by Jas Keimig
Ahhh, there’s truly nothing like the blankness of a new year. Twelve months to start new habits, 52 weeks to hang out with new friends, 365 days of new chances. While your 2024 calendars and agendas are still empty, there are tons of cool arts and culture events happening in South Seattle and beyond to fill your time with. From a wide selection of Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations to screenings of a lost Black soap opera masterpiece, there’s so much to engage with during this first month of 2024.
Think we missed something? Let us know at Arts@SeattleEmerald.org.
Fatlesque Fest NW
Jan. 4–6
The Triple Door
216 Union St., Seattle
Kick your year off in style at Fatlesque Fest NW. Presented by Puckduction, this is the only all-fat burlesque festival in the Pacific Northwest, celebrating and putting front and center fat burlesque performers. This year, the featured entertainers include Portland’s Chola Magnolia and Isaiah Esquire, Los Angeles’s Viktor Devonne, and Atlanta’s Roula Roulette. Come dressed to the nines!
Jazz Brown: the calm before the song
Jan. 4–24
J. Rinehart Gallery
319 3rd Ave. S, Seattle
Up at J. Rinehart Gallery in Pioneer Square is painter Jazz Brown’s latest exhibition, “the calm before the song.” Inspired by yin and yang, Brown’s vibrant, colorful works use line and form to explore “the intangible and the tangible, the absolute and the relative” as the artist explains in his artist statement. While the official opening will happen during the Pioneer Square Art Walk, the gallery is hosting an artist talk with Brown on Jan. 20 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Northwest Tamu Lhosar 2024 Party
Jan. 6, 6 p.m.
Mercer Island VFW Post 5760
1836 72nd Ave. SE, Mercer Island
Hop on a bus or carpool with some friends over to Mercer Island on Jan. 6 for this celebration of Tamu Lhosar, a new year festival celebrated by the Gurung community of Nepal. To welcome the year of the vulture, the Northwest Tamu (Gurung) Society is hosting a dinner and party replete with food, music, and cultural programming. Tickets are $40 and include dinner — kids 10 and under get in free!
LL Cool J Tribute
Jan. 6, 9 p.m.
The Royal Room
5000 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle
Celebrate the hip-hop legend and Capricorn LL Cool J at The Royal Room. From Mizz Tish Productions, prepare to boogie down to renditions of LL’s hits, courtesy of Roc Phizzle on vocals with a live band and DJ Vitamin D. Doors open at 8 p.m., and tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the show. Text Tish at (206) 919-3714 to reserve a table.
MLK Jr’s Dream Unfinished
Jan. 11–15
Various Central District locations, Seattle
This year, the Seattle MLK Jr. Coalition has days of events to celebrate and remember the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Across various locations in the Central District, the coalition has curated events under the idea of MLK Jr.’s dream unfinished, highlighting the work that has been done and the work there is left to do when it comes to injustice. From Jan. 11 to 15, there will be a workshop with the Black Prisoners’ Caucus Women’s Chapter, a youth event at the McKinney Center, an opportunity fair as well as online workshops with a rally and march at Garfield High School on MLK Jr. Day, Jan. 15. If you cannot make it to any of these events, donate to keep the good work going.
KEXP Presents: 24th Annual Expansions MLK Unity Party
Jan. 14, 6 p.m.
Clock-Out Lounge
4864 Beacon Ave. S, Seattle
Before MLK Jr. Day officially begins, head to the Clock-Out Lounge for a music and dance party in honor of the late Dr. King. Now in its 24th year, KEXP is hosting their annual Expansions MLK Unity Party, featuring a live broadcast of DJ Supreme La Rock’s Sunday Soul as well as sets by Expansions DJs Brit Hansen, Kid Hops, Alex, and Sharlese.
King Day 2024
Jan. 15, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Northwest African American Museum
2300 S Massachusetts St., Seattle
Spend your MLK Jr. Day at the Northwest African American Museum this year. The museum will honor the legacy and sacrifice of the reverend with a day packed with movies, music, speakers, and family-friendly activities. Their official lineup is still yet to be announced, but the event will also serve as an opening for their exhibition called “Interrupting Privilege,” hosted by the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity.
Painting the Town Red: The Music of Billie Holiday
Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m.
The Royal Room
5000 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle
Billie Holiday has one of the most evocative, searing voices ever recorded. The jazz singer and activist gave feelings like love, heartbreak, and anger new dimensional properties in standards like “Crazy He Calls Me” and “All of Me.” And her song “Strange Fruit” that was taken from a Lewis Allan poem became a Civil Rights-era protest song, detailing the horrors of racist lynchings besieging Black people in America. To honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, The Royal Room and South Hudson Music Project have gathered a team of talented musicians to cover Holiday’s incredible work. Featured artists include vocalist Johnaye Kendrick, bassist Geoff Harper, drummer D’Vonne Lewis, trumpeter Al Keith, pianist Wayne Horvitz, trombonist Haley Freedlund, and Jonathan Doyle on the sax and clarinet.
Quixote Nuevo
Jan. 19–Feb. 11
Seattle Rep
155 Mercer St., Seattle
In this delightful play, after refusing to move into an assisted living community, retired Cervantes professor Jose Quijano (Herbert Siguenza) goes on a … quixotic quest through the Texas desert on his trusty steed, a tricycle. Playing with conventions and themes from Cervantes’ original work, Quixote Nuevo is a story about love and finding yourself, incorporating elements from Tejano culture. If you haven’t read Don Quixote (which, same), Seattle Rep has a reference guide to make sure you’re all caught up before the curtains rise.
Personal Problems
Jan. 24–Feb. 1
Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave., Seattle
Writer, director, and actor Bill Gunn is one of the most undersung American filmmakers. As the brain behind the erotic Black vampire horror film Ganja & Hess as well as the incandescently selfish painter in Losing Ground, the late Gunn’s creations for the screen are vibrant, emotional, sexy, and supremely intelligent. In 1980 he teamed up with writer Ishmael Reed to write a “meta soap opera” called Personal Problems, featuring an all-Black cast and crew. Originally meant to air on public TV, it was never picked up and was seen by very few audiences for decades. In 2018, Kino Lorber restored the tapes and now we can watch the loves and heartbreaks of a group of friends living in Harlem in all its complete glory. Don’t miss this!
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Jan. 26–31
The Beacon
4405 Rainier Ave. S, Seattle
Get a jump on your Halloween costume early with The Beacon’s screenings of germinal silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. Directed by Carl Thedodor Dreyer, the film — which just entered the public domain! — is a searing spiritual and emotional examination of Joan of Arc, using lighting and dramatic close-ups to get into the brain of the ecstatic French martyr. Censored upon release, Dreyer’s film is now considered one of the best ever made and The Beacon is presenting each of the four screenings with a different soundtrack. You can watch the film with Richard Einhorn’s 1994 libretto Voices of Light, Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory’s original score, in complete silence as was Dreyer’s intention, or with an original score by composer and pianist Mie Yanashita.
LIVt – I Just Want My Bitches to Fly Release Show
Jan. 27
Neumos
925 E Pike St., Seattle
LIVt has had a stellar past couple of years. With records like Pink and Orange and Flowers in the Void, the PNW born and raised musician has established herself as one of the most forceful R&B voices in the region. To celebrate her most recent release I Just Want My Bitches to Fly — ranked among the best 2023 albums by The Seattle Times — LIVt is hosting a Fly Ball for all to enjoy. Put on your best velvet durag and shimmy to tracks like the funky “WHO?!” and laidback “PRETTY GIRLS DESERVE THE SUN.” Lazā, Yonny, and Saint Deon will be on opening duties.
Jas Keimig is a writer and critic based in Seattle. They previously worked on staff at The Stranger, covering visual art, film, music, and stickers. Their work has also appeared in Crosscut, South Seattle Emerald, i-D, Netflix, and The Ticket. They also co-write Unstreamable for Scarecrow Video, a column and screening series highlighting films you can’t find on streaming services. They won a game show once.
📸 Featured Image: “Ugly Beauty” (pictured) and more acrylic paintings by Jazz Brown will be on view at the artist’s solo show, “the calm before the song,” at J. Rinehart Gallery this month. (Image courtesy of J. Rinehart Gallery)
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