The Stranger July 2026

JULY 2026

THESTRANGER.COM

Does your person hate the bus?

NO Does your person support a graduated income tax?

YES I know!

They must be in

The Stranger ’s Primary Election Guide!

FREE!

Inside:

Summer Drinking Guide

| A Punk Tour Diary | Cyberdecks

Gavels not included

JULY 2026

WELCOME TO JULY ISSUE!

E JAM

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e don’t know how it happened, but it’s election season again.

The season when the Stranger Election Control Board, our intrepid team of political obsessives, drags our elected officials (and aspiring electeds) into our un-airconditioned conference room to interrogate them, eat their bribes, and, ultimately, tell all of Seattle how to vote.

We aren’t electing any executives this year—no mayors or governors or county execs—so this election is all about legislators, judges, and one County Assessor. And man, there were a lot of them. We held 22 panel interviews with more than 50 candidates.

Some of them gutted our hope for the future of our democracy. A few gave us hope. A lot of them brought us really good food. And one was downright surprising, with the meeting starting with the question “Have you ever had kidney stones?” and ending with a dramatic reveal of a heart surgery scar.

In our endorsement package (pg. 10), you’ll find our primary endorsements for every race that touches Seattle this year.

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You have all month to read them. And then on August 4, when you’re scrambling to find your ballot under that pile of junk mail on your counter (no, just me?), you can pull out our Primary Election Cheat Sheet and our How to Vote guide, and get cracking.

Once you’ve done your civic duty homework, we have a few thoughts on how you should wind down. In The Stranger’s Summer Drinking Guide (pg. 25), we’ve got the best patios and backyards to drink in town, the best AC to hide in, our favorite savory cocktails and sweet mocktails (yes, milkshakes count), and Emily Nokes’s mission to sample every espresso martini she could before deadline.

And while you’re drinking? Crack open Zookraught’s tour diary (pg. 30). We sent the beloved Seattle punk band on their European tour with a pile of disposable cameras and asked them to document their adventures through France, Germany, and Czechia. It might not cure your summer wanderlust, but it will make you want to play foosball.

Happy voting, have a drink.

This Issue Brought to You By… These are my lesbian socks Politician breast milk Mom of zero An insensitive wall Austerity Hospital Spooky Action at a Distance

A data center in your community, not mine Mike Pellicciotti’s MomWife The Real Girlfriend 2™ Goddessspeed Vegan muffins, if that’s important to anyone

Unexpectedly reenacting Julia Louis-Dreyfus crying over her carpet in Christmas Vacation A dramatic scar reveal Iceberg lettuce Wombs of care Condoms and Al Gore

The Boy Committee

Whoopsie! We uncovered your trauma in a public setting

Hold my beer people

A voice, confused across mediums

Top DeLonge

Ego death

A purse Ziploc for event bread

Crashing out

Dog panties

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4 THE STRANGER

TABLE OF CONTENTS I Saw U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Playing Pool at Ox Billiards and Chatting at Fantagraphics

Tracey Cataldo

Advertising

Editorial

Ben Demar, Katie Phoenix

EDITOR IN CHIEF

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

PUBLISHER

PRODUCTION

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

David Caplan, Feedback Graphics

Social Media & Video Production

Last Month This Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Hannah Murphy Winter

All the Masturbating Birds and Peeling National Landmarks You May Have Missed in June

MANAGING EDITOR

Megan Seling

Marketing

ARTS EDITOR

MARKETING MANAGER

Christian Parroco

NEWS EDITOR

EMAIL MARKETING LEAD

DIRECTOR OF VIDEO PRODUCTION

Judges Don’t Use Gavels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

EMAIL MARKETING SPECIALIST

Nathalie Graham

Tonya Ray, Tyra Triche

This Was News to Me

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Charles Mudede

Art & Production

Technology & Development

STAFF WRITERS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

I, Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Thank You for Radiating Joy

Jenna Ward

Emily Nokes

Andi Carmichael

Vivian McCall

Where to Scream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Protests, Rallies, and Other Ways to Get Involved in July

Guess Who? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Stranger’s 2026 Primary Endorsements

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Evanne Hall

LEAD DEVELOPERS

Corianton Hale

Julianne Bell, Amanda Manitach, Hunter Pauli, Audrey Vann

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

PHOTO DIRECTOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Anthony Keo

Billie Winter

Char Harris

COPY EDITORS

David Quantic

DESIGNER

Fox Allison, Dave Segal

Shira Friedman-Parks

Business

ASSISTANT TO BRADY WALKINSHAW

Michael Crowl, Nick Nelson DEVELOPER

Chaytan Inman IT MANAGER

Grant Hendrix

The Stranger Election Control Board’s Cheat Sheet . . . . . . . . . . 23 Plus: Instructions on How to Vote!

Drink Up the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Patios, Rooftops, and One Technically Illegal Spot

Summer Savory and Summer Sweet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 A Case for Throwing Your Palate a Curveball This Season

An Espresso Martini Odyssey

Tour de Triomphe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Dancing, Kissing, Partying, and Playing Foosball Across Europe with Zookraught

Cyber Grrrl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Reprogramming the World With Kate Bailey

Surprise Paradiso

AP/AR COORDINATOR

Bold Type Tickets

PRESIDENT / CFO

Noisy Creek Productions

HEAD OF BOLD TYPE TICKETS

FOUNDER/CHAIRMAN

Rob Crocker CRO

The Fans Are Crying (with Joy) with Chinese American Bear

Kevin Shurtluff

CLIENT SOLUTIONS MANAGER

Diana Schwartz

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS

Tim Neill

HEAD OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Katie Lake

PROJECT MANAGEMENT/CLIENT

HEAD OF MARKETING & CREATIVE

SOLUTIONS REPRESENTATIVE

Rou Leonard

Campy Draper

Alia Graham

HEAD OF CONTENT & COMMUNITY

CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS REPRESENTATIVE

CHIEF STRATEGY AND COMPLIANCE OFFICER

HEAD OF PRODUCTION

HEAD OF PRODUCT

MARKETING & PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Allie Huska

Anita Chao

Lindsay Powers

Kendall Turner Anthony Hecht

STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Tim Keck

Sunshine, Tears, and Disco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Celene Ramadan

Brady Walkinshaw

Dan Brown

Brewed Awakening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

SENIOR PRODUCER

Taylor McCormick

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

EverOut EVEROUT MANAGER

Lauren Taylor

Katya Schexnaydre

Noisy Creek Podcasts

Janey Wong

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DATA MANAGER/STAFF WRITER

Caroline Dodge

Patrick Kearney

DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC PROJECTS

Luke Lamb

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Nancy Hartunian

CONTENT LEAD

Shannon Lubetich STAFF WRITERS

Bri Brey, Langston Thomas

Locals Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Your Guide to Den Fest 2026

Spotlit in Seattle: Shiloh Davies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

JULY 2026

Soft Sculpture, Thrift Stores, and Your Inner Child

New Music You Shouldn’t Miss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

THESTRANGER.COM

Does your person hate the bus?

Terror/Cactus’s Mutational Latin Music and Walkingstick’s Unfathomable

NO Does your person support a graduated income tax?

Sonic Ecosystems

YES I know!

They must be in

The Stranger ’s Primary Election Guide!

The WTF, Chocolate?! at Good Grief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 This Chocolatey Cocktail Doesn’t Contain Any Chocolate at All FR EE !

Made by Asian Americans, of Course

ILLUSTRATIONS Carlos Roqués

CREATIVE DIRECTION Corianton Hale with Vivian McCall

Things to Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Music! Art! Literature! Film! Food! Performance! This and Also That!

Inside:

Summer Drinking Guide

| A Punk Tour Diary | Cyberdecks

Gavels not included

And a Crossword Puzzle!

THE STRANGER 1101 E. Pike St., Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122

COVER MODEL Ronan Carnahan

GAME CARD LAYOUT Roshan Gurusinghe

This July, Eat the Real American Classics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

COVER PHOTO Billie Winter

VOICE 206-323-7101

Mon–Fri, 9 am–5:30 pm; editor@thestranger.com

JULY 2026

I Saw U…

Playing Pool at Ox Billiards, Waiting for the Bus in Eastlake, and Chatting at Fantagraphics ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARIA HAHNE

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id you recently share a ~*moment*~ with someone while riding the bus, dancing at the club, or standing in line at the supermarket? Do you want to try to reconnect? Submit your own I Saw U at TheStranger.com/ isawu, and maybe we’ll include it in the next roundup! Look for a new batch of I Saw U messages every week on TheStranger.com.

Comix Cutie @ Fantagraphics You: brown hair and tattoos with esoteric taste. Me: wannabe goth girl who loves Snoopy. We talked about Hot Off The Press next month. Buy me a zine?

Positive Energy Pool player @ Ox billiards Tall brown guy playing 8 ball on OX Billiards on Tuesday evenings. Your good energy was contagious. The world could use more people like you. Coffee?

SEAF art pickup – 4:30p Wed, May 6th – Mutual Earring Appreciation Was right behind you to p/u art. Saw your beautiful boro-glass earrings, you saw my abalone inlay plugs, I liked a lot more than just your earrings…

phone when yours was dead. your friend has my number, text me? wallingford you were crossing N 40th St at Wallingford... jeans jacket and tan top. maybe we can meet up for a Moth at Fremont Abbey sometime Volunteer Park 6/13 You in dark gray jeans and tshirt & red bandana in big group. Me in cream tshirt alone reading in chair nearby. You’re cute. Single/ into to women?

Singing into the mic 2x U sang into the mic when Lip Critic opened for MSPaint last year and I saw you do it again when they headlined this time. Mad props, spiky hair haver!

Value Village semi-regular I’m the short haired blonde who worked there, brooks bros sweater. Store closed before I got the guts to ask you out, still hang around Burien?

Seattle Armory Cutie Me: the scissor lift driver. You smiled at me and asked how you could get a turn. I offered to paint the vehicle pink. Coffee and lifting sometime?

Tall Babe With Mandolin on 36th I was leaving, you were getting a mandolin (I think?) outta your truck in Fremont.

Should’ve said hey, you’re stunning and I’m stuck thinking on you.

Cute guy waiting for the 70 bus in Eastlake We made eye contact as I walked by wearing blue striped overalls. U looked like Armie Hammer, minus the cannibalism (I hope).

Wish we had talked!

Tailwind Cafe- Talking About Glossier- May 15!

I talked to you about how you wanted to buy stuff at Glossier at Tailwind in Chophouse Row. You were really cute and had a nice voice. Coffee? :)

Cutie on the glider at Fremont Bridge Last Tuesday: We raced along Dexter (you won) before I peeled off for QA and you headed for Belltown. Rematch soon?

Hot Trader Joe’s Guy (Cap Hill TJs): you told me you were going to start working at another job more while stocking gum. Was so shocked you noticed me. Where did you go?

running figure drawing on weekends i joined you once. you always looked stylish and had cool tattoos. you borrowed my

Is it a match? Follow The Stranger on Instagram and leave a comment on our weekly I Saw U posts to connect!

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6 THE STRANGER

LAST MONTH THIS MONTH

BY VIVIAN McCALL AND NATHALIE GRAHAM

All the Masturbating Birds and Peeling National Landmarks You May Have Missed in June

*** Mayor Katie Wilson has had quite the staffing kerfuffle. This month, the third mayoral office staffer resigned or was removed from their role since Wilson took office in January. Uh oh! At least we don’t have the big bad problems of Bellevue— they think the light rail is too loud!

times and her dad’s plate 15 times. Isn’t surveillance technology beautiful? Really keeps the family together. *** Maybe that’s what Mayor Wilson was thinking about when she decided to flip on those surveillance cameras around the stadiums, just in time for Seattle’s first World Cup game. Wilson said that she’d received intel from SPD and the FBI showing “general but credible threats to safety and security during the games.” She did not say when she would turn the cameras off.

DAVE ALAN/GETTY IMAGES

ANDREW HARNIK/GETTY IMAGES

Happy birthday, Mr. President.

I know what you are.

Seattle’s waters. Perhaps he’s off to buy a bigger one to compensate for not becoming the world’s first trillionaire. Thanks, Elon. *** Underneath those waves, there is mystery, and there was about to be a whole lot more. The Trump administration wanted to spend 15 months dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a decade-old, $368 million deep-ocean observation system that monitors currents, ecosystems, and coastal environments. A bipartisan group of senators came in with a last-minute save.

*** Sometimes we need to cream on the beach.

It is not a crime to sun our nips and taints on the shores of Denny Blaine—or, at least, it didn’t used to be. The legality of our bare-assed freedoms on the LGBTQ lakefront haven are the subject of an ongoing trial between homeowners and the city. If the plaintiffs, Denny Blaine Park for All, which is bankrolled by the beach’s wealthy neighbors, get their way, the city could be forced to ban nudity or temporarily shut down the park.

*** Fluids used to be cherished in this state. *** This country hasn’t felt right since the Washington’s only water park, Wild Waves, will flow for one summer of 2016, more season this when we all wandered summer before it our neighborhoods turns into a onetraining military million-squaredrones. Oh, you foot warehouse. thought you were Cue the Joni Mitchchasing Pikachus? ell. At least, Seattle has All that location data agreed to ban the conwas for the benefit of struction of new data the robots, thanks centers for a year. Cut to gamemaker the Joni Mitchell.

Niantic Spatial and intelligence firm *** A chemical tank Vantor—a real “prepare implosion at Nippon for trouble and make it Oyster über alles.

Dynawave Packaging double” situation.

Co. in Longview killed 11 workers, whose *** It’s official: Bad boyfriends with Nazi remains had to be decontaminated before tattoos are qualified for the Senate. Graham their families were allowed to identify them.

Platner won Maine’s Democratic Senate The 900,000 gallons of caustic white liquor primary. If he beats the awful Senator Susan contaminated nearby waterways, killing Collins, we may get ourselves an oyster- hundreds of fish. flavored Fetterman. It’s an aphrodisiac. *** Eastern Washington’s fire season will be *** They’ve taken all of our small pleasures, and it particularly bad this year. Lower-thanfeels horrible. Let’s stop the cycle here and now usual snowpack also melted earlier than and allow the nation’s birds to masturbate usual, exposing normally snow-covered without reproach. Scientists say it is normal timbered areas sooner, causing them to dry for birds to explore their bodies, though fur- out. The early snowmelt also accelerates the ther study is needed to determine if they need growing season. When grasses and foliage to scream “choke me daddy” to climax. You are grow earlier, they dry earlier, too. a pretty bird who deserves his crackers, but *** Go Knicks? we’re tired of you mocking our needs.

JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

*** The American Spirit is flowing through us. To celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, Trump pulled out all the stops. He fixed the *** reflecting pool with Wilson fell far short of an all new peel-away her goal to create 500 coating; he held UFC shelter beds in time for fights on the White FIFA’s arrival. She only House lawn on his added 75 new spots. She 80th birthday with said the point of putting the aid of seven federal that number out there agencies and $60 milwas to “talk about the lion that could’ve gone scale of need.” She to your dying grandheld a press conference mother; he started a to celebrate this victory, Grill’s on. star-spangled $1.776 which felt a bit like a sad parent taping a quiz with a big fat red C+ on billion slush fund for his political allies it to the refrigerator. Or like watching a woman “persecuted” by the Biden administration; drive her car directly onto the Mount Baker and he kept our anxieties high with bouncy light rail tracks, or another woman crashing ball gas prices and a war that has been killed into a semitruck filled with milk. We’re not and regenerated more times than Doctor Who. Earlier this month, the BBC canceled saying women can’t drive! the show’s greenlit Christmas special after *** Cops around the country sure are interested the showrunner and producer jumped ship. in women drivers, especially those they’ve *** dated. At least 18 cops, who do not need We wish we could jump ship, or at least onto a warrant to use the surveillance system, a ship. Imagine a wealthy man whisking us have been caught using Flock for stalking away to the far side of the world. Us gazing purposes. One Florida cop looked up his over the prow, the wind tousling our hair, ex-girlfriend’s license plate number on and him, looking like the Babadook with a the automated license plate reader system frightening white smear of sunscreen on his face. But we’ve missed our chance—Mark 69 times. He checked Zuckerberg’s mega-yacht has departed her mom’s plate 24

SANJA BALJKAS/GETTY IMAGES

Well, the World Cup is here, and Pioneer Square is looking gorgeous. Though, checking the till here, it seems a few people are missing. Has anyone seen Spencer Pratt poking around and advising anyone on homelessness policy? He didn’t advance to the general election in LA’s mayoral race, and there’s not another reboot of The Hills on the horizon—so his schedule is wide open.

JULY 2026

I, Anonymous

Readers’ Rants and Confessions ILLUSTRATION BY STEVEN WEISSMAN

Dear neighbor, I know you saw five-foot-two-inch me struggling. Stretching and straining in vain to get my fingers around the last spicy lentil wrap at our neighborhood Trader Joe’s. Its delicious sauce calling to me from the very, very back of the top shelf in the prepared foods section.

Oh yes, I know you saw me trying in vain to use some inferior sub-type sandwich to grab and drag that spicy lentil wrap to where I could reach it.

But did you help? No. Instead, your sixfoot-two-inch ass sidled right up as soon as I turned away in search of assistance. And you used your long arm to pluck it from the back of the shelf like a selfish ostrich.

Shame on you! This is not our way. In Capitol Hill, we help our neighbors. Even the short ones.

–Your neighbor Do you need to get something off your chest? Submit an I, Anonymous, and maybe we’ll illustrate it! Send your unsigned rant, love letter, confession, or accusation to ianonymous@thestranger.com. Please remember to change the names of the innocent and the guilty. Read more I, Anonymous letters every week at TheStranger.com.

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Judges Don’t Use Gavels This Was News to Me

BY VIVIAN McCALL ILLUSTRATION BY JOE ANDERSON

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o prepare for the Stranger Election Control Board process, I slip a couple of fun questions up my sleeve to shake out in a moment of tension—people cry, they tangle their fingers, they stare into space as their campaign crashes around them, they torture one another with opposition research, and they ruin congenial atmospheres with shouting—because tension is inevitable between political competitors.

What’s next, learning chefs don’t have instructive rodent companions?

Since we had five Supreme Court races and a handful of local judicial races from every level of our courts in the mix, I wanted to know about gavels: Were they fun to use? I assumed so. They’re loud, imposing, and say, with the full might of the state, “everyone shut up—now.” Who hasn’t needed that?

Not judges, apparently. Few owned gavels, and not even one had as much as tapped a gavel in a courtroom. Judges prefer to take control of their courtrooms by speaking softly. Television and movies had lied to me—what’s next, learning our greatest chefs don’t have instructive rodent com-

panions? Most said gavels are a lot of fun for kids, an answer which made me feel like both a child and an imbecile.

Mind you, I should have known that bailiffs, not the nine justices, bang the gavel in the Washington State Supreme Court.

“If we all had gavels it would be a party up there,” said sitting Justice Colleen Melody. “‘You’re out of order, no you’re out of order.’” Justice Melody does not own a gavel, but bought one for Justice Theo Angelis to commemorate his first case. It cost $150, which is both somehow more expensive and less expensive than I would have thought. In his 25 years as a lawyer, Angelis has never seen a judge use one.

Chief Justice Debra L. Stephens, a gavel nut if there ever was one, owns an “amazing” collection of ceremonial gavels she does not use. One has knitted koozie to “keep it warm.” Another is hewn from trees felled for the construction of the Capitol campus. It was given to her when she was sworn in as Chief Justice.

We heard tell of a “very large gavel” owned by a judge in King County District Court, a bedazzled gavel, the gavel Garmon Newsom used in mock trial, and the gavel given to Superior Court Judge Shaun O’Donnell by his opposing counsel in a sexual assault case when he was a prosecutor. The “fantastic” public defender who took up wood carving in retirement. “It’s actually beautiful, so it sits right there at my desk—I look at it every day, but I don’t use it.” Typical.

O S T C E R R E E

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JULY 2026

Protests, Rallies, and Other Ways to Get Involved in July

BY MEGAN SELING Using Your Cell Phone More Effectively to Document Events and Actions

July 1 West Seattle Indivisible’s free workshop will offer tips on how to take stable, clear cell-phone footage—and stay safe and calm while doing it—whether filming at a rally or protest or during potential ICE and police activity. (Southwest Library, 4:30–7:30 pm)

La Resistencia Benefit Show

July 2 After getting an eyeful of art at the Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk, head to Baba Yaga for a La Resistencia benefit show with Tripe, Hate Knife, Mussel, and headliners CLUTZ, a clown crew of weirdos (in a good way) who rap about eating billionaires and “walking the line between cringe and cunt.” Sometimes dancing can feel just as cathartic as screaming. (Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+)

No War. No Kings.

Resist Like It’s 1776

July 4 Another 4th of July option: Join Queen Anne Resist to wave signs and flags from the Dravus overpass on 15th Avenue West in Interbay. (W Dravus St and 15th Ave W, noon–1:30 pm)

Rapid Response Training

July 14 and 21 If you’re wondering what to do if you think you spot ICE in your neighborhood, catch one of WAISN’s free and virtual rapid

Drag Me Out to Bingo

July 17 The only thing you’ll be screaming at Southend Indivisible’s annual fundraiser—which is hosted by the hilarious Sylvia O’Stayformore—is BINGO! Grab some raffle tickets, too, to double your chance at prizes.

(Machine House Brewery, 7 pm)

America 250: Power of the Press

July 18 As part of their new exhibit, For Which It Stands: The Many Threads of the American Flag, MOHAI is hosting a hands-on workshop exploring how letterpress and printing have been used throughout history to amplify voices and call for change. Partners in Print will be on hand to help visitors make their own prints, and local comic artist Vivian Li will host a zine-making station. (MOHAI, 1–4 pm)

There Is No Single American Story: Clint Smith

July 22 Clint Smith, Atlantic writer and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, will visit MOHAI to give a talk about “how the story of America is one of complexity, of contradictions, and of cognitive dissonance.”

Tickets start at, appropriately, $17.76.

(MOHAI, 7–9 pm)

Image DETAIL: Ryder Collins

July 4 Those sign-wavers you see every Saturday morning at the University Village when you go to pick up Hey Bagels? That’s the Defund Musk crew, and they’ll be out there on Saturday, July 4 for a special Independence Day installment of their weekly rally. They gather at the 45th Street entrance of the U Village parking lot from 10 am to noon to say “No bombs, no billionaires.” Organizers tell me there will be snacks! (University Village, 45th St entrance, 10 am–noon)

response training sessions, hosted every month. WAISN is also offering a Know Your Rights virtual workshop on July 15.

Learn more at waisn.org. (Virtual, 6–8 pm)

WTO Protest Walking Tour

July 30 The Community Alliance for Global Justice and Troublemakers will co-host this free walking tour through Downtown Seattle to visit notable sites from the 1999 WTO protests. The tour will last about 1.5 hours and wrap up at Reuben’s Brews in Pike Place Market. (Freeway Park, 6–8 pm)

Want to tell us about an event? Email us at WheretoScream@TheStranger.com. Find more listings on our sister site, EverOut.com/Seattle.

Books! zines! PHOTOGRAPHY! SUNDAY, AUG 16, 2026 12-5PM PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST 900 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 pcnw.org SUPPORTED BY:

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10 THE STRANGER

I

JULY 2026

t’s that time of year again— time for you to get mad at us.

The Stranger Election Control Board has weighed hearts against feathers, consulted the oracles, and spoken with the pentagram on the floor of our office, appealing to all gods but reason, to arrive at our conclusions. Dozens sought our favor, most of them fools. Guess who?

Washington is what happens when a liberal wishes upon a monkey’s paw.

Democrats effectively control all three branches of government, and

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store the state Republican party in a small cage in the basement. Our politicians openly dream of a green utopia with civil rights and robust social programs, but we can’t afford any of that because our tax code is better suited to hiding Nazi gold than funding public school teachers.

You’d think passing the Millionaires Tax would solve these problems and let us finally, finally put our mallets away so we can stop beating the “Find Us More Progressive Revenue” timpani and rest our aching wrists. But that shit is tied up in a legal battle likely headed to the State Supreme Court and a possible repeal initiative. Even if it survives, it won’t be enough. We need solutions; we need chutzpah; we need leaders.

As long as we have a democracy, you can vote for them! Maybe you want someone who will bankroll Israel, or fight 

The Stranger’s 2026 Primary Endorsements Illustrations by Carlos Roqués

12 THE STRANGER

Boredom isn’t an option.

JULY 2026

 for affordable data centers. Perhaps your ideal candidate dreams of ICE. If you do, steer clear of this guide. We’re not interested in fascists, bootlickers, UFC fighters, JD Vance’s three genuine fans, trillionaire sperm donors, or AI dream girls. The national picture is bad. Washington can be okay, maybe.

This primary election we endorsed in every race that touches the City of Seattle. We’re choosing a few important things like, uh, the majority of the State Supreme Court? Those are low-information races and conservative money is flowing in.

You better brush up! We’re also picking someone to replace Councilwoman Debora Juarez (again) in Seattle’s District 5.

There’s a fuckload of state legislative races, four Congressional seats up for grabs, and we are deciding the fate of the King County Assessor’s office, which is currently under the control of a pervert goblin king on a hottub throne. And, oh, should we pay for the library, or let it burn like Alexandria’s?

You can read every endorsement in these pages, or if you’re not one for reading, skip to the end for the cheat sheet for the primary. Just don’t forget to get your ballot in before August 4.

The SECB is Hannah Murphy Winter, Megan Seling, Vivian McCall, Charles Mudede, Nathalie Graham, stand-up comedian Amanda Knox, and Hunter Pauli. The SECB does not endorse in uncontested races, or races we forgot. And we only endorse in races that have just two candidates (which means both will automatically go through to the general) if we feel like it.

millionaire; She jumped into tech early, and is sitting on upwards of $120 million. She is the richest congressperson in Washington State, one of the richest.

Any person living that life exists in a reality-distorting super-dense black hole of privilege. So excuse us for not believing corporate-friendly DelBene will fix the unequal tax system she benefits from. Hating RFK Jr., loving abortion, and fighting a cartoonishly evil AI that denies care to seniors is not enough.

The SECB took a videocall with DelBene, but could have had the same experience if we’d asked a wall where it stood.

DelBene is allergic to specifics such as: Name one tax loophole you and your colleagues have closed.

DelBene will do the bare minimum, and we will have to accept that because there isn’t anyone else we can put our faith in.

We had the smallest sliver of hope that home care aide and rad-lib Hunter Gordon’s mostly self-funded, take-no-prisoners campaign would be worthy of a protest vote, but he couldn’t explain how he’d advance a single policy priority. Not one.

Until we as a country figure out money in politics, we’ll be voting for the symptoms of it. Vote DelBene.

Mayors Jenny Durkan and Ed Murray totally suck. (Mayor Katie Wilson? Well, she’s “getting her footing.”)

She only dodged once, when we asked if Congressman Hakeem Jeffries should lead the party. She wouldn’t throw her caucus leader in the mud, but had no problem pushing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s face in it; she’s done it many times.

Jayapal sponsored “Housing Not Handcuffs,” a bill to limit the euphemistic “camping bans” that criminalize homeless people for sleeping outside, and the Trans Bill of Rights to protect gender-nonconforming people from discrimination in healthcare, housing, education, and public accommodations. Every time you drive over the West Seattle Bridge, remember that Jayapal helped secure the funds to repair it.

Even her Republican challenger Nirav Sheth, a retired Lakewood policeman and former intelligence liaison for Customs and Border Patrol who insisted he was not a Republican even though he is running as one, said it was an honor to meet her. At times, he wore an almost reverent expression. He was a joker, but she treated him with respect. Vote Jayapal.

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socialism in “all its forms,” and taking seemingly every opportunity to limit DC’s control of its criminal justice system. She was also one of 21 Democrats to vote to end the government shutdown on February 3rd, just 10 days after Alex Pretti was shot dead in Minneapolis, when the party had a modicum of leverage. Hnnnnnggggg.

And yet everyone else in this race is worse somehow. Her main opponent, Republican Trinh Ha, has a solidly conservative platform for “strong schools,” “smart immigration,” a “people-first economy,” and “learn more.” No thank you.

Schrier is clearly no fan of ours either— she ghosted us! Whatever. Our hands are tied. At least Schrier is pro-universal preK, for codifying DACA and the DREAM Act, and she definitely believes in humancaused climate change. Pinch your nose.

Drink the piss. Vote Schrier. (Free campaign slogan, btw.)

FEDERAL

United States Representative Congressional District 9

Kshama Sawant

United States Representative Congressional District 7

Pramila Jayapal

United States Representative Congressional District 1

Suzan DelBene Like many right-leaning corporate Democrats, Suzan DelBene lives in a castle made of money. Its walls, ramparts, drawbridges, and boiling pots of oil protect her from barbarian challengers on the left and the right, while she tosses enough cake out the portcullis to prevent a people-powered uprising from seizing her ho-hum, ho-hum dominion.

What truly distinguishes DelBene is her independent wealth. She’s no pedestrian

Pramila Jayapal is one of the most progressive, least compromising people still fighting bog trolls in the miserable, undrained mire that is the US Congress. She’s also the only congressperson we’re endorsing this election that we feel great about.

Jayapal, who led the Congressional Progressive Caucus for six years, can say what other Democrats will not: That Israel is committing a genocide, a stance she has backed up by pushing to end arms exports to the country and signing onto a Congressional letter asking the State Department to investigate Israel’s illegal nuclear weapons arsenal. That not a cent of our tax dollars should go to ICE, and that DHS, a post-9/11 chimera from the War on Terror, should not even exist. That Democrats need to gerrymander Congressional districts until we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. That former Seattle

United States Representative Congressional District 8

Kim Schrier

Say you’re stranded on a desert island. Do you drink hot piss, or drink seawater and die? If you want to survive, it is bottoms up for piss, and for voting Kim Schrier.

With Republicans taking advantage of the gutted Voting Rights Act by redistricting their states David Duke-edly, Democrats will need every vote they can get to #resist this administration until 2028, when they (maybe) take over and restart the process of fumbling the bag.

Not that we can count on Schrier to vote with most Democrats, or even against evil things. She voted for the Laken Riley Act to allow ICE to indefinitely detain undocumented immigrants accused of theft, and other dumb shit, like a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel for war crimes, a bill allowing the US Attorney General to publish a list of local and state entities that offer cashless bail, a resolution condemning the “horrors” of

Kshama Sawant has the best chance of unseating incumbent Rep. Adam Smith, the unapologetic AIPAC darling whose weapons industry funding and long pro-war career have made him a pariah in his own district. So many people protested outside his house that Bellevue banned targeted protests outside homes. He’s thick-skinned and loves democracy, you see.

Sawant is an upsetter, and upsetting to everyone she dislikes, which is everyone.

She wouldn’t name a single lefty politician she liked. This born hater began her political career by unseating an established Democrat in what everyone thought was a safe seat, and if her campaign can successfully mobilize Smith’s disenchanted constituents she could pull off another coup. Her first priority in Congress is to help pass an arms embargo against Israel. Smith’s is oh, God, anything but that. We’d quote him directly, but he didn’t have the guts to step into the octagon with Sawant.

Also competing for the progressive lane in the primary is Melissa Chaudhry, who lost to Smith by 33 points in 2024.

Her campaign this year is in worse shape, raising only $1,500 per FEC filings at the time of the SECB endorse-

14 THE STRANGER

JULY 2026

ment meeting. Chaudhry only advanced in the 2024 primary because two Republicans split the conservative vote, and with only one Republican running this year, Chaudhry risks splitting the progressive vote in the primary and handing Smith an easy reelection.

Chaudhry also admitted to the SECB that despite running as a Democrat, if elected she would change her party affiliation to the Green Party. She asked us not to reveal this information to the public, but the Stranger Election Control Board will not help a candidate deceive voters on the political allegiance of candidates for public office. We also don’t like being told what to do, or the twisted assumption that the Green Party excites us. She also admitted her website lacked policy on protecting LGBTQ rights because it would alienate Muslim voters who represent an important part of her coalition.

Defeating Smith will require a broader coalition than that.

Even Sawant’s liberal detractors can agree she’d make life Hell for Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration if we send her to DC. Smith and his disastrous pro-war stances need to be removed from office before he can do any more damage to both his district and the world. Vote Sawant.

STATE

at them, sponsoring a failed bill to increase the penalties. He told the Seattle Times in 2024 that the problem with policing in Black and brown communities wasn’t over-policing, but under-policing. With rhetorical judo skills like that, how could anyone pull the wool over his eyes?

Hackney, a former war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations, and 240 other American lawmakers travelled to Israel last September on the invitation of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Israeli government took them on a curated tour of Israel, and he’s telling us, it’s “nuanced” over there, with “good and bad on both sides.” Israel’s targeting of Palestinian civilians was “disproportionate” and a “tragedy,” and he knew they were trying to convince him to think a certain way. But “like most tours, they can’t control everyone you talk to.” The tour did not include Gaza.

First-time candidate and nurse practitioner Ashley Fedan did not wow us, but we’re endorsing her anyway. She isn’t Hackney. She is a landlord, but claims to support rent control, and wants to invest in diversion programs that keep people out of a courtroom instead of punishing them even more. Her union credentials are good, and never in her travel nurse career did she scab. Her family in West Virginia would have thrown her down a mine shaft for that. She also wrote each member of the SECB prescriptions—no, not for the anti-psychotics we needed after seeing the state of this race, but for things like… googly eyes, a knitted chicken named Mr. Cluckers to cuddle, and a reminder to call our parents. A little too personal!

We cannot in good conscience endorse Hackney because he has abdicated the values we endorsed him for in the past. Vote Fedan.

could become the next fentanyl if we don’t do enough research (Scully, we suggest you do some first). Clearly, he is not in conversation with this district’s senator, shroom lord Jesse Salomon (perhaps a good thing).

Like the suburban clowns in the room, he was clueless about sex work. Perhaps he’s not in conversation with his local girls (not a good thing).

Danica Noble, a former consumer protection and antitrust attorney for the state’s Federal Trade Commission office, is his closest competition. She’s raised the most money, and is correct to place the growing intellectual and environmental nightmare posed by AI at the center of our state’s politics. It puts her ahead of techie and, uh, obscure musician Chris Bloomquist—who believes rural people can benefit from data centers by putting solar panels on farms— but not ahead of Scully. He correctly believes we do not have the infrastructure to support data centers without increased energy and social costs. We can trust him to regulate the shit out of them.

Noble also doesn’t have Scully’s practical political experience. She has big ideas and policies that are, for sure, important (challenging the tech oligarchy, regulating AI), and she’s pro-union, but, as she admitted, she’s a novice when it comes to the basic machinery of politics.

We love Scully, his piercing, Frodo Baggins-ass eyes, and his command of concrete solutions. He is pro-transit, pro-density, and most importantly, not like his conservative budget hawk opponent, Will Chen, who did not bother to reply to the SECB’s emails, which we worked hard on. It is unsurprising that the person leaving this seat to challenge Sen. Salomon, Rep. Cindy Ryu, has endorsed him. Vote Scully.

Legislative District No. 32 State Representative Position No. 1

Legislative District No. 32 State Representative Position No. 2

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violence. She appeared on far-right radio host Ari Hoffman’s program to talk about her conversion experience. “We used to use juvenile detention as a sanction, which wasn’t ideal,” Davis said. “But we never built an alternative, and then we took away the stick.”

When the SECB asked her to explain this, she said she wouldn’t have said that.

Then we read the quote and she looked like she was going to cry. Boo hoo. On the subject of wasted water, she had a bad opinion on data centers. She voted against a bill that did nothing more than make sure the social costs of this AI infrastructure are privatized. Her response?

She went to Quincy, Washington, and saw the rural people experiencing something of a boom from AI investments. And we, as city people, owe it to the sticks to give them the opportunity to repair their economic woes with a bad fix that has no future. Data centers create construction jobs when they’re built, but leave few in their destructive wake.

So, Siddiqi it is. Obviously, the executive director of Washington’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter is great on immigration.

For example, over the past two years, his organization has filed lawsuits on behalf of Afghan refugees. One, concerning stalled cases, was successful.

But he’s untested and unspecific. He needs to improve his command of health care, taxes, and affordability. It’s not that he provided poor responses on many of these issues during the interview, but he could not make them concrete. There is no royal road to becoming a master of public policy. It takes work. Time to study up. Vote Siddiqi.

Legislative District No. 11 State Representative Position No. 1

Ashley Fedan

We’ve endorsed Rep. David Hackney twice and will not be endorsing him again.

As he put it, he hasn’t changed, but his views have “become more clear,” a classic thing to say when you have changed or are breaking up with someone. It’s not you, Hackney. Wait, it is you, and we should see other people.

Cops love Hackney. Law enforcement PACs donated to his campaign this cycle.

He’s a mixed bag on law and justice. He sponsored bills to eliminate juvenile points and expand second chance options for people sentenced to life or long sentences before their 21st birthday. He’s all for reform, unless those kids are packing heat, in which case he’s down to throw the book

Keith Scully

Keith Scully is an easy pick in this crowded race. He has more political experience than his closest contenders and gave the best answers on transportation, taxes, and affordability. Scully also showed he can dream. He wants to get rid of zoning. Okay, Keith. We’re listening.

Of course, a suburban councilman has his hang-ups. He was concerned that shrooms

Imraan Siddiqi

When it comes to policy, Rep. Lauren Davis runs circles around her opponent, Imraan Siddiqi. But here is the problem: Though we endorsed Davis multiple times for her platform centering mental health and addiction, she’s changed. She apologized for her votes concerning youth incarceration, and wrote in a Seattle Times op-ed that her “missteps” fueled juvenile

Legislative District No. 32 State Senator

Cindy Ryu

Choosing Rep. Cindy Ryu over Sen. Jesse Salomon was simple. While both are career Shoreline politicians, and moderates, only one is a goofball with libertarian tendencies and a habit of sticking his foot ankle deep into his mouth. A few of our favorites: On redistricting, Salomon said the Republicans have metaphorically picked up a gun and started shooting, so we ought to shoot back at them, with guns.

16 THE STRANGER He was evasive on whether he supported rent control, opting to talk about architecture instead of his stance on capping rents (spoiler alert: he’s anti).

Salomon, the Legislature’s leading advocate for psilocybin mushrooms, may be willing to plumb the depths of the human mind on the psychedelic frontier, but somehow a Republican-sponsored bill to force cities to permit corner stores in residential zones was too out there for him.

Shoreline is heavily dependent on corporate supermarkets, and deserves a State Senator who can tolerate a sprinkle of urbanism. Ryu didn’t hesitate. She dreams of a moderately dense Washington.

We’ve had our problems with Ryu. She’s a commercial landlord who’s been lukewarm about tenant protections and rent stabilization in the past, but has since voted in favor of those bills in the Legislature. Ryu wouldn’t go so far as to say she’d vote for rent control, but she said she’d consider it. She’d also vote for a bill granting farmworkers collective bargaining rights, a bill Salomon admitted to the SECB he opposed last session after previously ignoring The Stranger’s requests for comment. They were both bad on sex work.

But only one of them sent us a picture of themselves trophy fishing when we asked for a headshot. Guess who? Though we are sad to vote out one of the last true weirdos in state politics, vote Ryu.

though his version would’ve ended a B&O tax surcharge on high-earning businesses a year early. It didn’t make the cut.

We’ll need him to stave off austerity cuts for the next few years of deficits.

Fitzgibbon will do that by making a sustainable plan for the Millionaires Tax funds and the $3.3 billion surplus from the firefighter and law enforcement pension funds, if the retired first responders don’t win their lawsuit blocking use of the funds, that is. He also floated a Congressional redistricting bill as a test balloon, to see if there’s a political appetite to fight Republican gerrymandering with democratic gerrymandering. We know it’s not healthy for democracy, but conceding to opportunistic fascists on principle won’t save your dignity, your constituents, or the union from peril.

And as it was sure to come up, we asked Fitzgibbon about being drunk in a House committee hearing in February. He called it “a very stupid mistake” and his “worst ever day at work” and hoped it wouldn’t overshadow his accomplishments. We don’t think it did.

Besides, he has no real challenger. Mary Anito, a small business owner, engineer, and mom, seems to be running because she believes Fitzgibbon ignored her concerns about education funding when she visited his office. Sorry about that, Anito, but we didn’t enjoy listening to you, either.

Vote Fitzgibbon.

resents without some serious critiques or, we don’t know, a body in his backyard.

We’d like to see Brown stay in politics, and to polish her perspectives on affordability and environmental justice into policy positions, but she should consider running for a race she can win next time.

Street is plain good. He’s used his knowledge of tech and landlordoms to fight against their lobbies in Olympia.

What most impressed the SECB was his comprehensive understanding of the political terrain: Street intimately understands the financial predicament the state finds itself in, and we trust his commitment to chart the way through with progressive taxation rather than austerity or slopulist tax cuts. More notably, Street showed up two weeks after the birth of his child, and managed to remain awake throughout the entire increasingly hot, un-airconditioned meeting. He did however present us with his bribe, “milk punch” bottles, before clarifying that the milk was not sourced from within the family, so to speak. It was spiked! Vote Street.

Tewolde doesn’t have the same kind of baggage as Tomiko Santos, and even as a first-time candidate he’s out fundraised her from individual donors, not corporations and PACs. He may be politically inexperienced, but he knows schools. It wasn’t long ago that he was a student in Seattle, both in public and private schools, and is now a teacher. He sees the system’s shortcomings every day.

He’ll be a reliable vote on the progressive priorities the district needs in the years to come, and though he’s a fresh face in politics, his internships in US Sen. Patty Murray’s Seattle and Washington DC offices mean he knows how to talk the talk. We think he deserves a chance to walk the walk. Vote Tewolde.

Legislative District No. 37 State Representative Position No. 2

Jaelynn Scott

Legislative District No. 37 State Representative Position No. 1

Kelabe Tewolde

Legislative District No. 34 State Representative Position No. 2

Joe Fitzgibbon

We had to endorse House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon because the alternative was someone with no ideas. He’s also good at his job, so we’re happy to keep him around.

Fitzgibbon’s been in the State House for 16 years. As the chair of the Environment & Energy Committee, Fitzgibbon sponsored the Clean Energy Transformation Act that decarbonized our electrical grid, championed our cap-and-trade system with the Climate Commitment Act, and got the low carbon fuel standard through.

He helped pass our long-term care insurance program and the payroll tax that pays for it. He backed the capital gains tax. And as the House Majority Leader, he wrote the House’s version of the Millionaires Tax,

Legislative District No. 37 State Senator

Chipalo Street With State Senator Rebecca Saldaña ditching this seat to run for King County Council, the district’s Rep. Chipalo Street is a predictable progressive vote who is safe to move over to the Senate. We like the guy despite his afflictions of techworker and landlord and have endorsed him multiple times. Seemingly everyone else is endorsing him this time, scaring off serious contenders.

Then there’s political newcomer and community organizer Tatiana Brown. We don’t dislike Brown, she just doesn’t know enough yet. Like, say, don’t challenge a guy who’s doing a good job for a seat in the upper house in a district he already rep-

Unlike most of the progressive newcomers challenging Democratic incumbents this cycle, Kelabe Tewolde picked the right race.

Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos is not quarterbacking crucially transformative long-term legislation on the 10-yard line. She’s boring, unimaginative, and ripe for replacement.

As chair of the House Education Committee, Tomiko Santos has long been a dominant voice in setting state education policy and securing funding. This is not a flex, considering the poor state of Washington’s public education system. Her title is more of an albatross than a medal. Tomiko Santos touts a dusty progressive record, and a reactionary present, opposing Congressional redistricting and rent control.

That her most progressive achievements are behind her is reflected in her campaign finance disclosures, which, as of publication, show most donors are political action committees and businesses including tobacco and vape titan Altria, a company despised by educators, parents, and the medical community.

Jaelynn Scott is going to be the 37th District’s next representative in the Washington State House of Representatives whether we like it or not, but luckily we do like it!

Scott has spent the past six years as executive director of the Lavender Rights Project, the Seattle-based Black transfeminist organization that helped craft the federal Trans Bill of Rights that Seattle’s own Rep. Pramila Jayapal has been pushing in Congress since 2022. If elected, she’d make history as the first openly trans person serving in the Washington State Legislature.

While Scott technically has an opponent in the race, Evon McCorkle, her challenger hasn’t raised a single dollar or responded to The Stranger’s interview requests, and you don’t need a degree in gambling to know how this race is gonna shake out.

The lack of more serious challengers is downstream of the fact that Scott has hoovered up all the endorsements that matter. Everyone from Jayapal and US Sen. Bernie Sanders to the seat’s outgoing representative, Chipalo Street, is backing her.

The 37th is a district reliable for delivering candidates with the political acumen to back up their progressive bona fides and pass policies good for working people in Olympia, and it’s what we expect Scott to do. She says her first priority in the legislature is housing affordability, and she passed our smell tests on Congressional

JULY 2026

redistricting, a data center moratorium, and rent control.

Scott is a little cagey on supporting a graduated income tax, but as Democrats tailor their messaging on progressive taxation by defending the Millionaires Tax we expect the doubters to fall in line by the time it really matters. Vote Scott.

Legislative District No. 43 State Senator

Jamie Pedersen

For years we’ve asked candidates how they were going to upend our terrible tax system so we aren’t so broke. There’s one guy who’s actually doing it. And we’d be hypocritical numbskulls if we voted him out of office.

Jamie Pedersen is the most progressive Senate majority leader in state history, and he’s in the middle of a crusade to completely reform the second-most regressive tax structure in the country. All of our progressive priorities rely on increased cashflow.

The Millionaires Tax isn’t going to do it on its own; neither will the Well Washington Fund, Rep. Shaun Scott’s statewide payroll tax the Legislature killed last year (and Pedersen was no help, we’ll add).

But with big legislative priorities, Pedersen is usually fixed on a master plan. The most important feature of the Millionaires Tax is not the revenue it could generate, but that it is designed to blow up the 1933 State Supreme Court decision that deemed a graduated income tax unconstitutional. If that works, it opens the door for more good shit.

Don’t get us wrong, Pedersen is not a progressive golden boy. His donors are awful— it’s hard to find a company that doesn’t support Pedersen—but he is the party leader and wealthy corporations like to fish for support.

First-time candidate and former communications director for Working Washington Hannah Sabio-Howell is a good candidate, though she’s not spectacular. Sabio-Howell couldn’t say exactly how Pedersen made Washington a corporate paradise, or provide a concrete explanation for how she’d make it a corporate hell, or even improve the situation somewhat. Four separate times during our meeting, she dodged by falling back on generic class-war tropes, even when it did not make any sense. She acknowledged Pedersen leads the most progressive Senate

caucus in the state’s history, and couldn’t provide a convincing reason for why we should unseat him and potentially open the seat for a less progressive party leader to take his place. Plainly put, Sabio-Howell’s decision to run in this race threatens a rightward shift in the caucus at a pivotal political moment. It’s also taken money away from swing districts.

If Sabio-Howell ran for any other seat (pro-tip, try the House first, and not in Capitol Hill?), we’d likely have endorsed her.

She’s passionate and intelligent. There are plenty of lackluster Dems she’d beat handily. And if Pedersen weren’t the party leader, he’d have a target someone more qualified could hit. He’s an incrementalist, he’s too passive, and his personal progressive vision for the state may be 10 years out of date. But Sabio-Howell did run in this district, and Pedersen is the party leader, and we can’t

The Millionaires Tax is tied up in a legal battle and a possible repeal initiative. Even if it survives, it won’t be enough. endanger the state’s most important legislative priority for someone who says what we want to hear. Vote Pedersen.

Legislative District No. 43 State Representative Position No. 1

Nicole Macri

Nicole Macri was one of the last statelevel candidates to enter our dungeon, and maybe it’s recency bias, but she was also one of the best. It’s refreshing to talk to an intelligent, competent legislator with a proven track record of progressive policymaking.

Macri is a committee queen with a talent for crafting tight, effective legislation. Last year, she passed a bill to standardize training and certification requirements for longterm care workers who provide in-home care for family, created a state Medicaid access program designed to increase

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18 THE STRANGER healthcare reimbursement rates, and a first-in-the-nation policy that allowed trans people to stock up on months of hormones at a time.

As vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee, she was party to last session’s funding cuts, but she is not a fan of austerity. She’s for progressive taxation, and pushed for a county payroll tax before Seattle passed JumpStart. Oh, and she manages to do all this with a leadership role at Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC). Her hobby is work, she said. Sad, but we won’t complain.

Her challenger Alby Clendennin (the IV) is a resident director at University of Washington. He touted his activism, but hasn’t done any in two years (has anything happened since 2024?). He did not know the basics of state government and served us more helpings of word salad than we could stomach. If you’re serious about challenging corporate interests, choose a better mark. Vote Macri.

as Davis has suggested, because clerks are expected to write their letters for the judges they clerked for and clerks don’t get to pick who they work for in the first place.

They’re lucky to be in the room. This also occurred before Kavanaugh was credibly accused of sexual assault; when those allegations became public, Dreher was one of only three clerks who wrote to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary to say their former boss should be investigated by the FBI, and that their letters should not be used to defend Kavanaugh from accusations. In doing so, Dreher sacrificed a promising career as appellate lawyer, as attorneys who impugn a Supreme Court justice on the record are considered risky choices to appeal cases to the nation’s highest court. At least until Kavanaugh is off the court. He’s 61.

Candidates all the way down to county dogcatcher promise the SECB they’ll punish Trump’s goons, but Dreher has the rare distinction of having prosecuted 25 January 6th insurrectionists. That work made it impossible to stay with the US Department of Justice after Trump was reelected and absolved his footsoldiers.

Like Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans, who worked with him in the US Attorney’s Office and is now endorsing him, Dreher parachuted into friendly territory.

These days he’s at a Seattle law firm suing Apple for AI copyright infringement, which is more than most other candidates who have read the polling on AI and data centers and are running on opposing tech can muster, including Davis.

He’s a fed, but we think he should be our fed. Let’s unleash this blue-blooded Yankee on the billionaire tech lobby that writes our laws in Olympia. Vote Dreher.

COUNTY

Legislative District No. 46 State Representative Position No. 1

Will Dreher

Incumbent Rep. Gerry Pollet has been in office long enough for the electorate’s progressive demands to outpace what he’s willing to deliver. So we turn to two white male self-styled progressives with Harvard Law degrees: Will Dreher, an attorney from an elite family back east—his father was a top environmental lawyer for the Clinton and Obama administrations—and Ron Davis, a loud YIMBY-aligned tech entrepreneur and failed City Council candidate.

Only one is likely to make it through the primary and we think it should be Dreher.

Not only does he have that same urbanist-y crunch we like about Davis, his career trajectory shows he puts his money where his mouth is. Except for the time he drank baby blood with US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Just kidding.

Davis tried hard to paint Dreher to the SECB as unprincipled for clerking for Kavanaugh when Kavanaugh was a circuit court judge, and then writing a letter of support for his Supreme Court nomination. Is he a secret fascist? No. Writing a letter of support for a Justice is not the same as a political endorsement,

Assessor

Rob Foxcurran

Perhaps you only heard about the illustrious job of King County Assessor, the person who assesses property values in King County, after John Arthur Wilson (JAW) broke a no-contact order with his ex, persuaded a judge to remove his ankle monitor, and then posted gloating, shirtless photos while soaking in his hot tub. Stalking

charges were dropped in mid-June. He isn’t running again. Heartbreaking.

For the first time in 10 years, the seat is open. A trio of people you wouldn’t want to be stuck with at a dinner party are vying for the seat. It’s an important job. The assessment of property value influences how much property tax someone pays, and because Washington doesn’t have an income tax, we use those property taxes to fund everything from libraries to EMTs. We don’t want the poor paying too much, or the rich paying too little, or an assessment to push someone on fixed income from their home.

Rob Foxcurran is the consummate property assessment nerd, and grew up here—he’s a fifth generation Seattleite. He’s also the shop steward for the city workers’ union, PROTEC17. He plans to advocate for programs that keep people from being taxed out of their neighborhood, like tying property tax to income. And he’s committed to using this office to help the region expand affordable housing. He also promised to never post a shirtless selfie from a hot tub— he doesn’t have one. We liked him enough to overlook his Monopoly Man mustache and the Patagonia vest he wore in our sweltering conference room.

Shoreline Councilmember Chris Roberts is stacked with endorsements, but he doesn’t have any experience that’s rele-

We are deciding the fate of the King County Assessor’s office, which is currently ruled from a hot-tub throne. vant to the role, and we got the impression that he only ran for this position because someone asked him to.

And then there’s Al Dams, the chief assistant county assessor who’s been running the office in Wilson’s absence.

He showed up late in his King County Assessor’s office polo (instead of the Alexander Hamilton costume he wanted to wear) and the first thing he asked us was, “Have you ever had kidney stones?”

He’s a longtime county worker, and oldtime punk rocker, who’s been all over: Public Works, Parks, Animal Control, and now the Assessor’s Office. Dams detested his boss’s behavior and says he has been trying to cobble together office morale.

But Dams hasn’t been campaigning very much. He provided an explanation by way of pulling down his collar to reveal a scar stretching the length of his sternum. “I died,” Dams said, “so I had this surgery and I had my valve replaced.” He encouraged everyone—that means you, dear reader—to get an echocardiogram. While we loved Dams and think the County Assessor’s office would be in good hands if he won this election, we also think the office deserves a fresh start after the last scandal-ridden administration. We look forward to seeing JAW on his new Bravo original show, How Not To With John Arthur Wilson. Vote Foxcurran.

Metropolitan King County Council District No. 2

Rebecca Saldaña Rebecca Saldaña has one of the strongest progressive records in the last decade of Washington politics. She championed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, stronger wage theft enforcement, unemployment insurance for striking workers, and one of the best paid family and medical leave programs in the country. And if a few of her dirtbag colleagues had supported it, farm workers may have gained collective bargaining rights in this state, a default in a sane society.

We’d clone Rebecca Saldaña if we could, but we’ll have to settle for electing her to Executive Girmay Zahilay’s old County Council seat.

She wants to improve jail conditions and diversion programs (which is great, because jails are three quarters of the County’s general fund). She wants to expand legal defense for immigrants in the county. And she gives a damn about getting more women of color into local government (she was the State Senate’s only one when she got there).

Her opponent, Toshiko Hasegawa, is a Port of Seattle commissioner, and she shares a lot of the same values as Saldaña.

The progressive-on-progressive violence is hard to watch: At our meeting, Saldaña took one look at Hasegawa’s “Save Graham Street Station” shirt and remarked that she wanted one, but her kids wouldn’t let her wear it because it was so clearly AI-generated. A quiet, yet cutting strike. Hasegawa spent most of the meeting sitting close to the table, her arms folded on her midsection, hiding as much of the shirt as possible.

To be clear, Hasegawa wouldn’t be a bad pick for this seat. As a port commissioner, she barred any expansion of immigration police activity on Port land, and introduced an order that provides civil rights education to anyone working on Port property. She’s done a lot in a typically sleepy political role. But the clumsy shots Hasegawa took at Saldaña’s record not only missed, they ricocheted, making her look amateurish and even greener than she was. When Hasegawa told us something she would do, Saldaña would tell us something she’d already done. The

JULY 2026

whole situation made us wonder why Hasegawa would enter the race months after Saldaña had already declared her candidacy. Vote Saldaña.

STATE SUPREME COURT

Supreme Court Justice Position No. 1

Metropolitan King County Council District No. 8

Teresa Mosqueda We love Teresa Mosqueda and her long list of priorities: housing, workers rights, creating a safety net for the more than 200,000 people that are about to lose access to Medicaid, and protecting the region from the Trump administration.

Though dozens of progressives marched through our office with the same priorities this season, Mosqueda has been in local government long enough to know which levers to pull.

When we asked what the county’s highest priority will be next year, she said it needed to “step into the housing arena with both feet.” She supports a slow tran-

We would love it if Mia Jacobson stopped running. sition away from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority once we’ve shored up federal funding and built the infrastructure to support county and city programs. She also supports a county-level housing levy to push affordable housing with adequate administrative funding so it functions.

Mosqueda’s opponents are former Seattle City Council legislative aide and self-described “small-L liberal” Nick Duda who didn’t show up to our meeting, and the eternal candidate Mia Jacobson, who is running for a representative position to end representative democracy for a third time. Jacobson believes we should have “an open public forum parallel to every committee, and an interactive digital map” that allows the public to weigh in on all issues in real time, 24 hours a day. We know that because that was her answer to every question we asked. We would love her to stop running. Vote Mosqueda.

Colleen Melody Justice Colleen Melody, the only choice for this seat, is buckwild for civil rights. She led the Civil Rights Division at the state attorney general’s office when it was first formed.

She fought and won cases against Trump’s Muslim travel ban, an abortion pill ban, the trans military ban; and the attempts to kill birthright citizenship and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). Remember when the state sued the Northwest Detention Center for paying inmates $1 an hour for their labor? That was her office’s case, and they won.

Melody’s knowledge impressed us: statewide court access issues, the public defense funding crisis and ways the Court can ameliorate it, racial bias in jury selection, the need for therapeutic courts, and the best places to sit at Mariners games.

She answered our questions perfectly, while her only opponent that bothered to show up, family law attorney Laura Christensen Colberg, squirmed over softballs like “Who is your favorite US Supreme Court Justice?” She couldn’t name one because, by her own admission, she wasn’t paying attention. Her heroes were outside the court system. When asked who they were, she couldn’t name a single person other than herself. By email, she clarified a few Survivor contestants could fit the bill. We don’t know which justice absentee candidate Scott Edwards loves, but as he fought the state capital gains tax in court, probably a shitty one. Melody’s favorite Justice is Elena Kagan.

The high point of our meeting was watching Melody’s soul leave her body when Christensen Colberg said there was no racial bias in the courts. “Everyone is doing their very best to put blinders on,” she said before Melody explained the multitudinous ways racial bias infects the court system. Thinking she had a gotcha, Christensen Colberg asked Melody to name these racists. Melody said okay, and provided several examples.

Christensen Colberg knows nothing. We are certain Melody knows just about everything. Vote Melody.

19

20 THE STRANGER While we enjoyed speaking with Hawk (and we are sorry we mistook your romantic partner’s mother for his wife while reading through your political donations), Diaz’s breadth of legal experience, years co-chairing the Interpreter and Language Access Commission, and expertise in state constitutional law made him our choice.

Vote Diaz.

responsibility. It was inspiring.

His opponent, Judge Sean O’Donnell also gave strong answers on racial justice, regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the courts, and improving access to public defense in civil cases, but they were not as robust as Birk’s answers. There were also two problems. Former state attorney general Rob McKenna, who is trying to flip the court for conservatives, donated to his campaign, and cops have donated to him for years. This is not surprising. O’Donnell was a prosecutor. Cops like cops. And O’Donnell helped put away Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, a guy we don’t agree with. We don’t get the sense he’s a conservative psy-op, but we don’t have to wring our hands over it because Birk was better anyway. Vote Birk.

[Editor’s note: This race will not appear on the primary ballot, but will be in the general. We’ll remind you.]

Supreme Court Justice Position No. 3

Mike Diaz

When we emailed the judges seeking our endorsement for retiring Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis’s seat, Court of Appeals Judge Mike Diaz said he was CCing “the Michaels.” Two campaign consultants both named Michael, working for a Mike?

There should be a law against such blatant collusion.

We kid, we kid. Diaz knows the law inside and out and there is nothing in there against Michaels helping Mikes. Diaz has 25 years of legal experience, including a decade as a federal civil rights lawyer— the role he held when he put the Seattle Police Department under a federal consent decree for the murder of Indigenous Nuuchah-nulth woodcarver John T. Williams.

He’s in his ninth year of judging and now serves on the Court of Appeals where he authored opinions overwhelmingly supporting workers, challenging corporations, and protecting civil rights.

To bribe us, Diaz brought a full threecourse Peruvian meal. King County Superior Court Judge Jaime Hawk, toting Round Table pizzas—her first job!—also showed up. She was a public defender, then legal strategy director at the WA Campaign for Smart Justice at the ACLU of Washington. Mason County Superior Court Judge David Stevens, who admires Samuel Alito, did not respond to our invitation.

Diaz and Hawk are both highly qualified judges with sexy POVs. Both of their interpretations of the law, and their regard for the people it affects, are similar. They knew their ideological similarity, and compensated with lowly political mud games.

How could you, Michaels? Let the judges judge the law, not each other.

Supreme Court Justice Position No. 4

Ian Birk

The SECB asked the Supreme Court candidates to define “property,” to see if they’ll hang themselves with an answer that would reveal their opinion about a possible case regarding the state’s Millionaires Tax, as “property” is the central question of the case. Typically, the candidates talk around it. State Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk looked at us across the table in his stiff, dry Scandinavian way and said, “I don’t think so.”

He is not one to be fooled. He spent 20 years as a lawyer mostly suing insurance companies on behalf of individuals and small businesses. Four years ago, Governor Jay Inslee appointed him to the Washington State Court of Appeals. And with good reason. He is precise and analytical.

When Birk speaks, you can see the depth of his thinking. Especially around fairness, access to the courts, and the Court’s role in addressing racial inequities and mass incarceration. When he picked us and our questions apart, we thought, “this is exactly the person you’d want sitting on our State Supreme Court.” He’s no-nonsense, with zero interest in political games or in flattering the SECB. There is only the law, and its fair application for all people.

He lives for this and treats it as a sacred

ATTENTION VOTERS!

The SECB knows most of you don’t care about the judge races and, if left to your own devices, would pick the name you like the best and call it a day. Well, fuck you, because a historic five State Supreme Court positions are up for grabs this year, enough for a majority. The conservatives have enough money to win this, and want to because they can’t win anywhere else in the rational parts of this state. Do you want two rogue Supreme Courts ruining your life, or just the one?

State Attorney General Rob McKenna or hedge fund millionaire Brian Heywood, even though their ghoulish coalition, Project 42, funneled money into his last campaign through the conservative Citizen Action Defense Fund. What else could be hiding up his robe sleeves, besides a respectable tight five?

We were charmed by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Sharonda Amamilo, and her time as a public defender, her interest in juvenile justice, and trial judge experience, but unconvinced she had as in-depth an understanding of constitutional law. Amamilo could not confidently name a specific case when asked about impactful state Supreme Court rulings.

Meanwhile, appellate advocate Greg Miller did not know that mass incarceration was a problem and we had to explain the prison industrial complex to him. He can make a mean Irish soda bread, though!

Angelis was the most thoughtful about the Court’s role. He insisted we pay jurors more while also building up childcare centers to make serving on juries easier for the public. He also checked Larson’s bullshit when Larson said the Legislature, not the courts, should decide civil matters like gay marriage. That’s what Washington did, and famously, nobody had any issues with that! “When’s the last time that anybody had a protest about same-sex marriage?”

Larson said. Angelis jumped in to say that the court should protect people’s rights because we can’t always trust legislators to do that. Vote Angelis.

Supreme Court Justice Position No. 5

Theo Angelis

Shady Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson handpicked attorney Theo Angelis for the Court this spring. This appointee has a broad, 25-year legal career spanning civil law, family law, and technology. He has advocated for immigrants and won (like in the class action lawsuit he brought against the federal government for failing to provide legal representation in deportation proceedings against immigrant children). Angelis lacks judicial experience aside from his few months on the Court, but he demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the state constitution and Court precedent that did not set off our highly sensitive bullshit detectors.

We could not say the same for retired judge Dave Larson. While we appreciated his self-deprecating sense of humor, Larson is one of those walking Elks Lodges who call their conservatism “common sense.” He denounced the lower, Court-enacted caseload standards for public defenders and said the Blake decision, which invalidated the state’s simple drug possession charges and has vacated over 150,000 cases so far, “really set us back.”

He insisted he wasn’t a tool for former

Supreme Court Justice Position No. 7

Debra L. Stephens We would be out of our goddamn minds if we did not keep Chief Justice Debra L. Stephens around for six more years. We would keep her around forever if the Court didn’t kick its 75-year-old members to the curb (rightly so). If reelected, she’d become the Court’s senior member.

Stephens loves the wonky, non-flashy work of the Court, like modifying judicial rules to expand court access, and steering the Court through its Zoomera during COVID. Speaking of 2020, under her guidance, the Court wrote an open letter about the role the judicial

JULY 2026

system plays in perpetuating racial justice. When we asked judicial candidates this election cycle for the most impactful recent Washington State Supreme decisions, many picked the McCleary decision, which mandated that the state must fully fund public education. Stephens authored it.

Stephens considers cases through the lens that “the law is a collection of rules and values based on our understanding about human behavior, about right and wrong, and culpability, and responsibility.” Stephens is challenged by a rogues’ gallery of unserious Republicans, such as the former public defender and right-wing automaton Karim Merchant, the websiteless financial executive and attorney Todd Bloom, and David Shelvey, who believes T. rexes and kangaroos are related because they both have small arms. (He’s not a scientist.) Vote Stephens.

under Davison’s claws, Rose-Akins was willing to say she didn’t support Davison’s decision to murder Community Court in cold blood. But that was about it. “Some things that I wouldn’t necessarily agree with, but as a judge I don’t have all the facts,” she said. He was a public defender, she was a prosecutor. Can we make it any more obvious?

Did we mention Martin was the bassist for Candlebox in the ’90s? Sadly, he wouldn’t give us any good Eddie Vedder gossip. Vote Martin.

[Editor’s note: This race will not appear on the primary ballot, but will be in the general. We’ll remind you.]

CITY

DISTRICT COURT

during a recession. Jenks maintains that position. Hmm. Jenks tripped on data centers, speaking about them as if they were an inevitability we could control by forcing companies to pay for the strain they put on the electric grid. She also insisted they’d create jobs. As if.

But Kang was worse on AI and everything else. She threw progressive policy lingo in our faces to distract from the steady thump of her big business heart.

When we asked her about building affordable housing, adding shelter beds, and police surveillance—really any question that put business and people at odds—she gave mushy answers. We had no idea how she felt, or what she may vote for.

Silas James is nice, kind, and, much to our disappointment, vaguely informed.

But he didn’t understand what the King County Regional Homelessness Authority does. That was disqualifying. We’d like to see James run again when he’s a bit more seasoned.

Jenks is the best bet for another progressive voice on the council. Vote Jenks.

City of Seattle Council District No. 5

Nilu Jenks King County District Court West Electoral District Judge Position No. 1

Bardi Martin

County District Court judges sweat the small stuff, presiding over traffic infractions, criminal misdemeanors, small claims, and many people who have never stepped foot in a courtroom. They may be scared, nervous, confused, or embarrassed, and they rarely have legal representation. Bardi Martin and Nyjat RoseAkins displayed the qualities we’d like to see on the bench. But we felt Martin had the edge.

He was adopted and grew up in King County, where he later worked as a public defender. He was unanimously appointed to the judge position in January after his predecessor retired.

Rose-Akins is currently a judge pro tem bopping from courtroom to courtroom like a substitute teacher, and was a prosecutor in the Seattle City Attorney’s office for over a decade. When she ran for Municipal Court Judge Position No. 7 in 2022, the SECB did not like that Rose-Akins would not speak ill of her then-boss, Republican City Attorney Ann Davison, which would’ve been a fun, fast, and exciting way to get fired. No longer

We’re starving for more progressive leadership on the Seattle City Council dais, and we’re finally ready, as a society, to wave a permanent goodbye to Debora Juarez and wave hello to Nilu Jenks.

Again. We’re unenthused, but she’s better than Julie Kang.

Jenks has most of the right positions and a solid base of support from Seattle progressives. She’s done the work in the sense that when she lost the race for this seat in 2023, and didn’t get the City Council appointment when Cathy Moore resigned, she still continued to dream of D5. Before she moved to Seattle, Jenks helped organize the nation’s largest gun buyback program in Northern California. She believes her nonprofit day job advancing ranked choice voting in Washington will be important on council when the state implements RCV next year.

We’re not convinced it will, but we didn’t have to be: Jenks is the one D5 candidate who understands how city government works. She’s savvy about zoning and density, which will come in handy as the council revises the Seattle Comprehensive Plan. She wants a tax on short-term rentals, a nuisance tax on vacant properties, and a token tax on AI. Last time she ran, she told the SECB she wouldn’t raise the JumpStart payroll tax

Municipal Court Judge Position No. 5

Gabe Rothstein Seattle Municipal Court judges handle misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor crimes. They deal with civil infractions and things like traffic tickets. Many of the people they interact with don’t have attorneys. Which is why we think Gabe Rothstein is the right guy for the job. He is a bighearted, career public defender with the friendly, theatrical air of a carnival barker, who believes in recovery, redemption, and giving second chances.

He works after hours at the Youth Access to Counsel Line, which provides minors with access to counsel 24/7, serves on the board of directors for the Holman Recovery Center, and works as a judge pro tem in the King County Municipal Court.

We believe he will serve people with empathy and respect. We’re less certain Garmon Newsom, the Burien City Attorney who defended the city’s “camping ban” and fought minimum wage increases, would do the same.

21

In a January 2025 Burien City Council meeting, Garmon insisted that threatening homeless people with arrest would give them an “incentive to actually accept the offer of shelter, treatment, and housing.” Burien has only two shelters: one for families and one for women, and the city itself recognizes there are “no designated spaces for single men, youth, or couples.” In 2025, Newsom also fought tooth and nail against the voter-approved minimum wage increase, going so far as to sue the organizers behind the ballot measure. Attorneys are supposed to duke it out for their clients, but gross! Attorney Lindsay Calkins was at our meeting, but withdrew from the race for personal reasons. Vote Rothstein.

City of Seattle Proposition No. 1

Yes

Of course we’re going to tell you to vote yes on the Seattle Public Library Levy Renewal. A metropolis of sapiosexuals, Seattle is one of UNESCO’s 53 Cities of Literature, and ranked 10th in the world for ebook checkouts (Libbyheads rise) last year. We love books, and we love spending money on those books. We don’t love that libraries have become a catchall social services center for all the other problems our city and state are neglecting to solve, but that’s just another compelling reason to support this levy. (Gee willikers, it seems our society would improve somewhat if it had any other sources of revenue.)

As we’re sure you’re bored of hearing, Washington has the second-most regressive tax structure in the nation, and there isn’t enough money for many of our basic services. Until we crack the income tax code, we need levies. And for years, SPL has relied on a property tax levy to fill in the city’s budget gaps. Voters passed the first library levy in 2012 and a second one in 2019. This third levy is a seven-year, $480 million investment to cover a third of SPL’s operating budget.

That’s almost double the size of the last one, and size matters, whatever your sexual partner may say. It would come from a modest property income tax increase of 23 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, an average of $193 per year. Cut out the blueberry muffin-flavored coffee beverages and you’ll be totally fine.

If voters approve Proposition 1, branches will keep operating as normal, with a few added perks like increased on-site community resources and off-site programming.

This isn’t a lavish windfall. This is what it costs to keep the lights on and keep our libraries open, which still isn’t seven days a week across all branches.

If voters don’t approve this levy, crack open The Divine Comedy—we’ll all be in Hell. But you better have a copy at home because the consequences could include closing libraries, cutting library hours, laying off staff, and decimating the collections budget. “No, we don’t have the new gay hockey romance, it was the will of the voters.”

Thank your local homeowner and vote yes on Proposition 1.

22 THE STRANGER

Elton Bennett (1910–1974) Original hand-screened silkscreen artwork from the artist’s estate THE ELTON BENNETT SHOWROOM AT WHISPERWOOD GALLERY 633 East Pioneer, Montesano, Washington 98563 Open Tuesday–Saturday and by appointment

For information call the artist’s daughter Barbara at 360-532-3235 www.eltonbennett.com

How to Vote!

For Multiple Players 18+ Illustrations by James Yates

OBJECT

To elect the fewest number of freaks, weirdos, hacks, and losers to create a somewhat functional government.

CONTENTS

1 Voter Registration 1 Ballot 1 Return Envelope 1 Pen 1 Ballot Box 1 Stranger Election Control Board Voter Guide or Cheat Sheet 1 Election

INITIAL ASSEMBLY

Before filling out their (1) ballot, each player registers online at votewa.gov or in person at the County Elections Office in Renton or at a vote center. Players require a Washington State driver’s license, ID card, or the last four digits of their Social Security Number.

Players must register online or by mail

by July 27 and can register in-person through August 4, Election Day. Players who have moved or changed their names since last voting can confirm or update their registration online.

GAME SETUP

GETTING YOUR BALLOT

Players will receive (1) ballot by mail from King County Elections 18 days before election day. If player does not receive (1) ballot, player can request a replacement at kingcounty.gov, call 206-296-VOTE, or email elections@kingcounty.gov.

party affiliations, and levels of intelligence. Ideas and platforms are different; some platforms will make things better; some platforms will make things worse. As you play, you’ll notice several differences between these “candidates.” Consult (1) Stranger Election Control Board Voter Guide or Cheat Sheet to identify these differences.

BEGIN YOUR TURN

As you play, fill in the oval next to “candidate” names on your (1) ballot completely. Creativity will not be rewarded.

After players fill in all correct bubbles on their (1) ballot, yes, even judges, players will fold their (1) ballot and place inside return envelope. Security envelope optional and will not affect the outcome of game.

Players will lose game*† if they do not sign back of return envelope. Player signatures must match registration. Signatures can be anything, including fun or whimsical drawings, as long as they match. *If players neglect to sign return envelope, or sign return envelope incorrectly, they can rectify this issue. Game administrators at King County Elections will contact relevant players via phone, text, or email. †Players will also lose game by voting the Seattle Times ticket (expansion not included in box). This cannot be rectified.

END YOUR TURN

A turn is completed when players either (1) cast ballot by mail, which game administrators recommend‡ doing at least one week before Election Day. To end their turn without losing the game, player ballots must be postmarked

by Election Day; (2) by dropping ballot in the nearest King County Elections drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day; or (3) casting vote at a voting center.

Please consult game administrator’s manual for locations by visiting KingCounty.gov. ‡Per a new rule in the second edition of this game, the Trump Administration may, in a manner of speaking, end player turn prematurely with modified postmarking rules which impact play by making vote-by-mail option slower and less reliable. A ballot postmarked the day before (1) Election is not guaranteed to count and player could lose game.

SETTING UP YOUR BALLOT

Players remove (1) ballot from envelope and set down on flat, even surface. Open ballot. Place (1) pen in hand.

GAME PLAY YOUR OBJECT. Vote The Stranger ticket.

THE GAME. Notice the differences between the various “candidates” on (1) ballot. All have different names,

HOW TO WIN Vote The Stranger ticket.

JULY 2026

23

The Stranger Election Control Board

Cheat

Sheet

For the August 4, 2026 Primary Election

FEDERAL United States Representative, Congressional District 1

Suzan DelBene

United States Representative, Congressional District 7

Pramila Jayapal

United States Representative, Congressional District 8

Kim Schrier

United States Representative, Congressional District 9

Kshama Sawant

STATE Legislative District No. 11, State Representative Position No. 1

Ashley Fedan

Legislative District No. 32, State Representative Position No. 1

Keith Scully

Legislative District No. 32, State Representative Position No. 2

Imraan Siddiqi

Legislative District No. 32, State Senator

Cindy Ryu

Legislative District No. 34, State Representative Position No. 2

Joe Fitzgibbon

Legislative District No. 37, State Senator

Chipalo Street

Legislative District No. 37, State Representative Position No. 1

Kelabe Tewolde

Legislative District No. 37, State Representative Position No. 2

Jaelynn Scott

Legislative District No. 43, State Senator

Jamie Pedersen

Legislative District No. 43, State Representative Position No. 1

Nicole Macri

Legislative District No. 46, State Representative Position No. 1

Will Dreher

COUNTY Assessor

Rob Foxcurran Metropolitan King County, Council District No. 2

Rebecca Saldaña

Metropolitan King County, Council District No. 8

Teresa Mosqueda

STATE SUPREME COURT Supreme Court, Justice Position No. 1

Colleen Melody

Supreme Court, Justice Position No. 3

Mike Diaz

Supreme Court, Justice Position No. 5

Theo Angelis

Supreme Court, Justice Position No. 7

Debra L. Stephens

CITY OF SEATTLE City of Seattle, Council District No. 5

Nilu Jenks

City of Seattle, Municipal Court Judge Position No. 5

Gabe Rothstein

City of Seattle Proposition No. 1

Yes

The Stranger does not endorse in uncontested races or in races we forgot.

24 THE STRANGER

JULY 2026

25

SUMMER DRINKING GUIDE! Patios, Rooftops, and One Technically Illegal Spot

BY STRANGER STAFF PHOTO BY BILLIE WINTER ILLUSTRATIONS BY SOPHIA REN

eattle’s full of places to drink and lounge in the sun, but if you’re thinking it’s a nice day to chill on a patio, chances are so is everyone else. Patios, rooftop bars, back decks— they all fill up fast around here, so we cobbled together some of our reliable favorites for the next time you end up patio hopping. And, because this is Seattle, we’ve also included a selection of anti-patios for you sun-loathing, Vitamin D-deprived vampires (complimentary).

Perihelion Brewery BEACON HILL

Perihelion Brewery is right off the Beacon Hill light rail stop, and it has lots of glorious outdoor seating on three sides (choice sidewalk seating counts as a patio, right?). Since Perihelion slings beer (also wine, and— notably—lots of delicious N/A beverages), it does skew a little sporty, but the noninvasive screens are inside. Their sweet potato fries are some of the best in the land, and you will leave breathing and sweating truffle out your pores (in a good way). Bonus: Milk Drunk and their fantastic soft serve is next door. AMANDA MANITACH

Smarty Pants GEORGETOWN

From Smarty Pants’ patio, you can hear all the major forms and modes of transportation, and sometimes all at once. Airplanes departing from Boeing Field, cars zooming along I-5, trains rattling tracks, buses cruising down Airport Way. This is one of the few places in Seattle that, while drinking wine within a space defined old bamboo chained to a fence—and in the company of a sculpture of a frightened cat and a black motorbike that’s much like the one Marlon Brando sports in The Wild One—you can experience an infusion (to borrow William Wordsworth’s word)

It’s 5 o’clock everywhere. that can be described as the gothic industrial sublime. CHARLES MUDEDE

Cafe Flora MADISON VALLEY

Cafe Flora is perfect for planners, as they take dinner reservations for their picturesque, tree-lined patio. What’s more, they have a selection of fizzes and shrubs made with the flavors of the season—rhubarb orange, blueberry lavender, and beet and orange are currently on the menu. For something that doesn’t require reservations, head to Cafe Flora’s sister shop, the Flora Bakehouse, where you can eat soft serve in a croissant cone in the sun. MEGAN SELING

The Lookout CAPITOL HILL

Step into the Lookout on the downslope on the west side of Capitol Hill and you’ll find a

regular, unimpressive bar. But out the back door open, is the perfect slice of the best views Seattle has to offer. There’s downtown. There’s Lake Union. Puget Sound.

The Olympics! The oft-overgrown greenery surrounding the patio can make it feel like you’re stepping from the dark bar through a portal, a realm where you and every other drinker next to you can own the multi-million dollar views for at least one drunken evening. NATHALIE GRAHAM

Waterfront Wine PIKE PLACE

Cue “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed and I’ll tell you one of mine. Grab a bottle of [kombucha] and a friend and bike down to the Overlook Walk—the slab of concrete that connects Pike Place Market to the Waterfront. On the terrace closest to the Market, there’s built-in bench seating

and tables near the café with places to sit.

Bring a snack, watch the sky, watch the people, remember that you live in a beautiful city. EMILY NOKES

Firn PIONEER SQUARE

If Firn has room for you, you’ll be taken up a short elevator ride to the rooftop.

It’s a little Seattle-chichi, but you can’t argue with nice things feeling nice. The outdoor area comprises clusters of patio furniture where you can enjoy a nice cocktail in a nice glass, complete with a view that’s not just nice, it’s Pioneer Square nice. Even the indoor seating here feels semi-outdoors due to the windows, wood, skylights, and ample botanicals.

Their four martini options are solid.

[I had the Espresso Martini, of course— see more on pg. 27]. EMILY NOKES

26 THE STRANGER

SUMMER SAVORY A Case for Throwing Your Palate a Curveball This Season

BY HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

I THE DARK SIDE Cavernous Bars for Vitamin-D Deprived Vampires Screwdriver Bar BELLTOWN

Every surface of Screwdriver’s windowless room is plastered with records and memorabilia, the jukebox is loaded with bands like the Stooges, Refused, and Dead Boys, and it’s not unheard of for rock stars touring through to stop by. Throw in great DJ nights and pinball, and you got yourself the perfect sunless hideout. MEGAN SELING

n June, when the temperatures creep above 70, I leave the Manhattans behind, and start sniffing out margaritas, mai tais, anything with orgeat that helps me pretend I’m on the vacation I keep promising myself I’ll take “next month.”

But my palate can only handle so much fruit juice, and by July, I’m looking for something to wash away the sugar. So this month, allow me to humbly suggest: the savory cocktail.

Yes, we all know about the dirty martini. But this summer, consider expanding your savory horizons. Mine started when I noticed that three different restaurants in the city were simultaneously serving horseradish-infused drinks: Homer’s bitter herb martini, with horseradish vodka, dry Dolin vermouth, salt, and a drop of parsley oil; Bait Shop’s Pale Horse, with horseradish-infused vodka, kosher dill pickle brine, and a sprig of fresh dill; and Korochka Tavern’s horseradish vodka shot, which is served blindingly cold with a thin, dense slice of rye bread that you’re

instructed to sniff after every sip (no, that is not a joke, and yes, it’s worth it).

I tried Korochka’s shot on a whim, prepared for it to taste like a dare. But it was sharp, refreshing, almost fortifying, and it left me craving more of it.

The savory riffs are everywhere you’d find a cocktail menu that has the names of the people who created the cocktail, or the drink’s tasting notes (you know the ones). The Doctor’s Office makes a petite savory treat called the Agave Sunomono, with tequila, cucumber, and sesame oil. On Queen Anne, Bar Miriam’s has a curry-inspired cocktail that hits a rare savory note that’s not a riff on a martini.

I went to Corvus & Co. on Broadway to try the Evening Star (olive oil fat-washed vodka, gin, Lillet Blanc, and a marinated tomato garnish), but it was from an old menu. I asked if they could make something else that skewed savory. Out came an oceanic riff on a martini, with seaweed liqueur, dry gin, dry vermouth, Brennivín, and a pinch of salt. This turned out to be

the summeriest of them all, the way the air tastes when you have a picnic on the beach.

Keep in mind: Not all savory cocktails are created equal. Beware the drinks that are missing something sharp like brine or citrus. Drinking a coup full of chive-infused vodka and vermouth does not leave you feeling refreshed.

Corvus & Co. CAPITOL HILL

SUMMER SWEET

Do not even try to drink in the outside section of Corvus & Co. Always go inside, go into the dark and lovely space, with its weltschmerz-y bartenders, and piles of books on every matter that’s as far from your mind as possible. This is one of the best places to show that you feel nothing but a very big NO when everybody else is enjoying the sunshine. CHARLES MUDEDE

College Inn Pub UNIVERSITY DISTRICT

The College Pub Inn has died and, vampire-like, lived again, died and lived again. And this place is not only perfect for vampires, but also for those who feel the sunshine of a mind too brilliantly.

Those of us who love to think, those of us who spend our time in concepts rather than the gym.

We can think here, we can drink here, we can drink until we stop thinking. CHARLES MUDEDE

Dino’s Tomato Pie CAPITOL HILL

Dino’s has big booths, a deep bar stretching toward a darkened back area, an anti-mixology ethos—order a Negroni on tap—and my favorite website of any local business in town. The sturdy square Sicilian slice is where it’s at, as well as the garlic knots. Bonus points for enlisting a disco ball, ornamental light fixtures, and a giant vintage chandelier and still being punk af. EMILY NOKES

Three 9 Lounge WEST SEATTLE

We really wish the exterior signage for this place was better. But once you’re inside, this tiki bar— connected to West Seattle Bowl—serves great cocktails in on-theme barware, as well as Hawaiian-style snacks (my order is a Painkiller and the crispy tofu sliders). It’s cool inside with bamboo and pop-Polynesian accents, and understated colorful lighting for when you want the tropics but not the direct sunlight. EMILY NOKES

Booze-Free Drinks that Double as Dessert

I

BY MEGAN SELING

Anything at Good Bar

’ve never drunk alcohol. I heard a Minor Threat song when I was 14 and swore off booze right then and there. But few things are more pathetic than a 46-year-old identifying as straight edge.

Thankfully, booze-free cocktails are getting increasingly popular, and non-drinkers are no longer relegated to a life of Italian Sodas served in collectible glasses. But as someone who never developed a taste for dirt or wood or whatever bourbon is supposed to be, I find so many high-end non-alcoholic options to be, frankly, disgusting.

Tickle your sweet tooth and try something that doesn’t replicate the bite or burn of booze. You might find you don’t miss it.

PIONEER SQUARE

I like Good Bar for their tiered cocktail menu, which offers full-proof, light-proof, and no-proof options. And it’s also a realdeal bar. No pail-flailing kids allowed. Their no-proof menu rotates, but I’ve yet to have a bad drink there. Their current menu reads like a pastry menu: hibiscus pink peppercorn syrup, coffee demerara, and strawberry shrub. Good Bar gets very bonus points for serving their N/A offerings in drinkware that doesn’t scream THIS DRINK IS ACTUALLY FOR CHILDREN!!!!!

A Malted Creamsicle Milkshake

Not Today Satan at Lady Jaye

PHINNEY RIDGE

WEST SEATTLE

Lady Jaye’s list of more than 300 spirits will impress even the snootiest liquor enthusiast, but they also have a nice, small N/A menu. The Not Today Satan tastes like an elevated ice cream sundae—fruity, nutty, creamy, refreshing—with herbaceous Wilderton Lustre, raspberry cordial, pistachio orgeat, and a pinch of lime and mint that pushes it into dreamy summer drink territory.

toasted coconut, and a cherry. It’s essentially a sippable slice of hummingbird cake.

(Which they also sell.) Pair it with an order of salty tostones with a side of garlicky cilantro aioli and sip, dip, bite, and repeat as you watch the sun go down. Beware the kids in the sandbox, though—nothing shatters the tropical daydream like getting cracked in the shin with a flailing pail.

Colada on the Rocks at Bongos GREEN LAKE

Bongos is 75 percent patio, and a portion of their seating is FILLED WITH SAND. Their alcohol-free Colada on the Rocks is topped with a slice of dried pineapple,

“Megan, a milkshake isn’t a mocktail.” Oh, really? What’s a mocktail? A blend of ingredients designed to provide refreshing pleasure without alcohol? That’s a milkshake, baby! And when I got to Red Mill on Phinney Ridge, I skip the line at RidgeWood Bottle & Tap and pair my burger with a pint of a different flavor. Lately I’ve been real into malted creamsicle—sunshine in a cup!—but I reserve my right to go for peanut butter and jelly when the mood strikes.

JULY 2026

BREWED AWAKENING

An Espresso Martini Odyssey

I

BY EMILY NOKES

have no thesis for this piece other than that I just really like Espresso Martinis right now.

Yes, they’ve been around forever (since the early ’80s when London bartender Dick Bradsell allegedly invented them after a supermodel asked for “something to wake me up, then fuck me up”).

They go in and out of fashion. I’m not sure if they are on trend right now, but who cares. Even the bad ones are pretty good, and the good ones are fantastic. The classic preparation is vodka, coffee liquor, and espresso, shaken to a froth and served in a nice glass—usually a coupe—often garnished with three coffee beans. With cocktail prices such as they are, you might as well catch two kinds of buzz.

What I like best about ordering an Espresso Martini is that at least one person in the group I’m with’s eyes will light up: They, too, have been given permission. They are free.

You can have one (1) per outing, and that’s it. One is perfect, two is insane.

My deadline was tight, and I almost immediately realized that in order to try as many Espresso Martinis as I’d been recommended, I would need a full year and a nervous system made of steel. But I gave it my best shot (ha), so please enjoy this very incomplete list to use as your jumping-off point for your own Espresso Martini Summer.

A-PIZZA MART on Capitol Hill is across the street from our office, and I think it might be the reason I got on this Espresso Martini kick in the first place. I noticed they offered one on draft—it felt like such a funny place to imbibe, but it was delicious and is now my go-to when we’re there.

BAIT SHOP has a Big-Ass Espresso Martini (it’s huge and comes with three crazy straws for crazy sharing).

LA DIVE ’s slushie is the best frozen version I’ve tried; a petite portion in a petite glass.

LINDA’S TAVERN makes theirs normal-sized and with Vita cold brew. It might be the Platonic ideal of the on-draft basics—it tastes like sweet coffee alcohol and is served cold in a nice glass. I have had it on their back patio with a grilled cheese twice now, and it was fab.

POST PIKE on Broadway has three. I had the house basic before taking the train (this bar’s light-rail proximity is ideal) to see Pride and Prejudice performed at Roosevelt High. I felt both relaxed and awake for the 2.5 hours of Jane Austen ahead of me (and the performance was really good!).

RICH RICH is an ideal summer-vampire bar. On a recent sunny day, it was so dark I needed my friend to walk ahead of me because my eyes couldn’t adjust quickly enough for the very gentle ramp going in. It’s bitty, decorated in hot pink and black with glam accents, and deeply

air-conditioned. Their Espresso Martini was a wild card—made with LALO Tequila (don’t worry, it’s pretty neutral), Mr. Black, banana, Cynar, espresso, and Rich syrup— and ended up my favorite. The banana was subtle and cut the bitterness, and the foam was velvety with small, tight bubbles.

SOL LIQUOR’s EM is more toward the dessert end of the spectrum with a swirl of sweet cream on top, and feels classy when enjoyed in their subtle neo-noir interior.

THE HIDEOUT also gets points as a daytime-dark bar (so dark, in fact, that their tagline is “it’s dark in here”); their EM is aces and includes cognac and their house amaro blend.

FIRN in Pioneer Square made our patios list (pg. 25) and has four special martinis on the menu. I’m a sucker for cute stemware and a skylight.

LOLA’s Espresso Martini is my white whale. It comes highly recommended and sounds like the Bugatti of EMs with a toasted marshmallow (!) on top. Reader, I did not get to try this. I went downtown not realizing that it was peak FIFA. My friend and fellow EM-thusiast, Chris, did take it for a spin, however, and thoughtfully sent notes: “Sophisticated, slightly bitter and herbaceous, delicious, but maybe not my everyday EM. The marshmallow delivers!” Chris is better at this than I am.

ROQUETTE is another perfect indoor Summer vibe (dark, with palm trees painted on the back wall). They make theirs with Licor 43 and Amontillado, which tasted kind of soft and odd in an exciting way.

SABINE CAFÉ & BAR in Ballard was a dream for an early happy hour in their idyllic atrium. The Espresso Martini is exactly what you want—not too sweet, classic, no bells or whistles, 10 bucks.

27

28

PATIO PAGES

Cantina del Sol

El Sirenito Mezcaleria El Sirenito is a coastal Mexican spot serving fresh local seafood and premium agave spirits. Enjoy our beautiful covered patio—heated in winter—perfect for patio season. Streaming summer 2026 soccer matches and offering weekly food & drink specials. Daily happy hour 4-6 pm!

Soak up the sun at Cantina Del Sol, Capitol Hill’s premier rooftop margarita bar and taco truck. Drop by for daily happy hour, catch the big game with friends, or vibe to weekend DJs while enjoying delicious food. Planning an unforgettable celebration? Rent out our vibrant rooftop to host your next private event! See menus and book your party at cantinadelsol.com.

GEORGETOWN

CAPITOL HILL

5901 Airport Wy S, Seattle, WA 98108 • sirenitoseattle.com •@sirenitoseattle

422 E Pine St, Seattle, WA 98122 • cantinadelsol.com • @cantinadelsolseattle

8 Ping Yang Mioposto

Looking for a unique Saturday brunch in Seattle? 8 Ping Yang on Capitol Hill serves an unforgettable brunch every Saturday from 11 AM–3 PM, blending authentic Thai flavors with creative French-inspired techniques. Enjoy innovative dishes & handcrafted cocktails on our covered Patio, perfect for gathering with friends and family.

Reserve your table today at (206) 420-7266 or online.

Mioposto Eastlake is your neighborhood pizzeria for open-flame pizzas, Italian-inspired small plates, seasonal cocktails, and patio evenings by the lake. Join us for daily Happy Hour (3–6 PM) and Late-Night Happy Hour. Explore our menu and plan your visit: Mioposto Pizza.

CAPITOL HILL

EASTLAKE

1412 E Union St, Seattle, WA 98122 • 8pingyang.com • @8_pingyang

2501 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102 • miopostopizza.com/eastlake • @mioposto

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PATIO PAGES

Cicchetti & Serafina Seattle’s finally sunny. Eat outside.

The patios at Serafina and Cicchetti are open and ready — two distinct experiences, one great Eastlake block.

Union

At Cicchetti, it’s Mediterranean small plates meant for sharing, with seasonal cocktails and a patio vibe that makes the evening easy.

Next door at at Serafina, settle into upscale Italian dining under the open sky — full menu, thoughtful wine list, and the kind of dinner worth lingering over.

Union is a Capitol Hill favorite for Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community, located in the heart of the Gayborhood and known for great drinks, a pub menu, a welcoming atmosphere, a covered year-round patio with an outdoor fireplace for cozy nights or warm summer afternoons, and NEVER A COVER, making it the place to gather, celebrate, and toast great friends and good times.

Walk-ins welcome, or reserve your spot ahead of time.

EASTLAKE

CAPITOL HILL

Cicchetti • 121 E Boston St, Seattle, WA 98102 • cicchettiseattle.com • @cicchettiseattle Serafina • 2043 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle, WA 98102 • serafinaseattle.com • @serafinaseattle

1009 E Union St Ste C, Seattle, WA 98122 • unionseattle.com • @union.seattle.bar

La Fontana Siciliana A Taste of Sicily in Italy La Fontana has been an urban oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of Belltown for more than 30 years. Gorgeous courtyard, bubbling fountain & the aroma of Sicilian cuisine in the air.

Annapurna Cafe

Ingredients continue to be handpicked and sourced from the best local suppliers and Italian importers. The wine list, made up of local and Italian wines, aligns perfectly with the menu, transforming a simple meal into a gastronomic event.

Enjoy the mesmerizing taste of Nepal, India and Tibet in one place! Since 2003, Annapurna has been serving delightful fare in their charming, subterranean restaurant. Yeti Bar serves beer, wine, signature cocktails & drinks.Their small patio is a great place to soak up the vibes of Broadway on Capitol Hill. Conveniently located next to light rail station.

Reserve your table now.

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BELLTOWN

CAPITOL HILL

120 Blanchard St, Seattle, WA 98121 • lafontanasiciliana.com • @lafontanasiciliana

1833 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122 • annapurnacafe.com• @annapurnacafeseattle

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29

30 THE STRANGER

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ZOOKRAUGHT

ToUR De g Foosball

Dancing, Kissing, Partying, and Playin

Across Europe With Zookraught

Stephanie at L’Olympic Café in Paris (left), tour manager Jocelyn (center), and Zookraught posters outside Divadlo Pod Lampou in Plzen, Czechia.

Zookraught is one of the most exciting bands in Seattle. With every show, they pull more people aboard the Zooktrain, luring curious onlookers

in with their in-your-face punky, funky dance rock. Three songs into their two-night album release party in May, the Sunset's walls started to drip with sweat from the relentless mess of moshing, dancing, and crowdsurfing for an hour straight. I love Zookraught! And I know you will, too. So, as Zookraught prepared to head out on a month-long European tour, we asked the band members—Stephanie Jones (bass/vocals), Sami Frederick (guitar/vocals), and Baylee Harper (drums/vocals)—to send us dispatches from the road while their tour manager, Jocelyn Crafts, documented the adventure with a handful of disposable cameras. See them for yourself at West Seattle Summer Fest July 10, and Baba Yaga July 11 and July 24. —Megan Seling

MAY 29 STEPHANIE: We woke up in Angoulême, in the world’s tiniest motel room. Tonight we play Relache Festival, in the beautiful city of Bordeaux, outdoors on a river.

Unfortunately, we are on the tail end of a heat wave, and it’s 95 degrees Fahrenheit during our 3 p.m. sound check. We see a few Zookraught T-shirts in the crowd.

That’s so CRAZY! We see some really cool bands, everything sounds incredible, and

the temps finally drop to a bearable level.

It’s kind of hard to focus on listening to the bands… the anticipation of our set is so exciting and nerve-wracking! This is going to be the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for outside of Seattle! We had an incredible lasagna dinner with access to our own artist keg, red wine, and a plate of desserts.

I don’t know a single venue in the US that has ever given us access to our own artist keg, much less dinner.

SAMI: Since its inception, our band has operated as a semitruck rolling down the mountain with no brakes. We don’t want to stop, and at this point, I don’t think that we know how to. We play live ALL the time, and we tour constantly. I really hate it when well-intentioned coworkers tell me ahead of a tour to “have fun on your vacation.”

Tour, for all the many splendid things she offers, rarely affords us the opportunity to feel like we are on a vacation. Case in point:

Our van broke down the second week of this monthlong tour. We spent six glorious hours sitting on hot asphalt on the side of a dangerously busy UK freeway, waiting for a tow truck that was maybe coming, maybe not. It feels like each day, the road flips a coin for you. Some days are easy, almost magical. Some days it feels like everything is against you. Luckily, today in Bordeaux, the coin has seemed to flip in our favor.

The atmosphere was electric. Even when my rental amp decided to kick the bucket

during our set, our new friends in Bordeaux kept dancing, screaming, crowd-surfing, and giving us their energy.

STEPHANIE: We open with our usual combo of “Chew Tobacco, Spit” directly into “Roy Street,” and then we pause to introduce ourselves as Zookraught from Seattle. At this point in the set, it’s customary to introduce our song “Laughingstock” as the song about how much we hate Donald Trump and wish he would just die already. There is no bigger rush than 1,000 people from a different country screaming and empathizing with the unfortunate reality of having to exist in the same timeline as Donald Trump, much less having him destroy your country. At the end of the set, they wanted an encore! Truly one of those nights that made all the hardships worth it, and made me believe in us. Sometimes it’s easy to wonder why we’re doing everything we do to continue to tour, but we fucking DID THAT.

TRIOMphE

JULY 2026

Baylee and Francesco playing foosball at Schokoladen in Berlin (left), guitarist/ vocalist Sami (center), and a church in Plzen.

MAY 30 B A Y L E E : Playing Clermont-Ferrand, France, on their Pride Day was a freakin’ PARTY! We got to play a lovely bar called Fermenté.e, and I met some of my favorite people on this whole tour. Being in queer spaces has always felt very comfortable and safe for us, and it was an honor to be able to provide such cool people with a fun experience for their Pride!

SAMI: It was probably the hottest, sweatiest show that I have ever played. And friends, I am a chronically sweaty person.

I love France. People have attitude. They have energy and are expressive. Challenging, sometimes. But I love the brashness.

The people working the show tonight were FANTASTIC company. One of the concertgoers really liked my mesh shirt, so we decided to swap shirts. I convinced the bartender to draw a self-portrait on the back of my new favorite shirt. A keepsake that I’m sure I will keep forever.

STEPHANIE: This stage is so small, my arm is sometimes pushing into one of the cymbals when I’m on the mic. I love a floor show. I love an intimate crowd. I love being able to get into people’s faces. But there is a moment of whiplash after a show like Bordeaux. Every night is just so damn different on tour. This was the hottest room I’ve ever played. At one point, I’m fighting the fainting demons. My dress is soaking wet, everyone in the room is glistening, it is just so very HOT.

31

JUNE 1

SAMI: Our tour manager, Jocelyn, and I decided that we wanted to keep the party going, so we went out clubbing with a new friend after the show. Revelry, dancing, kissing, magic. I am sure I will regret all of it tomorrow. P.S. I asked someone to bum a cigarette tonight, and was promptly turned down explicitly because I am American. I can’t say that I don’t understand.

MAY 31 STEPHANIE: We woke with plans to hit the road early so we can head seven hours away to Kusel, Germany. We’re playing at Kinett, a really cool venue with a nearby band apartment. We’d arranged to get there a day early because we know we can do laundry there. The laundry situation

on tour is dismal. I am literally on my last clean shirt and pair of underwear. We start the day much later, much more hungover, and much more hot than we’d like to. We didn’t get to Kusel until after midnight. I am fucking exhausted and still stressed about the damn laundry.

BAYLEE: We drove for hours and hours and made many stops, including a stop at Buffalo Grill. We only went there because we wanted mac and cheese, and then they DIDN’T EVEN HAVE IT. My entire life felt like a lie! I really wanted mac and cheese— it’s truly one of my favorite foods. We were the loudest people in the restaurant, and we think they probably hated us.

SAMI: These are the days when I feel most homesick. I miss my love, I miss my cat. I miss being a part of the hustle and bustle in Seattle. Reflecting today on what makes our city special. And the things I would choose to change. I love the rich tapestry of music and art in Seattle. I love that even though it’s a big city, there are times when the whole town feels quiet. I love that I can walk down to the bar on my street corner and be embraced by warm, familiar faces. I hate tech bros. I hate expensive, shitty, ugly condos. I hate Teslas, and I wish I could launch them all into outer space.

STEPHANIE: We wake up at 11 a.m. at the band apartment in Kusel, and I immediately get started on the laundry situation. I think I did seven or eight loads that day. Thank god the venue, Kinett, has not only a washer, but a dryer, too. We’ve got a good relationship with the folks who run the place. Andreas, the owner, helps us try to fix Sami’s amp because it’s still not working after Bordeaux.

Unfortunately, it’s just broken.

We don’t want to stop, and at this point, I don’t think that we know how to.

SAMI: Being in new places is fantastic.

But sometimes, it can feel lonely. Tonight was not lonely. It was familiar. And I am so grateful for that. Our friend Andreas saved our asses tonight. He took my broken amp and sent us off with one of his. Gave me a new power supply. Gave Baylee an adapter for her microphone. A very selfless and kind soul. A giver! If you’ve been on tour, you know that it is impossible to make things happen without people like Andreas. The entire world runs and operates on the backs of kind, selfless people.

32 THE STRANGER STEPHANIE: After sound check, they make us the most delicious dinner on this circular flattop grill thing. I’ve never seen anything like it, and the food was amazing.

German food kicks ass. Around 9:30 p.m. we go up to play our set. Towards the end of the set, my beer is empty, and the bartender, Aaron, who we met last year, is quick to bring me a fresh one. I didn’t even have to say anything. That’s just the kind of service you get at Kinett. It really makes you feel so welcomed and taken care of! So nice to sleep in a clean T-shirt, too.

BAYLEE: Our show was very silly and fun! The people in Kusel who saw us last year really showed up to support us on a Monday night. I got to play a very riveting game of foosball with our driver and friend Francesco against a couple friends.

Unfortunately, we lost, but I can say with integrity that it was a CLOSE game!! These Europeans really know how to foos!!!

JUNE 2 STEPHANIE: We’re playing at Cafe Glocksee in Hannover, and I can just tell the vibes are going to be wicked good. They do an event called Ruby Tuesdays, where the shows are free. When we arrive, there’s a huge snack spread, coffee, and tea.

We head to the band apartment, and while we’re eating, we get a text from Johnny Nails (our producer) that CHERYL WATERS JUST PLAYED “ROY STREET” ON THE MIDDAY SHOW ON KEXP!!! Baylee and I are freaking the hell out—both of us are avid KEXP listeners. It’s a random Tuesday, we’re playing a cool-ass punk bar in Hannover, Germany, with an incredible staff, and our album is charting on the best radio station in the world. What the actual fuck!

this beautiful room of punks. They danced, they moshed, they cheered, they ate our set UP. They bought so much of our merch. They wanted signatures. They wanted guitar picks.

Ruby Tuesday at Cafe Glocksee in Hannover, you were one of my favorite sets. I hope you never stop existing. Absolutely the best show we’ve ever played on a Tuesday.

JUnE 3 SAMI: Tonight, we are in Erfurt. Everyone is operating on sleepy mode. We played in a venue that felt very much like an old dungeon. There was something stiff about the atmosphere. People felt a bit shy and nervous. I am in my head. Just one of those nights. Gender dysphoria. Sometimes, it’s hard being perceived as a man in these spaces. I notice it more in places largely occupied by older men. It’s in the little ways that these people interact with you. The looks of people sizing you up. The handshakes that are noticeably firm. Swift and hard pats on the back. Things that you know people would feel uncomfortable with, if I wasn’t being perceived as a man. I may have to wear a dress and mascara every day of my life, in order to not have these things projected onto me. But, I don’t feel like that’s me, either. Everything’s “sounds great, man.” “Good set, man.” “Had a great time, man.” Man man man man. It feels like someone poking you in the forehead over and over again. Whatever. Tomorrow we’re in Berlin. Ready to feel extremely fabulous.

BAYLEE: At night, when we were settled in at the accommodation, there was a mommy long legs spider on the ceiling.

Instead of being scared of her, I decided to name her Corengelica, and came up with some lore. I believe her to be at least 81 years old, living at that house for many, many years and watching over the people and the spirits that come and go. In the morning… she had left us. I hope she lives 81 more years and maybe that we left some sort of positive impression on her.

Shout-out Corengelica.

S A M I : I made quite a few amazing friends tonight. Talked to an audio engineer for 45 minutes about his prog-metal project. He had such light and excitement behind his eyes when he spoke about it, it almost made me cry.

We get inside, dance for approximately 30 seconds, and then 10 police officers come in.

STEPHANIE: Sometimes, it all comes together so nicely it feels almost magical. Everything has led to having a fucking awesome set. We’re happy, full of delicious healthy food, a little bit tipsy, ready to play to

JUNE 4 SAMI: Berlin!! I’m in love with this city.

The fashion. The dancing. I love staying out until the sun rises. I love that it’s so easy to meet people. The show was sweaty and fantastic. The people gave us all of their energy.

My bandmates and I needed this release, I think. I saw some old friends. Met some new ones as well. I think before the end of my life, I’m going to live here.

BAYLEE: This show at Schokoladen was highly anticipated. The band who opened up for us, Restless, was so awesome! Guitar/ drum femme-punk duo.

STEPHANIE: After the show, we proceed to hang out and drink a few at Schokoladen before our friend Nate takes us to his friend’s art opening techno night. When we arrive at the warehouse, it’s looking much more chill than we expected. We get inside, dance for approximately 30 seconds, and then 10 police officers come in. One of them literally shoves me out of the way before I realize what’s happening. Girl, what? Rude!

Czech Republic. We played Plzeň, home of the famous pilsner.

BAYLEE: As I am generally a private person, I’ll have to leave the happenings of the evening up to the reader’s imagination. ;) But TRUST that we had a crazy night I’ll remember forever… I got less than two hours of sleep.

STEPHANIE: After the set, my stomach wanted to kill me. I have been drinking so much beer this whole tour, and it felt like my stomach was going to explode. I immediately go to the band apartment and get into comfy clothes and lay down. I’m feeling awful, but confident I’ll be fine in the morning. Eventually, we take to our bunk beds and go to sleep. First bunk beds of the tour!

JUnE 5 BAYLEE: Time to go to Jena, Germany!!

We are all big Jena fans. There’s a lovely queer/punk community that we have found a home within. Although I was ~quite tired~ from the previous night’s activities, I was able to squeeze a nap in and play an epic set.

It was one of those nights that reminded me that not drinking, even just one beer, before playing, is really nice. It’s something I find more difficult to do when we’re out here since everyone is so hospitable. Greetings are often followed with, “Can I get you a beer?” And, well, the beer is so good out here, how can you possibly say no?

STEPHANIE: The sleepies are definitely hitting me today, but it’s okay. I adore Jena.

Our set is super fun, and we make some new friends and fans afterward. Everyone is so damn sweet! I take the opportunity to head to the accommodation and get to bed early that night. The end-of-tour exhaustion is really catching up to me. I miss my cat so much.

SAMI: I will always sacrifice sleep for connection with new places. Maybe it’s silly. But some of my favorite and most cherished memories were made in the wee hours of the morning, and because I made “bad decisions.” We hung out with our friend Jay, who is one of my favorite people that I’ve met in our travels. A truly free spirit. They feel like someone I have known for my whole life. Again, I am out until the sun rises. It’s a special feeling having these friendships out here.

JUNE 6 S A M I : Today, we drive to the Czech Republic! The drive is very long. We are tired. I miss my partner, they miss me. We cry about it over the phone. But it feels good to miss someone so much.

BAYLEE: Honestly, it felt like a fever dream to go and have just one day in the

STEPHANIE: None of us have ever been to the Czech Republic. I’m going to drink SO MANY PILSNERS! BAYLEE: I did drink one pilsner, and it was quite yummy! We played with a band from somewhere else in Czechia, and they were very fun and very sweet. Crazy progmetal music, which I really like. I was feeling very fatigued and spent a lot of our downtime just resting—I think we were all feeling the effects of four weeks touring out here. That was a particularly hard set to get through—I tore down my drums and climbed into bed as soon as the set was over.

Uh-oh. I’m not feeling so good… hopefully a good night of sleep kicks the nasty physical feeling out of my body.

S A M I : The show is one of the more scarcely attended shows on the tour. These types of shows are grounding to me. A chance for me to play out a bit more, take risks, explore the music in ways that I normally wouldn’t. We walk after the show to get some of the best fried chicken that I have ever tasted in my whole life. Would tour even be worth it if it wasn’t for trying amazing new foods? I truly do not know.

JUnE 7 BAYLEE: Today I woke up and felt awful.

Body aches, fever, sore throat. No show today, thank god. Once we arrived at where we were staying for the night, Francesco took me to a hospital to get a test and some medicine. It was one of many moments where I found myself so thankful to be touring with someone who’s from the EU, tours with American bands often, and speaks French. I would’ve been in shambles without him! I was able to get all the medicine I needed to treat a bacterial throat infection. Big bummer to get that, but at least we sorted it out, and I had a path to treating it ahead of me.

STEPHANIE: We have a kitchen tonight, and everyone wants my partner, Sawyer (a trained chef, shout-out Cornelly!), to make mac and cheese. We find one nearby grocery Continued on pg. 37

JULY 2026

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JULY 2026

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JULY 2026

Continued from pg. 32 store that is open late to grab the stuff we need. It’s LATE when we get into Reims.

SAMI: I can feel the road burn, majorly.

So tired! Very emotional! Things that normally wouldn’t upset me get to me. I keep quiet and try to process things quietly and internally. When we get to our hotel, I take a shower that quite literally saves me. Sawyer makes us absolutely delicious mac and cheese and salad, and I scarf two big servings. All is well with the world again. Sometimes, nourishing your body makes all of the difference.

S T E P H A N I E : Eraser, you have my heart. I loved your set! Splinter was the Paris band, and they were also incredible. It was fantastic to be on a lineup of all non-men folks playing political punk music. We felt so at home. We played a weird set 'cause Baylee’s throat was in a lot of pain, and she couldn’t sing. We made it work, but it felt empty!

BAYLEE: I tried to sing at sound check and decided to opt out… it was feeling painful and like it would set back my healing process. I gotta say, the set was very fun! I had a blast just playing drums.

SAMI: We forget to eat a decent breakfast, which, in my opinion, is a cardinal sin when on tour. By the time we arrive in Nancy we are all extremely hungry and tired, and walk to get some of the most delicious smash burgers I’ve ever eaten.

STEPHANIE: We’re so close to the end of the tour, I’m just really missing some of my creature comforts today. One of those days where everything just seems to be annoying. We’re staying at someone’s house, and it’s absolutely covered in amazing art everywhere. Turns out he’s an art teacher and also drums in one of the bands

JUnE 8 SAMI: Today, we drive back into Paris. It is 2,200 years old, and that is exactly how old I feel today. We go to the Louvre and see some of the most ancient and precious art to ever have existed. The Mona Lisa is much smaller than I thought it would be.

Me and Jocelyn walk to a tattoo shop, I get a piercing, and she gets a tattoo. To commemorate the trip. I like marking my body with stories. We spend our night drinking, laughing, and sharing stories with our host, Julie. Julie operates the venue that we are playing at tomorrow. Another kind soul.

Such incredible conversation. The world truly is held up on the backs of kind people.

JUNE 9 BAYLEE: Today I woke up finally starting to feel genuinely better. Everyone went to the catacombs, but I decided to sit it out and preserve my energy since we had a show.

STEPHANIE: The catacombs are insane… the bones.. the depth of the tunnels. The craftsmanship of the tunnels and the bones.

There’s a real heaviness that comes with being in a place where so many have been laid to rest. And there’s no hierarchy; every body is equal in the catacombs. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life.

I’m feeling a new gratefulness for the life I have, and also a new peace knowing we are all going to die someday. It’s hard to explain.

After the catacombs, my partner and I head to a kitchen supply store. We buy an insanely large ladle that can fit over my head like a hat.

SAMI: I observe the skulls. Noticing the similarities and the differences. Trying to imagine the faces that belonged to them.

Every one of these people had dreams, families, friends, sorrows, joys. They laughed, they cried. Life is so short and precious.

Memento mori, and all that. Feels clichéd.

But it hits different when you’re face to face with thousands of decorative corpses.

I want to live fully in every moment of this life. I don’t want to live inside my own head.

That is truly challenging for me.

BAYLEE: This show was pretty cool! We played with one band from Paris and one band from Philly. We learned the Philly band, Eraser, is actually playing Baba Yaga in September. I got to tell them how much I love that venue and how often I go there to hang because I know everyone who works there very well! It made me a bit homesick!

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JUNE 12 STEPHANIE: Today we are heading to Offenbach! We’ve never played in Offenbach, but as you guys already know, most German venues have the best hospitality.

I’m feeling a lot better today. I needed some solid sleep. The venue we’re at, Hafen 2, is known for hosting outdoor movie nights and having a band sort of “pregame” the movie. With the movie night being canceled due to the rain, we’re told only seven tickets have been sold.

BAYLEE: We are all really feeling the five weeks we’ve been on tour, I think. The show ended up being one of the more chill ones.

We played to six or seven people, two sheep, and some chickens. Honestly, this was fine.

JUNE 13

We played to six or seven people, two sheep, and some chickens.

Honestly, this was fine.

I keep making jokes to Steph and Sami about how they got it without me, and maybe I just don’t sing anymore. Maybe not singing adds to my mysterious aura.

They don’t like those jokes.

SAMI: After the show, me and Jocelyn hang out with our new friend Mimi. She is coming to the United States for the first time in August to meet up with a lover, who she has only met a couple of times. I might be naive, but I am a sucker for a whirlwind romance story. We offer her to stay with us in Seattle, and she excitedly accepts?? The concept of introducing our city to this vibrant French person makes me excited. Makes me miss home a bit.

JUNE 11 BAYLEE: Today we played in Nancy, France. Our last France show! We played such a large portion of our shows in France that this one felt kind of sentimental.

When we arrived, we all went down the stairs into this venue that was in sort of a cave/tunnel. It had a very cool nightclub kind of vibe, however, the smell of mold and various chemicals was somewhat of an assault on the senses. After just getting over a sickness, I wasn’t really stoked on filling my face holes with moldy fumes.

After sound check, we went to the flat we were staying at for the night, and I slept almost three hours.

we’re playing with. Shout-out Cedric for the comfy place to sleep and cool shit to look at!

When it’s time to head to the venue, it’s taking everything in me to get moving. I’m so sleepy. I just cannot shake the exhaustion, and I usually can at this point. I felt a little disconnected from our set, it’s such a weird feeling to be somewhere so cool surrounded by kind people and your mind just doesn’t want to engage. I think after five weeks of playing mostly the same set every night, it’s bound to happen. Either way, you can’t beat yourself up when you have a rough day on the road. You gotta just try and rest, and start fresh the next day. I went to bed pretty much immediately after we got back. One last Germany gig tomorrow! Two gigs to go!

BAYLEE: There was a very good crowd of people who seemed to really enjoy the songs and the energy. It was probably one of my favorite sets of the tour, because I also had a big realization. This would be my fourth show in a row without drinking even a drop of alcohol before we played, and it showed me how much of a difference even one beer makes in my ability to be present and smooth with my performance.

I unlocked something with that realization, something that will stick with me.

SAMI: I think we’ve gotten better on this tour. These shows are some of the most successful we’ve ever had. By the end of the set, most people are dancing, consistently.

Must be doing something right!

BAYLEE: We’re off to play our last show of the tour in Charleroi, Belgium. A festival! The show was in a giant warehouse, like, SO BIG. In another room, folks are selling clothes, and a couple people are tattooing. It was early in the night, and I decided to get my first leg tattoo. I love it so much. It will always remind me of the tour and serve as a marker of a huge accomplishment. Second Europe tour in two years, we did that shit! Jocelyn got another tattoo, and Francesco got his first tattoo ever. We were all getting them done during this insane band called Tat2NoisAct, where the front person is wearing only small undies and getting very aggressively tattooed along to the music on stage. We had to follow that up!

STEPHANIE: Tat2NoisAct was insanity. I remember Sami showing me this band a long time ago, it’s so insane we’re randomly playing this festival in Belgium together! Our set is so much fun, the crowd at this festival is going HARD and having FUN. It feels like the most perfect way to close out our tour. When we finish the set, it feels a little surreal. I get hit with relief, gratitude, and of course some sadness. I’m so happy we’ve completed this amazing thing, but also so happy to be going home. I can’t stop showing people pictures of my cat. I miss her so much!

S A M I : Everyone’s tired, but I have resolved to dance all night. I leave the festival at 6 a.m. Mission successful!

JUNE 14 STEPHANIE: We wake up in the last hostel of the tour. Today we are heading to a small mountain town in the Italian Alps that’s close to the airport. It’s Sunday, and our flight leaves at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. With a two-hour drive, we basically have to leave the Alps Airbnb in the middle of the night.

We get a nice place to stay before the long journey home. Everyone is excited and also sad about it. We plan to spend our last day making a bunch of delicious food together and relaxing as best as we can. How else could you want to end five weeks of partying? The perfect end to an incredible tour.

I’ll always be grateful for it all. I love Baylee, Sami, Jocelyn, and Francesco with my whole heart. Thank you for everything.

38 THE STRANGER

JULY 2026

39

Cyber Grrrl

Reprogramming the World With Kate Bailey

BY AMANDA MANITACH PHOTOS BY BILLIE WINTER

C

yberdecks are having a moment in the zeitgeist. The name refers to custom DIY computers—often small and aesthetic—housed in everything from lunchboxes and jewelry boxes to repurposed makeup cases and toys. They’re designed to perform specific tasks: You can surf the web or stream media, build a portable vlogging rig or distraction-free writing device, all without having your data exposed— or having to lug around a laptop.

The first fictional “cyberspace decks” appeared in William Gibson’s 1984 dystopian novel, Neuromancer, and it’s no surprise the real thing has materialized at a moment that feels like the dark future has arrived. But cyberdecks go deeper than cute; they’re a practical way to divest from big tech monoculture and regain some digital autonomy. They’re also a rejection of homogenous design.

Perhaps also unsurprisingly, women and femme makers are at the forefront of the movement.

Kate Bailey was creating cyberdecks long before they started trending on TikTok. An industrial designer and tech veteran, she spent 17 years designing hardware for Microsoft.

She’s also an artist and the co-director of Actualize Artist in Residence, one of Seattle’s fastest-growing art studio complexes.

I met Bailey one evening in June at her studio. She’d just come from her day job at Vale, a Pioneer Squarebased matcha company where she’s spent the past 10 months as Head of Design, leading the development of Kate Bailey in her studio at Actualize AiR. a state-of-the-art matcha machine.

Once her day is over there, she makes the and low-cost studio space for fellow artshort commute to Actualize, located in the ists—something that’s always been scarce historic, six-story Prefontaine Building, in Seattle. Philanthropist Shari Behnke which, until recently, was used as commercial office space. During the pandemic, the building slowly emptied, and in 2025, Actualize leased nearly 14,000 square feet of the property. There are currently 30 artist studios in use, plus coworking spaces, and a ground-floor gallery and gift shop.

This fall, they plan to take over another wing, adding more studios.

There’s something convincing and infectious about the way Bailey talks about potential and bringing ideas to life, and Edie Adams joined her as co-foundbut actualizing Actualize hasn’t been ers, helping establish a suite of temporary easy. The project began in 2024, when studios in the Coliseum Theater building.

Bailey set her mind on carving out free But mere weeks after they moved in, the

Are those seashells actually phones? Does that glass trinket box play movies?

building was sold and the new owner declined to renew their lease.

Bailey made lemonade. After months of scrambling to raise funds and locate a new home for her artists, she landed in the Prefontaine Building—a space that’s proved an upgrade in every sense. Today, the building is a bustling engine of activity. The energy is palpable.

Entering Bailey’s studio feels like stepping into a miniature Wonderland: Are those real seashells actually phones? Does that glass trinket box play movies? Is that chunk of rose quartz actually a phone charger? Actually, yes. The walls of the studio are lined with storage organizers filled with electrical components (Bailey harvests much of it from second-hand devices and

e-waste). Glowing webs of geometrical LED light sculptures ascend toward the ceiling. The carpet is still office beige, of course.

As we settle in, a machine over my shoulder whirs to life and begins printing a long ribbon of receipt paper. The robotic artwork, aptly titled Is It Listening?, uses a custom language model programmed by Bailey, which runs on a miniature computer connected to a hacked receipt printer. When tethered to a helium balloon, the bot floats around crowded rooms, recording snippets of overheard conversations and printing them out—a dreamy Dada poem that trails to the floor. “You don’t mind that it’s listening to us?” Bailey asks with a laugh. (I didn’t mind; it wasn’t eavesdropping to sell me something, or sell my data, after all.)

Nearby, another piece, #FreeLuigi, hangs on the wall. It’s a shrine to Luigi Mangione that features a photo of America’s favorite vigilante (hiking Mount Olympus) next to an X-ray of the back surgery that radicalized him, and stacks of prescription pain medication bottles nested among flickering LED candles. Bailey’s hand is especially evident in the digital marquee streaming #FreeLuigi posts on X in real time. It’s not meant to glorify Mangione, but to underscore the systemic failures of a healthcare system that has pushed the masses to a collective breaking point. Bailey says she’s sold quite a few of them.

Then there’s Reality Massage, a headset that measures brainwaves and triggers a mechanized bubble blower when the wearer achieves a relaxed state. The Shell Phones are embedded with the smallest Raspberry Pi computers and microcomponents that store and playback recordings: They can whisper messages when held to the ear, or record your thoughts and whisper them back.

Another recent work, Dopamine Disruptor, is inspired by pinball machines and awards one point for every second a connected smartphone goes unused. The top score is emblazoned on the device—in Bailey’s case, 1,274 seconds. “When you take your phone off, it makes this animation that’s like, Yay, look, you did it!” she explains. “It’s really necessary for me, personally.”

All of these artworks share cyberdeck DNA: hand-built computing devices assembled from single-board computers, microSD cards, sensors, and other modu-

40 THE STRANGER

A custom cyberdeck for recording video tutorials. lar components. But Bailey’s worktable is that computer? See the curves in the monstrewn with actual cyberdecks, too. itor? That’s referencing the curves of a One, a portable computer for recording woman’s hips.’ I was like… okay.” video tutorials, is housed in a rugged, oliveFortunately, the unsettling introduction green Pelican case. Inside is a 7-inch LCD didn’t turn her off; after class, she went touchscreen, speakers, and a battery-pow- straight to Half Price Books and pulled ered Raspberry Pi concealed under a layer every book on the subject she could find. of pink foam. The computer interfaces “It was an oh, my God moment, because I with a mini keyboard floating on the foam had always been obsessed with stuff. I spent and a pink fuzzy microphone mounted on all my free time at garage sales, every weeka gooseneck arm. A flurry of pink plastic end at the Fremont Vintage Mall. I was just cherry blossoms encircles the electronics. obsessed with things.”

Next to it, a smaller cyberdeck sits inside She also quickly discovered that indusa glass jewelbox. A screen just a few inches wide is wired to an even smaller computer and keyboard.

“It’s for my bedside table, so I can put my phone across the room and still watch something as I fall asleep,” she explains.

Customization is a defining characteristic of the cyberdeck community.

Girlie-pop, retro, cyberpunk, or ruggedly utilitarian: No two decks are alike.

What they do share is a rejection of mass-market tech blandness.

Bailey knows both ends of the spectrum—she spent 17 years designing monolithic, monochrome devices, after all. But working for big tech wasn’t her childhood dream job. As a kid, Bailey spent endless hours with her dad, a contractor, in his Fremont A bedside deck to stream movies at night. workshop. “He had me on the bandsaw at 7 years old,” she recalls. “I trial design was a total boys club. “I realized learned how to sew and use the bandsaw in that basically everything around us—the the same year.” She credits her father for objects we interact with every day—had instilling a relentless sense of possibility. been designed by a man,” she says. “And “He planted a seed of if you can imagine it, that just isn’t going to work. That’s when I knew: I’m going to get in here and mess we can build it, we can figure it out.”

When Bailey was a teenager, her father— with this, see if I can disrupt it. Objects ever the pragmatist—encouraged her to should not be decided by men.” She pauses. pursue architecture, leading her to sign up “Okay—maybe some of them, but definitely for a class at Garfield High, where Bailey not most of them.” was a student. “I quickly realized I didn’t While studying at California College of want to run CAD all day,” she says, “but the Arts in San Francisco—the epicenter my teacher in that class introduced me of tech—Bailey landed several high-profile to industrial design. I was like, ‘I’ve never internships, including one with Microsoft. heard of industrial design!’ He’s like, ‘See They encouraged her to apply for a job

JULY 2026

as soon as she graduated. “Growing up, I was so punk rock that I never would have considered working for Microsoft,” she says. “But their team was actually really cool.” Over her tenure at the company, she designed keyboards, mice, webcams, and especially tablets—she has a stack of them at home measuring over a foot tall, representing every model she worked on. When she was tapped to work on the then-secret Microsoft Surface prototype, she joined an elite team of electrical and mechanical engineers and model makers.

Bailey notes. “She envisioned how we’re using tech today.”

After years teaching herself electronics and hardware through tutorials and forums, Bailey wants to help others navigate the steep learning curve. This August, she is partnering with xispa, the new art-and-technology incubator at MadArt Studio, to offer her first cyberdeck workshop. Participants will bring an enclosure sourced from a thrift store or something they already own, and Bailey will guide them through concepting, sourcing com-

But she was still just a designer; she didn’t know how to program or code. It took a surgery that required three months stuck recovering on her back to finally push her toward teaching herself the basics. That opened a whole new world of possibilities: She could finally realize all the weird art projects she’d always dreamed of. “I think there’s something that happens when women get into tech,” she says. “We want to share it because it’s cool, right? It’s the opposite of a lot of guys in tech, who tend to be hoardy and gatekeepy. They make it difficult and keep it difficult. It doesn’t need to be that hard.”

Women have been at the forefront of tech since the beginning. Bailey cites Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century English mathematician and writer whose notes on Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine included what is widely considered the first published computer algorithm.

“Lovelace was the first person to prophesize that programming would be used beyond pure computations, that they would be applied to art and music,”

ponents, building, debugging, and programming the cyberdeck’s interface. Each participant will leave with a custom computer they designed and built themselves.

“What I love about this trend is that I don’t think this is a trend,” Bailey says.

“Women and femmes getting into building custom hardware is only going to keep growing. We might not call them ‘cyberdecks’ in a few years, but custom DIY hardware is here to stay.”

In Bailey’s wonderland, it’s easy to draw the connections between things that otherwise might seem worlds apart: manifestation, tech, crystals, leases, matcha machines, turning lemons into magic.

“The concept of customizing the world around us is one of the things I’m about in life,” she says. “With Actualize, with everything. The systems and institutions we live within were designed by somebody else. I want people to see this stuff and think: Why can’t my phone charger be a quartz crystal?

I want people to zoom out, take the sense of agency something like this gives them and apply that to the rest of their lives.”

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Upcoming shows

JuL 1-31, 2026

WED 7/1: VINtage motorcycle Enthusiasts meetup 7 PM THU 7/2: DUSTY 45s w/guest openers! 6-9 PM FRI 7/3: the sinister six // ROWDY FRIENDS // the chloroforms 8 PM SAT 7/4: Loudmotor // Late night shiner // firecrotch 8 PM Mon 7/6: Open mic w/Levi said FRI 7/10: vintage chopper night 5-7 PM + The Cosmic Neighborhood // The commute // Poison Jams // Chrvns // Billy Pogany // DR. Rocket 7 PM Sat 7/11: ¡ROCK EN ESPAÑOL! Africa Violeta // Fonozis // Mentes Ajenas Amor Fati 8 PM MON 7/13: OPEN MIC W/ LEVI SAID., 7 PM FRI 7/17: Call me jefe // the adverse effect sat 7/18: Deal: an evening of grateful dead music 8 PM SUN 7/19: Seattle Breastfest - breast cancer benefit 12-6 PM MON 7/20: OPEN MIC W/ LEVI SAID., 7 PM Fri 7/24: vic bondi & His issues // girl drink drunks // chloroforms 8 PM SAT 7/25: Dragontail peak // NURSE RAtchett // student nurse 8 PM MON 7/27: OPEN MIC W/ LEVI SAID., 7 PM Fri 7/31: american flats // alberta & the dead eyes // guests 8 PM

+ MORE SHOWS ADDED WEEKLY!

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JULY 2026

43

Sunshine, Tears, and Disco

The Fans Are Crying (With Joy) With Chinese American Bear

BY AUDREY VANN

A

nne Tong and Bryce Barsten of Chinese American Bear (华裔美国熊) started making music for fun, and three albums later, it’s clear that joy is still their top priority. Since 2019, the Seattle-based couple has made bouncy bilingual pop, sung in Mandarin and English, that has led them to gain an international audience. Their latest album, Dim Sum & Then Some, is an explosion of everything pure and good in this world: laughter, fantasy novels, true love, sweets, disco, sunshine, 2010s indie rock, and Chinese cuisine. Ahead of their show at Neumos this month, I talked with the duo about the new album, pop fandoms, and singing in Mandarin with pride.

being too much. We try not to take too many sounds from other bands, but rather take more of an ethos from bands and people like Dave Fridmann, who have a very experimental but pop-forward approach to music.

What is your relationship to modern pop music?

TONG: I’m a huge fan. I’ve always been a big fan of top-40 pop, but I especially love the girly pop that’s come out in the last few years, like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Olivia Rodrigo. The song “Forever Lover” on the new album is actually inspired by my lifelong obsession with Taylor Swift. I’m a huge Swiftie, and I’ve been begging Bryce the last few years to write me a song that sounds like a Taylor Swift song. “Forever Lover” was his response to it.

What was the first song that you guys wrote together, as a band?

TONG: “小熊 (Little Bear),” from our first album. It was written back when we didn’t even know we were going to have an album or be a band. Bryce was playing around with new sounds at the time—it was totally experimental and DIY. It was my first time recording myself singing. It was actually used in a British TV show a couple of years ago called Extraordinary.

We were like really?

BARSTEN: Yeah, I was just screwing around. I had just bought my first synthesizer. I was experimenting with different sounds, and Anne was teaching me Mandarin. It’s a really janky, chaotic song!

How did the “bear” theme start?

TONG: It’s honestly just a pet name we have had for each other for almost two decades. We’ve been together 18 years—we met in high school.

BARSTEN: And the band name actually came while we were listening to “Little Bear.” I’m convinced that I thought of it, and Anne is convinced that she thought of it, so it’s kind of a debate between us. I remember one of us shouting it as we listened to the finished song and danced around our room.

That kind of leads into my next question: What’s the best and hardest thing about making music with your significant other?

TONG: The best part is just being able to spend so much time together. If Bryce toured solo as much as we tour now, it would be really hard on me. We get to travel the world together, and it’s really fun to build something together. The worst part is that Bryce has been at this a lot longer than me—he’s been writing and recording music since he was like 12! I came upon this project when I was 30, so it’s a relatively new

Do you think about these pop-girl personas when you’re onstage?

TONG: Yes, one thing that I’m inspired by about the pop girlies is just how dynamic they are on stage, especially Taylor Swift.

She plays to stadiums of 70,000 people, but she makes you feel like she’s singing directly to you. I also appreciate how her fans have an understanding between each other. I want our fans to feel that, too. Oh, you’re a CAB fan, I know exactly what you’re about.

CAB name food as one of their influences and we think that’s beautiful. world to me. When he gets in the studio, Bryce is very serious. Outside of music, he is very chill, sensitive, and kind. Not that he’s not those things in the studio, but I see a different side to him… the work side.

[Turns to Barsten] You’re very focused and particular!

BARSTEN: Touring is definitely my favorite part. I’ve never even considered touring without her. We really ended up in the best-case scenario. The hardest part, which is maybe the flip side of this coin that Anne’s talking about, is that I’m used to working in the studio with band members who are so excited and enjoy working for long blocks of time. Because Anne doesn’t have as much experience in the studio, after 30 minutes, she’ll take a nap. She’ll be like, I’m tired. We’ve been here for a while. But really, it’s only been 30 minutes.

ELEANOR PETRY

[Both laugh] TONG: I’m still practicing the muscle of writing and being in a studio! Bryce can just keep going and going.

Can you share some of your influences on Dim Sum & Then Some?

TONG: We like to write about things that bring us simple joy. Any song that we write is probably influenced by what makes us happy, like what types of food we like to eat and the places we like to travel.

BARSTEN: Musically, we were listening to a lot of disco, like the Bee Gees and ABBA. ABBA is a big one—their melodies and production are so good. We were also influenced by bombastic electronic music, like MGMT. I’m a huge fan of their producer, Dave Fridmann. His production is pretty experimental—almost on the edge of

Have you guys met any extreme CAB fans?

What do you think about Swiftie-style fan culture?

TONG: A couple came to a show in Atlanta and told us that they used our lyrics in their wedding vows. We were extremely touched by that. That, and we’ve definitely seen fans cry. Our fandom is really interesting because we’ve realized over the years that our music has mass appeal. When we first started this, I was like, Are only Asians gonna like this? Will others be able to relate to it? But we’ve found that non-Asian people really love the vibes. The songwriting brings people a lot of joy. And then, for the people who are Chinese or Asian, I’ve been told what brings them joy, and sometimes to tears, is the immigrant storytelling and hearing Chinese sung proudly. Growing up, a lot of us felt embarrassed about speaking Chinese in public with our parents. I’ve been told many times that our way of singing proudly and joyfully in Chinese is healing for their younger selves. I’ve cried with fans before. Those moments are really special.

See Chinese American Bear at Neumos Saturday, July 25, 8 pm, 21+.

44 THE STRANGER

Steve Earle

Portland Songwriters Guild

Thee Sinseers

Cosmic Tones Research Trio

D.K. Harrell

Automatic

Hannah Hill

Widowspeak

Channing Wilson

The Womack Sisters

The Takes

The Onlies

Esther Rose

Hudson Freeman

Ora Cogan

jonny's Day Out

El Khat

Family Company

Hannah Juanita

Prewn

Buddy Wynkoop

Ben Chapman

Orquestra Pacifico Tropical Mary Halvorson

Alela Diane

Shakey Graves

Terror|Cactus

Rose Gerber

Hogslop String Band

JULY 2026

Sgt. Papers

Caitlin Canty

Lyrics Born

Briscoe

The Altons

Fabiano do Nascimento

Florry

the South Hill Experiment

Nathan Bowles

Hannah Frances

Dylan Earl

Meridian Brothers

Ken Pomeroy SA-Roc

Marcos Valle

Meatbodies

Friendship

Boy Golden

The Brothers Comatose Clinton Fearon Rumbo Tumba

Quasi

DUG mercury

Leroy From the North

Taylor Kingman and The Electric Skeleton

Acid King

The Travelin' Corndog McCourys Cowgirl Folk Bitch Trio

William Surly

Institute Built PISS Mexican of Sound to Spill Setting PENDARVIS FARM · HAPPY VALLEY, OR

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46 THE STRANGER

New Local Music & Wonderfully Weird Acts Recorded Live at The Stranger and released as an audio video podcast every other Friday.

WATCH NOW

JULY 2026

$5 Tall Boys!

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limited seating lawn chairs welcome

PHOTO BY BRITTNE LUNNISS

5th Annual!

K

ay Redden is a modern-day Andy Warhol of sorts, gathering the coolest-of-cool artists in Seattle for her cassette-only label Den Tapes, releasing over 100 albums since it launched nearly 11 years ago.

Each year, Redden organizes Den Fest, which is not just a celebration of the label itself but an emblem of the excellent music coming out of our city. Ranging from shoegaze and indie folk to hardcore and sound collage, the fifth annual Den Fest features 16 bands across two days (August 7–8 at the Sunset Tavern, with a pre-fest party on August 6).

This is your guide to every band playing Den Fest, because I genuinely recommend them all.

N3ster

Mix a little My Bloody Valentine, a pinch of the Swirlies, a dash of Codeine, and you get something like N3ster. There is a great video of them playing live on YouTube, filmed on an iPod Video.

Westmoreland

This is the indie-folk solo project of Philly-raised musician Zach Alva (who also plays bass for St. Yuma). Imagine sitting by a campfire, wrapped in your grandmother’s quilt. That’s what Westmoreland sounds like.

Don Piano

Do you worship David Berman and Bill Callahan? Are you often sad? Listen to Don Piano.

Fluung

A guitar-forward, hard-rocking trio that sometimes throws (flings?) in an unexpected twang.

Linda From Work

Linda From Work remind me of ’90s indiepop bands like Cub and that dog., but with a vicious, early-Sleater-Kinney bite.

Laminate

Post-hardcore band Laminate sound like what 2000s screamo would have been if it were informed by Pavement and Dinosaur Jr.

XOË

A surprising blend of ’90s R&B, jazz, goth, and psych rock. Imagine: Erykah Badu fronting a Paisley Underground band. Or, Corinne Bailey Rae backed by the Bad Seeds.

Stetson Heat Seeker

If Motörhead were a Cramps cover band, they’d sound like Stetson Heat Seeker.

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and playing powered by playing galaxie•500 dead•moon beer.com•••••• •••••fULL•SCHEDULE•AT•scherlerLogic Jul 5: Kusikia / IROIRO / Moth Jul 12: The Neighborhood Kids / Temper / Triviot Jul 19: Califone / Eli Moore / Yarrow Jul 26: Toody Cole / Spiders From Uranus / James Maeda Aug 2: Mazigazi / Rainbow Bridge / Grupo Impecable Aug 9: Oh, Rose / The Flying Leaves / JoAnn Thorn Aug 16: Dean Wareham / Jon Hyde / Fern Spores

Aug 23 at 2pm: OLYMPIA MUSIC HISTORY SHOWCASE The Blow / Calamity Jane / Witchypoo / C Average The Mona Reels / Sandman / Tall Toad / Community Bazaar by Hot Dog Bad Girl with 20+ Vendors

Kennero

I just know this band grew up listening to Blink-182 (complimentary).

Dean,wareham AND•his•band

Aug 30: The Rumba Madre / The Beehees / Malaikat Dan Singa

Coral Grief (two-piece)

Do you wonder what could’ve been of Broadcast if Trish Keenan hadn’t died in 2011? Listen to Coral Grief. They aren’t just an interpretation of psych-pop’s past, but a glimpse into its future.

Versing

If you were listening to local music in 2016, then you probably already love this band. With every whirring amp is a delightful pop jangle.

Oh,.Rose

The.NEighborhood.Kids

Boudain

Intricate sound collages made with vinyl samples, singing, guitars, synths, and toys.

I hear a lot of inspo from J Dilla’s Donuts.

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Frontman Teddy Keezer has that Alex Chilton vocal quality that singers spend their entire lives trying to achieve.

Pitschouse

This band is reverbed to the gods. Think of dreamy indie-rock bands like Yo La Tengo or the Clientele, but with a Cleaners From Venus fuzz.

Constant Lovers

Organized chaos. Something in between no wave, new wave, and metal.

Spiral XP

This band shares members with Coral Grief, but sounds entirely different. They are grungier and noisier, and have perfected that swirly My Bloody Valentine– esque tremolo that makes you feel like you’re falling down the rabbit hole.

The.Blow

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48 THE STRANGER

Mar 28–Sept 6, 2026

Moomins’ Sea Adventures and Tove and the Sea Everyone’s Welcome in Moominvalley.

©Moomin Characters™

JULY 2026

49

SPOTLIT IN SEATTLE

Shiloh Davies

Soft Sculpture, Thrift Stores, and Your Inner Child

M

ultidisciplinary artist and designer Shiloh Davies is looking to “bring a little more play into the everyday.” Their textile works—which include soft sculptures, costume designs, and installations—are fantastical, surreal, and full of childlike whimsy. Whether it’s large pancakes stacked along a wall, giant pastel bobby pins, or vibrantly patterned couture outfits, their pieces are delicious fodder for the imagination. What makes their work even more impressive is that the majority of it is made from secondhand materials.

Where did your incredible sewing skills come from?

I’ve always been an avid thrifter. I got into sewing so that I could mend garments I’d picked up. I took one “how to use a sewing machine” class out of a local fabric shop when I was in college. My journey really picked up when I moved to Seattle and discovered the incredible drag scene here. I was so inspired by all the creativity I was seeing that I started designing outfits.

BY NICO SWENSON Could you describe some favorite projects?

One of my favorites was the Breakfast Nook installation at the Museum of Museums. It was part of an all-textile-art show curated

by Mary Anne Carter. I was given free rein to fill a room. Naturally, I chose to fill it with plush plates of breakfast food.

My Soft Serves costuming project was also a lot of fun. I created a collection of wearable art pieces—each one inspired by a local drag performer—out of unconventional materials like Gymboree parachutes and sleeping bags.

Where do you source your materials?

I source all of my fabrics secondhand. I grab things like blankets, tablecloths, and curtains.

PHOTO BY BILLIE WINTER Because I can’t predict what I’m going to find, projects often are shaped by what the universe decides to bestow upon me in that particular moment.

Tell me more about your sustainability practices.

Living in America, we have a very unrealistic view of the cost of goods. We often don’t have to contend with the consequences of our cheap and easy consumption. Learning to sew made me realize the amount of work and energy that has to go into every garment we buy. Fast fashion prices cannot possibly cover that

cost. Thrifting has made me realize what an abundance of materials are already available to us. Shopping secondhand is probably my best sustainability practice.

Do you have any other inspirations?

Most of my art is about inner-child work.

It’s an attempt to recapture some of the playfulness and imagination that feels so easy to summon when we’re children but becomes harder to access as we age. I like to create things that feel like they burst out of a cartoon or a really good dream. We’re also lucky to live in a city bursting with talent, and seeing other people succeed in the art forms they love is such a motivator for me.

I’d love to get into set/props design for theater, or maybe an offbeat kids’ television program.

Anything else you’re itching to communicate?

If you’ve ever seen something cool and thought, “I wish I could make stuff like that,” you should try! I don’t have any special skills or training, I just messed around and made a lot of mistakes to get to where I am now. Be gay! Make art! Have fun!

50 THE STRANGER

Happiest Hour every Friday from 4pm with Live Music!

Upcoming Shows!

7/3 – Alice Howe & Freebo 5000 Rainier Ave S Seattle, WA 98118 206.906.9920

7/5 – Mike Frazier: "Lament For Mother Earth" Release with Leo Crafft 7/7 – If I Had A Hammer: ’60s Song Revival and Sing Along 7/8 – Piano Starts Here: The Music of Joni Mitchell & Nick Drake 7/9 – Great Women of Folk & Country: Trailblazers – Songs from Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt, Odetta & more

Scan to see all our upcoming events!

7/10 – Nicholas Krolak “PAST LIVES” Album Release Concert

7/20 – The Workshop: Creative Space to Work It! 7/22 – DIVKA: Bandurist, Alina Kuzma & Violist, Zoë Santo 7/24 – Joselyn & Don with Alicia Healey & Wes Weddell 7/25, 5:00pm – Soul Jam presents Madhubala: The Shadows Behind the Spotlight 7/25, 8:30pm – The Cumbieros

7/11 – Taylormade: James Taylor Tribute

7/30 – Angela Petrucci & Alison Blanchero present Her Century of Song: A tribute to influential female vocalists of the past 100 years

7/19 – Jane Symmes with Adelaide Symmes & Friends

7/31 – Brian Kirk Quintet presents music of "The ’70s: A Generation"

All ages until 10pm

JULY 2026

SUPER SEATTLE SONICS

New Music You Shouldn’t Miss

Terror/Cactus’s Mutational Latin Music and Walkingstick’s Unfathomable Sonic Ecosystems

BY DAVE SEGAL Terror/Cactus

Colapso (Share It Music) Terror/Cactus’s Impulsos was one of the most interesting PNW albums of 2018, a spicy fusion of cumbia, wonky electronic music, and surf rock. And while I’ve caught a few amazing Terror/Cactus performances since, I’d not realized that the project’s catalyst, Argentina-born multi-instrumentalist Martín Selasco, has been so prolific.

T/C’s latest full-length, Colapso, might be their best yet, with many esteemed guests filling out the sound with rich and unusual timbres. Selasco filters

Argentine folk, Peruvian chicha, and Colombian cumbia through his postmodern, psychedelic sensibilities, creating vivid hybrids that get you moving and feeling deeply. The press release notes “the record treats collapse not as an endpoint, but as a generative force— an opening through which new forms of expression can emerge.” The nine songs here embody that transformative ethos.

Boosted by Mike Gebhart’s robust drumming, “Ritmo Subversivo” peddles one helluva slinky Latin funk groove, augmented

by Selasco’s elastic synth ripples and sinuous guitar riffs that sound Saharan in their nasality. Kate Olson’s woozily wistful sax solo animates the beautifully morose “Calles Vacías,” while her flute breezes through “Discoteca Fugitiva,” a snappy electro-Latino update of spaghetti Western tropes. The fascinating mutations pile up on Colapso, revealing new sonic dialects that sound as natural as primal screams.

Ten percent of Colapso’s proceeds will go to Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

Walkingstick

One (Kelp Roots) Local label Kelp Roots snagged my ear in 2024 with tondiue’s Word to the Centipede, a chakra-massaging take on organic

electronic music for the mind and body.

It was one of the best regional releases of that year, and I vowed to keep a close watch on the imprint’s activities. So when the debut album by Walkingstick arrived, expectations were high. It does not disappoint.

The handiwork of Seattle producer Ruben Griggs, who also plays in the unconventional dub group Travel Agent with Kelp Roots boss Cameron Kelley (aka tondiue), One is the culmination of a decade of rigorous sonic research.

How refreshing it is to feel instantly disoriented upon clicking PLAY. You don’t quite know what’s happening or how it’s happening, but you experience the thrill of the unknown. The sound design is evocative of unfathomable ecosystems.

On “2B,” harsh percussion noises and what sounds like someone rhythmically sanding a table could be a microscopic detail from an Autechre track magnified into an electroacoustic diorama. “2H” sounds like an electro-funk joint from the Schematic label trying to escape from a concatenation of woodblock slaps

and a hurly-burly of squeaks, rolling ball-bearings, and ghostly murmurs. A somewhat recognizable, even head-nodding beat forms in “2G” amid an array of Doppler effected metallic scrapes, clicks, and watery sighs. Best is “2D,” a swirling miasma of five-dimensional dub that’ll have your ears doing somersaults. Griggs has taken the lessons of Seefeel and Basic Channel and abstracted them into 4k seascapes in which to pleasurably drown.

Neither ambient nor for the club, One is electronic music tailored to stimulate and confound your brain. It’s an eyesclosed, mind-opened séance for adventurous listeners.

Seattle-area musicians can send music to NewSeattleMusic@TheStranger.com for possible coverage.

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52 THE STRANGER

UPCOMING EVENTS JUL 1-31, 2026

THU 7/2: DUSTY 45s w/guest openers! 6-9 PM FRI 7/3: Jousting // screenshot // Jean wilder // SWEET CHEEKS // BELLACOSE 8 PM TUE 7/7: Open mic w/Levi said Thu 7/9: Dusty 45s with guest openers! 6-9 PM FRI 7/10: CHECKERED RECORD and SPECIAL GUESTS 8 PM Sat 7/11: GHAIS GUEvara // Student 1 // AJ SUEDE 2 PM tHE DIsorderlies // Yard work // SMALL YARDS 7 PM SUN 7/12: Uncle Ron's Band 2 PM + all-star jazz night 7 PM TUE 7/14: Mode music aLL-AGES open mic + OPEN MIC W/ LEVI SAID., 7 PM WED 7/15: SONGWRITER SHOWCASE 7 PM FRI 7/17: Monkey // mister blank // simple minded symphony 8 PM sat 7/18: DICK rosetti & Bulk male album release show SUN 7/19: Bluetopia // Coleman & Clauss 2 PM WED 7/22: all the rain // John pinetree & The Yellin' Degenerates // GUESTS 7 PM THU 7/23: rat city art walk 5-8 pm + DUSTY 45s w/guest openers! 6-9 PM Fri 7/24: MIRACO // SURF THE PINES // special guests 8 PM SAT 7/25: Graceland FIVE // Gerbil turds // Bizzy Beaver // Swedish finnish 7 PM TUE 7/28: OPEN MIC W/ LEVI SAID., 7 PM THU 7/30: DUSTY 45s w/guest openers! 6-9 PM Fri 7/31: Dirty Laundry & Special Guests 8 PM + MORE SHOWS ADDED WEEKLY!

HAPPY HOUR 4-6 PM M-F // ALL AGES until 10 PM // WE CATER!

9655 16th Ave sw, Seattle WA 98106 // TIMSLIVEMUSIC.com

JULY 2026

THE LAST WORD

The WTF, Chocolate?! at Good Grief This Chocolatey Cocktail Doesn’t Contain Any Chocolate at All

BY MEG VAN HUYGEN ILLUSTRATION BY JAYA NICELY

U

pon perching myself at Good Grief ’s bar, my first thought is: This is what people mean by “positive masculinity.”

Someone online called it bro-ey, but that’s incorrect. It’s masculine, sure, but the vibe stays friendly and accessible. The former Greater Good space is plastered with co-owner Matthew Gomez’s goofy personality: Killer Mike’s on the aux, tall wooden booths line the back wall, and the liquor shelf ’s decorated with hip-hop vinyl sleeves, cassettes, and a boom box. There’s a textile sculpture (er, giant stuffed animal?) of an allosaurus wearing Run-DMC chains. TVs, ostensibly for sports, loom overhead, and the menu features bespoke hot dogs and wings. It’s chilled-out as fuck in here.

Gomez—a skilled cocktailsmith who was an original co-owner of Dark Room—has put together a fantastic, if wacky, cocktail list. Super crafty, high-minded, and unpretentiously weird. I spot Gomez’s magnum opus, the Shame on a Negroni from his Wu-Tang Clan–themed cocktail pop-up, and the Oaxacan Sock ’Em Robots, an alum of Dark Room’s debut menu. There’s a Vesper made with boquerones-infused vodka. (That’s sardines!) The butch-ashell-sounding Marcini special with Brennivín, Malört, and peperoncini brine is downright pleasant, a little spiky. The caraway in the Brennivín works beautifully with the pickly, barely sweet brine.

I wasn’t immediately sold by the WTF, Chocolate?! description, though.

It has some ingredients that don’t normally blow wind up my skirt. Two a p e r i t i f s : p r e tt y p i n k Cocchi Rosa—the spritzy summertime hottie—and Suze, a tingly-tangly Alpine amaro that’s employed as an après-ski warmup device. Plus Rayu mezcal from Southern Mexico that’s infused with sesame, then orange bitters. I’m also not convinced that these ingredients play well together. And what’s up with the name? Gomez, please explain yourself.

“It was an accident!” he says. “I was just messing around for a customer with stuff I already

had.” What he produced is a hybrid of a Negroni and a white Negroni with chocolate tasting notes. “I was like ‘WTF, this tastes like chocolate!’”

I said I’d be the judge of that.

What this man told me is true. It’s like a s’more roasted over a campfire, thanks to that smoky sesame-infused mezcal.

The sesame’s definitely doing some of the tastes-like-chocolate labor here, and probably some mystery ingredients within the Cocchi Rosa too—vanilla, ginger, and cinchona bark, perhaps? But it really does taste chocolatey. You smell it before it blooms on your tongue. Wizardry.

Gomez says that, eight months in, Good Grief is doing fine. This checks out, as I watch the emptyish room fill up easily on a weeknight—a group of beardy dudes, a few date nights. Meanwhile, my drinking companion enthusiastically destroys a plate of wings before I can get a taste, and we eyeball the elaborate glizzies for next time. Always a good sign when, on your first visit to a newish bar, you’re planning for next time.

“We definitely opened up in an incredibly tough time [in Seattle],” Gomez admits.

“But if we can survive this era, I think we are gonna be here for a long time.”

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54 THE STRANGER

BETH'S IS BACK! 7311 Aurora Ave N pickup | delivery | catering

bethscafe.com

JULY 2026

55

ASIAN VERIFIED

This July, Eat the Real American Classics Made by Asian Americans, of Course

BY MICHAEL WONG ILLUSTRATION BY ERIN WALLACE

I

t’s the month where we celebrate the birth of this complicated nation, and if you’re feeling mixed emotions about how to commemorate the US’s semiquincentennial (250th!), I have a solid game plan for you.

This July, I’m taking special aim at American food classics made even better by Asian American chefs in the city. These spots show us that Asian Americans really do be taking that “American” part very seriously.

Fried Chicken at the Chicken Supply

Between Korean pop-ups and Shell gas stations, there’s no shortage of good fried chicken in the city. But if you want excellent crispy fried birds, you gotta go to Greenwood’s greatest gem: the Chicken Supply.

The hype behind this spot is indeed the real deal. In 2022, Eater named the Chicken Supply as a Best New Restaurant in the US. Fast forward to 2026, The Chicken and chef Paolo CampSupply 7410 bell and his wife Jenn Greenwood Ave N, Magofña have somehow Seattle, WA 98103 managed to elevate their game, delivering an even louder crunch and deeper, savory Filipino flavors.

And if you ask around, that crunch is iconic. It’s thanks to a special blend of tapioca, potato, sweet rice, and cornstarch flours alongside a soy-sauce brine. All dairy- and gluten-free to boot.

The menu is modular: You buy your chicken by the piece, or by the skewer.

Thighs, wings, and drums (with breast meat available in stick form in a variety box). But rounding out the stars is an ensemble of sides that may actually steal the show. We’re talking the perfect foils of garlic rice, coconut collard greens, cold pancit, and more. In true Filipino spirit, the team treats the quaint space like an extension of their own kitchens at home. It’s inviting and intimate, casual and special at the same time. I mean it: If you eat at the Chicken Supply, you may decide it’s time to break up with Jollibee—it’s that good.

The Double Cheeseburger at Ox Burger

Over the past couple years, Seattle has gone through an identity crisis: Are we a coffee city? A pizza city? A bánh mì city? Well, your new meta is that Seattle is actually a burger city.

While the conversation surrounding who makes “the best” burger can be controver-

sial, to me and to many in the food industry in this city, there’s one no-frills burger that nails it every time.

Ox Burger in Capitol Hill is run by the genius chef/owner behind Taurus Ox and Ananas Pizzeria, Khampaeng Panyathong, and you may already be familiar with their critically acclaimed Lao Burger. One bite in and it feels like a Southeast Asian vacation.

But we’re not talking about that burger. In fact, if you ask Khampaeng, that’s not even the burger he eats at Ox Burger. Instead, he and many others in the industry flock to the humble Ox Burger Cheeseburger.

It’s hard to do a lot of writing about a perfect smash burger, so it’s easier for me to tell you what it doesn’t have. First, this is a burger with no fresh Ox Burger produce, no slimy-ass 1523 E Madison tomato or lettuce on life St Ste 101, Seattle, support. It gets right to WA 98122 the point with its soft, summer BBQ vibe buns, American cheese, a burger sauce with its own POV, and okay, yes, some pickles, too. Second, and possibly

most importantly, there’s no sticker shock.

This burger will only cost you SEVEN US DOLLARS. (Or $10 if you go for the double, which you should.)

Hot tip: Khampaeng impressed on me that more than anything in his restaurant kingdom, it’s the thick, hand-cut fries at Ox Burger that actually are the most prep intensive—try an order of those, too, and you’ll see why.

Donuts at Despi Delite Bakery

By now, people know that Asian immigrants run the donut world in America, often Hmong or Vietnamese families. But in Beacon Hill, Filipinos have established an iconic bakeshop in Delite Bakery. (There’s a location in Everett as well for you Northerners.) This shop has been around since the Reagan administration, which makes sense because their pastries are pure crack.

If you’re not familiar with the baking tradition of Filipinos, bring an insulin pen. There’s a reason Delite distributes their goods to grocery stores all across the

city and state, including Uwajimaya and Lam’s Seafood. We’re talking butter enseamada (think the fluffiest roll-type bread smothered in a seriously decadent yet light buttercream icing) and deep purple ube bread. We’re talking full-sized birthday cakes, pillowy pandesal rolls, fresh Filipino tahô, and yes, the biggest donuts you have seen in your waking hours.

I’m not kidding, these suckers are monstrous. Almost comically big, their ring-shaped donuts Despi Delite are tire-sized, the sugar Bakery twists remind me of 2701 15th Ave braids on Vikings, and S, Seattle, WA the XL maple bar makes 98144, and 3713 me feel insecure. And Broadway, Everett, when you take a bite, WA 98201 after the initial sugar euphoria wanes, you feel excited to know there are at least 15 to 20 big bites left.

This is a situation where ordering a dozen donuts requires some game planning, specifically on who will help you finish the box.

56 THE STRANGER

JULY 2026

We do our best for accuracy, but please check venue websites for updates and more information, as event details may have changed since press time!

$

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Housekeeping note: We have ceased to include pricing information, unless the event is free or sliding scale. (This is mostly due to third-party ticket vendors, like Ticketmaster, who have a monopoly on pricing that is not only unfair, but also confusing, due to varying fee structures. We hate them, and so should you.)

Deep Sea Diver July 18, Remlinger Farms

MUSIC Say Goodbye to Wall of Sound THROUGH JULY 31 Over the last 36 years, Wall of Sound has been one of Seattle’s greatest music retailers for people whose tastes migrate far below the mainstream. Tragically, due to an exorbitant rent increase and declining sales, the store’s two ultra-knowledgeable owners, Jeffery Taylor and Michael Ohlenroth, cannot continue to do business at their small 12th Avenue and Pike shop.

The duo’s curation has been excellent and eclectic, presenting the cream of various international musics, ambient, jazz, rock, techno, experimental, library, funk,

JASON MACDONALD

and other styles. It would behoove music lovers to pay their final visits and make their last purchases before Wall of Sound closes in late July. Personally, I’ve spent thousands of dollars at WOS over the last 24 years and consider myself fortunate to call Taylor and Ohlenroth friends. As many in the region can attest, they’ve improved our minds with their selections and warmed our hearts with their kindness and good humor.

Rest in power, Wall of Sound. (Wall of Sound, 11 am–7 pm daily, noon–6 pm Sundays, through July) DAVE SEGAL

CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso JULY 7 I respect a music project that’s a whole thing. A costume, a plan,

a concept. Even if it doesn’t quite work, I prefer to live in a timeline where people make the effort at all. And when it’s great? Buenos Aires duo CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso spent years honing their craft (and well-developed sense of irony) before their 2024 album, Baño María, and a viral Tiny Desk concert introduced their music (and lewks) to a much wider audience. Since then they’ve switched hair colors, adopted a deadpan wellness aesthetic, released the EP and short

GABE GINSBERG/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY

film Papota (2025), which earned them several Latin Grammys, followed by the full-length Free Spirits this year. The music is a blender of trap, jazz fusion, funk, club, and pop; their performances are theatrical, often with live-band arrangements, abrupt tonal pivots, and swaggy/absurdist choreography. (Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) EMILY NOKES

Amy Denio JULY 11 Educated out East (and in Colorado, if that counts) but a Seattle fixture for decades now, Amy Denio’s never been rich, never been famous, and has taken more than her share of brickbats (a snarky program director called her “toneless”). But she’s stayed the course and maintained her creative bent while gathering accolades in the underground. She sings, plays a small orchestra’s worth of string instruments, plays woodwinds, French horn, and occasionally balloons—basi-

58 THE STRANGER manages to be moody, vibey, almost melancholy, while also being absolutely danceable. Their newest album, Dance Called Memory, threads that same needle, and getting to hear them on a summer evening in Remlinger Farms couldn’t be more perfect. Joining them at the farm is Sub Pop labelmate Deep Sea Diver. So if you missed their homecoming show with Coral Grief at the Paramount, now’s the time to make it up. (Remlinger Farms, 6 pm, all ages) HANNAH

cally, anything she thinks might yield revelation. She’s run her own record label for 40 years. She speaks several languages, including Italian; she once took an artistic fellowship in a 15th-century Italian castle. The Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame inducted her in 2015. For a performance at Broadview Library, she’ll bring her accordion, guitar, and bass. One can never tell which directions she’ll take—and who knows if there will be any balloons—but her sound should contrast with the expected quietude of a library. (Broadview Library, 3:30 pm, free) ANDREW HAMLIN

MURPHY WINTER

The Lostines, Kinsey Lee, Sequoia

Sincere Engineer, Ways Away, Smug LLC

JULY 19

JULY 13

With her former band, the Wild Reeds, Kinsey Lee and Co. released three albums of harmony-filled, emotionally raw indie folk that led them to tour with Lord Huron and Shakey Graves, along with gigs on NPR’s Tiny Desk and KEXP studio sessions. When the band stopped touring at the end of 2019, Lee pursued a career as a flight attendant until she felt the urge to make music again. Her debut solo album, Cold Cuts, is the first thing she’s made and produced entirely on her own. The album is an amalgamation of Lee’s personal experiences: dissociating on airplanes, working in her family’s Italian deli, connecting her ancestry, soundtracking New Orleans hangouts, and finding slices of home at Italian community centers while living between LA, Seattle, and New Orleans.

Sonically, I hear glimmers of Jenny Lewis, Sharon Van Etten, and Julia Jacklin. Like the aforementioned indie queens, Lee finds the perfect balance between authentic emotion and pop gloss. She will support the album alongside alt-country duo the Lostlines (also celebrating their new album, Meet the Lostines) and Virginia singer-songwriter Sequoia. (Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

If you like fast-paced, pop-punk-tinged rock songs about fucking up, falling in love, and/or finding joy in watching your enemies suffer, then you may already be in love with Chicago’s Sincere Engineer.

The Hopeless Records act, led by vocalist/guitarist Deanna Belos, has an anthem for every major life milestone. Feeling like a failure and spiraling? “Trust Me.” Didn’t get into the dentistry school that you didn’t want to go to anyway? “Overbite.” “Fireplace” is for when you hate someone so much you relish the thought of them getting kidnapped by a serial killer; “Corn Dog Sonnet No. 7” is for those nights when you’re brokenhearted and nursing a late-night corn-dog-induced tummy ache; and “Twist My Tongue,” from the band’s new record, Probable Claws, captures the frustration of not thinking of a decent comeback when stuck in an argument with an idiot. Too real. The lyrics are so relatable that when Sincere Engineer played at Madame Lou’s in 2024, every song turned into big, emotive sing-alongs. Grab Probable Claws and learn the words ASAP so you don’t miss a moment of therapeutic bonding. (Vera Project, 6:30 pm, all ages) MEGAN SELING

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio JULY 14–15 Recording for the revered Colemine Records, Seattle’s Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio have been revivifying soul jazz and old-school funk since their scorching 2017 debut single, “Concussion”/“Memphis.” Leader and Hammond B-3 sorcerer Delvon Lamarr has had a rotating cast of amazing players filling the group’s drum seat and guitar slots, including Champagne Bubblebath titans Grant Schroff and Jimmy James.

Sure, the indelible, galvanizing grooves and soul-stirring melodies DLO3 generate have roots in Jimmy Smith, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and the Meters’ output from 55 to 60 years ago, but this music is ageless and should appeal to all. And it rocks hard, too. Check out “Between the Mayo and the Mustard” from their 2018 debut album, Close but No Cigar. And they’ve just dropped a slashing new funk joint, “Chicken Leg,” that continues their winning streak. (Jazz Alley, 7:30 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

Hilary Duff, La Roux, Jade LeMac JULY 15 There is a common arc of teen idols becoming successful through the Disney machine, then spending the rest of their lives distancing themselves from it. But something really powerful happens when a teen idol embraces their past, e.g., Aly & AJ recording an explicit version of “Potential Breakup Song” in 2020, Mandy Moore performing “Candy” live in 2022, Miley Cyrus releasing a new Hannah Montana song in 2026, and, now, Hilary Duff touring the country singing early-aughts anthems like “What Dreams Are Made Of” and “Come Clean.” This reclamation of their often cringy past reminds us that we all have permission to revisit our younger selves with sweetness, not judgment. I will be one of thousands of millennials unabashedly singing along with Duff on the lucky me (lowercase stylization hers) tour, celebrating a past version of myself who believed that I, too, could go on an eighth-grade trip to Rome and be mistaken

CHRISTIAN PARROCO

Kim Gordon

JULY 21

JULY 25

The punk icon and eternal kool thing, best known for her time in Sonic Youth, will stop by Seattle to support her third solo album, PLAY ME. Taking inspiration from “the demolition of democracy, technocratic end-times fascism, the AIfueled chill-vibes flattening of culture,” Gordon raps through crunchy beats and hip-hop samples with her signature unbothered affect. It kind of sounds like an album that Beck would have released in the ’90s, but admittedly, a lot cooler.

Sigh, I’m still praying that Free Kitten—Gordon’s project with Pussy Galore’s Julia Cafritz—will re-form one of these days.

(Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN for an international pop star à la The Lizzie McGuire Movie. “Bulletproof” singer La Roux and Canadian singer-songwriter Jade LeMac will open. (White River Amphitheatre, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

Alice Bag, Someone’s Daughter JULY 17 It was from the glittering ashes of male-centric glam rock that one of LA’s first punk bands emerged. As a music-obsessed teenager who was convinced she’d one day marry Elton John (this is the bi experience, people), Alice Bag met Patricia Morrison (Legal Weapon, the Gun Club) while waiting in line to see John guest star on Cher’s variety show. Later, when the two unsuccessfully auditioned for a post-Runaways Kim Fowley project, they scouted the fellow audition rejects. And this was the start of the Bags, a

Snõõper, Happy Death Men, Miscomings

group of paper-bag-masked teenagers making angry, chaotic music. Although the Bags only released one single during their three-year stint, the band’s freewheeling ethos lives on through Alice’s solo music, collaborative projects, memoirs, advocacy, and appearance in Penelope Spheeris’s seminal punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (as the Alice Bag Band). She will return to Seattle to play songs from her 2020 album Sister Dynamite, after an opening set from Seattle-based punk band Someone’s Daughter. (Black Lodge, 7 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN

Deep Sea Diver, Nation of Language JULY 18 Nation of Language’s “Weak in Your Light” is my all-the-time song. On Sunday mornings. In the car.

While I’m working. It fits every mood because it

Every time I go to see Nashville garage-punk band Snõõper live, the next handful of shows I attend are ruined. At the least, they feel incomplete. What do you mean your band doesn’t have props? That stage suddenly looks kinda empty without CRT monitors stacked one on top of the other, flashing strobe lights and playing CCTV footage of the crowd back at themselves. The bar is raised for everyone. Why aren’t your homemade puppets crowd-surfing? If the tempo doesn’t fall within the range of frenetic to blistering, then it won’t compare to a Snõõper show.

Happy Death Men and Miscomings open. (Baba Yaga, 7 pm, 21+) DYLAN BUECHE

Charlie Porter Quintet JULY 21 Can you afford to miss this? Trumpeter Charlie Porter brings to sonic life the themes of key science fiction films launched primarily during the generation designated as X. In Porter’s program, we find interpretations of the scores for Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Alien, Star Wars, and Dune. Can you feel that? Going back to the time when the future had a chance, to the time when it knew exactly where we would end up if we didn’t radically change course. Today, we are experiencing an environmental catastrophe that matches (if not surpasses) that which was visualized

by Blade Runner. As for The Terminator, AI is actually here, in this world, and we are finding ourselves more and more powerless to resist its growing domination of every aspect of human (and, as a consequence, all) life. In the 1980s, we sat in the dark theaters and received these important transmissions from a future that was right around the corner and, it seems, we did nothing. And this is Generation X’s shame. But we still have the music from a period that warned us to “wake up” before it’s “time to die.” (Royal Room, 7:30 pm, all ages until 10 pm) CHARLES MUDEDE

JULY 2026

Popular Brasileira). He’s a suave synthesist of styles, bringing a lovely lightness and danceability to his sophisticated compositions. And unlike with most aging musicians, Valle’s later albums have maintained lofty quality control; check out 2024’s lusciously groovy Túnel Acústico for proof. His last Seattle show a couple of years ago proved that this octogenarian still has energy and creativity to burn. (Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

Colleen Green

July 22, Clock-Out Lounge

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Art Gecko, Russian Blue, Velvet Heartbreak July 11, Neumos, 5 pm, 21+ Lucero, Thomas Dollbaum July 11, Showbox, 8 pm, 21+ Fiddlehead, Narrow Head, Knumears, Destiny Bond July 14, Washington Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages Save Ferris: It Means Everything July 14, Jazzbones (Tacoma), 7 pm, 21+ Streetlight Manifesto, AJJ July 15, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages Jonny’s Day Out, Exiter, Youth Do Choir July 15, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+

More

The Revivalists, True Loves July 1, Woodland Park Zoo, 4:30 pm, all ages

Marshall Law Band July 15, Railroad Way North, 4 pm, all ages

Bonita Fishwife, Glutz, Pink Moss July 1, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+

Young-Chhaylee, Erin Parkes, Ben Dyleuth July 16, Sunset Tavern, 7:30 pm, 21+

Deck’d Out #3t DJ Said, Costa Showcase July 2, Monkey Loft, 7 pm, 21+

Fremont Fridays: Moviola July 17, LTD Bar & Grill, 5 pm, 21+

5 Seconds of Summer July 2, Climate Pledge, 8 pm, all ages

Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Illuminati Hotties July 18, WAMU Theater, 7 pm, all ages

Noches de Rock en Español: Emi Pop, Albina, CcStencil July 3, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+ Kurt Vile and the Violators July 3, 5th Avenue Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Kalia Vandever July 21, Vera Project

Yaeji July 3, Substation, 9 pm, 21+ Wolfmother July 5, Showbox, 8 pm, 21+ EMM x TeZATalks July 6, Hidden Hall, 7 pm, 21+ JASON MACDONALD

Colleen Green, Mini Blinds, Faerie Born JULY 22 Colleen Green, looks kinda mean, used to play guitar with a drum machine. This summer she’s performing her album Cool with a full band and all-time lineup, giving the record the party it never got back in 2021.

Released by Hardly Art, Cool is the perfect dose of her sharp, lo-fi instrumentals and irreverent songwriting.

Come early to see beloved and feared Seattle legends Faerie Born—who describe themselves as Illyrian indie, pop ACOTAR, faewave, and House of Wind house—play songs inspired by the wildly popular romantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses.

(Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+) DYLAN BUECHE

part of my journey to figuring out just how queer I am.

Then again in 2010, when the band was collaborating closely with Janelle Monáe, and they were small enough that they were touring as of Montreal’s opener. And the third time was in 2018 at the Knockdown Center in Bushwick, where someone in a Spiderman costume crowdsurfed and twerked while standing on people’s hands (remember pre-2020?).

And my fourth will be at Neumos. Their new album, aethermead, brings it back to their early-2000s era, before any of us knew what a President DJT was, so it’s a perfect time to pack into a club and twerk while standing on people’s hands. This year of our lord 2026 needs more of Montreal. (Neumos, 7 pm, 21+) HANNAH MURPHY WINTER

Marcos Valle, Fabiano do Black Moth Super Rainbow, Nascimento Giant Day JULY 30

JULY 27 Since 2003, Pittsburgh’s Black Moth Super Rainbow have been creating some of the finest honey-glazed, weird-dream soundtracks in the USA. If you like rock music that sounds as if it’s being filtered through clouds of DMT haze and sung by a wonderstruck waif, BMSR will set your wheelhouse on fire. Back in 2009 in these pages, I wrote, “BMSR’s songs are concise and hooky, but peculiarly out of focus, smeared into a hazier dimension via technology—and a creator—that seems imbued with an otherworldly spirit.” Led by a singular presence named Tobacco, BMSR write uniquely warped and catchy songs—some unbelievably tender, some grotesquely sinister, some absurdly ebullient. Their newest LP, 2025’s aptly titled Soft New Magic Dream, doesn’t disorient like their first three albums did (“Tastebud” is an exception), but it still casts an oneiric spell. (Showbox, 8 pm, all ages) DAVE SEGAL

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, Marcos Valle is one of those rare musicians who’s remained artistically and physically vital into his 80s. The Brazilian legend popularized bossa nova in the ’60s and then expanded his repertoire to embrace samba, rock, soul, funk, and jazz, making him a towering figure of MPB (Música

Seattle Chamber Music Society 2026 Summer Festival July 7–26, multiple locations, times vary, all ages Lady A July 8, Jimi Hendrix Park, 6:30 pm, free, all ages Infinity Song July 9, Westlake Park, 6 pm, free, all ages Beautiful Freaks, Apocalipsticks, Torch July 9, Add-a-Ball, 8 pm, 21+ Wimps, Love in Hell, DJ Martin Douglas July 9, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+ Eric Howk, Daggerhands, Grant Steele July 10, Add-a-Ball, 9 pm, 21+ Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors July 10, Marymoor Park, 6 pm, all ages Souls of Mischief July 10, Crocodile, 6 pm, 21+ Modest Mouse, Pinback July 10–11, 5th Ave Theatre, 8 pm, all ages The Head and the Heart July 10–11, Remlinger Farms, 6 pm, all ages Ballard Music and Seafood Fest: Built to Spill, Nite Wave, Low Cut Connie, and More July 10-12, Ballard Ave, times vary, all ages Tutti Flutti Flute Ensemble July 11, Ballard Locks, 2 pm, all ages Zookraught, Buddy Wynkoop, Edging, Toxic Tears July 11, Baba Yaga, 9 pm, 21+ (See preview pg. 30.)

ISABEL GONZALEZ

X Suns, A Collective Subconscious, UUKWUUK July 18, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+ Califone, Melanie Radford July 18, Substation, 7 pm, 21+ Chance Peña, Hans Williams July 20, Moore Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Kalia Vandever July 21, Vera Project, 7 pm, all ages Maren Morris July 23, Woodland Park Zoo, 4:30 pm, all ages John Craigie July 23, Westlake Park, 4 pm, all ages Black Milk July 23, Nectar, 7 pm, 21+ Timber! Outdoor Music Festival 2026: Reyna Tropical, Lady Wray, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Dead Pioneers, Kassa Overall, and More July 23–25, Tolt-MacDonald Park, times vary, all ages

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio July 14–15, Jazz Alley

Wynonna Judd & Melissa Etheridge July 24, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 6:30 pm, all ages Alabama Shakes, Billy Allen, the Pollies July 24, Dune Peninsula (Tacoma), 7:30 pm, all ages CatFest 2026: Lichen Hearts, Filthy Traitors, Skates!, Straight to Video July 24, Sunset Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+ Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis B2B Flosstradamus), Henry Fong July 24, Showbox SoDo, 9 pm, 21+ Dead Disko Fest: Zookraught, Dark Chisme, Grizz CLL, Kill Buzz, Normal Bias, and More July 24–25, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+

of Montreal, Sloppy Jane JULY 28

Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show July 24–25, Gorge Ampitheatre, 7:30 pm all ages

I’ve seen of Montreal live three times, and this month, I won’t miss the chance to do it again. The first time I saw them was a whole 20 years ago at Bumbershoot 2006, where Kevin Barnes was surely

Boyz II Men July 25, Chateau Ste. Michelle, 7 pm, all ages

Chinese American Bear July 25, Neumos, 8 pm, all ages (See preview pg. 43)

KENDALL ROCK

60 THE STRANGER

JULY 2026

Young the Giant, Cold War Kids July 25, Marymoor Park, 6 pm, all ages

Eagles of Death Metal Aug 29, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Fitz and the Tantrums Jul 26, Chateau Ste. Michelle Amphitheatre, 7 pm, all ages

Osees ft. Brigid Dawson, Traps PS Sept 2–3, Neumos, 7 pm, all ages (Sept 2) and 21+ (Sept 3)

Mexican Institute of Sound x Meridian Brothers present Ruido Tovar July 27, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Steve Earle July 28, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Bumbershoot: Turnstile, Peaches, Lucy Dacus, Bikini Kill, Death Cab for Cutie, De La Soul, Orville Peck, and More Sep 5–6, Seattle Center, times vary, all ages

Pavement, Street Night July 29, Woodland Park Zoo, 4:30 pm, all ages

Chance the Rapper Sept 26, Paramount Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Little Venom, Welcome Strawberry, Found Space, Combing July 29, Baba Yaga, 8 pm, 21+

Perfume Genius, Dan English Sept 28, Town Hall, 8 pm, all ages

Scott Yoder, Emi Pop, Micah & the Mirrors, Erica Rose & the Ragged School July 30, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+

The Hayley Williams Show, Magdalena Bay, Rico Nasty Sept 30, White River Amphitheatre, 7 pm, all ages

Folk Bitch Trio July 30, Westlake Park, 4 pm, all ages

Iron & Wine, Ken Pomeroy Oct 13, 5th Avenue Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

ConFunkShun July 30–Aug 2, Jazz Alley, times vary, all ages Hannah Frances July 31, Fremont Abbey Arts Center, 8 pm, all ages Babes in Canyon, Surprise Special Guests, New Body Electric July 31, Tractor Tavern, 8:30 pm, 21+ Bad Nerves, the Death Cult Aug 1, Showbox, 8 pm, all ages Ed Sheeran Aug 1, Lumen Field, 5:30 pm, all ages Ani DiFranco, Valerie June Aug 2, Woodland Park Zoo, 6 pm, all ages Poppy, Landmvrks, Thousand Below Aug 2, Paramount Theatre, 7 pm, all ages Megan Moroney, JP Saxe, Solon Holt Aug 2, Climate Pledge Arena, 7 pm, all ages Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire: Sing a Song All Night Long Aug 3, Climate Pledge Arena, 7:30 pm, all ages Benson Boone Aug 4, Climate Pledge, 8 pm, all ages

Early Warnings

La Fonda Aug 5, 999 3rd, noon, all ages Suki Waterhouse Aug 6, Woodland Park Zoo, 6 pm, all ages Den Fest Aug 7–8, Sunset Tavern, 21+ Capitol Hill Block Party: Muna, Disco Lines, Wet Leg, Parcels, Magdalena Bay, and More Aug 7–9, Capitol Hill The Mountain Goats, the Hold Steady Aug 9, Woodland Park Zoo, 5:45 pm, all ages Man Man, American Tomahawk Aug 12, Neumos, 7 pm, 21+ Passion Pit, Arden Jones Aug 13, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, all ages Quicksand, Bane, Soulblind Aug 19, Showbox, 7:30 pm, all ages Hippie Death Cult, Earth Tongue Aug 20, Sunset Tavern, 8 pm, 21+ Silkworm, Nina Nastasia Aug 21, Tractor Tavern, 8 pm, 21+ KEXP BBQ: Ty Segall, Arlo Parks, Angine de Poitrine, Los Mirlos, Packaging, Sea Lemon Aug 22, Northwest Courtyard at Seattle Center, 2 pm, all ages

VISUAL ART Lotus L. Kang: I hear the hollow boom of time THROUGH SEPT 27 Deep within the Frye, there’s a curious contraption: a delicate, industrial light- and color-casting machine made of yards and yards of 35-mm film spooled around a motorized, powder-coated steel-and-aluminum frame that slowly turns, scattering the soft glow of stage lights through amber film. All of Kang’s work is rooted in photography; it feels birthed in a Wonderland-like darkroom where everything is wondrously oversized and photographic processes have been deconstructed and turned into something totally new. Even her “paintings” are made using darkroom chemicals instead of paint. The pièce de résistance is Molt, an installation made of massive reams of unfixed, photosensitive film draped like scrolls over steel rods and suspended with aircraft cables. They’re beautiful as objects, but even more sublime as archives of material memory, continually color-shifting and image-changing over time—sometimes for years—responding to their environment.

(Frye Art Museum) AMANDA MANITACH

Barry Johnson: silence is golden JULY 7–AUG 22 Over the past decade, Barry Johnson’s practice has expanded at a prolific pace, from modest-scale portraits and paintings of domestic interiors to massive public works, like his large-scale aluminum relief sculpture, horizons, installed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport earlier this year. The thread running through it all is a devouring, enveloping sense of pathos. In recent years, the series of portraits of

Lotus L. Kang Frye Art Museum, Through Sept 27

Assembly Art Fair and Seattle Art Fair

COURTESY AMP

JULY 22–26 AND JULY 23–26

It’s art fair season! Time to lace up your walking shoes and get ready for a lot of running around, especially since Seattle Art Fair—now in its 10th year—is joined by Assembly, a new invitational contemporary art fair spearheaded by Greg Kucera Gallery and Traver Gallery. Bucking the typical convention-center maze of booths, Assembly brings together 16 galleries from Seattle, Portland, Dallas, and Los Angeles, inviting them to fill the expansive rooms of West Canal Yards. Meanwhile, SAF is turning its focus on the Pacific Northwest’s growing textile and fiber scene, a material-driven practice increasingly taking root and gaining visibility. (Look out, glass!) Highlights include a suspended “hand-unwoven” installation by Ko Kirk Yamahira (presented by studio e) and a tapestry series by Lucy + Jorge Orta exploring “speculative cosmologies and planetary change.” The two fairs offer distinctly different energies, but for anyone interested in contemporary art, both are required viewing. (West Canal Yards and Lumen Field Event Center) AMANDA MANITACH his deceased brother proved Johnson’s ability to turn personal tragedy into a locus of universal feeling, translating the unbearable weight of longing and love into imagery that not only contains, but transforms loss into something both bearable and beautiful. In his latest body of work, silence is golden, Johnson revisits motifs and memories from his Midwest upbringing, channeling the sacred solace of the plains. In times of fractured attention, Johnson extends a plea to make time for reflection—and he offers the space to do it. (Winston Wächter, 3–5 pm, all ages) AMANDA MANITACH

Ben Zamora: IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE JULY 23–26

CHASE BARNES

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Ben Zamora is a master of large-scale light sculptures, weaving labyrinthine, geometric structures in the air with fluorescent tubes, LEDs, and bulbs. His work has been displayed globally (he’s designed for the Berlin Philharmonic and Kronos Quartet) and also close to home—you may have climbed around or through The Gathering, his large rainbow-ish sculpture at 14th Avenue and Madison on Capitol Hill (one of his non-illuminated pieces). This month, Zamora is reconstructing

his childhood home entirely from linear tubes of lights.

He’s stitching it together from memory—the halls, rooms, doors. Visitors will be able to walk through, navigating architecture made of light. I suspect this will be one of the best off-site experiences during art fair week. (The Jack) AMANDA MANITACH

More

Henry Gallery: Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance July 5–Jan 3, 2027 Henry Art Gallery Toys Not Included Volume 4 July 9–31, with artists opening July 9, Slip Gallery Luminous Glow: Kelsey Fernkopf and Steve Gilbert July 11–March 2027, Whatcom Museum Alki Art Fair July 17–19, Alki Beach

Ongoing

Nebula Seattle Presents Cabinet of Dreams: The Gallery Exhibition Through July 6, Buttnick Building Carry On: A Portfolio of Small Works Through July 11, J. Rinehart Gallery TADAIMA: I’m Home Through July 12, Museum of History & Industry

62 THE STRANGER Koplin Del Rio Presents Eirik Johnson: Pine Through July 25, Foster/White Gallery Perri Lynch Howard: Mapping the Invisible Through July 25, ArtX Contemporary Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest Through Aug 2, Seattle Art Museum Black. Power. Black Panthers. Through Aug 3, Arte Noir Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving Through Aug 30, Burke Museum Chloë Bass: Soft Services Through Aug 2026, Volunteer Park Moomins’ Sea Adventures & Tove and the Sea Through Sept 6, National Nordic Museum Lost & Found: Searching for Home Through Sept 14, Wing Luke Museum Tom Lloyd Through Sept 20, Frye Art Museum Let There Be Light Through Sept 30, Cannonball Arts Samantha Yun Wall: What We Leave Behind Through Oct 4, Seattle Art Museum Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum, Artists’ Choice with Guest Curators Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum Boren Banner Series: Chloe King Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum Eric-Paul Riege: ojo|-|ól Through Oct 25, Henry Art Museum Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan Through Jan 17, 2027, Seattle Art Museum A Room for Animal Intelligence Through Jan 2027, Seattle Art Museum Ten Thousand Things Through May 2, 2027, Wing Luke Museum Pioneer Square Art Walk Every first Thursday Capitol Hill Art Walk Every second Thursday Georgetown Art Attack! Every second Saturday Chris Kallmyer: Song Cycle Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum Gossip: Between Us Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum Legacy: Highlights from the Permanent Collection Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum Qiu Zhijie: Map of the History of Science and Technology Ongoing, Olympic Sculpture Park Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman Ongoing, MoPOP

LITERATURE Chuck Tingle JULY 7 A visionary writer of such titles as I’m Gay for My Living Billionaire Jet Plane, Slammed in the Butthole

by My Concept of Linear Time, and, my personal favorite, Pounded in the Butt by My Handsome Sentient Library Card Who Seems Otherworldly but in Reality Is Just a Natural Part of the Priceless Resources Our Library System Provides (yes, these are real book titles), Chuck Tingle is kind of like the Nicholas Sparks of the modern era, except way less weird (have you seen Sparks’s recipe for chicken salad that includes eight packets of Splenda!?). But like Sparks, Tingle churns out entertaining, saucy novels at an inspiring rate—the man has published hundreds of books (so many that I can’t find an official count on the internet). How does he do it? I have no idea. But you can ask the masked cowboy of niche gay erotica this month at Third Place Books, as he stops by to promote his newest novel, Fabulous Bodies. (Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 7 pm) AUDREY VANN

Perrin Roosevelt Ireland JULY 9 “Birds do it / bees do it”—so sang Capitol Hill’s blingiest drag queen, Mark “Mom” Finley, years ago, in the words of Cole Porter. “Do it” turned out to be falling in love (oh Cole, you kid)—but here comes Perrin Roosevelt Ireland with Poking the Squid, a guide (illustrated, even) to what the song actually meant. That’s right: Squids screw, spiders schtup, hyenas get horny, dolphins discharge, and spiny anteaters sport four-headed penises (which they fire two at a time). And if that doesn’t flip your wig, critters of the world marry, divorce, manifest queerness, and change sex. Expect a hail of ribald hilarity across the board—but the funny also features some serious considerations on how animals show us what we know, and only think we know, about our own intimate relations. (That said, I’m lining up mainly to hear about them there dolphin vaginal popsicles.) (Town Hall, 7:30 pm) ANDREW HAMLIN

GIONCARLO VALENTINE

JULY 2026

Hot Off the Press Book Fair JULY 11 Comic nerds, art book fiends, and zinesters, listen up! The 13th annual Hot Off the Press Book Fair showcases self-published and small-press comics, prints, and original artwork by over 50 regional indie artists and publishers, including Fantagraphics legends like Love and Rockets author Jaime Hernandez, Jim Woodring (creator of the generic anthropomorph Frank), Megan Kelso, Katie Skelly, and Jim Blanchard. There will also be live music from local garage-rock trio the Fall-Outs, experimental-rock project Martin Bland’s Randomized Controlled Trials, and the self-proclaimed “purveyor of questionable taste,” DJ Thirst ‘N’ Howl. (Fantagraphics, 5–9 pm) AUDREY VANN

More

Perrin Roosevelt Ireland July 9, Town Hall

FRANCES F. DENNY

Ann Patchett July 9, Benaroya Hall, 7:30 pm

Jack Straw Reading: Gabriella Garcia, Maiah A Merino, BeeLyn Naihiwet, Diane Nguyen, Alejandro Pérez-Cortés, and Sayantani Roy July 24, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm

Silent Reading Party July 12, Seattle Center Mural Amphitheater, 5 pm, free

Maria DiLorenzo with Christopher Robinson July 27, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm

Lauren Napier July 13, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm

Ronen Givony with Tricia Romano July 28, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm

Fatimah Asghar July 8, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm

Kim Narby July 14, Third Place Books Ravenna, 7 pm Kyle T. Mays with Jessica Hernandez July 15, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm Raúl Sánchez, Benjamin Schmitt, T. Clear, Molly Olguín July 15, Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 7 pm Safe Harbor: Open Mic Sessions July 16, Open Books: A Poem Emporium, 7 pm Jennifer Lynn Barnes with Clare Edge July 20, Lake Forest Park, 7 pm Keana Aguila Labra, Kerry J Heckman, Marty Salgado, Kalehua Kim, Eric Lochridge, & Lorenz Mazon Dumuk July 21, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm Brooke Nevils July 22, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm Clint Smith July 22, MOHAI, 7 pm Claire Vaye Watkins with Claire Dederer July 23, Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 pm Rebecca Roanhorse with Tara Campbell July 23, Seattle Public Library Central Branch, 7 pm

PERFORMANCE Dolly Parton Fourth of July Drag Brunch JULY 5 There is only one way to celebrate the 4th of July this year without looking like a nationalist fool: the Dolly Parton Drag Brunch at Emerald City Comedy Club. The club will morph into a utopian America where Mrs. Backwoods Barbie is our president, our flag is rainbow, and drag queens make the rules.

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Irene the Alien will host the afternoon of wigs, whiskey, Western tunes, and wacky drag performances. (Emerald City Comedy Club, 3 pm, 21+) AUDREY VANN

Ocean Vuong with Putsata Reang JULY 23

“The hardest thing in the world is to live only once…” reads the tagline for Ocean Vuong’s second novel, The Emperor of Gladness. On an amazing run for someone who’s only 37 years old, Vuong was born in Ho Chi Minh City, and the family fled Vietnam after a policeman detected his mother’s mixed-race heritage. After some time in the Philippines, the family made their way to Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong didn’t read until age 11, but then won admission to the prestigious Glastonbury High School. Degrees in creative writing and poetry followed, from New York institutions.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, his first novel, depicted a transcontinental raging mess that bore some resemblance to his own background—a family fighting for identity along with survival, and the narrator’s queerness blooming through the turbulence. Show up and learn what twists he puts on his further life in the service industry, elder care, and nursing the muse. (Town Hall, 7:30 pm) ANDREW HAMLIN

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Leslie Jones JULY 10–12 The expression “force of nature” is overused. To resolve this abuse, I recommend it be applied to only 123 individuals in the world. And in this limited realm, it should be identified with just three comedians, one of whom is undoubtedly the former writer and cast member of Saturday Night Live, Leslie Jones. She is a force of nature. But what exactly do I mean by this turn of speech? I mean to say that an individual like Jones is as irrepressible as a tree rising mightily from the ground, or as a bolt of lightning striking that tree from the sky. No matter what, Jones will speak her mind, which constantly crackles and churns. When she appears, you best be ready to split your sides, cause she is and will always be, when it comes to comedy, a force of nature. (Emerald City Comedy Club, times vary) CHARLES MUDEDE

bringing forgotten gems to the big screen. (Northwest Film Forum, times vary) AUDREY VANN

Leslie Jones

July 10–12, Emerald City Comedy CLub

More

Dead Souls with Director Alex Cox July 2, Central Cinema, 8 pm Con Air July 3–8, Central Cinema, times vary Goonies July 3–8, Central Cinema, times vary Independence Day in Hecklevision July 4, Central Cinema, 6 pm Science and a Movie: The Fly July 5, Central Cinema, 7 pm SIFF Movie Club: Fried Green Tomatoes July 6, SIFF Uptown, 6:30 pm Blade Runner July 8, Denny Park, 7:30 pm Grand Illusion Cinema Presents: Carolina Caroline July 8, SIFF Film Center, 7 pm The Invite Opens July 9, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary

More

Labyrinth July 10, Cal Anderson, 7:30 pm

Wish You Were Here Through July 5, ArtsWest, times vary

Maddie’s Secret July 10, SIFF Cinema Uptown, times vary

Birds Of Play July 9–25, Seattle Public Theater, times vary

Back to the Future July 10–15, Central Cinema, times vary

Shakespeare in the Park July 10–Aug 15, various locations Amanda Lepore, CAZWELL July 30, Crocodile, 8 pm Hell’s Kitchen July 21–26, Paramount Theatre, times vary Stormy Daniels July 7, Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30 pm, 21+ James Austin Johnson July 8, Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30 pm, 21+ Iliza Shlesinger July 16, Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30 pm, 21+ Amanda Knox: Cartwheel July 30–Aug 1, Rabbit Box Theatre, times vary, all ages Seattle Rep Presents: Freak the Mighty July 30– Sept 6, Bagley Wright Theater, times vary

FILM The Odyssey WIDE RELEASE JULY 16 Elon Musk, is, as you’ve probably already heard, totally pissed that Christopher Nolan cast a Black woman, Lupita Nyong’o, to play Helen of Troy in his adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Indeed, Musk went as far as to say that Nolan, a moderate Brit by any measure, desecrated one of the foundations of “Western Civilization.” What makes perfect sense in all of this nonsense is Musk’s insistence that the entire and messy history of the world conform to the foundations of capitalism, which were structured by the brutal extraction of free and cheap labor from Black and brown people. The fire of racial oppression is a matter of survival for white South Africans like Musk. Racism cannot depart from the economic system that’s made him a trillionaire. What are we to

Don’t peek! Puzzle on pg. 67.

65

JEROD HARRIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR NETFLIX

do? Well, go and watch The Odyssey. A Black Helen of Troy is not as nuts as the creation of a trillionaire. Also, Nolan always makes very watchable films. (Various theaters) CHARLES MUDEDE

Vanishing Seattle + Collide-o-Scope JULY 20 Two beloved institutions team up at Clock-Out Lounge for a celebration of Seattle’s weird and wonderful past. Pop-culture conservators/video wizards Shane Wahlund and Michael Anderson of Collide-O-Scope are back with Vanishing Seattle curator/documentarian Cynthia Brothers for a night of civic memory and warped entertainment promising “an all-new special concoction of vintage video, freaky film, and found-footage fun in celebration of the Seattle you once knew.” It’s our city’s birthright to pine for the pre-tech-boom era, so strap in and get nostalgia-pilled with the best ephemeristas to do it. Apparently there

Labyrinth

July 10, Cal Anderson

will be prize giveaways, “and even geoduck, too.” Oh, good! (Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm) EMILY NOKES

Unstreamable: I Shot Andy Warhol JULY 24–26 I am deeply fascinated by director Mary Harron’s filmography, which includes the iconic American Psycho, followed by campy, so-bad-they’re-good biopics like The Notorious Bettie Page, The Anna Nicole Story, Charlie Says (about Charles Manson), and Dalíland (about Salvador Dalí). It all started with Harron’s directorial debut, I Shot Andy Warhol, which she’s described as an “anti-biopic” about radical feminist, satirist, and writer Valerie Solanas, who indeed shot Warhol. I first watched this film from my laptop on a website that probably gave my computer a virus, then later, when I ordered a VHS tape off eBay. For this reason, I am so grateful to the Northwest Film Forum’s Unstreamable Series,

Face/Off in Hecklevision July 10–14, Central Cinema, times vary SIFF Community Screening: Raiders of the Lost Ark July 12, SIFF Cinema Downtown, 11 am Seeds July 13, SIFF Film Center, 6:30 pm Hedwig and the Angry Inch with John Cameron Mitchell July 14–15, Neptune Theatre, 7 pm Close Encounters of the Third Kind July 15, Denny Park, 7:30 Trash Baby July 15, SIFF Film Center, 7:30 pm Seattle Film Critics Society at 10: RRR July 16, Northwest Film Forum, 6 pm Sinners July 17, Cal Anderson, 7:30 pm Honeyjoon July 17–19, SIFF Film Center, times vary Staff Selects: Microcosmos July 17–23, Northwest Film Forum, times vary 5th Element July 22, Denny Park, 7:30 pm Cold War Summer: The Lives of Others July 22, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7 pm Wonka July 24, Mural Amphitheatre, 9 pm Matilda July 14, Cal Anderson, 7:30 pm Silent Movie Mondays: The General July 27, Paramount Theatre, 7 pm

66 THE STRANGER Cold War Summer: The Manchurian Candidate July 29, SIFF Cinema Uptown, 7 pm

options, more local vendors, and MORE PEOPLE, which I try not to be cranky about. It is, after all, lovely to see people from all over the city enjoying long-running West Seattle institutions. Local highlights from this year’s music lineup include high-energy punk band Zookraught, synth trio Ghost Fetish, darkwave project Dark Chisme, and soul ensemble True Loves.

(Alaska Junction, times vary) AUDREY VANN

Art House Theatre Day July 30, multiple locations, times vary The Princess Bride July 31, Mural Amphitheatre, 9 pm Rocky Horror Picture Show July 31, Cal Anderson Park, 7:30 pm

7th Annual Goth Clothing Swap

FOOD

JULY 11 Hosted by the Seattle Goth Collective in Volunteer Park, this event invites you to come declutter your wardrobe and get some new (to you) pants with a lot of zippers and straps. Trad Goth, Cybergoth, Deathrock, Romantic Goth, or brand-new to the scene? This is a free event open to all bodies and sizes. Attendees are invited to bring clean, gently used, or unwanted alt-fashion and subculture items to share. It’s a mutual aid–style event, so no buying, selling, or trading—this is a cute opportunity to gift clothes or just hang out and make new friends in the goth community! (Volunteer Park, noon–3 pm, all ages, free) DYLAN BUECHE

Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Tasting Notes: J. Kenji López-Alt JULY 6 We all know Kenji as a NYT Best-Selling, James Beard Award–winning author, chef, content creator, and newish Seattleite, but fun fact: He was once on track to be a virtuoso violinist, and he still dabbles in the classical sphere. López-Alt’s talents in food and music harmonize beautifully in his role as the impresario behind Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Tasting Notes series, and in July, he’ll host another night of musical performances, live cooking demos, and a fourcourse dinner service. This summer’s edition features a culinary quartet of dishes prepared by celebrated Seattle chefs Mutsuko Soma (Kamonegi and Hannyatou), Christina Wood (Temple Pastries), and Taichi Kitamura (Sushi Kappo Tamura), while SCMS Artistic Director James Ehnes leads a concert of selections.

Per the menu, the umamescent kasusake salmon with white miso and the tart with dark chocolate caramel ganache, toasted buckwheat groats, and yuzu mousse look particularly dank. There will be two seatings, vegetarian meals are available, and wine pairings by Gård Estate Wines can be added for $50. (Triple Door, 5:30 pm and 8 pm, all ages) MEG VAN HUYGEN

Dark Room x Streamline Tavern

BILLIE WINTER

JULY 27

Ping-Pong Tournament JULY 17 Square up for this summer’s first tournament on the outdoor tables of Hing Hay Park. Registration is at 1 p.m., then every game is match play from about 2 to 5 p.m.

Double elimination with an Uwajimaya gift card on the line. The aunties and uncles can be ruthless, but watch the language barrier disappear through the magic of adversarial paddle sports. It can be intimidating to roll up and play on regular days, but it’s truly good vibes all around, and the competitive and open nature of a tournament gives this some more accessible structure.

Bring your own paddle and get humbled or just come and enjoy the park. Seattle has a robust ping-pong scene and Hing Hay is the heart of it all. (Hing Hay Park, 2–6 pm, all ages, free) DYLAN BUECHE

Dark Room’s chef/owner, Amy Beaumier, is staging a takeover of the kitchen hole at the divey old Streamline, bringing her signature Korean bites with some added Latin ’zazz—and vice versa. Some menu excerpts include mole-glazed popcorn chicken with yuj-scallion aioli (fuck!), birria tteokbokki (fuuuuuuuuck), and kimchi-pimento esquites (Beecher’s cheddar, Kewpie mayo, piquillo peppers, pickled jalapeños, and cilantro served over corn kernels with tortilla chips for JULY 25 scoopin’). Beaumier also famously excels at the art of the Georgetown Pride moved its celebrations to July, giving folks a chance to recharge after June’s glizzy; this one will be loaded up with gochujang refried debauchery. Thoughtful! The party starts with the annual neighborhood parade at Oxbow Park (where beans, chorizo, queso fresco, and kimchi salsa and served on the hat ‘n’ boots are). Then the debachery begins with a housemade milk-bread bun. There’ll also be a craft cocktail performances on the mainstage in Star Brassworks’ parking lot, followed by the infamous Hot Dog Prom! and a wacky Jell-O shot, TBA, and they’ll be selling shots of (Downtown Georgetown, 3 pm, all ages and 21+ Rezpiral Mezcal, made by a fair-trade cooperative of smallevents, free) MEGAN SELING scale artisanal mezcaleros, for $15 apiece. Beaumier is a frequent collaborator with Streamline’s bar manager, Matt More Which It Stands: The Many Threads of the Pachmayr—the impresario behind the wildly creative pop-up For American Flag July 3–November 15, times vary No Call No Show—and the cocktail, whatever it is, will very 41st Annual Naturalization Ceremony July 4, Fisher Pavilion, noon, free probably go crazy. (Streamline Tavern, 5 pm) MEG VAN HUYGEN July 4th at the Swedish Club with Graceland Manila

Georgetown Pride

TETRA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

Classes at Street Cheese JULY 22 AND JULY 29

the Cheese 102 class, the pickle pairing class, and the

Every other year, the Mondial du Fromage—the world’s fair of cheese—takes place in Tours, France, and like any good fair, it involves a competition. To win, cheesemongers must tackle a written exam and a blind taste test, cut four identical 250-gram pieces of cheese, and present a five-minute speech about their favorite cheese. As adorable as this sounds, it is serious business on a global level, essentially the Olympics of Cheese. In 2025, Philadelphian cheesemonger Emilia d’Albero took the gold, while bronze went to Seattle’s own Courtney Johnson—marking not only the first American win but also the first time two American cheesemongers have stood together on the awards podium! Both women, no less! All summer, you can wheel into Johnson’s very fragrant Beacon Hill shop and take educational cheese classes from our local bleu-ribbon winner. The July 1 class, feat. d’Albero sold out in a flash! But as of press time,

N/A beverage pairing class still have seats available on July 22 and July 29, respectively. Check back for a new spread of classes in August. (Street Cheese, times vary) MEG VAN HUYGEN

More

Sunset Sipping Series: Rooftop Bar Pop-Up with Veuve Clicquot July 4 Smith Tower Batter Up Brewfest July 11, T-Mobile Park, 11:30 am Gullet Stuffer VIII July 11, Grocery Outlet Madrona, 7–10 pm The Ambrosia Sessions: The Amber Solstice July 11, W Seattle, 2 pm Jessie’s Speedrack Send Off July 13, Dark Room, 6 pm

THIS & THAT West Seattle Summer Fest JULY 10–12 If you grew up in West Seattle, Summer Fest meant the true beginning of summer. It meant running into teachers outside of school (gasp!). It meant cracking open my piggy bank to buy used CDs at Easy Street’s sidewalk sale, an ice cream cone at Husky Deli, and tacky accessories from vendors (in 2008, I bought shutter shades from the sunglasses tent). It meant finding shelter from the sun at Pegasus Books or the West Seattle Antique Mall. Since then, the festival has grown exponentially—more live music, more food

July 4, Swedish Club, 5 pm, all ages The Mix 2026 Pride Block Party with Bob the Drag Queen, Naomi Smalls, Karma Rivera, Anita Spritzer, and Many More July 14, the Mix (Tacoma), 2 pm, 21+ Mini Mart City Park’s 5th Annual Block Party July 11, Mini Mart City Park, 2–8 pm, free, all ages On the Block 2026 July 11, 11th Ave between E Pine St and E Pike St, noon–6 pm Beach Naturalist Shore Stroll July 13, Olympic Sculpture Park, 9:30 am–noon Candidate Survivor Hosted by Harper Bizarre July 16, Neumos, 6:30 pm, 18+ After Hours Premier: Pride Celebration July 17, Seattle Aquarium, 7 pm, 21+ Forest Bathing July 18, Washington Park Arboretum, 10–11:30 am Flock Fiber Festival July 31–Aug 2, Summit Building, times vary Find all these listings and more on our sister site, EverOut Seattle! EverOut.com/Seattle.

JULY 2026

67

MARIE BOUASSI

No Hard Feelings BY NATE CARDIN ACROSS 1. Non-PBJ three initial sandwich 4. “Halt!”

38. Feathery drag show accessory 39. Sushi seaweed 40. Requiring almost no effort

8. Doesn’t lose, in musical chairs

43. The “turf” part of “surf and turf”

12. Bird on Canada’s dollar coin

44. Works in a gallery

14. Dry-sounding deodorant brand

45. “Hit up my inbox”

16. Didn’t just suspect

50. Under the weather

47. Weighing device

17. Double-reeded woodwind

51. Sensitive topic

18. Kitchen cubing gadget

57. ___ kid (slang for children addicted to smart tablets)

19. Brainstorming result 20. Child-rearing approach that focuses on empathy over punishment 23. “It’s my ___ or the high___!”

24. Smashable flower holders 25. LGBTQ History Month 29. Bro’s sib 30. Playful growling sound

58. Rhythmic humming sound

3. Animated character

33. Before that happens

4. Common feature of the Pleading Face and Crying Face emojis

34. Christmas, in carols

5. Word after “road” or “guilt”

42. Christmas door decorations

7. Waterfront walkway

43. “S” on the dinner table

8. “Saturday Night Live” segments

46. Home of baseball’s Marlins

9. Not from a mainstream studio

48. Workbench gripper

10. Most high schoolers, agewise

49. ___ Coalition to Unleash Power (grassroots group working to end the HIV pandemic)

11. Trade show freebies 13. One’s assets minus liabilities 15. Austin Powers nemesis

61. Goals

21. Chemist’s workplace

63. Most vowel-heavy Great Lake 64. Heat in the microwave 65. Wavy trig function 66. Not any

41. Post-bath powder

6. Black-and-white whale

59. Shades of color 62. Port-au-Prince’s country

35. Study at the last minute 36. Walk in the woods

22. Astronaut’s workplace: Abbr.

25. Taken by mouth 26. The Golden State, slangily

47. Brownish photo tint

51. “Charlie’s Angels” actress Cameron 52. Pad see ew cuisine 53. Sportscaster Andrews 54. Sound-off remote control button

27. Tiny branch

55. Currency in Germany or Italy

28. WALL-E or C-3PO

56. Jockey’s strap 60. “What did I tell you?”

31. “Wait, are they dating?” vague social media post

DOWN 1. Online journal

29. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” weapon

37. Touched down

2. Part of the ear or brain

32. Not against

Answers on p. 65

JAMES THE STANTON

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