Your mother figure deserves only the best, so we've hand-picked the finest ways to honor her. Whether you want to bestow brunch and cocktails from Mioposto upon her or head to the 16th Annual Flower Festival, you're sure to find a festive option here. 

FOOD & DRINK

Citizen
Procrastinators, rejoice: No reservations are necessary for basking on Citizen's sunny, dog-friendly patio, and they'll have a special "Mom's mimosa" and photo ops available. Simply order with a QR code to summon brunch staples to your table.
Uptown

WEDNESDAY 5/8  

Hourglass Lying Down

(VISUAL ARTS) Sophia Arnold might be one of my favorite contemporary artists—her oil, acrylic, and watercolor compositions of surreal scenes are intoxicating, lush, and seemingly full of secrets, reminiscent of Elizabeth Malaska's paintings. In the group exhibition Hourglass Lying Down, Arnold's works will appear alongside Polaroids by Autumn Knight, luxuriant paintings by Klara Glosova, and collages by Serrah Russell. Anticipate a dreamy feast for your eyeballs. (Koplin Del Rio Gallery, 6107 13th Ave S, every Wed-Sun through Jun 8, free, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

Spring is in the air and Allegra and Zyrtec are sold out at drug stores across Seattle—that can only mean one thing. It's time for the Seattle International Film Festival! 

This year SIFF celebrates the festival's 50th anniversary and there is a lot to look forward to. As Stranger contributor Chase Hutchinson reported last month, "Not only is it a really strong year of films, but the even better news is the SIFF Cinema Workers Union recently ratified their first contract after coming together to form a union last year."

For the past few weeks, we've been combing through dozens of SIFF films to find some of the best the fest has to offer, and this year is full of treasures. There are many memorable documentaries, following everything from grasshoppers and bears to Luther Vandross and LARPing teens, as well as thrillers that are as sublime as they are sinister. (I Saw the TV Glow will “tear open your mind and soul.”) There’s a can’t-miss bittersweet love story, a moving coming-of-age story set in Norway’s stunning tundra, and more than one powerful drama that will leave you pondering life’s big questions long after the popcorn bucket has run empty. 

Police barricades at UW: Yesterday, Hannah reported that UW placed police-guarded barricades at all entrances of the Quad, representing the first crackdown on student protesters in six days of peaceful camping. A spokesperson told Hannah the barricades were temporary, but did not address protester concerns about the police presence. Also, there was Charlie Kirk, founder of the far-right student organization Turning Point USA. His organization pushes conservative politics in high schools, colleges, and universities. In recent years, Kirk has embraced white nationalist talking points and figures. 

Protesters had asked the University to cancel his appearance, concerned about the far-right agitators he may draw to their encampment. Kirk’s Turning Point USA team asked campers to debate him at his nearby event, but they declined. The Daily at UW reported that his crowd outside the HUB peaked at 200. Later that night, Kirk spoke at the HUB Ballroom. The Seattle Times reported that a protest group marched from the nearby light rail station to form a protective barricade around the encampment. Counter-protesters showed up, chanted "USA!" a bunch, and cleared out around 9:30 pm. 

Another quiet day at the Popular University For Gaza Day #6 (or #8 depending on where you count from) pic.twitter.com/g2pXeJLp3C

— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) May 7, 2024

This afternoon the University of Washington propped up police-guarded barricades at all entrances of the Quad. This marks the UW’s first crackdown on student protesters after six days of peaceful camping. While a UW spokesperson told The Stranger that the barricades are a “temporary effort today,” the spokesperson did not address protesters' primary concern, the presence of police. In other similar protests across the country, police presence has led to arrests, violence, and encampment sweeps. While the students are taking precautions after UW’s flex of power, they maintain they won’t leave their tents until the administration caves to their demands.

For several days, student protesters have expressed concern over Charlie Kirk’s scheduled campus appearances. Kirk is the founder of Turning Point USA, an organization that promotes conservative politics at US schools. Students worried the event would bring right-wing agitators to their encampment. The encampment, once a group of 20 or so tents relegated to one corner of the lawn, has exploded in size over the past week, taking all four quadrants with at least 100 tents and even more canopies. 

According to a recent in-depth review of the City budget, council central staff attributes 79% of the City of Seattle’s increased spending between 2019 and 2024 to inflation and the rising cost of labor associated with it. 

One would think that such a finding would challenge some of the new conservative council members' assumptions that the previous City Council ripped the projected $241 million hole in the 2025 budget by reckless spending and, in turn, would bolster the argument for new, progressive revenue to pay workers and expand social services. So far that’s not the case.

Morning! Low chance of rain this morning before 2 pm, and the National Weather Service expected today to start cloudy and then turn sunny, with a high near 57. Looking outside right now, just appears to start sunny. Grab some sunscreen and hit the streets! 

Seattle Police Officers contract cost released: City Council central staff released the cost of the 2020-2023 Seattle Police Officer's Guild (SPOG) contract and the cops absolutely hustled us. This year, the City plans to pay officers an additional $96 million in back pay and raises. The contract adds about $40 million in additional spending to the 2025 budget, a year in which the City expects a $240 million budget deficit. The contract heads to full Council vote next Tuesday.

Looks like the new SPOG contract will go directly to Full Council for a final vote on Tuesday, 5/14. Seattle will be paying $57.1 million in backpay to SPOG members for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Accounting for the raises, officer pay will then cost about $40 million more per year.

— Amy Sundberg (@amysundberg) May 6, 2024

Last Sunday, Kylie Waibel and her husband saw the bashed back window of her shop, Boss Vintage, from the alley of Georgetown Trailer Park Mall.

The interior, save for a spray of glass shards on the floor, was still neat. Nothing had been pushed over, or rifled through, but much was missing. Whoever broke in had filled Waibel’s own shopping bags with heaps of her vintage clothes and merchandise from four other consignment sellers at her shop. She wondered if someone had cased her shop beforehand, and noted the now missing button-ups, vintage belts, enamel pins, handmade clay bookmarks, and antique brass trinkets. When she tallied the damage, she discovered they’d taken $4,685 worth of stuff.

Belltown Bloom is the passion project of sisters Valerie and Veronica Topacio, and the annual music festival has blossomed quite a bit over the years. You might recognize their names—you’ve likely seen them play across Seattle or even heard them on KEXP in their band La Fonda, a feel-good, femme-fronted, indie rock dream team. What started as a hyperlocal fest in 2019, Belltown Bloom has recently drawn in big-name acts including L7, Pussy Riot, Alvvays, and Crumb to name a few, but while the festival has grown in size and support, the Topacio sisters have maintained its DIY spirit. They're the ones painting cardboard cutouts of planets, attaching sweet little clouds to stages, or adorning walls with twinkling lights all while booking a festival that takes over all three of the Crocodile's stages. Festival-goers can bop between Here-After, Madame Lou’s, and the Croc's mainstage throughout the two-day fest and catch some bands who may be playing their first show and others who are playing their 1,000th! Belltown Bloom specially curates each bill to support womxn artists, as well as those in the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities, and this year, the Topacio sisters focused in on electronic, techno, and avant-garde acts. It feels near impossible to narrow down my favorites from last weekend, but alas, here are five performances I can’t stop thinking about:

I hurried through the arboretum. I caught glimpses of the fresh blooms in Rhododendron Glen. I paid tribute to the last petals clinging to the towering camellia bushes as I brushed past. 

Breathing heavy, I jogged into the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association (PSBA) apiary. For my latest exploration into Seattle subcultures, I got into the hives with Seattle’s hobbyist beekeepers. 

Former apiary manager and 12-year veteran hobbyist beekeeper Maureen Sullivan asked that I not reveal the exact apiary location because the last time someone wrote about the apiary, queen bees from three hives went missing. And queens are expensive. These ones were around $60 a queen.

“People came in and stole them,” Sullivan said. (If you are reading this, please do not steal any queens.)

“We can’t have this fenced off,” she gestured to the grassy area lined with stacks of bee boxes. “There’s been damage, people tip hives while jumping over them—frat boys. It’s really sad.”

Thunderpussy almost didn’t make it.

The future looked bright for the band when they released their debut full-length Thunderpussy in 2018. They earned critical acclaim for their riff-filled brand of ’70s-inspired rock, got featured in Rolling Stone as Mike McCready’s “favorite new band,” and ended the year signing to a major label, Republic Records’s subsidiary Stardog.

In the years that followed, though, things took a turn. It wasn’t clear whether the band would ever release a second record, let alone exist. But, after years full of heartbreak, loss, and uncomfortable but necessary metamorphosis, Thunderpussy are back, they’re stronger than ever, and they’re ready to blow the lid off Benaroya Hall in May.

Happy Monday! Start your week off right with our roundup of all the best things to do, from the kick-off of the 2024 Seattle International Film Festival to Thunderpussy with the Seattle Symphony and from Michelle Wolf to Melanie Martinez: The Trilogy Tour. Still sorting out your Mother's Day plans? Check out our calendar for ideas.

MONDAY

FILM

Uncropped with Tricia Romano
Former Stranger editor-in-chief Tricia Romano, who recently penned The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture, will offer an in-person Q&A session at this screening of the Wes Anderson-produced documentary Uncropped. The flick follows "legendary" Village Voice photojournalist James Hamilton, whose subjects included everyone from Hitchcock and Meryl Streep to LL Cool J. Hamilton reflects on the coolest collaborators and most notable images of his 40-year career, which spanned New York City's "heyday" of alternative print media. LINDSAY COSTELLO
(Grand Illusion, University District)

Zebra nabbed: All illegal frolics must come to an end. On Friday, a group of "ordinary folks" and animal control wrangled the North Bend zebra, who had been on the loose for about a week after escaping from a trailer. Apparently, the zebra, who locals dubbed Z, is actually named Sugar, or Shug, for short. Shug's off to Montana now, the place she and her zebra friends were headed when they broke loose from the trailer transporting them last week. 

Israel ground invasion seems imminent: Israel ordered the evacuation of around 100,000 Palestinians living in Rafah, the southern city in Gaza where 1.4 million Palestinians originally fled to avoid conflict with Israel. Now, Israel is telling people in parts of Rafah to evacuate to Muwasi, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone already packed with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in squalid conditions. With these evacuation orders, an Israel ground invasion into Rafah seems imminent despite warnings from Israel's international allies. 

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, Sam Miller, our scheduled comedy headliner, will not be able to perform as originally planned.

In place of Sam, we are thrilled to announce that Dewa Dorje and Derek Sheen—two former beloved comedy Geniuses—have been added to the lineup. These two incredibly funny humans are sure to bring you some laughs along with our other Geniuses!