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COMMUNITY
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The next Friday the 13th isn’t until September 2024, so you better put extra effort into celebrating this one! Lucky for us, Vinnie’s Wine Shop is making it easy during a scary edition of the Belltown Art Walk with a pop-up vintage clothing sale, free flash tattoos, tarot readings, and more. They’ll be serving up four-year bottle-rested oyster shell martinis, which GQ called “the vibiest cocktail of 2023.” SL
(Vinnie’s Wine Shop, Belltown, free)
FILM
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Fall has officially fallen, which means you have a limited number of days to bundle up in your fleece-lined best and watch an outdoor movie before the prospect becomes totally miserable-sounding. Freeway Park has you covered—they’ll screen seasonal faves on the second Friday in October and November, which means you’ll get a little more time among the changing leaves before you head inside for the next six to eight months. (Just me?) Movies start at 7 pm and free popcorn, snacks and drinks are provided; in other words, just show up. For Friday the 13th, Tremors will remind you to avoid any and all worms. LC
(Freeway Park, Downtown, free)
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The summer camp? Negligent. The killer? Ski-masked. Unless you’ve been living under a rock far, far away from Camp Crystal Lake for the past 40 years, you already know what film franchise I’m referencing. This Friday the 13th, celebrate a certain someone’s machete-wielding skills with this double feature, which includes AGFA and Bleeding Skull!’s DIY fan compilation The F13th Fan Film Mixtape (keep an ear out for illegal usage of Beastie Boys tracks) and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, in which Jason is straight-up zombified and has a utility belt full of fun weapons. Let’s party! LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City, $12.50)
LIVE MUSIC
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Patrick Flegel (formerly of the Canadian experimental indie rock band Women), takes inspiration from vocalists like Patsy Cline, the Supremes, Karen Carpenter, and other expressive female vocalists for his drag persona/solo music project Cindy Lee. Lee’s sophomore album, What’s Tonight To Eternity, evokes the ballads of those aforementioned ingénues—but played on an antique tube-powered radio that caught fire mid-song, disintegrating slowly with each lovelorn lyric. Lee will support the album alongside Canadian electronic trio Freak Heat Waves. AV
(Vera Project, Uptown, $15-$18)
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There is a lot to love about Singles. To the average viewer, it’s a well-written rom-com with great fashion and even better music (Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, et al). But to local residents, it’s an idealized time capsule of what we wish Seattle was like (then, now, and moving forward). This tribute night will celebrate the movie’s iconic soundtrack with grunge hits performed by local artists Aisha, Always Naked, Aury Moore, Cathy Faulkner, Glenn Cannon (the Damage Done), J.T. Phillips, Kathy Moore (Super Power Trio), Kyyle Cort (Superfekta), The Oh Wells, Steve McKeever, and Washed In Black (Pearl Jam Tribute). AV
(High Dive, Fremont, $15-$20)
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The beloved Seattle trio Wimps will bring their infectious brand of slacker-rock and pop-punk to the Clock-Out in honor of their new album City Lights. The band is known for their relatable little ditties and the new album is no exception. Tracks like “Never Leave the House,” “Rut,” and “Lonely” will unfortunately resonate for most of us! Don’t miss opening sets from Olympia punks Debt Rag and local alt-rock rodents Rat Queen. AV
(Clock-Out Lounge, Beacon Hill, $15)
PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE
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Beep beep! DJs HYPERPOPPERS, Jane Don’t, Arson Nicki, and CUCCI welcome you to a queer Halloween dance party celebrating the future of pop. Fill your pumpkin bucket with sugary hyperpop, Eurodance, and bubblegum anthems by the likes of SOPHIE, Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, Kim Petras, and more. Some on-theme costume ideas include Charli XCX’s iconic cheer outfit or Kim Petras’ Met Gala horse gown. Let’s ride .AV
(Cherry Nightclub, Downtown, $10)
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If you’ve ever wanted to get down at a swamp-style rave inspired by the Shrek franchise, here’s your chance. You may be asking “Why?” and we guess the only answer would be “Why not?” It’s a thing, and a thing whose NYC event was attended by Rico Nasty and Jaboukie Young-White, no less. So what’re you waiting for? Get your game on, go playyyy! JW
(ALMA Tacoma, Tacoma, $16)
COMMUNITY
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Don’t miss the annular eclipse happening on Saturday morning! Washington will only get a partial view (if the weather even cooperates enough for us to see it), but the eclipse will begin at 8:07 am, with maximum coverage (86%) happening around 9:20 am. You should never look directly at the sun no matter how much of the moon is obscuring it, so all Seattle Public Library locations are giving out free eclipse glasses to safely view the spectacle. SL
(Various locations, free)
FILM
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The Seattle International Fashion Film Festival’s eighth annual edition should prepare you to chop your hair into an Anna Wintour-inspired bob. For those who prefer their cinema with a side of sartorial inspiration, the fest can’t be topped—this year, they’ll screen films from 14 countries, including documentaries, commercial fashion films, and “narratives with intricate storytelling,” and there’ll even be a red carpet for real-time outfit-scoping. LC
(Carco Theatre, Renton, $5-$10)
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Strong contenders for the coolest girls in town are the members of the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team, the only drill team in the world to combine Chinese opera costumes with American military-style drills. Founded in 1952 by a group of Asian American high school girls and Ruby Chow, a Chinese American politician and civic activist, the team has performed at parades state-wide for 70 years. In the wake of the pandemic, team participation has dropped to a record-low 30 members, so they need you to cheer them on now more than ever. Learn more about them at this free screening of She Marches in Chinatown, which will include a Q&A session with the director, producer, and members of the drill team, as well as a performance by the team. LC
(SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill, free)
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If you’re big into Midsommar and The Witch, please don’t hurt my folk horror-loving heart by skipping out on The Wicker Man (the original one, sans freaked-out Nicolas Cage). In the ’73 film, you’ll visit a remote Scottish island that’s jam-packed with sacrifice-obsessed pagans and wanton lust, which is never a good combination. Since the film’s spell-casting release, we’ve seen a proliferation of creepy cults and psychedelic hysteria pop on screen. Check out the flick that started it all on its 50th anniversary—The Wicker Man stars an especially off-kilter Christopher Lee. LC
(The Beacon, Columbia City, $12.50)
FOOD & DRINK
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I gotta focus, I’m shifting into soup mode. Cookbook author and “soup lady” Caroline Wright, who received a terminal brain cancer diagnosis in 2017, will set up in front of Book Larder and sling cozy, soul-soothing goodness inspired by her cookbook, Soup Club. (She’s also currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the follow-up, Seconds: More Plant-Based, No-Broth Soup and Stew Recipes from One Soup Cook to Another, which will be printed at the local woman-owned print shop Girlie Press and stocked exclusively at Book Larder.) All proceeds benefit the National Brain Tumor Society, the largest nonprofit organization in the country dedicated to the brain tumor community. JB
(Book Larder, Fremont, free)
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Named for a Thai word that means “oozy” or “lava,” the Bellevue-based pop-up Yérm Doughouse specializes in what they call “Seattle’s first fusion lava pía mochi,” a sensory delight of a treat that combines the Vietnamese pastry pía with chewy mochi and satisfyingly gooey fillings. Enjoy this unique Gusher-like delicacy alongside frothy Vietnamese coffee drinks at the cafe Hello Em. JB
(Hello Em, Chinatown-International District)
PARTIES & NIGHTLIFE
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Indulge in the sweet treat of nostalgia this Halloween with a Y2K dance party featuring the millennium’s first decade of pop hits (think: Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Missy Elliott, etc.). I recommend watching early aughts classics like Halloweentown, Casper (the one with Hilary Duff, duh!), and Mean Girls to get in the holiday spirit. AV
(Madame Lou’s at the Crocodile, Belltown, $5)
PERFORMANCE
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Part Broadway glamour, part disheveled improv experiment, Fancy Cafeteria is essentially the comedy equivalent of pizza day at school with a side of chocolate milk. Each edition serves up a brand-new musical straight from audience suggestions, complete with song, dance, a live soundtrack, and a full cast. With no predetermined script or score, it’s bound to be a bumpy, hilarious ride. (Resist the urge to start a food fight.) LC
(18th & Union: An Arts Space, $15)
SHOPPING
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It’s autumn, people!! Snag a sweater and get cozy at the city’s largest indoor night market, which will showcase dozens of makers and local shops at the sprawling 30,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor venue Magnuson Park Hangar 30, with a special spotlight on local AAPI-owned small businesses this time around. This pumpkin-spiced 21+ edition of the market was planned in partnership with K-POP SEATTLE; get pumped for a dragon dance ceremony by Mak Fai Dragon Dance, performances by South Korean EDM producer Moobek, and a dance party. LC
(Magnuson Park Hangar 30, Sand Point, $15)
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With winter sports season fast approaching, now’s a good time to swap gear you don’t want for gear you do want without breaking the bank. Head over to West Seattle to buy and sell skis, snowboards, boots, clothing, winter accessories, and more! It costs $10 to sign up to sell your goods and requires preregistering, so make plans now. SL
(West Seattle VFW Post 2713, West Seattle, $0-$10)
SPORTS & RECREATION
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Hockey is back! Join your fellow fans to cheer on the Kraken from their practice facility with community skate and watch parties. Channel your inner Gourde and take a spin around the ice under a live broadcast of the game on a 32-foot screen. Don’t worry if gliding around on ice wearing tiny blades on your feet freaks you out; fans are also welcome to watch from the bleachers. SL
(Kraken Community Iceplex, Northgate, $14.97)
VISUAL ART
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Shoreline-based visual artist Emma Royer stitched together dozens of her ovarian and uterine ultrasound images for the site-specific installation in Tend(er)ing; the show aims to “take the data accumulated around her body and reappropriate it in a work expressing both loss and hope.” Royer’s laborious artistic process of stitching and beading echoes similarly undersung labors of fertility treatments, pregnancy loss, childbearing, and months of breastfeeding that new mothers face. When you stop by the show’s reception, bring a pack of diapers along—The Vestibule is collecting donations for local nonprofit WestSide Baby through October. LC
(The Vestibule, Ballard, free)
EXHIBITS
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Sound Check! The Music We Make is a new exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum that celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander musicians. Photos, artwork, audio and visual installations, and other artifacts recognize local greats such as Kim Thayil and Hiro Yamamoto of Soundgarden, Karen Maeda Allman of ’80s punk band Conflict US, and Geo Quibuyen of Blue Scholars alongside history-making peers including the Slants, the Portland-based Asian-American rock band who won the right to trademark their name in a 2017 Supreme Court case, and Fanny, an oft-overlooked rock band from the ’70s who inspired everyone from the Go-Go’s to Def Leppard. (The 2021 documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock is related required viewing.) STRANGER CULTURE EDITOR MEGAN SELING
(Wing Luke Museum, Chinatown-International District, $0-$17; opening)
LIVE MUSIC
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Join the Seattle Women in Jazz collective for an afternoon celebrating female jazz musicians from around the world. Japanese ukulele artist Yuka Misaki will make her US debut alongside local groups hot club jazz ensemble Lulu Swing and Brazilian roots group Entremundos Quarteto. AV
(The Royal Room, Columbia City, free)
READINGS & TALKS
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Queer icon and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, who penned the Lambda Award-winning memoir The End of San Francisco and approximately one million other essays, stories, and books, is back with Touching the Art, which Kirkus Reviews describes as being chock-full of “frank, intimate reflections on art, life, and their often complex intersections.” Sycamore’s book tour kicks off at the Seattle Art Museum (where, unfortunately, one must not touch the art). Exclusive copies of the book will be on sale at the free event (several weeks before the official publication date)! LC
(Seattle Art Museum, Downtown, free)
COMEDY
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Say nevermore to weekend boredom at this evening of wicked and macabre humor based on Edgar Allan Poe’s dreary oeuvre. A team of improv experts will channel Poe’s tell-tale heart to have you laughing or quivering in fear—whichever comes first. And what’s more comical than a subtle sense of foreboding, right?! (Seriously though, I dare these off-the-cuff dudes to find a way to make The Pit and The Pendulum swinging blade funny.) LC
(Unexpected Productions’ Market Theater, Pike Place Market, $12-$15, Friday-Saturday)
COMMUNITY
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Fans of preserved animal specimens, archaic medical devices, and “funeral collectibles” should get their fill of macabre thrills at this creepy convention, which heralds Halloween with a celebration of all things off-kilter. Visitors will find Halloween- and horror-inspired artwork, too, plus antiques, skulls, and bones (natch). Ticket add-ons include taxidermy classes and viewings of a mad clown’s “cryptic collection,” which boasts “bizarre pieces of agony” like preserved pets, mermaids, and genetically engineered monsters. Have fun! LC
(Seattle Convention Center, Downtown, $10-$15, Saturday-Sunday)
FALL
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You know what will make your cozy fall photoshoot better? A breathtaking backdrop of Mount Rainier, which is just what you’ll get (on a clear day) at Carpinito Brothers Farm. Bring your Hinge date, your parents, and/or your kids (just not your dog) and proceed to get lost in multiple mazes spanning acres of corn, pet farm animals, and take your pick of pumpkins. SL
(Carpinito Brothers, Kent, $5-$11, Friday-Sunday)
FESTIVALS
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Fall colors are unfolding among the Seattle Japanese Garden’s collection of maple trees, making it the perfect time to visit and feel thankful that you live in a place with seasons. Plus, the photo ops can’t be beat. Each year, the garden celebrates the Japanese tradition of momijigari (紅葉狩り), or leaf watching, which sounds incredibly peaceful. (Self-guided maple tour brochures are always available at the gatehouse.) If you’re looking for something a little more energetic, you can also take part in a scavenger hunt, practice your origami and calligraphy, or enjoy a taiko performance this weekend. LC
(Seattle Japanese Garden, Capitol Hill, $0-$10, Friday-Sunday)
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SPAM’s 2023 program began in August with an activation at Freeway Park by the University of Washington’s Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) Ph.D. candidates. DXARTS students aren’t afraid to get weird with it, so the experience brought the park to life with sound performances, installations, videos, and “sculptural interventions” inspired by the idea of salvage, data sets, collective memory, and archives. The explorations will continue all month: SPAM’s tech-driven art “resonates with the notion of unlearning one’s privileges and positions of power,” and the festival’s free performances and exhibitions include collaborations with Henry Art Gallery, Mini Mart City Park, Method Gallery, Gallery 4Culture, Jack Straw Cultural Center, Georgetown Steam Plant, and Meany Hall at the University of Washington. Click here for a full list of events and head out with an open mind. LC
(Multiple dates through December 8, free)
FILM
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October rolls around, and suddenly, everyone wants to watch vampires, ghosts, and cannibals get their freak on. Typical!!! If you’re also feeling the sudden urge to stress yourself out with Cronenberg and Tobe Hooper faves, All Monsters Attack! has your back. The series continues to shudder this weekend with some of the weirder, more psychedelic entries in the series, like this year’s undersung Huesera: The Bone Woman (theme: motherhood is scary stuff) and The Hunger (theme: ravenous hotties). You can’t go wrong with the folktale-derived hauntings of Kwaidan, either—the film will screen next week in its original three-hour cut, which has only been shown in the US since 2015. LC
(Multiple dates through October 31, Grand Illusion, University District, $11)
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Physical media mavens Scarecrow Video, the city’s own nonprofit video archive and resident experts on all things cinematic, are celebrating Halloween all month long at SIFF Cinema Egyptian. (Horror flicks are “every video store clerk’s favorite genre,” says SIFF, and I’m inclined to believe it.) Video Store Day is coming up on October 21, so show Scarecrow some love by checking out the flicks they’ve curated for the scawie series. Scarecrowber will continue to ooze with Cujo this weekend. Later in the month, I’ll be shivering for Near Dark and Possession. (If you can’t make it to a theater this month, never fear—Scarecrow’s revamped mail-order rental website has your back.) LC
(Every day, through October 29, SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Capitol Hill, $13 – $14)
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Now in its 11th year, the hybrid five-day Social Justice Film Festival will continue to push for positive change by spotlighting diverse justice movements worldwide. Expect flicks that dive deep into the climate crisis and racial, reproductive, and LGBTQIA+ activism. I’m looking forward to imagining a world beyond policing with Beyond Walls, a “series of documentary films and a panel discussion presentation that defines and amplifies what prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition means.” Beyond Extinction, which “traces Indigenous matriarchs who revive traditions and fight to save an ancient burial ground in Slocan Valley,” sounds awesome, too. LC
(Individual events $5-10 and by donation, Friday-Sunday)
FOOD & DRINK
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Calling all enthusiasts/lovers/connoisseurs/purveyors of pizza: From October 9–15, The Stranger is bringing you #strangerpizzaweek, along with our partners at Slane Irish Whiskey! Some of Seattle’s finest pizza purveyors will be slinging specialty ‘zas crafted just for this week at $4 a slice or $20 for whole pies.
(Various locations, $4-$20, Friday-Sunday)
SHOPPING
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Calling all collectors of rare tomes! The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair returns to Seattle Center with a showcase of collectible books, maps, autographs, posters, manuscripts, and more from dealers and specialists across the globe. Whether you take some treasures home or just browse this veritable museum of cultural and historical artifacts, you’re bound to find something rare and unusual and nerd out with fellow bibliophiles. SL
(Seattle Center, Uptown, $10, Saturday-Sunday)
VISUAL ART
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Jane Rosen’s quiet, material-driven sculptures have been a longtime favorite of mine, particularly her regal, almost glowy bird figures rendered in blown glass and limestone. The best part of Rosen’s material sensibility, though, is that it’s non-hierarchical—she’s just as comfortable drawing inspiration from housepets as she is falcons. A Dog’s Life proves it; the show “celebrates the unique connection between humans and animals through time,” and pays special tribute to her canine studio mates, Book and Mei-Rose. Paired with A Dog’s Life is Ginny Ruffner’s Language = Symbols, Symbols = Language, which features a totally delightful goldfish sculpture that caught my attention. LC
(Multiple dates through October 28, various times, Traver Gallery, Downtown, free)
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At its core, Seattle is a glass town. Some of the greatest glass artists to ever do it cut their teeth in the furnaces of this city—Dale Chihuly, Preston Singletary, Dante Marioni, and Ginny Ruffner. In part, we have Seattle’s proximity to the internationally recognized Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA to thank for that. Refract’s four-day festival explores and celebrates Seattle’s history at the forefront of the glass movement. The best part? Nearly all events are free! Go get your life! FORMER STRANGER STAFF WRITER JAS KEIMIG
(Various locations, Pricing varies, many events free, Friday-Sunday)
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For this exhibition, the Esthetical Society for Transcendental and Applied Realization (AKA ESTAR(SER), an international research collective) dug through the Frye’s collection to stage a series of artworks in triads. Inspired by the ancient fable of the “third bird,” each grouping of three works prompts intimate conversations around looking, fear, fascination, and the complex dynamics of the museum space. LC
(Frye Art Museum, First Hill, free, Friday-Sunday; closing)
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