The Top 33 Events in Seattle This Week: July 31–Aug 6, 2023

FILM

Remind Like List Honoring the fascinating history of the Paramount Theatre, which opened its doors in 1928 with a screening of the silent comedy Feel My Pulse , this silent film series continues on July 31 with a screening of comedy shorts from 1913-1922. The lineup includes Circus Clowns , in which the Golden Age-era child star Baby Peggy becomes a circus entertainer alongside her dog, Brownie. What's not to love?! Tyler Pattison will perform a supplementary score on the theater's Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ; don't miss the pre- and post-screening film discussions with Silent Movie Mondays curator Vicky Lee. LC (Paramount Theatre, Downtown)

FOOD & DRINK

Remind Like List Masa, the maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalized corn, is the cornerstone of Mexican cuisine. Sibling chefs Seth and Zachary Pacleb's pop-up Brothers & Co. will team up with the artisanal small-batch mezcal producer Mocel Mezcal and the corn tortilla bakery Milpa Masa to present a very special five-course dinner showcasing Milpa's masa alongside mezcal pairings. It's sure to be a corntastic time. JB (Musang, North Beacon Hill)

LIVE MUSIC

Remind Like List Back in February, Beck released " Thinking About You " giving me hope that the stripped-down, folk style of his 2002 album Sea Change had finally returned. Sadly, that was not the case. His follow-up single " Odyssey ," with French indie pop band Phoenix, showed a glossy, nu-disco side to the multifaceted singer-songwriter. There’s been no word if these singles are leading to a 15th studio album or which direction he'll take the sound, but consider me intrigued! Catch Beck and Phoenix on their joint Summer Odyssey tour with support from alt-country queen Jenny Lewis, and indie rockers Sir Chloe. AV (Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown)

Remind Like List Freeway Park's Brews and Tunes will have you saying TGIT (thank god it's Tuesday) with their free, weekly concert every Tuesday in August. Bop along to tunes from PNW acts while enjoying the onsite beer garden and food trucks. This week, the series will kick off with a set from the five-piece Americana-funk band the Whags. (Freeway Park, Downtown)

COMEDY

Remind Like List "Come to Puff, Puff, Pass if you live, laugh, love a good time," suggests Alyssa Yeoman, the show's host. I live, laugh, love a good time as much as the next person, so I also have to recommend it—Puff, Puff, Pass is geared toward stoners and normies alike, with stand-ups indulging in a smoke sesh before they answer questions and play games based on Internet trends. Silly gooses Danny Meyerend and Monisa Brown will join Yeoman for this set, alongside other special guests. LC (Here-After at the Crocodile, Belltown)

FILM

Remind Like List This year's outdoor movie offerings at Marymoor Park are old-school, dog-friendly, Americana FUN, complete with live music and familiar flicks beneath the barely visible stars. (We live in a light-polluted city—can't have it all.) The much-loved summer film series will continue with Oregon-filmed crowd fave The Goonies . Snuggle up, bring a picnic, or chow down on bites from the food trucks on site. LC (Marymoor Park, Redmond)

PERFORMANCE

Remind Like List Few things feel more life-affirming than someone else's tea, especially if the drama described doesn't really impact your life at all. Good gossip is a reminder that, well, at least your life isn't like that . It's okay. You know it and I know it, and we love it. Normal Gossip knows it, too. On the pod, host Kelsey McKinney shares "reader-submitted comedic gossip" and chats about it with rotating guests; episodes have titillating titles like "The CHAIR SAGA" and "Family Mealworms." For a healthy dose of "truth is stranger than fiction," head to this live show and feel the catharsis, you quidnunc . LC (Moore Theatre, Belltown)

Remind Like List If you weren't already aware, you live in a place where Lovecraftian rock musicals are performed entirely with puppets. Consider yourself lucky. Cthulhu: The Musical will be performed by Puppeteers for Fears, an Ashland, Oregon-based company specializing in "original puppet horror/sci-fi musical comedy." (Is it too late to change careers?) The Call of Cthulhu is likely one of the least musical or comedic stories ever penned, so this adaptation seems like a worthy feat to feast your eyes upon. ("I don't even like puppets. But that was some next-level puppet shit," reported Susan, an audience member at a Puppeteers for Fears show. Hey, that’s good enough of an endorsement for me.) LC (Chop Suey, Capitol Hill)

LIVE MUSIC

Remind Like List Canadian singer Bryan Adams will bring his lovelorn lyrics and passionate facial expressions on his So Happy It Hurts tour, supporting his latest album of the same name. In press materials, Adams described the pandemic-informed tunes as an album that "touches on many of the ephemeral things in life that are really the secret to happiness and, most importantly, human connection." Let's be real though, the star of this bill is the original riot grrrl, Joan Jett, and her longtime band the Blackhearts. I've been obsessed with Joan since I was thirteen and in my mind, she's the crown jewel of cool. It's unlikely that she'll play any Runaways songs aside from "Cherry Bomb," but I'll be saying a prayer for " I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are ." AV (Climate Pledge Arena, Uptown)

Remind Like List This summer music series will help you "jumpstart" your weekend early with free concerts each Thursday at the neighborhood's most scenic sunset spot. This week, local ensemble REPOSADO, who describe their "tequila funk" signature sound as a blend of Afrobeat, jazz, Latin, and soul, will grace the outdoor amphitheater after an opening lion dance performance. AV (Jefferson Park, Beacon Hill)

Remind Like List In true KEXP summertime fashion, the station has partnered with the Seattle Center to provide another enjoyable round of their free, family-friendly concerts at Mural. Soul-jazz artist Baby Rose (who has received praise from Kehlani, J. Cole, and SZA ) will kick off the series long August 3 alongside up-and-coming singer-songwriter Zari Alexandria and KEXP DJ Supreme La Rock. Other highlights include Olympia-based electronic pop band Daisies (Aug 10), indie rock project Deep Sea Diver (Aug 17), and sister-fronted shoegaze band La Fonda (Aug 17). AV (Mural Amphitheatre, Uptown)

PERFORMANCE

Remind Like List Whenever I stay in a hotel, I delight in flicking through the dozens of channels that I'd ordinarily refuse to pay for, and I typically land on one of those spooky, black-lit ghost hunter shows, all shrieks and EVP recordings. Ghost Files , a Watcher show, strikes a similar chord—the series " attempts to recreate the Internet's best paranormal evidence" in ultra-haunted locales, presumably to prove that ghosts are real or whatever. At first, I couldn't picture what a live edition of Ghost Files would look like (would they bring a ghost??), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued. After further digging, I found that the live show will include a screening of a never-before-seen episode of Ghost Files , followed by a Q&A session with hosts Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, so bring your most ghastly ghoul queries. LC (Moore Theatre, Belltown)

Remind Like List Five Seattle writers and performers will show up for justice and liberation at this multigenre performance, which will include poetry, live music, a documentary screening, storytelling, and literary readings, followed by sips and snacks. Writers Amber Flame and Jourdan Imani Keith (Seattle’s 2019–2022 Civic Poet) will share fresh work—Flame "explores spirituality and sexuality, cross-woven with themes of grief and loss, motherhood and magic," and Keith was recently selected as a 2023 Black Arts Legacies artist. I'm looking forward to moody tunes by climate justice activist Erika Lundahl and a short film by "social justice/human rights activist" Jen Marlowe. Another reading by Madeline Ostrander, an environmental journalist and the author of At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth, will round out the night of inspiration. LC (Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum, Pike Place Market)

Remind Like List Seattle Japanese Garden will once again see butoh (Japanese avant-garde dance) performers scattered across the landscape. Butoh, a contemporary form of Japanese performance, is inspired by ghosts, anguish, rapture, and the grotesque. (If that sounds incredibly cool to you, that's because it is .) Joan Laage of Kogut Butoh will direct, and nine dancers will wander through the spacious gardens, engaging in "a minute-by-minute response to all the scents, sounds, sights and sensations." Discover them for free over the course of the three-hour event, which will also include live music. (Seattle Japanese Garden, Capitol Hill)

FOOD & DRINK

Remind Like List Have you ever wanted to traipse through the Woodland Park Zoo after-hours? This adults-only event will let you do just that while enjoying bites from an assortment of Seattle's top culinary luminaries, including Ethan Stowell of How to Cook a Wolf, John Sundstrom of Lark, Kristi Brown of COMMUNION, Melissa Miranda of Musang, and Max Petty of Eden Hill. An added bonus: a number of full-pour bars will be distributed throughout the zoo. Proceeds will benefit the zoo's mission to save wildlife in the Pacific Northwest and around the world. JB (Woodland Park Zoo, Phinney Ridge)

FILM

Remind Like List Who better to advise you on what to watch this summer than Scarecrow Video, the physical media mainstay organization with a video collection that exceeds 130,000 titles?! They know what they're talking about, people. Head to Maple Leaf Reservoir Park for their curated selection of fam-friendly screenings on Saturdays in August; Scarecrow will offer up a "rich tapestry of Asian and Asian American filmmaking," including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, ball-kicking comedy Shaolin Soccer, Pixar red panda flick Turning Red (an absolute must-see for anyone who has ever turned spontaneously furry during puberty), and the locally shot flick The Paper Tigers . (Director Tran Quoc Bao will be present for the screening.) Moviegoers can pop up early for live music and film trivia, too. LC (Maple Leaf Reservoir Park, Northeast Seattle)

FOOD & DRINK

Remind Like List For over 40 years, Chinatown's Little Saigon neighborhood has been the bustling hub of the Vietnamese community in the Seattle area. This event will shine a light on the area with a curated lunch menu of neighborhood staples, like cơm chiên (vegetable fried rice), gỏi ngó sen (lotus root salad), and nước trái cây (fruit juice), not to mention rotating dessert vendors slinging sweets all day long. Other programming includes local art for sale, music, kids' activities, and more—we're particularly excited about the return of the popular phở eating contest. JB (Little Saigon, Squire Park)

Remind Like List Is there anything more glorious than tomato season? At this event celebrating the juicy red orbs, an Oxbow farmer will share pointers for growing different varieties of the plant. Next, Farestart executive chef Seth Fernald, who's partnered with Oxbow to build a kitchen in the middle of the farm, will school you in several different preparations for the savory fruit. Bring your camera and get ready to feast your eyes on the pastoral beauty of Snoqualmie Valley. JB (Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center, Carnation)

LIVE MUSIC

Remind Like List On their fifth album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe You , acclaimed folk-rock ensemble Big Thief employs homey guitars, rattling percussion, and grounded yet whimsical storytelling about extraterrestrial life, angels, and (you guessed it) dragons . In my opinion, frontwoman Adrianne Lenker is one of the greatest guitarists making music right now (listen to her solo albums Songs and Instrumentals to see what I mean). They will be sharing the bill with esteemed singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams and I swear this pairing was chosen just for me. If you are unfamiliar with Williams' music, your homework is to listen to " Fruits Of My Labor " and " Side of the Road ." AV (Marymoor Park, Redmond)

Remind Like List Back in 2019, Stranger writer Jas Keimig wrote: "CupcakKe is really fucking important! For the uninitiated, the Chicago rapper is most known for her sexually explicit songs—like the one where she talks about going “duck duck goose” on the dick and, in the accompanying NSFW music video, goes around patting dildos of all colors and sizes on their heads. Or the one where she raps, “His dick smaller than my toes / I’d rather ride Squidward nose.” But CupcakKe has got range: Her candid style reflects on all areas of her life and finds her rapping about her personal struggles, LGBT acceptance and allyship, and police brutality. She’s the Renaissance woman of modern hip-hop." She will take the stage alongside the local electropop star YellaCatt. AV (The Showbox, Downtown)

Remind Like List Back in the early aughts twee revival, Regina Spektor brought a refreshing darkness and cynicism. Although she dressed the part in retro dresses (probably ModCloth), a classic red lip, and elaborate hair accessories, Spektor's voice shook with emotion, and her songs were imbued with sexuality (i.e. "Hey, remember that time when we decided to kiss anywhere except the mouth?") And, unlike most music from that period, it still holds up! I still queue up "Us" on occasion if I need a good cry (you might remember it from the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack). Last year, she dropped her eighth album (and first in six years) Home, Before and After , which combines her classically trained piano chops with ethereal electronic production. AV (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville)

PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE

Remind Like List Okay divas, it's time to beat your faces for the gods before (natch) sweating boots at this all-night affair, which pours one out for the "divas of the decades" (aka Whitney Houston, Madonna, Britney Spears, and Janet Jackson). Gaggy showgirl Monday Mourning will lead the charge alongside Seattle drag glamazons Betty Wetter, Victoria Amoré, and Solana Solstice; DJ Tony Burns will spin Pride anthems to get the mood right. (That's correct, it's still pride in their books. Problem??) LC (Madame Lou's at the Crocodile, Belltown)

VISUAL ART

Remind Like List It's the 21st century, which means sayonara boob generation, hello BBLs and butt-munching. It's all about cakes, cheeks, and A-S-S. Have I made myself clear enough? We love butts now . Colby Bishop and Chloe King agree with me. The curators' new exhibition, Cheek and Hole , examines the American ass infatuation (assfatuation?) through painting, performance, and photography by 11 local artists (including Kelly Björk, Forrest Perrine, and others), whose buoyant pieces bounce between political commentary, pop culture, and breaking the Internet. The show isn't all ass-slapping fun and games, though— Bishop and King penned a supplementary text that anchors the exhibition's ideas in notions of "race, the gaze, queerness, drag, representation, image saturation, performance, porn, and meme culture." LC (Specialist, Pioneer Square)

COMEDY

Remind Like List Versatile Indian comic Rahul Subramanian, who's tapped his funny bone on everything from stand-up to sketch and improv, will stop by Seattle for a "Hinglish" performance (that's a portmanteau of Hindi and English, if you hadn't guessed already). I'm particularly into Subramanian's stunningly simple life advice and his next-level crowd work , where he follows comedy rule number one: "Never give the mic to enthusiastic people." LC (Neptune Theatre, University District)

READINGS & TALKS

Remind Like List Bring your budding gourmands (aged three and up) to see food writer Patricia Tanumihardja read her adorable new children's picture book Ramen for Everyone , in which protagonist Hiro sets out to make a bowl of ramen just as good as his dad's and encounters some unexpected obstacles. Patricia will answer questions and sign books afterwards. JB (Book Larder, Fremont)

FESTIVALS

Remind Like List Every year, Seafair—the iconic summer festival that started in 1950—puts on dozens of events throughout Seattle all summer long. It all wraps up in August with this three-day extravaganza of signature outdoor activities like Blue Angels air shows and hydroplane racing along the shores of Lake Washington. If you're into that, it's "the most anticipated event of the summer" and "an unofficial Puget Sound holiday." If not, you might want to get out of town for the weekend to avoid the noise and military spectacle that our sister site The Stranger has complained about for years. It's a conflict that's perhaps summed up best by The Stranger 's Christopher Frizzelle: ".. .obviously I think it's ridiculous and wasteful to sonically terrify Seattle and Bellevue once a year just to show off gas-guzzling American might—USA! USA!—buuuut... I also have to admit that choreography people are forced to watch is a funny concept (not enough people appreciate choreography). And I also have to admit that, well, how do I put this? My family and I don't agree on some big-picture things. But we all agreed on that day in 1996 [when I first saw them] about the awesomeness (capable of inspiring awe) of the Blue Angels. And somewhere deep in my brain, I filed Seattle away as an okay place to be. It's probably an exaggeration to say I ended up moving here because of the Blue Angels, but it's not that much of an exaggeration." JR (Genesee Park, Rainier Valley, Friday-Sunday)

FILM

Remind Like List Brought forth from the primordial depths of the mid-'90s, where Barbie remains in perpetuity because that is the last time I played with her, a shiny pink convertible rolls noiselessly into our modern times. It is Barbie's car, and somehow, Barbie is in it. She has roller skates in her purse and she's on a mission. She is played by Margot Robbie, and she's journeying to the human world, or something. Listen, the specifics don't matter. It's the Barbie movie. I will be seated, surrounded by popcorn and Nerds rope, and you will be, too. LC (SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill, Monday-Sunday)

Remind Like List If you've seen past HUMP! lineups, you know entries to our amateur porn festival can span from silly and playful to hardcore kink. Well, this one's for you, kinksters! For HUMP! Hardcore we've selected the dirtiest, most intense, and most shocking HUMP! entries from the past 18 years and starting today, you can watch them all in the comfort of your very own sex dungeon designed to look like a doctor's office. There will be latex, there will be spit-roasting, there will be... fish? We weren't lyin' when we said shit gets a little kinky. STRANGER CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING (Streaming, Wednesday-Sunday)

Remind Like List Whether or not you give a damn about the theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weaponry, Oppenheimer is kind of a must-see—people are going to be yapping about this flick all summer long. You don't want to miss out on the Twitter discourse, do you?! Christopher Nolan's latest stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, Communist biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. (More info on Kitty, please!!) Presented in 35mm for these screenings, the film also features Florence Pugh, A24 darling Benny Safdie, and a bunch of other actors that'll make you whisper "Wait, they're in this?!" to your friend in the theater. LC (SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Monday-Thursday)

Remind Like List If you've been subscribed to EverOut's newsletters for a while, you may have caught my previous blurb on Waiting for Guffman , aka the best film ever made about a Missouri history musical. (God bless Christopher Guest.) Anyway, if your ideal aesthetic is anything like mine (a mish-mash of Guest's wholehearted comedy, Joe Pera's grocery trips , and a PBS telethon), you'll probably dig Theater Camp , which follows—you guessed it—a theater camp with an eccentric ensemble of earnest youth. It is an original film with no major IP attached, which is reason enough to watch anything these days. Go forth and discover what it means to jiggle like a jackal . LC (SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Monday-Thursday)

PERFORMANCE

Remind Like List Throw on your old-timey feathered caps and get thee to a nunnery—or maybe just head outdoors for Greenstage's always-free Shakespeare in the Park, which returns for its 35th season this year. They'll offer up productions of the Bard's familiar tragedy Romeo and Juliet and historical drama Henry VI Part One, plus a rotating "Backyard Bard" series of one-hour shows, including forbidden love folktale Cymbeline , at parks across Seattle. The season ends on August 12, so peep their calendar for exact times and locations of their performances. LC (Various locations, Thursday-Sunday)

VISUAL ART

Remind Like List Guadalajara-born brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre have been artistic collaborators since the '90s, creating glass-blown and flame-worked pieces with unexpected materials that warrant a second glance (think fake fur, plastic flowers, and found objects). The results are a totally wild reverie—picture Italian baroque maximalism shoved in a blender with a tablespoon of pre-Columbian symbolism and a dash of dizzying pattern work, and you might be conjuring 5% of their aesthetic. Take a peek at their tragicomic excess at this exhibition, which showcases the duo's "hybrid, shape-shifting" Earthlings inspired by Slavic mythology. LC (Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Georgetown, Wednesday-Saturday)

Remind Like List In the recent Art and Performance guide (which is in print, and available all over the city), Jas Keimig described the concept of the installation FLÓÐ (Flood) at the National Nordic Museum as " meditating on climate change ." That's certainly how one can read it, but my experience of the work, which is by Icelandic artist and musician Jónsi and occupies a huge space in the museum, recalled less the inevitable underwater Anthropocene world with its sad sea sounds and scent of seaweed, and more Seattle in the middle of winter. Though we have left those short and beautifully bleak days, they can still be found here, in the heart of the Nordic Museum. The strip of flickering light above, the mist, the coldness of it all. One with proper Pacific Northwest blood feels very much at home here. STRANGER SENIOR WRITER CHARLES MUDEDE (National Nordic Museum, Ballard, Tuesday-Sunday; closing)