$15 or Less: Thanksgiving Edition

Thanksgiving has alas come! Whether you’re spending the day hanging out with family, having an orphan feast like me, or re-re-watching the second Hunger Games movie, you may need to consult this list of local bars which are open on Thanksgiving. There's also Black Friday (stay indoors!), Small Business Saturday (see below) and the holiday edition of Swedish Pancake breakfast. And don't forget next Wednesday's Crosscut doubleheader: Civic Cocktail and Urban Hoedown! Keep reading.
 
A Tribute to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground
Columbia City Theater, Friday 11/29 at 9 p.m., $6 adv/$8 day of
Local bands commemorate Lou Reed’s passing with a night of covering their (and hopefully your) Reed favorites. Hounds of the Wild Hunt (who KEXP has been giving a bit of play to) will be performing an acoustic set, alongside a host of other acts, including Gibraltar. If you can’t get enough, Northwest Film Forum hosts another tribute to Lou Reed (in film clips, art AND, of course, more music) on Saturday evening.
 

The late, great Lou Reed. ktla.com
 
Indies First: Authors as Booksellers for a Day
Bookstores around Seattle (Elliott Bay, Secret Garden, etc.), Saturday, 11/30
This is the first Small Business Saturday cum Indies First, a special hybrid day initiated by local writer and Seattle favorite Sherman Alexie for us to celebrate our (dwindling) local bookstores with writers becoming booksellers. In April, Alexie was bookseller for a day at the Queen Anne Books reopening, and this year plans to be at Secret Garden books in Ballard and Elliott Bay for Indies First. He'll be joined by many other local authors, including Maria Semple. Stop by to get some Christmas shopping done, and see authors in action.
 
ArtAche and Hangover Flea Market
Chop Suey, Sunday 12/1 from 1- 6 p.m., FREE
Pop-up shop ArtAche and the Hangover Flea Market (formerly hosted at the Comet Tavern) combine forces for one awesome day of crafts, vintage finds and jewelry. Stick a $3 mimosa in your hand and browse to electro-music from local DJs. Now, that's a perfect Sunday morning.
 
Civic Cocktail
The Palace Ballroom, Wednesday 12/4, $12
Civic Cocktail is a monthly conversation about pressing civic issues brought to you by Crosscut, City Club and SeattleTV. This month's lineup includes ACLU’s Allison Holcomb (author of I-502) and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes talking about the future of marijuana in this greenest of states, followed by Randy Engstrom, director of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture, jawboning with Jeames Keblas, director of the Seattle Office of Film + Music, and Seattle Times’ Gabriel Campanario about Seattle culture. Joni Balter hosts. Food by Tom Douglas. 
 
First Annual Urbanist Hoedown
Impact Hub Seattle,Wednesday 12/4 from 5:30 to 8, FREE
Crosscut columnist Knute Berger, he of the magnificent beard, will be hosting Crosscut's first annual Urban Hoedown at Impact Hub in Pioneer Square. Berger's regular Mossback column focuses on Seattle history. At the Hoedown, he'll discuss the fascinating evolution of Northwest Urbanism, as explored in Crosscut's recent, 4Culture-sponsored series “Roots of Tomorrow: Urbanism in Our Blood.” And if that's not enough for you, there'll also be beer and music by Tamara Power-Drutis.
 
Coll Thrush
Waterfront at Olympic Sculpture Park, Wednesday 12/4 at 7 p.m., FREE
Coll Thrush, a local author and historian lectures on “Going 'Native': Urban Iconography and the Uses (and Abuses) of the Indigenous and Settler Past.” Seattle, he argues, is truly unique in that while “Every North American city is built on Indigenous land. ... few advertise this history like Seattle.” The lecture, presented by the Office of Arts & Culture and SDOT, is part of the long-awaited project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The vacant 26 acres will (eventually) be a public space, with plenty of public art. This is the first in a series of waterfront lectures!
 
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.