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Jump to: Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Multi-Day

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FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC

Andy Shauf Live on KEXP Past Event Like List
Portland Mercury arts and culture editor Suzette Smith writes: "As someone who has seen Shauf live several times, I'll say that within him are two Shaufs: One wants to play the album he just released flawlessly, faithful to the recorded tracks. The other wants to show off whatever new tracks about dire human moments he's currently crafting. We may be far enough from 2023's Norm—his easy-listening disco album about a god-obsessed stalker—that he'll lend us the latter." This free studio session is open to the public, but admission is limited—you've been warned! Snag your tickets in person 90 minutes before the set (or just watch it on YouTube afterward). AV
(KEXP, Uptown, Free with in-person registration 90 minutes prior to the session)

Kassi Valazza with Bart Budwig and Mike Giacolino Past Event Like List
I love it when artists reference their own names (see: Caroline Polachek's "Caroline Shut Up," Cardi B's "Bartier Cardi" or Harry Styles’ latest album, Harry's House). So, when I saw that Kassi Valazza's new album was called Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, I was immediately bewitched. The album doesn’t disappoint, with British folk-inspired tunes that explode into spellbinding psychedelic jams. However, it's Valazza's timeless vocals, which bring to mind folk greats like Joan Baez, Buffy Saint Marie, and Iris Dement, that make the album an instant classic. She will play songs from the album after opening sets from indie-Americana singer-songwriters Bart Budwig and Mike Giacolino. AV
(Sunset Tavern, Ballard, $15-$17)

Naeim Rahmani Past Event Like List
In my opinion, classical guitar is the perfect gateway to becoming a classical music buff. Because the instrument is familiar, it's easy to be swept away in the genre's intricate and expressive melodies. Whether you're already a chamber music lover or curious to dive in, don't miss the Seattle-based, Iran-born guitarist Naeim Rahmani deliver an evening of solo classical pieces by contemporary composers like Sergio Assad, Carlos Rafael Rivera, Michael Finnisy, and others. AV
(Good Shepherd Center/Chapel Performance Space, Wallingford, $5–$20 suggested donation at the door)

SATURDAY

COMMUNITY

Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration Past Event Like List
Seattle Center Festál's Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration highlights Asian and Asian American cultures. This year's sights and sounds include performances from Khmer Amarak Performing Arts and lion dance regular Mak Fai; book readings, including former KING 5 news anchor Lori Matsukawa reading her children’s book; a "cultural display of nations"; and local vendors like natural skincare brand Lunaraya and Seattle and Saigon, makers of garlic chili oil. Perhaps most importantly, there will be a humbow eating contest, which was named after Alan Sugiyama, the late community activist and festival chair. Show up in stretchy clothing. JW
(Seattle Center, Uptown, free)

FOOD & DRINK

9th Anniversary at Lucky Envelope Brewing Past Event Like List
The "culturally inspired" brewery Lucky Envelope will celebrate their ninth anniversary with special beer releases, lucky red envelopes stuffed with surprises, and nosh from the Carver Kitchen Shawarma truck. Get your hands on an exclusive '90s-inspired color-changing anniversary tee and be the first to try a crispy Frost Rice Lager, a 9th Anniversary West Coast IPA, and a Lychee Lemonade Sour Ale. JB
(Lucky Envelope Brewing, West Woodland)

GEEK & GAMING

Free Comic Book Day Past Event Like List
Free Comic Book Day is like Christmas for comic enthusiasts—it's when publishers shell out special issues and deals on popular titles like Spider-Man, Doctor Who, and The Avengers, along with lesser-known indie titles. Head to local shops to take advantage of free (or otherwise cheap) finds, attend readings, and meet people who dig comics as much as you do. Six Seattle stores are participating in the annual event this year, including Phoenix Comics, Dreamstrands Comics, and Arcane Comics. Get the deets on happenings at each store here. LC
(Various locations, free)

LIVE MUSIC

Soft Blue Shimmer, Keep, Trembler, and Prim Past Event Like List
LA-based rock trio Soft Blue Shimmer sounds just as dreamy as their band name. Taking inspiration from classic shoegaze bands like Slowdive, Asobi Seksu, and Lush, the band plays up the pop side of the genre with catchy riffs and blended harmonies. They will play songs from their sophomore album, Love Lives in the Body, which includes enchanting titles like "Prism of Feeling," "Strawberry Cool," and "A Brighter Summer Day." Arrive in time to catch opening sets from Virginia-based indie rockers Keep, alt-rock project Trembler, and local emo quartet Prim. AV
(The Funhouse, Belltown, $15)

SHOPPING

KEXP Pop-Up Market: A Spring Cleaning Sale Past Event Like List
It seems like everyone and their neighbor has KEXP gear in Seattle, but do they all have vintage KEXP gear? Stand out from the crowd and get your hands on shirts, hoodies, posters, and more from years past at this spring cleaning sale from our beloved local radio station. You can also flip through records at Light in the Attic or grab a sip from Caffe Vita—the perfect recipe for a rainy Saturday. SL
(KEXP, Uptown)

SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

Fogón's 2nd Annual Cinco de Mayo Block Party Past Event Like List
With its vibrant interior and a glimpse of the tortilla-making action up front, the Michoacán family-owned cantina Fogón has long been a beloved Capitol Hill staple. Longtime fans may even recall the restaurant’s cameo on the fourth season of Love Is Blind, where it was chosen as a group dining destination. If you’d like to party like a Netflix reality show cast member, the bustling spot is hosting its second annual Cinco de Mayo block party on Sunday, complete with live mariachi music, a market with Latinx vendors and artists, and a drag show with performers Viktor, Kameron Michelle, and Victoria Amoré, hosted by Drag Latina season two star Queen Andrew Scott. Fogón and La Chingona Taqueria will sling tasty food and drinks. JB
(Fogón Cocina Mexicana, Capitol Hill, free)

LIVE MUSIC

Ragamala Indian Classical Music and Arts Celebration Past Event Like List
Hope you like sitar, tabla, harmonium, and santoor! Indian classical music champions Ragamala Seattle will present this fam-friendly day of (you guessed it) Indian classical music. Teaching artists will share traditional instruments, Sweety Saradha Arts will lead an Indian design workshop, and vocalist Akhil Jobanputra and jori-dhamma player Sunny Matharu will dissect dhrupad, an early style of Hindustani (North Indian) music. At 1:30 pm, a dhrupad concert will feature performances by Pt. Uday Bhawalkar ("one of the foremost exponents of the Dagarvani tradition") alongside Sukhad Munde and Kirit Singh. LC
(Seattle Asian Art Museum, Capitol Hill, Free with museum admission)

MULTI-DAY

FILM

The Beast Past Event Like List
For a film that begins in 1910 during the Great Flood of Paris, The Beast feels achingly alive with the anxiety of existing in 2024. Based in part on Henry James’s 1903 novella, The Beast in the Jungle, about a man who believes his whole life is steered toward an impending catastrophe, the latest and tenth film by Bertrand Bonello finds that same “deep-seated feeling that something terrible will occur” in the heart of a woman named Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux), and bends eternity around it. Across three lifetimes, Seydoux plays a lovelorn woman who waits for doom. Whatever that doom is, it doesn’t matter; it might as well be the apocalypse. If that seems like the stuff of a great, sappy cinematic romance, it is, but the work of Bonello tends to refuse simple categories. The French multi-hyphenate (director-writer-composer) makes destabilizing films, ever-shifting emulsions of form and genre. Read the Mercury's whole review. PORTLAND MERCURY CONTRIBUTOR DOM SINACOLA
(Grand Illusion, University District, $8-$11, Saturday-Sunday)

Civil War Past Event Like List
Alex Garland's latest, Civil War, is A24's most expensive in-house production to date, following a group of military-embedded journos headed to DC "before rebel factions descend upon the White House." Honestly, I'm wary of how he'll handle this one, although Garland's work does tend to thrive in dystopian settings. But Kristen Dunst stars as a photojournalist, which is reason enough to watch. Also, Garland may or may not be retiring from directing ("I’m going to take a break for the foreseeable future," he clarified recently), so if you're a fan of the filmmaker behind Annihilation and Men, you should plan to let his new one marinate. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, $14.50-$15.50, Friday-Sunday)

Nostalghia Past Event Like List
When presented with the opportunity to see a film by director Andrei Tarkovsky in a movie house, you should take it. In this case, a new 4K restoration by Italian national film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia provides a great opportunity to see Tarkovsky's first film made outside of the Soviet Union. Nostalghia isn't his boldest work, but it's the one where you perhaps get the best feeling of the director's self, as he uses his signature dream sequences and long takes to wrestle with the alienated feeling of leaving Russia—shortly after Nostalghia's release he vowed he would never return. PORTLAND MERCURY ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR SUZETTE SMITH
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, $7.50-$15.50, Friday-Sunday)

Sasquatch Sunset Past Event Like List
If you aren't riveted by the prospect of this film, well, we're two very different people. David and Nathan Zellner's Sasquatch Sunset follows a family of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) over the course of one year, as they wander, grunt, and munch mushrooms in North America's foggy forests. Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg star, and they look like this. We owe it to them to go see this film as payment for the zillion hours they spent having prosthetics applied. LC
(SIFF Cinema Uptown, Uptown, Friday-Sunday)

SHOPPING

Tilth Alliance's May Edible Plant Sale Past Event Like List
The Tilth Alliance’s edible plant sale is here to help you become a budding gardener, whether you have a backyard patch or balcony box. It was a little chilly to head out to the last sale in April, but now the signs of spring and new growth are everywhere and it's like Mother Earth is making me feel bad about not growing my own veggies. Lucky for me, this weekend's sale over in Wallingford offers over 500 varieties of vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and pollinator plants alongside advice from expert gardeners. It might be a tad on the rainy side, but hey, seedlings love that. SL
(Meridian Playground, Wallingford, free, Saturday-Sunday)

SPORTS & RECREATION

Bike Everywhere Month 2024 Remind Like List
As someone who lived in SF and was told if I rode a bike in the city I "would get hit by a car at least once, that's just how it is," I feel comfortable saying that Seattle has an impressive biking infrastructure. The Cascade Bicycle Club and League of American Bicyclists encourages you to put that to the test as you ride your faithful two-wheeler across the city, ideally foregoing all other forms of transportation for the entire month. Meet up with fellow cycling enthusiasts for the Emerald City Ride over the West Seattle Bridge on May 5, Bike Everywhere Day on May 17, and even Mighty-O's Tour de Donut on May 25. That last one is technically unaffiliated, but we think it captures the spirit of the month perfectly (with the added bonus of tasty vegan treats). SL
(Various locations, Friday-Sunday)

Windermere Cup Week 2024 Past Event Like List
The Windermere Cup has been celebrating Seattle's rowing community long beforeThe Boys in the Boat drew the public's interest. Expanded to an entire week of activities and drawing teams from Italy and Wisconsin, this rowing extravaganza features a 21-and-up Party in the Cut on Friday night with live music, followed by the races in the morning on Saturday and the boat parade at noon. Bring the fam and celebrate the official opening of Seattle's boating season with food trucks, a build-a-boat station for kids, and lots of cheering along the north and south shores of the Fremont Cut as you watch the boats pass through. You can even stake out a spot on the Montlake Bridge for the races, just be sure to get off in time for them to raise it for the parade. SL
(Montlake Cut, Montlake, Friday-Saturday)

VISUAL ART

Dolls of Gratitude: A Community Art Collaboration Remind Like List
This community-based project was conceived in collaboration with the Frye Art Museum, local artist Ixtli White Hawk, arts nonprofit Path with Art, and other social service partners. At art-making parties led by White Hawk earlier this year, participants created dolls with repurposed fabrics and recycled materials; the project aimed to "showcase the project’s mission to encourage positive self-reflection and honor the artist within us all." Visitors can view the multimedia dolls at this sweet exhibit. LC
(Frye Art Museum, First Hill, free, Friday-Sunday)

Hourglass Lying Down Remind Like List
Sophia Arnold might be one of my favorite contemporary artists—her oil, acrylic, and watercolor compositions of surreal scenes are intoxicating, lush, and seemingly full of secrets, reminiscent of Elizabeth Malaska's paintings. In the group exhibition Hourglass Lying Down, Arnold's works will appear alongside Polaroids by Autumn Knight, luxuriant paintings by Klara Glosova, and collages by Serrah Russell. Anticipate a dreamy feast for your eyeballs. LC
(Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Georgetown, free, Saturday-Sunday; opening)

Jessica Jackson Hutchins: Wrecked and Righteous Past Event Like List
If you're already familiar with the Portland art scene, you've likely heard the name "Jessica Jackson Hutchins" float around. Jackson Hutchins's tactile works transform everyday objects into art forms that are both intimately familiar and reverently heightened, and her ambitious, raw, playful style, which runs the gamut from massive sculptural installations to clothing pieces, is easily recognizable. The artist often employs castoff household objects to create her earth-toned, figurative, and vessel-like forms; in 2016, her process expanded to include collage-like window pieces in fused glass, some of which you'll see in Jessica Jackson Hutchins: Wrecked and Righteous. The exhibition surveys the last 30-ish years of her career in a nonchronological presentation of furniture pieces, relief paintings, and more, plus "wearable food vessels" that will be activated during a special performance. LC
(Frye Art Museum, First Hill, free, Friday-Sunday; closing)

Maria Phillips: at what point... Remind Like List
Artist-educator Maria Phillips investigates collective responsibility, environmental consciousness, and depollution in her multimedia works, which stress the importance of "deceleration and the rejection of frenetic consumerism and production." Agreed, Maria! In at what point..., Phillips salvages reclaimed material and found objects to document time, change, and the cyclical nature underlying all things. She calls these transformed objects "pick-up portraits," prompting questions about climate disruption, reliance on plastics, and the insidious norms underlying production and consumption. LC
(Gallery 4Culture, Pioneer Square, free, Friday-Sunday)