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LIVE MUSIC

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Past Event Like List
I’ll admit it: Jazz can feel very intimidating! There are so many subgenres to learn, names to remember, and history that feels gatekept by boomers with expensive hi-fi equipment. However, nothing compares to hearing a skilled jazz ensemble play live. It’s truly transcendental. If you haven’t had the pleasure, Seattle-based ensemble Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio is an excellent place to start. The trio employs Jimmy Smith-style organs, Motown-spiced rhythms, and Jimi Hendrix-hazed guitars for timeless, feel-good soulful jazz you can dance to. AV
Jazz Alley, Belltown (Sept 19–22)

R-Day 2024 Past Event Like List
R-Day is quintessential Seattle: it’s quirky, it’s fun, there’s live music, and of course, the Rainier will be flowing. The annual free, 21-plus celebration commemorates 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, expect explosive live performances. Check out the hazy grooves of LA band Allah-Las, the fierce ’70s rock-kissed punk of Sheer Mag, and Seattle rock band Monsterwatch. SL
Georgetown (Sat Sept 21)

Charly Bliss Past Event Like List
On their new album Forever, Charly Bliss have shed what was left of their indie rock exoskeleton and taken flight as a polished pop band. Opening track “Tragic” could be a Taylor Swift song if it weren’t for the whirligig guitars, and “Back There Now” is as fun and boppable as anything Charli XCX released during her Sucker/“Boom Clap” era. In fact, track for track, the band seems to invite comparisons to some of today’s most beloved pop girlies. Do I miss the days when CB would recklessly blast through crispity, crunchity upbeat rock songs where vocalist Eva Hendricks would scream between lyrics about jumping so high on the trampoline that you pee your pants? Sure. But the band has always known the power of some well-placed punk patina, and I’m guessing they still will when they play the Crocodile in September. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
The Crocodile, Belltown (Tues Sept 24)

Air Play Moon Safari Past Event Like List
French electronic duo AIR is stopping by on their first tour in seven years to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Moon Safari. If you’ve somehow sneaked through the last two decades without hearing the album, just know that it’s probably the most 1998-sounding music  ever to exist. The album is spacy, sexy, jazzy, and as light as, well, air. It’s an album you’d expect to hear at a high school makeout party. (Were those a real thing, or just something in TV shows?) AV
Benaroya Hall, Downtown (Fri Sept 27)

Weezer: Voyage to the Blue Planet Tour Past Event Like List
Weezer knows. Despite the massive success the band has seen since the release of their 1994 self-titled debut, Rivers Cuomo and company are perfectly aware that, in some fans’ eyes, they’ll never truly top what has come to be referred to as the Blue Album. With the explosive opening 15 seconds of “My Name is Jonas,” the cheeky “Undone — The Sweater Song,” and the heart-wrenched “Only in Dreams,” it is iconic. (And it has aged better than Pinkerton—still love you, though, Pinkerton!) To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Blue Album, the band is heading out on a US tour, Voyage to the Blue Planet, where they’ll play the record from start to finish. To round out the alt-radio rock circa 1995 soundtrack of the evening, the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. open the show. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown (Fri Oct 4)

Temples Past Event Like List
I became a fan of Temples with their fourth full-length, Exotico, which came out last spring, but this English neo-psychedelia-glam band has been making music since 2012. Noel Gallagher once called them “the best new band in Britain.” Despite their longevity, their energy and sound feel very now. When the band took the stage at Bumbershoot 2023, they danced and sang and rocked out with an energy I wouldn’t expect from a group that’s been at it for so long. They were excited—to play music, to be in this moment with us, to be alive—and I can’t wait to experience that again at their live show. SL
Neumos, Capitol Hill (Wed Oct 9)

André 3000: New Blue Sun Live In Concert Past Event Like List
In November of last year, André 3000 surprised fans with his first new music in 17 years—but it wasn’t what we anticipated. The OutKast rapper released a full-length album of flute music. New  Blue Sun is an odyssey of spiritual jazz and electronic ambient sounds that could perfectly soundtrack an Octavia Butler novel. Featuring instruments like mycelial electronics, plants, shakuhachi, and sintir, the album is equal parts acoustic and electronic with multiple types of flutes played by André himself. Joined on stage by album collaborators Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, and Deantoni Parks, the ensemble will present an immersive concert that enchants audiences with improvisation and “sensory grandeur.” AV
Paramount Theatre, Downtown (Wed Oct 9)

Nada Surf Remind Like List
Nada Surf has been a band for more than 30 years, which means fans of all ages have been drawn to their music at different points in their career. My coworker remembers their 1996 debut hit “Popular,” which catapulted them to alt-rock popularity; I fell in love with their fifth full-length, Lucky, in high school. Now, the group known for bittersweet anthems is set to release their next album in September, with currently released singles hinting at an era of reflection, musing on the human experience with notes of love, grief, doubt, and hope, told through soaring harmonies and strong instrumentation. Up-and-coming New Zealand indie rock trio Office Dog opens the show. SL
The Crocodile, Belltown (Tues Oct 15)

Kehlani: Crash World Tour Remind Like List
The queer legend Kehlani is embarking on a world tour to promote their latest album CRASH, a groovy, genre-bending work that incorporates nostalgic ‘90s neo-soul and R&B influences and explores themes of intimacy, joy, and sensuality. The music video for the single “Next 2 U” unequivocally makes their pro-Palestine stance clear while their crew of queer backup dancers perform some very sexy choreography. They’ll be supported by the irresistible Y2K-inspired British girl group FLO (who are responsible for the breakup jam “Cardboard Box” and the cheeky postcoital bop “Walk Like This”) and the sultry rising rap star Anycia. JB
Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown (Fri Oct 18)

Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Present: Sweat Remind Like List
At this point, Charli XCX’s sixth studio album has left us with more questions than answers: Is brat summer dead? Is Kamala brat? What color is her underwear? The only thing I know for sure is that politicians and brands co-opting the craze are annoying as hell. Regardless, I’ve tried not to let it ruin my faithful love for the British hyper-pop star. I will never claim to be an OG Charli fan (I hopped on board when her 2020 masterpiece, how i’m feeling now, dropped), but I will forever brag that I saw her at the quaint Crystal Ballroom in Portland before this massive arena tour. Charli will be joined by her frequent collaborator/BFF Troye Sivan for their highly anticipated Sweat tour. They better deliver a mashup of “1999” and “Rewind.” AV
Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown (Wed Oct 23)

Live from our Living Room 5 Remind Like List
The Vera Project is bringing back their Live from our Living Room festival and fundraiser this October. There will be an all-ages Halloween cover show, a 21-plus house party hosted by Seattle’s most out-of-this-world drag queen Irene the Alien, and a night with mid-2000s math rock heroes Algernon Cadwallader (followed by an “emo night afterparty,” which is both strange and intriguing to my borderline-Millennial heart). I’m especially excited for the Rock Lottery on Sunday, October 27. Twenty local musicians will be randomly broken off into four bands, and then they’ll have just that day to write songs together for the first time before performing for the audience. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
The Vera Project and Black Lodge (Oct 24–27)

Richard Thompson: Ship To Shore Tour 2024 Remind Like List
Ah, finally an opportunity to persuade the masses to listen to Richard Thompson! As a silver-haired British man known for guitar solos, Thompson isn’t the typical musician I would ride for. However, this man has played on so many flawless albums that I’ve begun to think he’s the special ingredient. Along with his start in the pioneering folk rock band Fairport Convention, various solo albums, and duo albums with his wife Linda, Thompson has also played with Nick Drake, Françoise Hardy, Shirley Collins, John Cale, and Sandy Denny—the list goes on. At this point, if I hear an album that was recorded between 1967 and 1987, it’s practically a given that Thompson played on it. The legend will grace Seattle with songs from his new album, Ship to Shore, which features drummer/former bandmate Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention. AV
The Showbox, Downtown (Sun Nov 3)

Freakout Festival Remind Like List
Acid Tongue’s Guy Keltner started Freakout Festival with one thing in mind—he wanted to throw a gigantic party for his friends. Now in its 12th year, the lineup may be bigger and more diverse than ever, but the spirit of the festival remains unchanged. Hop between multiple venues across Ballard to hear mind-bending psychedelic tunes while tripping out to Freakout’s notoriously hypnotic visual projections (the festival has a strict no-kids policy, so substances are common). You won’t want to miss performances from Texas-based psych rockers the Black Angels, experimental hip-hop project Shabazz Palaces, garage rock outfit Black Lips, Martin Rev (of synth-punk pioneers Suicide), and counter-culture icon Lydia Lunch. AV
Various venues in Ballard and Fremont (Nov 7–10)

The Blood Brothers Remind Like List
It’s been nearly 20 years since Seattle’s experimental hardcore kings, the Blood Brothers, have performed. Their reunion shows at the Showbox in November are gonna be nuts. But remember, our bodies are two decades older than when we last thrashed around while screaming their songs until our throats were raw. It’s important to stretch and do vocal warm-ups to avoid injury. Let’s fucking go. “OPERATOR, I LOVE YOU / OPERATOR, I WOULD NEVER LEAVE YOU / I’D LIKE TO SEE YOUR FACE PRESSED UP AGAINST THE GLASS / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY / 1-900-USA-NAILS, OH BABY!!” STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
The Showbox, Downtown (Nov 14–15)

Katie Gavin Remind Like List
As a devoted stan of the queer indie pop icons, Gayotic podcasters, and self-proclaimed “greatest band in the world” MUNA, I’ve enjoyed watching member Katie Gavin step into her own solo project on the side. She cites Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, and Sarah McLachlan as influences on her debut album, What a Relief, which was largely written on acoustic guitar over the course of seven years. Her raw honesty shines through on nostalgic ‘90s-tinged singles like “Aftertaste” (a sweet, woozy ode to the vulnerability of a nascent crush) and “Casual Drug Use” (a compassionate affirmation in the face of substance abuse issues, penned in the wake of a breakup in 2016). JB
Neumos, Capitol Hill (Nov 18–19)

Seattle’s Last Waltz Tribute Remind Like List
For 10 years now, Seattle’s Last Waltz Tribute has reserved the last Saturday of November, paying homage to the Band’s renowned Martin Scorsese-directed final concert film. Local musicians run through their versions of the famous setlist, and it’s never not a great time. In fact, it’s the perfect night out for anyone needing to entertain multiple generations of family visiting for the Thanksgiving weekend. Your dad can’t scream about politics if he’s too busy dancin’ to “Mystery Train”! This year’s performers include King Youngblood’s lead guitar shredder Cameron Lavi-Jones and Annie Jantzer, whose voice gave me goosebumps when I saw her sing “It Makes No Difference” at 2022’s event. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
Neptune Theatre, University District (Sat Nov 30)

FILM

2024 HUMP! Part Two Past Event Like List
Dan Savage’s pioneering erotic film fest premiered an all-new lineup of sexy films featuring all genders and orientations earlier this year. Since 2005, HUMP! has brought inclusive, creative, and kinky films to the big screen—and since this year’s fest features not one but two feature-length lineups, you can scope out the sex-positive fest yet again for a tantalizing treat. Part two includes 25 brand-spanking-new feasts for your eyeballs, including “smokin’ hot paranormal encounters, a mind-bending space carnival, spine-tingling ASMR, [and] all the thermal eye candy you can eat.” It’s worth a venture outside of your sex dungeon, but you can still wear the latex catsuit. LC
On the Boards, Uptown (Sept 19–Oct 5) 

Local Sightings Film Festival Past Event Like List
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 returns for its 27th 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 at the festival’s events. LC
Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill (Sept 20–29)

Seattle Queer Film Festival Remind Like List
If you’re queer and in your doomer era, we can’t blame you, but too much wallowing is corrosive to the soul. You need to feel, and you need to heal, and that’s what this year’s Q-thartic Seattle  Queer Film Festival (SQFF) is all about. Presented by Three Dollar Bill Cinema, the 10-day festival offers a needed release with a slate of films championing intersectional queer narratives. As of press time, we don’t know what those movies will be, but Stranger contributor Chase Hutchinson deemed last year’s festival “their best yet” after organizers were able to snag the critically acclaimed All of Us Strangers and The People’s Joker, so our hopes are high. All-access and virtual passes are available now. STRANGER STAFF WRITER VIVIAN MCCALL
Various locations with at-home streaming also available (Oct 10–20) 

COMMUNITY

Luminata Past Event Like List
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 of 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 glow-in-the-dark and light-up items you own. SL
Green Lake Park, Green Lake (Sat Sept 21) 

Walk the Block Past Event Like List
This year, Wa Na Wari’s annual Central District festival has transitioned into a free event spanning two days! Centered around the theme “Who We Are...Where We Are...How We Are,” the fundraiser amplifies the anti-displacement organizing work of Wa Na Wari’s CACE 21 program. Friday’s Walk the Block Institute will feature creative community-building workshops and a keynote from Miami-based architect and educator Germane Barnes. The beloved Walk the Block Art Festival takes place on Saturday, celebrating 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. VIP ticket holders will get treated to food from chef Donna Moodie, an aura photo, and a headlining performance by soul songstress Aliah Sheffield. SL
Wa Na Wari, Central District (Sept 27–28) 

Short Run Comix Festival Remind Like List
In 2018, Stranger news editor Rich Smith wrote of Short Run: “You’re going. You’re bringing at LEAST $50 cash. You’re picking up new art books, zines, buttons, and little strips of beautiful screen-printed ephemera from internationally/nationally/locally-renowned comics creators.” Challenge accepted! This year’s edition of the now-legendary DIY fest is their last at the Seattle Center, and it includes hundreds of exhibitors, including special guests Mita Mahato, Powerpaola, and Sarah Leavitt. Visit shortrun.org for the full lineup and schedule. LC
Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, Uptown (Sat Nov 2)

PERFORMANCE

Mouthwater Festival: A Disabled Dance Festival Remind Like List
Envisioned as the “beginning of an arts hub by and centering Black and Indigenous disabled artists to present, collaborate, and get uplifted for their crafts,” the Mouthwater Festival espouses values we can get behind—anticapitalism and antifascism among them. The fest brings together artists with disabilities from across the country for solidarity, community-building, and over a dozen artsy events. I’m looking forward to Vanessa Hernández Cruz’s experimental piece Soul Seeker and the Mouthwater Cabaret, featuring performances by India Harville, Saira Barbaric, Mx. Pucks A’Plenty, and others. LC
Various locations (Sept 23–Oct 13)

The Park Remind Like List
I’d be hard-pressed to find something more Seattle than an intimate playhouse on a lake. Seattle Public Theater often doesn’t get the attention it deserves, and I’m looking forward to checking out another production directed by Amy Poisson (she directed Maggie Lee’s Once More, Just for You last season, which I thoroughly enjoyed). The Park is a new piece written by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every that follows the story of two friends who meet every week at the same park bench under the same tree to share their lives and search for meaning, and all the other creatures (including dogs and ghosts) who do the same. The Park is a co-production with Seattle Public Theater and feminist nonprofit arts organization Macha Theatre Works. SL
Seattle Public Theater, Green Lake (Oct 11–Nov 3)

Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life Remind Like List
As a writer and producer of Ted Lasso, the story goes that Brett Goldstein wasn’t supposed to play the lovably gruff Roy Kent onscreen, but that as soon as the team heard him read some lines, it had to happen, resulting in mass fandom and back-to-back Emmy Awards. On what appeared to be a test-run stand-up tour in early 2023, Goldstein performed at the Moore as one of his very few US stops to a sold-out audience and roaring laughter. He has since announced a full tour across the country, including his return to Seattle in November. The man is more than Roy Kent, though, so don’t expect him to simply be that character for his stand-up set. With tons of comedy writing chops (including co-creating and executive-producing Shrinking), Goldstein can hold his own as a stand-up comic with musings on America, being human, and of course, football. SL
Paramount Theatre, Downtown (Fri Nov 1)

READINGS & TALKS

Author Talk: Renee Erickson, Sunlight and Breadcrumbs Past Event Like List
You’re most likely already familiar with James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur Renee Erickson via her fleet of nationally acclaimed Seattle restaurants, including the Walrus and the Carpenter, the Whale Wins, and Bateau. Now, she’s following up her cookbooks—A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus: Menus and Stories and Getaway: Food & Drink to Transport You—with her latest release, Sunlight and Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity and Curiosity. Kind of like a version of The Artist’s Way for food lovers, the new book tells the story of how Erickson, a former art school student, reconnected with her creative side through painting, photography, ceramics, and cooking. The pages are packed with elegant, unfussy recipes like melted anchovy toast, raspberry and pecan crumble cake, and white beans with pork sausage, lemon peel, and green herbs—which will no doubt inspire you to exercise your own imagination in the kitchen. Erickson will stop by Fremont Abbey for a chat with chef and bestselling author J. Kenji López-Alt, followed by a Q&A and signing. JB
Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Fremont (Wed Sept 25)

The Sound of Seattle with Eva Walker and Jacob Uitti Past Event Like List
A lot has been written about the Pacific Northwest’s music history, but in their new book, The Sound of Seattle, authors Eva Walker and Jacob Uitti tell the region’s stories through the songs that put it on the map. Walker, vocalist for the Black Tones and a long-time KEXP DJ, and her journalist husband, Uitti, start their journey in the 1940s with tunes from Tacoma’s own Bing Crosby and Garfield High School alum Ernestine Anderson. From there, they travel into the present day—with some surprising pit stops along the way. Yes, there’s Nirvana and Mudhoney, but also the Fartz, the Emerald Street Boys, IMIJ, and Blimes and Gab. At the Town Hall event, Walker and Uitti will discuss the past, present, and future of local music with Thunderpussy vocalist Molly Sides, the True Loves guitarist Jimmy James, DJ and emcee Vitamin D, and radio DJ Marco Collins. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
Town Hall Seattle, First Hill (Thurs Sept 26)

Author Talk: Kristina Cho, Chinese Enough Past Event Like List
I’m a big fan of Kristina Cho’s James Beard Award-winning debut cookbook, Mooncakes & Milk Bread, which demonstrates how to turn your kitchen into your personal Chinese bakery with sweet and savory recipes like steamed barbecue pork buns, hot dog flower buns, juicy dumplings, almond cookies, and crackly-topped pineapple buns. (It’s also the first book of its kind to focus exclusively on Chinese bakeries and cafés.) That’s why I’m so excited for her follow-up, Chinese Enough, which revolves around savory dishes that “blend the flavors of traditional Cantonese cooking with California ingredients and a Midwestern sensibility,” resulting in something “neither entirely Chinese nor entirely American, but Chinese enough.” I’m hungry just thinking about dishes like San Francisco garlic noodles, miso pork meatballs, creamy tomato udon, smashed ranch cucumbers, and chili crunch salmon rolls, and the chapter on banquet-worthy dishes alone is enough to inspire you to plan a Babette’s Feast-level bacchanalian bash. Cho will chat with local baker and Pieometry author Lauren Ko. JB
Book Larder, Fremont (Fri Sept 27)

Author Talk: Tu David Phu, The Memory of Taste Past Event Like List
Oakland-raised chef, Top Chef alum, and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tu David Phu, executive chef and managing partner at the Las Vegas restaurant District One, cut his culinary teeth working in some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants. Eventually, he realized that it was his Vietnamese refugee parents who imparted the most important lessons, including but not limited to “frugality, food-covery cooking, and practical gill-to-fin eating.” His new book The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quốc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between captures this resourceful, pragmatic spirit with childhood memories, stories of his family’s life on Phú Quốc, stunning photography, and tips on everything from fish butchering to whipping up Dungeness crab donburi. He’ll be joined by local author Susan Lieu, who wrote the heart-wrenching memoir The Manicurist’s Daughter. JB
Book Larder, Fremont (Mon Sept 30)

Tegan & Sara Book Tour: Crush Past Event Like List
The celesbian indie pop twin-sister duo Tegan & Sara’s new middle-grade graphic novel, Crush, a follow-up to the previous installment Junior High, is created in collaboration with queer cartoonist superstar Tillie Walden and deals with the agony and ecstasy of adolescence, including crushes, puberty, coming out, sisterhood, music, and friendship. The autobiographical series, set in the present day, is “lightly fictionalized” but draws on the Canadian siblings’ real experiences. As a fan of the sisters’ poignant coming-of-age memoir High School and its Amazon Freevee TV adaptation of the same name, I can’t tell you how much a book like this would have meant to me as a tween, and I’m so happy for the Gen Alpha kids who get to grow up with this kind of media. Stop by Washington Hall to see Tegan and Sara speak on everything from first loves to songwriting. JB
Washington Hall, Squire Park (Tues Oct 1)

Jenny Slate: LIFEFORM Tour Remind Like List
Jenny Slate’s name is everywhere, if you know where to look: The comedian, actor, and author played your favorite character on Parks & Recreation, lent her voice to the character of Missy on Big Mouth, penned what The Washington Post called the “carnival of observations” Little Weirds, and co-invented Marcel the Shell, for chrissake. Slate’s fresh collection of “personal pieces,” LIFEFORM, has sent the multihyphenated creator on an eight-city book tour, and we’re lucky enough to live in one of her landing spots. MONEY PWEEZE! LC
Neptune Theatre, University District (Thurs Oct 24)

A Conversation with Casey McQuiston Remind Like List
Bestselling author Casey McQuiston, the mind behind One Last Stop, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and Red, White & Royal Blue, has a knack for crafting queer romcoms packed with witty banter, sizzling chemistry, pop culture references, and beloved tropes. Their latest work, The Pairing, tells the story of Kit and Theo, two horny bisexual exes who coincidentally book the same European food and wine tour and, in an attempt to prove to one another they’re over each other for good, compete to see who can hook up with the most people over the course of the vacation. Unsurprisingly, three weeks of sensual food, wine, and generally slutty behavior follow. McQuiston will stop at Rainier Arts Center to chat about the art of capturing LGBTQ+ love on the page. Better yet, the event is on Halloween (aka gay Christmas), so costumes, “literary and otherwise,” are strongly encouraged. Who knows—maybe you’ll have your own queer meet cute! JB
Rainier Arts Center, Rainier Valley (Thurs Oct 31)

VISUAL ART

Jeffry Mitchell: Alligators, Elefants, & Alphabets Past Event Like List
“If Jesus comes back, I’m introducing him to Jeffry Mitchell,” former Stranger writer Jen Graves once opined. “Jeffry can bring Christ up to speed on things like humor and gayness and art, and Jesus can feel good about what humanity’s been up to, and together they can visit the Berninis in Rome.” The self-proclaimed “gay folk artist” creates work that is flatly impossible not to love. It’s playful, human, and elaborate, with a friendly vitality that nods to the importance of both meticulous craft and self-acceptance. This solo exhibition of Mitchell’s work features sculptural works in clay, neon, and wood, plus works on paper, that are “foundational” to his detailed process. LC
Traver Gallery, Downtown (Through Sat Sept 28)

Almost Live! (Almost an Exhibit) Remind Like List
Seattleites of a certain age who make jokes about Ballard residents driving around with their seatbelts hanging out from underneath closed car doors will be very stoked for the Museum of History and Industry’s newest exhibit. Almost Live! (Almost an Exhibit) is a collection of props, costumes, and clips from the weekly sketch comedy show that defined—and poked fun at—the Pacific Northwest region from 1984 to 1999. On Tuesday, September 24, MOHAI will host the Fashion Lecture: Almost Grunge! event with Clara Berg, creator of @AlmostStyle on Instagram. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
Museum of History & Industry, South Lake Union (Through Feb 23, 2025) 

A.K. Burns: What Is Perverse is Liquid Remind Like List
A.K. Burns, a New York-based multimedia artist (and current fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study) dials into queer perspectives through videos, sculptures, and installations, highlighting transfeminist issues through an imaginative lens. Focusing on Burns’s Negative Space series, this solo exhibition delves into the artist’s “intersections of landscapes, human bodies, and water.” The works pull from nonlinear and sci-fi sources to challenge the status quo. What Is Perverse is Liquid “reflects on environmental vulnerability, marginalized communities, and their relationships with place,” using negative space as a setting upon which to imagine new and evolving systems for marginalized voices. LC
Henry Art Gallery, University District (Through May 4, 2025)

Charles Peterson’s Nirvana: On Photography and Performance Remind Like List
Charles Peterson’s photographs of Seattle’s music scene through the late ’80s and early ’90s have long been celebrated as jarring and captivating snapshots from one of the Pacific Northwest’s most pivotal eras in modern history. But Peterson’s work is about so much more than being in the right place at the right time. He’s a fucking great photographer! And this fall, the Tacoma Art Museum has curated his work, not just as vital music history but as the works of art they truly are. The show will also feature work from artists Sylvia Plachy, Nicholas Galanin, Jeffry Mitchell, and Peterson’s photographer professor, Paul Berger, to “draw out visual and contextual nuances of Peterson’s photographs.” Intriguing. STRANGER ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma (Oct 5, 2024–May 25, 2025)

Keith Haring: A Radiant Legacy Remind Like List
To some, such as myself, Keith Haring is seen as a part of the hiphop culture that emerged in New York City in the early ‘80s. He worked with Dondi White, a master and founder of the kind of graffiti you find today in Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, and, yes, Seattle. Indeed, Haring and Dondi did the cover art for Malcolm McLaren’s bizarre but fundamentally hiphop album Duck Rock. For many, this cover introduced Haring, whose work was simple but not simplistic, breezy but cosmically vibrant. And then there’s the cover of McLaren’s Would Ya Like More Scratchin’. Here, we have nothing but Haring. His chalk-drawn figures popping and locking. You can hear the scratching and cutting. You can see New York City when it was the capital of the art world. Haring will always be hiphop to me. STRANGER SENIOR WRITER CHARLES MUDEDE
MoPOP, Uptown (Oct 12, 2024–Mar 23, 2025)

Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams Remind Like List
If you’re not familiar with the groundbreaking work of Black artist, sculptor, performer, and printmaker Joyce J. Scott, now’s the time to fix that: Seattle Art Museum will present a major career retrospective surveying Scott’s multimedia works, which spans her 50-plus-year career and emphasizes her “virtuosic use” of beads, glass, and textiles. Scott has “upended hierarchies of art and craft, insisting that artistic expression is that ‘extra inch of life’ that nourishes the soul even in the most challenging circumstances,” the museum explains. I’m interested in how Scott’s unique aesthetic vision addresses the racism, sexism, and inequality of the 20th century and the modern era through a subtle, often humorous lens. LC
Seattle Art Museum, Downtown (Oct 17, 2024–Jan 19, 2025)

Fischersund: Faux Flora Remind Like List
Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós released their first proper album in over a decade last year—EverOut music calendar editor Audrey Vann described ÁTTA as “cinematic, serene, floaty, and harmonious.” As it turns out, though, lead singer Jónsi’s artistic practice extends beyond his instantly recognizable falsetto. Alongside his sisters (who make up their family-run art collective and perfumery Fischersund), he’ll present Faux Flora, an immersive selection of sculptures, sounds, and scent experiences inspired by Icelandic native plant life. The sensory exhibition imagines new plant species and explores “the scientific relationship between scent and memory.” LC
National Nordic Museum, Ballard (Nov 8, 2024–Jan 26, 2025)