August 2021
Grapes of Wrath
Blood of Gods brings heavy metal and wine back to Walla Walla for its fifth annual Merrymaking.
The fervent cross-pollination of culture continues to bear fruit, with new subgenres and micro-niches popping up every day. Every time you see a collision between two seemingly disparate worlds and ask yourself, “There’s an audience for that?”—the answer is a resounding, “Yep!” Here, we have Blood of Gods, a biannual zine based in Walla Walla…
Every Dress Tells a Story
Dhivya Balasubramanian’s new collection reworks fashion classics using Indian textiles.
For Dhivya Balasubramanian, the story often starts with a sari. Sometimes a client brings one in, folded carefully and full of family history. Other times, Balasubramanian pulls from the collection she has gathered on trips to India. Either way, the fabric usually comes first. At her Queen Anne studio, it might become a gown, a…
After Ballet, Lucien Postlewaite’s Next Act
After nearly two decades at Pacific Northwest Ballet, principal dancer Lucien Postlewaite is retiring from the company and stepping into a new, offstage career.
In ballet, extension is everything. The ability to lift and hold the limbs in the air is the basis for much of a dancer’s movement and artistic expression. No one knows this as well as Lucien Postlewaite, who, at 42, has been dancing for almost his entire life. A principal at Pacific Northwest Ballet—and the…
Beyond the Notes: Xian Zhang Expands Seattle Symphony’s Reach
The music director talks representation in classical music and the work of bringing new audiences into the concert hall.
As Xian Zhang prepares to lead the Seattle Symphony into its 2026/2027 season, the acclaimed conductor returns to one of the city’s most storied cultural institutions. A Grammy and Emmy-winning maestro with an international résumé spanning the New Jersey Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and major opera houses across Europe, Zhang’s relationship with…
Cities Only Work if We Show Up
The case for small business, creative density, and why culture is a team effort.
I have always been in love with cities. I joke with friends that I have crushes on cities the way they have crushes on good-looking strangers. Sometimes—as with Paris and London—my unrequited crush meant finding an excuse to move there. With Seattle, however, that initial attraction grew into a long-term relationship. I arrived here as…
Rearview Mirror: Lobster Rolls, Cold Plunges, and Opening Night at SIFF
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
SIFF Goes Full Boots Last night, I covered the SIFF opening night red carpet for the first time, and it was as fun as I hoped. The festival opened at Paramount Theatre with I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s new bonkers comedy about a group of professional shoplifters taking on a cold-blooded fashion girl boss. Keke…
Restaurant Roundup: Malay Food and Free Wine Tastings
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.
It’s that time of year again. The sun is getting less and less shy, people are dining out more, and restaurants are opening right and left. It can be a lot to keep up with, but here are a few to give a try this weekend. Queen Nzinga is bringing Angolan food to the Chinatown-International…
Studio Sessions: Yaminee Patel
A second generation Indian American, artist Yaminee Patel uses her work to explore her heritage, a childhood growing up in the Midwest, and the larger economic and cultural factors surrounding agricultural practices around the world.
Over the past year, Yaminee Patel has narrowed her artistic focus, centering rice as the medium for her work. A symbol of sustenance, survival, hard work, and culinary tradition, rice is a deeply important element in many cultures around the world. It also represents the idea of sharing a meal together, creating human-to-human connection, which…
Capitol Hill Gets a Fashion Walk
The inaugural Pike Pine Social brings more than 50 businesses together for a weekend of style, food, music, and neighborhood fun.
Capitol Hill, like most Seattle neighborhoods, rewards a loose plan. You wander into a shop, follow music down the block, stop for a drink, admire a jacket in a window that you definitely do not need, and end up at the park watching an impromptu soccer game. That spirit is behind Pike Pine Social, a…
5 Dishes to Try in May
New plates to put on your radar, from citrus olive oil cake to tableside French toast.
I’ve heard it said, and I believe it now, as a co-owner of a new restaurant: the first year is the hardest. There is a saying that describes a restaurant in its first year as “building the boat while sailing it.” You might find that the sails catch wind and you roar forward. Just as…
Up In Smoke: The Little-Known Story of Seattle’s First Marijuana Initiative
A 1974 ballot campaign came up short, but helped set the stage for legal weed in Washington.
Like many American cities in the early 1970s, Seattle was once a hotbed of political and civil unrest. This era of discontent officially kicked off on May 5, 1970—one day after the Ohio National Guard shot students at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine. In response, thousands of Seattle-area student protestors shut down…