On Friday, Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park will be the heart and the start of the Seattle Climate Strike this Friday, organized in conjunction with “2,500 strikes planned globally and over 650 in the US alone.” The Seattle strike will begin at 9 AM in Cal Anderson with a climate activism festival in the park. For more climate action, head over to Town Hall next Tuesday, where author Naomi Klein will make a “(Burning) Case for a Green New Deal.” Find more things to do on the list below and the CHS calendar.

WEDNESDAY, Sep 18: Need help with a landlord issue? Want to help organize for better protections for renters in Seattle? The Tenant Organizing Collective of the Seattle Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America meets monthly at Broadway’s All Pilgrims “to teach each other concrete, effective organizing skills to build power at home.” All Pilgrims, 7 PM

THURSDAY, Sep 19 – THURSDAY, Oct 3: In art history, “woman” is often a category of its own. Take Artemisia Gentileschi, described as “one of the best-known women artists of the 17th century.”  Ever heard Peter Paul Rubens described as one of the best-known male artists of that time? Yeah. Anyway, the Italian Baroque artist’s life and career is now fodder for a play, “Blood Water Paint.” The play is based on the book of the same name and traces Gentileschi’s life and legacy as a painter of acclaim and “feminist hero” who successfully pressed charges against her rapist. 12th Avenue Arts  Continue reading →

As falls leaks into the last days of summer, some summer events say goodbye to the Hill. Some last hurrahs this week: during this month’s Art Walk, Vibrant Palette Arts Center showcases the work of its artists for the last time this year at Café Pettirosso, and the last open-air DJ night ThiRST of the summer happens this Friday in Cal Anderson park.

Meanwhile, Velocity’s monthly open mic night SH*T Gold kicks off the new season this Monday with the theme of returning home and an earlier start time (8 PM). Spin The Bottle, Seattle’s longest-running variety show, celebrates September with a “very special back-to-school edition.”

Find more shows to see during Art Walk and things to do on the list below, or head over to our calendar.

WEDNESDAY, Sep 11: Washington is among the most linguistically diverse states in the US. This multilingualism is celebrated during the Poetry in Translation reading series, which highlights the traditions of Seattle’s immigrant and Native communities by sharing their poetry and song in their original languages plus English translation. This reading, titled Fiestas Patrias and curated in partnership with Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna, will feature multilingual readings by poets Ana Evelin Garcia, Dra. Eugenia Toledo-Keyser and Raúl Sanchez alongside video poem screenings. Northwest Film Forum, 6.30 – 7.45 PM  Continue reading →

A long weekend! Good vibes with marimbas and vibraphones! Free Punk Rock Aerobics in Volunteer Park! Slushies and queer summer parties! Riot Grrrl music at Pony! Labor Day Weekend sales! Jeff Goldblum in fifties outfits! Summer fun is not over, and if you need any more proof, check out the list below. Head over to our calendar for more events. 

WEDNESDAY, Aug 28: If there’s one thing that sometimes feels missing from the arts scene in Seattle, it’s “real talk.” Expect a lot of it during “The Mixer: Advancing Equity in the Arts – Real Talk,” the fourth and final panel discussion in a series of community discussions at Northwest African American Museum. Theatre maven Sara Porkalob, dancer and recent Mayor’s Arts Award winner Dani Tirrell, as well as Reese Tanimura, Managing Director of Northwest Folklife, will discuss what the city can do to mitigate racial disparities in the creative economy. Northwest African American Museum, 5 – 7 PM 

THURSDAY, Aug 29 – THURSDAY, Sep 5: It looks like we’re getting at least some hot summer days in the end. For the Seattleites who can’t wait for the darker days to begin, Northwest Film Forum is screening some excellent films this week. The Proposal sounds like a random rom-com though it’s anything but: the film by artist Jill Magid chronicles her artistic obsession with the archives of famed architect Luis Barragán, whose ashes she’s also had made into a diamond ring. Fans of Jeff Goldblum and the fifties will get their money’s worth at the fifties-set The Mountain, wherein Goldblum is  a“lobotomist for hire.” Northwest Film Forum, various times  Continue reading →

(Image: Linda’s Tavern)

This summer’s (astronomical) dog days are over, but there are still plenty of options to squeeze everything out of these late-August summer days.

Case(s) in point:

• The Pacific Northwest Black Pride 2019 kicks off at Gay City on Thursday.
• Writers get a chance to share their manuscripts and works in progress this week and next.
• A bar crawl to spread awareness of sexual and reproductive health rights, education, and access happens on Capitol Hill this Friday.
• The Harry Potter book club meets at Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe this Sunday.
• While Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is off to WaMu Theatre, Attorney General Bob Ferguson comes to Capitol Hill on Monday.
• Highball & Chicken Karaage specials for $12 on Tuesdays at Tamari Bar 

For more fun and things to do, check out the list below, or head over to the CHS Calendar. 

WEDNESDAY, Aug 21: It’s not the best way to choose a City Council person to represent District 3. But it’s usually a fun and sometimes bizarre night. This year’s event is on Capitol Hill. And, yay, it’s free. Get a first-person look at D3 candidates Kshama Sawant and Egan Orion through the warped prism of Hill-headquartered alt-biweekly The Stranger at Candidate Survivor 2019. Fortunately, Washington Bus will also be there. Neumos, 6 PM

Looking for something a little less frat house and a little more service club? The Urbanist and the Capitol Hill Renter Initiative are holding their monthly volunteer night with a letter writing session on studying green spaces and transit-oriented design near future Link light-rail stations and advancing the principles of Seattle’s Green New Deal and the MASS Coalition’s Transportation Package. You can help. Cafe Solstice, 5:30 PM

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If you’re going to have Big Beer in your neighborhood you might as well enjoy the parties (Image: Redhook)

(Image: The Hopvine)

Watching paint dry might not be everyone’s idea of a fun night out, but comedian Mihkel Teemant puts a spin on it at Club Comedy Seattle this Thursday. During the comedy show, the audience can paint along to a Bob Ross video. With QTPOC Is Not A Rapper on Friday, no-cover comedy at The Hopvine and Unladylike at Jai Thai this Saturday, comedy fans will be able to their fix this weekend.

Speaking of fixing: this Saturday, the Capitol Hill Tool Library is hosting another Repair Café.  A team of volunteer fixers will help repair broken household items, including clothing, electronics, jewelry and small home appliances.

Find out where else to go and what to eat and see this weekend on the list below, and head over to the CHS Calendar for more events.

WEDNESDAY, Aug 14: No, the Seattle SuperSonics are not coming back to Seattle (yet). But the owners of Life On Mars, self-declared “huge Sonics fans” want “their” team back. So, naturally, they covered one of their bathrooms in Sonics-themed wallpaper. The wall collage will be unveiled this evening during the Sonics Appreciation Party. Showing up in Sonics gear will get you 15% off drinks all night. Life on Mars, 7 – 10 PM  Continue reading →

In case you missed it: this year’s Shark Week’s already over. Can’t get enough? Head over to Elliott Bay Books on Saturday, where ocean conservationist, filmmaker and writer William McKeever will screen his film “Emperors of the Deep” and talk about his book of the same name. McKeever will discuss sharks’ role in balancing marine ecosystems (and perhaps Donald Trump’s “excessive fears” for the animals), plus his reasons for calling these predators “the Ocean’s Most Mysterious, Most Misunderstood, and Most Important Guardians.”

And for those terrified by sharks but not scared by the demanding modernism of James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”: At Gallery 1412, Seattle composer Neal Kosaly-Meyer will continue his multiple-performance project of reciting chapters of the book by memory.

For more things to do, including a jam-packed Art Walk, take a look at the list below or head over to the CHS Calendar for more events.

THURSDAY, August 8: This month’s Capitol Hill Art Walk will bring arts and fashion to the streets. Or one street, to be precise: 11th Ave between Pike and Pine in front of Vermillion, where the fifth edition of the public arts/fashion collaboration festival Imminent Mode will take place. Local artist duos pair up to create “wearable art” and a gallery installation based on this year’s theme, the future. The fashion show starts at 8 PM, afterparty at Vermillion. Head over to The Mercury @ Machinewerks for the afterparty and $2 vodka well specials. Continue reading →

Want to feel like a kid again? Recess, a festival for adults to play recess games while drinking beer, dancing to DJs, and eating from food trucks is coming to Cal Anderson Park.

In case you prefer your events free and/or happening in non-cordoned-off public space: There is free top-notch theatre, as we wrote last week. Also: Umoja fest (see below), a free concert of the Low Hums at Cha Cha Lounge, plus free poetry from the Youth Speaks Seattle team and Seattle Poetry Slam team at Hugo House and an equally free two-day arts festival (see below). Head over to the CHS Calendar for more events.

THURSDAY, Aug. 1 – SUNDAY, Aug. 18: OK, this play is not free, but we’d gladly pony up $24.00 (but check out the discounts) to see Salty. And after we’ve told you the play is set in one of the last remaining zoos in the by-then-climate-change-ravaged world, that it’s Mother Nature who “be SALTY” and that it features gay penguins, you will too. 12th Avenue Arts, 8 PM  Continue reading →

While some might still need to recover from last weekend’s Capitol Hill Block Party, others might want to fill the void — or their weeks/weekends upon returning from camping — with more things to do. The latter is in luck: performances (most of them free, we might add) abound this week.

To start: free theatre courtesy of Intiman Theatre (see below), a free jazz/piano music performance by Emi Meyer at the Volunteer Park amphitheater, femme-focused theatre at Gay City and a second wave of Democratic candidate debates (to be watched at Life on Mars, The Cloud Room, Hula Hula and others.

On Saturday, don’t miss the More Fats More Femmes Vintage Market, and head over to Bait Shop for its Summer Market on Sunday. Find much more things to do on the list below, and head over to the CHS Calendar for more events.

WEDNESDAY, July 24: They might not earn a passing grade on pun originality, but outdoor gear company and sometimes-film-releasing Patagonia gets some points for (eco-)effort with Artifishal, a documentary about “the future of wild fish.” The movie, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was called “eye-opening” by The Guardian, will tackle topics familiar to anyone in the PNW: The depleting wild salmon population and threat posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms. And yes, some more points for donating all proceeds of the night to Wild Orca, Wild Fish Conservancy, and the Center for Whale Research, but next time don’t try and also sell limited edition “Artifishal” merchandise. It’s bad for puns and the environment. Cinema Egyptian, 7 PM 

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