WINTER
SEAT TLE ART & PERFOR M ANCE QUARTERLY Vol. 1, No. 4 Winter 2012–2013
BUY ART! SERIOUSLY, FOR REAL, IT’S TIME
WINTER FICTION CONTEST WINNER (AND THE $500 GOES TO…)
HOW MUCH DO NOVELISTS MAKE? HOW DO DRAG QUEENS PAY THE BILLS? CAN YOU MAKE A FILM IN ARGENTINA FOR LESS THAN $10K?
ARTS
KEEP YOUR BRAIN WARM—THIS SEASON’S
DEFINITIVE GUIDE
the hobbit PREMIERE DEC 14th 12:01am (Thu Midnight) FRI. DEC 14th 2:30 7:00 11:15 SAT. DEC 15th - THU. DEC 20th 10:15 2:30 7:00 11:15
On The Road Premiere January 25th “It’s beautifully shot, handsomely mounted and well cast ...” Alan Jones, Radio Times
“Bold, affecting and inherently sad.” Philip French, Observer [UK]
“Visually and aurally it is a constant pleasure.” Todd McCarthy , Hollywood Reporter
TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE Superior Technology - Come see the latest upgrades!
2100 4th Ave, Belltown 98121 Tickets avail. at Cinerama.com
Seattle Art & Performance Quarterly WINTER 2012–2013
seattleaandp.com COVER ART
by James Yamasaki INTERVIEWS ABOUT ART AND MONEY . . . . . . . . p. 4
Three working artists, two philanthropists, and one person who’s a little bit of both
OPERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 17
Rebecca Brown on how much it costs to make an opera FICTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 19
FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 7
“Gingrich” by John Englehardt
How to make a feature film in Argentina for $9,000
POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 21
PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . p. 7
In praise of Seattle actor Charles Norris FIREPLACES. . . . . . . . . . . . p. 7
God they’re great ARCHITECTURE . . . . . . . . . p. 8
Charles Mudede on the brilliance of the Bullitt Center LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8
How much does a novelist like Jonathan Evison make?
With 400+ events each year across a broad range of topics and genres, there is always something happening at Town Hall!
WINTER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
“Sinsemilla” by Belle Randall, with an introduction by Heather McHugh
Nancy Unger
WINTER CALENDAR Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Classical & Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Readings & Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
American Women in Environmental History
1/16/13
To get an event listed in the spring issue of A&P (covering March, April and May), send details by February 1 to calendar@seattleaandp.com. For advertising information, contact adinfo@seattleaandp. com or 206-323-7101.
ART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 11
art@seattleaandp.com performance@seattleaandp.com classical@seattleaandp.com opera@seattleaandp.com jazz@seattleaandp.com readings@seattleaandp.com film@seattleaandp.com
If you don’t already collect art, you are doing life wrong—a manifesto by Jen Graves CLASSICAL MUSIC . . . . . . p. 15
A late-night performance of Pierrot Lunaire in Benaroya’s lobby
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Neil Shubin The Universe Within
1/17/13
sponsored by
Suzi Eszterhas
KELLY O
JINKX MONSOON P. 4 “I put myself through Cornish by working as the janitor.”
Wildlife Photograhy
2/1/13
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WINTER 2012
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ART/PERFORMANCE
Jinkx Monsoon (aka Jerick Hoffer) performs at Julia’s every Friday and in Homo for the Holidays Dec 14–24 at Odd Fellows West Hall
Ahamefule J. Oluo,
The Lineup
Town Hall’s artist in residence, performs music and comedy in Now I’m Fine Dec 9
Interviews with Three Artists, Two Philanthropists, and One Person Who’s a Little Bit of Both
Wes Hurley directed Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel, which premiered at SLGFF in October
You’re a full-time artist now, but what day jobs have you had? I worked for years as an independent apartment cleaner. I put myself through Cornish College of the Arts by working as the janitor. I’d wake up at around 4:30, go clean the school, go to all my classes, go to rehearsal, go home, and then do it all again. But anyone who had to work for their education will tell you it’s rewarding because you take nothing for granted. Every year I got to stay in school felt like a privilege. I was a straight-A student.
How many hours a week do you work on art stuff— performing, rehearsing, finding gigs? On average, maybe 75 hours. I spend all of my time doing that in hopes of a future where maybe I don’t have to. But I know that’s a lie! It’s 90 percent administrative work: sending e-mails, the stuff every job entails. It’s like you’re a company and trying to run that company.
Is being a full-time performer glamorous? It’s like they say about the economy—1 percent of performers get to have that glamorous lifestyle, and the rest of us are biting and scratching and clawing our way through. You can be at the 5th Avenue one week, and the next week singing at a charity event at a crab shack in West Seattle. Every time you think you’ve made your big break, it’s just one step forward. But every step forward is a step worth taking.
So much work for so little money—why do you keep doing it? I’ve wanted to be a multidisciplinary artist since I was 6 years old. But I didn’t have any direction—my family didn’t have the luxury of “direction.” We were superpoor, lived in a car for brief periods. I just knew I wanted to be onstage for the rest of my life. Performing and creating things are so tied in to my self-esteem that if I ever stopped, I don’t know what would happen.
What projects should philanthropists donate to? If you invest in a project that has a social or political message you really agree with, you’re not only investing in art and those people’s careers, you’re investing in social outreach and social work.
Is there anything you’d like to say, as a working artist, to arts philanthropists? There’s a serious lack of communication between the people who make the art and the people who fund the art. I’ve been doing this all my life, and I don’t know anyone who works on that aspect. I don’t even know anyone’s name who works on that aspect. If you get a different answer from someone, would you call me up and let me know how they’re doing that? Because I would like to know!
What’s one of the big misconceptions about your line of work? That it’s easy. Maybe because of karaoke or whatever. And being a gender illusionist is more than putting on a wig and makeup. When it looks like I’m just wearing underwear, I’m actually wearing six layers of clothes! You’re on the next season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. What’s the grand prize if you win? The winner of the race receives $100,000, a lifetime supply of makeup, and the headlining spot on the Absolut Vodka Drag Race Tour. But Drag Race queens benefit the most from the national exposure. Q
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
Does that pay the bills? No! It gets figured out, but I make very small amounts.
You’ve used Kickstarter to fund projects, right? I just used it for the first time to help pay for the huge show I’m doing at Town Hall on December 9. It was a bizarre experience, because I don’t want my day-to-day to be about money—part of my admittedly smug idea of artistic integrity. But the moment it hit its goal, I felt this amazing feeling that my peers wanted to see this project come to life. Q
Is the life of a working artist glamorous? No. It is exciting in a sense—I grew up in a part of the Soviet Union that was abandoned by everybody, in the far east, and there was no art-making. The artistic community seemed as exotic and far-fetched as astronauts or people who go to the jungle to hunt things. So I still catch myself thinking, I’m hanging out with a circus performer and an amazing singer and a painter, and I get excited. How do the artists you know get by? Everybody’s different, supporting themselves differently—teaching, working as a real-estate agent. You have to find ways to fundraise, to get your work out there. It’s rough because you still need a lot of energy to actually create. Everybody’s just trying to figure out their own way to survive and continue to make art. And hopefully save some for retirement. Are you saving for retirement? Not at all! I still have credit-card debt from my last movie, and I have to spend more money on submission fees for festivals or whatever. How do you fund film projects? I’m really bad at asking for money. There’s a part of me that feels guilty for asking. There are people starving, so why would you give a hundred grand to make a movie? Other artists would hate, hate, hate me for saying it, but artists are not the most important people on the planet. I would make movies no matter what, even if I were homeless, even if I’m on my deathbed, but I don’t expect the world to revolve around me. Q
These interviews have been condensed.
Glenn Kawasaki,
Ruth Keating Lockwood, philanthropist, drummer
philanthropist, geneticist, director of four biotech companies
Shari Behnke, philanthropist
Questions by Brendan Kiley Portraits by Kelly O
How did you get started as an arts philanthropist? Kent [Stowell] and Francia [Russell] were my friends for 10 years before I discovered they ran Pacific Northwest Ballet. I would talk with them on my morning walks with my Welsh corgi. Kent and Francia asked me to join the PNB board, and I entered the looking glass of professional dance in Seattle. Dancers are remarkable athletes and quick learners. I continue to be in awe of and inspired by dance. You and your foundation give to so many organizations: PNB, Velocity, On the Boards, Zoe | Juniper, science foundations. How do you decide? The most important factor is how much money is needed for a specific purpose. Experienced arts organizations will usually ask to meet to discuss a project or a program. These asks are very specific. My decisions are also influenced by personal interactions with officers and artists, audience size, and my like/dislike of the performances. Being Asian has swayed me a little toward supporting Asian-related events. My girlfriend also encourages me to contribute to causes of her liking. No real rules. How much do you think you’ve given? Overall, including donations to the foundation, I have gifted $8 million since 2000. Parenthetically, I had only $4,000 in savings and not much else in 1988. I have been extremely lucky. What are some misconceptions about art donors? Most people believe other causes have higher priorities. Saving lives is probably the best reason to contribute. I don’t have the resources to make a significant difference in a large matter such as education. My businesses are involved with health, so I feel I am making (or at least trying to make) a positive difference in medicine. My level of gifts, however, can make a significant difference to local arts organizations. Q
How did you get started in philanthropy? I moved here in 2009 with my family, but in New York I helped start the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, a music and mentoring program. The thing that gets me fired up is social change through art.
You’ve just started the New Foundation Seattle. We are acquiring work for national museums from artists living and working here now. We’re also giving money to the UW School of Art. When you have a strong school of art, you have a good working community of artists.
How come? Part of it was personal, playing out at a time when there were very few women onstage compared to men, especially as a drummer. What got me hooked on Willie Mae was teaching girls to play drums and seeing how transformative that experience can be. They’d come into it shy and reserved, just kinda tapping on the drum. By the end of the week, they’re loud! They’re screaming on the stage, and they carry that with them into their schools and families. I found Reel Grrls and started working there, and I joined the board of On the Boards last fall. Reel Grrls also has a rock ’n’ roll vibe—you don’t know everything about this camera, but we’re giving you support and telling you to make a movie. [Young people] get sold a lot of stuff by adult marketers, but their view is underrepresented.
You’re selling some of your collection to fund it? I had bought, 10 years ago, a Louise Bourgeois sculpture, and it went up in value quite a bit, so we sold it to Christie’s in New York. It was a small-edition piece called Spider Home. It sold for more than $500,000. That was seed money.
How do you feel about the word “philanthropist”? Words like “philanthropy” and “empowerment” have gotten a bad rap for the way they’re used, but the concept behind them is still powerful. It’s empowering to give your time and your expertise. It can be a powerful experience for people of any income level. When you talk about philanthropy, it’s easy to get into this rarefied air of Oh, I sit on the board of the opera and I contribute all this money, but it’s really about the experience of sitting in a room and having this transformative, shared experience together. To me, it’s nothing short of miraculous. Q
Is it a fraught decision to part with an artwork? Age has something to do with it. I turned 60, my son had a son, my mom died—all of those things have made me more aware of mortality and moving on. So yes, but also no. Because the reality of ending life might be more in my forefront than in yours. The term “philanthropist” can be loaded. It’s taken me a while to accept that word. There’s this idea of This person is giving a million, but they have 10 billion—so what? But I also know a lot of people who have money and don’t give any. It’s better to help the community than not. Is the life of an arts philanthropist glamorous? Glamour? It’s an overblown fantasy. It’s very, very difficult to give money away because you always question: Is this the right way? Is this the right person? Will this make a difference? And saying no is always hard. The other side is that everybody who calls you wants something. Knowing that when the phone rings, it’s somebody who wants money… that’s not glamorous. You just had a wedding anniversary with your husband, John Behnke—did you celebrate? We went to First Thursday and debated about whether to buy a piece of art. Q WINTER 2012
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
How to Make a Great Film for Only $9,000 Five Frames from Zach Weintraub’s The International Sign for Choking by Charles Mudede Olympia-based filmmaker Zach Weintraub’s second film was shot entirely in Argentina. Half of the $9,000 budget went to plane tickets, and the other half went to food and housing (the actors and crew were paid nothing). The mayor of the small town of Colón, Hugo Marso, gave Weintraub vouchers for the town’s hotels and restaurants in exchange for the town getting a beautiful role in the film. This scene, which has gorgeous curtains, owes its existence to the vouchers that the mayor gave to Weintraub. While using the vouchers for a free lunch at Akaroa, a restaurant in the heart of Colón, Weintraub decided to shoot a scene as he ate. Why not? The waitress got to play herself, and Weintraub added another beautiful moment to his film for nothing.
Now You Can Die Happy,
Charles Norris
C
harles Norris’s face is a sympathy magnet. Round, open, and sincere, it draws attention the moment he walks—or shuffles or bounds—onto a stage. His recent performance in Seattle Public Theater’s production of Superior Donuts as Franco, the plucky doughnut-shop assistant who gets into some Chicago-style trouble with loNot That We cal bookies, was a shining example. In one Would Want You vivid scene, Franco challenged the shop owner, Arthur (an ex-hippie stuck in a rut To! We’re Just of apathy), to a “racist test” of naming 10 Saying You’re black poets. Norris sharpened the mostly Amazing! playful exchange with a hint of wounded seriousness, adding tension to every laugh line. “I’m impressed!” he crowed midway through the test. “You just answered the four black poets who might be in your crossword puzzle!” Norris graduated from Cornish in 2007 and hasn’t tackled any canonical show-off roles (yet)—no Hamlets or Stanley Kowalskis. But he’s already become one of those actors who inspire relief by simply showing up. No matter what happens up there, he’s always worth watching. Q
Two Fireplaces You Wish You Were Sitting in Front of Right Now by Bethany Jean Clement
The wallpaper in the story is not wallpaper in reality. In reality, it’s fabric Weintraub bought in Buenos Aires’s fabric district, called Once, for $100 and hung on the walls. The illusion of wallpaper (the ability to replace one piece of fabric with another in no time) meant one room could play many rooms.
The film tells the story of two Americans who first meet in Buenos Aires, of a relationship that may or may not become something. The house Weintraub rented for his crew and actors, in the Belgrano district, is also the house that’s rented by the characters in the movie. The fancy dress Anna is putting on is owned by the woman playing her, Sophia Takal, and was picked by the director before leaving the United States.
This room, piano, and window are owned by the man playing the piano, Roger Delahaye, a citizen of Buenos Aires. He, like the other actors in the film, received no payment for his performance.
KELLY O
The Fireside Room 900 Madison Street The tiles surrounding the namesake of the Sorrento’s Fireside Room came from the Rookwood Pottery Company of Cincinnati, founded by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer in 1880. The capacious hearth and surround are a dignified, deep forest green; around the firebox runs a bas-relief border of grapes, plums, and other assorted fruit, while above, a tranquil scene of a garden with a domed pavilion, untroubled by people, is depicted in the Arts and Crafts style. Ripe fruit and an undrizzly vista: When the fireplace was installed upon the Sorrento’s opening in 1909, these signified the lap of luxury in wintertime Seattle. Still, now, to sit in front of this fireplace is to sit in that lap. The two leather wingback chairs there are marked with an “S” in the spot where you might rest your head while dozing a moment; they’re each almost broad enough for two, their arms very slightly, genteelly
worn. A large lozenge of leather ottoman awaits your feet. The fire itself is gas, with realistic enough fake logs; the flames are a bit thin on the starboard side at the moment, but all is still cozily warm and flickering bright. For best results, order an amber-colored drink.
The Arctic Club 700 Third Avenue The only hotel fireplace in the city that begins to compare to that at the Sorrento may be found in the lobby of the Arctic Club, straight ahead from the marble-floored entry. The tile here is sedately unornamented, and the massive oak mantel is marked with only shallowly carved ionic columns, a subtle seal, and the discoloration of the overenthusiastic fires or unopened dampers of the past. Two deep-red velvet two-seater couches flank the fireplace, waiting to be sunk into, and the marvelously accented barkeep at the lobby’s Polar Bar is at the ready.
WINTER 2012
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ARCHITECTURE
Anatomy of a Building by Charles Mudede What It Is: The Bullitt Center, scheduled to open April 2013 Where It Is: 15th and Madison, the corner once occupied by C.C. Attle’s, a bear bar How Much It Cost: $18.5 million Huge solar panels cover the roof. Time magazine recently stated that this building, designed by the local firm Miller Hull Partnership, will be completely off the power grid, but that’s not precisely true. During the winter months, the building will turn to the grid for power, but on the sunny days of summer, the solar panels will actually generate more energy than the building needs and so will return surplus power to the grid.
Back here is a remarkable staircase. It’s enclosed in glass, and so the higher the floor, the better the view. Elevators continually add to the energy costs of a building; stairs, once built, do not. But people naturally prefer not to use their own energy to get around. They’d rather exploit the energy of something else—a car, a rickshaw, an elevator. How do you solve this conflict? Make the convenience of using something else’s energy lower than the reward of expending your own. In the Bullitt, that reward is the spectacular view from within the glassenclosed staircase.
The building’s water will be supplied entirely by the clouds. The rainwater will be collected from the roof, led down to a 52,000-gallon cistern in the basement, and filtered, passed under UV light, and treated with a touch of chlorine in the process.
Tenants will include the building’s owner, the Bullitt Foundation, founded in 1952 by the late Dorothy S. Bullitt to protect the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest. Bullitt was a pioneer in broadcast journalism and the first woman in the country to own a TV station—King Broadcasting Company. Denis Hayes is the current president and CEO of the foundation and an environmentalist with a history that stretches back to the Carter administration. He headed the Solar Energy Research Institute until Reagan slashed a huge chunk of its funding and effectively fired him. Hayes’s parting words to Reagan and his kind, as recorded in the Seattle Times: “[You are] dull gray men in dull gray suits in dull gray offices thinking dull gray thoughts and writing dull gray reports.”
COURTESY MILLER HULL PARTNERSHIP
Human waste will be stored in the basement, treated for viruses and bacteria, transformed into fertilizer, and transported to forests far from the city.
The spirit of the Bullitt Center will not leave this little park (McGilvra Place) untouched. For one, the road that separates the building from McGilvra will be closed and transformed into a part of the park, which, when the renovation is completed, will offer parking for bikes, tables for games, benches for seating, and a rain garden. It will be a nest of paradise.
How Much Do Novelists Make? Jonathan Evison Opens His Wallet by Paul Constant The amount that Jonathan Evison made for his first eight books—six novels, one memoir, and one story collection—which he says “were all unpublished, and will mercifully remain unpublished.”
0
$
The advance that Soft Skull Press gave Evison for his ninth book, and first published novel, All About Lulu. The money was “paid out in two payments, half on signing, and half on publication.”
4,500
$
Approximately how much Evison made a week at his day job as a landscaper. He worked 25 hours a week— “just enough to get by”—while writing and editing Lulu.
300
$
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
Amount Soft Skull paid to send Evison on tour in support of Lulu. Instead, Evison managed his tour like a punk rock band, couch-surfing his way through a tour of nine western cities, bringing two friends along with him. “I paid for every meal, every beer, and the rare hotel, all out of pocket,” Evison says, “for all of us.”
0
$
The amount $ of money Evito $ son spent on beer and Jell-O shots, which he would bring to readings and share with the audience and bookstore staff. “The tour pretty much wiped out the advance,” he admits.
100
150
The royalties Evison earned during the first three years of Lulu’s sales. “I negotiated great
40,000
$
royalty rates,” he explains, “including foreign sales and the like.” He still gets one or two small royalty checks a year. In 2012, they totaled about $3,000.
15,000
$
Film rights for All About Lulu, earned over a threeyear period. (The book has still not been successfully adapted to film.) The advance Evison received from Algonquin Books for his third published novel, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving. It’s the most he’s made on a single book by far. How
75,000
$
did he get there? Evison’s advice for aspiring novelists: “Maintain low financial expectations. Don’t necessarily go for the money right out of the gate.” Big advances might be tempting, but more important is finding “a publisher that will really champion you and help you build an audience,” and publishers like that are often not the same publishers that can write big paychecks up front. It could be years after your first book before you’re able to make a living at it. “In short,” Evison concludes, “don’t quit your day job.”
10,000
$
The movie option for Fundamentals.
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WINTER 2012
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NO, YOU ’RE WEIRD! © J O H N F LU E VO G S H O E S | Q U E E N T R A N S C E N D E N T E L I Z A B E T H
JOHN FLUEVOG SHOES PINE ST · · F LU E VO G C O M
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
ART
BUY ART!
If You Have Never Bought a Piece of Original Art, You Are Doing Life Wrong by Jen Graves
S
eattle is a terrible place to sell art. Dealers and artists will all, universally, tell you this. Nobody buys art here. Galleries barely stay open, and then they don’t, and then artists leave town just as they’re beginning to become interesting, and everybody asks, “What happened?” even though nobody has ever bought any art here. This has to change. This is a manifesto. I’m talking to you. You are an average Seattle person. You are not wealthy. You are the 99 percent. The last time you avoided an art gallery out of intimidation or slunk out of one feeling out of your depth? That was the final time. Right here, right now—this is the end of your lifelong career of never once having bought a piece of original art. I don’t care what you buy. I don’t care how much it costs. But you will buy something. We are going to change this city right now. Let’s begin with the following basic understanding: You are not buying art to make anyone rich. Approximately point-zero-zero-one percent of artists ever make as much money over the span of their entire careers as a Microsoft or Amazon employee in a single year. If you are concerned that your art purchasing will create a class of brats, then your concern ought to be placed elsewhere in your consumption cycle. But you would be correct if you assumed that what we’re really talking about is money. And talking about money in art is no easier than talking about money anywhere else. An episode I witnessed recently brought it all together. A man in a suit was kneeling on a carpeted floor. This was on VIP night at the inaugural Seattle Affordable Art Fair in November, and he was at the booth for Portland gallery Fourteen30 Contemporary. The man was trying to figure out how much the art cost. But the label that told him how much for that lovably odd oblong red painting on the wall was waaaaaaaaay down at floor level. The “Affordable” part of the Affordable Art Fair includes rules such as You must list your prices on the walls with the art—but Fourteen30 doesn’t use wall labels at its actual location in Portland because they distract from looking at the art itself. “So labels on the floor, six-point font: That was my solution,” said Fourteen30 owner Jeanine Jablonski. “Labels are visually distracting—people immediately go to text. I know I do. I would rather have a conversation with someone. But people are shy.” People are shy. Many of them, even if they are dressed-up VIPs, would rather kneel on the floor than ask the elegant woman near
the desk who made something or how much it is. Money is embarrassing. Money in art, even more so. It is a truth in the art world that you are less likely to see labels on the walls the higher the cost of the artworks. If you think of artworks as “ascending” from the artist’s studio to the gallery and finally to the museum, well, the museum is the place where you will never, ever, ever see a price tag at all. The art there is so legitimized that it has been removed from the market entirely. You can know almost anything else about an artwork at a museum, but if you were to ask how much it cost, you would be met either with blank stares—the guards and reception clerks certainly don’t know—or with administration-level squirming.
I
once wrote, somewhere on the internet, that I never wrote a negative review as a way of deterring people from actually seeing the art themselves, to which someone responded, “Then you completely misunderstand your role to give me consumer reports.” But art has a double economy. One economy is nearly free. The other—where you actually buy—is perceived to be basically impossible to enter unless you’re a Rockefeller. Yes, the art that’s sold for millions and makes headlines for its auction records, etc., etc., no, you cannot afford that art. But who cares? The world is jammed with 99 percent art. This is you. You want to own something that means something to you. The pleasure of an original thing is that, like anything you truly love, it attaches itself to the original part of you and builds it like a muscle, makes you feel more like you. It also connects you to someone else, the artist—but you don’t have to tend that relationship, it’s just there, simple, pure. You never have to meet the artist if you don’t want to, but if you want to, you can ask the artist all about this thing you now have, and you will find that the artist also wants to hear what you see in it, and eventually you will both agree that neither of you really penetrates what the thing fully is, which is maybe why both of you love it so much. Let’s say you have a couple more criteria: Maybe you would prefer art by someone local, someone who does not have a leg up in the 1 percent game of the international art world. And: You do not have money to burn. Here’s what you should know about what is affordable—a vital fact: Every gallery wants to help you buy something if you love it. (They are not in this for the money because what money?) Pay what you can every month, with zero interest. This is common. This is how it works. A work of art that
I BOUGHT TH IS TH ING AND I LOVE IT
I first saw Baso Fibonacci’s art on the streets around town: murals, wheat-pasted prints. During SIFF this spring, I went to Cafe Kanape off Broadway a lot, and Baso was having a show there of his wonderful wild-animal paintings: raccoon, grizzly bear, lynx, red panda, porcupine. When I contacted him, the owl painting I liked was already sold—but he offered to paint me my own owl. I took him up on it. The painting is oil enamel on glass (28 by 23 inches, $500), and this grave owl now watches over my home. GILLIAN ANDERSON
I found this beguiling thing at Ghost Gallery. I saw it and could not leave without it. Could not stop looking at it. What is it? A sculpture? Something else? It’s hard-plastic ribbons of various widths pinned to a board. From across the room, it looks 2-D, until you move in any direction: When your perspective changes, it changes. It’s called Loopholes. It’s 12.5 by 12.5 inches. It was $100. According to the back, the artist is Adriana Phillips. I love you, Adriana Phillips, whoever you are. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
This photograph hangs on my kitchen wall. I bought it at Photo Center Northwest for $100, but I don’t remember the photographer or the title. The main color is red, as if depicting the lurid dream of the halfempty ketchup bottle. True, nothing much is happening in the photo, but it never fails to hold my attention for a moment or two. Whenever I enter the kitchen, the image makes me aware not only of its own presence but the presence of all the other objects around me. What kind of dreams are the spoons, forks, bowls, fridge, and washer having? And all of these sleeping objects, like this picture on the wall, are mine. All mine. CHARLES MUDEDE
Every gallery wants to help you buy something if you love it. Pay what you can every month, with zero interest.
I came across Nathan Lambdin’s 5/13—To and From at the opening of Ghost Gallery in April 2010. Lambdin fashioned a contraption that held a few dozen markers, pressed them to the paper, and let the ink soak in on one side. He then dragged them across the paper and did the same on the other side, creating a similar, but not identical, pattern. I bought it for $300, and it’s about 36 inches wide. I love how this piece is all about the process of making it, and the meaning is left to whatever each individual viewer brings to it. AARON HUFFMAN
WINTER 2012
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An Unconventional Art Gallery
Prints & Paintings by Northwest Artists ANDY WARHOL’S FLOWERS FOR TACOMA ON VIEW THROUGH FEBRUARY 10, 2013
www.TacomaArtMuseum.org Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1970. Screen print on paper 36 × 36 inches. © 2012 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Andy Warhol’s Flowers for Tacoma is organized by Tacoma Art Museum, with the acknowledgement of the generosity of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Generously supported by the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and
Earn your 15 minutes of fame in Warholstyle glam this New Year’s Eve.
Unleash your inner celebrity. Dance the night away. See the art of Andy Warhol. $50 per person. Gold VIP $100. Platinum VIP $150 This event will sell out. Buy your tickets today! www.TacomaArtMuseum.org
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
Creative Decor ~ Quality Frames ~ Fine Cards & Gifts theartstudy.com | University Village | 206.525.2400
Collectors all over are hooked on Terry Turrell, one of Seattle’s great folk artists. He cobbles together whatever discarded Americana is at hand, and he carves and paints wood figurines that are unusually alive for being so stiff. At the Hop, this 2012 piece made of wood, tin, wire, oil, and enamel at Grover/Thurston Gallery—standing 8 inches high—is on the low end of his price range at $1,600. groverthurston.com
Things You Could Buy Right Now by Jen Graves
This drawing stole my heart at Platform Gallery in November. It’s a tiny perfect world in pencil, by New York artist Michael Schall, for $700. It’s called Wooden Rink (2012) and the image measures 6.25 by 5 inches (on a 15-by-17-inch paper). platformgallery.com Cullom Gallery is a hidden wonderland in the International District. This foldedand-cut-paper piece is an ideal example: By Tokyo-based artist Ryohei Tanaka, it’s called The Horizontals, it was made in 2010, it measures 11.25 by 5.75 inches, and it costs $275. cullomgallery.com
Seattle artist Julie Alpert’s November show at Gallery4Culture featured rows of haunting watercolors the artist calls “negative positive pattern paintings.” Each one depicts a room decorated with ghost furniture, ghost vacuums, ghost computers, ghost fireplaces. Somewhere deep in your mind, you know these rooms. Office is $350 and 10.5 by 9.5 inches. juliealpert.com Congolese photographer Baudouin Mouanda has been making images of the postcolonial sapeurs, or African dandies, in Brazzaville—members of the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People—since the 1990s, and the pictures are sensational (obviously). They’re 24 by 36 inches, at M.I.A. Gallery, and the price for each varies according to its place in the edition (each edition is 10 plus 2 artist proofs), ranging from $2,000 to $3,000. m-i-a-gallery.com
Buying art by someone famous isn’t for everybody, but it’s far from impossible. This gorgeous, 14-by11-inch gelatin silver print by one of the early masters of photography, Minor White, is called Mobil Station, San Francisco (1949), and it’s $7,500 at G. Gibson Gallery. ggibsongallery.com
Be adventurous: Buy a video. (No, it does not include a monitor.) This one, Being Part Of… (2:20 minutes, edition of 3), is a split-screen take on real-life rehearsals for a military parade. One side focuses on the individual faces. The other side depicts faceless men disappearing into the crowd but becoming part of a larger whole. It’s an inventive portrait of masculinity and also a river of abstract patterns, and it’s by rising Seattle artist Rodrigo Valenzuela—you should probably get in on his work early. It’s $1,000 at PUNCH Gallery. rodrigovalenzuela.com
costs $1,200 looks like it’s out of reach; I know I can’t spend that right now. But $100 a month for a year? How much was that last night of going out? How much was that sweater, dinner, cab ride? And you are paying how much in rent? Want a work of art enough and you will have it. It’s not about affordability. It’s about knowing that this is possible, and knowing you can ask to make it work. Knowing that dealers and artists want you to ask to make it work. The good ones don’t care how much money you have. They care how much love you have. Another reason to buy art: because a city cannot live on project managers and engineers alone. Because buying art is a way to notify artists that their presence is wanted. (Because it is most likely not going to pay their bills.) Do you know how many artists have considered stopping making art or leaving this place they love, but stayed and kept on just because of one or two or three encouraging art sales? It doesn’t take much. Dealers in Seattle are likewise not fat cats. Greg Kucera,
the most established contemporary dealer, is no Larry Gagosian. (Gagosian is the mob boss of New York art, with locations spread across the globe.) Kucera boycotted the Affordable Art Fair in large part because he objected to the name. Basically, he was offended. After 30 years of making art affordable and accessible in Seattle, who’s this outfit coming in and pretending they’re presenting something new? (The Affordable Art Fair is a franchise out of the UK.) And screw those guys for focusing on price rather than quality. The lack of qualitative focus was apparent in the fair’s selection of certain out-of-town galleries that filled their booths with floor-to-ceiling displays of truly dismal art displayed like magnets on a gift shop carousel—$10 would have been too much to pay for that stuff. Some Seattle dealers refused to put on the walls the signs provided by the fair’s organizers that barked “Under a thousand dollars!” It just felt too bargain-basement. As Kucera insisted, We already have affordable art in Seat-
tle. There is something undignified about having to point that out after all these years. “I just checked my own inventory, and we have work under $500 by Shimomura, Newport, Daws, Calderon, Fitch, Livingston, Beecher, Dzama, Webb,” Kucera said in an e-mail. “At under $1,000, it includes work by just about everyone else.” We’re talking Andy Warhol to Kara Walker, Alice Wheeler to Whiting Tennis and Victoria Haven. Dirk Park, who started up the respected Aqua Art Miami held at Art Basel Miami Beach every December, told me at the Affordable Art Fair—where he was representing his own small new gallery in Seattle, Prole Drift, and where he ended up selling not one single piece of art but felt grateful that after three days of standing in the booth, he made contacts for his artists—that he’s personally never bought anything more than $1,000. “And if I go over $500, Jaq [Chartier, his wife and a painter] and I have to agree. I do other things to sustain WINTER 2012
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Critics and Prices I by Jen Graves
t’s one of the conventions of art criticism: Thou shalt not talk about art in terms of money. There are good reasons for this, one being that the price of a work of art can be genuinely irrelevant information. There is a stark dividing line between looking at art (which is almost always either free or affordable and imparts its own kind of experiential value) and possessing art. Theater and music writers list how much a performance will cost, while art critics list prices for admission, not possession. When you buy a museum ticket, your eyes are renting art you can’t buy— the art in museums is neither for sale nor could you likely afford it if it were. At art galleries, admission is free, but the difference from museums is that you have the option to buy. Still, even when I write about a gallery show, I don’t tell you how much pieces cost. It’s just a standard of the profession: Art critics don’t list art prices.
ourselves financially,” he said. “This is a project.” Meanwhile, Park was selling hot-colored portraits of rock stars like Stevie Nicks and Ann and Nancy Wilson at prices that surpassed anything he’d ever paid personally (but still under the fair’s bar of $10,000). That’s because some people can pay those amounts, and a single one of those sales can finance a whole new series of works.
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HENRY ART GALLERY THROUGH JANUARY 27
HENRYART.ORG
Image: Jeffry Mitchell. Work-in-progress. 2012. Photo: Merith Bennett
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
ffordable art really is everywhere. If for your first foray into art-buying you really can’t spend more than $300, here are a few galleries at the very lowest price range to try: Bherd, Blindfold, Cullom, Davidson, Gallery4Culture, Ghost, Prole Drift, Punch, SOIL, Roq La Rue, Season, True Love, Vermillion. (There also are artistrun online sales sites, like Seattle Catalog at www.seacat.co, and low-cost local art mail subscriptions you can buy, like LxWxH.) But with even a modest payment plan, you owe it to yourself to get to Foster/White, G. Gibson, Grover/Thurston, James Harris, Greg Kucera, Linda Hodges, Platform, Traver— and to consider the higher-priced works also available at places like Davidson, Prole Drift, Roq La Rue, and Season. If you want to buy but are truly intimidated by the idea of committing to a payment plan, consider starting with prints. A print is a limited-edition object created and controlled by an artist and meant to be a print. In case the terminology is new to you, a print is completely different than a poster. A poster is a photograph of something else—usually a painting—reproduced in an unlimited edition by a business entity that has nothing to do with the artist. Buying a poster is not buying art. The home of antique prints and maps in Seattle is Davidson; another great prints place is Cullom. In my living room, I have two prints from Davidson. One is a hand-colored etching by Isaac Robert Cruikshank ($85). It was an illustration for a satire published in 1822 called My Cousin in the Army. A skinny, bug-eyed soldier with pants up by his nipples holds a sword aloft over a trio of rich old biddies and their rapt pets in a horribletchotchke parlor. Cruikshank engraved the plate with the image on it. He hand-colored a prototype. Then production workers handinked the object in my house. My other print is called Shrimps! (plainly the best title for a work of art, ever; $60). The
But would it be a bad thing for art and artists if the line between looking and possessing were less stark? What about for audiences? As art critics, do we implicitly support a system built on inequity when we leave out information that would point to the fact that most people can only afford to vicariously experience what certain people can take home and live with? Or is even entertaining that thought inviting more trouble than it’s worth? (Capitalism begins unraveling in the mind…) A few months ago, noticing that an artist was showing powerful works that were also extraordinarily affordable, I broke my silence and mentioned at the end of a piece of writing that, by the way, those great pieces only cost $300. Did I violate a rule I should have followed? Should The Stranger (and A&P) change our policy and list prices with art reviews? Would it mean anything, or change anything, if we did? We’re listing the prices of art along with our art coverage in this issue of A&P, just as an experiment, to see how we feel about it. And you? Tell us what you think in the comments to this story online at seattleaandp.com. Q
image comes from an oil painting (to me, an amusingly terrible one, but one held by the National Gallery in London) by a great printmaker, 18th-century Englishman William Hogarth—a buxom peasant girl balancing a platter of shrimps on her head, wearing a toothy smile and an expression of such delight, it suggests lobotomy. In my print, she looks just as in the painting, but with her left nipple exposed like a tiny bomb in the image. It’s hilarious. But who made the joke? An actual Hogarth print would cost more than $60, and the engraving is dated 1782, when Hogarth died in 1764. The story is that Hogarth made the oil sketch with the nipple, but his widow commissioned a print of it from printmakerto-the-king Francesco Bartolozzi. The plate is Bartolozzi. The nipple joke is Hogarth. Davidson happens to be one of Kucera’s local favorites. “I buy stuff from Sam Davidson”—Davidson Galleries’ owner—“all the time for a few hundred bucks. And many things that I bought from Scott’s gallery [Lawrimore Project] were less than $1,000, but spread out over the duration of his gallery, each small sale was welcome. Truly, it doesn’t take that much to keep a gallery here in business.” Richard Thurston co-owns Grover/Thurston Gallery, on the Pioneer Square circuit. Fancy, right? But a Seattle dealer years ago (Mia Gallery, not open anymore) let him buy Terry Turrell’s folk sculptures on incredibly modest payment plans. Today, Grover/Thurston represents Turrell, a Seattle artist, and they’re happy to negotiate individual payment plans with anyone who can’t imagine not living with one of Turrell’s transformations of wreckage into totems. They understand falling in love with a piece of art, needing to have it, not having the cash. “I’ll work with you,” Susan Grover, Thurston’s co-owner says quietly, leaning over the counter one afternoon and talking to a woman whose birthday it was, who wanted a Turrell painting that she couldn’t afford right then. The woman, based in Fremont, was an artist herself. She didn’t have money to burn. If that woman decides to buy, the gallery will take half and the artist the other half. This is the standard setup, the benefit to any artist of being “represented” by a gallery. One of the best ways to whittle down what you want is to troll the “artists” sections of the websites of galleries. That’s the gallery’s “stable.” They might have inventory from those artists even if it isn’t on display now. Ask. Ask. It’s time. Q
CLASSICAL
The Seattle Youth Symphony continues its 70th Anniversary Season with two can’t-miss
Nobody Has a Neutral Reaction
winter programs.
Tickets: $10-$40
A Late-Night Performance of Pierrot Lunaire in Benaroya’s Lobby
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Reserve your seats today!
www.syso.org 206.362.2300
By Jen Graves
n the history of music, the rumble reviewer wrote, “There were other composiin the jungle of Paris in 1913 was tions, also said to be musical, associated with the uproarious premiere of The it on the program” (emphasis mine). More Rite of Spring, with music by Igor critical response from New York: “To many Stravinsky and dance by Vaslav Nijinsky, the music is an indelicate sort of intolerable which has become a fetish object whose spirit ugliness, lacking in the first elements that has departed it. The music is performed, re- make music. To others it was the evangel of corded, and soundtracked so regularly that it a new art, tidings of great joy.” is now both familiar and revered, the subject Stravinsky called Pierrot “the solar of scholarly conferences such as the recent plexus as well as the mind of 20th-century one at the University of North Carolina— music.” But when WNYC broadcast the first “Reassessing the Rite”—written about by recording of it years later, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia hated it so much, Alex Ross in the New he called in and had it takYorker, who sums up con[untitled]: Pierrot Lunaire temporary opinion that it en off the air. Fri Feb 15 at Benaroya Hall was not so much the muUnderneath all the seattlesymphony.org sic of Stravinsky but the drama is the continuo “raw stomp of Nijinsky’s of Pierrot’s lasting inchoreography” that was “the main cause of fluence. It has inspired Stravinsky, Ravel, the bedlam.” “Still,” Ross writes, “the Rite Boulez, Björk. Its innovative instrumental remains incomparably vital.” Maybe not so lineup—the first chamber ensemble to mix incomparably. The year before the premiere strings and woodwinds with piano—became of the Rite, a piece by Arnold Schoenberg the basis of new-music groups and so popucalled Pierrot Lunaire drew the line of mod- lar that it’s referred to simply as “the Pierrot ernism even more starkly—and Pierrot has ensemble.” It continues to generate new never graduated into acceptance. Nobody has interpretations, most recently Pierrot Luna neutral reaction to the aire: The Butch Dandy, eccentric Pierrot. Seattle a German film version with a transgender Symphony is featuring bent (in post-production, it in a new series of latenight lobby concerts of IMDb states). unfamiliar works—more Schoenberg wrote it at on this in a moment—in the height of his expresFebruary. sionist period, before he invented the 12-tone sysPierrot is the seething, tem but had ventured far expressionistic melointo atonality, or the lack drama of the mad wanderings of a moonstruck of a key. Pierrot came Pierrot, a version of the three years after Erwarcharacter from the Italtung, the already pretty ian commedia dell’arte wild 30-minute mad scene tradition. It’s a male Seattle Opera presented role sung by a woman, in 2009. And some say the part calling for a Pierrot takes atonality to SHANA CLEVELAND soprano. “Black giganits limit, pointing out that tic butterflies killed the SCHOENBERG His Pierrot Schoenberg wrote only a shining sun,” he-and-she Lunaire is a seething expressionistic single piece between 1912 sings, in a cycle of poems melodrama. It “disrupted families” and 1920, having traveled with titles including “Be- and “severed lifelong friendships.” so far into the abyss. heading,” “Vulgarity,” Because Schoenberg “A Faded Laundress,” and “O Ancient Scent was a numerologist and Pierrot was his Opus from Fabled Times.” But it’s not singing 21, he adapted “thrice-seven” of the 50 poems exactly. Schoenberg invented a style called from Albert Giraud’s 1884 Pierrot Lunaire Sprechstimme, or sing-speaking, which the cycle. He littered the piece with seven-note first American singer to tackle the piece de- motifs. The ensemble with conductor is seven scribed as “something between a croon and people. a moan.” His instructions? That the musicians per“The most ear-splitting combination of form with a “light, ironical, satirical tone.” tones that ever desecrated the walls of a Ber- The singer should not “interpret.” All of lin concert hall,” one critic wrote at the Berlin which makes for an uncanny 40 minutes or so. world premiere on October 16, 1912. There As mentioned, February’s Pierrot concert was whistling and at least one person laugh- is the continuation of Seattle Symphony’s new ing and jeering. Yet another witness declared series of late-night concerts in Benaroya’s lobit “an unqualified success.” by. The first, in October, sold out, and it was It tore New York down the middle when it great. The musicians were all on the floor of arrived nine years later, at the (wonderfully the lobby, and the audience wandered at will named) Klaw Theatre. It “disrupted families, between different floors to sample different severed lifelong friendships, incited critics to acoustics, stretched out on pillows, lined the unbrotherly remarks about one another, and stairs, perched on stools sipping drinks. This filled whole pages in the Sunday music sec- is your new symphony, courtesy of new music tions of the newspapers,” Lawrence Gilman director Ludovic Morlot and new executive diwrote. The New York Times’ morning-after rector Simon Woods. It breathes! Q
January 13, 2013 Stephen R. Radcliffe, SYSO Music Director
Adina Aaron, Soprano Soloist
3:00pm at Benaroya Hall
Chabrier España
Shostakovich
· Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Op. 47 · Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde & Wesendonck Lieder ~ Featuring soprano soloist Adina Aaron
February 10, 2013 2:00pm at Town Hall
“The Heron and the Salmon Girl”
A world premiere opera in one act presented by SYSO and the Seattle Opera. Music by Eric Banks ~ Libretto by Irene Keliher Tickets at seattleopera.org/OurEarth
TITO BEVERIDGE
FOUNDER AND MASTER DISTILLER
ROSCOE
DISTILLERY DOG
WINTER 2012
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A Community Conversation Series: The Intersection of Race, Sexuality, Identity and Culture through the Lens of James Baldwin. In connection with the exhibit, Bearing Witness from Another Place: James Baldwin in Turkey, Photographs by Sedat Pakay, NAAM launches an engaging and exploratory Speaker Series. For Black History Month, acclaimed local author and educator, Nancy Rawles, presents, Race and Sexuality: Two Sides of a Double-Edged Coin.
COMING UP IN 2013
Seattle Men’s Chorus
SEATTLE WOMEN’S CHORUS
DENNIS COLEMAN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
CELEBRATE!
VICCI MARTINEZ FEB 8, 2013 BENAROYA HALL
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
ON SALE NOW!
A south-of-the-border holiday romp!
Nov 30 – Dec 22 Dec 15
Benaroya Hall
Everett Civic Auditorium
with special guest Ana Gasteyer From ABC’s Suburgatory (Opening Weekend Only)
Tickets: SeattleMensChorus.org | 206.388.1400 16
A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
Photos by Conrado Tapado
SEATTLEWOMENSCHORUS.ORG
SEATTLE MEN’S CHORUS
DANCING QUEEN THE MUSIC
OF
ABBA
LESLIE JORDAN APR 6 & 7, 2013 MCCAW HALL
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
ON SALE FEB 11
HAIRSPRAY
IN CONCERT JUN 20-23, 2013 THE 5TH AVENUE THEATRE ON SALE FEB 11
OPERA
The Opera, Elvis, and That Which Changes Everything In art, as in life, love doesn’t pay the bills.
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ifty years ago, for the Seattle World’s Fair, the old Civic Auditorium in what is now the Seattle Center was redesigned as an opera house. The first production there, in June of 1962, was Verdi’s Aida, which conductor Milton Katims called the “grandest of grand operas.” Aida is a
It costs a lot of money to mount an opera. Last season’s Fidelio cost about $2 million. transportation and personal and political history and people being mistaken for what they’re not and being imprisoned by history and by law and having to do a job you may be reluctant to do and getting saved by a girl.
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t costs a lot of money to stage an opera. No opera anymore ever pays for itself by ticket sales. But they also didn’t have to when opera started. When what we now think of as opera began in Italy in the late 16th century, it was an art form supported by aristocrats, people who sort of kept artists on retainer to create things for them privately—to be displayed in their homes or churches, to be performed in their private chambers. When
TI E E L L PE N A
public opera houses started springing up in the mid-17th century, they were still mostly funded by rich aristocrats who wanted less to entertain the masses than to advertise their own civic goodness. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, as the increasingly wealthy middle classes built public opera houses, the financial basis of opera shifted gradually from an aristocratic patronage model to a for-profit business model, i.e., you had to make money from it. This era saw the rise of the impresario, a man who commissioned, produced, and hoped to make a killing off of opera. Sometimes this business model worked, but sometimes it didn’t. When it didn’t, composers were dumped or felt their hands were tied and wrote listless, tepid work; opera houses went bust. (Or, as in the case of bad-boy Wagner, resorted to subterfuge to wrest money from the claws of his troubled, heart-smitten patron, Ludwig II; another story for another time, alas.) You can’t get away with that nowadays. Both composers and opera companies have to find ways to materially support their art. It costs a lot of money to mount an opera. According to Kelly Tweeddale, Seattle Opera’s super-smart executive director, Fidelio cost about $2 million to mount,
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Rocco, the guy who sings this, is addressing his daughter, Marzelline, and Fidelio, the guy (who is actually a girl in drag; a story for another time, alas) she hopes to marry. Rocco wants his daughter to be happy. He also knows that love alone won’t feed or clothe or shelter you; for that stuff, you need money. It takes a lot of money to stage an opera, and in the past 15 years or so, Seattle Opera, like most major arts organizations around the world, has been hit hard in the checkbook by the economy. The Puritan part of our cultural heritage has meant that American government is basically anti-art and won’t support it. The mercantile part of our cultural heritage has meant that art should “pay for itself,” whether in terms of money or “positive social outcome,” e.g., art that “empowers at-risk youth” or “creates community” or “brings people [of different races, ages, politics, blah blah blah…] together,” ad infinitum. Pity, these days, therefore, the art that speaks merely to the human condition, is beautiful or inspiring or funny or sad or just plain great. In our simplistic, reductive, neo-Puritan age, that “mere art” kind of art can be very hard to sell indeed. Thank goodness for the passionate and innovative thinkers at the Seattle Opera who are always working on new ways to get people excited about opera, while keeping longtime fans happy.
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Where there’s no money, there’s no true happiness. Life is just a series of headaches for the poor. But when there’s cash in your pocket, the world is at your feet. Money can buy power and love and satisfy your deepest desires. Happiness works for its wages. Money is a wonderful thing.
giant, fantastically gnarly story about pharaohs, slaves, priests, princesses, love, lust, headgear, tunes, and kings—plus, if your company has the money to do it up “grand opera” right, maybe elephants. Five months after the success of this first opera in Seattle, Elvis came to town. It Happened at the World’s Fair, in which he starred, was filmed in the same civic complex where Aida had been staged. Three-hundred-plus singers, musicians, and crew had taken part in Aida; about the same number of teenagers hung around in wait for the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. Elvis had been here before, in 1957, which is when Jimi (then James) Hendrix saw him. There are two lessons to be drawn from this: (1) You never know who is going to see a show, or how or when or if it will affect them, but you need to make a place where it can happen. You may not see the results for years, but you need to keep providing art—including the old stuff—so people new to art, like kids, can see where art and all of us came from and learn and be inspired by it and then create toward or with or against it and their and our forebears. (2) Popular and “high” art take place side by side, in the same venue, world, heart. It Happened at the World’s Fair was, like Turandot and Fidelio, about love and race and gender and
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n the first act of Fidelio, there’s an aria about money. Here’s how Jonathan Dean, Seattle Opera’s supertitles guru, translated it from the German:
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by Rebecca Brown
WINTER 2012
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OPERA
W IN T E R H IG H L IG H T S UR TI CK ET S NO W! 20 12 –2 01 3 SE AS ON – BU Y YO December 31
NEW YEAR’S EVE
CONCERT, COUNTDOWN & CELEBRATION Ludovic Morlot, conductor Ring in 2013 with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, followed by a post-concert party featuring a live band, dancing and a countdown to midnight led by Ludovic Morlot. TICKETS FROM: $52 (includes post-concert party)
New Year’s Eve, 2011
January 31 & February 2
MESSIAEN’S TURANGALÎLA W YC KO F F M AS T E R WO R K S S E AS O N
Ludovic Morlot, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Cynthia Millar, ondes Martenot Experience the first-ever Seattle Symphony performances of this mammoth work. Saturday sponsored by Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s performance is generously underwritten by Sheila B. Noonan and Peter M. Hartley.
Jean-Yves Thiba udet
TICKETS FROM: $19
February 14 & 16
LOVE STORIES W YC KO F F M AS T E R WO R K S S E AS O N
Ludovic Morlot, conductor Cédric Tiberghien, piano Be swept off your feet in this Valentines weekend concert of sumptuous, romantic music. Saturday sponsored by Cédric Tiberghien’s performance is generously underwritten by Dana and Ned Laird.
Ludovic Morlot
TICKETS FROM: $19
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
while the previous production, Turandot, one of the grandest of the grand operas, cost closer to $2.9 million. Like most opera productions, both of these were rented whole: sets, costumes, direction, everything but the people. The choice of performers is what distinguishes the individual production, and the people (performers, musicians, techies, staff) account for about three-fourths of the cost of any opera. Only about a quarter of the cost is material stuff: sets, program, etc. Every single production requires that the company raise money. I am assuming Kelly Tweeddale is a Wagner fan (you’d kind of have to be to work at Seattle Opera, whose regular productions of Wagner’s Ring cycle are a company signature), but she’s about the most un-Wagner type of money-for-opera person you could imagine. Of income contributed to the opera, 68 percent is given by individual donors. Compare that to the less than 10 percent (each) given by corporations, foundations, and the government. In other words, most money given to the opera is given by individuals. Part of Kelly Tweeddale’s job is finding what an individual donor is passionate about, what he or she would LIKE to be part of or give to. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, one of his stated goals was to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts (which had been created by an act of Congress in 1965). It was not a coincidence, then, that as government support for the arts dried up in the 1980s, fundraising, which had mostly been done by volunteers, became professionalized. Bake sales gave way to fostering relationships with individuals who cared about exactly where their dollars were going. In some ways, Tweeddale’s role is that of a matchmaker. She’s not just trawling for anyone to marry and provide well for her kid, she’s looking for a match that will be a happy one. If someone loves Italian sing-alongs, they’re more likely to fund a Puccini than a Shostakovich. If someone wants to bring in first-time operagoers, that person might want to underwrite the free KeyArena stage show of Madame Butterfly. If someone is crushed-out on Greer Grimsley’s baritone, he might want to fund part of The Ring. Or if someone likes females who dress like boys, she might want to fund Fidelio (or The Rosenkavalier or The Marriage of Figaro or Orpheus and Eurydice…). The idea is to invest in something you care about.
W
here there’s no money, there’s no true happiness, Rocco sang. It’s not that these days there’s no money, it’s just that there is less of it. In June of this year, Seattle Opera announced that an anticipated shortfall of $1 million was causing them to cut back on staff and productions. Beginning in 2014, the company will produce a four-opera rather than a five-opera season, and the 14-year-old Young Artists program will go on hiatus for the 2013–14 season. The Seattle Opera press release that announced these cutbacks also noted that since 2008, the number of opera performances nationwide has been reduced by 11 percent. As Michael Stipe once sang, “Everybody hurts.” I bet he’s making less money now than he did in the ’90s and the aughts. Maybe even Elvis, too. Q Speaking of money (and not having any), Seattle Opera is doing La Bohème this winter. See the opera calendar, page 33.
JUNGYEON ROH
FICTION
TRADITION, PASSION, PROVINCIAL DISHES
Gingrich By John Englehardt
Monthly Art Walk Every 2nd Friday
O
ne day, Travis and Victoria decide that their safe word in bed should be “Gingrich.â€? At ďŹ rst, the simple fact of having a safe word is exciting for Travis, but then Victoria begins using it out of context. When he overďŹ lls her wine glass or runs too fast on their Sunday jog, she shouts “Gingrich!â€? and then laughs girlishly. It is humorous and clever of her to reappropriate it in this way, but Travis begins to lament that this means the danger that requires such a word has been lost. Then one night, they are riding the bus back to their apartment from Pioneer Square. It is the First Thursday of December, and they spent the night walking between impressionistic blobs, drinking red wine from clear plastic cups. Travis knows that they are going to have sex. He decides to bring up the time that they invented the safe word. “I think you should try to make me say it,â€? he says. They are sitting in the back of the bus in pale blue seats that smell like homeless people and french fries. “Okay,â€? she says. She is smiling and looking out the window. Rain falls through passing headlights among the dark storefronts and hooded pedestrians. When they get off the bus, they run through the rain back to their apartment. Victoria nudges Travis with her elbow like a soccer player vying for the ball. Eventually she uses her shoulder and knocks Travis into a juniper bush. He rolls out of the bush laughing and then chases after her, but she has already raced through the front door. Inside, Victoria has stripped down to her underwear and is standing in the bathroom doorway. She is half golden and shadowed by the dim lamplight. “Honey,â€? she says, “I think I want to put you in a cage.â€? “Okay. We don’t really have a cage, though.â€? “Maybe we should buy one. I like the idea of putting you in one, and then, I don’t know, letting you out when I decide I want to.â€? “Well, maybe we can think of a makeshift one for tonight.â€? Victoria looks around the apartment. She takes a few steps and then opens the two-foot-high door near the apartment’s entrance. Their building used to be a hotel for single men back in the 1920s, where meals would be delivered through this small space the size of a dog kennel. Travis comes up behind Victoria while she is bending over to examine the cabinet. He touches her back. “Hey there,â€? he says. “Settle down. Now get in and don’t come out until I say so. You can’t speak unless I talk to you. Also, I think you should be naked.â€? Travis takes off his clothes and crawls into the cramped space. He is surrounded by an extension cord, their old 12-inch television set, a couple mason jars ďŹ lled with coins, and Victoria’s leather boots. “Love you,â€? she says. She closes the door. For the ďŹ rst 20 minutes, Travis simply anticipates coming out of the cabinet. He resists thinking about Victoria’s motives for leaving him there. As time passes, he listens to her bare feet on the wood oor. He hears computer keys typing, then the sink running in the kitchen, then the lamp in their bedroom icking on or off. Cold air is coming from a crack in the plaster. After an hour, he is no longer aroused and all he wants is for her to open the door and invite him into the bedroom to sleep. He will not say the word, though, because he wants her to let him out. He wants her to not be able to live with his absence. He ďŹ nds a way to lie down in the space and curls up with Victoria’s leather boots. He thinks of how she wears fuzzy white socks underneath these boots, and how in the past he considered them tasteless and mannish. Now he decides they are just another reason to love her. Q
He decides to bring up the time that they invented the safe word. “I think you should try to make me say it,� he says.
JOHN ENGLEHARDT has a degree in creative writing from Seattle University. He's currently pursuing his MFA at the University of Arkansas.
1/11, 2/8 & 3/8
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LANGLEY’S CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION ON BEAUTIFUL WHIDBEY ISLAND DECEMBER 2012 – DECK THE DOORS CONTEST
Stroll through Langley where merchants and artists Deck their Doors to create an outdoor gallery of holiday art. Vote online for your favorite original door.
DEC. 31, 2012 – RING IN THE CENTENNIAL New Year’s Eve Party.
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JAN. 26, 2013 – LANGLEY LIFE 1890-1980 Experience living history at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts.
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Produced by the Langley Chamber of Commerce.
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ZINZANNI.ORG ®
POETRY
Qgmj ghhgjlmfalq lg \an] aflg HgjldYf\ k dmk` [j]Ylan] k[]f] January 24 - February 3, 2013
Sinsemilla by Belle Randall
Vegetable love, a green shade the color of dark glasses, Virgin Mari of a friend’s homegrown plantation, the poet knows—to inhale is inspiration.
10 days
Multidisciplin a
ct s
Myself a female thwarted, as I feel everybody knows; all afternoon I’ve walked chapter, verse, and rows, and all around me grows this slow
of ns
Proje
All afternoon I’ve walked beneath green boughs where sticky resin buds perfumed and nappy as Bathsheba’s hair nestle and nudge the blue Modesto sky,
See it All... Buy or Give A Creative Adventure FESTIVAL PASS: $50
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More dense and more desirable. In heat, in heat, in heat, a blue haze hangs above the valley like smoke above a cigarette.
Doz e
The finest marijuana, as everybody knows, is the female thwarted in desire: sinsemilla, separated from the male flower, daily grows
Travel Plans, Hotel Deals and More Info:
www.fertilegroundpdx.org
Support from Travel Portland, Regional Arts & Culture Council. Introduction by Heather McHugh
MIKE FORCE
B
elle Randall has lived in Seattle for decades—and never been celebrated enough. Her gifts of literary craft are extraordinary—lively range, exquisite touch. In “Sinsemilla” she manages in grand old form to treat a topic of moment today—and also allude to the love poems of one of the masters of English literature, Andrew Marvell. Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” supplies Randall with the phrase “my vegetable love” (to a 17th-century mind, “vegetable” would suggest “herbal”). In contemporary California, shades will turn to sunglasses—but the phrase “green thought in a green shade” comes from Marvell’s fabled poem “The Garden”: Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness… Annihilating all that’s made To a green thought in a green shade… Such was that happy garden-state, While man there walk’d without a mate... Two paradises ’twere in one To live in paradise alone. Randall’s is a special twist on Marvell—for it is from the woman poet’s standpoint. Bathsheba is fabled for having been impregnated by King David, and the Virgin Mary (her name here slightly cannabicized to Mari) is fabled, of course, for having been impregnated by God. They supply Randall with ironic erotic antecedents for her own “female thwarted in desire.” The Golden State makes its contribution to this lineage of seductions, as Modesto’s celestial virtues are tested by the seductions of the pot farm’s highcharged female plants. “In heat” seems as hormonal as meteorological, and the etymology of the word inspiration, of course, gives us “breathe in”—what Clinton said he didn’t do. Luckily, Belle Randall tells the truth: She loves a good old air, and sings it here anew. Q BELLE RANDALL ’s most recent book of poems is The Coast Starlight (David
Robert Books, 2010). Her website is prosody.org. WINTER 2012
21
WINTER FESTIVAL ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL AT BENAROYA HALL
JANUARY 18-26, 2013
NOW EXPANDED OVER 2 WEEKENDS!
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW JAMES EHNES Artistic Director
206.283.8808 www.seattlechambermusic.org
TOBY SAKS Associate Artistic Director
Tickets Make Great Holiday Gifts! NationalTheatre of Great Britain and Bob Boyett present
WarHorse based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo r BEBQUFE CZ Nick Stafford in association with Handspring Puppet Company
Winner!
5
2011 Tony Awards
®
ON SALE NOW! Feb 13-24 • The Paramount Theatre 877.784.4849 • STGPresents.org Priority seating & groups 10+ call: 888.214.6856
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
WINTER CALENDAR
ART
by Jen Graves
Large Museums SEATTLE ART MUSEUM • 1300 First Ave, 654-3100, seattleart museum.org, open Wed–Sun Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris (through Jan 13): Men get the boot and women take over at SAM this season, but what does it mean to let the ladies have their day? This show borrowed from France’s national museum of modern and contemporary art includes more than 130 photographs, videos, sculptures, paintings, and installations made by 75 women artists between 1907 and 2007. No other American museum will get this show. It has left Seattle awash in female-centric everything, best of all complex conversations about gender and art (like, thanks for the brief focus on half the population?). Look and consider: The gum that Hannah Wilke asked her audience to chew before she formed each piece into a little fortune cookie shape and stuck it to her naked body. Her striptease viewed through Marcel Duchamp’s abstracting Large Glass. The lightbulb dress—it lights up!—that Atsuko Tanaka wore in the 1950s (it’s a wonder she didn’t burn down). The streaky watercolor of a girl stooping to piss by Marlene Dumas. Marina Abramovic punishing herself with a hairbrush. How do shows like this help female artists? How do they hurt? Elles: SAM (through Feb 17): To pair with Elles from the Pompidou, SAM took down its own paintings and sculptures by Warhol, Pollock, Gorky, Kiefer, Smith, Judd, Chihuly, Rauschenberg, Johns, Morris, Flavin, and many more artists and carted them off to storage. Not a single male artist from the modern and contemporary period remains on the walls at SAM. In their place? Krasner, Mitchell, O’Keeffe, Frankenthaler, Holzer, Piper, Rist, Kusama, Haven, Hesse, Murray, Amer. All women. Don’t know their names? You should and will and can, the museum is saying. The difference is that while the Parisian show was entirely made up of art from the Parisian museum’s own collection, SAM’s “transformation” is almost entirely made up of art borrowed from somewhere else. Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris used the word “from” intentionally. The fact is that SAM, with its puny acquisitions budget and its catch-as-catch-can collecting habits, does not own anywhere near enough art by women to create its own version of Elles. Will it ever? Will it buy any of what it has on loan here? Hm? Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London (Feb 14–May 19): Aaaaaand, we’re back to the dudes. Beer-swilling ones, though! From the press release for this exhibition, which visits SAM as one of three stops in the US, “Donated by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847–1927) and heir to the world’s most successful brewery, the collection was shaped by the tastes of the Belle Epoque—Europe’s equivalent to America’s Gilded Age—when the earl shared the cultural stage and art market with other industry titans such as the Rothschilds, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Henry Clay Frick.” With works by artists from Rembrandt, Gainsborough, van Dyck, Hals, Reynolds, and Turner.
COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS AND GREG KUCERA GALLERY
T WO WORKS OF ART AT GREG KUCER A Marie Watt’s Marker: Nocturne (left, $2,700) and Jo Hamilton’s Furnisher of False Information ($3,200). Hals, Ingres, Zurbarán: The Treasures of Seattle (Feb 14–May 19): Private collectors in Seattle have rooted through their holdings to pull out 40 master paintings by luminaries such as Hals, Rubens, Zurbarán, van Ruisdael, and Georg Pencz.
HENRY ART GALLERY • 4100 15th Ave NE, 543-2280, henryart .org, open Wed–Sun Now Here Is Also Nowhere Part 1 (Oct 27–Jan 6) and Part 2 (Jan 26–May 6) are explorations of the intangible, of what’s made when artists from several generations have interacted with thoughts or bodies rather than a specific material. Part 1 includes a wind tunnel, a pair of feet cut off from the rest of their body, a neon sign that declares it should be turned off when the artist dies, 175 pounds of mint candies you’re welcome to take with you, a real contract for an artist’s cremains to be turned into a diamond, and plastic spoons mounted on the wall with vodka in them daring you to put your lips up and sip. (Artists are Tom Friedman, Kimsooja, Felix GonzalezTorres, Mike Bidlo, Jiri Kovanda, Yvonne Rainer, Francesca Woodman, Louise Lawler, Christian Marclay, and more.) Like a Valentine: The Art of Jeffry Mitchell (through Jan 27) Genius Award– winner Jeffry Mitchell’s prolific assemblage of drawings, paintings, ceramics and installations winds its way through the rooms of the Henry in an overwhelmingly charming maelstrom of sheer tactile delight, even in its shadows. This 25-year retrospective positively radiates with endearing energy. En plein air (through Feb 16) pairs pleinair paintings wearing gilt frames from the Henry’s permanent collection with the architecturally segmented video installations of Neïl Beloufa—all works made out of doors, watching worlds go by. A la belle étoile (through March 24) is
Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist’s giant psychedelic video projection of landscapes and people opening their mouths wide for the camera to jump down their throats—footage that spreads across the floor under your feet and climbs across your body as you move. You can experience the disorienting effects from floor level, that is, or you can climb the stairs and watch the movie, and the disoriented visitors below, from the balcony above. Ephemeral image meets flesh, and tries to mate.
but once removed—by musical responses to Joyce’s originals, recorded on the acclaimed 2008 Fire Records compilation album featuring musicians like Mercury Rev, Lee Ranaldo, and Peter Buck.
Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty (March 2–July 7) continues Deborah Willis’s career-long inquiry into the complexity of body and gender through the lens of fashion photography.
OLYMPIC SCULPTURE PARK
FRYE ART MUSEUM • 704 Terry Ave, 622-9250, fryemuseum .org, open Tues–Sun Mw [Moment Magnitude] (through Jan 20), named after the seismological term for measuring earthquakes, is the final exhibition of the Frye’s 60th anniversary year. In concept, it’s a total departure from traditional museology—it is a festival, a party, a class, and a mass. The artist lineup includes Jeffry Mitchell, Shabazz Palaces, Anne Fenton, Buster Simpson, Evan Flory-Barnes, and Wynne Greenwood. On Dec 8, the exhibition undergoes a massive mid-point reinvention, and the gallery will rearrange itself with new installations and performances that continue to highlight the interconnected creative talents of this city. Chamber Music (Feb 9–April 28): Scott Lawrimore’s first exhibit as curator is a media-spanning translation. The genesis? James Joyce’s first published work, a 36-poem anthology titled Chamber Music, put out in 1907, the same year Charles and Emma Frye began collecting art. Thirty-six Seattle artists have been commissioned to create new works inspired not directly by the Joyce poems
Thirty Six Chambers (Feb 9–April 28), also drawing its inspiration from the Joyce collection, challenges the model of curator as solitary role and instead turns the position over to the entire Frye staff. It’s an experiment in collective curation.
• 2901 Western Ave, 654-3100, seattleart museum.org, park open daily, pavilion open Tues–Sun Encontro das Águas (through April 14) envelops the walls of the pavilion in a drawn sea of sinuously winding waves. The scale of Sandra Cinto’s piece is such that you drown in the work, happy to be going down with the ship as the silvery lines pull you under. During the summer, the permanent installation of sculptures takes on some of the manic energy of the season: It feels large and almost brazen, a bustling environment that is in a state of near-constant interaction. But in the winter months, everything slows, and the sculptures seem to slowly breathe as they settle down into a peaceful hibernation. Brave the weather; the stillness and solitude are worth it. And look for winterblooming flowers, including downwardfacing hellebores. Reach down and turn their faces up to yours.
Midsize Museums BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM • 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-5190770, bellevuearts.org, open Tues–Sun Nikki McClure: Cutting Her Own Path (through Feb 3) places the spotlight
precisely where it belongs: on the artist’s elegantly obsessive craftsmanship. The ubiquity of McClure’s calendars and posters is such that one almost forgets that these narrative illustrations are not drawings but painstaking cut-paper koans to X-acto knives. Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art (through Feb 3) showcases artists using a traditional medium to produce untraditional results. BAM Biennial 2012: High Fiber Diet (through Feb 24) is a massive tangle of thready softness, with fiber work from more than 40 Northwest artists. Just try not to cuddle it. Love Me Tender (Feb 22–May 26): Punny! James Charles, Maximo Gonzales, Barton Lidicé Benes and Mark Wagner, and others use money as both a medium and a symbol to ask questions about value, commodity, and identity. Maneki Neko: Japan’s Beckoning Cats—From Talisman to Pop Icon (Feb 22–Aug 4): So. Many. Little. Waving. Kitty. Paws. One hundred and fifty five of them, to be precise, in mediums ranging from stone to papier-mâché. This exhibition traces the Maneki Neko’s evolution from source of luck and protection to something more readily recognized as the greeter at Japanese restaurants.
BURKE MUSEUM • 17th Ave NE and NE 45th St, UW Campus, 543-5590, burkemuseum.org, open Mon–Sun Plastics Unwrapped (Dec 20–May 27) expands upon the prescient sentiment of Mr. McGuire in The Graduate: plastics. Unwrapped acknowledges that this prevalent and troublingly useful substance is thoroughly integrated into every aspect of our lives, and asks us—through works presented in a variety of mediums—to make thoughtful choices.
WINTER 2012
23
On Sale NOW
37th Anniversary of
© Chris Bennion
Now – Dec 30 Oedipus El Rey Dec 6 – 16 eSe Teatro presents Luis Alfaro’s pulsing update of the classic Greek tragedy. The world’s largest prison system. The Gangs. The Gods. The Greeks descend on LA.
© Mark Stone Photography
Wisemen Dec 13 – 22 Back for a second year, Rosenstock Productions sets Christmas on fire with an ungodly script and original score ranging from klezmer to hip-hop to funk to salsa.
© Truman Buffett
14/48: The World’s Quickest Theatre Festival Jan 4 –Jan 12 14 plays conceived, written, designed, scored, rehearsed, and performed in 48 hours.
The Seagull Jan 23 – Feb 10 The lives of ten unforgettable characters unfold before our eyes. The Seagull Project is dedicated to the full and passionate exploration of Chekhov’s great play.
JAN 15-27, 2013 I THE MOORE THEATRE Groups of 10 or more call (206) 315-8054 Single Tickets Available At: STGPRESENTS.ORG (877) 784-4849
24
A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
EST. 1907 2ND AVE & VIRGINIA ST
A black comedy about love, marriage, and a kid in a wheelchair nicknamed “Joe Egg.”
These Streets Feb 21 – March 10
© David Leonard
In association with:
© Alyson Sundal
Starring Jerick Hoffer I Directed by Ian Bell
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Jan 31 – Feb 17
An original work of theatre inspired by women rock musicians in Seattle during the “grunge” years.
acttheatre.org | (206) 292-7676 700 Union Street, Downtown Seattle
ART CALENDAR
CHIHULY GARDEN AND GLASS
NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
• 305 Harrison St, 753-4940, chihulygardenandglass.com, open Mon–Sun
• 2300 S Massachusetts St, 5186000, naamnw.org, open Wed–Sun
(Ongoing): Wander through an immersive campus of all things Chihuly. One of the hidden gems of the museum? Chihuly’s idiosyncratic collection of hoarded objects, lovingly embedded in the tabletops of the museum’s cafe.
EXPERIENCE MUSIC PROJECT • 325 Fifth Ave N, 770-2700, empmuseum.org, open Mon–Sun The Rolling Stones 1972 (through Jan 6): Jim Marshall’s photographs of Mick, Keith, and the guys.
of “hidden homelessness” from an Asian American perspective.
Galleries
Bearing Witness from Another Place (through Sept 29): photographs of James Baldwin’s exile in Turkey.
ART/NOT TERMINAL
book of the bound (Dec 15– March 10) is Caletta Carrington Wilson’s latest series of collages, which meld text and image to create narratives that touch on silence and language, on freedom and oppression.
Potpourri (Dec 1–Jan 3) brings together a maelstrom of materials from Harry Bonnette…The Women of Art/Not Terminal (Dec 1–Jan 3) features Reba Bigelow, Shirley Travis, and an array of other female artists… Aubry Anderson (Jan 5–27) shows paintings under the title Illustrious Characters…Art Nouveau Photography (Feb 2–24) from Johnny Bean.
SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM • 1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100, seattleartmuseum .org, open Wed–Sun
• 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680, antgallery.org, open Mon–Sun
ART ON THE RIDGE
The permanent collection (ongoing) is full of treasures to be discovered for a first time and rediscovered anew. The wall of diminutive snuffboxes—each one delicately painted with a scene that draws you into its tiny alternate reality—is itself enough to warrant multiple visits.
• 8005 Greenwood Ave N, 5103421, artontheridge.com, open Mon–Thurs and Sat
Where Have They Been? Two Overlooked Chinese Female Artists (through Dec 30): Chang Ch’ung-ho Frankel and Lu Wujiu are both in their 90s. For most of their lives, their husbands’ careers have overshadowed their own; this is their much-deserved close-up.
ARTXCHANGE
(Ongoing): Nine acres full of iconic cars, with styles that range from the impressive to the absurd.
TACOMA ART MUSEUM
MUSEUM OF GLASS
• 1701 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253272-4258, tacomaartmuseum.org, open Wed–Sun
Worn to Be Wild (through Feb) is a history of the iconic black leather jacket. The Art of Video Games (Feb 15–May 13) tackles a 40-year history, with a focus on video game as art form. Nerdy heartstrings will be tugged in this nostalgiainducing retrospective, including everything from the Atari VCS to Playstation 3.
LEMAY CAR MUSEUM • 2702 E “D” St, Tacoma, 253-7798490, lemaymuseum.org, open Mon–Sun
• 1801 Dock St, Tacoma, 253-2844750, museumofglass.org, open Wed–Sun Maestro: Recent Works by Lino Tagliapietra (through Jan 6)… Classic Heat (through Jan): John Miller’s large-scale glass hood ornaments…Scapes (through Jan): collaborative inquires into Hindu mythology by siblings Laura de Santillana and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana…Made at the Museum: The Visiting Artist Collection (ongoing).
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND INDUSTRY • 860 Terry Ave N, 324-1126, mohai.org, open Mon–Sun The Museum of History and Industry celebrates the grand opening of its South Lake Union Home (Dec 29, 10 am–8 pm). There will be history. There will be industry. There will be a gorgeous building on the water, with a giant John Grade sculpture rising through its center and even breaking out the top of the building into the sky.
NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM • 3014 NW 67th St, 789-5707, nordicmuseum.org, open Tues–Sun Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden (Nov 30– March 3) is an impressively large collection of kitschy, painstakingly crafted paintings on sections of birch. Does attention to detail necessarily make something good? Or does it just mean you wasted a lot of time making something that holds no real value? And why are there so many of these things, anyway? Bad Art Community Art Exhibition (Nov 13–March 3) is where you paint your own boards. Boards provided.
Andy Warhol’s Flowers for Tacoma (through Feb 10) is a series of illustrations and photographs exploring the artist’s use of floral imagery, with a focus on Warhol’s 1982 proposal for the Tacoma Dome. Memories and Meditations: A Retrospective of Michael Kenna (through March 24): geographically diverse photographs of timelessness from the British-born, Seattle-based artist. Best of the Northwest: Selected Paintings from the Collection (through March 17): stylistically diverse works dating from the early 20th century through today.
WING LUKE MUSEUM • 719 S King St, 623-5124, wingluke.org, open Tues–Sun Unfolding the Art of Paper (through Jan 6) goes beyond origami to explore all things paper. George Nakashima: A Master’s Furniture and Philosophy (through Jan 20) is furniture, architectural sketches, and drawings by a remarkably skilled craftsman who had the misfortune of being Japanese in Seattle during World War II. Despite having earned degrees from both the University of Washington and MIT, Nakashima found himself imprisoned in Camp Minidoka upon his return to Seattle in the 1940s. This exhibition traces a lifetime’s worth of work. Fashion: Workroom to Runway (through April 21) uses personal stories to follow the whole trajectory of garment creation, including the murky questions that fashion raises with regard to stereotypes of beauty and labor ethics. Uprooted and Invisible (Dec 7– Aug 18) looks at the phenomenon
Matthew Scott: It’s only a matter of time (Dec 1–Jan 4) is the last show for Art on the Ridge, this final exhibition ruminating on notions of uncertainty and ending.
COURTESY OF TRUE LOVE ART GALLERY
A WO R K O F ART AT TRU E LOV E ART GALLE RY H. Lee Porter’s painting on wood is 16
by 20 inches ($375).
Elaine Hanowell: Dog, Monkey, Crow (through Jan 26) is handcarved sculptures of animals.
ate a meditation on emptiness… Southern Gothic: Dark Fantasy from Portland (Feb 8–March 1), the gallery’s fourth all-female show, features five Portland artists on the line between fantasy and reality. In partnership with Tasty Gallery, 10 percent of show proceeds will be donated to New Beginnings to aid the fight against domestic violence.
Tina Albro, Bill and Kathryn Booze, Christian Gollub, Carol Hershman, Elinor Maroney, Sarah Parent, and Olivia Zapata (through Jan 13) showing jewelry, ceramics, and small works…Northwest Designer Craftsmen (through Jan 13) is a group show of many mediums (glass, ceramic, fiber, wood, metal, and more).
ARTS WEST
BLINDFOLD GALLERY
• 4711 California Ave SW, 9380963, artswest.org, open Tues–Sat
• 1718 E Olive Way, Suite A, 3285100, blindfoldgallery.com, open Wed–Sun
CORNISH COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
• 512 First Ave S, 839-0377, artxchange.org, open Tues–Sat
A Feast for the Eyes: Food in Art (through Dec 15) Christopher Boffoli, Kristen Reitz-Green, and Jere Smith are trying to make people hungry…In the Mind and on the Street (Dec 18–Feb 9) is paintings and photographs by Justin Behnken, Fabienne Rideti, Ryan Doran.
BAINBRIDGE ARTS AND CRAFTS • 151 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge, 842-3132, bacart.org, open Mon– Sun FRUITCAKE: Eccentric and Eclectic Treats for the Holidays (Dec 7–31) is an alliterative show of “food, family, and fruitcake” by 35 artists…Christopher Mathie, Larry McCaffrey, and Kay Walsh (Jan 4–30) work in three decidedly different mediums: Mathie paints, McCaffrey plays with plasma welders, and Walsh takes photographs…Super Heroes We’d Like to See (Feb 1–25)—maybe it could include Find Your Lost Keys Man?…Mixed Nuts (Feb 1–25), where kids get the opportunity to do everything that grown-up artists do, hopefully minus the looming specters of crippling self-doubt and financial pressure. These student artists write their statements, sign contracts, and learn about the relationship between gallery and artist…Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, Phone (March 1–April 1): Karin Schminke curates a show of works created solely on screened devices.
BHERD STUDIOS • 312 N 85th St, Suite 101, 2348348, bherdstudios.com, open Wed–Fri Picture Perfect (through Dec 15): paintings by five artists on the theme of how people relate to the “wild and woolly”…New End (Jan 11–Feb 1): Dylan Neuwirth and Jeff Gerber team up as the collective #TRACKSTARS to cre-
Max Kraushaar and Graham Downing: HMPAITG?AOT (Dec 5–21) wins points for being a truly unintelligible acronym. What does it stand for, you ask? How Many People Are In That Graveyard? All of Them. And what does that mean? It has something to do with the aesthetics of cheesy horror movies and “direct-to-VHS” releases…Ryan Finnerty and Anne Petty (Jan 2–27) show new works…Quilt Show (Jan 30–Feb 24), just when you want to curl up in warm blankets.
THE CAMP OUT • 202 Yesler Way, thecampout.org, see website for details Shunpike’s beloved Storefronts program, in which empty storefronts become temporary homes for artists’ projects, continues its trend of facilitating awesomeness with The Camp Out (through Feb 28). For three months, The Camp Out functions as a venue for furthering both the seeing-of and the discussing-of queer art. With a visual lineup featuring Melanie Valera (Tender Forever), Joey Veltkamp, and Clyde Petersen (Your Heart Breaks), and a stellar series of events and programming that includes such gems as Veltkamp and Jeffry Mitchell interviewing each other, the only negative comment we have about The Camp Out is that we’re already disappointed that it will only exist for three months.
COCA GEORGETOWN • 5701 Sixth Ave S, 728-1980, cocaseattle.org, open Mon–Fri 2012 CoCA Annual Exhibition (Dec 29–March 8) is a group show.
COLUMBIA CITY GALLERY • 4864 Rainier Ave S, 760-9843, columbiacitygallery.com, open Wed–Sun
• 1000 Lenora St, 726-5011, cornish.edu/exhibitions, open Mon–Fri Skype Skulpt Studio (through Dec 15): Genius Award–winner Susan Robb gets on Skype with another artist and they create. It happens in the gallery, as a performance, and afterward, the video and the sculptures are installed on pedestals and monitors in the gallery. The final live Skyping takes place on closing day, including Lead Pencil Studio and Berlin artist Gary Schultz co-sculpting with Robb…Ils Disent (through Dec 15) is an all-male response to the female-centric programming surrounding Elles, complete with a controversial piece pulled from the show…Design Faculty Exhibition (Jan 18–March 2): Cornish design instructors show the work they make outside of their teaching practice.
The Photographs of Norman Durkee (Jan 3–Feb): while best known as musical director of Teatro Zinzanni, Durkee also ventures into photography… Monumental Collographs (Feb 7–March 3) is Jenny Robinson’s show of dauntingly large etchings that muse on decay.
ECHO ECHO GALLERY • 8537 Greenwood Ave N, 6331236, echoechogallery.com, open every second Fri Deck the Walls (Dec 7–Jan 10): Do your holiday shopping as you buy your underground art from an underground (literally) gallery featuring underground artists… Sleepwalkers (Jan 11–Feb 7) turns the gallery’s artists loose on the theme of sleep…Borderlands (Feb 8–March 7) is landscape paintings by artists who don’t ordinarily paint landscapes in any traditional sense.
FANTAGRAPHICS • 1201 S Vale St, 658-0110, fantagraphics.com, open Mon–Sun Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez: 30 Years of Love and Rockets (Dec 8–Jan 9)…Sketches (Jan 13– Feb 6) from the always interesting and usually genre-bending Jim Woodring.
FORM/SPACE ATELIER
CULLOM GALLERY
• 2407 First Ave, 349-2509, form spaceatelier.com, open Wed–Sat
• 603 S Main St, 919-8278, cullom gallery.com, open Wed–Sat
Sam Birchman: Sketches and Collage (Dec 14–Jan 5): a collection of works on paper by the wonder-inspiring Seattle artist (who comes from a line of wonderinspiring Seattle artists), with topics ranging from everything from sausages to toothpaste to friends. Maybe the sausage and toothpaste are even friends…Faceting the Surface (Jan 11–March 2): Lindsey Colburn’s site-specific installation playing with surfaces and human impact.
High Five (through Dec 29) celebrates Cullom Gallery’s fifth anniversary by showing five works each by the gallery’s five most popular artists…Each moment we live our lives shine (Dec 6–Jan 26) pairs drawings by Amanda Manitach, Jayong Yoon, and Martha Tuttle with poems by Jane Cope, Tamar Nachmany, and Valeria Tsygankova…Nostalgia and Progress: 20th-Century Japanese Prints (Dec 12–Feb 23) are pre–World War II Japanese woodblocks…Air and Mist (Feb 2–March 2) is woodblock prints by Nunik Sauret.
DAVIDSON GALLERIES • 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684, davidsongalleries.com, open Tues–Sat The Dutch Landscape in Woodcuts (Jan 3–Feb 2): woodcuts that capture ephemeral landscapes by Grietje Postma…
FOSTER/WHITE GALLERY • 220 Third Ave S, 622-2833, fosterwhite.com, open Tues–Sat In Costume (through Dec 24): decorated ceramic dress forms from post-pop/funk sculptor George Rodriguez—this should be a blast…Shawn Huckins (through Dec 24) examines the contrast between 18th-century and contemporary communication by asking such questions as “What would George Washington
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ART CALENDAR
Classical Training for Contemporary Artists
tweet?”…Eternalism (Jan 3–31): Bobbie Burgers explores the malleability of her own point of view…Whole Cloth and Mirrors (Feb 7–28) is a series of paintings home to bizarre characters from the mind of James Martin.
Gage Teaching Artist, Melissa Weinman
FRANCINE SEDERS GALLERY • 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 7820355, sedersgallery.com, open Tues–Sun Highlights from 2012/Preview of 2013 (Nov 16–Dec 23) is exactly what it sounds like… Lauri Chambers: Paintings and Drawings (Jan 4–27), the latest from the grand Seattle abstractionist…Pat De Caro: Drawings (Feb 1–March 3), the latest from the grand spelunker of childhood memory, and the winner of the 2012 Yvonne Twining Humber Award.
WORKSHOPS | CLASSES | LECTURES | EXHIBITIONS
Register online at GageAcademy.org
G. GIBSON GALLERY • 300 S Washington St, 5874033, ggibsongallery.com, open Wed–Sat
NOW IN BALLARD! OPEN MON-SAT 10-6 SUN 11-5
2000 NW MARKET STREET
206.523.4830 ~ WWW.DAKOTAARTSTORES.COM
M T N E M MO [ Mw
] E D U T I N G A
Homage to Elles (through Dec 22): work by the gallery’s female artists…Michael Kenna: In France (through Dec 22): photographs of French landscapes… Gallery Artists Group Show (Jan 3–24)…Joann Verburg (Jan 25–March 2): a mid-career survey.
GAGE ACADEMY • 1501 10th Ave E, 323-4243, gageacademy.org, open Mon–Sun Jethaniel Peterka (through Jan 6) makes oil paintings that depict dark Victorian-style oddities…Urban Graphite: Images of Architecture and Industry (Jan 11–Feb 15): Steve Costie manipulates horizon lines to create visions that teeter on the point of recognition… The Constant Image (Feb 22–March 29) is Fiona McGuigan’s series of obsessively re-created ink drawings and collages that raise questions about the accessibility of memory… Lay of the Land (Jan 7–Oct 5): a student showcase of landscapes… 7th Annual Spitting Image Self-Portrait Competition (Feb 22–March 29): students embrace the self-referential in this annual self-portrait show.
GALLERY 110 • 110 Third Ave S, 624-9336, gallery110.com, open Wed–Sat Boxism (Dec 6–29): both gallery display spaces are turned over to boxes—concept-based boxes in the main gallery, and pizza-based (by which we mean each piece starts as a pizza box) boxes in the small gallery…Betty Sapp Ragan: Looking Up (Jan 3–26): hand-colored photo collages of pre-modern ornamental architecture… Sabe Lewellyn: Strange Glue (Jan 3–26) is a series of collaged images of found objects, assembled to resemble the exteriors of buildings. Sounds sticky.
GALLERY IMA • 123 S Jackson St, 625-0055, galleryima.com, open Tues–Sat
LEO SAUL BERK JHEREK BISCHOFF THE BLACK CONSTELLATION (SHABAZZ PALACES, THEESATISFACTION, MAIKOIYO ALLEY-BARNES) SAMANTHA BOSHNACK REBECCA BROWN MATT BROWNING CRIS BRUCH JASON CONGER / THE FOUR HOARSE MEN / INTERRUPTURE / KJELL HANSEN ANNE FENTON EVAN FLORY-BARNES WYNNE GREENWOOD TAD HIRSCH EYVIND KANG ROBB KUNZ LILIENTHAL|ZAMORA JEFFRY MITCHELL CHARLES MUDEDE THE PEOPLE’S GRAND OPERA PERFUME GENIUS CHARLIE SCHUCK BUSTER SIMPSON VIS-À-VIS SOCIETY ZOE | JUNIPER Rendering of THROUGH HOLLOW LANDS by LILIENTHAL|ZAMORA
FRYE ART MUSEUM | fryemuseum.org | October 13, 2012–January 20, 2013
26
A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
| Always Free
ENDS WITH A BANG! (NOT A WHIMPER) (Dec 6–29) finishes the year on a noisy note with work by Graham Fracha, Beth Adams, Cyrus Chartres, David Ivan Clark, Mieko Hara, Eric Olson, Rebecca Shortle, C.L. Utley, and Rickie Wolfe. Ann Vandervelde & Anne McDuffie: Ann(e) (Jan 3–31) is a collaboration between the painter and poet, respectively… Lori Swartz (Feb 7–28) challenges viewers to create their
own narratives in her abstracted canvases.
GALLERY4CULTURE • 101 Prefontaine Pl S, 296-7580, galleries.4culture.org, open Mon–Fri Itinerancies (Dec 7–28) is Mario Lemafa’s photographic exploration of his many homes… Behind the Curve (Jan 3–Feb 1): video work from Stephen Sewell, in which the artist portrays himself in various acts of self-defeat… SELF (Feb 7–March 1): Rodrigo Valenzuela teams up with Anthony Sonnenberg to delve into “otherness.”
GHOST GALLERY • 504 E Denny Way, 8326063, ghost-gallery.com, open Mon and Wed–Sun Holiday Miniature Art Extravaganza (Dec 13–Jan 6): gift-sized art, all 8-by-8 inches or smaller… Group Print Show (Jan 10–Feb 8) with work by Ryan Molenkamp, Erin Kendig, Jess Rees, Izzie Klingels, Chris Sheridan, Ollie Glatzer, Amber Anderson, Logan Kornhauser, and more… Lydia Ashman (Feb 14–March 11): a very personal solo show responding to death and grief.
GREG KUCERA GALLERY • 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770, greg kucera.com, open Tues–Sat Gregory Blackstock (through Dec 29) shows his endearingly obsessive, list-centric work, cataloging such things as breeds of Labrador retrievers…Ladies’ Choice: Works by Women Artists Chosen by Women Artists (through Dec 29) is exactly what it sounds like (one such pairing is Alice Wheeler and Stranger photographer Kelly O, another is Victoria Haven and Dawn Cerny)… Susan Skilling (Jan 3– Feb 16) shows textured gouache paintings of immersive patterns… Jeffrey Simmons (Jan 3–Feb 16) creates detailed watercolor paintings that look like the psychedelic, refracted points of light you see when you put pressure on your eyes… Ed Wicklander (Feb 21–March 30) shows sculpture… William Binnie (Feb 21–March 30): drawings and paintings.
GROVER/THURSTON GALLERY • 319 Third Ave S, 223-0816, groverthurston.com, open Tues–Sat Hindsight (through Dec 29): Terry Turrell’s folk paintings and sculptures cobbled together from a charmingly eclectic mass of found objects…Gallery Artists (Jan 3–Feb 23) is a group show.
HEDREEN GALLERY • Lee Center for the Arts at Seattle University, 901 12th Ave, 296-2244, hedreengallery.us, open Wed–Sat The rug pulled out from underneath; you lie on the floor (through Jan 27) is a series of proposals about “gesture outside of gender,” a quiet, lyrical puzzle with works by Dawn Cerny, Shaw Osha, Wynne Greenwood, and more.
JACK STRAW GALLERY • 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 6340919, jackstraw.org, open Mon–Fri Signal to Noise: Imagined Frequencies of Radiophonic Space (Jan 18–March 8): FM radio is a highly regulated sphere, but
there’s a whole wide world of radio in the more liminal realms of AM and shortwave. Amber Cortes creates four imaginary radio stations that call our attention to the underground side of the dial.
JAMES HARRIS GALLERY • 312 Second Ave S, 903-6220, jamesharrisgallery.com, open Thurs–Sat The gallery closes for the month of December, reopening with Richard Rezac: New Sculpture (Jan 30–Feb 16) and Eric Elliot: Pairings (Jan 30–Feb 16)…Akio Takamori (Feb 21–March 30) shows new sculptures.
KRAB JAB STUDIO • 5628 Airport Way S, Suite 246, 715-8593, krabjabstudio.com, open every second Sat Anthony Waters Solo Show and Book Launch (Dec 8): a release for The Little Book of Pain…Raven Mimura (Jan 12– Feb 7): illustrative work…FAERIE! (Feb 9–28), a group show of fairy artists.
LxWxH • 6007 12th Ave S, lengthbywidth byheight.com, open by appt LxWxH Opening Reception (Dec 8–Dec 29) is the inaugural show of Sharon Arnold’s brick-and-mortar gallery, with artists who have been featured in LxWxH’s subscription-based boxes. With Joey Veltkamp, Serrah Russell, Brian Cypher, Kimberly Trowbridge, Ollie Glatzer, Amanda Manitach, Rumi Koshino, Ryan Molenkamp, Gretchen Bennett, and others… Bette Burgoyne (Jan 12–Feb 2) shows new work.
LINDA HODGES GALLERY • 316 First Ave S, 624-3034, linda hodgesgallery.com, open Tues–Sat David French (through Dec 29) mixes media on carved wood… New paintings by Gillian Theobald and Glen Clevenger (Jan 3–31)…New paintings by Helen O’Toole (Feb 7–28).
LISA HARRIS GALLERY • 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315, lisa harrisgallery.com, open Mon–Sun Richard Morhous: Line Paintings (Dec 6–30): brightly colored, geometric paintings of urban landscapes…Karen Kosoglad: Fields and Figures (Jan 3–Feb 3) …Emily Wood: Recent Paintings (Feb 7–March 3).
LTD. ART GALLERY • 307 E Pike St, 457-2970, ltdart gallery.com, open Tues–Sun WHO SHOT FIRST?! (Dec 13–Jan 27): a multidisciplinary homage to all things Star Wars, including special costumed guests. Please let there be no Jar Jar… MINTcondition, Issue No. 2 (March 1–30) joins the madness of the Emerald City Comiccon with an all-comics show.
M.I.A GALLERY • 1203A Second Ave, 4674927, m-i-a-gallery.com, open Tues–Sat 2012 Encore (through Dec 22): a recap of 2012 gallery exhibits…Sapeurs (Jan 25–Feb 28): Congolese artist Baudouin Mouanda’s photographs of members of SAPE, Sociéte des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elégantes, or the Society of PartyRevelers and Elegant Persons (!).
ART CALENDAR
M. ROSETTA HUNTER GALLERY (AT SCCC)
promises of “lots of whiskey and gunpowder”…Cynthia Camlin (Feb 7–March 2) shows paintings.
• 1701 Broadway, 934-4379, seattlecentral.edu/artgallery, open Mon–Fri
RARE MEDIUM GALLERY
Tatiana Garmendia: Veils of Ignorance (Jan 2–31): burned texts and sound installations that tell the stories of women who have been subject to violence.
PAPER HAMMER • 1400 Second Ave, 6823820, paper-hammer.com, open Mon–Sat The Seduction of Color (through Dec 29) is photographs from the collection of Robert E. Jackson…Sculptural clocks by Patricia Leavengood (through Dec 29)…Robert Teeple (through Jan 31) creates an LED homage to the writers of the Beat generation.
PATRICIA CAMERON GALLERY • 234 Dexter Ave N, 909-9096, patriciacamerongallery.com, open Mon–Fri Milan Heger (through Jan 11) creates symbolically loaded paintings, drawings, and mixed-media sculptures.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST • 900 12th Ave, 720-7222, pcnw.org, open Mon–Sun Social Order: Women Photographers from Iran, India, and Afghanistan (through Dec 15) Shadi Ghadirian, Gazelle Samizay, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Manjari Sharma, and Priya Kambli show images of such things as feisty, veiled women posing with mirrors and boom boxes…ReVision: Photo Center NW Faculty Exhibition (Jan 2–28): From the teaching artists of Photo Center NW…Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows (Feb 1–March 28): images of mid-century American city life. The contents of this show were quite literally found in an abandoned storage locker, and have made a small sensation in the photography world since.
PLATFORM GALLERY
• 1321 E Pine St, 913-7538, raremediumseattle.com, open Wed–Sun Intimate Separation (through Dec 9) is Juan Alanson, Danielle Comeaux, Eva Jung, and Ty Talbot tackling themes of space and alienation…Reliquiae (Jan 9–March 10): Bay Area artist Cameron McPherson’s deconstructed exploration of the pencil as a material object, tool, and icon of obsolescence.
ROQ LA RUE • 2312 Second Ave, 3748977, roqlarue.com, open Wed– Sat Let the Devil Wear Black (Dec 7–Jan 5) is Femke Hiemstra’s mixed-media alternate reality of anthropomorphized objects that flit about with a dark cohort of animals…Disasterma (Dec 7–Jan 5): Ryan Heshka’s painted foray into the iconography of pulp science fiction and its themes of science, technology, and unintended disaster…I’ll Love You ’Til the End of the World (Jan 11–Feb 2) is a group show about coming to terms with the apocalypse that won’t be happening in December (unless it does, in which case most of this is irrelevant). With Chris Berens, Camille Rose Garcia, John Brophy, Martin Wittfooth, JeanPierre Roy, Nicola Verlato, Laurie Lee Brom, and others…Sam Wolfe Connelly (Feb 8–March 2) does disquieting drawings of the mundane.
SEASON • 1222 NE Ravenna Blvd, 6790706, season.cz, open by appt only Nothing and No Thing (through Dec 31): a show featuring Bat Haus, a Boston collective well know for their haunting and ephemeral music as well as sculpture, photography, curatorial experiments, and performances.
SEATTLE OFFICE OF ARTS & CULTURAL AFFAIRS • seattle.gov/arts
Elles: Platform (through Dec 15) is an all-female lineup with Jaq Chartier, Lauren Grossman, Patte Loper, Kelly Mark, Melissa Pokorny, and Ariana Page Russell…Adam Satushek: New Photographs (Jan 3– Feb 9)…Adam Ekberg: New Photographs (Feb 14–March 23).
Women’s Stories is a series of narrative-based works taken from the City of Seattle’s collection (Jan 8–March 29, Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery, 700 Fifth Ave, open Mon–Fri)…Ethiopian Art: Tradition, Assimilation, and Modification includes work by 10 Seattle-based artists of Ethiopian descent (Jan 3–March 4, City Hall Lobby Gallery, 600 Fourth Ave, open Mon–Fri).
PROGRAPHICA
SHIFT STUDIO
• 3419 E Denny Way, 322-3851, prographicadrawings.com, open Wed–Sat
• 306 S Washington St, #105, shift studio.org, open Fri–Sat and first Thurs
Annual Figurative Show (Dec 15–Jan 26): work by Shay Bredimus, Marsha Burns, Wes Christensen, Kim Frohsin, Phillip Levine, Tim Lowly, Robert Schultz, Stephen Schultz, and Romey Stuckart…The Bleak View (Feb 2–March 9): work by David Bailin, Sandow Birk, and Steve Costie.
Shift of Perspective (Dec 6–29) is a group show on the topic of change…New Year (Jan 3–Feb 2) presents new work by new members of the studio…Dawn P. Endean (Feb 7–March 2): scientifically inspired work about living organisms.
• 114 Third Ave S, 323-2808, platformgallery.com, open Wed–Sat
PUNCH GALLERY • 119 Prefontaine Pl S, 621-1945, punchgallery.org, open Thurs–Sat Arrest Me (through Dec 15): a juried exhibition…Mason Dixon (Jan 3–Feb 2) is an installation based on the Civil War, with
SOIL
side motel…YOU THARMY:) (Dec 5–29): Seth Damm joins forces with high school student Kazel Wood to create work about the uncomfortable and uncertain moments before ideas come together…Plant Bodies (Jan 2– Feb 2): found and collected materials from Ryan Aragon and Allyce Wood…Knit’in Paintin’ (Jan 2– Feb 2) is Paul Komada chil’in as he brings two traditions together… Magic Sync (Feb 6–March 2): an interactive audiovisual piece from Andy Arkley, Courtney Barnebey, and Peter Lynch that promises a “bank of arcade buttons”… FlotsamJetsamLagan: The Oneness (Feb 6–March 2) shows works on paper by Cable Griffith (who has a day job as the curator at Cornish), with an emphasis on curiosity over cohesion.
STONINGTON GALLERY • 119 S Jackson St, 405-4040, stoningtongallery.com, open Mon–Sun Treasures of the Northwest: A Group Exhibition (Dec 6–Jan 25): natural treasures by Haida master artist Bill Reid…During February and March, the gallery will be moving—but only two doors down on the same street, and the gallery will remain open during the move.
RETHINK PLASTICS AT THE BURKE “PLASTICS UNWRAPPED”
DECEMBER 20, 2012 — MAY 27, 2013
SUYAMA SPACE • 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809, suyamapetersondeguchi.com/art, open Mon–Fri Ruffle (through Dec 7) is Gail Grinnell’s devouring, translucent cut-paper universe of lightly teaand-coffee-stained drawings of dress ruffles. The ruffles dangle from the ceiling and whirl in tunnels midair and cling to the rafters, and they give the ashy appearance of something obliterated, something after a disaster, just before it falls to dust—it’s no surprise to learn that the artist was born, in 1950, and grew up in Hanford…Deborah Aschheim: Threshold (Jan 21–April 13) is an installation containing the artist’s ideas about the idiosyncratic fallibility of memory.
TASTY • 7513 Greenwood Ave N, 7063020, shoptastyart.com, open Tues–Sun Gifted (Dec 11–Jan 31): a large group show of holiday-priced work…Tarts, Trollops, and Tramps (Feb 3–March 5) is an allfemale lineup in conjunction with Bherd Studios, and part of the proceeds goes to an organization that works to end domestic violence.
TRUE LOVE ART GALLERY • 1525 Summit Ave, 227-3572, trueloveart.com, open Tues–Sat Super Smart Art Mart (Dec 15–Jan 7): Yup, it’s that time of year. A cash-and-carry show of art from David Cho, Scott Dalrymple, George Long, H. Lee Porter, Gregory Moon, Emmett Montgomery, and others… Dystopia (Jan 10–Feb 11): Sating the craving for the apocalypse. With Xavier Lopez, Yvette Endrijautzki, Chris Sheridan, Larkin Cypher, Brian K. Ward, and others…Queens, Crowns, and Cameos (Feb 14–March 11) is a show of all things drag queen.
• 112 Third Ave S, 264-8061, soilart.org, open Wed–Sat
VERMILLION
Pacific Motel (Dec 5–29) is a collaboration of collage and installation between Maggie Carson Romano and Serrah Russell that arose from a vacation at a road-
• 1508 11th Ave, 709-9797, vermillionseattle.com, open Tues–Sun Derek Erdman has been pretty busy curating hilarious shows at
WINTER 2012
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ART CALENDAR
JANUARY 2013
“Cappella Romana left the audience suspended in a zone of otherworldly beauty. … Can this group really still be such a wellkept secret in Seattle?” —Crosscut “… a landmark performance … the sense of liturgical purpose balanced its rapturous, sensuous beauty.” —The Oregonian, review of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil, January 2012 “Not for a long time … have I written anything with such pleasure.” —Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1910 Free pre-concert talk one hour prior to each performance.
CHRISTMAS & EPIPHANYTIDE
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF THE LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ǗǔǞǟǜǏǔǫ ǔǚnjǙǙnj ǓǗnjǞǚǟǝǞnj 23 dir. ALEXANDER LINGAS artistic director Following three sold-out performances last season of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (“Vespers”), this year Cappella Romana presents Rachmaninoff’s earlier sacred masterpiece, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. In Church Slavonic, complete.
8pm, Saturday, January 12, 2013 Holy Rosary Church, West Seattle Also in Portland Jan. 11 and Jan. 13, 2013
cappella romana
21st season 2012-13
TICKETS START AT $27 cappellaromana.org 800-494-8497
his own gallery, Derek Erdman’s International House of Paintings (IHOP), but for this month he graces Vermillion’s walls with Nikki Burch and Brittany Kusa (December)…Oscillate (January): Shelly Farham and Anne Blackburn pull artists from the Dorkbot community and the ranks of University of Washington’s DXArts (Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media) making art about light and movement… Ron Ulicny, Raymond Kempe, James Mullen, and Matjames Mason take over (February) with Assemblage.
WINSTON WÄCHTER FINE ART • 203 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855, winstonwachter.com, open Mon–Sat Petits Tableaux: A Group Exhibition of Small Works (through Dec 21) is new paintings by Chris Pfister…Indigo Blue (through Dec 21) showcases Piper O’Neill’s treatment of obscure footage from Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair, passing it through the lens of the artist’s trippy, post-Victorian sensibility… Klavier-Stücke (Jan 15–Feb 28): The MacArthur-winning New Yorker profile subject Trimpin— who happens to be a Seattle artist—is paying homage to the 100th birthdays of the late John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow with a series of deconstructed pianos that make music based on a set of colored screen prints on the wall. The prints are read by a motorized robot arm, which translates colors into musical cues sent to the pianos. Also expect: a work of art that operates like a vending machine. Put in a quarter and a window rolls up to reveal—wait for it—a Thomas Kinkade painting Trimpin hilariously owns (it was a gift, he says by way of disavowal; “Kinkade was one of those hypocritical Christians,” Trimpin continues. “Did you know he peed on Winnie the Pooh once?”). As of press time, Trimpin was still breathlessly searching for his Kinkade, which he had somehow misplaced.
WOODSIDE BRASETH GALLERY • 2101 Ninth Ave, 622-7243, woodsidebrasethgallery.com, open Tues–Sat Small Works: Our 51st Annual Holiday Exhibition (Dec 8–29): recently acquired works by Northwest Masters and others… Paintings & Drawings by Northwest Master Kenneth Callahan (Jan 2–Feb 8) is a survey from the 1950s through the 1980s… New Paintings by Michael Stasinos (Feb 9–March 9) is oils of cityscapes and “street furniture.”
WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE • 407 Dexter Ave N, open Thurs and Sat a rose is a rose is a rose (through Jan 17) is another mixing of works from the stellar Wright collection, this time selected and installed by SAM’s modern and contemporary curator, Catharina Manchanda.
ZEITGEIST
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dark—which, in addition to being slightly obsessive, just so happen to be adorable.
Events DEC 6 Paul Elliman: Artist Talk The London-based artist, designer, and all-around smarty-pants whose work is included in the current Henry exhibition Now Here Is Also Nowhere (Part 1) often creates art that essentially consists of what he’s called “talking signs.” He uses found city sounds—he once conducted sirens tours of New York—or sound illusions taken from cinema and inserted into real urban environments (or he’s also created new fonts made of old typographies). His contribution at the ephemeral exhibition Now Here fills a tunnel-type chamber off to the side of one of the galleries with recordings of wind taken from movies. In there, you swear it’s cooler. He’s here to talk about his work, seen across Europe and the United States. • Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, henryart.org, 7 pm, $10.
DEC 6
cusses Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris with a focus on portrayals of race and gender. • Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, seattleartmuseum.org, 7 pm, $10
JAN 9 Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer, whose work is on display in Elles: SAM, pulls philosophical and intellectual writings into her pieces to further the conversation about power dynamics and feminism. She speaks in Seattle with SAM’s curator of modern and contemporary art, Catharina Manchanda. • Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, seattleartmuseum.org, 7 pm, $10
JAN 20 Rebecca Brown: Writing from a Reckless Inner Need The Seattle writer leads a rousing closing tour for the large, crossdisciplinary Frye exhibition Mw [Moment Magnitude]. • Frye Museum, 704 Terry Ave, fryemuseum.org, 3–4 pm, free
’57 Biscayne Holiday Open House and Gift Sale
JAN 26–27
The resident artists of the Scheuerman Building open up. In addition to the gift-friendly jewelry, paintings, letterpress cards and posters, and ever-somuch-more, the lobby is home to Ex Voto Machina, a “neuroprosthetic, large-scale mechatronic artwork” by Meghan Trainor, which sounds dangerous, exciting, and like just what Dad wants for Hanukkah.
ONN/OF Festival
• ‘57 Biscayne, 110 Cherry St, 57biscayne.com, 6–9 pm
DEC 7
Organizers Susan Robb and Sierra Stinson return for a second year of this homage to the cyclic and spiritual roles played by darkness, light, and gray in the Northwest. Intentionally scheduled for “what has been scientifically proven to be the worst, most depressing day of the year,” this sprawling weekend of mixed-media installations, music, and food is an invitation to celebrate the light. • The Sweater Factory, 1415 NW 52nd St, onnof.us
Morality Tales: American Art and Social Protest
FEB 5
Patricia Junker, SAM’s curator of American art, discusses how the social upheaval of the 1930s and ’40s fundamentally changed the landscape of the American art establishment as artists turned to their work as a means to channel their outrage.
Plastics Experts Talk
• Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, seattleartmuseum.org, 11 am–noon, $10
DEC 9 Bear Hug This here’s a party for Jeffry Mitchell, “Seattle’s BFF” and the subject of the 25-year retrospective exhibition Like a Valentine. In the friendly spirit of the artist, his friends will lead a tour of the exhibition at 2 pm—having the artists’ friends give a tour is a brilliant idea almost never employed in the formal art world—followed by a reception and chain-saw bear sale. CHAIN-SAW BEAR SALE. You get to choose from a selection of chain-saw bears picked by Mitchell and fellow Seattle artist Claude Zervas, who drove around the Olympic Peninsula finding them. • Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, henryart.org, 1–3 pm, $10
• 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497, zeit geistcoffee.com, open Mon–Sun
DEC 14
Featherfolio (Dec 6–Jan 2) showcases the detailed shadow boxes of Chris Maynard, who takes surgical tools to feathers to create intricate interplays of light and
Deborah Willis Deborah Willis, Chair and Professor of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, dis-
In conjunction with Plastics: Unwrapped, the Burke brings together 10 plastic experts and gives each of them six minutes and 20 slides to cover the complex world of the material, both in terms of its incredible malleability and its troublesome environmental impacts. • Neptune Theater, 1303 NE 45th St, stgpresents.org, 7 pm, $5
FEB 9 Annual Gala Benefit for the Henry Honor Genius Award–winner Jeffry Mitchell (and support the Henry!) in the most delicious way—with cocktails and a sure-tobe-great dinner prepared by John Sundstrom of Lark. (See henryart .org for details.) • The Henry Gallery, 15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, henryart.org, 6 pm
FEB 23 Artist Trust Benefit Art Auction Every year, Artist Trust gives tens of thousands of dollars to individual artists to support their creative ideas right “at the source,” as their slogan truthfully goes. This auction benefits them. On top of it, people walk out with screaming art deals. • Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, see artisttrust.org for details
A&P WINTER CALENDAR
PERFORMANCE
Roméo et Juliette Feb 1–10 at McCaw Hall
by Brendan Kiley and Kaytlin McIntyre
Larger Theaters 5TH AVENUE THEATER • 1308 Fifth Ave, 625-1900, 5thavenue.org Elf: The Musical: (Through Dec 31): Based on the very funny hit holiday film starring Will Ferrell. The Music Man (Feb 7–March 10): “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”
ACT THEATER • 700 Union St, 292-7676, acttheatre.org A Christmas Carol (Through Dec 30): ACT Theater’s annual performance of the Dickens holiday story as adapted by early Seattle theater pioneer Greg Falls. Starring R. Hamilton Wright and Jeff Steitzer as Scrooge (on alternating nights), directed by John Langs. Oedipus El Rey (Dec 6–16): The story of the world’s most famous motherfucker, set against the backdrop of a prison in Southern California. This adaptation, performed by eSe Teatro, was written by Luis Alfaro, who has won a MacArthur Genius Award for his Chicano versions of Greek classics, including Electricidad, his take on Electra. Wisemen (Dec 13–22): ACT’s holiday musical comedy about three Jewish attorneys—Goldberg, Frankenstein, and Murray—who set out to help Joseph of Nazareth figure out who pregnacized Mary. 14/48: The World’s Quickest Theater Festival (Jan 4–12): The return of Seattle’s fast-and-loose performance festival, in which a small army of local theater-makers write, rehearse, design, and perform seven new plays in 24 hours, catch a few moments of sleep, and then do it all over again. The Seagull (Jan 23–Feb 10): “Man, you know what’s great about socialism?” some actors will tell you. “State-sponsored theater. Those guys would rehearse a single Chekhov play for like three years.” This ensemble, led by director John Langs, has been scratching that itch for the past nine months, studying and rehearsing their version of The Seagull. Starring Alexandra Tavares, Brandon J. Simmons, Julie Briskman, and others. A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Jan 31–Feb 17): A 1967 play by Peter Nichols about a couple whose daughter has cerebral palsy and how they use humor to cope. This is the first production by new company Thalia’s Umbrella, and it involves Leslie Law, Brandon Whitehead, Susan Corzatte, and others. These Streets (Feb 22–March 10): A world-premiere rock ’n’ roll play with a live band about women in the Seattle music scene in the 1990s. Creators Sarah Rudinoff, Gretta Harley, and Elizabeth Kenny based the show on dozens of interviews with real live rock ’n’ rollers and included music by the Gits, 7 Year Bitch, Hammberbox, and more.
honor of the centennial of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, her company will perform Chouinard’s Le sacre du printemps— another bold gesture, to choreograph that—as well as 24 Preludes, set to Chopin. Black Grace (Feb 21–23): New Zealand’s leading contemporary dance company, led by choreographer Neil Ieremia, presents a fusion of Pacific Islander and contemporary dance. The Toronto Globe and Mail calls it “an explosive combination of Samoan ritual, martial arts, and daredevil risk-taking.”
MOORE THEATER • 1932 Second Ave, 682-1414, stgpresents.org Black Nativity (Dec 6–23): A longtime Seattle holiday tradition, Black Nativity uses the Langston Hughes poem as a springboard for dance, song, and a gospel service.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Jan 15–27): See the listing under Balagan Theater.
• McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 441-2424, pnb.org
SPANK! The Fifty Shades of Grey Parody (Feb 13–17): Written and directed by Jim Millan of The Kids in the Hall, Marijuanalogues with Tommy Chong, and more.
Nutcracker (Dec 7–29): The Stowell/ Sendak one that premiered on Dec 13, 1983, and was intended, in Sendak’s words, to reach beyond “humongous Christmas tree and fatuous Candyland.”
Bill Frisell, The Great Flood (March 2): Film and staging by Bill Morrison, music composed and performed by music-theaterperformance genius Bill Frisell, based on the Mississippi River flood of 1927.
Nick Kroll (Dec 14): Comedy.
Roméo et Juliette (Feb 1–10): The Jean-Christophe Maillot version, with Prokofiev’s score. In 2009, Jen Graves described it in The Stranger as: “hot… It seduces the audience with everything the dancers have, not just some of it—their command and their release; their Olympian ability not just to spin bolt upright but also to ache… Feels are copped. Making out is not symbolized: It occurs.”
ON THE BOARDS
PARAMOUNT THEATER
NEPTUNE THEATER • 1303 NE 45th St, 682-1414, stgpresents.org
• 100 W Roy St, 217-9888, ontheboards.org Kyle Loven (Dec 5–10): The local experimental puppeteer—whose work has been described in The Stranger as “a little bit Edward Gorey, a little bit Samuel Beckett, and a little bit Czech surrealism”—performs another one of his expressionistic shows with an intricately rigged set, titled Loss Machine. Catherine Cabeen and Company (Jan 17–20): Local choreographer and OtB favorite (Into the Void, The A.W.A.R.D. Show!, the NW New Works Festival) returns with Fire!, an “immersive stage environment” with six dancers exploring the legacy of artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who worked with paint, sculpture, collage, naiveté, femininity, and guns and knives. She She Pop and Their Fathers (Jan 31–Feb 3): The Berlin-based group integrates big band covers and father/daughter dances (with the performers’ actual septuagenarian fathers) in Testament, a vision of paternal relationships from King Lear to Dolly Parton.
• University of Washington Campus, 5434880, uwworldseries.org
12 Minutes Max (Feb 10–11): This round of new 12-minute shorts is curated by Gabrielle Schutz (director/choreographer), Daveda Russell (interim executive director, CD Forum), and Rahwa Habte (cofounder, Hidmo). Performed at Washington Hall (153 14th Ave).
Compagnie Marie Chouinard (Jan 24–26): Montreal-based choreographer Marie Chouinard makes work that is strange without being esoteric—it’s bold and sometimes controversial, no subtle parsing necessary. The most iconic Chouinard image may be dancers with crutches and other mobility aids strapped to their bodies, bristling with new aluminum limbs and new possibilities for movement, balance, and extension. In
Annie Dorsen (Feb 21–24): The cocreator and director of the 2008 Tony Award– winning musical Passing Strange brings an “algorithmic parsing of Hamlet,” digitalized and reprogrammed in this part-live performance, part-AI-computerized show titled The False Peach. Cocollaborators include Scott Shepherd (Gatz), Mark Hansen (Listening Post), and Jim Findlay (Ralph Lemon, Cynthia Hopkins).
MEANY HALL
ANGELA STERLING
• 911 Pine St, 682-1414, stgpresents.org Louis CK (Dec 20–21): One of the grand masters of 21st-century, disgruntled-butlovable schlub comedy. The Book of Mormon (Jan 8–20): “I believe that God has a plan for all of us. I believe that plan involves me getting my own planet. And I believe that in 1978, God changed his mind about black people! I am a Mormon, and a Mormon just believes.” Lewis Black (Feb 1): Performs The Rant Is Due, his standup show about the presidential election. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Feb 9): Performs Three to Max by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. War Horse (Feb 13–24): Seattle Theater Group and Seattle Repertory Theater copresent the WWI story of a boy and his trusty steed Joey, made spectacular with puppetry by the renowned Handspring Puppet Company.
SEATTLE OPERA • McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 389-7676, seattleopera.org, for more, see page 33. Cinderella (Jan 12–26): Rossini’s spritely opera. La Bohème (Feb 23–March 10): Puccini’s ever-popular opera about young love, young artists, and tuberculosis.
New Play Festival (Jan 5–Feb 3): Workshops of four new plays, including the second part of All the Way by Robert Schenkkan (the first premiered at Oregon Shakespeare Festival this past season), a commissioned piece about the evangelical “ex-gay” phenomenon by Samuel Hunter, a docu-drama about Vietnam antiwar groups by Elizabeth Heffron and Kit Bakke, and a play by Justin Huertas about a concert cellist with superpowers. American Buffalo (Jan 11–Feb 3): Mamet’s searing comedy about greed and revenge in a junk shop, starring Charles Leggett, Hans Altwies, and Zachary Simonson. Directed by Wilson Milam (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Seafarer). Photograph 51 (Feb 1–March 3): Another woman screwed over by history—the race to discover DNA’s doublehelix structure leaves overlooked scientist Rosalind Franklin out of the books. Starring Kirsten Potter, Bradford Farwell, Darragh Kennan, and others. Directed by Braden Abraham.
THE TRIPLE DOOR • 216 Union St, 838-4333, tripledoor.net Land of The Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker (Dec 11–27): The seventh annual installment of this bawdy-ized ballet with Jasper McCann and Lily Verlaine, Waxie Moon, Kitten La Rue, and new cast members from Ballet Bellevue and Spectrum Dance Theater. The Big Gig (Jan 26): A cabaret/variety show. The Atomic Bombshells (Feb 14–16): The popular Seattle burlesque group.
VILLAGE THEATER • 303 Front St N, Issaquah, 425-392-2202, villagetheatre.org Fiddler on the Roof (Nov 7–Dec 30): The famous musical inspired by Marc Chagall’s paintings of Eastern European Jewish life, which often featured a fiddler. Starring Eric Polani Jensen, directed by David Ira Goldstein. The Mousetrap (Jan 16–Feb 24): Agatha Christie’s mystery story, and the longestrunning play in modern history.
Smaller Theaters
SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATER
ANNEX THEATER
• 155 Mercer St, 443-2222, seattlerep.org
• 1100 E Pike St, 728-0933, annextheatre. org
Inspecting Carol (Through Dec 23): In this ensemble-developed play originally spearheaded by Daniel Sullivan in 1991— now revived by current artistic director Jerry Manning—the curtain rises backstage on a theater’s rattletrap production of A Christmas Carol that is falling apart.
The Woman in the Wall (Through Dec 15): Pacific Play Company presents a world premiere by Daniel Tarker about a woman and an infant found buried in the wall of an old Seattle high-rise, and a journalist who tries to sort out the mystery.
Spin the Bottle (Dec 7, Jan 4, Feb 1, March 1): Annex Theater’s long-running, late-night buffet of monthly entertainment. You never know what’s gonna turn up. Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery (Jan 6, Feb 3, March 3): A monthly event, curated by comedian Emmett Montgomery, with jokes, songs, storytelling, and other stuff. Performers are often encouraged to do something they don’t normally do. Undo (Jan 18–Feb 16): Rachel and Joe are getting divorced, and everyone they know is invited. This world premiere by Holly Arsenault takes place in a world “where the worst moment of your life is something that people dress up for.” Second Date (Jan 29–Feb 13): Three playwrights and three directors have “their first collaborative kiss.”
ARTSWEST • 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963, artswest.org The Winter Wonderettes (Through Dec 30): A holiday show with four-part harmony and late-’60s nostalgia. Shirley Valentine (Jan 23–Feb 18): A middle-aged Liverpool housewife gets a dream vacation and a new sense of purpose.
BALAGAN THEATER • Erickson Theater Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Ave, 329-1050, balagantheatre. org Avenue Q (Through Dec 16): A recommended rendition of the puppet musical loosely based on Sesame Street, but all grown up (which isn’t always a happy thing). Three Men and a Baby Jesus (Dec 7–15): Three guys, one god—what could go wrong? A Very Blood Squad Christmas (Dec 22): Improv on a horror-movie theme. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Jan 17–27): “How did some slip of a girly boy from communist East Berlin become the internationally ignored song stylist barely standing before you?” Directed by the talented Ian Bell (Seattle Confidential, the Brown Derby series), starring the talented Jerick Hoffer (aka Jinkx Monsoon), performed at the Moore Theater. Next to Normal (Feb 8–March 2): Coproduction with Contemporary Classics and directed by Brandon Ivie. Starring Marya Sea Kaminski.
BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATER • Center House Theater, Seattle Center, 216-0833, book-it.org
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PERFORMANCE CALENDAR Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant (Through Dec 23): Another installment of Book-It’s popular adaptations of the John Irving novel about a boy, an orphanage, and the physician/ abortionist who watches over them all. Geek Out (Dec 28–29): The latest in Book-It’s new site-specifc experiment called Circumbendibus. This one, directed by Andy Jensen, will be “a celebration of sci-fi, new media, and the graphic novel” at Erickson Theater Off Broadway (1524 Harvard Ave). Anna Karenina (Feb 5–March 3): Another dose of Russian angst from Seattle theaters this winter. Adapted by Kevin McKeon, directed by Mary Machala.
BOOM! THEATER • 429 Fairview Ave N, boomtheater company.org Give a Dog a Bone (Through Dec 8): A new one-act about two lovers and their turbulent history in a strip club. Following the play will be dance by new company A Little Burlesque. End of the World Party (Dec 21): Another seizing of the supposed Mayan-end-of-the-world thing (which real-life Mayans have rejected as sensationalist hogwash, but whatever) as an excuse to have a party. New World (Feb 1–23): A new comedy written and directed by Daniel Theyer about explorerVikings.
CAN CAN CABARET • 94 Pike St, 652-0832 ext. 2, thecancan.com Tune in Tokyo (Through March 30): The Can Can Castaways’ sexy, neato Japan-pop dance show.
COMEDY UNDERGROUND • 109 S Washington St, 628-0303, comedyunderground.com Hari Kondabolu (Dec 5–8): The Comedy Underground has been the primary incubation tank for many local comedians who have gone on to great things—see their website for full listings in the near future. This December, Hari Kondabolu (who has won awards at national comedy festivals, been on international tours, and is working as a writer for Chris Rock’s awesome Totally Biased on FX) tries out some new material on us.
DASS DANCE • Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, dassdance.org Salon de DASSdance (Dec 5, Jan 7, Feb 4, March 4): DASS’s monthly collection of hors d’oeuvres and dance, photography, live music, etc. Mini-Nutcracker and Santa Breakfast (Dec 15–16): A miniature performance of the Nutcracker for miniature humans, with a continental breakfast.
FRED WILDLIFE REFUGE • 127 Boylston Ave E, 588-6959, fredwildliferefuge.com Physical Graffiti (Jan 4–Feb 23): A “collaborative art installation” by digital and street artists, dancers, choreographers, musicians, and fashionistas.
GHOST LIGHT THEATRICALS • Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market St, 395-5458, ghostlighttheatricals.org
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Hamlet (Jan 18–Feb 3): A genderswapped production (the ladies philosophize and plot, the men watch helplessly) directed by Beth Raas-Berquist. Battle of the Bards (Feb 15–16): Ghost Light’s annual fundraiser in which three ensembles compete, in 20-minute productions, for a slot in the next season. This round: a rock-opera adaptation of Othello, a steampunk adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, and a modern-warfare take on Trojan Women by Euripides.
LANGSTON HUGHES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER • 104 17th Ave S, 684-4758, brownpapertickets.com Langston Birthday Bash (Feb 1): Motown music and dance to celebrate the 111th birthday of Langston Hughes. The invitation says: “Dress up or down, just come.” Call Mr. Robeson (Feb 8–9): A solo show about Paul Robeson— with some of his most famous songs and speeches—by Nigerian performer Tayo Aluko. From Black Africa to the White House: A Journey of Resistance, Triumph, and Spirituals (Feb 10): A talk about domination and resistance, from preslavery Africa to the inauguration of Barack Obama, punctuated with music. Performed by Tayo Aluko. Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble (Feb 16): A world premiere of FUSION, choreographed by Haitian choreographer Jeanguy Saintus. Harriet’s Return (March 1–2): A solo show by Karen Meadows about the life of Harriet Tubman.
NEW CENTURY THEATER COMPANY • Solo Bar, 200 Roy St, wearenctc.org The Pipeline (Dec 17, Jan 21, Feb 18): A monthly play-reading series at Solo Bar.
NEW CITY THEATER • 1404 18th Ave, 271-4430, newcitytheater.org How They Attack Us (Through Dec 15): A world premiere by Kevin McKeon about the media, politics, and paranoia.
ODD FELLOWS WEST HALL • 915 Pine St, brownpapertickets. com Homo for the Holidays (Dec 14–24): A queer burlesque holiday show with the Cherdonna and Lou Show, Jinkx Monsoon, Kitten LaRue, Ben Delacreme, and others.
RE-BAR • 1114 Howell St, 233-9873, rebarseattle.com Dina Martina Christmas Show (Through Jan 6): An all-new holiday train wreck—in a good way—from the psycho-drag superstar who won the most recent Stranger Genius Award for performance. Dina’s pianist, Chris Jeffries, won the first-ever Stranger Genius Award for performance. Behold, the bookended geniuses!
RICHARD HUGO HOUSE • 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, hugohouse.org Jalopies (Jan 4–20): A solo show in which Mark Cherniack plays
nine people living in a Seattlearea retirement home.
SATORI GROUP • Inscape Arts, 815 Seattle Blvd S, satori-group.com New Year’s Moving-In Party (Dec 31): Celebrate Satori’s move into the company’s new home after its old building (the artists’ warren known as the “516 building”) was shut down by the city. Hotel Party (Jan 12): A “recurring rager” with rough cuts of new work by writers and performers. reWilding (March 1–17): A worldpremiere collaboration with Martyna Majok (Yale School for Drama) that, as of this writing, is still nascent but has something to do with swamps and a new society.
SEATTLE CHILDREN’S THEATER • 201 Thomas St, 441-3322, sct.org The Wizard of Oz (Through Jan 6): Starring well-loved local actors such as including Kasey Nusbickel, Peter Crook, and Todd Jefferson Moore. Directed by Linda Hartzell. Dot and Ziggy (Jan 15–Feb 17): Created by Linda Hartzell, Mark Perry, and SCT, this play-withmusic explores what a skunk and a ladybug have in common. The Edge of Peace (Feb 28– March 17): Set at the end of World War II in a small Illinois town, the story centers around Buddy, the younger brother of a soldier at war.
SEATTLE MUSICAL THEATER • Magnuson Park Community Center Building, 7120 62nd Ave NE, 363-2809, seattlemusical theatre.org Scrooge: The Musical (Through Dec 9): A musical comedy about A Christmas Carol. Altar Boyz (Feb 15–March 10): Satirical musical comedy about a Christian boy band.
SEATTLE PUBLIC THEATER • Bathhouse Theater, 7312 W Green Lake Dr N, 524-1300, seattlepublictheater.org The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Dec 7–24): The annual performance about a holiday pageant gone haywire and a pack of chaotic kids from “the infamous Herdman clan.” Directed by Shana Bestock. The Santaland Diaries (Dec 7–24): David Sedaris’s memories of working as an elf in a Macy’s Santaland is for “mature elves only.” Starring Patrick Lennon, directed by Kelly Kitchens. The Understudy (Jan 25–Feb 17): A slick Hollywood comedy featuring Mike Dooly, Brenda Joyner, and John Ulman. Directed by Kelly Kitchens.
SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY • Center House Theater, Seattle Center, 733-8222, seattleshakespeare.org A Doll’s House (Jan 2–27): Some describe this Ibsen play as feminist, but he declared—in an 1898 speech to a Norwegian women’s rights organization—that he “must declaim the honor of having consciously worked for the women’s rights movement” as he didn’t write with “any conscious thought of making propaganda” but only “the description of humanity.” Either way, it ends with a wife leaving the house, slamming the door behind her. Starring Jenny Sue Johnson as
Compagnie Marie Chouinard Jan 24–26 at Meany Hall
Nora and Michael Patten as Torvald.
SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER • 800 Lake Washington Blvd, 3254161, spectrumdance.org Fall Studio Series (Through Dec 9): World-premiere works by Olivier Wevers, Donald Byrd, and Crispin Spaeth. This is the 10th anniversary of Byrd’s role as artistic director at Spectrum.
STONE SOUP THEATER • DownStage Theater, 4029 Stone Way N, 633-1883, stonesoup theatre.org A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Dec 7–24): The sweet performance of Dylan Thomas’s poem—with adult and child actors—returns for the holidays. 5X Tenn (or so) (Feb 15–March 9): Five seldom-produced oneact plays by Tennessee Williams including The Chalky White Substance and Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen.
TAPROOT THEATER • 204 N 85th St, 781-9707, taproottheatre.org Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol (Through Dec 29): A newish play by John Longenbaugh, directed by Scott Nolte. Jeeves in Bloom (Jan 30–March 2): Bucolic mayhem based on the Wodehouse stories.
TEATRO ZINZANNI • 222 Mercer St, 802-0015, dreams.zinzanni.org Return to Paradise (Through Jan 27): A dinner-variety show set during the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle with visitations by Elvis, Bruce Lee, and Jimi Hendrix.
THEATER 912 • Trinity Parish Church, 609 Eighth Ave, theatre912.com Blithe Spirit (Jan 26–Feb 16): Noël Coward’s comedy about a writer with two wives—one living, one ghostly.
THEATER SCHMEATER • 1500 Summit Ave, 324-5801, schmeater.org Fallen Angels (Through Dec 15): An amusing production of an early play by Noël Coward about wives who drink cocktails—while their husbands are away for a weekend of golf—and are waiting for “an assignation” with a French dude. A Behanding in Spokane (Jan 25–Feb 3): Martin McDonagh set most of his violent, gallowshumor comedies among drunks, paramilitaries, and fools in rural Ireland. This one takes place in Eastern Washington. Directed by Peggy Gannon.
THEATER OFF JACKSON • 409 Seventh Ave S, 340-1049, theatreoffjackson.org Ham for the Holidays (Through Dec 30): The long-running holiday tradition of sketch comedy and music with Dos Fallopia (Peggy Platt and Lisa Koch) and friends.
UNEXPECTED PRODUCTIONS • 1428 Post Alley, 587-2414, unexpectedproductions.org Improv Happy Hour (Through Dec 29): Improv comedy every Wednesday at 7 pm, with “an edgier story based on longform comedy” instead of their Theatersports™ specialty. Womb Escape (Through Dec 22): A competition between four teams of improvisers for an audience’s hearts and minds. A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol (Through Dec 29): This Scrooge-plus-audiencesuggestions show was first performed in 1985.
VELOCITY DANCE CENTER • 1621 12th Ave, 325-8773, velocitydancecenter.org Velocity Open Forum: Real/ Time (Through Dec 10): A series of open houses, panels, book clubs, and other social events centered around the Next NW and Next Dance Cinema festivals. Included: a travelogue about American and Cambodian dancers working together in Cambodia; a panel with Wayne Horvitz, Adam Sekuler, and Mark Haim; happy hours at Boom Noodle; and more. See Velocity’s website for details. Velocity Is Burning (Dec 6): A “kooky-queer cabaret” with performances by Alice Gosti, Team Diva Real Estate, and others. Next NW (Dec 7–9): Featuring new works by Shannon Stewart, thefeath3rtheory (Raja Kelly), Babette McGeady, Erica Badgeley, Molly Sides, Markeith Wiley’s The New Animals, Sarah Butler, and Paris Hurley. Next Dance Cinema (Dec 10): Dance films by Adam Sekuler, Joan Laage and Karolina Bieszczad Stie, Rodrigo Valenzuela and Molly Sides, and many others. The Bridge Project 2013 (Feb 1–3): New choreography by Amy Johnson, Britt Karhoff, Chris McCallister, and Elia Mrak created in a three-week “pressure cooker.”
VERMILLION • 1508 11th Ave, boylan conversation.wordpress.com The Conversation with John Boylan (Dec 18): Another installment of John Boylan’s roundtable discussions in the Vermillion
art gallery and bar. This iteration is about “the art of intoxication” and may feature a perfumer, a distiller, and a chocolatier.
WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE THEATER • 608 19th Ave E, washington ensemble.org Ballard House Duet (Dec 7–17): Estranged sisters wade through accumulated possessions (and grudges) to save their aunt from an avalanche of hoarding. Debut production of the Custom Made Play Project, which matches local writers to actors to develop a new play with “regional significance.” Written by Stranger Genius Paul Mullin, starring Hana Lass and Rebecca Olson, and directed by Erin Kraft. To the Nines (Feb 16): The annual WET benefit gala.
WEST OF LENIN • 203 N 36th St, 352-1777, westoflenin.com Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles (Through Dec 15): A solo show about Welles, written by Mark Jenkins, which has been performed in theaters from Manhattan to Port Townsend. Starring Erik Van Beuzekom. Christmas: B-Sides and Rarities (Dec 17): Theater shorts, poetry, and bluesy music with Jim Jewell, Jennifer Jasper, Scot Augustson, Paul Mullin, and a bunch of other folks. Sandbox Radio Live! (Jan 21): Another installment of the raucous live-recorded theater-musicradio show. Beating Up Bachman (Jan 25– Feb 16): A new play by Wayne Rawley (Live! From the Last Night of My Life), directed by David Gassner.
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WING-IT PRODUCTIONS • 5510 University Way NE, wingitpresents.com Jet City Improv (Ongoing): Improv performed in this here city. It’s Your Wonderful Life (Through Dec 23): An improv show that lets an audience member take the place of George Bailey each night to go over his/ her “wonderful life.” Twisted Flicks (Dec 27–29, Jan 24–26, Feb 21–23): Old movies with new live commentary and scoring. December’s is Rudolph’s Shiny New Year. Austen Translation (Jan 3–18, Jan 31–Feb 8): Jane Austen– themed improv, in a coproduction with Book-It Repertory Theater. The Seattle Festival of Improv Theater (Feb 13–17): An annual international improv festival. WINTER 2012
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CLASSICAL MUSIC & OPERA by Jen Graves SEATTLE SYMPHONY • Benaroya Hall unless otherwise noted: 200 University St, 215-4747, seattlesymphony.org Yefim Bronfman (Dec 10): In this solo concert (not featuring Seattle Symphony), the decorated Avery Fisher Prize– and Grammy Award–winning pianist performs sonatas by Haydn, Brahms, and Prokofiev.
One of the earliest electronic musical instruments, the ondes Martenot.
Rachmaninov Festival (Jan 3, 5): Four young musicians playing their hearts out on some of the toughest pieces in the repertoire over two nights, led by Ludovic Morlot—this is an event. They’re tackling Rachmaninoff’s four famed concertos. Numbers one to four, respectively, are played by Yeol eum Son (born in 1986 in South Korea), Benjamin Grosvenor (born in 1992 in the UK), Denis Kozhukhin (born in 1986 in Russia), and Alexander Lubyantsev (also born in 1986 in Russia). Symphony Untuxed: Stravinsky & Mozart (Jan 11): Same lineup as Jan 10 and 12 but without the Mendelssohn, without an intermission, and more casual. Come as you are. Baroque & Wine: Bach & Telemann (Jan 18): Led by guest conductor Matthew Halls, the symphony performs Handel, Rameau, Telemann, and Bach. Wine-tasting happens in the lobby before the concert. Nobuyuki Tsujii Plays Debussy and Chopin (Jan 22): It’s a solo recital with the 24-year-old Japanese pianist whose goldmedal performance at the 2009 Van Cliburn competition was the stuff of legend. Celebrate Asia (Jan 27): Starting with preconcert performances in the lobby by local cultural groups, then moving into the main hall with the symphony, pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano duo Kimberly Russ and Oksana Ezhokina, Indian violinist Ambi Subramaniam, and mridangam (Indian drum) player Mahesh Krishnamurthy. Morlot Conducts Messiaen’s Turangalîla (Jan 31, Feb 2): This is very cool. It’s the symphony’s first-ever performance of Messiaen’s monumental “love song” written in the 1940s, which incorporates one of the earliest electronic musical instruments (the ondes Martenot, invented in 1928). Influenced by the classical Javanese orchestra, the gamelan, and taking its title from two Sanskrit words, the piece will be introduced by a preshow lobby performance by the local Gamelan Pacifica and a behind-the-scenes tour of what you’re about to hear by conductor Ludovic Morlot, guest pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and ondes Martenot specialist Cynthia Millar. Then comes 80 minutes of awesome. French Masters (Feb 1): Visiting celeb pia-
Early Music Discovery: Dmitri Carter & Friends’ French Baroque Tales in Music & Puppetry (Feb 10): Shadow puppetry meets the viola da gamba and harpsichord.
Seattle Composers Salon (March 1): New, locally made finished works, previews, and works in progress “in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion.”
Early Music Guild: The King’s Singers (Feb 16): Madrigals plus.
Brad Sherman (March 2): Composer.
Lake Union Civic Orchestra (Feb 22): Beethoven, Debussy, Shostakovich.
CORNISH COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
Lake Union Civic Orchestra Chamber Music Cabaret (March 3): LUCO musicians in smaller chamber groups that could be anything—a string quartet, a percussion ensemble, a bassoon trio, jazz guitar.
CHAPEL PERFORMANCE SPACE • Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, chapelspace.blogspot.com Lori Goldston, Greg Campbell, Jessika Kenney, Dylan Carlson (Dec 6): This year’s Stranger Genius Award–winning cellist is joined by Campbell on percussion and horn, vocalist Kenney, and guitarist Carlson. Expect improvisation.
A Festival of Lessons & Carols (Dec 23): With Northwest Boychoir and Northwest Sinfonia members.
New Year’s Eve Concert, Countdown & Celebration (Dec 31): An encore performance of Beethoven’s Ninth, preceded by Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Benjamin Grosvenor, a rising pianist born in 1992 in the UK. Then, watch the ball drop in a post-concert party in the lobby hosted by charismatic music director Ludovic Morlot.
Hope Wechkin (Feb 22): Singer, violinist, and composer.
Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra (March 2): The all-volunteer all-stars.
Handel’s Messiah (Dec 14–16): King of Kings! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Forever! And ever! Conducted by Stephen Stubbs, featuring the Seattle Symphony Chorale and vocal soloists. Hallelujah!
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Plus Tango (Dec 28–30): First, tango dancers Eva Lucero and Patricio Touceda—these popular local teachers are gorgeous—kick off the night with a performance to Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the orchestra. Then the Symphony Chorale joins the instrumentalists for Beethoven’s Ninth led by Ludovic Morlot, culminating in the “Ode to Joy.”
given—this is an unusual recital drawing a line through the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach to contemporary composers, including new commissions.
nist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, here to perform in the symphony’s first-ever Turangalîla, will also give a recital with a select group of symphony musicians in a program of works by Milhaud, Poulenc, Caplet, and Messiaen (Quartet for the End of Time!). Brahms Symphony No. 4 (Feb 7, 9, 10): Despite the title of this program, the highlight is actually a world-premiere piece that venerable American composer Elliott Carter wrote as a special gift to Ludovic Morlot in his new role as the Seattle Symphony’s music director. It’s called Instances. Also on the program: the William Tell Overture (Rossini) and Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Untuxed version of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 (Feb 15): Shorter, no intermission, more casual, still featuring Tiberghien. [Untitled] Series: Pierrot Lunaire (Feb 15): In the 101 years since this expressionist melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg made its debut in Berlin, it has not become any less seriously weird. Yay! It’s the centerpiece of this late-night lobby concert, the first of which happened last fall and was electric. (See story, page 15.) Featuring soprano Cyndia Sieden and other works by Jörg Widmann and Daniel Schnyder (a bass trombone concerto!). Itzhak Perlman in Recital (Feb 19): The great. Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1 (Feb 28, March 2): Your chance to really hear that recently appointed principal flute who’s been making your ears perk up back there in the winds section, Demarre McGill. Guest-conducted by Douglas Boyd in an all-Mozart program, including Symphony No. 1 and the “Haffner” serenade. Anne-Sophie Mutter (March 3): Superstar violinist solo recital, featuring sonatas by Schubert, Mozart, Saint-Saëns.
such an impression at McCaw with his 2010 Lucia di Lammermoor (Tomer Zvulun) and the young Sardinian tenor the Seattle Times called “not merely spectacular but profound and potentially great” for his performance as the second-cast Alfredo in La Traviata in 2009 (Francesco Demuro), and the Italian conductor who led the soul-shredding Attila at the start of 2012 (Carlo Montanaro).
MEANY HALL • University of Washington campus at 15th Ave NE and NE 40th St, 685-2742, meany.org Seattle Philharmonic, “Experience: The Teacher of All Things” (Jan 13): In a program including The Art of Fugue: Contrapunctus IX by Bach, Inscape by Copland, the Masonic Cantata by Mozart, and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7. Christopher O’Riley (Jan 29): Known for his classical radio show on NPR, From the Top, and his renditions of Radiohead, the pianist this time performs selections by Liszt based on themes from other composers, including Berlioz, Schubert, Schumann, Mozart, and Wagner—and some of O’Riley’s own further interpretations. Juilliard String Quartet (Feb 6): With new first violinist Joseph Lin, taking on Mozart’s String Quartet in D Major, K. 575, Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 5, and the piece of music that spawned the recent Christopher Walken movie A Late Quartet, Beethoven’s long, pauseless, increasingly out-of-tune String Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Op. 131. Music of Today: The 21st Century Piano (Feb 26): Curated by featured performer Cristina Valdes, including the US premiere of a work by Robert Platz.
TOWN HALL
SEATTLE OPERA
• 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255, townhall seattle.org
• McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 389-7676, seattleopera.org
Seattle Pro Musica: Weihnachten (A German Christmas) (Dec 8): Candlelight processional, traditional carols, works by Brahms, Bruckner, von Bingen, and Mendelssohn.
Cinderella (Jan 12–26): Rossini’s version is more good-natured comedy than earnest fairy tale. And here, it arrives in a sparkling, madcap production that got seriously high praise from the Houston Chronicle, calling the work of its designer, Joan Guillén “stridently Spanish,” “brilliantly cartoonish,” and “reminiscent of certain landmark collaborations of the Ballets Russes.” Seattle Opera educator Jonathan Dean writes, “We have a promising ensemble cast of hot young stars from around the world, many of whom are singing here for the first time. It should be loads of fun, ebullient and dazzling musically, and a very sweet story about pretension and people who dare to be authentic.” La Bohème (Feb 23–March 10): Arguably the opera to end all operas, Bohème can do a great deal to its audience without even trying. Still, this particular Bohème brings together the director who made
Early Music Guild: The Baltimore Consort (Dec 14): The Baltimore six performing carols and dance tunes from the British Isles, Germany, France, Spain, and “the New World.” Seattle Baroque Orchestra (Dec 29): A holiday concert featuring trumpet virtuosa Kris Kwapis in a program of music for trumpet, strings, and harpsichord by Corelli, Handel, Vivaldi, and more. Thalia Symphony Orchestra (Jan 27): “Featuring new works and rediscovered classics.” Seattle Baroque Orchestra: Bach Cantatas (Feb 2): “Three complete masterworks.” Jennifer Koh: “Bach and Beyond” (Feb 7): The weak alliterative title can be for-
Robin Holcomb + Eric Barber (Dec 8): His saxophone and electronics, her piano and voice. Music of John Cage by Jarrad Powell, Jessika Kenney, and dancer Beth Graczyk (Dec 14) Fundraiser for publication of REAL BOOK (Dec 15): Pianist Gust Burns performs from his recent collection of scores made by erasing material from popular jazz songs published in Chuck Sher’s The New Real Book. Burns will play solo and in a quartet with Paul Kikuchi, Carmen Rothwell, and Jacob Zimmerman. Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night (Dec 21): If you are a closet sentimentalist with a hankering for holiday caroling but get a thrill from the new and the avant-garde, the boom-box parade Unsilent Night is for you. Composer Kline created it in New York in 1992, and now it’s performed around the world every December. You bring a boom box or an MP3 player, you’re provided with cassettes or files and instructions, and you set out to make the night unsilent. Time Out New York called it “one of the loveliest communal newmusic experiences you’ll ever encounter, and it’s never the same way twice.” Danse Perdue (Dec 22): Butoh. Greg Powers (Jan 4): Trombonist. Vance Galloway (Jan 11): Last year, Dave Segal described Galloway as “Seattle’s Michelangelo of sound, tasked with the important job of overseeing Decibel Festival’s sonic technicalities (he used to be Paul Allen’s right-ear man, too). Galloway also wields a mean guitar, whose emissions he usually feeds through computer software programs and manipulates into rarefied drone poetry.” I think we should go. Seattle Rock Orchestra (Jan 12): The coolest ensemble presents its newest works for orchestra. Amy Denio & Tiptons (Jan 18–19): Mythunderstandings is an “oral history– driven multimedia performance featuring the Tiptons Sax Quartet breaking out all of their instruments, in collaboration with Coastal Salish storyteller and musician Paul ‘Che oke ten’ Wagner, visual artist Aric Mayer, and direction by Lisa Halpern.” Dennis Rea (Jan 25): Guitarist. Neal Kosaly-Meyer (Jan 26): Composer. Arun Chandra (Feb 1): The Evergreen music professor described by Christopher DeLaurenti as “maker of Wigout—nifty sound software for glitch-heads.” Seattle Improvised Music Festival (Feb 7–9): At 27 years old, this boasts of being the longest-running festival of its kind in North America. Performers come from Seattle, Tokyo, Berlin, British Columbia, Philadelphia, Portland, and elsewhere. Neil Welch (Feb 15): Saxophonist. David Hahn (Feb 16): Composer. Phillip Greenlief (Feb 21): Jazz saxophonist.
Stephanie Chua (Feb 23): Pianist/toy pianist.
• 710 E Roy St, 726-5151, cornish.edu Trio de Kooning (Jan 18): Three newly joined together American musicians based in the Hague who love the DutchAmerican painter perform contemporary music by composers from both countries. Jillon Stoppels Dupree (Jan 27): Bach’s works for solo harpsichord. Seattle Modern Orchestra (Feb 8): Three modernist pieces: Bruno Maderna’s Serenata No. 2 for 11 instruments, Luigi Nono’s Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica, and Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maître for mezzo soprano and six instruments with surrealist poems by René Char. Emily Doolittle (Feb 24): Music by Canadian composer and Cornish faculty member Doolittle, performed by Seattle Chamber Players, Oksana Ekhozina, Cristina Valdes, and Maria Mannisto. La Voce di Gabriela (March 3): Music by the 17th-century virtuosi Girolamo Fantini and Girolamo Frescobaldi, performed by Kris Kwapis (baroque trumpet) and Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord).
THE ESOTERICS • Venues vary, 935-7779, theesoterics.org SYBILLA reprised: The Complete Hildegard Motets of Frank Ferko (Dec 7–9): A reprise of the exquisite vocal group’s performance of the complete Hildegard von Bingen–inspired motets by American composer Ferko (born 1950), plus a new world-premiere motet, O nobilissima viriditas.
KIRKLAND PERFORMANCE CENTER • 350 Kirkland Ave, 425-893-9900, kpcenter.org eighth blackbird (Jan 22): The renowned Chicago-based, Grammy-winning new music sextet (founded 1996) makes a Northwest visit.
NORTHWEST SINFONIETTA • Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 2154700, northwestsinfonietta.org Andreas Klein, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 (Feb 15): Led by music director Christophe Chagnard, and with other music by Sibelius, Debussy, and Bizet.
SEATTLE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY • Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 2838710, seattlechambermusic.org 2013 Winter Festival (Jan 18–26): Six nights of chamber music programmed by artistic director James Ehnes, one featuring all of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.
SEATTLE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • Benaroya Hall unless otherwise noted, 200 University St, 362-2300, syso.org Shostakovich, Barber, Wagner (Jan 13): Continuing the 70th season of Seattle’s best young orchestra with a program featuring Shostakovich’s Fifth and selections from Tristan und Isolde and the Wesendonck Lieder. Heron and the Salmon Girl (Feb 10): A world-premiere one-act opera with music by the Esoterics’ great director, Eric Banks, and libretto by Irene Keliher. Cool! (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave)
CAPPELLA ROMANA • Holy Rosary Church, 4139 42nd Ave SW, 800-494-8497, cappellaromana.org The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Jan 12): Rachmaninoff’s master version of the heresy-fighting Byzantine rite, sung entirely in Church Slavonic. Neat!
WINTER 2012
33
WHAT NO ONE ELSE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT COLLEGE
A&P WINTER CALENDAR
SAVAGE LOVE, COLLEGE EDITION
HOW TO DEAL WITH A HANGOVER HOW TO GET ALONG WITH HOW TO BREAK UP WITH SOMEONE PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU PROFESSOR DRUGS
HOW TO BE GAY
HOW TO SLEEP WITH YOUR
WHAT NO ONE ELSE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT
HOW TO TAKE A COMPLIMENT
HOW TO ACTUALLY DO LAUNDRY
SOME OF THAT JAZZ
What I’m Most Looking Forward to This Season by Charles Mudede
GUIDE TO COLLEGE
SUN 12/9 Scrape Scrape is a 16-piece orchestra (strings with a harp) that’s led by Heather Bentley and dedicated to the original works of two local composers, Jim Knapp and Eyvind Kang. Knapp has released several CDs, the most recent of which, Secular Breathing, draws inspiration from Coltrane (particularly the Africa/Brass Sessions) when it is bold and Charles Mingus when it is mellow. All of the album’s compositions are solid, and the musicians flawless. Kang, a violinist and composer, is far more experimental than Knapp, who is anchored in the rich and inexhaustible jazz tradition. Kang’s music, which is often ethereal, drifts from one genre (folk, Arabic, jazz) to another (classical, Indian, cinema) like some erotic mist. So this is the score tonight at the Royal Room: pieces by talented composers, the big sound of an orchestra, and the enchantments of a harp. The Royal Room, 5000 Rainier Ave S, 906-9920, theroyalroomseattle. com, 7:30 pm
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GEORGE MASTERS
PHOTOGRAPHY FROM A LOCAL ARTIST
AN EXHIBITION
SAT 12/29 Bill Anschell Bill Anschell, a Seattle native, was educated at Oberlin College and other institutions around the country. This city has been his home since 2002. He regularly performs at Tula’s and has released numerous albums. He is a local institution. Anschell’s instrument is, of course, the piano—my favorite of all jazz instruments. This is how his playing sounds to my ears: The precision with which Anschell strikes the keys produces a sound that’s clean but not soulless. Often such precision would come at the cost of something
THE REST OF THAT JAZZ Expressing Love DIMITRIOU’S JAZZ ALLEY I simply love the fact that you enter this fancy club through a dingy alley. It keeps the “street” in jazz. 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, jazzalley.com TUL A’S I love the windows in Tula’s. They look out onto a busy street. You feel like you are in a big city—and, in fact, you are. Seattle has more than 600,000 souls. 2214 Second Ave, 443-4221, tulas.com
JANUARY 4, 2013 7-10PM 3206 UTAH AVE S., SEATTLE
JUST S OF HANFORD, A RED DOOR 34
A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
EGAN’S BALL ARD JAM HOUSE I neither love nor hate this establishment, which has a good reputation. Much (indeed, if not all) of the talent coming out of the jazz department at Cornish eventually performs here. Sadly, the calendar on Egan’s website has no information about the coming winter months.
and drummer Brian Kirk. If you are going to believe in anything, believe in art—an ape did not make the universe (of this you can be sure), but apes certainly make jazz and architecture. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave, 325-6051, seattle firstbaptist.org, 6 pm, donation
THURS–SUN 2/7–10
Bill Anschell very important (the swing, the magic, the poetry), but not with Anschell. He is exact but not brainy or robotic. He always hits the warmest parts of the human heart. Tula’s, 2214 Second Ave, 4434221, tulas.com, $15, 7:30 pm
SUN 1/6 Seattle Jazz Vespers Seattle Jazz Vespers is church for those who believe in God, who have doubts about God’s existence, or who, like me, do not believe in God and never will (the universe is just the universe, life is just life, death is just death). In short, SJV is a service for art made by and for the human animal. During this event, two things meet and play: the greatness of America’s classical music (for the ears) and the Gothic architecture of the church (for the eyes). The group playing this Sunday (SJV happens every first Sunday night of each month from October to June) is Cocoa Martini, which features the vocalists Kimberly Reason, Kay Bailey, and Nadine Shanti, with bassist Chuck Kistler
1707 NW Market St, 789-1621, ballardjamhouse.com THE TRIPLE DOOR I deeply love the huge cave that contains the main stage, and the stars that appear behind the main stage. I also love the huge fish tank in the bar. 216 Union St, 838-4333, thetripledoor.com THE ROYAL ROOM I love watching Wayne Horvitz, one of the owners of this Columbia City jazz club and a famous pianist, walk up and down this joint. He is in his element. 5000 Rainier Ave S, 906-9920, theroyalroomseattle.com SER AFINA I love the food and elegant atmosphere of this Eastlake restaurant, which not only has live jazz (trios and duos) on the weekends but also DJs spinning jazz records during the week. 2043 Eastlake Ave E, 323-0807, serafinaseattle.com VITO’S I love the bartenders at this joint, which often features performances by one of my favorite local pianists, Darrius Willrich. Also, Vito’s happy
Juan de Marcos and the AfroCuban All Stars Four words: Buena Vista Social Club. This is all you need to know about this show. Juan de Marcos (a composer and bandleader), along with Ry Cooder and other musicians, reintroduced the erotic beauty of classical Cuban jazz to the United States and Europe with the album Buena Vista Social Club, which was released in 1997. In the summer of 1999, the year Wim Wenders’s documentary of the same name entered the theaters, I found myself looking for a party in Linz, Austria, at around 4 a.m. I finally found that party after 5 a.m. It was in a loft on the second floor of a building in the west part of the small city. The sun was brightening the sky as I walked up the stairs and entered the loft. People, however, were no longer partying but sleeping, snoring, and dreaming on couches and the floor. But the bar was still open—one man was serving and another one drinking. The stereo behind the bar happened to be playing the first tune on Buena Vista Social Club, “Chan Chan.” I sat at the bar, ordered a glass of wine, and, while drinking, listened to the sex, sorrow, and sun that slowly flowed out of the speaker. Cubans know how to love; Cubans know how to make music. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 4419729, jazzalley.com, $35
hour is worth talking about. 927 Ninth Ave, 397-4053, vitosseattle.com HIROSHI’S I can express neither love nor hate for this establishment because I have never eaten or listened to jazz there. But I do love the idea of sushi and jazz. 2501 Eastlake Ave E, 726-4966, hiroshis.com LUCID JA ZZ LOUNGE I love it that the University District has a jazz club. Jazz is good music for young and impressionable people. 5241 University Way NE, 4023042, lucidseattle.com MONA’S I have many lovely memories of this establishment and the street it’s on. Let’s go back in time: jazz, wine, sidewalk, trees, breeze, clouds, moon, stars, and a lady’s lips. 6421 Latona Ave NE, 526-1188, monasseattle.com BARÇA I love this place. I will always love this place. When I die, I hope to go to a place just like it. (Jazz happens here every Thursday.) 1510 11th Ave, 325-8263, barcaseattle.com
A&P WINTER CALENDAR
READINGS & LECTURES The Best of the Winter’s Lit Events by Paul Constant
SUN 12/9 Ahamefule J. Oluo & Lesley Hazleton Ahamefule J. Oluo is Town Hall’s Artist in Residence, and Lesley Hazleton is Town Hall’s Scholar in Residence. This is their opportunity to show off, at the end of their respective terms, what they’ve learned. Oluo will perform Now I’m Fine, which is a monologue/ stand-up/orchestral piece. Hazleton, a Stranger Genius of literature, will present a “multi-logue” performance that combines Twitter, crowdsourcing, and reactions to a season’s worth of Town Hall events. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
Nick Flynn
George Michael Chabon Saunders Fri Sept 28 at Fred Wildlife Refuge
Calvin Trillin Calvin Trillin is a gifted writer, and his humorous political poems from the Nation have a devoted following. This is a reading for Dogfight: The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse, which includes some work written immediately after last month’s election. Books don’t get much more immediate than that. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
Kelly Froh
THURS 1/3
WED 1/16 David Wagoner Besides being an excellent poet of the classical tradition, David Wagoner is a walking storehouse of Northwest poetry history. He studied under Theodore Roethke, the man who Wagoner claims brought poetry, single-handedly, to our little part of the country. (Wagoner claims that there wasn’t “another poet within 500 miles” when Roethke moved here.) But now the scene has been invigorated with dozens of poets, many of whom learned directly from Wagoner in his capacity as a professor at the University of Washington. Here’s your chance to learn from him, too. Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm, $15–$50
WED 1/23 Amy Wilentz Amy Wilentz is the kind of journalist they don’t make anymore. She goes to unpleasant-for-American-women locations all around the world—Haiti, the Middle East, California—and brings back stories that nobody else could have gotten. She’s profiled world leaders and written a memoir and a novel, besides. If you didn’t love her, you’d probably have to hate her for being so goddamned perfect all the time. Her new book is titled Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $15–$30
THURS 1/24 Lesley Hazleton Folks don’t often show up twice in two
FRI 2/8 Strong Female Leads Hugo House’s Literary Series is always packed full of authors to look forward to, but this is the one I’ve been waiting for all year long. Four fabulous women—poets Patricia Smith and Arlene Kim, local cartoonist Kelly Froh, and local rapper Katie Kate—perform new work based on the phrase “Strong Female Leads.” The balance here is exquisite: There’s something about comics and poetry that makes them go so well together (maybe it’s the fact that some poems look kind of like a comics page if you take away all the drawings and just leave the contents of the word balloons) and Katie Kate’s star is on the rise. Hugo House, 7:30 pm, $25
WED 2/13
MON 12/10
Jared Diamond You know Jared Diamond from his Pulitzer Prize–winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. He’s been writing about civilization and evolution and humans for decades, and his new book, The World Until Yesterday, compares industrial societies and “traditional” societies to see what we can learn about ourselves. Should we go native? Is the internet really all it’s cracked up to be? Answers are hazy; check back on January 3. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
coat.” It’s just such a great first sentence, full of imagery and rhythm and momentum. Which is exactly what you should expect from all of Saunders’s work. He’ll be reading from his new short-story collection. Expect brilliance, humor, and maybe a new perspective on something you’ve always taken for granted. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
Nick Flynn You probably know Flynn from his memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, about his complicated relationship with his father, a homeless alcoholic and frustrated writer. As good as Bullshit Night was, Flynn has written much more than that; he’s also a playwright, a poet, and the author of another memoir, The Ticking Is the Bomb: A Memoir of Bewilderment, a travel narrative about the repercussions of Abu Ghraib. Tonight, he’ll talk about whatever the fuck he wants to talk about. Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm, $15–$50
WED 2/20
Lesley Hazleton FLYNN: GEORDIE WOOD / FROH: MAX CLOTFELTER / HAZLETON: LESLY WEINER
different listings in one of these here A&P calendars, but there’s a damn good reason for Hazleton’s reappearance: The Stranger Genius of literature is debuting her newest, and possibly most ambitious book, The First Muslim. Yes, it’s a biography of Muhammad, and despite Hazleton’s impeccable credentials—she’s written brilliant books about Jezebel and Mary’s historical role as the mother of Jesus, and she’s an expert on just about every religion there is—this book will probably gather a lot of prurient attention.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS ELLIOTT BAY BOOK COMPANY Readings and events (including kids’ story time) happen practically every day; also presents off-site events with Seattle Public Library, Town Hall, Benaroya Hall, and local museums. 1521 10th Ave, 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com UNIVERSIT Y BOOK STORE At nine locations, various kinds of readings and events (including kidfriendly ones) practically every day. 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, ubookstore.com TOWN HALL Hosts Seattle Arts & Lectures series, as well as a variety of other literary events, once a month or more. 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255, townhallseattle.org RICHARD HUGO HOUSE Nonprofit literary hub, providing classes and venues for literary events
After tonight’s debut, Hazleton’s book is sure to make a big splash. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
MON 2/4 George Saunders Here’s the opening of George Saunders’s story “Tenth of December” as it appeared last October in the New Yorker: “The pale boy with unfortunate Prince Valiant bangs and cublike mannerisms hulked to the mudroom closet and requisitioned Dad’s white
of all stripes, with open mics, plays, group readings, and more several times a week. 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, hugohouse.org THIRD PL ACE BOOKS Kids’ story time every Saturday morning, “Science on Tap” in the basement pub every last Monday of the month, and other events on occasion. 6504 20th Ave NE, 525-2347, thirdplacebooks.com SEATTLE MYSTERY BOOKSHOP A local mystery author reads every month, coinciding with First Thursday Art Walk, along with book signings once or twice a month. 117 Cherry St, 587-5737, seattlemystery.com OPEN BOOKS A poetry-dedicated bookstore with readings at least once a week: Thursday, Friday, or Saturday evenings, or Sunday afternoons. 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, openpoetrybooks.com LEFT BANK BOOKS Collectively owned nonprofit bookstore with an anarchist/leftist/radical focus, hosts readings once or twice
THU 12/13 - SUN 12/16
THE FAMILY STONE Delivering Tight Grooves “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” “Sing a Simple Song” and More!
FRI 1/18 - SUN 1/20
RICKIE LEE JONES TUE 1/22 - WED 1/23
DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS A High-Energy Performance with Sounds of Blues, Jazz, Dixieland, and Ragtime
THU 2/7 - SUN 2/10
JUAN DE MARCOS
& THE AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS The Man Behind the Buena Vista Social Club and His Orchestra Return with their Fiery Cuban Grooves
THU 2/14 - SUN 2/17
EN VOGUE TUE 3/12 - WED 3/13
LEO KOTTKE Acoustic Guitar Virtuoso who draws from Blues, Jazz & Folk with his Innovative Finger-Picking Style
2033 6th Ave. | 206.441.9729 all ages | free parking full schedule at jazzalley.com
Phil Lapsley Phone phreaking—the act of using tools including a toy whistle found in a box of cereal to get free longdistance phone calls—was a high art in the days before the internet. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak got their start as phreakers before they founded a hack-friendly computer company called Apple, back in the day. Lapsley’s book Exploding the Phone explains how modern hacker culture got its start from these burnouts and hippies who tried to confound the hell out of Ma Bell with an elaborate series of tricks. Town Hall, 7:30 pm, $5
a month. 92 Pike St, 622-0195, leftbankbooks.com EAGLE HARBOR BOOK CO. Readings of various sorts at least once a week, mostly Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons, often both. 157 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, 842-5332, eagleharborbooks .com BOOK L ARDER A community cookbook store that offers classes, demos, and signings several times a month. 4252 Fremont Ave N, 397-4271, booklarder.com BENAROYA HALL Hosts Seattle Arts & Lectures one to three times a month. 200 University St, 215-4747, seattlesymphony.org/benaroya FANTAGR APHICS BOOKSTORE & GALLERY Comic book store and art gallery owned by the best damn funnybook publisher in the United States; hosts readings and art shows once a month or more. 1201 S Vale St, 658-0110, fantagraphics.com
WINTER 2012
35
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
A&P WINTER CALENDAR
before the start of World War II. Here’s the director’s cut, featuring 20 minutes of previously unseen footage, and presented in a new digital restoration. SIFF Film Center, Seattle Center, 324-9996, siff.net
FILM
DEC 17 Swan Lake The source material for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (along with Carrie and softcore lesbian porn) as performed by the Royal Ballet. SIFF Film Center, Seattle Center, 324-9996, siff.net
by David Schmader Annie Hall Dec 28–Jan 3 at Grand Illusion
DEC 20 Chris Marker Tribute: Sans Soleil NWFF honors the late, great French filmmaker and multimedia artist Chris Marker with a screening of Sans Soleil, his free-form travelogue roaming from Africa to Japan. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
DEC 24 The Christmas Specials Special Get your holiday-entertainment fix with this featurelength montage of history’s best, worst, and weirdest Christmas specials, from Skeletor finding warmth in his heart to Charo singing “Feliz Navidad.” SIFF Film Center, Seattle Center, 324-9996, siff.net
DEC 25
Festivals & Series DEC 6–9 The Festival of the Archives A four-day festival celebrating the work of film preservationists and archivists, via screenings of a dozen freshly restored films. On the roster: To Kill a Mockingbird, Bye Bye Birdie, Alien, All About Eve, Lawrence of Arabia, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Singin’ in the Rain, The Terminator, The Parent Trap, and more. Copresented by SIFF and the Association of Moving Image Archivists. SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, 3249996, siff.net
DEC 7–9 Screen Style Seattle’s first-ever fashion film fest, wherein Seattle people of note—including Nordstrom creative director Strath Shepard, artist and wardrobe designer Anna Telcs, and Reel Grrls director Robin Held—present “films that skirt the direct issue of style but inform deep, personal notions of aesthetics, individual expression, daily uniforms, and visual narratives,” from 1969’s Passion of Anna to 1999’s Beau Travail. Hosted by Seattle Metropolitan style editor Laura Cassidy. Northwest Film Forum, 1515
12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
DEC 12–20 The End of the World as We Know It: Apocalypse Film Festival According to the trustworthy Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012, brings the end of the world. SIFF says good-bye with “a big-screen celebration of all the methods by which mankind is doomed,” from deadly viruses (12 Monkeys) and zombies (Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead) to infertility (Children of Men) and Kevin Costner (Waterworld). SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, 3249996, siff.net
DEC 28–JAN 17 Woody Allen in the ’70s Woody Allen’s best movies rank with the greatest films ever made, while his lesser movies can totally suck shit— two facts put on clear display in this festival of Allen’s 1970s films. Representing the good: Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Love and Death. Representing the bad: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask. Representing the meh: Bananas. (And seriously, don’t miss Love and Death.) Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusion cinema.org
JAN 1–31 Central Cinema Sequel Series Is number two twice as nice, or is there nothing like the first time? Central Cinema investigates by screening a half-dozen legendary sequels, including The Godfather Part 2, Terminator 2, Evil Dead 2, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Airplane 2, and Ghostbusters 2. Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, 686-6684, centralcinema.com
JAN 5–MARCH 23 The Sprocket Society’s Saturday Secret Matinees A family-friendly series featuring classic movie serial episodes plus secret classic feature films. The serial: 1939’s stunt-packed cliffhanger Zorro’s Fighting Legion. The secret feature films: secret, but they’ll follow monthly themes including adventure, swashbucklers, westerns, and sci-fi. Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusion cinema.org
JAN 17–MARCH 20 Viva l’Italia: Italian Film from Fellini to Commedia All’Italiana SAM screens highlights of classic Italian cinema, including Fellini’s The Nights of Cabiria and La Dolce Vita, Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, Pasolini’s Mamma Roma, and Rossellini’s The
Flowers of Saint Francis. Films in Italian with English subtitles. Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, 654-3210, seattleartmuseum.org
JAN 24–FEB 3 Children’s Film Festival Seattle An 11-day extravaganza celebrating children’s cinema from all over the world, plus live performances, hands-on workshops, pajama parties, and a pancake breakfast. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
Events DEC 7–13 Mekong Hotel From Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the director of the Palme d’Or–winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, comes this portrait of a haunted guesthouse situated on the river separating Thailand from Laos. (Screens with Apichatpong’s short film Sakda.) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
DEC 7–27 It’s a Wonderful Life Frank Capra’s tear-jerking holiday death trip returns to the big screen. Merry Christmas, you old Savings and Loan!
Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusion cinema.org
DEC 8 VHSXMAS Vol. 2 Those driven freaks at Scarecrow Video have once again pillaged their vast VHS vaults for a mind-expanding collection of freaky-rare Christmas footage, from variety show blowouts to creeptastic commercials and cartoons and beyond. Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusion cinema.org
DEC 10 Opera: Siegfried Wagner’s Ring Cycle continues (does it ever not?) with Siegfried, as performed by La Scala of Milan. Daniel Barenboim conducts. (295 minutes with two intermissions.) SIFF Film Center, Seattle Center, 324-9996, siff.net
DEC 10 Next Dance Cinema Velocity Dance Center’s annual showcase of dance films from Pacific Northwest artists. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
DEC 11–13 Coast Modern Back after a well-received screening at the 2012 Local Sightings festival, Michael
Bernard and Gavin Froome’s artful documentary turns the lens on “stunning examples of modernist architecture, from Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle, from the early 20th century to the second wave of postwar America to today’s current modernist renaissance.” Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
DEC 13 An Evening with Auntie Mame If there’s one thing gay men love, it’s either cock or brunch. But Auntie Mame is right up there, too—hence Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s holiday-time screening of the gayly beloved 1958 film, in which Rosalind Russell plays a woman so fabulous, fearless, life-loving, and drunk that she was immediately and forever crowned Queen of the Gays. Go see why with your own eyes (it’s great). Pacific Place, 600 Pine St, threedollarbillcinema.org
DEC 14–20 The Tin Drum (director’s cut) Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 1979, Volker Schlöndorff’s film adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum is a surreal, brainy fantasia concerning a freaky little kid in Germany just
Fiddler on the Roof SingAlong! Ignore Christmas with the greatest Jewish-themed musical of all time (screw you, Yentl), complete with a Chinese food buffet at intermission! SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, 3249996, siff.net
JAN 4–10 Francine Oscar-winner Melissa Leo gets her indie grit on in this quiet character study of a small-town ex-con with weird social skills and a love of animals. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
JAN 11–17 Nana Valerie Massadian’s directorial debut stars a 4-year-old girl, who plays a 4-year-old girl who’s been abandoned by her mother on the outskirts of a pig farm. “There’s not one word, one gesture— nothing—that I imposed on her,” said Massadian to Interview. “We played.” Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863, nwfilm forum.org
JAN 18–24 Law in These Parts Winner of the Sundance world documentary jury prize, this fascinating documentary tracks the development of military law in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and largely consists of interviews with former Israeli Defense Force prosecutors and judges talking about, well, you know. In Hebrew legalese with subtitles, so fair warning.
WINTER 2012
37
FILM CALENDAR
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A&P: SEATTLE ART & PERFORMANCE
Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 8297863, nwfilmforum.org
JAN 24 Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines The wild success of Seattle’s GeekGirlCon proved that the days of girls sitting demurely in the background of nerd culture are over. Wonder Women documents the long road that women have traveled in order to find their own heroes, interviewing a chorus of awesome feminists (Gloria Steinem and Kathleen Hanna among them) who critically examine (and, when appropriate, effusively praise) the female hero’s journey, from Wonder Woman through Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s a fun, empowering documentary about the never-ending battle against the rampant forces of chauvinist assholism. SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, 324-9996, siff.net
FEB 1–7 Consuming Spirits Using cutout, pencildrawn collage, and stop-motion animation (shot frame by frame in 16 mm over 15 years), director Chris Sullivan constructs a small-town Appalachian noir involving three characters connected by crime and the local newspaper. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 8297863, nwfilmforum.org
FEB 6–21 The Great Cinematic Clown Pierre Étaix Pierre Étaix is the awe-inspiring physical comedian whose film work has been tied up in copyright issues for 40 years—until now. Thanks to a petition of 56,000 signatures (including Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch, and Woody Allen), Étaix’s films finally return to cinemas, in all-new 35 mm prints. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 8297863, nwfilmforum.org
FEB 8–14 We Don’t Care About the Music Anyway… A documentary about Tokyo’s avant-garde music scene, from the laptop innovations of Numb to the classical instrument hijacking of
Sakamoto Hiromichi. Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org
FEB 8–21 Tabu From Portugal’s Miguel Gomes comes this acclaimed experimental film that presents two poetically interlaced stories in sequence. The first is set in contemporary Lisbon, the next in a Portuguese colony in Africa decades earlier. “This is THE film of 2013,” crows the NWFF program. Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 8297863, nwfilmforum.org
FEB 12–13 Supersilent: 7 A concert film by Norway’s acclaimed improvisational music group Supersilent, shot in Oslo in 2004 by artist Kim Hiorthøy. Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org
FEB 15–21 8 1/2 Fellini’s masterpiece in a 35 mm print for its 50th anniversary. Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St, 523-3935, grandillusioncinema.org
Openings DEC 7 North Sea Texas Set in 1970s Belgium, this Flemish drama concerns a 14-year-old boy who falls in love with his 17-year-old male neighbor. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
DEC 14 Any Day Now Winner of the best film award at SIFF 2012, Travis Fine’s basedon-a-true-story drama follows a 1970s gay couple (played by Alan Cumming and Garrett Dillahunt) struggling to care for an abandoned child with Down syndrome. Harvard Exit, 807 E Roy St, 781-5755, landmark theatres.com
DEC 19 The Guilt Trip A road-trip comedy starring Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand as mother and son. (Guess which one’s which?) Wide release
DEC 21 Not Fade Away A band of friends in 1960s New Jersey strive for rock ’n’ roll stardom in the first feature film from David Chase (aka the man who made The Sopranos). Wide release Hyde Park on Hudson Bill Murray pretends to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt in this dramatic reenactment of the time the Queen of England’s parents visited the White House (distracting FDR from his burgeoning affair with his distant cousin). Egyptian, 805 E Pine St, 781-5755, landmark theatres.com The Impossible Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star in this Spanish drama about one family’s experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Harvard Exit, 807 E Roy St, 781-5755, landmark theatres.com
DEC 25 Django Unchained Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, this nouveau western follows a freed slave as he makes his way across the country with a bounty hunter. Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com Promised Land Gus Van Sant directs an adaptation of a Dave Eggers story about a battle over drilling rights in a depressed rural town. Starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski (who also teamed up to write the screenplay). Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
JAN 11 Rust and Bone A French-Belgian drama about an unemployed 25-year-old man who falls in love with a killerwhale trainer played by Marion Cotillard. Harvard Exit, 807 E Roy St, 781-5755, landmark theatres.com
JAN 25 Amour Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Michael Haneke’s drama focuses
on an elderly couple— both of them retired music teachers—who must deal with the effects of a stroke. Seven Gables, 911 NE 50th St, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
FEB 1 Oscar Nominated Short Films All of 2012’s Academy Award–nominated short films, presented in two programs: live action and animated. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
FEB 8 56 Up Michael Apted’s documentary series—which has profiled 14 British children at seven-year internals since 1964—continues, with the “kids” now in their mid-50s. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
FEB 15 Happy People: A Year in the Taiga Directed by Dmitry Vasyukov and produced by Werner Herzog, this documentary follows the lives of people living along the Yenisei River in Siberian Taiga. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
FEB 22 West of Memphis Following the accidental masterpiece that is the eight-hour Paradise Lost trilogy, West of Memphis is another documentary about the West Memphis Three, the trio of weird kids in Arkansas who were spuriously sentenced to life in prison for the alleged “satanic cult” murder of three young boys. And it’s great, condensing the vast story into a tight hour, and then devoting the final 90 minutes to stuff we haven’t seen before, including a galling alternate theory of the crime and glorious footage of the WM3 upon their 2011 release. Egyptian, 805 E Pine St, 781-5755, landmark theatres.com John Dies at the End A big-screen adaptation of David Wong’s comedic horror novel/online series about a new street drug that hurtles users through time. Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755, landmarktheatres.com
T I CTKI CEKTEST S O NOSNASLAE L E N ONWO!W !
A dep depaarrture tu re fro f rom m t thhee expec ex p e cted. ted. JANUARY JANUARY1111&&1212
FEBRUARY 5 5 FEBRUARY
SUZANNE SUZANNEVEGA VEGA
LOUDON LOUDONWAINWRIGHT WAINWRIGHTIIIIII
&&DAR DARWILLIAMS WILLIAMS
ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL
Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega hits the Singer-songwriter Vega Benaroya Hall stage forSuzanne one-night only.hits the Benaroya Hall stage for one-night only.
ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL
Don’ t miss this ex traordinar y evening. Don’ t miss this ex traordinar y evening. Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Wainwright III
TICKETS: $39 TICKETS: $39
TICKETS: $45 TICKETS: $45 Suzanne Vega Suzanne Vega
FEBRUARY 8 FEBRUARY 8
JANUARY 16 JANUARY 16
MARK MARKKOZELEK KOZELEK
LOS LOSLOBOS LOBOS–– ACOUSTIC ACOUSTICEN ENVIVO VIVO
ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL
NORDSTROM HALL OneILLSLEY of the BALL most critically RECITAL acclaimed singer-songwriters his generation. One of the mostofcritically acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. TICKETS: $26
S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
Lo s Lo b o s
Los Lobos
S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM R&B, blues, Tex-Mex, country, pop and folk allR&B, on the Benaroya stage.pop and folk blues, Tex-Mex,Hall country, all on FROM: the Benaroya Hall stage. TICKETS $40
M ar k Ko zel ek
TICKETS: $26
M a r k Ko z e le k
TICKETS FROM: $40
FEBRUARY 19 & 20 FEBRUARY 19 & 20
JANUARY 22 JANUARY 22
AARON AARONNEVILLE NEVILLE
MONTEREY JAZZ MONTEREY FESTIVAL ONJAZZ TOUR FESTIVAL ON TOUR
ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL
SoulILLSLEY and R&B Aaron Neville BALLlegend NORDSTROM RECITAL HALLbrings his signature vibrato to Benaroya Hall. Soul and R&B legend Aaron Neville brings TICKETS: his $56 signature vibrato to Benaroya Hall.
S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
D e e De e Wi lli am s
Dee Dee Willia ms
Celebrating Monterey Jazz Festival’s S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM 55th anniversary. Celebrating Monterey Jazz Festival’s TICKETS FROM: $38 55th anniversary.
A aro n Nev i ll e
TICKETS: $56
We d n es d a y s p o n s o re d b y
A a ro n Ne ville
We d n es d a y s p o n s o re d b y
TICKETS FROM: $38
MARCH 7 MARCH 7
JANUARY 28 & 29 JANUARY 28 & 29
BLUES AT THE BLUES AT THE CROSSROADS TWO: CROSSROADS MUDDY AND THE WOLFTWO:
MARC COHN MARC COHN
ILLSLEY BALL NORDSTROM RECITAL HALL
Cohn combines the precision of a brilliant ILLSLEY BALL RECITAL HALL soul man. tunesmith withNORDSTROM the passion of a great Cohn combines the precision of a brilliant TICKETS: $43 tunesmith with the passion of a great soul man. M a rc C o h n
Marc C ohn
TICKETS: $43
We d n es d a y s p o n s o re d b y
We d n es d a y s p o n s o re d b y
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
MUDDY AND THE WOLF
S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
Featuring The Fabulous Thunderbirds, S. MARK TAPERJody FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM James Cotton, Williams, Bob Margolin and Featuring JJ Grey. The Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Jody Williams, Bob Margolin TICKETS FROM:Cotton, $40 and JJ Grey.
TICKETS FROM: $40
FOR TICKETS: FOR TICKETS:
206.215.4747 | BENAROYAHALL.ORG 206.215.4747 | BENAROYAHALL.ORG
get your tickets online now seattleartmuseum.org/elles get your tickets online now seattleartmuseum.org/elles Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris is organized by the Seattle Art Museum and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The Seattle presentation of this exhibition is made possible with critical funding provided by SAM’s Fund for Special Exhibitions.
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Image: Dots Obsession – Day, 2008, Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, born 1929), Mixed media, Installation. Installation View: Group exhibition “Akasaka Art Flower 08” at Akasaka Sacas, Tokyo. © Yayoi Kusama.
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