We are edging ever closer to summer—the solstice is only a few weeks away!—and you know what that means: a new summer edition of The Stranger's Art + Performance quarterly.
Our cover subject is Seattle-based artist DoNormaal, who has a style of rapping that’s both mesmerizing and original. Her subject matter negotiates an unusual emotional space for a hip-hop artist—between anger and hurt. If you haven’t heard her album Third Daughter, get on it, and read Charles' profile of her here.
Do you remember the dress in the ballet dream sequence of Singin’ in the Rain? Or the fancy gowns Grace Kelly wears in Rear Window? A six-week summer SIFF series called Dressed to the Nines: Cinema Style puts the spotlight on costume designers. Chase provides details, analysis, and more info here.
Yussef El Guindi is a Seattle playwright whose latest work, People of the Book, makes its world debut this September at ACT. In a Q&A with yours truly, he talks about subverting stereotypes and whether he thinks plays should be shorter.
Edwin T. Pratt was a Seattle civil rights icon and the namesake of Pratt Fine Arts Center, which also has a scholarship named after him. Now the Northwest African American Museum is hosting an art show that honors his legacy. Jasmyne reports.
THING is a new multidisciplinary festival in Port Townsend started by the guy who used to curate Sasquatch! It’s a much smaller festival—5,000 people per day as opposed to 30,000—and it’s very family friendly, with kids 13 and under getting in free. Leilani offers the lowdown and highlights.
It’s an interesting, intergenerational clash, and it should produce sonic fireworks: Herbie Hancock, the 79-year-old jazz legend, is playing a show with rising fusion saxophonist Kamasi Washington in a Redmond park, of all places. Dave gives some background.
The spacecraft that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rode to the moon is in Seattle until September—the first time it’s been outside Washington, DC, since the 1970s. The Museum of Flight is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Armstrong’s “giant leap” this July. Check out Anatomy of a Spacecraft to learn more.
And of course, we have the Stranger Things to Do Roundup of what's happening this summer all over town from now through mid-September, replete with critics' picks of the shit you don't want to miss: art shows, exhibits and happenings; theater, comedy and dance events; book signings and talks; live music concerts; and festivals of all varieties. You can also find info about everything worth doing this summer right here.
