SAM Gets a Big Screen, Spring Break Cocktails and Other Weekend Musts
By Seattle Magazine March 28, 2013
MUST REFLECT
Mirror
Seattle Art Museum’s new permanent installation by video artist Doug Aitken is a magnetic mystery. A two-story-tall outdoor LED screen that wraps around the northwest corner of the museum, the high-tech display plays video footage that Aitken filmed around the Northwest. Somehow (magic spell?) the flow of images constantly shifts according to changes in local atmosphere (wind, rain, heat, cold, dark and light)—which means the video sequence is never the same. Want to know more? Read Brangien Davis’ writeup from our 2013 Spring Arts Preview.
Ongoing. Seattle Art Museum, near the corner at First and Union. seattleartmuseum.org
MUST TASTE
Tropical Drinks
It’s March, so it’s spring break somewhere, right? Transport yourself to sunnier climes by way of the tropical flavors favored at Rhumba, where 250-ish brands of rum and rhum and delicious ‘Ti punches offer a caribbean escape right in the middle of Capitol Hill. Prefer to revel at home? Check out A.J. Rathbun’s recipes for five grownup spring break cocktails (no jagerbombs here, thanks).
MUST HEAR
Karen Russell
Wednesday (4/3) — Karen Russell’s first novel, the magical realist, Southern gothic Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (her first novel!). And by all accounts her new book of short stories,Vampires in the Lemon Grove, is just as wildly inventive. She’ll share her stunning gift for building weird worlds at Benaroya Hall.
4/3. Times and Prices Vary. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St.; 206.621.2230; lectures.org
MUST SEE
Grey Gardens
Ongoing (3/16-/6/2) — Mother and daughter Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, the East Hampton society ladies (Jackie O’s aunt and cousin) turned reclusive raccoon cohabitants, were perfectly captured in the Maysles brothers’ 1975 documentary. Now an acclaimed musical, Grey Gardens still teaches us a lot about human nature, relationships and self-perception—via compelling songs and a stellar local cast.
3/16–6/2. Times and prices vary. ACT Theatre, 700 Union St.; 206.292.7676; acttheatre.org
MUST SHOP
Required Running Gear
Style editor Ali Brownrigg will run her first-ever 5K at Seattle mag’s Earth Day run (April 20; earthdayrace.com). She’s been dutifully tracking her training progress on the Seattle magazine blog. Read about her recent stamina breakthroughs, and the swish new gear she credits with helping her to cross the finish line.
MUST READ
What the Game of Thrones Stars Told Us on the Red Carpet
Certain members of the Seattle mag team could barely contain our excitement as we conducted brief interviews with stars of HBO’s hit show at a special VIP premiere of the first episode of Season 3. Despite our star struck awkwardness, the Game of Thrones cast graciously gave great interviews and let us in on some juicy details about their lives off screen.
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Studio Sessions: Liz Tran
After 26 years in Seattle, artist Liz Tran returned to Oregon, but her impact on our city’s art scene will always remain.
Liz Tran’s work blooms with color, energy, and emotion. Bright drips and drops, petal-like shapes—in Tran’s skillful hands, canvas, paint, and fabric burst into dynamic studies of nature, transformation, life. Born and raised in Oregon, Tran spent the past 26 years in Seattle, returning to her hometown, Eugene, to be closer to her family—and the…
Rearview Mirror: Jimothy Fever, a Fresh Art Fair, and Goodies in Woodinville
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
Unofficial mascot mug Really, is there anything else worth talking about right now? Jimothy has been in the collective consciousness for a little more than two weeks now, and I—along with most everyone I know, the entire city, half of the country, and a slice of the world—am obsessed with him. I don’t know if…
Earth, Wind & Fire Keeps the Groove Going
Ahead of the band’s Seattle return with Lionel Richie, Grammy Award-winning drummer, percussionist, singer, and songwriter Ralph Johnson talks performing, enduring songs, and his new memoir.
Through the years, Earth, Wind & Fire drummer Ralph Johnson has stepped onstage in Seattle more times than he can count, but it was far from love at first sight. “I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so we had nothing but sunshine and 70-degree weather,” Johnson says. “When I went to Seattle for the…
A Landmark Year: Rare National Archives Documents Come to Seattle
MOHAI marks the nation’s 250th anniversary with a free exhibit featuring a draft of the Constitution and other records from America’s early history.
The United States celebrated its 250th anniversary earlier this month, and to mark that milestone, Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry is welcoming Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation, a traveling exhibit from the National Archives. As one of only eight host venues, MOHAI is the final stop on the national tour…