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MONDAY

SPORTS & RECREATION

Washington v Michigan CFP National Championship Like List
The Huskies are taking on the Michigan Wolverines in the natty and looking to end their national championship drought of 33 years. Cheer on the dawgs at one of the Seattle bars and restaurants throwing a food-filled watch party—kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 pm. JW
(Various locations)

TUESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Daniel James Brown with Eric Cohen Past Event Like List
Daniel James Brown formerly taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford before pivoting into writing narrative nonfiction full-time, bringing "compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately as [possible]." His bestselling tome The Boys in the Boat inspired a George Clooney-helmed feature flick and a new exhibition at MOHAI, Pulling Together: A Brief History of Rowing in Seattle. For this talk, Brown will chat with Eric Cohen, a former coxswain, three-time Pac-10 champion, 1981 consensus National Champion, and current historian for the University of Washington's rowing team. LC
(University Book Store, Northeast Seattle)

UW Public Lectures: An Evening with Alice Wong Past Event Like List
Activist Alice Wong will join Town Hall Seattle remotely for a moderated conversation with insights from her 2022 memoir Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life. I'm stoked to dig into the inspiring tome—Ms. deemed Wong's last book, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, "essential." (In the book, Wong, the founder of the online community Disability Visibility Project, discusses her experience finding community through disability activism.) Penguin Random House described Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life as a "hybrid memoir" that showcases the "richness and nuance of disabled life, while also challenging nondisabled readers to confront their ableism." LC
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

THURSDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Chong the Nomad x Samurai Del - BEAT SPHERE: An Immersive 360º DJ Experience Past Event Like List
I spent at least 15 minutes investigating what this "immersive 360º DJ experience" entails and I still can't figure it out. Will this party include an actual sphere? I don't know! Will the DJs be positioned in the center of the dance floor? Maybe! Does the event name allude to 360º surround sound? Don't ask me! Nevertheless, the elusive Beat Sphere party will feature badass local DJs Chong the Nomad, Samurai Del, and Lola K—all of whom are independently worth more than the price of admission (advance tickets are only $10, baby!) Color me intrigued. AV
(Neumos, Capitol Hill)

FRIDAY

COMEDY

ISMO: Watch Your Language Tour Past Event Like List
Observational ace ISMO has been referred to as “the most insightful comic in Finland," but I think of him as that guy who talks about words, like, alot. As part of his international Watch Your Language tour, he'll head to the Pacific Northwest to continue his meteoric rise, which has included a viral appearance on Conan (turns out "ass" means more than just "butt") and opening sets for Gabriel Iglesias. LC
(Neptune Theatre, University District)

SATURDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Bushwick Book Club 2023-24 Season: Bushwick Bestiary Remind Like List
The Bushwick Book Club isn't some stuffy after-school program; they're a collective of local musicians who are also avid readers. This week, the ensemble will enter the "fifth chapter" of their 2023-24 season with a concert inspired byAesop's Fables. Crafting original songs based on the ancient Greek tales, the performers will illuminate the timeless wisdom and humor of the sixth-century BC text. AV
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

Live at The Crocodile: "Back to Belltown" Vinyl Release Show Past Event Like List
Latent Print Records' latest compilation, Liveat The Crocodile: Back to Belltown, is an ode to 2000s Seattle and the original Crocodile Cafe location. Each of the album's 18 tracks features a different artist of the local rock scene, recorded at the Croc between 2004-2007. For this celebratory vinyl release concert, album contributors including Sweet Water, Goodness, John Roderick (the Long Winters), Kinski, the Divorce, and more will grace the stage. AV
(The Crocodile, Belltown)

Odie Leigh Past Event Like List
Odie Leigh's recent rise to fame has been a bit of an oxymoron. Her sound draws on traditional folk music with finger-picked guitars and narrative lyricism—the kinds of songs you'd expect to be passed down through generations. However, her songs were passed around through online algorithms and social media shares—I am talking about TikTok of course! Back in the fall of 2022, Odie Leigh posted a clip of her then-unreleased song "Crop Circles" and TikTok went wild (seriously, it has 9.7 million views and counting!) It's easy for non-zoomers to discredit anything that was discovered on an app, but Odie Leigh's talent is undeniable. Her guitar playing is reminiscent of folk-blues legends like Elizabeth Cotton and Odetta while her voice has a soothing grit likened to Janis Joplin by commenters. Don't miss Odie Leigh on her first full-band tour ahead of her highly anticipated debut album. AV
(Neumos, Capitol Hill)

SUNDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Burns Supper presented by whateverandeveramen. Past Event Like List
Five years after the death of Scottish bard Robert Burns in 1796, a group of friends gathered on his birthday (January 25) to celebrate his life. Today, the tradition persists and often involves haggis, bagpipes, recitations of poetry, drinking songs, revelry, and, of course, copious Scotch whisky. James Beard Award-winning chef John Sundstrom of Lark, Cora, and Slab will prepare a multi-course feast, complemented by beer, wine, and a glass of Scotch for a special toast, while the choral project whateverandeveramen. sings some rousing renditions of the Ploughman Poet's most popular staples, including "Ae Fond Kiss" and "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose." The night will culminate in a group sing-along of "Auld Lang Syne." JB
(Cora Pizza & Plates)

Winter Feast Food Truck Festival Past Event Like List
Snap up some street food at this hibernal festival presented by Mobile Food Rodeo, with vendors like Off the Rez, Bobaholic, Kathmandu Momocha, Kottu, Outsider BBQ, and Birrieria Pepe El Toro. In between bites, hunt for vintage treasures at the Fremont Sunday Market. JB
(Fremont Sunday Market, Fremont)

LIVE MUSIC

KEXP Presents: 24th Annual Expansions MLK Unity Party Past Event Like List
Join KEXP for the 24th annual Expansions MLK Unity Party in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy. The show will start with a live broadcast of Sunday Soul with DJ Supreme La Rock, followed by a special edition of Expansions brought to you by DJ Riz Rollins, Brit Hansen, Kid Hops, Alex, and Sharlese. If you're not able to make the in-person celebration, be sure to tune in throughout the day for a special holiday broadcast. AV
(Clock-Out Lounge, Beacon Hill)

MONDAY, JANUARY 15

SPORTS & RECREATION

Washington State Parks Free Days Remind Like List
On a typical day, it costs $10 for a one-day pass or $30 for an annual pass to visit one of our many gorgeous state parks. If your budget is looking a little tight after the holiday season, take advantage of the second entry fee-free day this month on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (sorry if you missed the one on New Year's Day, we're sure you were doing important things like recovering from a hangover and/or the entirety of 2023). The closest parks to Seattle proper are Bridle Trails in Kirkland and Saint Edward State Park on the northern shores of Lake Washington; both are about a 30-minute drive. SL
(Various locations)

MULTI-DAY

EXHIBIT

Honored to Tell Past Event Like List
The first cohort to graduate from the Seattle Black Spatial Histories Institute will share their oral history and "Black memory work" in this culminating exhibition, which was inspired by interviews with Black longshore workers, barbers, dancers, educators, and beauticians. I'm stoked to see Ricky Reyes, Eboni Wyatt, and Sierra Parsons's Making.Wavs zine and immersive reading room, Ariel Paine's barbershop installation, and Brenetta Ward's quilted scrolls. LC
(Wa Na Wari, Central District, Tuesday-Sunday)

Pulling Together: A Brief History of Rowing in Seattle Remind Like List
George Clooney-directed flick The Boys in the Boat will premiere on December 25, sharing the story of the University of Washington rowing team, who were thrust into the spotlight while competing at the 1936 Olympics. (Spoiler: the "Miracle 9” won the gold medal in the eight-oared competition.) Get pumped for the film at this exhibition on the historic team, which spotlights "the University of Washington men’s and women’s rowing programs and the history of rowing in Seattle overall" and showcases the Husky Challenger shell. LC
(MOHAI, South Lake Union, Monday-Monday)

FILM

All of Us Strangers Past Event Like List
The bisexual lighting is hard at work in All of Us Strangers, a film that stars Andrew Scott (the hot priest on Fleabag) and Paul Mescal in cute sweaters. The film follows two Londoners living in the same near-empty tower block, where they find each other, do ketamine, and vibe before memories of past traumas begin to interrupt their romance. The film is based on the eerie, hypnotic 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. LC
(SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill, Monday-Monday)

American Fiction Past Event Like List
If the words "incisive literary satire" perk up your ears, then boy, does director Cord Jefferson have the film for you!! In his new dramedy (an adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure), Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a novelist who's understandably aggravated by the establishment that profits from "Black" entertainment and its exhausting tropes. When Monk writes a book under a pen name, he finds himself paddling in the same phony waters he admonished in the first place. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Monday-Thursday)

The Boys in the Boat Past Event Like List
If you've already peeped MOHAI's new exhibition, Pulling Together: A Brief History of Rowing in Seattle, then you're well aware that George Clooney has directed a flick about the University of Washington rowers, who were thrust into the spotlight while competing at the 1936 Olympics. (Spoiler: The "Miracle 9” won the gold medal in the eight-oared competition.) If you haven't seen the exhibition yet, I recommend checking it out after a screening of The Boys in the Boat, which blends triumphant feels with Great Depression-era costuming. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Monday-Thursday)

Documentaries of Distinction Past Event Like List
Grand Illusion's latest series of documentary screenings centers a high-brow selection of flicks you may have missed, like 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen's Occupied City; director Luke Lorentzen’s A Still Small Voice, which follows a chaplain's year-long hospital residency; and Nicole Newnham's The Disappearance of Shere Hite, which tracks the life of the female orgasm researcher and writer. The series starts this week with Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, which won the Directing Award for World Cinema: Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. LC
(Grand Illusion, University District, Friday-Monday)

Fallen Leaves Past Event Like List
Set in Helsinki, Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki's Golden Globe-nommed film Fallen Leaves "opens in a fluorescent hell-on-earth and ends with a vision of something like paradise," according to the New York Times. I'm listening!! The deadpan tragicomic flick with "springtime in its heart" (The Guardian) follows a grocery store shelf stocker and an alcoholic who form an odd-couple bond; look out for the incisive political commentary, too. LC
(Grand Illusion, University District, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

Mean Girls (2024) Past Event Like List
Tina Fey will continue trying to make "fetch" happen in this musical "twist on a modern classic," a phrase that makes me feel irreparably old. Pack it up, fellow millennials—our journey to cultural obsolescence is complete, I guess. ANYWAY! Regina George is wearing black leather, and Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, and Jon Hamm have cameos as various adults in Cady Heron's teenage world. Will this newfangled version create the same fanatical chokehold on teen society that the original Mean Girls did? Honestly, I don't think so. But you'll have fun regardless. LC
(SIFF Cinema Downtown, Belltown, Thursday-Monday)

2023 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour Past Event Like List
No need to head to Park City to experience the independent magic of Sundance—this curated collection of seven short films from the 2023 festival (including two festival award-winning flicks) feels like the real thing. Sundance's short film program often foretells later success, with past featured directors including Jay and Mark Duplass, Damien Chazelle, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Todd Haynes, Lynne Ramsay, and Taika Waititi, so who knows—you might bear witness to future greatness. LC
(Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill, Wednesday-Sunday)

Thou Art Dust and Food for Worms: Dark Ages Past Event Like List
It's January, which means the dreariest days of the year are upon us. I recommend leaning into it with the Beacon's latest film series, which showcases the best cinematic depictions of the Dark Ages—it should feel appropriately bleak and self-sacrificing, with a side of poetry, torchlit dread, and some comedy, too. First up is Orson Welles's 1965 film Chimes at Midnight, which the Beacon describes as the culmination of his "lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff." Follow the lumbering antihero as he navigates court politics during the War of the Roses. LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City, Monday/Thursday)

Wonka Past Event Like List
I'll be honest: Timothée Chalamet's Wonka, all lollipop-chic in a top hat and crimson velvet coat, kinda gives me the chills. But I like chocolate and candy as much as the next person (as well as Cinerama's famous chocolate popcorn, which is available at the newly opened SIFF Cinema Downtown), so I'm willing to give him a shot. The theater will throw open its doors for the first time for screenings of the Paul King-directed Wonka, and early reviews for the film are surprisingly great—Variety called it a "fun, rousing, impeccably staged, jaw-droppingly old-fashioned musical." Hard to argue with that. LC
(SIFF Cinema Downtown, Belltown, Monday-Thursday)

LIVE MUSIC

Damien Jurado Past Event Like List
Acclaimed Seattle-born singer-songwriter Damien Jurado will bring his melodic and shapeshifting indie-folk back home for a three-night stint. He will likely play tracks from his new album Passing The Giraffes, which takes inspiration from old-school doo-wop for a dreamy, Lynchian sound. He will be joined by local pianist Aura Ruddell (night one), alt-rock project Byung (night two), and folk singer-songwriter Lilly Miller (night three). AV
(Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Fremont, Thursday-Saturday)

PERFORMANCE

The Book of Mormon Past Event Like List
When a bumbling pair of missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sent to a remote Ugandan village to spread the "good word" (instead of where they'd hoped to land—Orlando), they're unsurprisingly gobsmacked by the harsh realities of life there. The Book of Mormon is a nine-time Tony Award winner for Best Musical, so there's gotta be some gospel mixed in with the "white savior" satire. LC
(Paramount Theatre, Downtown, Tuesday-Sunday)

The Comedy of Errors Past Event Like List
Two sets of twins find themselves entangled in an identity crisis in this pun-ridden, slapstick production, based on one of the Bard's earliest farcical plays. When Antipholus and Dromio run into some trouble when their doppelgangers, the truth seems, uh, next to impossible: Their identical twins with identical names were separated from them in a shipwreck decades earlier. Naturally, this realization leads to a domino effect of existential crises, exorcisms, and general pandemonium. It's a comedy, so expect an (eventual) happily-ever-after moment amid the hubbub. LC
(Seattle Center, Uptown, Wednesday-Sunday)

VISUAL ART

A/political Rocks Past Event Like List
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, Thursday-Sunday; closing)

Black & Boujee Past Event Like List
Aiming to redefine stereotypes and notions of luxury in Black culture, the group exhibition Black & Boujee challenges the Eurocentric conception of opulence, centers Afrocentric aesthetics, and will likely expand your perceptions on all things expensive. The show is a great reason to visit Bainbridge Island—it'll showcase works by Black artists and designers working in painting, sculpture, and other mediums to investigate the "complexity of navigating luxury in a society shaped by racial inequalities." LC
(Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Winslow, Saturday-Monday; opening)

Eirik Johnson: The Light That Gets Lost Past Event Like List
Seattle-based artist Eirik Johnson's The Light That Gets Lost pairs tranquil, hushed diptychs with a sound installation, inviting the viewer to respond to the subtle differences in imagery within a larger thematic framework of natural transformation and climate change. The images depict hunting cabins "built by the Iñupiat inhabitants of Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), Alaska as seen through the extremes of the Arctic summer and winter." There's something deeply satisfying about observing the shifting appearance of the cabins as the seasons change—in summer, they have a bare, weathered, and makeshift appearance, but blanketed in snow, they become pristine, almost magical. LC
(Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Georgetown, Wednesday–Saturday)

Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence, from the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Past Event Like List
Images of Katsushika Hokusai's Great Wave have been blasted onto high school projector screens since time immemorial, but Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence takes the viewer deeper with more than 100 of the master's woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books. (Yes, Great Wave—or Under the Wave off Kanagawa, by its full name—will be on display, along with a LEGO interpretation of it.) You don't have to cross an ocean to see the legendary Edo-period Japanese ukiyo-e artist's scope of influence, either. Over 200 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers will be showcased alongside his own pieces right here in Seattle, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. LC
(Seattle Art Museum, Downtown, Wednesday–Sunday)

La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns Past Event Like List
Based in Saint Croix, multimedia artist La Vaughn Belle investigates the legacy of Denmark and US colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade embedded in the Caribbean island's history through paintings, ceramics, and collages. In La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns, the first solo exhibition of Belle’s work in the Pacific Northwest, the artist shares large-scale paintings from her ongoing series “Chaney (We Live in the Fragments)," which refers to the ceramic shards buried in Saint Croix's soils. ("Coming first as plates, tea pots and cups from Holland, England, Denmark, and North America as part of the vast transatlantic trade of the last centuries of the second millennia, they became its detritus, broken down into the soil, just like the traded bodies," says the museum.) LC
(National Nordic Museum, Ballard, Saturday-Monday; opening)

Sophia Al-Maria: Not My Bag Past Event Like List
Qatari American artist, writer, and filmmaker Sophia Al-Maria "addresses the orientalist gaze and residual histories of colonialism" in Not My Bag, a solo exhibition of interwoven, layered narratives that question traditional readings of historical events. Working in moving image, text, and collage, Al-Maria's "counter-histories" also visualize alternate futures and address legacies of imperialist violence. I'm stoked for her trilogy of recent films, Beast Type Song (2019), Tender Point Ruin (2021), and Tiger Strike Red (2022), all of which will be on view as part of the multidimensional show. LC
(Henry Art Gallery, University District, Thursday–Sunday; closing)

WINTER

WildLanterns Past Event Like List
If you haven't made it to Woodland Park Zoo to experience WildLanterns yet, you still have the first half of January to do so! Grab some hot cocoa and get cozy with your friends, family, or Hinge date at this wintertime immersive experience full of giant glowing animal and nature scape lanterns, each representing flora and fauna from around the globe. Kids and those of us who are kids at heart will enjoy a magical snowy world in a polar regions exhibit, and marvel at brilliantly lit parrots and toucans in the Fine Feathered Friends zone. Arachnophobes might want to skip the Bugs and Blooms display, where vibrant flowers and giant spiders line your path (though we bet they won't bite). SL
(Woodland Park Zoo, Phinney Ridge, Thursday-Sunday; closing)