WEDNESDAY 4/23
Kelly Goto with Lori Matsukawa and Seattle Kokon Taiko
(BOOKS/MUSIC) Once upon a time, Seattle had a homegrown comic chronicling Japanese American life with a little bit of samurai swagger. From 2012 to 2018, artist Sam Goto drew Seattle Tomodachi (“friend of Seattle”) for the North American Post, capturing stories of immigration, incarceration, and resilience with heart and idiosyncratic humor. His daughter, "global lecturer" and author Kelly Goto, revives his legacy in Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience, blending cartoons, family memories, and big feels. Catch her in convo with Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist and local legend Lori Matsukawa, plus a badass drumming session by Seattle Kokon Taiko. (Town Hall, 7:30 pm, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
THURSDAY 4/24
Book Signing: Mamrie Hart, All I Think About Is Food
(FOOD & DRINK/BOOKS) With her popular YouTube channel, You Deserve a Drink, New York Times bestselling author, comedian, and podcast host Mamrie Hart was a part of the wave of circa 2011 YouTubers that included personalities like Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, and Hannah Hart of My Drunk Kitchen. Her chaotic cocktail-making videos combined her bartending job with her flair for the dramatic (not to mention a penchant for puns, sexual innuendo, and pop culture references), and each comes with its own built-in drinking game. Over a decade after the inception of You Deserve a Drink, Hart is back with her third book, All I Think About is Food: A Vegetarian Cookbook That'll Keep the Party Going, a compendium of fun, retro-inspired vegetarian party bites ranging from artichokes Rockefeller to pink pickled eggs. And of course, there are plenty of show-stopping cocktails, like saffron 75s and flaming cherries jubilee martinis. (Book Larder, 6 pm, all ages) JULIANNE BELL
FRIDAY 4/25
(MUSIC) If you haven't heard about the cultural phenomenon that is Kylie Minogue's "Padam Padam," then I suggest that you catch up on your herstory STAT. During the summer of 2023, the song took the queer community by storm, echoing through Pride parades, clubs, and Sephoras around the globe. The sleeper hit came nearly four decades into her career, evidence of Minogue's superstardom and staying power. The Princess of Pop will return to Seattle for the first time since 2002 to support her two-part album Tension. I am crossing my fingers that she'll also sing some older tracks from her early-aughts nu-disco staple Fever and '80s bubblegum pop debut, Kylie. Oh yeah, and British pop phenom Rita Ora is opening—no big deal! (Climate Pledge Arena, 7:30 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
SATURDAY 4/26
(BOOKS) Seattle’s Independent Bookstore Day is more like Seattle’s Independent Bookstore 10 Days, because once again, local lit retailers have banded together to present the Passport Challenge. It’s an invitation for bibliophiles to visit as many participating bookshops as they can between April 26 and May 5 and gather stamps from each location. If you fill your passport with all 29 participating shops, you earn a one-time 25-percent discount to use at every store, valid for a full year. Participants include Charlie’s Queer Books, Elliott Bay Book Company, Fantagraphics, Left Bank, Ada’s Technical Books, Secret Garden Bookshop, Book Larder, Paper Boat Booksellers, Queen Anne Book Company, and literally 20 others. Find the full details—and a helpful map!—at seattlebookstoreday.com. (Various locations) MEGAN SELING
SUNDAY 4/27
(COMEDY) Although Showtime tragically canceled her pink-hued, confrontation-as-comedy show in 2023 after a mere two seasons, Ziwe Fumudoh's button-pressing 2022 interview with Chet Hanks is still the stuff of legend. The snazzy satirist and queen of discomfort has a gift for finding "iconic guests" (Fran Lebowitz, Gloria Steinem, Stacey Abrams) and bringing out cringe-inducing behavior in privileged people (Andrew Yang, Hannibal Buress, Adam Pally, Caroline Calloway). She tends to do it all in Cher Horowitz-chic outfits. What's not to love (or be mildly nervous about)? She'll drop by Seattle to remind us that Earth is in its flop era. (Neptune Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
MONDAY 4/28
(MUSIC) If you're waiting around for Solange to release a follow-up to 2019's When I Get Home, resist the urge to send her passive-aggressive Instagram comments that she will never see and instead find yourself some artists with a similar sound and ethos—Alabama-born singer, songwriter, and rapper Mereba is just that. Like Solange, her sound pulls inspiration from neo-soul, jazz, reggae, poetry, and electronic music for profoundly reflective ethereal songs (listen to her track "White Doves" to see what I mean). Don't miss her on tour supporting her latest album, The Breeze Grew A Fire. (The Showbox, 8 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
TUESDAY 4/29
(MUSIC) Look, I hate to be the one to say it, but there will come a day when we will no longer have opportunities to see the jazz titans of the '60s and '70s perform live. So take a moment to appreciate that we exist during a time when you can see legends like Gary Bartz play his alto saxophone for less than $40. Bartz is widely known for his collaborations with household names like Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Miles Davis. He is also a trailblazer in preserving and honoring the legacy of Black American music, bringing together Afrocentric themes and avant-garde music on his 1971 album Harlem Bush Music. Don't miss Bartz as he supports his upcoming not-yet-named solo album, produced by Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, John Legend). (Jazz Alley, April 29–30, 7:30 pm, all ages) AUDREY VANN
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Mereba
April 28, Showbox (Market)
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