Our music critics have already chosen the 28 best concerts this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn to pick the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from George Balanchine's Jewels to the Local Sightings film festival, and from the opening week of Humaira Abid: Searching for Home to the launch of E.J. Koh's A Lesser Love. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.

Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.


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MONDAY

READINGS & TALKS

The Information War: Fake News, Privacy and Big Data
Join a panel of UW data science, social media, and law experts to learn some of the latest techniques for detecting fake news and data. They write, "We'll examine the power of viral campaigns and delve into ways your personal data is being collected and used to target you." Panelists include Jevin West, Kate Starbird, and Ryan Calo.

TUESDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Pastrome and Chainline Beer Event
Join brand-new culinary demonstration kitchen Caruccio's for a pastrami pop-up from Pastrome. There will be hot pastrami sandwiches, knishes, and tasty sides. Plus, Chainline Brewing Co. will be onsite with beer to wash it down.

READINGS & TALKS

Chris Guillebeau: Side Hustle
Writer, speaker, and blogger Chris Guillebeau (best known for his 2010 book The Art of Non-Conformity, and author of many books that offer unexpected/unconventional career guidance) will share his latest work, Side Hustle, about the ever-growing "gig economy" and the ways in which you can make money, increase your job security, and advance your career outside your 9-to-5.

Sherman Alexie: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Prolific, hilarious, heartbreaking author Sherman Alexie was scheduled to go on a long and busy book tour this year to promote his latest work, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, which Amber Cortes called "an incredibly honest, multi-genre memoir about his complicated grief for his late mother, Lillian." In an open letter on Facebook, he spoke honestly about the impact the book and the tour was having on him. Bottom line is, this is one of the few events featuring Alexie that doesn't seem to be cancelled. It's a celebration of the 10th anniversary edition of his National Book Award-winning, New York Times best-selling, memoir-adjacent novel Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

las mariposas Y los muertos and No More Sad Things
Forward Flux presents their annual double feature, where audiences can catch two new, music-filled plays in one night. They'll start off with las mariposas Y los muertos by Benjamin Benne, a rock musical directed by Pilar O'Connell with original music and lyrics by Angie Citlali Vance. After the set transforms, the second feature will take over: No More Sad Things by Hansol Jung, with original music and lyrics by Hansol Jung and Jongbin Jung, featuring live Hawaiian music. The synopsis sets up what sounds like a whirlwind vacation romance...between a 15-year-old boy and a 32-year-old woman. We don't know whether or not they'll explore the exploitative/illegal/traumatic potential of the situation.

WEDNESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Bharti Kirchner in Conversation with Curt Colbert
Novelist Bharti Kirchner (Goddess of Fire, among many others) will join with poet Curt Colbert to present Kirchner's new mystery, Season of Sacrifice, set in Seattle and starring "feisty Asian-American private investigator Maya Mallick."

Building the Affordable City
Kim-Mai Cutler, a partner at San Francisco's Initialized Capital, and Daniel Kay Hertz, Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability in Chicago, will discuss "their respective cities’ struggles and successes with growth and change, and the potential for Seattleites to strike a new kind of balance in how we shape our city’s future."

Josh Weil with Carol Guess and Urban Waite
Award-winning author Josh Weil (The Great Glass Sea and The New Valley) will share his new short story collection, The Age of Perpetual Light, which explores "themes of progress, the pursuit of knowledge, and humankind’s eternal attempt to decrease the darkness in the world." He will be joined by Seattle writers Carol Guess and Urban Waite.

THURSDAY

ART

Hilma Af Klint and the Birth of Abstraction
While Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky was once thought by many art historians to be the first European abstract painter, female artists like Swedish mystic Hilma af Klint and Victorian spiritualist Georgiana Houghton are now known to have preceded him. Emily Pothast, our art critic, will introduce the work of these and other artists in the context of early 20th century cultural movements.

READINGS & TALKS

Robert Madrygin: The Solace of Trees
Robert Madrygin's debut novel is about a Bosnian War refugee of Muslim heritage who moves to the United States and has his world transformed (again) by 9/11. Patricia Whalen, former international judge of the War Crimes Chamber at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, wrote: "The Solace of Trees tells the story of a child's ability to survive the unspeakable trauma of war with grace and resilience, and how these very skills become necessary once again as an adult. It is a story of human cruelty delivered by opposite forces, and of the power of the individual to make a difference each time."

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

PERFORMANCE

Ay, Carmela!
The Latino Theatre Project presents a play by José Sanchís Sinisterra, in which a variety company accidentally finds itself behind fascist lines during the Spanish Civil War. Carmela and her husband, Paulino, must improvise a show for the nationalists, knowing that any expression of defiance could be their last act.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

FESTIVALS

KremFest
With Decibel and Chance of Rain on hiatus, secondnature and other local crews have stepped up to fill the late-September electronic-music-fest void with the first annual KremFest. Thankfully, the lineup is varied and full of names not usually seen on festival bills; if past secondnature-sponsored events are indicative, KremFest should be outstanding. Some highlights: house maverick Todd Edwards, who rarely makes it out West; long-time electro deities Ectomorph (and their constituents, Erika and BMG, in solo guise); eclectic French/Dekmantel-affiliated experimentalist Voiski; master of jagged-jump-cut electro Vektroid. And others. Frankly, it’s the others who usually end up impressing you the most. DAVE SEGAL

PERFORMANCE

ONĒRUSℱ
This dinner theater production will explore a San Junipero-style fantasy: a world in which people live out their lives virtually, with their brains connected to the cloud. The machines at onērusℱ offer "100% organic dreams harvested from Deviants"—see what that might look like at this Cafe Nordo spectacular.

FRIDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Winemaker's Dinner: Obelisco Estate
Enjoy a seasonal four-course meal (featuring oysters with champagne mignonette pearls and seared black cod with black oyster mushrooms, potato dauphinoise, and parmesan broth) paired with wines specially selected by Obeslisco Estate's general manager and assistant winemaker, Ken Abbott.

QUEER

Madonna Versus Everyone
Veronica Electronica and Fraya Love present a Madonna-centric drag show, featuring Mackenzie, Ruby BouchĂ©, Londyn Bradshaw, Shar’n Taint, Sasha LaGarce, and Daddy Issues.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

COMEDY

Guest Artist Series: Becca Blackwell
Becca Blackwell is a NYC-based actor, comedian, and writer, and they'll grace Seattle with two performances of their show They, Themself and Schmerm. Becca has hilarious jokes about growing up, being trans, religious Midwestern culture, the hellhole that is Boston, and perceptions of identity—and the physicality of their performance will fit well on Velocity's stage.

SketchFest
SketchFest, sadly somewhat reduced this year, will bring a weekend of comedy skits and films from around the U.S. and Canada to Capitol Hill and pair them with local favorites.

FOOD & DRINK

Bellingham SeaFeast 2017
Consider a weekend trip to B'Ham for its annual SeaFeast festival, a full two days of everything and anything edible that comes from the ocean. With a back-to-back lineup of events, you have your pick of activities, plus admission is free.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

ART

Humaira Abid: Searching for Home
Born in Pakistan and based in Seattle, Humaira Abid works in wood carving and miniature painting—two very different media, related by their capacity to hold rich, meticulous detail. Her previous bodies of work have tackled socio-cultural norms, gender roles, and relationships, often expressing very intimate and personal narratives. Abid's first solo museum exhibition in the United States, Searching for Home, is a site-specific installation revolving around the stories of immigrants and refugees in the Pacific Northwest. Political yet poignant, this work renders the humanity of families affected by far-reaching forces into magnificent, stunning forms. EMILY POTHAST
This exhibit opens Friday.

Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Mexico's Poet of Light
See 23 photographs by renowned Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo, who is known for his seven-decade career capturing—among many other themes—urban life, the nude form, folk art, and the work of muralists including Diego Rivera. Many of Bravo's images come across as anthropological photojournalism, and others focus closely on texture and shadows, zooming in to create abstract, sometimes surreal mini-scenes removed from culture and politics. This exhibit will feature images that "show the artist's ability to synthesize motifs of Mexican religious and indigenous works and plant forms (such as agave leaves) with a Modernist approach to image making." This exhibit opens Friday.

Mike Kelley: Day Is Done
Mike Kelley is a highly regarded artist known for using video, performance, drawing, found objects, textiles, sound, and site-specific installation to investigate the relationship between popular culture and the American subconscious before his untimely death in 2012. Created in 2005, Day is Done is an ambitious, overwhelming musical-film installation in 32 chapters that uses "extracurricular activities" culled from hundreds of high school year books as a point of departure to illuminate the dark contours of adolescence, concealed trauma, and memory through evidence of personal and institutional ritual. EMILY POTHAST This exhibit opens Friday.

FILM

Local Sightings
For the past 20 years, Local Sightings has boosted filmmakers "from Alaska to Oregon" and has worked dedicatedly to curate what Charles Mudede called the "best films that our region has to offer." In addition to screenings, the Northwest Film Forum will host parties, conversations, and an award ceremony.

PERFORMANCE

George Balanchine's Jewels
Considered one of Balanchine’s greatest ballets, Jewels is a masterpiece of escapism designed to showcase a company’s best dancers. Fauré’s rich, romantic music drives the opener, “Emeralds.” The dance’s tone matches Stranger Genius nominee Noelani Pantastico’s style perfectly, so you’ll want to try to catch her in the lead role during the first weekend. The middle piece, “Rubies,” is a stunner. Stravinsky’s wild music has the principals moving nonstop and performing feats of athleticism every fifteen seconds. “Diamonds” kinda combines the two. It’s lovely and elegant but requires lots of fancy footwork. In general, the show’s a great starting point for ballet virgins and a treat for veterans. RICH SMITH

SATURDAY

QUEER

Banned! Books in Drag
Jeffery Robert will host an evening of drag and banned books—watch Atasha Manila, LaSaveona Hunt, Cookie Couture, and several others give performances based on their favorite banned literature.

End AIDS Walk
Join Lifelong, an organization that "provides lifesaving services to those living with HIV and other serious illnesses," by walking or running a 5K loop through Capitol Hill for their 31st annual End AIDS Walk. Stay for the after-party to enjoy a beer and mimosa garden.

READINGS & TALKS

E.J. Koh Book Launch: A Lesser Love
E.J. Koh has been reading intense, image-driven poetry in Seattle for the last couple years, so it strikes me as odd that A Lesser Love, winner of the Pleiades Press Editors Prize for Poetry, is her first full-length collection of poems. (Full disclosure: I was the editor of Pleiades magazine for a year, but I had nothing to do with the selection of this book.) No matter. Now's the time to rejoice! Stranger Genius nominee Don Mee Choi called Koh's lyrical meditations on loss and longing "a remarkable debut...that exposes broken love, broken bodies across the sea of migration and history." In one of my favorite poems of hers, Koh writes, "I started to tell stories because / my parents lived so far away." Go listen. You'll be in fine company. Stranger alum Paul Constant will moderate the Q&A. RICH SMITH

SUNDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Vif's Petite Soif 2017
Try over 50 wines poured by producers, importers, and distributors from Louis/Dressner Selections, OK Wines, Portovino, Walden Selections, and other wineries at "Seattle's biggest natural wine tasting event."

Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.