Culture Fiend

Coming to Town Hall: George R.R. Martin, Chuck Palahniuk

Winter is coming…this summer.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 07, 2012 at 02:00PM 1 Comments

Photo courtesy Karolina Webb.

That’s no sea captain George R. R. Martin has been called the “American Tolkien” by Time magazine. The New York Times says he’s even better than that.

Fresh off of last night’s episode of Game of Thrones—curse you, Theon!—comes this exciting news: George R.R. Martin, author of the bestselling Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series that birthed HBO’s bloody, lusty, Peabody Award–winning Thrones, will visit Seattle this July for a reading at Town Hall. Though Thrones TV is only two seasons/books in, Martin is currently working on the sixth of seven installments, The Winds of Winter, which he’ll preview here. (He’s also teasing chapters on his website, if you just can’t wait.) No publication date set yet, but speaking for everyone who just finished reading his 1,016-page fifth novel, we need a little time off to, you know, buy groceries, or read a magazine, or talk to our spouses.

Also coming to Town Hall in July: Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, touting Invisible Monsters Remix, an update of his ’99 novel Invisible Monsters with new scenes, new design, and some memoir laced in.

Both authors travel to Seattle courtesy of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, an annual intensive for fledgling sci-fi and fantasy writers that draws the likes of Martin and Palahniuk each year as instructors. This summer’s workshop is already booked, but CW will start accepting applications for the 2013 summer session in December.

If you can’t take a sabbatical to write about dragons, get your tickets now for these Town Hall talks.

George R.R. Martin
July 3 at 7 at Town Hall

Chuck Palahniuk
July 24 at 7 at Town Hall

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Tags: Ticket Alerts, Town Hall, Books & Talks

Review: The Avengers

Summer’s first big blockbuster demands multiple Seattle Met geeks to review it.

Posted by: Matthew Halverson and André Mora on May 04, 2012 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

The bad guy has an army. They have a Hulk.

It’s been four years and five movies in the making, but the comic book mash-up The Avengers is finally here this weekend. It’s a movie so big—so overstuffed with geeky goodness—we needed two people to review it.

Matthew Halverson (senior editor): Okay, I admit it, I’m a nerd and I’ve seen all of the Marvel movies that preceded The Avengers. I already had a good grasp on characters like Captain America, the Hulk, and Iron Man and didn’t have any trouble following Avengers’ fairly straightforward plot: Megalomaniacal Norse god Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from Thor wants to take over Earth, and a handful of superheroes put their supersized egos aside to team up and stop him. But I can’t decide if that means director Joss Whedon’s job was easier, since a lot of the work was already done for him.

André Mora (design director): I hadn’t seen Thor —in fact, I’d only seen Iron Man—so Loki’s appearance at the very beginning of Avengers was a little confusing. But, like any adult male with long hair, perfect skin, and a hat with two long-ass horns, he’s suitably terrifying and worthy of being hunted down. As for Whedon (who also wrote the script), I think his job comes down to making the superheroes work as one—and he nails it. He revels in making the crew believe in each other. Maybe that’s why Samuel L. Jackson is a bit lifeless as the team’s leader, Nick Fury. He’s kind of useless.

MH: Only in a movie with this many big personalities could Sam “the human F-bomb” Jackson be boring. And speaking of that script, it’s what makes Avengers work. Sure, the scenes of mayhem and destruction are eye-popping, as Loki and his interdimensional army tear up Manhattan (not to mention a little squirm-inducing, even a decade after 9/11). But without the witty banter between cocky Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), earnest Captain America (Chris Evans) and regal Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the explosions would just be cheap Michael Bay ripoffs. What about Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and the Hulk? Am I the only one who worried the indie icon would be out of his element in a big-budget CGI-fest?

AM: No, I wondered if he might be too good for this kind of blockbuster. But Ruffalo’s ability to bring quiet intensity to Banner before he hulks out makes him a perfect fit. And the Hulk, though mostly mute when green, is crucial to the action scenes. His size in relationship to the other Avengers—and buildings—makes the battles almost believable. The action has a certain choreography that takes it to another level. Maybe it’s a testament to how quickly visual effects are improving, but rather than clinging to closeups, Whedon backs up the camera and lets you take in the scale of the mayhem, where as many as four superheroes are fighting at once. It really brings the feel of a comic book’s page to the big screen.

MH: So we’re both down for the inevitable Avengers sequel?

AM: Yeah. Maybe by then I’ll have had a chance to watch Iron Man 2—and Thor 2 and Captain America 2 …

The Avengers opens nationwide May 4.

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Tags: Film Review, Marvel, Summer Blockbuster

Met Picks: Madama Butterfly, STIFF, Van Halen

The top 10 things to see or do this weekend.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on May 03, 2012 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

Patricia Racette makes her Seattle opera debut as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly.

Photo: Courtesy Patricia Racette, © Marty Sohl, Metropolitan Opera, 2009.

CLASSICAL & MORE

May 5–20
Madama Butterfly
To close its 48th season, Seattle Opera will rely on the young love of 15-year-old geisha Cio-Cio-San, the “delicate butterfly” who falls for a dashing U.S. Naval officer, Lieutenant Pinkerton, in Puccini’s tragedy Madama Butterfly. Met Opera regular Patricia Racette makes her Seattle debut in a part she now owns; her Butterfly is more emotionally complex, less porcelain doll, the way Puccini intended her to be. McCaw Hall, $25–$241.

Seattle Opera will simulcast opening night in HD at KeyArena, where roughly 8,000 people can view the production for free. Ticket registration is closed, but limited walk-in tickets are available: seattleopera.org/keysimulcast. KeyArena, free.

CONCERTS

May 5
Van Halen
David Lee Roth is back fronting these hard rock titans (as it should be) and Van Halen just released its first new album in 14 years, A Different Kind of Truth. Old bones might prevent them from running with the devil anymore, but VH can still maintain a brisk jog. Tacoma Dome, $50–$100.

Brian Jonestown Massacre
After seeing the award-winning documentary Dig! about frenemy rock bands Brain Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols, it’s hard to argue there’s a more volatile band on the planet than BJM. This show will be worth attending just to see if frontman Anton Newcombe can keep himself together. Neptune Theatre, $18–$20.

FILM

May 4–12
Seattle True Independent Film Festival
Boasting films with budgets closer to a Funny or Die video than a Hollywood indie, STIFF is the scrappy, rowdy neighbor of that other May film fest in Seattle. Various venues, $8–$50.

May 5–27
UCLA Festival of Preservation
Los Angeles’s biannual festival of rescued and restored 35mm prints travels to Seattle, with a collection ranging from Robert Altman’s Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean to episodes of This Is Your Life. Northwest Film Forum, $6–$10.

DANCE

May 4–6
Scuba: National Touring Network for Dance
For a decade, Velocity has partnered with theaters in San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia to put together a tour of up-and-coming contemporary dancers. This year’s performers are local artists Allie Hankins and Alice Gosti, and Philadelphia’s Gabrielle Revlock. Velocity MainSpace Theater, $12–$18.

BOOKS & TALKS

May 4
Daniel Waugh
Even in retirement, the UW history professor emeritus continues his extensive studies of the Silk Road and Central Asia. For this First Friday lecture, he’ll discuss the diversity of Islamic culture and its varied artistic traditions. Seattle Asian Art Museum, $10.

EAT & DRINK

May 6
Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon
If heaven is indeed a place on earth (as Belinda Carlisle suggested), that place would have a seemingly limitless supply of gourmet chocolates to sample from a host of regional chocolatiers. The chef demos and author talks might also provide divine chocolate inspiration. Pier 66, Bell Harbor International Convention Center, $20–$25.

Mobile Food Rodeo
Thirty-five food trucks roll into Fremont boasting some of the best street food from Seattle, Portland, and Idaho. Admission is free, giving you a few extra pennies to spend on your favorite tacos, or ice cream, or po’boys, or… Note: Seattle Met is a sponsor. Fremont Studios, free.

SPECIAL EVENTS

May 5
Free Comic Book Day
With a selection of free books ranging from Spider-Man to Smurfs, the yearly comics giveaway has options for both the young and the young at heart. Various comic shops, free.

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Tags: Met Picks, Weekend

Preview: Seattle International Film Festival 2012

Get excited for 273 feature films over three and a half weeks.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 03, 2012 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

Courtesy: Your Sister’s Sister

The country’s largest film festival is even bigger this year with 273 features, tributes to Sissy Spacek and director William Friedkin, and the latest from Lynn Shelton and Mark Duplass. Tackling the fest each year is something of a personal challenge—I mean, how do you truly narrow down 273 full-length films and 187 shorts into a top 10 list? You don’t. That’s not the fun of it. Instead, we’ll be watching a lot of movies, and will give you a pick a day throughout the festival, which runs May 17–June 10.

Here are a few to start off:

Your Sister’s Sister
Opening night film, May 17, McCaw Hall

Mark Duplass has a special bond with Seattle director Lynn Shelton, forged when he dropped his guard—and pants—in their acclaimed 2009 mumblecore film Humpday. “We’re like Tango and Cash,” he joked to The Hollywood Reporter. They share a love of improvisation, which is a huge reason their new collaboration, Your Sister’s Sister, is so likable. Stick Duplass, Emily Blunt, and Rosemarie DeWitt in a secluded home in the San Juan Islands, shoot the entire film in a 12-day binge, and you get an honest, hilarious, slightly twisted romance that doesn’t follow any rules. Just the way they like it.

Grassroots
Closing night film, June 10, SIFF Cinema Uptown

We’ve been following the making of this movie ever since director Stephen Gyllenhaal and his crew set up shop on Capitol Hill in the summer of 2010. We endured flying couch cushions to interview Joel David Moore and Jason Biggs about playing Seattle City Council hopeful/monorail champion Grant Cogswell and his campaign manager Phil Campbell. We even interviewed Cogswell himself, aka ‘the man who loved Seattle too much.’ And now, after waiting patiently, we’ll finally see Seattle’s most quixotic City Council race as a Hollywood movie. It makes its world premiere to close out SIFF.

Safety Not Guaranteed
May 23 at 7, May 25 at 4:30, SIFF Cinema Uptown

It started as an ad in Backwoods Home magazine in 1997: “Wanted. Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke.” A few Seattle magazine writers decided to follow the story, and that story has become a hit 2012 Sundance comedy starring Parks and Rec’s Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass (the man is everywhere right now). FilmDistrict secured the rights to this film for a little over $1 million after Sundance, but Seattle gets to see it before its wide release.

Moonrise Kingdom
June 5 at 7, Egyptian Theatre

The latest Wes Anderson film—starring familiar faces Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, and Edward Norton—will open Cannes on May 16, then screens here (woo!) before its wide local release on May 25 June 22. With the help of cowriter Roman Coppola, Anderson has penned what looks to be another quirk-filled escapade about a pair of 12-year-olds in love who’ve run away from their cozy New England homes.

SIFF 2012’s full lineup and schedule of events is slated to go live today, May 3, at siff.net. Tickets are available online and by calling 206-324-9996.

Seattle International Film Festival 2012
May 17–June 10, various venues

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Tags: Film Fest, SIFF Cinema , SIFF 2012

Art After-Hours: Where to Go this First Thursday

Museums are free, galleries stay open late. So…many…choices…

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on May 03, 2012 at 08:50AM 0 Comments

Robert Yoder, Untitled (Lukas), 2011, oil on panel, mylar, 25 × 19 in.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Robert Yoder, Untitled (Lukas), 2011, oil on panel, mylar, 25 × 19 in.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Robert Yoder, Untitled (Cotton), 2011, oil on panel, plexi, 7 × 5 in.

Here are a few choice exhibits to check out on First Thursday art walk:

Robert Yoder: DILF!
May 3–June 16, Platform Gallery

Though Robert Yoder has been busy lately curating exhibits out of his home gallery Season, he takes time out to showcase a collection of his own abstract oil paintings. Well known for the minimalist collages he used to show across the Northwest, his paintings are also spare, a swirl of colors, but with an aggression to them. It almost seems the primary paint in his works (mostly white) is smothering the reds, yellows, and pinks trying to escape from beneath. The artist calls his latest studio work “an investigation of my emotional and physical fantasies,” and he plays coy, like he’s in a “continuous first date—the flirting, the divulging, the evasiveness.”

Eirik Johnson: Camps and Cabins
Thru May 26, G Gibson Gallery

Northwest commercial mushroom hunters ("camps") and the makeshift hunting shelters built by Iñupiat tribes in Alaska ("cabins") are the fodder for the Seattle artist’s latest exhibit of stunning photographs. First Thursday reception May 3, 6–8.

Under the Rainbow
Extended through June 2, various galleries

Four gallery owners—Gail Gibson, Greg Kucera, James Harris, and Stephen Lyons (of Platform Gallery)—have collaborated on this offshoot of Tacoma Art Museum’s Hide/Seek, the first major museum exhibit addressing homosexuality’s impact on American art. Each gallery is showing images of and by gay artists from its own collection: a wealth of work by contemporary artists such as Annie Leibovitz, Jeffry Mitchell, and Robert Mapplethorpe.

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Tags: Visual Art, First Thursday

Gaming and Improv Worlds Collide in Wing-It’s Gauntlet

The avatar wants you to pick a word. Any word.

Posted by: Rachel Walls on May 02, 2012 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

The gaming and improv worlds collide in the interactive comedy Gauntlet.

Photo courtesy Jeannine Clarke.

How Seattle is this: Wing-It Productions has been working with Microsoft’s Kinect team and Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center to design its own exclusive video game, set to be featured in the new Jet City Improv comedy show Gauntlet. Improv by nature is already collaborative—with audience members asked to shout out verbal cues—but this interactive multimedia performance defies classification.

“It’s been a fascinating blurring of art, science, and showbiz,” said cast member Phill Arensberg, a seasoned improv comedian who has been part of Jet City since fall 2009. “What it looks like [in rehearsal] is a stage full of actors being observed by and interacting with a bunch of computer scientists. There has been a great deal of nerd bonding.”

Gauntlet centers around two geeks struggling to find harmony between their superhero virtual identities and humdrum real-life selves. The show juggles three worlds: the duo in real life, their avatars (depicted onstage by other actors in costume), and their video game characters, projected live onscreen and controlled by actors offstage using Kinect. The rest of the details will be determined on a show-by-show basis, stemming from audience suggestions and the whims of the performers.

“To me, it’s the union of two very disparate forms that harmonize very well together,” Arensberg said. And as for its local flavor? “It’s very indicative of the Seattle aesthetic—a combination of creative abandon, obsessive pursuit of virtuosity, and punk rock.”

Gauntlet
May 3–18, Thu & Fri at 8, Wing-It Productions, $10–$14

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Tags: Theater, Wing-It Productions, Improv Comedy, Microsoft

The Met Opera’s Ring Cycle Hits the Big Screen

See all four operas and a behind-the-scenes documentary at area cineplexes.

Posted by: Seth Sommerfeld on May 02, 2012 at 11:00AM 1 Comments

A scene from the Met’s production of Das Rheingold.

Photo: Courtesy Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Nothing compares to Wagner’s epic Ring cycle. The four-opera, 16-hour drama centers around a ring of power (and it predates that other famous ring-based saga some guy named Tolkien wrote by more than 50 years), with a monumental cast of mythic creatures: heroes, gods, giants, dragons. To stage the entire cycle usually takes a full week—in part, to give its stars a chance to catch their breath; Seattle Opera’s famed Ring cycle only comes around once every few years. (It returns in 2013.)

After two decades away from The Ring, the Metropolitan Opera decided to tackle Wagner’s opus again in 2010 with its most ambitious staging yet—a production five years in the making. Lucky for us, the Met: Live in HD series will give Seattleites a chance to see encore performances in HD glory on the big screen. The entire cycle will be screened over nine days (May 9–19). Additionally, the series will feature Wagner’s Dream, a documentary about the Met’s extensive preproduction, including the manipulation of a 90,000-pound set nicknamed “The Machine.”

The Met: Live in HD productions will be screened at Thorton Place Stadium and AMC Oak Tree 6, as well as other local cinemas. Tickets are $13–$18 for each screening.

Here’s the full cycle schedule:

Wagner’s Dream
May 7 at 6:30

Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold)
May 9 at 6:30

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
May 14 at 6:30

Siegfried
May 16 at 6:30

Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)
May 19 at noon

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Tags: Opera, Met Live in HD

Album of the Month: Impossible Bird’s Self-Titled Debut EP

We highlight an April album that belongs in heavy rotation.

Posted by: Seth Sommerfeld on May 01, 2012 at 11:00AM 2 Comments

There’s no denying this duo’s debut effort.

We all have our musical blind spots. Even the most ardent music lovers struggle to appreciate certain styles outside their wheelhouse. But every now and then, a band or artist turns out an album that’s so well executed, there’s no denying its merits, even if it’s not a genre one would normally dig. This is exactly how I’d categorize the debut EP by Seattle alt-folk duo Impossible Bird. It was April’s pleasant surprise. The five-song album is a mix of fiddle and falsetto, backed by incredible talent: Canadian Tyler Carson mans the fiddle and Stroh violin—a violin that uses a metal horn instead of a wooden body to resonate sound—and brings each song to life with energetic lead lines that rip away any notions of the folk blahs. Vocalist-guitarist Nick Drummond, formerly of local acoustic rock band the Senate, churns out propulsive guitar lines that keep the acoustic two-piece from sounding small. The instrumental arrangements are reminiscent of Dave Matthews Band, but Drummond’s clear vocals give Impossible Bird a sound that’s refreshing and entirely its own.

Opening track “Here I Am” showcases the duo at its most playful and anthemic; it’s not hard to imagine a summer festival crowd clapping along. (Perhaps at the Northwest Folklife Festival? Impossible Bird will be playing there on May 28.) The EP isn’t a one-trick pony, though; “Overture” is darker, like its set in an old Southern Gothic mansion with creaking floorboards and door hinges, thanks to Carson’s fiddle work and the clever use of clanking chains as percussion.

Lyrics aren’t Impossible Bird’s forte, but the track about a marriage proposal—“Bottle of Wine”—is genuinely sweet with lines like, “A ring’s like a watch that shows no time.” While Drummond has a tendency to excessively repeat his refrains (most songs have about a minute and a half worth of lyrics stretched into four-and-a-half-minute songs), it’s forgivable since the core of Impossible Bird is melodic instrumentation, not poetry.

Acoustic duos simply aren’t supposed to have this big a sound. It’s really only a matter of time before Impossible Bird has an equally large audience.

Impossible Bird
May 28 at 4, Northwest Folklife Festival, Fisher Green Stage.

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Tags: Seattle Music, Album Review, Seattle Sound

Seattle Nonprofits Want You to GiveBig This Wednesday

Take part in a massive day of charitable giving across King County.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 30, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

For the second year in a row, the Seattle Foundation has issued a challenge: Make a charitable donation on May 2 to your favorite King County nonprofit and GiveBig sponsors will match your gift. It’s a call to arms on behalf of many of the organizations that make this city feel alive—the local museums and theater companies, SIFF and Film Forum, Town Hall and Seattle Arts and Lectures. The foundation is hoping to top last year’s single day of giving—$3.6 million, with nearly 19,000 people making individual gifts—and there are plenty of local nonprofits that would benefit greatly from your generosity. UPDATED 5/3/12. The Seattle Foundation is reporting donations of $7.43 million yesterday, more than doubling last year’s total, with updates coming at noon today. “The areas receiving the highest overall level of gifts were Arts and Culture ($1.66 million), Health and Wellness ($1.33 million) and Basic Needs ($1.28 million). Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest received the highest number of individual donations, with 1,217 gifts.”

Nitty gritty: The more money that comes in, the more that goes to a “stretch pool” that’s spread out on a pro-rated basis to the 1,300 nonprofits. Those donations could support the making of a new 12th Avenue theater center on Capitol Hill for New Century Theatre Company, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and Strawshop; Satori Group’s move to Inspace; SAL’s writers in the schools; and much more.

The giving starts midnight Tuesday and runs for 24 hours. Rally for a cause at seattlefoundation.org/givingcenter/givebig.

GiveBig
May 2, midnight to midnight

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Met Picks: David Sedaris, Portland Cello Project, Alarm Will Sound

The top 10 things to see or do this weekend.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Apr 26, 2012 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

NFFTY screens “superpower love story” The End by 19-year-old director Dom Fera, about a teen who can foresee the end to the relationship of each new person he meets.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

NFFTY screens “superpower love story” The End by 19-year-old director Dom Fera, about a teen who can foresee the end to the relationship of each new person he meets.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Portland Cello Project

CONCERTS

Apr 26
M83
Critics are calling Anthony Gonzalez’s latest work “combustive,” “an electro-pop dream,” the “best M83 record yet.” Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, with all its soaring synth refrains, commands your attention. Paramount Theatre, $28–$32.

Apr 27
Portland Cello Project
The genre-bending group of classically trained cellists has been a Northwest favorite since they started covering Kanye West and Pantera a few years ago. They celebrate the release of their new album, Homage. The Triple Door, $17–$25.

FILM

Apr 26–29
National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY)
Now in its sixth year, the country’s largest youth film festival returns with a little more of everything: full-length features, experimental shorts, action sport flicks, panel discussions, and a whole lot of talented teens. Various venues, $10–$125.

CLASSICAL & MORE

Apr 26
Alarm Will Sound
Billed as “the future of classical music” by The New York Times, the 20-piece ensemble out of Rochester, New York, champions new work by established and emerging modern composers—from John Adams to electronic artist Aphex Twin—enhanced by multimedia. Town Hall, $10–$25.

Apr 27
Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s Free Concert
Seattle Symphony performs works by Mozart, Hoist, Kreisler, and Mendelssohn (accompanied by eight-year-old solo violinist Sophie Lee of Mill Creek) in a free concert at the newly renovated Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. A traveling multimedia exhibit by Rosaleen Rhee, Treemonisha: Celebrating African Americans in Classical Music, will be on display during the show. Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, free.

BOOKS & TALKS

Apr 29
David Sedaris
The humorist could read notes from a napkin and get a laugh. This time around, he samples from his diary. Benaroya Hall, $38–$47.

Apr 28 & 29
Julie Andrews
The actor-turned-children’s book author comes to Seattle to sign copies of her latest work, The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl. University Book Store, Third Place Books, Barnes and Noble (Lynwood), Costco (Fourth Ave S), free with purchase of book.

ART & EXHIBITS

Apr 28 & 29
Bemis Art Show
The historic Bemis Building in SoDo, now home to artist studios, architects, and boutique creative agencies, opens its doors for the semi-annual art show. Wander the halls examining the juried exhibit of guest artists from across the state, or pop into the different loft spaces to see artists at work. Bemis Building, free, noon–8.

Opens Apr 28
AC/DC: Australia’s Family Jewels
The touring exhibit makes its only stop in North America, presenting more than 400 items—including guitars, promotional posters, and Angus Young’s schoolboy costume—from the Aussie band’s nearly four decades in rock and roll. Experience Music Project, $15–$20.

Thru Apr 29
Gauguin and Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise
It’s the last chance to view Paul Gauguin’s lush Tahitian paintings and the collection of elaborate Polynesian carvings before this traveling exhibit leaves town. Seattle Art Museum, $18–$23.

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Tags: Met Picks, Weekend

Ira Glass Returns to Seattle This September

Tickets to see the host of This American Life go on sale Monday.

Posted by: Seth Sommerfeld on Apr 26, 2012 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

Photo: Courtesy George Barcos

Live from radioland Ira Glass takes us behind the scenes of This American Life.

Ira Glass is something of a big deal. The host of This American Life has literally made himself into a recognizable face on radio. Think about that for a second. His short-lived Showtime series might have helped, but at the end of the day, Glass is a public radio hero because of TAL’s dramatic stories about the everyday—from the recession in small towns to “Squirrel Cop.” Glass returns to Seattle in September for the first time in two years with Reinventing Radio, an updated stage show featuring the man behind the mic in a conversation about the making of his radio program. He will also take audience questions (cue the arms in the air).

His Seattle trip will be especially interesting after the now-infamous ‘Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory’ episode of This American Life. Also known as the “retraction episode,” the program spent an hour disavowing itself from Seattle playwright Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” TAL segment because it had “significant fabrications.” (You could feel journalists around the world shuddering.) Glass’s show may be in September, nearly half a year later, but we’re betting he’ll still have some thoughts on this topic.

Tickets never last long (his shows sold out the last time he was in in town), so add this alert to your calendar. Tickets ($25–$47) to see Ira Glass at Benaroya Hall on September 8 go on sale this Monday at 10am at benaroyahall.org

Ira Glass: Reinventing Radio
Sept 8 at 8, Benaroya Hall, $25–$47

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Tags: Ira Glass, Books & Talks, Mike Daisey, This American Life

TONIGHT: Author Jim Lynch at Third Place Books

The Olympia scribe reads from his latest novel, Truth Like the Sun.

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Apr 25, 2012 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

When Olympia author Jim Lynch researches a topic, he dives in deep. His 2009 novel Border Songs was ostensibly about a Border Patrol guard manning the Washington–Canada divide, but in truth, it was an exploration of a bird-loving savant with an encyclopedic knowledge of winged creatures. You’d think Lynch himself stares off into the sky for hours every day.

The same holds true for his latest novel, Truth Like the Sun, which opens on the dawn of the Century 21 Exposition (aka the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair), and is reimagined with such detail it seems distilled from the Seattle Times archives. In the excerpt of Truth in our February issue, we meet fictional wunderkind Roger Morgan, who oversees opening night at the Space Needle. The book then jumps to the 21st century in the post-tech boom era for what the publisher calls “a cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle over two starkly different eras.”

Lynch will read from Truth Like the Sun tonight at 7 at Third Place Books, tomorrow in Kirkland, and next month on Bainbridge and Mercer Island. For his full book tour schedule, visit jimlynchbooks.com.

Jim Lynch: Truth Like the Sun
Apr 25 at 7, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park
Apr 26 at 7, ParkPlace Books, Kirkland
May 16 at 7, Island Books, Mercer Island
May 17 at 7:30, Eagle Harbor Books, Bainbridge Island

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Tags: Books & Talks, Third Place Books, Seattle World's Fair