Not only is it a three-day weekend for much of the working world, it’s Bumbershoot, a local tradition that unfortunately exceeds $15. So, enjoy these less expensive events, including a sobering documentary and poetry readings — to balance out the daytime drinking you will hopefully be doing.
Blackfish
Landmark Seven Gables Theatre, 8/28 & 8/29 at 5:00, 7:00, 9:15 p.m., $10.50
I recommended this documentary when it was at SIFF back in May. In case you missed it, it’s been showing at Seven Gables in the U District for the last few weeks and sadly wraps up this week. Blackfish chronicles the history and current reality of orca whales captured by companies such as SeaWorld. Not unlike the 2009 dolphin documentary The Cove, Blackfish explores the intelligence and social structures of these sea mammals, and exposes their tragic mistreatment for our entertainment.
APRIL Summer Blockbuster
Northwest Film Forum, Thurs. 8/29 at 7 p.,m. $8 general ($12 includes 2 beers)
Authors, Publishers and Readers of Independent Literature (APRIL), a nominee for this year’s Stranger Genius Awards, took place this spring but continues year-round with events like this one. Poet Zachary Schomburg starts things off with a reading, then the night continues with a short video, raffle prizes and a screening of Jaws. Beer flows all night long, courtesy of Naked City.
VHS Night: Double Feature
SIFF Film Center, Thurs. 8/29 at 7 p.m., $7
Respected Seattle filmmaker Megan Griffiths has been hosting VHS-watching party nights at her house for a few years now and his night marks the beginning of perhaps a new tradition: watching these terrible VHSs on the big screen. Thursday’s selection? A double feature: Brandon Lee’s Laser Mission and the Barbarian Brothers' The Barbarians. Come by for “an evening of debaucheries, testosterone, and unabashed bad-movie-love,” where old VHS tapes are played through a shoddy VCR.
Tuck Goes to Hollywood!
Chop Suey, Fri. 8/30 at 9 p.m., $10 ($8 if you’re in drag)
A night of who’s who in Seattle drag with Alexa Manila, Mama Tits and RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinxx Monsoon, among many others. Enjoy performance antics from an array of talented drag queens, along with dancing for the masses, whether by queens, lezbros, fag hags or fruit flies (my new favorite gay term!). As the promo promises, this is "where Seattle’s Queens mix, mingle, and shake their sh*t!"
Richard Chiem, Rauan Klassnik, and Willie Fitzgerald
Elliott Bay Book Company, Sat. 8/31 at 7 p.m., FREE
I’m a huge lover of shorter-form fiction and tonight is a celebration of just that. Short story writer Richard Chiem is joined by poet Ruaun Klassnik and prose writer (and one of the founders of the APRIL festival) Willie Fitzgerald. It's a something-for-everyone readings night. I’m most titillated by the work of Klassnik, whose poems have are described as “portraits of rotting decadence” exploding off the page “like pipe bombs.”
“BUMBERSHOOTBLACKOUT”
Sunset Tavern, Tues. 9/3 at 8:30 p.m., $10
Chastity Belt’s single “Black Sail” has been getting a lot of play on KEXP but honestly the entire album, No Regrets is good. It’s fun, playfully vulgar girl rock driven by Julie Shapiro’s voice, which I absolutely love. They’ll be joined by fellow Seattle band Dude York and Amsterdam party rockers Mozes and the Firstborn.
What are you doing this weekend? Let us know in the comments area below. And if you hear of any interesting – under $15 - events in or around our grand city, please email editor@crosscut.com.
