CONCERTS

Aug 23
Willie Nelson
Country icon Willie Nelson continues to be as prolific as ever. The 80-year-old released an album of country, jazz, rock, and pop standards, Let's Face the Music and Dance, earlier this year, but that wasn't enough. In September, he'll release his second 2013 album, To All the Girls..., a collection of duets with female performers like Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Norah Jones, and Brandi Carlile. (It should be noted that his managers clearly failed by booking him one week after Hempfest). Marymoor Park, $45–$65.

Aug 22 & 23
Brandi Carlile
There’s something crucial missing from Brandi Carlile’s most recent album, Bear Creek: actual bears. It’s a simple case of overpromising. Thankfully, the ZooTunes concert series at Woodland Park Zoo has stepped up to remedy this oversight. Listen as the sweet tones of the Northwest’s high chieftess of country music soothe the wild beasts. Woodland Park Zoo, sold out.

Aug 25
The Beach Boys
Calling them boys might be a stretch at this point, but, more than 50 years on, the Beach Boys can still deliver all the hits that put fans in a summer state of mind. Sweet SoCal harmonies like those in “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Barbara Ann,” and “Good Vibrations” never grow old. Snoqualmie Casino, $41–$110.

FILM

Aug 24
Seattle Bike-In
Pee-Wee Herman charms the ladies and biker gangs alike in his journey to recover his lost bike in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure—the perfect film to screen as part of Northwest Film Forum and Vera Project’s bike-in. Pedal to Cal Anderson Park for the outdoor screenings, a fair featuring local cycling organizations and merchants, live music, and a DJ set—which should include “Tequila” if they know what’s good for them. Cal Anderson Park, free.

Aug 24
Fremont Outdoor Movies: The Dude Fest
As always, a Big Lebowski–themed Dude Fest, complete with white Russians (the drink, not Putin) closes out Fremont Outdoor Movies schedule. If you think the staple event of the series isn't essential... yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. 3490 Phinney Ave N, $12.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Aug 24–Jan 12
Cooper
Crack the D.B. Cooper Case at Washington State History Museum. Examine the evidence in a new exhibit on the notorious Northwest hijacker. Washington State History Museum, $10.

BOOKS & TALKS

Aug 23
Book Launch Party for Nicole Hardy's Confessions of a Latter-day Virgin
Ever since her essay “Single, Female, Mormon, Alone” ran as a New York Times Modern Love column in 2011, Seattle writer Nicole Hardy has become a wise (and wisecracking) voice for women trying to reconcile the rules of their religion—no sex before marriage, stay at home, raise a family—with twenty-first-century desires. Her story was honest: I’m single, happily childless, and still a virgin at 35. Richard Hugo House, free.

SPORTING LIFE

Aug 25
Seattle Sounders vs. 
Portland Timbers
The Northwest’s laid-back nature goes out the window when the Sounders play the Timbers at CenturyLink Field. The cheering sections are as rowdy as they come (they pound drums, wave flags…and they never sit down). Seattle and Portland continue their frenzied battle to be the best soccer fans in the U.S. when Major League Soccer’s fiercest rivals face off. If that wasn't enough, the game marks Clint Dempsey's home debut as a Sounder. CenturyLink Field (Televised on ESPN2), sold out.

VISUAL ART

Aug 22–Sept 28
Roger Shimomura: An American Knockoff
Once shuttled to a Japanese internment camp, Seattle native Roger Shimomura has long used his art as a way to explore xenophobia. “I was strangely attracted to the idea of creating art out of something that I hate,” he said at the 2009 opening of his Yellow Terror exhibit at Wing Luke. His paintings are a brilliant contrast of cartoon imagery and disconcerting clashes between his Japanese heritage and American culture. Greg Kucera Gallery, free.

THEATER

Thru Aug 25
Sister Act
Fans of Whoopi Goldberg’s ’90s movie Sister Act will recognize the story in this Broadway adaptation, about a sassy showgirl hiding out from hit men in a convent, but the music by Alan Menken is brand new. It’s irreverent, to be sure (“It’s Good to Be a Nun,” anyone?)—but more importantly, it’s a glitzy, discofied tribute to the ’70s, complete with sequined nun habits. Paramount Theatre, $25–$85.