First up, a little housekeeping: There won't be a Slog PM news round-up on the blog today. We're a tad busy. Candidates running for office are currently dueling in front of our editorial staff in back-to-back-to-back endorsement showdowns, consuming our time and patience. It's not all fighting—one candidate just asked another candidate out on a date. In front of us! Things are getting weird!
The mothership is finally reopening: The Kremwerk Complex announced yesterday that they will host LIVE and IN-PERSON events for the first time in over a year. On Pride weekend—June 24 to 27—Little Maria's, Timbre Room, and The Patio will open for the gays and girlies and thems to celebrate. Then the following weekend—July 2 to 4—the beloved subterranean space, Kremwerk, will swing open its doors to the sweaty masses. The complex has yet to officially announce specific events and health protocols that will come along with its grand reopening. Watch this space for more info!
Also reopening: This week the Neumos complex announced their Official Reopening Party on July 1. You can catch Chong the Nomad and Archie down at Barboza, Spirit Award's album release up at Neumos, and The Double Sunrise Club at The Runaway. Tickets are on sale right now. Prepare to party hard this July.
Michael Rietmulder at the Seattle Times interviewed some venue operators around town about their scramble to ready their spaces for the July reopening.
Freakout Fest drops their lineup: As I mentioned in yesterday's Slog AM: festivals are back, baby. The beloved (by me) Ballard music festival hosted by Freakout Records looks stacked this year with bands from Seattle and across the globe coming to rock out our fair neighborhood to the north. Most excitingly, Michael Imperioli (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) will perform at the festival with his band Zopa. And Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show will return to lay their trippy visuals over the proceedings. It should be fun! Grab your tickets here.
Three Dollar Bill Cinema is hosting a Queer Pride film program: Virtually tune into queer features like Shiva Baby, Valentina, and Always Amber, as well as a special archival screening of Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust on Juneteenth. Three Dollar Bill has also programmed a robust short film program, with winners from Translations 2021 Festival screening alongside other shorts that uplift and celebrate the queer experience. There's also a trans filmmaker panel and info session for those that'd like to learn how to break into the TV industry. Check out more information here.
The Seattle film scene lost a giant today: Beloved cinephile and ubiquitous moviegoer Bill Kennedy passed away yesterday after battling a long-term illness. We'll have an obit up next week, but in the meantime, watch a film you love.
A massive loss in Seattle cinema yesterday. Bill Kennedy was a true lifer, the city's most committed movie-goer & just an incredibly sweet, kind guy. We've seen him at screenings all our lives. He was the very first person through the Beacon doors when we opened two summers ago. pic.twitter.com/B8eJEbOW7v
— The Beacon Cinema (@TheBeaconSEA) June 11, 2021
More updates to the CHOP Art and Seattle Parks drama: After the city denied CHOP Arts an event permit for their CHOP commemoration-cum-Juneteenth celebration event at Cal Anderson, the ACLU got involved. As Erica C. Barnett of Publicola first reported, ACLU and the Public Defender Association sent a letter to the city demanding that the city "reverse its denial of a special event permit to CHOP Art, grant the necessary permits, and allow the event to proceed" on the basis of the organizers' First Amendment rights. They threaten "emergency legal action" if the city fails to do so. The city hasn't responded last I checked.
UPDATE 6/13: On Friday evening, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department reversed their previous decision and issued a "provisional" First Amendment permit to CHOP Art, reports the Seattle Times. It looks like the organization's Juneteenth celebration moved ahead as planned, with CHS Blog noting a "collection of tents and shades" as well as a small stage set up in a corner of the Bobby Morris Playfield at Cal Anderson on Friday.
Have you stopped by Gift Shop yet? Located in the former Can't Blame the Youth storefront, the new-ish Gift Shop is a hybrid gallery-marketplace-cafe-literal gift shop located in Chinatown-International District where you can scoop up specialty pantry items and order a coffee. During June, Gift Shop will host a series of books-related pop-ups called PAGES curated by Laura Sullivan Cassidy. Each weekend, a different collaborator will take over the space and invite readers/physical media enthusiasts to peruse their wares. I stopped by the Seattle Art Fair's pop-up in the space last weekend and nabbed a copy of the recent Mundane Fantasy zine. It was super cute.
This weekend: Gift Shop will host Novella.gallery, which bills itself as "a rotating collection of experimental fashion publications and fashion-adjacent items for purchase." Run by Abigail Buzbee and Ryan Hunt (of Seattle Department of Design fame), the project will have some of their hard-to-find, imported fashion magazines for sale as well as their almost sold-out experimental fashion publication Novella. In addition to event-exclusive merch, the magazines and publications presented by Buzbee and Hunt all "challenge and critique the fashion industry’s standard modes of making." Gift Shop is open from 10am-8pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday, and Novella.gallery will be there this weekend—and this weekend only.
If you've ever wanted to see a drag performance on Linda's outdoor patio: You're in luck. Hope you made a reservation already.
!!!!!! Scarecrow Video will resume regular in-store browsing on Tuesday, June 15. Masks are still required, but now you can pop into Seattle's last video store whenever the spirit moves you without having to make an appointment. As a reminder, their hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 12pm-8pm, and they'll still do phone orders through their pickup window. Go and dig into their 140,000+ titles.
This isn't local, but: I'm pretty sure Doja Cat's new "Need to Know" video counts as art. I'm so excited for her upcoming Planet Her. Grimes is in the video FYI.
