Seattle Culture
The Pulse: Twilight Season
A denim party and one very chill sloth
Everyone’s talking about spring. But Seattle — this is it for now. Gray and wet, with some sun speckled in. This is what you’re built for — slick streets and layered jackets. The city is at its most handsome when it’s moody. The cherry blossoms are just starting to show, soft little rebels that they…
Fixing Third Avenue, One Step At A Time
New lighting is part of a broader effort to revitalize the street
Third Avenue has long been the scourge of downtown Seattle. It’s been sketchy for at least the better part of two decades. It may not seem like much, but festive lighting has been installed along the “Spark Block,” between Stewart and Pine streets on Third Avenue. The enhancement includes striking catenary lighting and builds on…
Must List: Six Things to Do This Week
Mar 20 - Mar 26
Jazz, colors, freedom
What are you up to this week? I’m going to see Emergence with my daughter, who’s a young dancer. Where should we eat dinner before the show? Today is Alien Abduction Day, and here’s how to celebrate. Waitress is at Fifth Avenue, and it sounds like a fun one. Ai Weiwei’s biggest U.S. show just…
Cascadia Art Museum Lands a Game-Changing Gift of Timeless Treasures
More than 75 rare Northwest paintings join the museum’s collection
What did the Aurora Bridge or South Lake Union look like in the 1930s? Probably not the way you picture it. Before tech campuses and traffic jams, Seattle’s waterfront and cityscapes had a different kind of energy — one captured in some of the paintings now headed to Cascadia Art Museum. Thanks to a major…
This Gym is a Hacker’s Heaven
Bellevue’s Upgrade Labs goes all in on biohacking
Debra Arend wants to live until she’s 120. Her husband, Kevin DeLashmutt, goes several steps further. His goal is 150. That’s just one reason why the couple recently became a franchisee of Upgrade Labs, a Bellevue-based wellness center whose website says is “unlike any gym you’ve ever experienced in North America.” Upgrade Labs is…
Fifth Avenue’s Waitress Delivers
The musical is uplifting, even whimsical at times
I loved the movie Waitress when it came out almost two decades ago. I also loved The Fifth Avenue Theatre’s rendition of the musical of the same name. An almost sold-out crowd last week was boisterous and raucous, with many booing the abusive husband (“Earl,” played by Dane Stokinger) and cheering the relationships between the…
How to Celebrate Alien Abduction Day Like a True Washingtonian
If aliens are coming for us, we might as well be prepared
The beauty of Alien Abduction Day (AAD) is that nobody really knows where it came from, much like the aliens themselves. One day, it just appeared. And if any state should fully embrace it, it’s Washington — because according to actual data, we are the second most UFO-obsessed state in the country. The almost-reigning champs…
Ai Weiwei’s Biggest U.S. Show Opens at SAM
The retrospective covers 40 years of the conceptual artist’s career
This week, the Seattle Art Museum opened the largest-ever U.S. exhibition featuring the work of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Spanning four decades of the artist’s career, Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei (March 12–Sept. 7) includes 130 works — a mix of sculpture, video, painting, wallpaper, furniture, and installation —…
Saying Goodbye to Barney
Seattle’s oldest harbor seal, the first born at the Aquarium, leaves behind nearly 40 years of memories
The aquarium and the city have lost a good friend. Barney, the Seattle Aquarium’s longtime harbor seal, has passed away at the age of 39 — roughly the equivalent of a centenarian in human years. He was the first harbor seal born at the Aquarium in 1985. He was also one of the oldest harbor…
Spring Arts in Seattle
Shake off the winter blues with a fresh crop of arts happenings around the Emerald City
Spring brings a vibrant season of arts performances, celebrating renewal and creativity. Here’s a roundup of major arts events happening across Seattle this spring. Dance One of the buzziest performances to hit the Pacific Northwest Ballet stage in years, Crystal Pite’s Emergence returns on March 14, sharing the bill with the late Jerome Robbins’ neoclassical…
The Pros and Cons of March Madness
Lost productivity costs the economy billions. That's right. Billions.
I haven’t filled out my March Madness bracket yet. When I do, I’ll be sure to do it after work. A report from betting site Action Network estimates that March Madness costs the U.S. economy a staggering $20.89 billion in lost productivity. Fully 40% of fans say they’ve called in sick to watch games in…
Thinking About Moving to Ireland? You’re Not Alone.
Washington leads the nation in searches for a path to Ireland
Two years ago, my family took a trip to Ireland. We hiked through lush green hills, rode shaggy horses in open fields, wandered through small towns, and, of course, ended most nights in a pub with a pint of Guinness and live music. Lately, my thinking has taken a turn. Post-election madness, the looming recession,…
Back Page: Missile Misstep
Bainbridge Island residents fight missile base
Bainbridge Island residents most definitely did not want a missile base built in their community. Back in March 1969, Seattle magazine chronicled their fight, even praising them for raising awareness of national and international issues that “far transcend their private missile feud.” “If the Army goes ahead with its present plans to build a long-range…
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