excited to see how Rawls interrogates the limits of citation. LC
On the Boards, Uptown (Sept 28–30)
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Playwright à la mode Lauren Yee, who wove together immigrant narratives and music-led comedy inYoung Americans, is back with Cambodian Rock Band, which follows a survivor’s return to Cambodia after escaping the murderous Khmer Rouge regime 30 years prior. I’m a big fan of Yee’s dramaturgical sensibility, which often seeks to reclaim forgotten or overlooked histories. (She’s also slated to pen the musical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, so expect to see her name again!) What’s got me most riled up for Cambodian Rock Band, though, is its live band, which will play jangly Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies. LC
ACT – A Contemporary Theatre, Downtown (Sept 29–Nov 5)
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Ann Patchett, an award-winning author and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, is also living my dream life—she owns the ultra-quaint Parnassus Books in Nashville, where she sometimes shows up with her rescue pup, Sparky VanDevender. (Maybe Sparky is living my dream life, actually.) Anyway, Patchett’s the author of many novels, nonfiction works, and children’s tomes, and you’ve likely seen them lining the bestsellers tables at Elliott Bay Book Company. (Her novel The Dutch House was a Pulitzer finalist.) Melinda French Gates will join her for this event, and all tickets, with the exception of a limited number of pay-what-you-can tickets, will snag you a hardcover copy of Patchett’s forthcoming novel Tom Lake. LC
McCaw Hall, Uptown (Wed Sept 6)
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Literary cool guy Chuck Palahniuk, aka the writer my high school boyfriend loved to impress me with (hope you’re well, Evan!!), will drop by Third Place Books to celebrate the September release of his Welsh horror satire Not Forever, But for Now. (The promotional copy describes the book’s central figures as two privileged brothers who “enjoy watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their grandfather…and killing the help.” Of course, murder’s more complicated these days.) Whatever your opinion of Palahniuk, who self-describes his work as “transgressional fiction,” you’d be hard-pressed not to be the teensiest bit interested in what he has to say. You can lean into that itch of intrigue at this signing event, which promises an “author/fan experience unlike any other,” and may include flying body parts, fake choking, and/or perfume. Who doesn’t love a good rumor? LC
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park (Sat Sept 9)
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When Nicole Chung graduated high school, she was eager to leave her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown, but as her life on the East Coast unfolded, she witnessed the stark differences from the paycheck-to-paycheck world of her childhood. In A Living Remedy, Chung meditates on the “specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them.” She’ll chat with Kalani Kapahua, manager of Third Place Books’ Ravenna store. LC
Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park (Wed Sept 20)
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When the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein found herself being continuously confused with a certain COVID conspiracist with a similar name (cough, Naomi Wolf, cough), she did the opposite of what I would do (delete my social media and disappear forever). Instead, her digital doppelganger inspired a book on what Klein deems “collective vertigo,” a distorted sense of reality that grows increasingly scrambled by social media, AI-generated content, echo chambers, and contradictions. (We live in hell, and her new name is X.) According to Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World “grapples with the wildness of right now.” She’ll dig into it at this talk. LC
Town Hall Seattle, First Hill (Thurs Sept 21)
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Don’t miss the last season matchup between these two Pacific Northwest teams, who are arguably the premier rivalry in MLS. It’s Labor Day Weekend, so you know the Timbers Army is going to be traveling up for the match. The teams drew in June, but the Timbers won the last four matches before that, so it’s important to show your colors (that’s Sounder Blue and Rave Green), Seattle. Sounders ’til we die! SL
Lumen Field, SoDo (Sat Sept 2)
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The Frye Art Museum has always been one of my favorites, and not just because it’s totally free—the curation is consistently on point, blending thoughtful nods to historical movements with the most contemporary work on the scene at any given moment. Marking their 70th anniversary, A Living Legacy brings together eight recently acquired artworks by art stars Amoako Boafo, Sky Hopinka, Gisela McDaniel, Bony Ramirez, Tschabalala Self, Ann Leda Shapiro, and Sadie Wechsler, each of whom responds to or complicates “[narratives around] landscape and portraiture traditionally associated with the Frye’s founding collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and American art.” Artistic production and acquisition is an evolving, imperfect process—head to this exhibition to see what the artists themselves have to say about it. LC
Frye Art Museum, First Hill (Sept 1–17)
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Arctic “highways”—a modernized way of describing the flowing exchange of art and culture—were alive and well before the creation of artificial borders and nation-states in northern regions. Artist-curators Tomas Colbengtson, Gunvor Guttorm, Dan Jåma, and Britta Marakatt-Labba explore this history of cultural exchange in Arctic Highways: 12 Indigenous Artists of the Circumpolar North, which spotlights contemporary art and handicraft by Indigenous artists from Canada, Alaska, and Sápmi (the traditional Indigenous territory now called Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia). I’m popping on my mittens and ear-warmers to catch works by Matti Aikio, a Sámi artist with a background in reindeer herding, and Finnish urban Sámi photographer Marja Helander, whose snowy snapshots tell vivid stories. LC
National Nordic Museum, Ballard (Sept 1–Nov 26)
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Rocks: They’re not just rocks anymore. Landscape photography of geological forms has actually played a central role in “shaping the experience of the American West,” helping to evolve our attitudes toward nature and—in some cases—encouraging (or at least entangling) with industrial capitalism and settler colonialism. As with all things related to humans living on planet Earth, it’s complicated. This exhibition may center images of rocks, but I promise it’ll be interesting; covering about a hundred years of photography, from “documentary images produced as part of 19th-century geological surveys to modernist pictures made with artistic intent in the 20th century,” A/political Rocks includes works by recognizables like Ansel Adams, Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, and Edward Weston, among others. LC
Henry Art Gallery, University District (Sept 1–Jan 14, 2024)
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Named after a popular Haitian proverb, “Remember the rain that makes your corn grow,” this exhibition of mid-20th-century Haitian paintings aims to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and perseverance. The storytelling scenes of each painting draw from Haitian landscapes, communities, spirituality, and nature to reflect on daily life on the island; I’m intrigued by Barbara Earl Thomas’s folkloric iconography, James Washington, Jr.’s spiritual animal sculptures, and Jamaican artist Ebony Patterson’s use of sequins in funereal scenes. LC
Seattle Art Museum, Downtown (Sept 1–Feb 1, 2024)
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Gigantic, hand-built, recycled troll alert!! On September 18, Danish artist and environmentalist Thomas Dambo will unveil the final troll sculpture of his Pacific Northwest-based project, Northwest Troll: Way of the Bird King, which has seen six massive Nordic trolls land in scenic spots across the region, including Bainbridge Island, Issaquah, Vashon Island, West Seattle, and Portland. The trolls, which are “characters in an environmental story penned by the artist,” serve to illustrate critical lessons of environmental stewardship. The trolls will be installed for at least three years, but you can be among the first to see one in person by heading to the National Nordic Museum. Spy the other troll spots on Dambo’s online map, too. LC
National Nordic Museum, Ballard (Mon Sept 18)
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