SPORTING LIFE

Sept 15
Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers
Just a few years ago, the NFC West was considered the dregs of the National Football League. Now the division boasts the two odds-on favorites to represent the NFC in this year’s Super Bowl. The Seahawks and the 49ers take the field for Sunday Night Football; meanwhile, the 12th Man will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd roar. CenturyLink Field, sold out.

BOOKS & TALKS

Sept 12
Langdon Cook
Jeremy Faber, the owner of Foraged and Found Edibles, is the chief supplier of rare and elusive mushrooms for Seattle’s most carefully sourced restaurants. He has been notoriously secretive when it comes to revealing his prime locations for foraging in Northwest forests, and as such he has been as elusive as the bounty he delivers to our tables. In The Mushroom Hunters, Seattle writer Langdon Cook gets closer to Faber and the secrets of his business than ever before. Elliott Bay Book Company, free.

Sept 12
Cheap Beer and Prose
Cheap beer ($1 cans of PBR) doesn’t translate to cheap thrills. “It’s not a drunken silly fest, and it’s not stodgy,” says Hugo House programming director Brian McGuigan, who came up with this creative alternative to “pretentious, expensive” readings. “I think really good readings are performance art.” For this round, Sean Beaudoin, Eli Hastings, Alma Garcia, and Tara Atkinson liven things up. Richard Hugo House, free.

CLASSICAL & MORE

Sept 12
The Legend of Zelda: 
Symphony of the Goddesses
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Eímear Noone, brings the best musical moments of the Nintendo video game’s 25-year history to life, from horseback rides across the sweeping plains of Hyrule to Link’s action-packed sword battles with the evil Ganon. The hero’s journey deserves a soundtrack this epic. Benaroya Hall, sold out.

Sept 15
Seattle Symphony Opening Concert with Lang Lang
For the orchestra’s season-opening concert and gala, maestro Ludovic Morlot has invited dynamic pianist Lang Lang to accompany on Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3. An upbeat selection of folk music—Brahms’ Hungarian Dances nos. 1, 2, and 3; Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances; and Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances nos. 1 and 2—rounds out the bill. Benaroya Hall, $76–$169.

DANCE

Sept 12–14
Not About Everything and The Karaoke Dialogues
For 30 dizzying minutes, dancer and choreographer Daniel Linehan spins, whirls, staggers, and turns while chanting lines like: "This is not about endurance." "This is not about therapy." "This is not about everything." What it is, though, is the Olympia native's homecoming after nearly a decade away. Velocity Dance Center, $18.

VISUAL ART

Thru Oct 24
Peter Waite: Space Travel
Connecticut artist Peter Waite doesn't venture to the final frontier. Instead, he prefers to paint architectural icons—the gaping arches of the Colosseum, a cross-section of the tipsy Tower of Pisa—as an "existential tourist" who passes through the entryways to history. Winston Wachter Gallery, free.

THEATER

Sept 12–Oct 20
Xanadu
If you delight in sequins and disco balls, leg warmers and roller skates—the manna of the campy ’80s-set musical Xanadu—you’ll like this. Jessica Skerritt and Dane Stokinger, who play the romantic leads Kira and Sonny, are married in real life; better yet, they met on Village Theatre’s stage over six years ago playing Elvis and his girlfriend in an early incarnation of Broadway--
bound Million Dollar Quartet. See? Love can be a musical. Village Theatre, Issaquah, $46–$65.

COMEDY

Sept 12
Maria Bamford
Don’t you dare pull the “one of the funniest female comedians” bit when discussing Maria Bamford. She’s one of the funniest standups around. Period. She was a member of the original Comedians of Comedy lineup (alongside Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, and Brian Posehn) for a reason. Neptune Theatre, $24.

CONCERTS

Sept 14
James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) DJ Set
During his time leading the now-defunct LCD Soundsystem and running DFA Records, James Murphy proved one thing: He knows how to start a dance party. He showed off his record-spinning prowess at the dance tent at Sasquatch! 2012, and for one night he’s going to make Neumos the craziest club in town. Neumos, sold out.

SPECIAL EVENT

Sept 13–22
Seattle Design Festival
Now in its third year, the Seattle Design Festival clocks in at 10 days with more than 60 events—films on architecture (megacities and wind-powered homes alike), art installations, lectures, walking tours, a silk-screening session—inspired by this year’s theme, “Design in Health.” Clean lines make for clean living, we always say. Visit designinpublic.org/seattledesignfestival for locations and prices.

FILM

Opens Sept 13
Touchy Feely
Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s latest, now in wide release, stars Rosemarie DeWitt as Abby, a massage therapist who suddenly can’t stand bodily contact. As Abby retreats from the world, her aloof brother (played by Josh Pais) draws attention by developing a magic touch in his dental practice. Reviews have pegged Touchy Feely as heavier than Shelton’s past work, but then again, isn’t everything heavier than Humpday, a comedy about two bros making amateur porn? Harvard Exit Theatre, $8–$11.