Fall Arts Preview 2013: Music
Fall offers a veritable satellite radio of music choices to match every mood
By Seattle Mag August 19, 2013
This article originally appeared in the September 2013 issue of Seattle magazine.
A CAPPELLA Experimental vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth earns automatic points for its excellent name. In addition, the group combines Tuvan throat singing with yodeling and pop-style belting, and one of the members is composer Caroline Shaw, who took home the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for music. We call that a win-win-win. 9/19. 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Town Hall. townhallseattle.org
BLUES A lesson in stick-to-it-iveness, gospel and R&B singer Mavis Staples has been performing for more than 60 years, and earned her first Grammy in 2011. In June, she released her 13th album, One True Vine, with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. If you haven’t heard her yet, trust that this woman can sing the hell out of any song. 9/27. 8 p.m. Prices vary. The Moore Theatre. stgpresents.org
BLUEGRASS Comedian Steve Martin is serious about his banjo playing. In recent years, he has won a Grammy and, in 2011, the International Bluegrass Music Association named him Entertainer of the Year. He’s touring with the Steep Canyon Rangers and songstress Edie Brickell. 10/2. 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Benaroya Hall. benaroyahall.com
JAZZ For its 25th anniversary, the Earshot Jazz Festival is going all out with an incredible lineup of 60 performances, including by local jazz stars Robin Holcomb, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, Cuong Vu and Samantha Boshnack, plus Manhattan Transfer and Philip Glass. 10/1–11/17. Times, prices and venues vary. earshot.org
OPERA It’s not always about horned helmets and blond braids. Witness the Seattle Opera production of The Daughter of the Regiment, a light, funny take on 19th-century composer Donizetti’s tomboy story, set in the 1940s. 10/19–11/2. Times and prices vary. McCaw Hall. seattleopera.com
SYMPHONY Having received an absolute rave review in The New Yorker this summer for its performance of a contemporary symphony by John Luther Adams, the Seattle Symphony is flying high on innovative programming, including the awesome (albeit confusingly titled) [untitled] series—late-night, clubby performances of new work, performed in the lobby of Benaroya Hall. 10/18. 10 p.m. $20. Benaroya Hall. seattlesymphony.org
ROCK Seattle’s indie Barsuk Records can boast having had Death Cab for Cutie, The Long Winters and Jesse Sykes on the roster before the bands rocketed to fame, so you can bet the label’s 15th-anniversary concert series is going to be killer. Check the website for the (TBD) lineup, then run—don’t walk—for tickets. 11/7–11/10. Times, venues and prices vary. barsuk.com
Follow Us
AANHPI Month: Where to Celebrate, Eat, and Learn Around Seattle
From festivals and museum exhibits to food tours and historic neighborhoods, here are a few ways to mark the month across the region.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month—known as AANHPI Month—is observed in the U.S. each May. It began as a weeklong observance in 1978 and expanded to the full month in 1992. Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities in the United States extend back much further, including to the late 16th century, when…
Black Panther Park in Skyway Becomes First Black Panther Park in the World
The new community garden honors the Black Panther Party’s legacy of food justice and the Skyway neighbors who helped bring it to life.
On a sunny Sunday earlier this month, at the corner of 75th Avenue and Renton Avenue South, the community gathered for the opening of Skyway’s Black Panther Park. Inspired by the Black Panther’s Free Breakfast for School Children program that compelled the federal government to provide breakfast in schools, Black Panther Park is a community…
Rearview Mirror: A Family Coming Apart, SIFF, and My First Fashion Show
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
The Family House A house can hold a lot, and Seattle Rep’s Appropriate knows that. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony-winning play, directed here by Timothy McCuen Piggee, drops the Lafayette siblings into their late father’s hoarded, falling-apart Arkansas plantation home for an estate sale, and lets the whole thing crack open from there. The sibling dynamics are…
Studio Sessions: Raili Jänese
The Kirkland painter brings a playful eye to daily life and the little rituals of being human.
Artist Raili Jänese pays close attention to the small stuff. It might be a goose on the move, a rabbit in the yard, or a person lost in the rituals of coffee or cooking. The Estonian-born artist, now based in Kirkland, makes colorful acrylic works that turn everyday behavior—human and animal alike—into something funny and…