We all complain about festivals; don’t lie, you do it too. But if you peel off the layers of irony that cover your body, that cling to all full-grown Seattleites like a weird fungus, they can actually be a lot of…fun?
Music
Music
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Bumbershoot 2017
Here we are. Bumbershoot. Seattle’s flagship festival (much like every other festival these days) seems to inspire a range of reactions amongst observers: annoyance, excitement, confusion, a sudden desire to be intoxicated. But whether you like it or not, Bumbershoot is here, and this year’s festival is packed to the gills, yet again, with all the music AEG’s money could buy.
Folding Fans and Canned Chardonnay: CHBP 2017
You’re welcome, readers. You’re so welcome. While you spent the weekend tucked in bed reading Roxane Gay’s new book (or whatever), I was out in the streets, clocking in three full days of Capitol Hill Block Party so I could report back to you. It was long and hot and full of people not-so-subtly doing drugs. Ok, to be fair, it wasn’t all bad, and I did get drink tickets, but still! It was a lot of work, ok?!
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Capitol Hill Block Party 2017
[Editor’s Note] The Capitol Hill Block Party is back once again. Frequently referred to by some as Straight Pride™, or at least as one of the loudest and most public symptoms/causes of gentrification on the Hill, it’s still a great place to hear some great live music.
Hardly Boys “Middle School” Jetspace Premiere
My encounter with Hardly Boys begins with a bang. At six-thirty (our appointed meeting time), I sit in Little Oddfellows (our appointed meeting place) and finish the last of my yogurt (not appointed, but satisfying). I watch from my seat across the room as the band walks in, looks around, and then, before I can say anything, sits down with a person who is definitely not me.
SassyBlack Speaks To You With New Black Swing
“I’m a writer and a storyteller. Different stories need different kinds of voicing.” These are the words of SassyBlack – aka Seattle’s Catherine Harris-White – an artist, producer, writer and all around versatile expressionist who generates work at such a high volume that it can feel at times that she’s doing so that no one genre, label or category can catch up to her.
Totally Unofficial 2017 Queer Summer Music Guide
Technically speaking, summer doesn’t begin until the Summer Solstice on the 20th. That said, Seattle recently experienced a straight week of sun and I’ve already been told by two separate individuals that my shorts are inappropriately short, so for all intents and purposes, SUMMER IS HERE!
Totally Unofficial Queer Guide to Upstream Music Fest 2017
After a year of hype, immense amounts of money spent, and the announcement of an obscenely large lineup, Upstream Music Fest + Summit is finally here. Paul Allen’s bloated brainchild will light up Pioneer Square from Thursday till Saturday with a host of shows, panels, and lectures.
Indie Music and The Insufferable Triteness of Being
Obviously, I can’t stop straight, white, indie dudes from doing their thing. I’m sure they’re going to write their bullshit essays whether I read them or not. But what I can do is interrogate the implicit politics of these situations and encourage others to do the same.
Charli XCX Turns The Party
There’s a profound difficulty in locating any of Charli XCX’s music historically, or even within the continuum of her own output, because she’s never made the same thing twice. As a fan this is thrilling, but as a critic it’s deeply puzzling.
Mykki Blanco Gives You Hope
To this list of historical blowouts, I’d submit this date for inclusion: Monday, February 27, 2017. Monday night, in the belly of the newly renovated Neumos, Cakes da Killa, Mykki Blanco, and a host of local performers threw Seattle an enormous, kaleidoscopically diverse party. It was the kind of thing we need more now than ever.
Kehlani the Comeback Kid
Cliché’s aside, everyone loves a comeback kid. In March of 2016, Kehlani, the R&B wunderkind behind a series of commercially and critically successful EPs posted an Instagram of an IV. In the caption, she alluded to attempting to take her own life and addressed swirling rumors about her relationships and alleged infidelities.