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The Top 35 Events in Seattle This Week: Apr 1-7, 2024

Sleater-Kinney, Seagaze Fest, and More Top Picks
April 1, 2024
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Catch PNW rock royalty Sleater-Kinney at the Showbox this week as they promote their new album Little Rope. (Chris Hornbecker)
Welcome to April! No practical jokes here—we've curated the best entertainment of the month for your convenience, from Sleater-Kinney to Seagaze Fest and from Dina Martina: Sub-Standards to 9th Annual Seattle Boylesque Festival

 


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MONDAY

COMEDY

John Cleese: Last Time To See Me Before I Die! Past Event List
Here's your chance to cut loose with a comedy icon. John Cleese's irreverent brand of humor stands strong as the 84-year-old Monty Python frontman returns with more silly stories and observations. LC
(McCaw Hall, Uptown)

FILM

Secret Cinema Past Event List
Secret Cinema is exactly what it sounds like—just show up and prepare to be titillated by whatever pops up on screen. Opportunities to be entirely surprised by a film don't come along very often, so try it out as a reminder that there are still mysteries to uncover in the world. Or maybe you'll hate it. Who knows! That's the fun of the whole shebang. Go forth, switch off your brain, and let the enigma reveal itself. LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City)

PERFORMANCE

The Master and Margarita Past Event List
Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece, The Master and Margarita, was first published (in a censored form) in 1967, and it's beautifully weird. It's about the devil and his entourage; there's a scene-stealing chain-smoking cat; it's full of pranks and hypocrisy, metaphysical elements, beheaded bureaucrats, haunted theaters, Communism, and Stalinism. It's gothy and fantastical and anti-totalitarian. I mean, what's not to love? Director Mike Lion has adapted the tome for this production, which attempts to preserve its Russian sensibilities but also includes musical numbers, puppetry, physicality, and clowning. LC
(12th Avenue Arts, Capitol Hill)

SPRING

U District Cherry Blossom Festival Past Event List
It's spring, which can only mean one thing: It's time once again to admire gently wafting pink cherry blossoms in full bloom at the University of Washington Quad. To celebrate, over 80 U District businesses have come together to offer cherry blossom-themed food and drink specials and discounts on retail items. Before or after your petal-gazing excursion, stop by and enjoy treats like cherry blossom lattes from Cafe Canuc, cherry glazed ring doughnuts from Donut Factory, sakura ice cream from Sweet Alchemy, and pink custard croissant taiyaki at Oh Bear Cafe & Teahouse. JB
(Various locations across University District)

TUESDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Wheatus (Acoustic) Past Event List
Wheatus' smash hit "Teenage Dirtbag" is perhaps the most covered song in modern history. From One Direction, to Phoebe Bridgers, to SZA, to the drunk frat boy at your local karaoke bar, everyone has sung this song. Now, frontman Brendan B. Brown will reclaim his one-hit-wonder with an acoustic solo tour. Who knows, you might even leave the concert with knowledge of the band's other songs. AV
(Here-After at the Crocodile, Belltown)

PERFORMANCE

Jimbo's Drag Circus World Tour Past Event List
Canada's Drag Race season one contestant and unabashed drag clown Jimbo will head to Seattle sans bologna to continue her reign as one of the world's most beloved bizarre queens. Prepare yourself for the weirdest show on earth. LC
(Neptune Theatre, University District)

WEDNESDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Hatis Noit Past Event List
Hatis Noit is a UK-based, Japan-born artist who uses her ethereal voice and expansive range to blend Japanese classical music, opera, Bulgarian/Gregorian chanting, and avant-garde pop. She will swing through Seattle to support her debut album, Aura, which aims to articulate non-verbal sensations, feelings, and memories through sound. AV
(Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Fremont)

READINGS & TALKS

Author Talk & Cooking Demo: Kat Lieu, Modern Asian Kitchen Past Event List
Seattleite Kat Lieu, also known as the founder of the wildly popular Facebook group Subtle Asian Baking and the author of Modern Asian Baking at Home, is back with her second cookbook, Modern Asian Kitchen. The book aims to empower home cooks to create myriad meals from a variety of Asian cultures, including air fryer Taiwanese popcorn chicken, Sichuan-style fish-fragrant eggplant, homemade pho, weeknight bibimbap bowls, and much more. Kat will join Book Larder for a cooking demo, Q&A, and book signing. JB
(Book Larder, Fremont)

Becky Selengut with Bethany Jean Clement: Misunderstood Vegetables Past Event List
Whether you're prejudiced against parsnips or biased against beets, local cookbook author Becky Selengut is here to help you gently break down your aversions to veggies that have traditionally gotten the short end of the stick. Her newest release Misunderstood Vegetables is dedicated to this very mission, with seasonal recipes like charred chard with spicy chili oil and celery root gratin, sure to convert even the pickiest palates. She'll chat about the plight of unpopular produce with Seattle Times food critic (and former Stranger food writer and managing editor) Bethany Jean Clement. JB
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

FILM

Problemista Past Event List
If you count yourself among the ever-expanding subset of movie-goers whose ideal flick features Tilda Swinton and a side of surreal quirk, then Julio Torres's Problemista (an A24 film, obviously) has your back. The film follows a Salvadoran toy designer in NYC whose work visa runs out as he works as an assistant for an art-world weirdo. Expect something freaky and wonderful that also grapples with the broken US immigration system. LC
(Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill)

Viva Italia! The Passion of Italian Cinema Remind List
If you consider life to be both an endless pursuit of beauty and philosophical challenges, I humbly suggest that you watch more '60s- and '70s-era Italian films. Viva Italia! makes it easy—the selection of straordinari film italiani boasts rare 35mm prints and 4K restorations, includes a screening of the unmatched Pasolini drama Mamma Roma. Chef's kiss. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown)

FRIDAY

COMEDY

Jo Koy Past Event List
Jo Koy will drop by Climate Pledge on his current world tour, which comes on the heels of his upcoming flick Easter Sunday and his recent Netflix special, Jo Koy: Live From The Los Angeles Forum. The jovial Filipino American comic, who you might've peeped as a panelist on Chelsea Lately, recently popped by the Pacific Northwest to celebrate his memoir, Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo. (He described the tome as a "kick-ass tale of how a half-Filipino, half-white kid whose mom thought [and still thinks] his career goal was to become a clown became a success.") This time around, he'll share brand-new material. Will it be clownish? Only one way to find out. LC
(Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown)

LIVE MUSIC

Fatoumata Diawara Past Event List
Former Stranger writer Jas Keimig once compared Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara's captivating vocal range to Sade, noting that her unique voice "skips like a rock over water across different registers." Diawara will get the crowd on their feet with her futuristic blend of traditional Malian folk, Wassoulou music, R&B grooves, and fuzzed-out electric guitars that blaze through her latest album London Ko. AV
(Neptune Theatre, University District)

The Veronicas Past Event List
Twin sister duo the Veronicas found early success with an appearance on the tween sitcom The Sweet Life of Zack & Cody before the JoBros filled the Disney Channel's sibling act slot (the Jonas Brothers opened for the Veronicas on their 2006 tour, if you can believe it!) Back in those days, it was easy to be cynical about the duo with their pop-punk sound and moody black eyeliner. Nonetheless, their songs still hold up to this day (just listen to their debut single "4ever" to see what I mean). Now, the pair is back on the road to support their new album, Gothic Summer, with support from pop artist Jesse Jo Stark (who also happens to be Cher's goddaughter). AV
(The Showbox, Downtown Seattle)

PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE

9th Annual Seattle Boylesque Festival Past Event List
The 9th annual Seattle Boylesque Festival will bring gender-bending boylesque, variety, and circus performances to Triple Door with hilarious hosts Betty Wetter and Shelly Watson. All-star local and national glamazons hitting the stage include Tigger!, Faggedy Randy, and Lady Drewblood. LC
(Triple Door, Downtown Seattle)

READINGS & TALKS

Geraldine DeRuiter: Feminism and Food Past Event List
If you haven't had a chance to read James Beard Award-winning local writer Geraldine DeRuiter's fierce, incendiary viral essay "I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter," go do that right now. Her hysterical review of an absurd meal at the Michelin-starred restaurant Bros. is equally worth your time. Luckily for us all, DeRuiter has brought her scathing wit to a new collection of essays entitled If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury. Join her for an evening sure to interest "how patriarchy, pop culture, and plated dishes intersect, or who are just seeking some levity." JB
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

SATURDAY

COMEDY

Whose Live Anyway? Past Event List
Check in with the current cast of the classic Emmy-nominated show Whose Line Is It Anyway? on this comedy tour of unpredictable tomfoolery. In true improv style, audience members will shout out suggestions for Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray, who will then create uproarious scenes off the cuff. LC
(Moore Theatre, Belltown)

PERFORMANCE

#IMOMSOHARD: Ladies' Night! Past Event List
BFFs and moms Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley have cultivated an online community of two million followers through their comedy web series #IMOMSOHARD, which landed them two sold-out national tours, best-selling books, and several branding deals. The LA-based supermoms still have a few regular-degular duties, however—back home, you might find them at a PTA meeting or in the queue at school drop-off. Their comedy style is a little like Cathy for the 21st century—think swimsuit turmoil and messy rooms. LC
(Temple Theater, Stadium District)

Indigenize Productions: Indigequeer Live Past Event List
Indigiqueer legend and Seattle Rep Native artist-in-residence Howie Echo-Hawk will make an appearance at this "night of extravagance, self-indulgence, and abundance." Drop by to shop local vendors, dance to live tunes, and enjoy performances by stand-ups and storytellers. The event promises "intentionally awkward moments for Caucasians," and if you saw Seattle Rep's Between Two Knees last year, you know what you're in for. LC
(Seattle Repertory Theatre, Uptown)

READINGS & TALKS

Patric Gagne: Sociopath Past Event List
I would be lying if I said a diagnosed sociopath's everyday life didn't sound extremely intriguing. Patric Gagne generously offers us a glimpse: She's a writer and former therapist who was diagnosed as a sociopath in college. Her memoir, Sociopath, digs into the stigmatized disorder with insight into her childhood, during which she was confused about her inability to experience empathy or guilt. As Gagne got older, she "embarked on a journey to challenge stereotypes and prove that those with sociopathy can lead fulfilling lives filled with love and hope." Learn about it at this talk. LC
(Town Hall Seattle, First Hill)

MULTI-DAY

FILM

Love Lies Bleeding Past Event List
In sophomore director Rose Glass’s queer melodrama Love Lies Bleeding, Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a chain-smoking dirtbag dyke and gym manager who splits her time between unclogging toilets, fending off the unwanted advances of her overzealous admirer Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), worrying about her sister Beth (Jena Malone), reheating frozen dinners in a drab apartment, and masturbating on a faded couch in full view of her cat. When she meets ambitious muscle mommy Jackie (Katy O’Brian), who’s passing through town on her way to a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas, the star-crossed sapphic lovers immediately fall into a spiral of toxic U-haul infatuation. Glass, who directed the 2019 psychological horror flick Saint Maud, brings a startlingly singular and stylish vision to life. She’s cited David Cronenberg’s Crash and Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls as influences for Love Lies Bleeding, and the carnal obsession of those films shines through in her work. The result is a seedy, sexy, high-octane ride that holds its own amongst the erotic thriller canon. JB
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Monday-Thursday)

Saltburn Past Event List
Emerald Fennell's 2023 film is nothing if not polarizing ("Saltburn is the sort of embarrassment you’ll put up with for 75 minutes. But not for 127," says the New York Times), but as the world's preeminent Barry Keoghan stan, I have to at least entertain the idea that it has legs. Saltburn is billed as a "wicked tale of privilege and desire" (oOoOo) that sees an Oxford student attempt to infiltrate the aristocratic world of a classmate on an "eccentric family’s sprawling estate." (Has anything good ever happened at a "sprawling estate?") Also, if you've spent any time on Twitter over the last six months, it's no spoiler to mention that Keoghan fucks a grave. Anyway, if you like Agatha Christie, drugs, and films that had exactly zero skin in the Oscars game, this one might hit. LC
(Central Cinema, Central District, Monday-Wednesday)

Wicked Little Letters Past Event List
Olivia Colman is a national treasure, and she doesn't even live here. She's English and has a delightfully historical face that lends itself perfectly to queenly roles set in the past (The Crown, The Favourite). In other words, she was born to play a prim, devout Christian in 1920s England who begins receiving lewd, sinister letters. Thea Sharrock's black comedy is based on a real scandal that shook the sleepy town of Littlehampton, Sussex, which makes it all the more delicious. LC (SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Thursday-Sunday)

Seattle Deaf Film Festival 2024 Past Event List
This inclusive festival centers films by Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, and Hard of Hearing filmmakers from around the world, with flicks screened in person April 5-7 and streamed online April 8-22. The fest will showcase 44 films from 11 countries, including standouts like The Tuba Thieves, a sensory docufiction that uses a series of "unusual thefts occurred targeting twelve Southern California high school band rooms" as a jumping-off point, and Extraordinary Women, a short film program in which "multi-talented trailblazing Deaf and Deafblind women are front and center." LC
(Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill, Friday-Sunday)

Sorry to Bother You Past Event List
Boots Riley's surrealist dark comedy Sorry to Bother You follows LaKeith Stanfield as a telemarketer navigating workplace racism, corporate conspiracy, labor organizing, and...a lot more. (If you've already seen the 2018 film, you know that it takes a very bizarre turn.) "If Mike Judge’s Office Space and Robert Downey Sr.’s Putney Swope hooked up after a night of bingeing on hallucinogens, Marxist theory, and the novels of Paul Beatty and Colson Whitehead, the offspring might look something like this," the New York Times reported. LC
(Central Cinema, Central District, Friday-Sunday)

PERFORMANCE

Moisture Festival 2024 Past Event List
A true testament to the popularity of underground cabaret entertainment in Seattle, the longstanding Moisture Festival has fostered circus performers, comics, burlesque dancers, and musicians for years, and now claims to be "the world’s largest comedy/variety show festival." The 24-day fest offers eye-popping events from the (relatively) mild-mannered to the racy and scantily clad end of the spectrum. LC
(Broadway Performance Hall, Capitol Hill, Monday-Sunday)

English Remind List
Playwright Sanaz Toossi's profound debut production won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. English follows four adult students as they prepare for the TOEFL test from a classroom in Iran. The TOEFL—or Test of English as a Foreign Language—sees the group aim for fluency through gamified approaches, and the results build a "two-way crackle in the room" (The Daily Beast). This production was co-produced by Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble. LC
(ArtsWest, Junction, Thursday-Sunday)

Spring Shot Festival 2024: HOMEGROWN Past Event List
Celebrating a "diverse garden" of performance artists, SpringShot serves as a launch pad for brand-new dance, theater, burlesque, and comedy shorts over three weekends, come rain or shine. Popping up like one of those bright magician's bouquets, over 30 artists will appear during three choose-your-own-price performances. Step outside to see week one's shows, which feature Si-Inni, Coco Justino, Ashley King, Erin Popelka, Daisy Dot, Bebe Abundance, Sinful Sugar, Vivienne Minx, Fawna Fae Tal, and others. LC
(18th & Union: An Arts Space, Central District, Thursday-Sunday)

The Moors Past Event List
In what sounds like a fun, fond, but nonetheless dark and violent parody of 19th-century feminist classics like Jane Eyre, Jen Silverman's comedy (directed by Annie Lareau) follows two sisters, a dog, a new governess, and a hen on the gloomy English moors, enlivened by "anachronisms sprinkled throughout" and even a power ballad. LC
(Seattle Public Theater, Green Lake, Thursday-Sunday)

Dina Martina: Sub-Standards Past Event List
Seattle's own "Second Lady of Entertainment," master humorist, and demented drag diva will make her inaugural Vashon debut with Dina Martina: Sub-Standards, which promises some uncouth razzle-dazzle. Martina will deliver the surreal comedy and "overburdened costumes" for which she's been known and loved for over 25 years. (The freaky queen's art form goes beyond your standard drag show—John Waters once described Martina's act as "some new kind of twisted art"—so buckle in for something beautifully gnarly.) LC
(Vashon Center for the Arts, Vashon, Friday-Saturday)

SPRING

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2024 Remind List
As we speak, tulips are blooming in Skagit Valley and calling on you to come dance in their fields, take influencer/dating profile pics, and simply spend a moment stopping to smell the flowers. We recommend checking online before you go for each garden's ticket price (there are four different ones, but at least all parking is free!) and status of the blooms. Towns in the area make the most of the floral festivities by hosting dozens of events ranging from the annual parade on Saturday, April 6 in La Conner to a salmon barbecue, mountain film festival, and pickleball tournament April 25 to 28 in Mount Vernon. Check out this comprehensive brochure for all the activities, art shows, performances, tours, and local eateries. SL
(Skagit Valley, Monday-Sunday)

VISUAL ART

La Vaughn Belle: A History of Unruly Returns Past Event 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, Monday-Sunday; closing)

Boren Banner Series: Rafael Soldi Past Event List
As part of Frye's ongoing Boren Banner Series, exhibiting artist Rafael Soldi's thoughtful, politically driven work will become bigger and more visible on the facade of the Frye Art Museum. Drop by the museum to see an image from the artist’s new body of work, Mientras el cielo gire (As long as the sky whirls). The piece is based on Soldi’s research on the Peruvian Havana Embassy crisis of 1980 and the ensuing Mariel Boatlift, which brought Cuban refugees to the United States and Peru, thousands of whom were gay and fleeing persecution in their home country. LC
(Frye Art Museum, First Hill, Wednesday-Sunday; closing)

LIVE MUSIC

Sleater-Kinney Past Event List
PNW rock royalty Sleater-Kinney will swing by for a two-night stint in Seattle to support their new album Little Rope. The cathartic, post-punk-driven album tackles personal and national grief with nods to the loss of Brownstein's parents and the overturn of Roe v. Wade. In a statement from the band, Brownstein writes, "We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person—ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness—in the middle of the chaos.” NYC indie rock project Palehound will open. AV
(The Showbox, Downtown Seattle, Tuesday-Wednesday)

Seagaze Fest Past Event List
This year's Seagaze Festival will seep over the banks of Eastlake for two days of experimental post-punk, shoegaze, psych-rock, and other dreamy sounds. Some highlights from the lineup include the pioneering soul-tinged shoegaze band the Veldt, Portland-based darkwave band Sun Atoms, and psych rock outfit Federale. AV
(Tractor Tavern, Ballard, Friday-Saturday)

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