Our music critics have already chosen the 30 best concerts this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn. Here are their picks for the best events in every genre—from a Chanukah Party at the Fred Wildlife Refuge to the opening of the Hobby Rockers show at Nii Modo, and from Someday We'll All Be Free: A Conversation about Abolition to the Gender Justice Awards. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.

Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.


Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

MONDAY

ART

The Collage Art of Alexis Hilliard
Alexis Hilliard's dramatic collages create fragmentary, mysterious landscapes populated by bygone figures. This is her first West Coast show.

FILM

Depths
Depths is an monthly audiovisual show by Andrew Crawshaw and Justin Thomas Kleine, who create live, drony electronic soundtracks for cult films. Stranger music critic Dave Segal has written, "It's impressive how these musicians transform what can be overly familiar scenes with their spontaneous interpretations." In December, they'll be providing the soundtrack to the classic holiday slasher Black Christmas.

FOOD & DRINK

Feast of the Seven Fishes
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a traditional Italian American supper featuring seven kinds of fish or seafood, usually served before midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. This lavish spread from Delancey promises the freshest catches the Ballard pizzeria can procure, with albacore crudo, handmade Il Corvo pasta with lobster, Dungeness crab, Penn Cove mussels, anchovies, roasted oysters snatched from Delancey’s roaring wood-fired oven, and a steady flow of wine throughout. They’ll finish with some delightful-sounding butterscotch pots de creme for dessert.

Jim Meehan: Meehan's Bartender Manual
Jim Meehan is a celebrated bartender whose game-changing NYC speakeasy PDT brought cocktail culture to another level. His obsessively thorough new manual, which comes in at just under 500 pages, offers an initiation into the history, lore, and tradition behind the hospitality trade and schools wannabe home barkeeps and seasoned mixologists alike on how to assemble and run a bar with maximum efficiency and generosity. Meehan will talk about the book and sign copies purchased from the Book Larder afterward.

READINGS & TALKS

Hillary Rodham Clinton
This reading is already sold out because of course it is, but in case any of the current ticket-holders suddenly come down with "pneumonia," you should know that the former Secretary of State / the first woman to win a major party nomination for the presidency is coming to town to tell you her side of the story, the one about the campaign we all watched with increasing dread (and misplaced confidence) during the Year of Our Dark Lord Satan 2016. She wrote it all down in What Happened, which, like Clinton herself, has drawn everything from blazing critiques to glowing paeans to dead-eyed shrugs. If you can slip through the doors of the Paramount this evening, you'll get to judge for yourself. RICH SMITH

Jenny Durkan, Manka Dhingra, and Teresa Mosqueda: Electing Progressive Women with Fresh Ideas
Seattle City Council Member Teresa Mosqueda, State Senator-Elect Manka Dhingra, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan will give their perspectives on their place in politics within the national scene at this taping of Nick Hanauer's The Other Washington podcast.

Sebastian Bach
Solo artist and Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach, who has toured with artists including Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses and appeared on TV shows including Gilmore Girls, shares "lurid tales of excess and debauchery" in his new memoir, 18 and Life on Skid Row. He'll sign books at this event.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

ART

Youth in Focus
For the past 24 years, low-income city youth have expressed themselves and captured glimpses of their daily lives thanks to Youth In Focus's arts program, which pairs the young photographers with adult mentors.
Closing Thursday

MONDAY-FRIDAY

ART

Telling Our Stories: Art and Homelessness
Don't miss this exhibit that highlights the perspectives of resident artists living at the Downtown Emergency Service Center building. The pieces—created by a group of the center's residents called the LEAP Artist Collective—speak to themes of "hope, healing, reconnection, and finding home."
Closing Friday

MONDAY-SATURDAY

PERFORMANCE

Building the Wall
With this production of Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall, the theater world has officially moved on from indirect criticisms of the worst president in the history of the US to direct criticism of the worst president in the history of the US. In the play, which Schenkkan reportedly wrote in a “white heat” after the 2016 election, ICE rounds up immigrants following a terrorist attack in Times Square. As everyone waits to hear what will be done with the incarcerated, a history professor grills the supervisor of the private prison, who is in charge of administering the horrifying punishment they expect to come down the pike. Desdemona Chiang, who’s fresh off a pretty solid production of The World of Extreme Happiness at Seattle Public Theater, will direct. RICH SMITH
No performance on Tuesday or Wednesday

quick bright things
Dacha Theatre's quick bright things is an energetic black-box retelling of the oft-produced Shakespearean comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. It recasts the fairies "as the echoes and shadows that inhabit the theater."
No performance on Tuesday or Wednesday

MONDAY-SUNDAY

COMMUNITY

Vanishing Seattle X Eighth Generation Pop-Up Shop
Shop merch from #VanishingSeattle, a social media project that documents the "displaced and disappearing institutions, small businesses, homes, and communities of Seattle" while also serving as a "love letter" to the city's history. There will be totes, t-shirts, and more.

FOOD & DRINK

Miracle on 2nd Pop-Up
In 2014, Greg Boehm of New York bar Boilermaker temporarily transformed the space for his bar Mace into a kitschy Christmas wonderland replete with gewgaws and tchotchkes galore. This year, the pop-up has expanded to bars in 50 cities worldwide and will be taking up residence in Belltown’s Rob Roy. The specialty cocktails are no ordinary cups of cheer: Beverages are housed in tacky-tastic vessels (a drinking mug resembling Santa’s mug, for example), bedecked with fanciful garnishes like peppers and dried pineapple, and christened with irreverent, pop-culture-referencing names like the “Bad Santa,” the “Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r,” and the “You’ll Shoot Your Rye Out.”

HOLIDAYS

Gingerbread Village
This gingerbread village is no joke: Every year, Seattle architecture firms, master builders, and Sheraton Seattle culinary teams come together to build a meticulously planned candy wonderland. The theme of this year's village is "25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle." See elements of the city's past and its imagined future in candy form, from skyscrapers to underground tunnels.

WildLights
See the zoo in a new light—500,000 energy-efficient LEDs, in fact! See luminous animal-themed designs, have an indoor snowball fight, meet Santa and his very real reindeer and some nocturnal animals, listen to carolers, and enjoy the holiday beer garden.

PERFORMANCE

Dina Martina Christmas Show
Do you appreciate irony? Do you enjoy joy? Are you a sucker for horrifying stories told as if they’re heartwarming, the spectacle of beastly narcissism among the untalented, and pop songs with the lyrics rewritten because the singer seems to have undergone some kind of brain scramble? The Seattle holiday tradition of the drag-gone-wrong Dina Martina Christmas Show is upon us. All we know for sure is that one song she sings every year will be in it. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
No performance on Tuesday

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker
The 12th annual Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker is a lascivious holiday show experience with sugar plum fairies, exciting, clothes-dropping times, and who knows, maybe some "woody" jokes.

TUESDAY

PERFORMANCE

Bianca Del Rio in Peaches Christ's 'Sheetlejuice'
Demented drag legend Peaches Christ, the "Queen of Mean," wreaks havoc a denizen of the afterlife in this new drag parody of the Tim Burton cult classic.

READINGS & TALKS

Annual Holiday Reading with Brad Craft
Join the Book Store's beloved used books buyer, Brad, to revel in Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," a tale of making Christmas traditions with his older cousin "from buying illegally made whiskey for their fruitcakes to cutting down their own tree and decorating it with homemade ornaments." Have some cookies and cider while you listen to this uncharacteristically sweet Capote story.

Energy and Climate Policy at the Crossroads: Will the World Act on Climate Change Fast Enough?
Learn how the local governments across the country are working to enact critical energy and climate policy. The panel (which includes Governor Inslee's climate policy advisor, Reed Schuler, UW oceanographer LuAnne Thompson, and nuclear physicist Nick Touran) will discuss policy strategies for "addressing world energy needs without climate-changing fossil fuels."

Portrait of the City
Join MOHAI executive director Leonard Garfield as he shares 25 influential photographs from throughout Seattle’s history.

TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY

COMEDY

John Mulaney
John Mulaney looks too clean-cut and handsome to be funny—he comes across as a goy Jerry Seinfeld, but younger. Yet, with his well-modulated thespian voice, dapper threads, and perfect smile, he unspools extended, witty narratives about pop culture (look on YouTube for his dissection of the deep strangeness of Back to the Future), real estate, being an altar boy, among other things. Mulaney honed his craft on Saturday Night Live, where he impressed as a “Weekend Update” correspondent, and he sometimes waxes political, because it’s one of the richest seams of humor. As Mulaney accurately observed, “Donald Trump is what a hobo imagines a rich man to be.” DAVE SEGAL

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

A Christmas Carol
ACT Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol is a dependable, simple pleasure, with just enough variation to warrant returning year after year.

The Humans
Stephen Karam's The Humans, which won a 2016 Tony Award for best play, gets plaudits for its expert characterization, its subtle but gut-busting humor, and its clear-eyed view on contemporary family relations despite the fact that it's a play about a dysfunctional family spending a dysfunctional Thanksgiving together in Chinatown dysfunctionally. This is the official Broadway tour, directed by Joe Mantello. RICH SMITH

Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn
A musical based on the film by Gordon Greenburg and Chad Hodge, it features songs by Irving Berlin such as "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade." It's going to be the 5th's holiday show, directed by David Armstrong and choreographed by James Rocco. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Love, Chaos, and Dinner
Beloved circus/cabaret/comedy institution Teatro ZinZanni will return to Seattle for a dinner theater production of Love, Chaos, and Dinner. They promise "the same stunning, velvet-laden, and iconic Belgian spiegeltent Seattleites will remember from Teatro ZinZanni’s former location on lower Queen Anne." The cast is led by first-time "Madame ZinZanni" Ariana Savalas, and will feature a duo on aerial trapeze, a magician, a "contortionist-puppet," a yodeling dominatrix, a hoop aerialist, and a Parisian acrobat.

WEDNESDAY

FILM

An Evening with Auntie Mame
While in the middle of my college years, I received from my roommate David something of an education in what I can only describe as gay cinema. It’s not that the films I was shown had gay people in them, but that they were held in high regard by a class of gay men. The very best of these films was Auntie Mame. I fell in love with its star, Rosalind Russell, almost at the exact moment she appeared on the screen. And David, my gay guide through this 1958 classic, had lots of information about her, her performance, and how this brilliant piece affected her life and society. To this day, I still regard Auntie Mame as one of the highest of achievements of that very American decade. CHARLES MUDEDE
Arnaldo! Drag Chanteuse will host.

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Homo for the Holidays
This annual drag and burlesque gigglefest features a bunch of wacky little holiday-themed skits that our own Dan Savage once called "FUCKING GREAT… FUCKING HILARIOUS!" DeLouRue, aka Kitten 'n Lou and BenDeLaCreme, bring you a special with Cherdonna, Waxie Moon, and other superqueer stars.

Howl’s Moving Castle
I liked everything about the idea of Howl's Moving Castle, A New Musical,. Sara Porkalob is the star. She's a quadruple threat who can carry a show on her own, but in this production she has the help of Michael Feldman, Randall Scott Carpenter, Kate Jaeger, and Opal Peachey. How could anything go wrong? > Hayao Miyazaki transformed Diana Wynne Jones's 1986 novel into a beloved and mesmerizing anime with a celebrated soundtrack, and there's no reason why director/adapter/Book-It co-founder Myra Platt and composer/lyricist/actor/musician Justin Huertas couldn't turn the same source material into a magical musical. Huertas's humor and Platt's experience boded well, and there seemed to be plenty of opportunity to buck the conventions of generic musical theater and run with something a little wilder. I liked the poster. But, though the performances were generally fantastic, this production couldn't overcome the big problem presented by the story of Howl's Moving Castle. It's boring. ALL THAT SAID: Platt does retain a lot of the gender and age fluidity that makes Jones's novel interesting to think about for more than 15 minutes, and that combined with her decision to scrap Sophie's happily-ever-after ending ingeniously (if indirectly) made room for characters and designers to make choices they wouldn't have been able to make. RICH SMITH

Wonderland
Wonderland returns! Can Can will transform its venue into a snowy chalet and populate it with teasing beauties. VIP tickets get you champagne and a meal as well. There's also a brunch show that's safe for kids.

THURSDAY

ART

Arcade 35.3 Issue Launch Party
Welcome the newest issue of the luscious and colorful ARCADE magazine, devoted to architecture, urban planning, and design, with an artsy party. Volume 35.3 is entitled Rethinking Efficiency and edited by Sawhorse Revolution. Enjoy appetizers, drinks, music, and a holiday auction.

Capitol Hill Art Walk
Every second Thursday, rain or shine (or wintry mix), the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events. If you like Pioneer Square's First Thursday Art Walk, you'll probably love the Capitol Hill version, which is generally extra weird and extra queer. This week, check out the openings of Genevieve St Charles's La Croix-inspired art show and Attacks from Mars: We Welcome Our Robot Overlords!

FOOD & DRINK

Heavy Metal Beer Dinner
Colin Lenfesty and Mike Murphy, the resident metalheads of Holy Mountain Brewing, named their Interbay brewery in tribute to the majesty of Mount Rainier and the album by stoner-rock heavyweights Sleep in equal measure. It’s appropriate, then, that Brave Horse Tavern chef Brian Walczyk riffs on that combo with Pacific Northwest ingredients like Gebbers Farms beef carpaccio alongside bright citrus pickles and elevated stoner-genius munchies like nooch-flavored Pringles. Each of the six courses will be matched with a rare brew from Holy Mountain, and the evening will no doubt be soundtracked by some fittingly epic tunes.

HOLIDAYS

SAM Lights
Fight darkness and gloom in SAM's garden of luminarias and other installations while you make your own art, drink something hot, and listen to live performances.

QUEER

Gender Justice Awards
Since last year, life has not gotten easier for trans, nonbinary, intersex, and queer people. Join in solidarity at the Gender Justice Awards, where winning categories may include Celebration, Emergence, Mobilization, Media Justice (which Stranger journalist Sydney Brownstone won in 2016), Youth Justice, Creator, and more, depending on the submissions.

READINGS & TALKS

Annie Leibovitz
The renowned photographer—she's captured such iconic images as naked John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen's bum, and pregnant Serena Williams—will speak about her life's work. Pick up a copy of the new collection Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016 at this Town Hall event.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

PERFORMANCE

No Strings Attached
An older woman, bereaved of her cheating husband, plunges into the underground swinger scene in this sexy comedy about "personal responsibility and the right to happiness."

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Annie
Family-friendly musical Annie offers spunky orphans, a benevolent millionaire, and a very smart dog. Come for musical theater classics like Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, and We'd Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover.

ArtsWest Holiday Cast Party
ArtsWest's holiday spectacular promises spontaneity, cheer, and music performed by a cast of Seattle favorites. It continues throughout the month of December (until Christmas) with cabaret performances by a revolving cast.

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker
If you haven't seen this Christmas classic since you were a kid, give it a go this year. In 2015, PNB replaced its beloved Maurice Sendak set with one by Ian Falconer, who did the Olivia the Pig books, and I'm glad that they did. The new set is gorgeous in a Wes Anderson-y way, and it reflects the genuine weirdness and beauty in the story. I mean, the last 45 minutes of this thing is a Katy Perry video starring dancing desserts and a glittery peacock that moves like a sexy broken river. Bring a pot lozenge. RICH SMITH

Iolanta
The Spectrum Dance Company and Spectrum school students dance the tale of Iolanta, a princess who has been carefully guarded from awareness of her own blindness, in a production choreographed by Tony- and Bessie-winning Donald Byrd.

Somebody Get Me A Chainsaw
Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to have been caught in the big gay whirlwind that is Mom Finley: a towering matriarch composed entirely of arched eyebrows and bons mots, she's as indelible a part of the Seattle landscape as one of those towering construction cranes, only with better angles. Her new show promises storytelling, songs, and maybe a little piano, which is all we could possibly hope for in a night of theater. Listening to Mom's stories is like riding a series of roller coasters, and at times you'll find them too outrageous to possibly be true—and yet also too good to possibly disbelieve. MATT BAUME

FRIDAY

COMEDY

Hari Kondabolu
If you like your political/cultural humor astute, subtle, and punching from the left, Hari Kondabolu is your man. The former Seattle comic’s career has been ascending over the last five or so years, with writing gigs for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, appearances on late-night TV shows (John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, etc.), and acclaimed albums on stalwart indie-rock label Kill Rock Stars. From his Waiting for 2042 LP: “Saying I’m obsessed with racism in America is like saying I’m obsessed with swimming when I’m drowning.” These shows will be filmed for a comedy special release. DAVE SEGAL

FOOD & DRINK

Twilight Noodle Slurp
In 2015, Stranger food writer Angela Garbes wrote, "On a cold, rainy afternoon a few weeks ago, I was at Phnom Penh Noodle House in the International District, slurping my way through one of my favorite soups in town—the special rice noodle bowl filled with seafood, pork, and crunchy bits of roasted garlic. As I ate, a gentleman from the Wing Luke Museum came in to make the final arrangements for one of the museum’s upcoming Twilight Noodle Slurps, where the museum guides people on a three-hour walking tour of the ID during which they sample some of the many noodles offered at the neighborhood’s mix of Asian restaurants and learn about the dishes. “Be sure to tell them your story,” the man told the restaurant owner. I wanted to sign up for the tour immediately." The tours are back for this fall—don't miss out.

READINGS & TALKS

E.J. Koh, Mita Mahato, Montreux Rotholtz, and Jane Wong
"All the new thinking is about loss. / In this it resembles all the old thinking," says Robert Hass in his beloved poem "Meditation at Lagunitas." This group of local literary poets will present much of this new thinking, but in their own dramatically different styles. Jane Wong, who will descend on Seattle from her newly appointed ivory tower at Western Washington University, swims in the blood and the guts of loss in her recent collection, Overpour. Mita Mahato cuts it out of paper to create gorgeous, palpable poetry comics for In Between, which was published last month. Loss haunts Montreux Rotholtz's debut book, Unmark, and it's E.J. Koh's constant companion in her lauded new collection, A Lesser Love. Expect a lot of quiet intensity and powerful imagery. RICH SMITH

Seattle CityClub Year in Review
Prepare for another hair-raising—and maybe hopeful?—year with experts like Jorge Barón of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, WA State Senator Joe Fain, journalist Blaine Harden of the New York Times and PBS, and President of Seattle Central College Sheila Edwards Lange.

Someday We'll All Be Free: A Conversation about Abolition
Though the conversation has certainly been troubled, Seattle is one of the few American municipalities actively considering ways to live without prisons. To help deepen and expand that consideration, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, Los Angeles poet laureate Luis Rodriguez, ACLU of Washington's Michele Storms, Rainier Beach educator Jerrell Davis, and Native American photographer and director Wesley Roach will help explain ways that libraries can help nudge us into that future. According to press materials, "the evening will include live performances, a panel, a live tweet up, and Q&A," as well as a criminal-justice reading list curated by our wonderful librarians. RICH SMITH

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

COMEDY

Uncle Mike Ruins Christmas
Mike Murphy (Uncle Mike) or Graham Downing (Cousin Graham) and Jet City cast members re-enact and trample over your fond Christmas memories in a happily vulgar performance. Not necessarily for squeamish types.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

ART

Hobby Rockers (Robin Edwards & Bree McKenna)
Local musicians Robin Edwards and Bree McKenna of Lisa Prank, Tacocat, Childbirth, and Who Is She? fame are teaming up again but this time for an art show, with years of their paintings and drawings displayed in new community art space Nii Modo. Though not technically holiday-themed, this show will be primed for Christmas, with cookies, a decorated tree, and a night of GGNZLA Karaoke at the ready.
Opening Friday

COMMUNITY

Duwamish Arts & Crafts Market
Attend the Duwamish Arts & Crafts Market to find creations from local Native American artists representing a broad range of tribal traditions.

PERFORMANCE

The Fig Tree Waltzes
Acrobatic Conundrum trades the cheeseball spectacle of circus arts for the more expressive vocabulary of modern dance without sacrificing the athletic rigor associated with the form. The Fig Tree Waltzes stars Jimmy Ortiz Chinchilla of Costa Rica, who's known for breaking up his rhythmic, meditative choreography with moments of wry humor and inflections of salsa and merengue, though I wouldn't be surprised to see some arboreal ballroom steps in this production. RICH SMITH

SATURDAY

ART

COAL
This one-night art market offers you the chance to buy the artistic goodies you and your loved ones deserve, courtesy of RAWKSON, Jordan Christianson, John Criscitello Studios, Jesus Mary Anne Joseph, Daniel Webster Designs, and others.

Storefronts UN[contained] Artist Reception
Storefronts UN[contained] is a residency for recognized artists of color hooked into important social issues. At this edition, you'll encounter inter-/multidisciplinary artists Barry Johnson, Storme Webber, and Naima Lowe.

COMEDY

Lily Tomlin
If you've only seen her in Grace & Frankie or Grandma, grab your chance to witness six-time Emmy and two-time Tony winner Lily Tomlin continue her multi-decade streak of being really, really funny.

COMMUNITY

Support System
In the midst of the holiday season, when consumerism gets a shot of adrenaline as stores shell out deals, Mount Analogue strives to "offer a safe space to be, to find, to connect, and to support the local artists that make this world worth it." The book shop will paint the space a peaceful Yves Klein blue and host two pop-ups featuring Women.Weed.WiFi, Kim Selling of Drop Out City Vintage (and Stranger music calendar editor), EPICENE, Need Things, and Pilgrim Paper Co. In addition to shopping for goods, there will be sliding-scale oracle card readings by Lily Kay, sets by DJ T.Wan and DJ Bricks, and readings by Gabrielle Bates, Montreux Rotholtz, Philip Schaefer, and Jeff Whitney.

FILM

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Last Unicorn Farewell Party
For the very last time, the international children's animation series Saturday Morning Cartoons will screen at Push/Pull: It's moving to SIFF Film Center in January. See it off with The Last Unicorn, a British Japanese coproduction from the '80s. Donate for donuts and coffee.

HOLIDAYS

The Chanukah Party
Enjoy a Feast of Lights celebration with Portland's Night Shade Dynasty puppetry show, comedy by Brett Hamil (past Stranger contributor, current Shadow Council presider), and music by Adra Boo and Hotels, plus a dance party DJed by Silk Safari to end the night.

PERFORMANCE

Apogee Performance Showcase
To wrap up Versatile Arts' and Apex Aerial Arts' Apogee festival week, which focuses on aerial dance, see lofty performances from festival instructors and other local talent. Performers include Jenn Bruyer, Dream Frohe, Hannah Gorder, Leah Jones, Kerri Jonquil, Sarah Milosch, PJ Perry, Jody Poth, April Skelton, and Kim Zmoloeck.

Open Studio
Witness works in progress by performers Gigi Rosenberg, Eli Steffen, Shontina Vernon, and the pair of Tatiana Pavela and Taigé Lauren. Meet the artists and give them your most constructive feedback.

READINGS & TALKS

Anastacia-Reneé, Jane Wong, and Leena Joshi: Tender Table
Three excellent, prize-winning local poets of color—Jane Wong, Anastacia-Reneé, and Leena Joshi, who's also a visual artist—will read work about food and identity.

Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce: Part I, Chapter 4
I love James Joyce. I do not, however, love his last and craziest work, Finnegans Wake. It’s a book that really has only one reader, Joyce himself. And he is dead. But his book is still around. What to do with this unreadable work, with its mixed words, made-up words, forgotten words, dream-dripping words? One person, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, has decided to commit the entire thing to memory and then perform it from memory. Maybe this is the only way the novel could be saved. It’s not all that amazing to memorize something that everyone understands; it’s very impressive to memorize something understood by only one person, who has been in the grave for many years. CHARLES MUDEDE

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

FESTIVALS

Leavenworth Christmas Lighting Festival
At this annual festival, the Bavarian town transforms into a twinkly holiday village of lights. Enjoy live holiday music and performances in the streets, an appearance from Old Saint Nick in front of the gazebo, roasted chestnuts, a traditional Gluhwein Tent selling hot spiced wine and cider, and much more.

SUNDAY

ART

Tractor Tavern's Handmade Arcade
Enjoy live music (Little Spirits (aka Star Anna and Robert Roth), Country Dave Harmonson, Buffalo Moses, and Faith Grossnicklaus) and drinks while you shop for holiday gifts to bestow upon yourself and all your special friends. Vendors will include Terraria, SIGIL, Olivie Botanicals, Elliott Hawthorne Art, and many others.

Native Art Mart
Buy authentic Native gifts—clothing, drums, art prints, and more—from a group of diverse local artists in beautiful Discovery Park.

FOOD & DRINK

Feast of the Seven Fishes with Musang
The Feast of the Seven Fishes (also known as the "Vigil") is a fish- and seafood-filled Italian American celebration of Christmas Eve. Join Musang (Bar del Corso chef Melissa Miranda's new pop-up) for a special holiday dinner featuring a menu of seven Filipino-style fish and seafood dishes, plus desserts.

Puerto Rican Christmas
Chef Eric Rivera, known for his Lechonera pop-up (his tribute to the Puerto Rican stalls selling slow-roasted pork), hosts a twelve-course Puerto Rican Christmas dinner. Ticket sales and a silent auction will benefit World Central Kitchen.

Revel's 7th Anniversary Party
Revel celebrates seven lucky years of business with this event, which will be the last to be held in their Fremont space before they move to South Lake Union for a year (they'll be back in 2019). Enjoy a sparkling toast, walk around and try seven favorite Revel dishes, and stick around for a party open to the public with suckling pig nachos and a dumpling eating contest (in classic Revel style) afterwards.