SGN Jan 18, 2019 - Part 2

Arts & Entertainment

Seattle Opera’s Il Trovatore

An excellent cast, followed by a great one

SEATTLE OPERA IL TROVATORE BY GUISEPPE VERDI LIBRETTO BY SALVATORE CAMMARANO

MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL

January 12 & 13

Continuing through 1/26

The new production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore at Seattle Opera packs such a thrilling punch that even my 80-year-old body pumped teenaged adrenalin again and again at Saturday’s opening night performance. Then, much to my glee, Sunday’s matinee cast with new singers in four of the leading roles carried us to even greater heights with superior singing all around.

see IL TROVATORE page 4

2019 Academy Awards Nominations Predictions

Roma and A Star Is Born likely to lead the nomination count come Tuesday morning

by Sara Michelle Fetters

SGN A&E Writer

The 91st Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday morning, and other than the likely presence of Bradley Cooper’s hit remake of A Star Is Born and Alfonso Cuarón’s B&W critical darling Roma appearing in a number of categories including Best Picture and Best Director, the see OSCARS page 6

So Long, Dearie! CAROL CHANNING 1921 - 2019

by MK Scott & B. Harlan Boll Special to the SGN

This past week we lost an Broadway icon and Gay ally, Carol Channing, who died this past Tuesday, at home in Rancho Mirage, CA of natural causes at age 97.

Upon reading her tribute that was sent to me from her publicist, B. Harlan Boll, I had

not known that Ms. Channing was, in fact, born in Seattle on January 31, 1921, and later moved to San Francisco and attended one of the best schools in that area, Lowell High School.

(When I was in high school, my school’s choir from Beaverton, OR, which I was a part of, performed at Lowell High School every two years.)

Hauntingly somber Cold War an unforgettable story of music and romance

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer

COLD WAR Now playing

Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Irena (Agata Kulesza) are traveling the Polish countryside chronicling the folklore and music of the peasant class before it potentially dis-

All’s Well That Ends Well demonstrates that emotions stay the same through time

by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Through February 3

Let’s suppose that you’re a young man who has grown up with a girl sort-of forced into your family by the death of her folks, and just because she’s saved someone’s life, she gets to choose you as her husband when you have no interest in her! Well, you just wouldn’t do that, would you?

That’s the essential dilemma facing Bertram (Conner Brady Neddersen) in All’s Well That Ends Well, the latest Shakespearian production at Seattle Shakespeare Company. The title is very familiar and you might think you know the story. It’s one of the “lesser” plays and Shakes has gathered a strong cast of veteran players to bring it to life, including Shakespearian stalwart Michael Winters as the King, R. Hamilton Wright as Lord Lafew, and Suzanne Bouchard as the stately Countess.

It’s one of the comedies because all does turn out well in the end, but the process is a bit on the brutal side. The young woman in question, Helena (Keiko Green), decides to follow Bertram as he decides to go off to war, rather than marry her. Today, we might wish she wouldn’t choose that, but young people in love often choose paths that might be a bit

dangerous to their self-esteems. Have you ever tried to talk a young teen or twenty out of something they’re hell-bent on?

Bertram has announced that he’ll only consummate their marriage if a certain ring is given to him that he thinks is impossible and if Helena becomes pregnant with his child, which he also thinks is impossible – because it’s only possible if they have sex first. Having declared all that and left town, he feels free to romance women wherever his fancy leads.

Eventually, it leads to a young woman, Diana (Ayo Tushinde), who gets a lot of pressure to become his “love”. After Helena

figures that out and counsels Diana what to do, Diana gets Bertram to give up his ring to her, and then Helena, in the dark, leads him off to bed him while he thinks it’s Diana. It’s pretty clear how the “end well” process will be accomplished, after that.

The technical support on this production is top-notch, from the set of irregular pillars and doorways by Carol Wolfe Clay, to the pinpoint lighting of Andrew D. Smith, the sounds of Johanna Melamed and the utilitarian quasi-military army costuming and flowy women’s wear by K.D. Shill. Director Victor Pappas created a fairly straight-forward pro-

Maybe B is a comedy (hard to tell)

by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer

B WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE THEATRE

(AT 12TH AVENUE ARTS)

Through January 28

It’s sometimes hard to figure out what you “hear” when you’re watching a play in real time. Those of us who see a lot of plays often dissect a production into the companymade production in front of us and separate out the script and then listen in a two-track kind of way. Sometimes both of those pieces mesh together in a solid and streamlined way, and the production feels like it fulfills the promise of the script as the script likely calls for it to be done.

In the case of the production of B, now being presented by Washington Ensemble Theatre, that two-track reflection gets a little tricky. The script of B sometimes sounds like it should be performed a lot differently than what we currently see on stage. In fact, it sounds like it could have been done a lot faster and the production doesn’t sound like it’s keeping up with the rhythm’s inherent in Guillermo Calderon’s play.

Rhythm has a lot to do with whether something is funny or sad. If you take a section of something funny and slow it way down, it no longer sounds funny and, in fact, can sound tragic. The rhythms in this production are quite slow. Once in a while, an audience member laughs or chuckles. It’s possible that the play could be consider a comedy, though the essential plot is more reminiscent of Waiting for Godot or a political thriller.

Alehandra (Sophie Franco) and Marcela (Klarissa Marie Robles) are stuck in a holding apartment waiting for instructions from someone outside their “cell.” In this meaning, the “cell” is a political cell, not the apartment they’re sitting in. They are some kind of activists who are trying to use antagonistic means to throw the government into an uproar. They apparently use bombs to do that.

When we first meet them, though, Marcela is dissolved in tears and being helped by a neighbor, Carmen (Shermona Mitchell), while she sobs that her boyfriend has just been killed by a bomb, but it’s her birthday and there’s supposed to be a party. That turns out to be a ruse to help explain people who might visit the apartment. As soon as Carmen leaves, Marcela stops sobbing.

Mitchell does provide a lot of potential humor, if there’s supposed to be humor. But, again, pacing kind of stops the humor and it just sounds strange instead. And a mysterious man (Craig Peterson) shows up with a birthday box that contains a bomb. I mean a “cheese” or a “cow” – because he instructs them that they shouldn’t say the word “bomb”.

All four actors do good work in presenting their characters and seeming to know who they are and what they mean. The play itself doesn’t help an audience very much in terms of explaining much. While the names and some of the dialogue are Latinx-focused, it’s not at all clear what particular country this takes place in, nor if there is a particular regime or policy or governmentally-repressive society they are rebelling against.

If it’s meant to be a comedy and Calderon means to poke fun at revolutionaries who can’t really make change, especially if all they do is want to blow things up – which maybe gets people’s attention but doesn’t direct them toward what change should actually happen – then this production got it wrong from the start. Instead of a long 95 minutes, it seems like it could be more like 60 minutes of non-stop fun.

Unless there’s another opportunity to compare it to a second production, I guess we won’t know for sure. Maybe this will hit your funny bone more easily than mine, but right now, my puzzlement is ticking away.

For more information, go to www.washingtonensemble.org or call 206-325-5015.

Discuss your opinions with SGNCritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.

duction, not choosing embellishments, but trimming small bits of dialogue that might make a modern audience stumble.

The play includes a buffoon role, similar to Malvolio’s in Twelfth Night, of Parolles, here amusingly performed by George Mount. Mount starts off strongly humorous, but somehow loses much of the humor towards the end. The main joke about Parolles is that he never really does what he says he’s going to, choosing to find a way to wiggle out of his work instead. So a subplot has to do with capturing him and showing his petty ways to his friend Bertram while humiliating Parolles. That part could have been trimmed somewhat more, since it deflects from the main thrust of the play. Overall though, it’s a solid evening’s entertainment, and Neddersen’s abject contrition at the end finally saves the role of Bertram from total dickdom. What is refreshing about this play is that everyone’s emotions are still clearly understandable and as modern in emotional realism as they would be in any more modern play. In that way, it’s actually one of Shakespeare’s most easily understood plays!

For more information, go to www.seattleshakespeare.org or call 206-733-8222.

Discuss your opinions with SGNCritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.

Angela Meade lights up a dark Trovatore at Seattle Opera

by Alice Bloch

SGN A&E Writer

SEATTLE OPERA

IL TROVATORE

BY GUISEPPE VERDI

LIBRETTO BY

SALVATORE CAMMARANO

MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL

January 13

(same cast on 1/19, 23 & 26)

Il Trovatore is an opera blessed by Verdi’s wonderful music and burdened by Cammarano’s bad libretto, with a plot that mostly takes place in the past or between the scenes and therefore must be explained at length by the characters. There are eight scene changes without any music to occupy the audience’s attention during the long intervals. There are laughably awkward lines like “Tell us again about …” and “I must save her! She was my mother long before I loved you.”

On top of that, the world of this opera is bleak and violent. A senseless civil war is raging. Romani women, suspected of witchcraft, are regularly rounded up for abuse. One of those women, Azucena, is tortured by memories of her mother burning at the stake and her own failed attempt at revenge, in which she mistakenly throws her own baby into the fire (an event I once heard described as “the biggest ‘oops’ in opera”). At the end of the opera, the only major character still alive is the villain, Count Di Luna, who has just unknowingly killed his own brother.

Stage director Dan Wallace Miller’s production, now playing at Seattle Opera, emphasizes brutality and gore to the max. During the overture, a soldier pursues a man toward the back of the stage, plunges his sword into the man’s midsection, slits the man’s throat, and casually throws him into a pit, behind which we see a huge pile of corpses (which remain onstage throughout the performance). This kind of gruesome, over-the-top violence pervades the production.

If the production was dark, the performance of the Sunday matinee cast

was splendid and luminous. As Azucena, mezzo-soprano Nora Sourouzian sang and acted superbly, conveying the extreme distress of a persecuted character haunted by trauma. If General Director Aidan Lang had not announced that tenor Martin Muehle was suffering from a cold, no one would have suspected it. Muehle sang the demanding role of Manrico, Azucena’s adopted son, with great energy and focus.

Baritone Michael Mayes was a perfect Count Di Luna, delving into his villainous role with abandon. He sang the quieter passages beautifully, but had a bit of a harsh sound when singing more loudly.

The top performance, by a long shot, was that of soprano Angela Meade. The sheer beauty of her singing had me in tears more than once. Her tone was gorgeous from top to bottom of her considerable range. Her trill shimmered, and her soft high notes floated above the orchestra to perfection. Her acting was fine, but I would probably have enjoyed her performance just as much with my eyes closed.

The always excellent Seattle Opera chorus outdid itself. Not only did it sound terrific, but the choristers threw themselves into physical performance to an extent I’ve rarely seen. Their challenging slow-motion and stop-action moments were dramatically powerful and showed an amazing level of physical discipline. Kudos to choreographer Kathryn Van Meter and Fight Director Geoffrey Alm for creating those arresting scenes.

Conductor Carlo Montanaro led the large orchestra, cast, and chorus at a brisk pace, with spot-on accurate synchronization of the singers and musicians. The orchestra has never sounded better. I am unable to single out a particular musician or section for praise, because all were outstanding.

John Conklin’s set from the 1994 production of Norma served well in this Trovatore, and Candace Frank’s costumes were apt and attractive. Christophe Forey’s lighting was extremely effective.

For more information and to buy tickets, go to seattleopera.org.

Seattle Opera presents rarely performed Verdi masterpiece Il Trovatore

by Sharon Cumberland

SGN A&E Writer

Seattle Opera’s Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) is a welcome start to the new year. In spite of its complicated and improbable story, the music is sublime. Any company that tackles this epic tale of devotion and betrayal – with its challenging requirements for chorus, soloists and orchestra – is already in the winner’s circle. And any audience who gets to see this rarely performed Verdi masterpiece is very lucky indeed.

A quick survey of Opera America’s listing of Verdi operas performed in 2017 (the latest year full data is available) reveals that only … well … zero performances of Il Trovatore were given in the US and Canada. There were

IL TROVATORE

(See Alice Bloch’s review in this paper for a beautiful description of what happened Sunday. I’ll focus on the singers.)

Some call this opera Verdi’s masterpiece, in spite of its crazy plot, for it gives singers some of the most beautiful music in all opera. But the four lead roles are vocally very demanding of vocal strength, dramatic punch, and sheer stamina. Each singer on opening night had these qualities. So, why were they less effective than their counterparts the next afternoon? It came down to musicality. The most beautiful notes have little effect if they are not strung together into a good legato line. The sound must flow evenly from note to note. For a perfect example, hear almost any Ella Fitzgerald record from her prime. Then, within each line, the volume should rise or fall (or not), according to what’s being expressed.

Saturday’s Count Di Luna, baritone Lester Lynch, had a gorgeous, round sound but lacked the technique to sustain that

plenty of Aidas, La Traviatas, Rigolettos and Falstaff s, along with the occasional Requiems, Macbeths, Nabuccos and Un Ballo in Mascheras – so Verdi is richly represented in opera repertoires. But Il Trovatore is so difficult for all four principal singers that companies have to await the magical combination of talents – and usually two singers for every role – in order to pull it off.

The tenor’s big aria, “Di Quella Pira,” is ranked number six on a website called “The Top 10 Horrifyingly Difficult Opera Arias.”

The baritone and the mezzo soprano have equally over-the-top challenges driven by the wildly dramatic libretto in which everyone is in passionate love, on the brink of horrible revelations, and facing imminent death. And one of the soprano’s big

tone evenly through each line. His plummy warmth of tone reminded me of Gordon Hawkins, but he lacked the breath support to keep it flowing. The sonic dropouts in each line sapped expressive power, almost as though he didn’t really mean what he was saying. Sunday’s Michael Mayes (Seattle debut) was much more nuanced and effective. He shaded his lines with dynamics that pointed to where they were going and underscored what he was saying.

Mezzo Elena Gabouri on opening night was all fire and guts in a full-throated performance as the gypsy Azucena but lacked the musicianship to tie those sometimesshouted notes together into a musical statement. She gave 110 per cent, but I fear her voice may not last with such apparent punishment. Nora Sourouzian took a much more melodic approach Sunday afternoon. She was just as effective, all the while letting us hear Verdi’s tunes that tended to be hidden behind Gabouri’s outbursts.

The poorest singer Saturday evening was tenor Arnold Rawls as Manrico. He had sufficient power for the part, but his voice had a generic sound, lacking both

moments, “D’amor sull’ali rosee,” is six minutes of the most heartrendingly beautiful and challenging pieces Verdi ever wrote. You can go on YouTube and hear every famous soprano who ever lived in the electronic age sing it, but nothing compares to hearing it in the opera house. I was deeply moved to hear the young Leah Crocetto sing it on opening night, and am eager to return to McCaw Hall to hear Angela Mead’s performance.

The Seattle Opera stage was somewhat underlit for me – it’s a dark opera, but does it have to be visually dark? I was sitting in a great seat but still had some trouble seeing the singers clearly through the shadows cast over their faces. I was also a bit distracted by the fantasy-style set and costumes, in which

warmth and beauty. And he failed the legato test. Instead of expressing the text, each line became a throaty exercise of getting the notes out. In contrast, tenor Martin Muehle (from Mannheim, Germany) on Sunday wowed us with a power and vocal beauty that brought back memories of the great Franco Corelli! In spite of being announced as somewhat indisposed with a cold, he poured out golden streams of gleaming tone, all wrapped in a perfectly smooth line. His tops were loaded with what opera aficionados call “squillo,” that extra buzzy shine that makes one feel weak in the knees. It all seemed easy and natural, with no sign of strain.

Both performances gave us excellent Leonoras, but here again the Sunday matinee soprano, Centralia’s own Angela Meade, outshone Saturday’s wonderful Leah Crocetto by virtue of her superior instrument and technique. Both displayed excellent legato and sang with lovely tone, but Angela worked vocal magic at times that brought tears to my eyes. Examples: she tossed in incredibly beautiful high notes (not in the score) that floated over the orchestra on

the armies have no historical anchor other than references to “endless wars” in several cultures (including our own via touches of camo fabric in conquistador-type costumes). Il Trovatore is set in Arragon – and I think a Spanish setting would act as a sufficient metaphor to remind us of the tragedy of our own endless war, though I admit that the post-modern ideas behind Candace Frank’s costumes were clever. Still, this opera, well sung, could be done in burlap bags and still pack the musical wallop it’s famous for. This is an opera well worth seeing – since you may not have another chance in coming years. Il Trovatore is performed at McCaw Hall through January 26. KING FM will broadcast the cast led by Angela Mead on February 2 at 8pm.

wings of pure delight, and her trills and other coloratura skills seemed effortless. Most impressive of all, those two ascending lines she sings as she is dying were spun out with a languid ease, ever so slow, growing ever more soft as she approached that last high note in pure pianissimo, all while lying horizontal in Manrico’s arms. Utter magic! Very few sopranos can do this. Lisa Daltirus did it in an earlier production of Il Trovatore at Seattle Opera, but Leah Crocetto, at least in this performance, could not find her soft high notes.

Let me close by seconding Alice Bloch’s praise of the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera Chorus. I pride myself on the killer sound system of our home theater, but no recorded sound could come close to the thrill of this chorus singing the thundering “Anvil Chorus” live. Performances of Seattle Opera’s Il Trovatore continue through January 26, with the Saturday opening night cast singing on January 16, 20 and 25 and the Sunday matinee cast singing on January 19, 23 and 26.

CAROL CHANNING

According to Boll, Carol was raised, schooled and eventually found work as a model. Through determination, hard work, and her family’s support (not to mention a mandatory IQ test for which she scored one of the highest recorded results), Carol was able to attend Bennington College in Vermont that had one of the few existing arts programs in the country, majoring in drama and dance.

A recipient of the 1995 Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, Ms. Channing has been a star of international acclaim since a Time magazine cover story [January 9, 1950] hailed her performance as Lorelei Lee in Gentleman Prefer Blondes writing: “Perhaps once in a decade a nova explodes above the Great White Way with enough brilliance to re-illumine the whole gaudy legend of show business.” Since her 1948 Broadway debut in Blitzstein’s No For An Answer, her Broadway appearances have included So Proudly We Hail, Let’s Face It, Lend An Ear, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Show Girl, Pygmalion, The Millionairess, The Vamp, Four On A Garden, and Wonderful Town. In addition to receiving a special Tony Award in 1968, she won the Tony Award in 1964 for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly!

Jacqueline Kennedy and her two children made their first public appearance after JFK’s death by seeing her perform in Hello, Dolly! and later visited her backstage. She has since played the role in over 5,000 performances, without missing a single performance. She then toured with her own revue, “Carol Channing and Her Ten Stout Hearted Men” and the critically acclaimed tours of “Jerry’s Girls” and “Legends,” in which she co-starred with Mary Martin.

Ms. Channing’s happiest film project was in the role of Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. Other films include Paid In Full, The First Traveling Saleslady (giving new comer Clint Eastwood his first on screen kiss), Skidoo, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Archie and Mehitabel and Thumbelina

Ms. Channing’s TV specials included “Broadway at the Hollywood Bowl,” “Carol Channing’s Los Angeles,” “Carol

OSCARS

actual ins and outs of which films are going to wake up Oscar nominees and which ones are going to want to curl back under the covers upset is very much up in the air. While 2018 was an undeniably outstanding year for cinema with a slew of worthy contenders in any number of categories, at this point it’s entirely unclear which way Academy voters (just over 6,000 members strong) will go.

Will they honor indie darlings like Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade or Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace? Or will they follow the path set by the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild and other awards bodies and anoint Peter Farrelly’s entertaining and well-acted Green Book or the critically reviled but massively popular Freddie Mercury biopic (and box office smash) Bohemian Rhapsody as frontrunners, the dual controversies swirling around both motion pictures be damned? In many ways these are the million-dollar questions that will only be answered once the nominees themselves are revealed, and whatever the announcement, rest assured voices on both sides of the argument will undoubtedly raise them in cantankerous anger no matter what they might be.

Those two films have become the hot topics of conversation as far as this year’s Academy Awards are concerned. After somewhat surprisingly winning the audience prize at last September’s Toronto International Film Festival, usually consid-

Channing and Pearl Bailey on Broadway,” “George Burns – His Wit and Wisdom” and to millions of children worldwide Carol is best known as the White Queen in “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Other television credits include popular game shows as “What’s My Line,” “I’ve Got a Secret,” “Password,” and “Hollywood Squares,” variety shows such as “The Dean Martin Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” “The Milton Berle Show,” “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “The Muppet Show,” as well as many Tony and Grammy broadcasts. A partial list of Carol’s episodic work consist of Playhouse 90’s “Three Men on a Horse,” “The Love Boat,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “The Nanny,” “Touched by an Angel,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “Family Guy.”

As one of the most easily recognized and highly imitated voices in the world, Carol’s unique sound has been established as characters and narrative in both TV series and documentaries like “JFK: The Day the Nation Cried,” “The Addam’s Family” (voice of Granny), “Thumbelina,” “Free To Be You and Me,” “Space Ghost,” “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers” and “The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars.” Miss Channing also cut twenty children’s albums of classic stories including “Winnie The Pooh” and “Madeline.”

Ms. Channing recorded ten gold albums including the original cast album of Hello, Dolly! released in 1964. Miss Channing

ered a bellwether for Oscar glory, Farrelly’s ’60s-set racially-charged road trip dramatic comedy inspired by a true story hasn’t exactly set the box office afire, the movie barely clearing $39-million domestic since its November 16 release. The story of musician Dr. Don Shirley’s concert tour of the Deep South and the friendship that develops between he and his uncouth, racially insensitive driver Frank Anthony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, the film has come under fire for a number of issues, most of them coming directly from Shirley’s family. They charge screenwriter Nick Vallelonga not only crafted his initial story without Dr. Shirley’s approval, but that he also rewrote the musician and his father Tony’s relationship to be far closer and friendlier than it actually was. Mix in the fact that this is another story about racism told through the eyes of a White man where the Black protagonist becomes the secondary character in his own story.

As for Bohemian Rhapsody, while Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury has always been regarded as worthy enough to warrant a Best Actor nomination, as far as the picture’s prospects were concerned they were supposed to be dead and buried long before the film itself ever saw a theatrical release. Director Bryan Singer being fired from the production just a few weeks before principal photography had come to an end. Reports the surviving members of Queen wanted producers to play down and whitewash Mercury’s homosexuality in order to potentially reach a broader audience. These were real issues that typically

appeared in most every grand ballroom and concert hall in the country. Among her other acknowledgments is a Best Nightclub Act of the Year Award, Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award, the Oscar Hammerstein Award for lifetime achievement and the Julie Harris Lifetime Achievement Award from the Actors’ Fund of America, but was most proud in the role of mother of Chan Lowe, who is a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist, who has the distinction of being a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

In 1998, Carol moved to Palm Springs/ Rancho Mirage to be close to her dear cousin Richard “Dicky” Long and loved the community so much, that she called it home for the remainder of her life.

In 2003, the octogenarian released her best selling memoirs, Just Lucky I Guess and started touring world wide with her one-woman show entitled “The First Eighty Years are the Hardest,” after the very successful preview given to New York audiences that prompted the New York Times to say “Back Where She Belongs: Carol Channing Reminisces”… “The audience jumped to its feet more than once. We were watching a master performer.” and Associated Press declared “The audience clearly was there to worship, and Channing did not disappoint.” In 2004, Broadway’s “first lady of musical comedy,” received an honorary doctoral degree becoming Doctor

turn off Academy voters, but where critical reactions to the film were fairly disastrous (rapturous applause for Malek’s performance notwithstanding), audiences went and made the motion picture the single most financially successful music biography of all-time (just under $200-million domestic at the box office as of last weekend according to Box Office Mojo). Add in the picture’s shocking win for Best Drama at the Golden Globes and all bets as to what voters are going to do are suddenly off, and for a film where all involved don’t even mention the name of the man who directed it when picking up awards suddenly this feature’s Oscar prospects are seemingly through the roof.

Otherwise it seems like things will pretty much go as anticipated. A Star Is Born and Roma will dominate as far as overall nomination count is concerned (both could earn upwards of 10 noms apiece). Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite will likely be a strong contender across the board, especially in the acting categories. Glenn Close will almost certainly receive her seventh acting nomination for her role in The Wife. Marvel’s Black Panther by all accounts should become the first comic book adventure to land a Best Picture nomination. Spike Lee will finally crack the Best Picture and Best Director lineup with BlacKkKlansman. Adam McKay’s polarizing Vice should still land nominations in multiple categories including Best Actor (Christian Bale), Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams), Best Original Screenplay and more than likely Best Picture. Richard E. Grant will almost assuredly

Carol Channing from the California State University, Stanislaus Commencement (only the third Honorary Doctoral Degree given in CSU Stanislaus 45-year history).

In 2009, items representing Miss Channing’s career were inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., along with eight other legendary ladies of stage and screen. Her original diamonds dress from the Broadway production of Lorelei, worn while singing “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend” and her Hello Dolly! gown (from the ’95 tour), as well as her TONY Award for her portrayal of Dolly Gallagher Levy, are currently part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institutions American History Museum. In addition, her 1995 Lifetime Achievement Tony Award can be seen on exhibit at The Hollywood Museum and her star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame is located in front of the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd.

In 2010, Carol returned to the Great White Way, performing at the New Amsterdam theatre on 42nd Street, with many returning “Dolly boys” from previous Hello Dolly! tours and received the “Gypsy Award” from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.” In January 2012, multi-TONY winning director and producer, Dori Berinstein, released the critically acclaimed and award winning documentary entitled Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, highlighting Carol’s 70 plus year career. Her last public appearance was on her 95th birthday at the McCallum Theater to a record breaking crowd of fans from all around the world, that sold out in only a couple hours and featured an all-star extravaganza to honor her. In late 2018, artist Khoi Nguyen, used his PhD in mathematics to create a prolific painting of the actress, comedienne and activist, that allowed more than 43,000 friends and fans (as well as herself) to participate by affixing their fingerprint onto the work, each linked to a personal video interview about Miss Channing and her efforts to raise awareness with regard to the need for arts in education. Carol is survived by her son, Channing Lowe and close family member, Sylvia Long. Services have not yet been determined.

MK Scott is a Seattle-based arts writer. Check out his site at uniteseattlemag.com

receive his first-ever Oscar-nomination for his supporting turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me? while that film’s star Melissa McCarthy will more than likely earn her second for her justifiably lauded lead performance. Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film offer up their strongest potential nominees in years, the former sporting a number of box offices success like RBG, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Free Solo and Three Identical Strangers proving that nonfiction filmmaking is still alive and well as far as the ticket-buying public is concerned. As for the latter, four of the most critically acclaimed films in recent memory (Cuarón’s Roma, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Chang-dong Lee’s Burning, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters) all made the shortlist for Oscar consideration, and it wouldn’t be shocking at all to see all of them nominated Tuesday morning. At the same time, it would be equally unsurprising to see their spot in the lineup usurped by one of their fellow contenders, Columbia’s Birds of Passage, Denmark’s The Guilty, Germany’s Never Look Away, Kazakhstan’s Ayka and Lebanon’s Capernaum all viewed as worthy potential nominees as well.

In the end it should be an interesting morning, Tuesday’s nominee announcement almost certain to rankle a lot of feathers and send Oscar pundits scurrying to their computer’s to make bold pronouncements about the Academy’s overall intentions as if they personally went and polled all 6,000-plus members themselves (even though they obviously didn’t). Personally, I’m just hoping for a handful of surprises,

not the least of which would be a woman, any woman at all, busting through and making the Best Director lineup. Along with Granik, Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), Chloé Zhao (The Rider) and Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) all delivered features equal to or better than most of their male counterparts, so if this category remains an old boy’s club once again (as it likely will be) I’ll personally be moderately depressed. I’m also curious to see what happens with Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and Damien Chazelle’s First Man, and while I do think both films are deserving of multiple nominations in a number of categories, mainly I just want to see the two Moonlight and La La Land filmmakers battling out for Oscar glory against one another for a second time.

Be all that as it may and without further ado, here are my personal predictions for what films will likely receive Academy Award nominations in a handful of key categories come Tuesday morning:

BEST PICTURE

Reminder that the Academy changed the rules a few years back for this category and that no fewer than five and no more than ten films can end up vying for Best Picture. In order to get nominated a contender has to receive 5% of FIRST PLACE votes from the Academy membership, and with this year being so fractured and crazy anyone guessing there will be a full ten nominees is absolutely insane.

THE CONTENDERS: BlacKkKlansman, Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Burning, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Cold War, Crazy Rich Asians, Eighth Grade, The Favourite, First Man, Green Book, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace, Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place, Roma, A Star Is Born, Vice, Widows

PREDICTION: BlacKkKlansman , Black Panther, The Favourite, First Man, Green Book, If Beale Street Could Talk, A Star Is Born, Vice

BEST DIRECTOR

Probably the most contentious category with a variety of intriguing possibilities. The only certainty? Both Bradley Cooper and Alfonso Cuarón are going to get nominated. Approaching a certainty? Spike Lee will earn his first-ever Best Director nomination. After that? Your guess is as good as mine.

THE CONTENDERS: Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade), Damien Chazelle (First Man), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Peter Farrelly (Green Book), Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk), Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters), John Krasinski (A Quiet Place), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Adam McKay (Vice),

Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War), Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), Chloé Zhao (The Rider)

PREDICTION: Burnham, Cooper, Cuarón, Lanthimos, Lee

BEST ACTOR

Not nearly as packed a category as in recent years, still wouldn’t be too much of a shock to see a surprise or two (like Ryan Gosling in First Man or Ben Foster in Leave No Trace) work their way in here and take away a spot from a perceived frontrunner like Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) or Christian Bale (Vice).

THE CONTENDERS: Christian Bale (Vice), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate), Ben Foster (Leave No Trace), Ryan Gosling (First Man), Ethan Hawke (First Reformed ), Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased ), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here), John C. Reilly (Stan & Ollie), John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman)

PREDICTION: Bale, Cooper, Gosling, Malek, Washington

BEST ACTRESS

The year’s most loaded category. There are roughly 20 women who have a viable shot at landing a nomination here. There’s a good six or ten more names who could honestly claim they should be considered as well. The only guarantee? Glenn Close will receive her seventh overall Academy

Award nomination for The Wife and Lady Gaga will receive her first for her performance in A Star Is Born. Other than that, who the heck knows?

THE CONTENDERS: Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns), Glenn Close (The Wife), Toni Collette (Hereditary), Oliva Colman (The Favourite), Viola Davis (Widows), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), Regina Hall (Support the Girls), Nicole Kidman (Destroyer), Felicity Jones (On the Basis of Sex), Kiera Knightley (Colette), Joanna Kulig (Cold War), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Carey Mulligan (Wildlife), Rosamund Pike (A Private War), Julia Roberts (Ben is Back), Saoirse Ronan (Mary Queen of Scots), Charlize Theron (Tully)

PREDICTION: Aparicio, Close, Colman, Gaga, McCarthy

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

This is really starting to feel like a race between Mahershala Ali for Green Book and Richard E. Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me? with everyone else just happy to be nominated. Personally, I’d love for a Hugh Grant Paddington 2 surprise. It’s not going to happen, mind you, but a girl can dream all the same.

THE CONTENDERS: Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Timothée Chalamet (Beautiful Boy), Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman), Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born), Hugh Grant (Paddington 2), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?),

Jake Gyllenhaal (Wildlife), Josh Hamilton (Eighth Grade), Lucas Hedges (Ben is Back), Russell Hornsby (The Hate U Give), Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther), Sam Rockwell (Vice), Ben Whishaw (Mary Poppins Returns), Steven Yeun (Burning)

PREDICTION: Ali, Driver, Elliott, Richard E. Grant, Jordan

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

This should be Regina King’s show, her coming out party, her Oscar to lose for her blistering performance in If Beale Street Could Talk, and if critics group prizes were all that mattered then she would be the unquestioned front runner. And yet, many feel she’ll be the one to receive this year’s most shocking omission from the category most expect her to win. If that happens expect lots of tears from those who adore her performance, a good third or so of them likely coming from me.

THE CONTENDERS: Amy Adams (Vice), Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place), Blythe Danner (What They Had ), Marina de Tavira (Roma), Elizbeth Debicki (Widows), Claire Foy (First Man), Jennifer Garner (Love, Simon), Nicole Kidman (Boy Erased ), Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk), Blake Lively (A Simple Favor), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace), Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots), Emma Stone (The Favourite), Meryl Streep (Mary Poppins Returns), Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians)

PREDICTION: Adams, Foy, King, Stone, Weisz

Shyamalan’s Glass a tragically bleak assessment of comic book tropes

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer

GLASS

Now playing

It’s been 19 years since David Dunn (Bruce Willis) survived a horrific Philadelphia train derailment that killed all onboard save for him and in the process discovered he had powers bordering on superhuman. In the time since, he and his son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) have been secretly helping the city, stopping a variety of thugs and other reprobates from committing any more crimes. Meanwhile Elijah Price, a.k.a. Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), the mastermind behind that train disaster as well as two other mass casualty acts of carnage, has been incarcerated in a mental institution, drugged into an indifferent stupor as the staff is terrified of his massive intelligence. Potentially worst of all, Kevin Wendall Crumb (James McAvoy), a man with over 20 different personalities nicknamed “The Horde” dwelling inside of him, has kidnapped four high school cheerleaders to feed to his most powerful persona “The Beast” as soon as this half-man/half-animal creature awakens once again from his slumber.

David Dunn saves the cheerleaders from slaughter, stopping The Beast from consuming them. But in doing so the both of them are apprehended by Philadelphia police and placed in the custody of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of individuals who believe themselves to possess abilities like something out of a comic book. It is the same institution housing Elijah Price, and he’s nowhere near as catatonic as he has been letting on. With the arrival of Dr. Staple, and with her bringing David and Kevin/ The Horde/The Beast with her, Elijah is finally ready to make a bold new move, his latest gambit pitting hero against villain in a lethal gladiatorial battle he wants the whole world to witness.

It’s taken a while, but writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has finally completed his

COLD WAR

continued from cover

appears. It is 1949 and Poland is still struggling with the realities of a post-war world, and with the communist influences of their Russian neighbors slowly filtering into every aspect of society it is likely this wealth of musical creativity won’t be around much longer. After an exhaustive research and audition period, the pair creates a theatrical program dubbed the “Mazurek Ensemble” utilizing the talents of the very peasants who dance these dances and sing these songs on a regular basis. While casting their showcase they unearth a potential star, young Zula (Joanna Kulig) a mysterious, beautifully beguiling talent who has that mysterious something audiences simply cannot resist or take their eyes off of.

Fast-forward to 1952. Mazurek has become a sensation and the Polish Ministry of Culture has them touring much of communist Europe, including a trip to East Germany. Their new overseer Kaczmarek (Borys Szyc) has the group singing songs of praise to Joseph Stalin along with their typical folksongs in hopes this will get them invited to perform in Moscow at some point. Unknown to everyone, Wiktor and Zula have become romantically involved, the former looking at their trip to East Germany as an opportunity to defect so they both can escape and start making their own music and not be forced to play and sing the works of others.

Loosely inspired by the tumultuous reallife romance of his own parents but featur-

quest to deconstruct superhero comic book tropes down to the most basic elements, stripping them metaphorically naked as he does so. A story begun with 2000’s cult favorite Unbreakable and unexpectedly continued with 2016’s surprise box office smash Split, the filmmaker’s latest drama Glass is an unapologetically bleak affair. It is a slow, highly methodical evisceration of comic culture and expectations, refusing to bow to convention while at the same time still managing to follow the basic template of heroic fiction going all the way back to Greek mythology. Shyamalan’s film is fearless in its minutia and does not appear to care if it warms the cockles of this series’ most ardent fans, the director’s latest bit of narrative sleight of hand oftentimes breathtaking to behold. Not that this trilogy capper is flawless. Far from it. Shyamalan has never been one to pace his films particularly well, his penchant for overblown melodramatic flourishes that seem to go on forever almost second to none. Additionally, while I get the feeling the dialogue is purposefully overblown and theatrically embellished, some of the long monologues delivered by both Dr. Staple and by Elijah can get a little silly, their trite overt artificiality frequently eye-rolling. I’m also not entirely certain David’s son Joseph, Elijah’s still devoted mother (Charlayne Woodard) and Casey Cook (Anya Taylor-Joy), the only girl to ever escape The Beast’s clutches,

ing fictionalized characters and situations, Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War is a stunning piece of episodic storytelling that’s positively breathtaking in its invigorating emotional magnitude. Featuring gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Lukasz Zal (who last worked with Pawlikowski on the pair’s Oscar-winning Ida) and centered on a performance from up-and-coming star Kulig that’s beyond amazing, this movie is nothing short of magnificent. It is an emotional travelogue overflowing in heart, life, tragedy, music and romance, each yearly snapshot a microscopic look at dysfunction, lust, longing and love that only grows in magnitude as the film goes along.

Taking place over the span of 15 years, Pawlikowski’s story never goes as anticipated while at the same time it also refuses to provide any expansive details as to what’s been happening during any of the intervening years between check-ins. Thing is, by allowing the audience to figure out what has been taking place between the moments Wiktor and Zula are together it actually increases the effectiveness of these infrequent couplings, and that’s because the filmmaker is so explicitly clear about the dynamics of the pair’s relationship right from the jump. The musician and composer falls into the arms of the beguiling chanteuse with elegant naturalistic grace yet at the same time it’s instantly obvious their romance hasn’t begun on particularly solid footing.

When she doesn’t show for their East Berlin rendezvous in order to escape into West Germany, as upsetting as this moment might be, it isn’t at all surprising. While

are all incorporated into the story as neatly as is comfortable. While they all have a major part to play, it’s never clear as to why they’ve all become so important other than the need for someone to bear witness to all that is happening, and while some might find that satisfying I still felt Shyamalan could have fleshed each character out a bit more than he actually does.

But I was honestly fascinated by all that was happening throughout nonetheless. Whenever it sticks to its central scenario and allows Elijah’s plan to blossom organically, I was riveted with the breadth and depth of Shyamalan’s continued dissection of comic book mythology and culture. His story is a masterful continuation of the themes and ideas the filmmaker began to ponder in Unbreakable, the director still treating things with a level of austere sincerity that forces the viewer to reassess their own concepts of what internal facets makes a hero stand tall and what are the seeds that allow a villain to germinate and blossom into existence. Each step of this journey reveals levels of interconnectivity that purport that life is a constant battle of yin and yang with light and dark in a symbiotic struggle for supremacy that neither is destined to win.

This will rub many the wrong way. Shyamalan’s point of view is both determinedly dour as well as being a wee bit pretentious. He presents his story with a level

Wiktor heads off to Paris to start life anew, Zula stays with the Mazurek in order to become a star. They continue to cross paths over the years, neither able to get away from the other, as if there is some sort of magnetic compulsion pulling them together no matter what obstacles might be attempting to keep them apart. In Paris she steals away from her Polish State Security handlers after a performance to meet up with him after he is finished playing piano at a local club. A year later he heads to Yugoslavia on a stateless person passport to watch her and the rest of the Mazurek perform only to have Kaczmarek secretly have him thrown out of the country on pain of being secretly extradited to Poland unless he returns to France right that second.

These sort of meetings continue, everything building to an unexpected turn of events that allows them to be reunited in 1964 back in the Polish countryside in the same Orthodox church where they first met. Through it all there are explosions of music that mesh perfectly with the onslaught of emotions that filter through each and every one of Wiktor and Zula’s reunions. In that way, Pawlikowski has manufactured a motion picture that almost feels like a Jacques Demy musical coupled with viscerally incisive John Cassavetes or Chantal Akerman human drama, this conjoining of song, dance, heartache and romance an awe-inspiring treat that by the time it ended had reduced me to a pile of authentically realized tears.

As great as Kot is, and he’s splendid, Kulig is the featured attraction here and the gifted young actress is nothing short

of haughty certitude that will undoubtedly rub many the wrong way, while the destination of his tale is overflowing in heartbreaking tragedy that’s shocking in its disdain for traditional superhero storytelling. Even the nuclei of companionship, forgiveness and hope that materialize at the end are laced with a gruesome emotional grisliness that’s resolutely uncomforting, the future world that’s theoretically being outlined one filled with pain and desolation as much as it is selflessness and optimism.

As much as I enjoyed his last two low budget efforts The Visit and Split, from a technical standpoint Shyamalan is back at the top of his game in ways he hasn’t been close to in quite some time. There is a haunting visual elegance to this picture that’s incredible, cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (It Follows) doing a magnificent job crafting images that kept my eyes glued to the screen. Chris Trujillo’s (Nerve) production design and Jesse Rosenthal’s (Creed II ) art direction are equally extraordinary, while composer West Dylan Thordson (Joy) does a fine job reworking James Newton Howard’s signature themes from Unbreakable while also incorporating them into his own compositions for Split and in the process brings to a life a score that is viscerally unique in ways that fit this film perfectly.

As I’ve already stated, it’s likely audiences on the whole are going to be disappointed in Glass. They are going to enter the theatre anticipating Shyamalan to go in a certain direction where he pits his characters against one another in a traditional manner only to have him shatter those expectations while at the same time pointing a finger back their way asking them to reassess their understanding of the psychological dynamics that separate good from evil. Personally, I was transfixed by a lot of this and felt this story followed in the footsteps of Unbreakable and Split marvelously. For me, Shyamalan’s brutally self-aware conclusion to his trilogy was well worth the wait, and I’ll be curious to see how this series ends up getting assessed, debated and reinterpreted over the next few years.

of spectacular. After making memorable impressions in small, featured roles in films as diverse as Pawlikowski’s moderately rancid The Woman in the Fifth and Anne Fontaine’s brilliant The Innocents, her performance here is something of a scenestealing coming out party that’s beyond divine. Kulig burns through the screen, achieving a white-hot eloquence that’s transfixing. As great as the movie is there is a definite lull whenever the focus shifts entirely away from Zula and centers on Wiktor alone, the actress making the kind of mark upon the material that leaps beyond unforgettable and enters into a realm that can only be described as timeless.

To my mind Pawlikowski has always been an up-and-down filmmaker I’ve found oddly difficult to fully embrace. I love Ida It’s incredible. I moderately despise the aforementioned The Woman in the Fifth My Summer of Love is as close to a piece of essential cinema as anything the 21st century has seen up to this point, while for all its critical acclaim (and there is plenty of it) 2000’s Last Resort, to which this movie admittedly shares a handful of narrative similarities, didn’t do much for me one way or the other. But with Cold War I am now completely and totally aboard the Pawlikowski bandwagon. It blew me away, and no matter what story the director decides to tell next I’ll be first in line to give it a look, if only in the hope it turns out even a tenth as marvelous as this haunting music-fueled love story ultimately proves to be.

Emotionally barren Destroyer a violently bleak thriller

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer

DESTROYER

Opens January 18

Veteran LAPD Detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) is a living catastrophe. She drinks too much, barely sleeps, has an argue-first-and-ask-for-forgiveness-later relationship with ex-boyfriend Ethan (Scoot McNairy) and is angrily estranged from her troubled 16-year-old daughter Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn). But she’s also very good at her job, and when an old enemy from her past, notorious bank robber and cop killer Silas (Toby Kebbell) mysteriously resurfaces, Erin puts everything else aside in order to apprehend him. The detective looks at this task as a way to redeem herself for past sins, thinking that if she can bring him to justice the ghosts that haunt her will finally be satiated and vanish into the ether.

But getting her hands on Silas isn’t going to be simple. Shelby is spiraling out of control more than ever, requiring Erin to make her a priority whether the teen wants her to or not. Additionally, the people who know Silas best, including his slippery former lawyer (Bradley Whitford), aren’t going to freely speak with a dogged detective of their own volition. Worse, hunting this madman has also made her relive the past, Erin flooded with memories of her early law enforcement career going undercover for the FBI with a fellow operative (Sebastian Stan), the pair’s working relationship hardly platonic. She’s going to have to battle all of these various complications if she hopes to bring Silas to justice, the detective’s quest for redemption taking on the appearance of a pursuit for revenge as each tick of the clock slowly clicks by.

There’s not a lot new as it pertains to Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi’s (crazy/beautiful) script for the hard-edged cop thriller Destroyer. The basic plot is a film noir staple, and the likes of any number of actors ranging from Humphrey Bogart to Ralph

Meeker to Clint Eastwood to Al Pacino to James Woods to Sylvester Stallone to Chow Yun-Fat have played variations on characters similar to Detective Erin Bell going back I don’t know how long. But even with that being the case director Karyn Kusama (The Invitation, Girlfight) has managed to energize the material in a manner that is viscerally compelling, she and her star Kidman composing an electrifying thriller that might not be original but sure as heck ends up being easy to watch.

Make no mistake, no matter how dark, disturbing and tragic this violent mystery becomes, it is indeed incredibly easy to watch. Even without the makeup effects that make her look beaten down, withered and ashen from years of too much drink and even more depression, Kidman’s performance would still be astonishing. With each step she takes, with every move to get out of a car or awkward crick of the neck when she interrogates a suspect, I could feel

all of the aches and pains the character was trying to endure while still being able to do her job. This current situation is juxtaposed with flashbacks of the detective when she was undercover. As dangerous as her position was at that time, hope for a brighter future still intermixed with growing affections for her partner. Kidman transitions between past and present versions of her character with mesmeric ease, the emotional intensity of this performance only growing in strength as things build to their brutal and murderous conclusion.

As for Kusama, the talented filmmaker directs the heck out of the picture, imbuing it with a sense of urgency while also staging a flurry of visually rambunctious set pieces overflowing in an idiosyncratic sense of style that jumps off the screen. But the director just as clearly never loses sight of the bigger picture, Erin’s evolution as a detective, mother and human being front and center for all of the film’s two-hour run-

ning time. Even the not-so-surprising twists and turns Hay and Manfredi’s screenplay seems to take so much relish in unveiling are presented in a manner that still puts character first and shock value second. Kusama keeps things grounded in her lead character’s journey, each of her movements a cacophony of emotional maelstroms that will shower devastation and tragedy down upon all of those silly, clueless or stupid enough to try and weather them.

I wasn’t always pleased. The aggressive nastiness of the movie is bothersome, especially considering there’s nothing inventive or novel about anything that’s happening at any point of the narrative. Once it becomes clear that Kusama’s presentation of the nonlinear story went further back than I initially assumed it would I ended up having a pretty clear idea where things were going to conclude. Anything approaching a surprise was next to nonexistent, and not even the climactic wallop the entire movie had been building towards produced much of reaction out of me. There were times Hay and Manfredi’s script felt more like a parody of male-driven cop thrillers, especially the low-budget exploitation variety that were so popular during the 1980s, only with a not-so-subtle feminist bent. It can all be a little tiresome and slightly obnoxious, and no matter how well-directed it all is or how strong Kidman’s performance might be there are still problems that brought me close to rolling my eyes in incredulous disdain.

But Kusama’s too strong a filmmaker for those feelings to last very long. I was with Erin start to finish, and even if I had a decent idea as to where her quest to bring down Silas was ultimately headed I nonetheless still wanted to see this story come to a climax. Thanks in large part to Kidman’s internalized tenacious ferocity, Destroyer became a cold-blooded thriller I had no wish to tear my eyes away from, its final moments a haunting nightmare of agony, regret and retribution that, while not original, remains intimately effective all the same

Intouchables remake The Upside a tone-deaf misfire

by Sara Michelle Fetters

A&E Writer

THE UPSIDE Now playing

The Upside is a poor, if well-intentioned, remake of the very good 2011 French hit The Intouchables, both motion pictures loosely based on the real-life friendship between wealthy quadriplegic Corsican-French businessman Phillippe Pozzo Di Borgo and his French-Algerian caregiver Abdel Sellou. In the case of this English language version starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Divergent) and scripted by Jon Hartmere, it is very, very loosely based, any resemblance to the true story of the two men feeling more accidental than it does anything else. While its heart is arguably in the right place, this movie is a tedious slog that plays up a number of regressive stereotypes and caricatures while also lapsing into cheap, sexually questionable bits of slapstick comedy I found personally loathsome.

Depressed and gloomy quadriplegic New York billionaire Phillip Lacasse (Cranston) needs a new aide. Ex-con Dell Scott (Hart) needs to prove he’s been looking for work. In the wrong place at the wrong time, the fasttalking former thief ends up in Lacasse’s Park Avenue penthouse sitting across from the businessman’s personal assistant Yvonne (Nicole Kidman). Much to her disbelief, Lacasse chooses Dell to be his caretaker, giving the young man until the next morning to decide whether or not he wants to take the position or would rather remain unemployed.

He takes the job, and from that point going forward The Upside attempts to become an unlikely story of friendship as these two men from entirely different worlds learn what makes the other tick. Thing is, unlike the original film, Burger and Hartmere have inserted a bunch of pointless additions that add nothing to the story. For one thing, Dell’s journey towards learning about how to take responsibility for his actions and become a selfless instead of a selfish man is severely undercut by a subplot involving his estranged wife and son that’s frustratingly contrived. As for Phillip, he’s a compendium of disabled story tropes that are tiresome, the billionaire painted as a man defined almost entirely by his quadriplegic status and very rarely for his intelligence, creativity and skills that made him a success.

While a remake should be judged on its own merits as much as it can be, in this case it’s very difficult not to look at the choices The Intouchables made and wonder how the filmmakers here couldn’t see going down a similar sort of path would be the thing to do.

While not free of melodramatic, somewhat schmaltzy indulgences, the reason directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s film ended up being so delightful was that it tried to avoid bowing to convention. Philippe (beautifully played by François Cluzet) didn’t need his caretaker (a brilliant Omar Sy) to “save” him. He knew what his situation was. He didn’t like it, being a quadriplegic made him understandably angry, maybe even a little bitter, but he wasn’t at the end of his rope. Philippe wasn’t ready to end his own life and bringing on an ex-con as his aid wasn’t a clever ploy to see if he could get someone to accidentally put him out of his supposed misery. Instead, their blossoming friendship was pure, authentic and genuine, each man learning something about themselves and about how to live their respective lives from how the other did the same that ended up making each a better human being in the process.

Look, I’m not trying to say the French film is perfect. It isn’t, not by a long shot, and it does have its own moments of saccharine emotional indulgence and disability story cliché that are irritating. But the filmmakers handle things with such restraint, such tender care, these issues don’t matter to the extent they otherwise would have. In the case of The Upside, the same can never be said. Here all of those bits and pieces of execrable pabulum are so obnoxious, so heavy-handed and pushed into the viewer’s face, they’re pretty much impossible to miss. Additionally, in this story Phillip is frequently utilized for all of Dell’s supposedly crazy and endearing comedic antics, reducing him to nothing more than a stationary prop and that’s every

bit as despicable as it sounds. Some of that humor is of the eye-rolling “gay panic” variety, and while a gag revolving around catheters might be moderately funny for a second or two, stringing one out for a good five-plus minutes is indefensible. Cranston is too good an actor not to be able to make the most of this, and he does have a handful of scenes that I found to be somewhat emotionally affecting. Hart tries his best, and he isn’t bad, but his typical schtick just doesn’t work very well inside this story. He tries to look stoic, attempts his best to assume a pained, hangdog demeanor of a broken man wanting to redeem himself in the eyes of his son. But it all still comes across as forced and facile, and often it’s as if the actor is noticeably straining as he tries to hold himself in check from going into the type of manic overdrive that’s been a big part of his rise to comedic superstardom. It’s a valiant effort, but one I still found more admirable than enjoyable, and as such Hart’s presence didn’t do a lot for me.

As for the rest, Kidman is wasted in a nothing role, while Julianna Margulies’ brief supporting turn falls strangely flat. Burger and Hartmere introduce a number of additional plot elements (like a valuable first edition signed by Mark Twain that ends up with Dell’s son) but all of them strangely go nowhere, while the nonlinear structure doesn’t add anything substantive and only calls attention to itself for all the wrong reasons. The downside to The Upside is that there just isn’t a lot that’s positive to say about it. Burger’s remake is a waste of time and talent, this tone-deaf misfire the first bona fide disappointment of 2019.

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RETAIL SHOPS

DIESEL BAR - 1413 14th Ave. - 322-1080

GLO’S - 1621 E. Olive Way - 324-2577

HOT MAMA’S PIZZA - 700 E. Pine St. - 322-6444

BABELAND - 707 E. Pike St. - (206) 328-2914

JAZZ ALLEY - 2033 6th Ave. E. - 441-9729

CASTLE SUPERSTORE #17

JULIA’S - 300 Broadway Ave. E. - 860-1818

1017 E. Pike St - (206) 204-0126

KREMWERK - 1809 Minor Ave. #10 - 682-2935

DIEGO PELLICER - 2215 4th Ave. S - (206) 624-0070

MADISON PUB - 1315 E. Madison - 325-6537

DOGHOUSE LEATHERS

NEIGHBOURS - 1509 Broadway - 324-5358

1312 E. Pike St. - (206) 257-0231

OUT WEST - 5401California Ave. SW

EMERSON SALON - 909 E. Pike St. - (206) 323-7437

FANTASY UNLIMITED

THE PINE BOX - 1600 Melrose Ave - 588-0375

POCO WINE ROOM

2027 Westlake Ave. - (206) 682-0167

1408 E. Pine St. - 322-9463

1510 1st Ave - (206) 624-1784

POKE BAR - 1542 12th Ave - 402-5178

HASHTAG - 3540 Stone Way N - (206) 946-8157

PONY - 1221 E. Madison St. - 324-2854

HERBAN LEGENDS - 55 Bell St - (206) 849-5596

HERB(N) ELEMENTS

PURR - 1518 11th Ave. - 325-3112

R PLACE - 619 E. Pine - 322-8828

11013 Lake City Way NE - (206) 535-8769

RE-BAR - 1114 Howell at Boren - 233-9873

ROOT TABLE 2213 NW Market St. - 420-3214

LAUGHING BUDDHA TATTOO

1534 Broadway - (206) 329-8274

THE CANTERBURY - 534 15th Ave. E. - 322-3130

CHANGES IN WALLINGFORD

CAPITOL CIDER - 818 E Pike St. - (206) 397-3564

C.C. ATTLE’S BAR & GRILLE

2103 N. 45th - 545-8363

1701 E. Olive Way - (206) 726-0565

SEATTLE EAGLE - 314 E. Pike - 621-7591

SHORTY’S 2222 2nd Ave - 441-5449

THE NEW YORK XCHANGE

STOUT -1530 11th Ave - 397-3825

225 Broadway E. - (206) 726-3300

TOULOUSE PETIT

ONYX LEATHER

THE CRESCENT - 1413 E. Olive Way - 720-8188

THE CANTERBURY

THE CUFF COMPLEX

534 15th Ave. E - (206) 322-3130

CHANGES IN WALLINGFORD

2103 N. 45th - (206) 545-8363

THE CRESCENT

1413 E. Olive Way - (206) 720-8188

THE CUFF COMPLEX

1533 13th Ave. - (206) 323-1525

DIESEL BAR - 1413 14th Ave. - (206) 322-1080

GLO’S - 1621 E. Olive Way - (206) 324-2577

HOT MAMA’S PIZZA

700 E. Pine St. - (206) 322-6444

JAZZ ALLEY - 2033 6th Ave. - (206) 441-9729

JULIA’S - 300 Broadway Ave. E - (206) 860-1818

KREMWERK - 1809 Minor Ave. #10 - (206) 682-2935

THE LUMBER YARD

9619 16th Ave. SW - (206) 695-2007

MADISON PUB - 1315 E. Madison - (206) 325-6537

NEIGHBOURS - 1509 Broadway - (206) 324-5358

OUT WEST

5401California Ave. SW - (206) 937-1540

THE PINE BOX - 1600 Melrose Ave - (206) 588-0375

POCO WINE ROOM

1408 E. Pine St. - (206) 322-9463

POKE BAR - 1542 12th Ave - (206) 402-5178

PONY - 1221 E. Madison St. - (206) 324-2854

QUEER BAR - 1518 11th Ave - (206) 687-7491

R PLACE - 619 E. Pine - (206) 322-8828

RE-BAR - 1114 Howell at Boren - (206) 233-9873

ROOT TABLE 2213 NW Market St. - (206) 420-3214

SEATTLE EAGLE - 314 E. Pike - (206) 621-7591

SHORTY’S 2222 2nd Ave - (206) 441-5449

STOUT -1530 11th Ave - (206) 397-3825

TOULOUSE PETIT

601 Queen Anne Ave. N - (206) 432-9069

UNICORN - 1118 E Pike - (206) 325-6492

UNION - 1318 E. Union St. - (206) 328-1318

WILDROSE - 1021 E Pike - (206) 324-9210

ZIPPY’S GIANT BURGERS 9614 14th Ave SW - (206) 763-1347

1605 12th Ave. #8 - (206) 328-1965

601 Queen Anne Ave N - 432-9069

UNICORN - 1118 E Pike - 325-6492

OZ - 3831 Stone Way N - (206) 251-0630

PACIFIC NORTHWEST SHOP

4411 Wallingford Ave. N. - (206) 535-6920

PANACHE - 225 Broadway E. - (206) 726-3300

PONDER - 2413 E Union - (206) 420-2180

RUCKUS - 1465 E Republican St - (206) 257-4805

TABOO ADULT VIDEO

9813 16th Ave SW - (206) 767-4855

TRUE LOVE ART GALLERY & TATTOO

1525 Summit Ave. - (206) 227-3572

UNDER U 4 MEN

709 Broadway Ave. E - (206) 324-6446

UNCLE IKE’S

2310 E Union St - 1-800-GET-DRUGS 501 15th Ave E - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

9822 15th Ave SW - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

WILD AT HEART

1111 NW Leary Way - (206) 782-5538

BELLINGHAM

LOVER'S

193 Telegraph Road - (360) 752-1862

RUMORS CABARET 1119 Railroad - (360) 671-1849

DES MOINES

ADULT AIRPORT VIDEO 2 21635 Pacific Hwy S

ADULT

LOVER’S - 112 SE Everett - (425) 353-3607

LOVER’S - 3402 Broadway - (425) 252-8754

KENT

WILDROSE - 1021 E. Pike - 324-9210

ZIPPY’S GIANT BURGERS

5633 Airport Way S - 466-5954

9614 14th Ave SW - 763-1347

LOVER’S - 25801 104th Ave. SE - (253) 852-1720

RETAIL SHOPS

THE FANTASY SHOP 604 Central Ave. S - (253) 850-8428

CASTLE SUPERSTORE #17

NASHVILLE’S SPORTS BAR (Drag Shows) 114 - Railroad Ave. N - (253) 852-0909

1017 E. Pike St - 204-0126

DOGHOUSE LEATHERS 1312 E. Pike St. - 257-0231

LA CONNER

EMERSON SALON - 909 E. Pike St. - 323-7437

HASHTAG - 3540 Stone Way N - 946-8157

NEW YORK EXCHANGE

THE HERON INN & WATERGRASS DAY SPA 117 Maple Ave. - (877) 883-8899 info@theheron.com

225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

ONYX LEATHER - 1605 12th Ave. #8 - 328-1965

OZ - 3831 Stone Way N - 251-0630

PANACHE

OLYMPIA

225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

RUCKUS 1465 E Republican St. - 257-4805

DARBY’S CAFE

THE FANTASY SHOP 9630 16th Ave. SW - 762-3299

211 5th Ave. SE - (360) 357-6229

LOVER’S 3959 Martin Way E, Suite D - (360) 456-7300

TABOO ADULT VIDEO 9813 16th Ave SW - 767-4855

JAKES - 311 4th Ave. E - (360) 956-3247

TOYS IN BABELAND - 707 E. Pike St. - 328-2914

UNDER U 4 MEN

PORT ANGELES

709 Broadway Ave. E. - 324-6446

MAPLE ROSE INN 112 Reservoir Rd - (800) 570-2007

UNCLE IKE’S 2310 E Union St - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

SPOKANE

501 15th Ave E - 1-800-GET-DRUGS 9822 15th Ave SW - 1-800-GET-DRUGS WILD AT HEART 1111 NW Leary Way - 782-5538

ANDY’S - 1401 W. 1st Ave. - (509) 747-0304

THE BLIND BUCK

BELLINGHAM

204 N. Division St. - (509) 343-9425

GLOBE BAR AND KITCHEN

LOVER’S 193 Telegraph Road - (360) 752-1862

204 N. Division St. - (509) 443-4014

NYNE BAR AND BISTRO

RUMORS CABARET 1119 Railroad - (306) 671-1849

232 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 474-1621

DES MOINES

EVERETT

KENT

LA CONNER

TACOMA

CASTLE SUPERSTORE

OLYMPIA

PORT

SPOKANE

TRI-CITIES

TACOMA

TRI-CITIES

TUKWILA

Meetings Events Activities

TO GET A CALENDAR LISTING: To have your meeting or event considered for the Community Calendar, please mail, fax, or drop off details to: SGN, Attn: Community Calendar, 1707 23rd Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. SGN phone: (206) 324-4297. E-mail: sgn2@sgn.org.

INCLUDE: Date, time, location, contact phone # for publication (if possible), brief description of event & sponsoring organization. DEADLINE: Tuesday 5pm. ACCESSIBILITY: Is your event accessible to LGBTQ people with visible or hidden disabilities? See Jean’s List webpage www.scn.org/activism/calendar/disabilities. html for Marla Nonken’s disabilities accommodations lists.

NOTE: 10-digit dialing has come to the Seattle area. The (206) area code must now be used to dial local calls. Location of meetings/events is in Seattle unless otherwise noted.

SATURDAY - January 19

Tasveer South Asian Literary Festival. Multiple venues. (Concludes Jan. 20. See complete schedule at www.tasveer.org.)

Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 9am. Greenlake (outside Evans Pool). Every Saturday. GLBT running & walking club sponsors weekly runs, monthly potlucks, track & field activity, annual Run With Pride. (206) 4488518. www.seattlefrontrunners.org.

Womxn’s March on Seattle 2019: Building Power. 9am: rally at Cal Anderson Park and march to Seattle Center. 11:30am: panels and other events designed to inspire and motivate further action. Topics include #MeToo, immigrants & refugees, womxn of color, disability justice, art & activism, youth activism, Trans awareness, and indigenous healers. More information and complete events schedule at www.seattlewomxnmarchingforward.org.

Positively Living Coffee Social. 10am-12 noon. Cupcake Royale, 1111 E Pike St. Every Saturday. Casual social get-together for the HIV community. (206) 9571600. Sponsored by LIfelong. New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous is a 12-step/12-tradition-oriented fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope to overcome sex and love patterns of addiction. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org.

Lambert House Queer Rec. 1pm. 1818 15th Ave. Meets 3rd Saturday each month. Outdoor & indoor adventures for youth ages 22 & under. www.lamberthouse.org

PNW G/B/Q Longhaired Men. 2pm. Locations vary. Check the website or call for details. An informal social group for longhairs, growers, longhair admirers & their friends. We gather for brunch on the 3rd Saturday each month to socialize, chat & often go out afterwards for coffee or some activity. Please join us! For information & to RSVP: www.longhair.shorturl.com

Seattle Prime Timers Monthly Potluck. 2pm. Plymouth Church, 1217 6th Ave (downtown between University & Seneca), lounge. Meets 3rd Saturday most months. Cost: $5 per person (please try to bring exact change) to help pay for room rental. Please bring a dish that will serve eight or more to share. Free parking below the church (entrance on University). Enter lounge via garage elevator or front doors on 6th. Info: www.seattleprimetimers.org.

Trans Awareness Workshop. 2:30-4pm. Vera Project, Seattle Center north of Key Arena near Republican St & Warren Ave N. What is the difference between Trans, gender-nonconforming, and intersex? What are the correct pronouns to use with a Trans person and what should you do if you accidentally mis-pronoun someone? This session will answer basic questions like these and offer insight about how to support Trans people in our community. Presented by Gender Justice League and organized by Seattle Womxn Marching Forward. Info: www.seattlewomxnmarchingforward.org.

Lusio Lights. 6-9pm. Volunteer Park Conservatory. Fundraiser for Friends of the Conservatory featuring unique local light art and music. Walk the plant displays after dark and see rare tropical plants come alive with light. Refreshments available in Bromeliad House bar, DJ dancing at Seasonal House. Tickets $15 advance, $17 at door ($10 and $12 for current Friends members). volunteerparkconservatory.org

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 6pm-12 midnight. Call for location & details. Every Saturday. (253) 671-2838. www.oasisyouthcenter.org.

(Also Thursdays & Fridays 4-10pm.)

New Wave Dance Party. 9pm-1am, The Knife Room, 103 S Main St. Klaus Nomi club experience with DJ Status Apparatus. Features 1980s club kid costume contest, photo booth, specialty cocktails, innovative snacks. Teaser musical performance by Nomi (Devin Bannon) from Cafe Nordo’s next show, “Alien/Angel.” 21+, $10 cover, tickets at http://bit.ly/NewWaveDanceParty. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Fred Hutch AIDS research. Info: www.cafenordo.com.

SUNDAY - January 20

Womxn Act on Seattle: Day of Action and Food Drive. Various times and venues. Carry forward the momentum from Saturday’s Womxn’s March (see Jan. 19 listing) with panels, workshops, skill-building and healing sessions at locations around the city including Casa Latina, Plymouth Church, Riveter Hub, Seattle University, Youngstown Arts, and others. Info at www.

community calendar

seattlewomxnmarchingforward.org.

Tasveer South Asian Literary Festival. Multiple venues. (Concludes today. See complete schedule at www.tasveer.org.)

Center for Spiritual Living. 8:25, 9:45, 11:30am. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! (206) 527-8801 ext 203, www.cslseattle.org

Gay Men’s Bowling in Everett 9:30am. Glacier Lanes, 9630 Evergreen Way, Everett. Every Sunday. Spectators welcome. Join us for lunch afterwards! Sponsored by the Snohomish County Gay Men’s Task Force. For info email John at johndmarsh@mac.com; www.gaysnohomish.org

University Lutheran Church. 9:30am Worship, 10:30am Coffee Fellowship, 11am Adult Forum & Education Hour. 1604 NE 50th St. All are welcome. We choose love. (206) 525-7074. universitylutheranseattle.org

Baha’i Prayer & Fellowship Circle. 10am. Pearl Warren Bldg, 606 12th Ave S. Meets 3rd Sunday each month. Share prayers, readings, thoughts & music. All backgrounds, all faiths welcome. (206) 391-2188. Plymouth Church United Church of Christ. 10am Worship. 1217 6th Ave. Love your (LGBTQ) neighbor as yourself. (206) 622-4865, plymouthchurchseattle.org

All Pilgrims Christian Church. 10:30am Worship. 500 Broadway E. Come as you are. All are welcome. A congregation of the Disciples of Christ & the United Church of Christ. (206) 322-0487, www.allpilgrims.org

Ethyl Forever Car Club, Pacific NW Region Lambda Car Club Monthly Tire Kick/Social. 10:30am. Randy’s Restaurant, 10016 E Marginal Way S (south of the Museum of Flight). Meets 3rd Sunday each month. This monthly informal auto enthusiasts’ event starts with breakfast and a show & tell, and continues to a chosen point of interest. Open to all LGBTQ persons & friends who have an interest in the automobile, not just collector or performance vehicles. ethylforever@hotmail.com

Northminster Presbyterian Church. 10:30am Worship. 7706 25th Ave NW. A village church in the city open to all. (206) 783-3402. www.northminsterpres.org (Conveniently located a block from the Metro #40 bus route.)

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church. 10:30am Worship. 1501 32nd Ave S. Great music. Dynamic preaching. Holy communion. Encountering the transformative and unconditional love of God in Christ. Join us! www. stclementseattle.org

Seattle Sunday Bowling. 10:30am. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW (at SW Oregon St). Open bowl every Sunday for the GLBT community & friends. You don’t have to worry about how you bowl! $6.50 + $3 shoe

rental. (425) 785-4729.

Welcome Table Christian Church. 9:45am Meditation; 10:30am Worship; Labyrinth 2nd Sundays 1-4pm. 1322

S Bayview St. Where people of all genders and sexualities, and families of all shapes & sizes are welcome and celebrated. A welcoming and affirming community since 1987. welcometablecc.org

Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church Seattle. 11am Worship. Chapel at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St. MCC is a progressive Christ-centered faith community committed to providing a nurturing environment for individual & community growth thru Jesus Christ while celebrating unity in diversity. MCC is Seattle’s oldest Gay-friendly church. (206) 325-2421, www.mccseattle.org. Meditation for GBT Men. 11am-1pm. Cal Anderson House, 400 Broadway. Suitable for beginning & experienced meditators. Sponsored by Dharma Buddies. Contact Forrest Rode, (206) 920-6117, or Doug Allison, doug.l.allison@gmail.com. Find us under “Dharma Buddies” on Meetup.com or at DharmaBuddies.org. (Women are invited to contact our sister meditation group at www. LotusSisters.org.)

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. 11:15am (also 7:30am, 9am, 5pm). 15 W Roy St. We are an accepting, progressive, Anglo-Catholic parish, renewing its people for their Christian lives in today’s world through worship, spiritual formation, engagement in the arts, and acts of compassion. www.stpaulseattle.com

Just for Today (NA). 12-1:15pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. Drop-in 12-step Narcotics Anonymous group open to anyone in recovery. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

Paths to Recovery Al-Anon Family Group. 12-1:30pm. Seattle University Student Center, 901 12th Ave, Room 122. Every Sunday. LGBTQ supported. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number (206) 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon.org

Orca Swim Team Workout. Sun: Afternoon; Mon/ Weds/Fri: Evenings; Tues/Thurs: Mornings. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. Pre-registration required. Orca Swim Team workouts are for both competitive & recreational swimmers. www. orcaswimteam.org

January 19 thru January 27

Free Movie: “East Side Story.” 3pm. Scarecrow Video, 5030 Roosevelt Way NE. Romantic comedy of interracial Gay couple adapting to career upheaval and neighborhood gentrification. Free to Mature Friends, Prime Timers and their guests (refreshments available for purchase). Space is limited to 30 people; RSVP to Roger Meers at quinte223@icloud.com.

Panel on Housing for LGBTQI Elders. 3-5pm. Riveter Hub, 1517 12th Ave, Suite 101. LGBTQI elders and activists speak about housing for community members and the intersecting challenges to safe housing. Facilitated by Lois Thetford; organized by Seattle Womxn Marching Forward. Info: www.seattlewomxnmarchingforward.org. Rain City Soccer Club - Kickabout. Sunday afternoon usually at 3pm. Location varies. Join us for Seattle’s mostly-weekly mostly-LGBTQ pickup soccer game. We play an organized, 2-hour scrimmage on nice fieldturf surface. Sometimes there is a brief training/practice session before we play. Usually there is a “one-beer” after the scrimmage. To sign up visit www.raincitysoccer.org Trans Legal Clinic. 3-5pm. Riveter Hub, 1517 12th Ave, Suite 101. A legal clinic for assisting Trans people with name and gender-identification changes on official documents. Presented by Gender Justice League, organized by Seattle Womxn Marching Forward. Info: www.seattlewomxnmarchingforward.org.

Seattle Poly Potluck & Discussion Group. 5-8pm. (contact for new location) Meets 3rd Sunday each month. For people interested in polyamorous, open, and ethically non-monogamous relationships. $5 donation; please bring a potluck dish. This event is open to the public. Look for us on Facebook or Meetup. Shame to Grace (SAA). 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. Sex Addicts Anonymous is a fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength & hope with each other so they may overcome their sexual addiction & help others recover from sexual addiction or dependency. Seattle SAA helpline (206) 237-8828, SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Ski Buddies Monthly Potluck. 6-8:30pm. Check website for details. Meets 1st or 2nd Sunday each month (Oct-Apr). Come & hear about all the great ski trips & winter activities Ski Buddies has planned. Whether you snow board, downhill, cross-country, or telemark, there are trips & events for you. Bring a potluck dish to share. Ski Buddies is a non-profit GLBT & GLBT-friendly club which meets regularly thruout the fall & winter, offering camaraderie & deeply discounted skiing adventures for all levels of skiers & snowboarders. www.skibuddies.org Pride League Bowling. 6:30pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Sunday. Regular league bowling. Jeff, (206) 932-3731; leagues@wsbowl.com. Integrity/Puget Sound. 7pm Worship & Fellowship. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Thomson Chapel, 1245 10th Ave E. Integrity is an international ministry of Gay & Lesbian Episcopalians, their friends & families, dedicated to education, support & service within the Church & the GLBT community. (425) 226-2746. Noche Latina - Latino Night. 10pm. Capitol Lounge, 916 E Pike St. Every Sunday. Go-go dancers at 10:30pm; drag show at midnight. 21+ ID required. $10 cover. Co-sponsored by Entre Hermanos.

MONDAY - January 21

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY MLK Jr Day Celebration & March - Garfield High School (23rd Ave & E Jefferson St) to Westlake Park (4th & Pine St.) 8:30-11:30am Opportunity Fair; 9:3010:50am Workshops; 11-12:30pm Rally in Gymnasium; 12:30-1:30pm March to Downtown (Westlake Park); 1:30-2:45pm Rally at Westlake Park (4th & Pine St.); 2:30-3:30pm Community Lunch.

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

SOBER On Meds. 1-2pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Monday. 12-step group open to anyone in recovery & living on a medicine regimen. (206) 3222437; www.sasgcc.org

Strength Over Speed (SOS). 2-3:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437; www. sasgcc.org

Repair Cafe. 6-9pm. Capitol Hill Tool Library, 1552 Crawford Place. Bring your broken household items (clothing, jewelry, electronics, small appliances, tools, etc.) and volunteers will do their best to fix them. Sponsored in part by Seattle Public Utilities. Info: https:// sustainablecapitolhill.org.

Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

Freely Speaking Toastmasters. 7pm. Gay City, 517 E Pike St, downstairs space. Every Monday (except holidays & the last Mondays in August & December). Seattle’s only LGBT speaking club. www.FreelySpeaking.org

PFLAG/Everett (Snohomish County) Monthly Meeting. 7pm. Stillaguamish Public Meeting Room #1, Robert J. Drewell Bldg., 3000 Rockefeller Ave, Everett. Meets 3rd Monday each month. Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays is a national support organization for parents, spouses & families of GLBT persons, as well as those minorities. www.pflageverett.org; PFLAG/Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724.

Trans Youth Group. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. A chance for youth to talk with others about their experiences & concerns related to identifying as Transgender. www.lamberthouse.org

Destiny/Unity AA Meeting in Tacoma 7:30-8:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Monday. LGBTQ-friendly AA meeting. (253) 474-8897. (Also meets Fridays.)

Lambert House Art Night. 7:30-9:30pm. 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. Bring your ideas & let’s have some fun. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org

Washington Gender Alliance Support Group Meeting in Shoreline 7:30pm. Center for Human Services, 17018 15th Ave NE, Shoreline. Every Monday. www. washingtongenderalliance.com

TUESDAY - January 22

Orca Swim Team Workout. Morning. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

LGBTQ+ Group. 1:15-2:15pm. Orion Center, 1828 Yale Ave. Every Tuesday. A group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 & their allies. Sponsored by YouthCare. (206) 622-5555.

LGBTQ Questioning & Allied Youth Drop-in Group in Renton 6-8pm. Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS), 1025 S 3rd St, Renton. Every Tuesday. Confidential. Snacks provided. Bring friends or come alone - anyone 12-18 is welcome. Questions? Call Sarah Hardin, (425) 271-5600 ext 155, or email sarahh@rays.org

Strength Over Speed (SOS). 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437; www. sasgcc.org

ALISS - Aging Lesbians in South Seattle Evening Gathering. 6:30-8pm. Southeast Seattle Senior Center, 4655 S Holly St, Rainier Ave S & S Holly St., Social Hall. Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. This is a group primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Facilitator: Fai Coffin; Cost: FREE. Metro route 7. Wheelchair accessible. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org.

Diverse Harmony. 6:30-9pm. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. Every Tuesday. Diverse Harmony is the nation’s first Gay/Straight Alliance Youth Chorus. Youth ages 13-22 are welcome regardless of sexual orientation. www.diverseharmony.org

LGBTQ MS Connection/National MS Society. 6:308pm. Swedish Conference Center, Cherry Hill Campus, James Tower, 550 17th Avenue, Room E, 1st Floor. Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. MS Connection is a support group with the goal of providing a safe environment for the LGBT community to express their experiences and the impact of MS on their lives and the lives of their loved ones, as well as provide support for one another. Contact Shelly at (206) 250-5002 or LGBTMSConnection@gmail.com.

No Man’s Land - For Female-Identified Youth, Ages 22 & Under. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Tuesday. Topics range from family issues to school happenings to like/lust/love relationships. All Queer females welcome. Come discuss how smart. strong Queer women live their lives. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org

PFLAG/North Seattle Monthly Meeting. 7-9pm. Haller Lake United Methodist Church, 13055 1st Ave NE. Meets 4th Tuesday each month. (206) 325-7724 or northseattle@pflagseattle.org. PFLAG, a national organization founded in 1972, provides support, education and advocacy for families and friends of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer persons and is committed to moving LGBTQ equality forward. Tuesday Night Sex Addicts Anonymous (GLBTQI). 7-8:30pm. All Pilgrims Christian Church, 500 Broadway E (enter at 509 10th Ave E; buzz in, Colonial room). Every Tuesday. SAA is a fellowship of men & women whose primary purpose is to stop addictive sexual behavior & help others recover from sexual addiction. Seattle SAA helpline (206) 237-8828. SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191. Different Drummers. 7:15-8:30pm. Every Tuesday. Hand drumming classes for Gay men. It’s easy, it’s fun & anyone can do it! Learn traditional African & AfroCaribbean rhythms & basic hand drumming techniques. Experience connection, community & spirituality. Drums are provided. For info & location call Dennis at (206) 363-4500 or www.outdrum.com

Men’s Discussion Group. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Tuesday. Peer group for Gay & Bi men. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Here & Now Gay & Lesbian AA Meeting in Tacoma 7:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Tuesday. Spiritual Empowerment. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. A vibrant drop-in workshop for those of any spiritual belief. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Washington Gender Alliance Open Support Meeting in Bellingham 7:30-9pm. St James Presbyterian Church, 910 14th St., Bellingham. Every Tuesday. (360) 445-2411; www.washingtongenderalliance.com. (See Wednesday listing at 7:30pm for details.)

Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. GLBT & GLBT-friendly co-ed water polo team is open to all who want to play. Beginners & experienced players welcome. Check our website for up to the minute details, or call the Otter Hotline (206) 414-8797. www.otterpolo.com.

Seattle Poetry Slam. Doors 8pm, Show 8:30pm. Rebar, 1114 Howell St. Every Tuesday. A spoken word poetry

community calendar

event that features a weekly open mic, feature poet, and slam (poetry competition). Come out and express yourself. LGBTQ- & QTPOC-friendly; all genders welcome. $5. 21+. seattlepoetryslam.org

WEDNESDAY - January 23

Mature Friends Walk Around Greenlake. 11am. Meet up at 10:50am with a group of older men gathered at the north end of the parking lot that is next to the boathouse along the southwest side of Greenlake. Every Wednesday. Walk around Greenlake followed by lunch at a local restaurant. www.maturefriends.org

Mature Friends Dining Out Luncheon. 12 noon. Roosters Restaurant, 611 Broadway E. Meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday each month. Just drop in - no RSVP required. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www.maturefriends.org

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

True Colors: Connecting LGBTQ Teens in Shoreline 4-5pm. Every Wednesday. Discussing your important issues, building a supportive community. For information, location & to REGISTER call Lindsay Bagley (206) 362-7282 x 8018 or email lbagley@chs-nw.org

Living Positively. 5-7pm. Lifelong, 1016 E Pike St., 3rd Fl. Every Wednesday. Social and support group for the HIV community with various topics for discussion and conversation. (206) 957-1600 or www.lifelong.org. Sponsored by Lifelong. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): A Support Group for GLBTQ+Youth (14-20) serving Snohomish County & surrounding communities. 6-8pm. Phone or email for location. Every Wednesday. Sponsored by PFLAG Everett. Brenda, (425) 263-2908. globeleaders@hotmail.com

Queer Seattle Book Club. 6pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E (upstairs). Every Wednesday. This month’s title is “The Great Believers” by Rebecca Makkai, a novel of urban life in the early years of the AIDS crisis. https://faculty. washington.edu/swittet/SGLBookClub/ Lotus Sisters Meditation & Dharma DiscussionNorth. 6:15-8pm. Ravenna Bryant neighborhood. Every Wednesday. Call (206) 525-7295 for location. www. LotusSisters.org.

Center for Spiritual Living. 6:30pm-Meditation, 7pmService. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! Info (206) 527-8801 ext 203, www.cslseattle.org

Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 6:30pm. Volunteer Park, 14th Ave E & E Prospect St. Every Wednesday. Meet at Black Sun sculpture across for museum. (See Saturday at 9am.)

Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

Ingersoll All-Trans Drop-In Support Group. 7-9pm. Seattle Counseling Services, 1216 Pine St, Suite 300. Every Wednesday. All Transgender, Gender Variant, Gender Queer, Gender Questioning, allies, family & friends are welcome. This is a drop in group to get & give support, social interaction & information for the whole Gender community. No fee, donations welcome. www. ingersollcenter.org

Mature Friends Weekly Bridge Group. 7pm. Wallingford Community Senior Center, lower level of Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnywide Ave N. Every Wednesday. All levels welcome. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org

SEAMEC Monthly Meeting. 7pm. 1605 12th Ave, Suite 21. Meets 4th Wednesday each month. SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www. voteseamec.org

Washington Gender Alliance Open Support Meeting in Everett 7:30-9pm. Everett United Church of Christ, 2624 Rockefeller Ave, Everett. Every Wednesday. Trained peer facilitators lead a structured support meeting helping people deal with issues of gender identity & expression. All adults are welcomed, including those who are questioning, allies, or identify as FTM, MTF, Transgender, Queer, or Intersex, among others. (360) 445-2411; www.washingtongenderalliance.com.

THURSDAY

- January 24

Orca Swim Team Workout. Morning. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.) Monthly Lunch Get-Together. 12 noon. Ballard NW Senior Center, 5429 32nd Ave NW. Meets 4th Thursday each month. Look for the A.B.L.E. sign on the table. We are Lesbians, 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of this group is to connect, socialize, and support each other. We have been meeting since 2015. The group hosts evening potlucks, outings and get-togethers. Co-sponsored by Puget Sound Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. (PSOLOC).

BABES Women’s Support Group/Lunch Meeting. 12-2pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. The BABES Network is a peer led agency; a sisterhood of women facing HIV together. (206) 720-5566 or 888-292-1912; www.babesnetwork.org.

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th

Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

Safe and Sober (AA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Thursday. (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org

B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group). 6:30-8pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. Sponsored by Youth Eastside Services, which offers many programs for GLBT youth. (425) 747-4937.

Boys Group - For Male-Identified Youth, Ages 1422. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Thursday. Youth take the opportunity to talk about issues that relate to their everyday lives, with the facilitation of a male volunteer. (206) 322-2515 ext 16. www. lamberthouse.org

21st Century Bowling. 7pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Thursday. Regular league bowling. Jeff, (206) 932-3731; leagues@wsbowl.com. Buddhism & Recovery. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Thursday. A meditation/recovery group. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

Gay Fathers Association of Seattle. 7:30-9pm. Group Health, 201 16th Ave E, Central Bldg, Lower Atrium. Every Thursday. Support meetings for Gay fathers & Gay men who are currently or previously married. Safe, anonymous, non-judgmental environment of caring fathers & friends. You are not alone. For information, community events & “questioning” visit www.gfas.org or our message board at http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/ gayfathersseattle

Gay Male Sexuality & Relationships. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Thursday. Ongoing support group open to Gay and Bisexual men. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org [NOTE: Please contact the facilitator prior to attending.]

Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. (See Tuesday listing at 8pm.)

FRIDAY - January 25

Ageless in Recovery (AA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Friday. A drop-in AA group for 55+. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

New Beginnings (SLAA). 12-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily. (See Saturday listing at noon for details.)

Road to Recovery (SLAA). 12-1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Friday. Ongoing 12-step group for sex and love addicts. (206) 322-2437; www. sasgcc.org

Lake City Seniors LGBTQ2+Allies Peer Support Group. 1-2:30pm. Lake City Community Center, 12531 28th Ave NE. Meets last Friday most months. Please call to confirm. Small group of mostly 50+ come together to connect, share and learn from one another. For questions or more information, please contact Claudine Wallace, (206) 472-5471 or claudinew@soundgenerations.org.

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Friday. (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org

LGBTQ & Allies 18+ Free Friday Night Drop-In Volleyball. 6-7:45pm. Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave E. Every Friday. (206) 684-4753. Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Redhawk Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

Strength Over Speed (SOS). 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Peer support for Gay and Bisexual men recovering from crystal meth addiction. www.strengthoverspeed.org. (206) 322-2437; www. sasgcc.org

Game Night. 7pm-11pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Friday. Card games, board games and fellowship. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

Lambert House Queer Movie Night. 7-9:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Friday. Lambert House is a nationally-recognized activities & resource center for GLBT & questioning youth, ages 14-22. (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org

Rain Country Dance Night. 7-11pm, lessons at 7:15pm. The Cuff, 1533 13th Ave. An evening of country-western dancing for the LGBTQ community. FREE. www.raincountrydance.org.

Destiny/Unity AA Meeting in Tacoma 7:30-8:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma. Every Friday. LGBTQ-friendly AA meeting. (253) 474-8897. (Also meets Mondays.)

LGBT Friday Night Al-Anon Family Group. 8-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201 - in the O’Neill Room. Every Friday. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number (206) 625-0000; www. seattle-al-anon.org; (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

SATURDAY - January 26

(See previous Saturday for ongoing activities.) Mature Friends Monthly Potluck. 6pm. Wallingford Community Senior Center, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Suite 140. Monthly potluck meets last Saturday most months. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org

“Music and Medicine.” 7:30pm. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. Guest conductor Henry Lebedinsky leads the Early Music Seattle Orchestra on a journey into the world of early modern medicine, from the humorous to the terrifying. Music includes Marin Marais’ “Tableau of a Gallbladder Operation,” selections from Lully’s “The Love Doctor,” and works by Charpentier, Geminiani, Farina, and Zelenka. Tickets ($20, $30, $40) and info at www.earlymusicseattle.org.

SUNDAY - January 27

(See previous Sunday for ongoing activities.) No Safeword Writers Group. 1pm. See website for location. Meets 2nd & 4th Sunday each month. NSWG exists to provide mutual support for members’ efforts. Support is in the form of critique & commentary on each other’s work, information about publishing opportunities, & discussion of issues facing writers. NSWG’s primary focus is erotic writing - but they welcome anyone who writes. The only requirements are to write, to attend, & to be respectful. For info & location, www.nosafewordwritersgroup.org

Seattle Prime Timers Rap Group. 1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201. Meets 4th Sunday each month in the Ian MacKintosh Room. This month’s topic: “How Do We Go Forward in the New Year”. Coffee and tea will be served. Info: www.seattleprimetimers.org

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQAllyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, (206) 279-8169.

American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us

Another Gay Social Club! - www.meetup.com/AnotherGay-Social-Club/ Bellingham/Whatcom County - www.theslowlane. com/guide.html

BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.

Bremerton/Kitsap County - www.outwestsound.org

Capitol Hill Alano Club - www.chacseattle.org

Cascade Rainbow Community Center (Mount Vernon) - (360) 840-8499 and on Facebook.

COLAGE unites people with LGBTQ parents and caregivers into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders in our collective communities - www.colage.org

Central Washington University GALA Hotline: (509) 963-1994.

DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). (206) 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest. org

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, (206) 461-3222 (24 hour line); King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) - 24-hour crisis line for information, support, & medical & legal assistance: 1-888-99-VOICE; Northwest Networksupport & advocacy for Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse & Dating Violence, (206) 568-7777 (voice), 517-9670 (tty), www.nwnetwork.org; Pierce County Domestic Violence Helpline: Teresa, (253) 798-4166; Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities - offers on-going support groups for men: 323-1768; Seattle Police Dept Domestic Violence Unit, (206) 684-0330; State Wide Domestic Violence Hot Line, 1-800-562-6025. In an emergency call 911 Report domestic violence and sexual assault. Equal Rights Washington - (206) 324-2570; www. equalrightswashington.org

Everett/Snohomish Cty - www.gaysnohomish.org Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freelyspeaking.org

Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities by providing health services, connecting people to resources, fostering arts, and building community. Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, (206) 860-6969. www.gaycity.org

Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH): 1-888-THEGLNH (1-888-843-4564). Non-profit, peer-counseling, information & local resources telephone hotline for GLBT people across the country.

Generations Aging With Pride empowers elder LGBTQ adults to live with pride and dignity by promoting, connecting, and developing innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of our community - (206) 393-3400; info@gapseattle.org; gapseattle.org

GLSEN/WA - Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network - (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa.org

Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - (206) 363-9188; www.thegsba.org

HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. (206) 205-7837. For a comprehensive list of HIV/AIDS service organizations see the GSBA Guide or visit www.thegsba.org or call Lifelong AIDS Alliance, (206) 328-8979.

Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com

Lambert House - (206) 322-2515; www.lamberthouse.

org

LGBT Library - 517 E Pike St. Open Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction for the LGBT community and allies can be borrowed free of charge.

LGBT MS Connection - (206) 250-5002; LGBTMSConnection@gmail.com. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers. Sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Lifelong AIDS Alliance - (206) 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org

Lion’s Main Art Collective - www.lionsmain.org

MEN: Gay City: (206) 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: (206) 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Northwest Bears: www. nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians. net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.com; Q-Squared: www.qsquared.org; Rain City Jacks: www.raincityjacks. org; Seattle Gay Couples: www. seattlegaycouples.org; Seattle Men in Leather: www.seattlemeninleather. org; Seattle Prime Timers: Gay & Bi men 40 & over, www. seattle primetimers.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.) MUSIC: Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; Rainbow City Band: 1-866-841-9139 ext 2126; rainbowcityband@onebox.com; www.rainbowcity band. com; Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus: (206) 388-1408, (206) 323-0750. www.seattlechoruses.org.

Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com

Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org

Olympia/Thurston County - www.RainbowCenterOly. org

Out & Equal Workplace Advocates/Seattle Regional Affiliate supports the work of LGBT employees and the growing number of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) making a difference within local companies, including Alaska Airlines, Amazon.com, Amgen, AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, Macy’s, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Safeco Insurance, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox. www.outandequal.org/affiliates/seattle Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition - http://outandproudgh.org

PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption & provides a network of safe placement agencies, training, support & resources: (206) 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: (206) 694-6727, www.familyworksseattle. org; Gay Fathers’ Association of Seattle offers support groups & social activities: www.gfas. org; Proud & Loud Families - Northwest, www.meetup.com/proudand-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: (206) 568-7777, qpnd@nwnetwork.org, www.nwnetwork.org; Rainbow Families of Puget Sound: www.rainbowfamiliesps.org PFLAG is the national organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality with chapters in Seattle, Bellevue/Eastside, the Puget Sound region and across Washington state. PFLAG Seattle: (206) 325-7724, info@pflagseattle.org, and www.pflagseattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: (425) 483-6642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community. pflag.org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington State: www. pflagwsc.org.

PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), (206) 850-2070, www.aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, (206) 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, (206) 461-6910, www.multiculturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, (206) 322-7700, www.entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, (206) 781-3565, iya@ilelailai.org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), (206) 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo.com, www.macctsea.org; Northwest Two Spirit Society, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/nw2spiritsociety/, Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, (206) 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; QBASS - Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, (253) 256-1846, weareqbass@gmail. com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, (206) 322-7061, (206) 255-8951; Somos Seattle, somosseattle.org; Trikone-Northwest, GLBT South Asians, (425) 985-4376, www.trikonenw.org; Two-Spirit Honor Project, 1-866-685-0164; U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle, www.utopiaseattlewa.org; VietQ Greater Seattle, vietqorganization@gmail.com Pierce County AIDS Foundation - (253) 383-2565; www.piercecountyaids.org Pride Foundation - (206) 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org Pride Lives - www.facebook.com/PrideLives/ Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service providing FREE information & services to Gay & Bi men to reduce health risks associated with methamphetamine use. (206) 323-1768. www.crystalneon.org Public Health-Seattle & King County Online Comprehensive Health Information for Sexual Minorities: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/ glbt.aspx

Q Law: The GLBT Bar Association of WA - (206) 682-6711; www.q-law.org

community calendar

Q Law GLBT Legal Clinic - (206) 235-7235.

Queer Geek! - queergeekseattle.org

Rainbow Center - Resource Center for Tacoma/Pierce County LGBTIQA community. Through education, advocacy and celebration, the Rainbow Center expands resources, and safe space for the LGBTQIA community. Sponsors Tacoma Pride Festival. (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org

SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www.voteseamec.org

Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) is a non-profit organization that builds community and cultivates powerful, healthy lives by providing emotional support and personal development services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, the Queer communities, and those who love them. Our work is done in a spirit of safety, trust, inclusiveness, and celebration of individual differences. (206) 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org

Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network - BiSeattle.wixsite. com/SBWN and on Facebook.

Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities is a community mental health service for GLBT persons & their families providing comprehensive mental health services on a sliding scale. (206) 323-1768.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission - (206) 684-4503. www/ seattle.gov/lgbtq

Seattle Out & Proud - (206) 322-9561; www.seattlepride.org

Seattle Police Department Sexual Minorities Community Advisory Council: kim.bogucki@seattle.gov

Seattle PrideFest - www.seattlepridefest.org

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - (202) 328-3244; www.sldn.org

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - (206) 860-3666; www.theabbey.org

Snohomish Health District HIV/AIDS Program provides free confidential/anonymous HIV counseling & testing 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, until 7pm Tuesdays. (425) 339-5298.

South Sound Q Calendar - LGBTQ events in Tacoma, Olympia & Sound Puget Sound area; www.SouthSoundQCal.com Spokane/Inland Northwest - www.outspokane.com; www.stonewallnews.net

SPORTS & RECREATION: Bent Car Guys: www. bentcarguys.org; Border Riders Motorcycle Club: www.borderriders.com; Bottom Dwellers Scuba

Club: www.bottomdwellers.org; Capitol Hill Cyclers: join their Facebook group or email capitolhillcycling@ groups.facebook.com or jordan.l.simonson@gmail.com; Cascade Flag Football: www.cascadeflagfootball.org; Cascade Flyers: www.cascadeflyers.org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby.com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emeraldcitysoftball. org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Festival of the Babes: www.festivalofthebabes.com; Olympic Yacht Club: www.oycnw.org; OutVentures: outdoor education & recreation activities, www.outventures.org; Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association: www.pacificnwgra.org; Puddletown Squares: www.puddletownsquares.org; Rain City Soccer: www.raincitysoccer.org; Rain Country Dance Association: a country-western dance organization catering to the LGBTQ community but open to all, www.raincountrydance.org; Sea Dawgs: LGBT ice hockey - SkateSeaDawgs@gmail.com and on Facebook; Seattle Frontrunners: www.seattlefrontrunners.org; Seattle Gay Basketball Association: www. seattlegaybasketballassociation.com; Seattle Orca Swim Team: www.orcaswimteam.org; Seattle Otters Water Polo: www.otterpolo.com; Seattle Quake Rugby: www.quakerugby.com; Seattle Tennis Alliance: www. seattletennisalliance.org; Seattle Unified Bowling Association (SUBA): magee98106@aol.com, www. teamseattle.org/bowling.htm, www.theprideleague. com, Century 21 League; Seattle Volleyball Club: www.seattlevolleyballclub.com; Ski Buddies: www. skibuddies.org; Team Seattle Gay Sports Network is an umbrella organization for a wide range of local GLBT sports activities, (206) 367-4064, www.teamseattle.org (see website for comprehensive list of sports clubs); Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender Creek: recreational camping for GLBT folks. Must be 21; ID required. trc@ camptrc.org, www.camptrc.org, 1122 E Pike St #1069, Seattle 98122-3934. Strength Over Speed - www.strengthoverspeed.org Tacoma/Pierce County - Rainbow Center, 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, a resource center for the LGBTIQA community of Pierce County, (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org

Three Dollar Bill Cinema - TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival; Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Outdoor Cinema at Cal Anderson Park. www. threedollarbillcinema.org

TRANSGENDER: Emerald City Social Club: (425) 827-9494; Gender Alliance of the South Sound: www.SouthSoundGender.com; Gender Diversity:

www.genderdiversity.org; Gender Justice League: www.genderjusticeleague.org; Gender Odyssey: www.genderodyssey.com; Hermanos Trans Latino & Foreign-Born Support Group: (206) 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: (206) 329-6651, www. ingersollcenter.org; Lion’s Main Art Collective: www. lionsmain.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/Olympia-Trans-DiscussionGroup/262449878114; [trans] ACTION: Trans* & Gender Non-Conforming Sex Workers’ Support Group - a safe, peer-led space. mail@utopiaseattle.org; TRANSform Washington: transformwashington.com; Trans Resource & Referral Guide: kctransguide.org; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www. washington genderalliance.com

WOMEN: Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.): We are Lesbians 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of the group is to connect, socialize and support each other. ruthemilyvogel@gmail.com; Aging Lesbians in South Seattle (ALISS) - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. (206) 720-5566, 1-888-292-1912; Coming Out Women Support Group of Tacoma: www. comingoutwomen.org; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Puget Sound Old Lesbian Organizing for Change: http:// psoloc.org, (253) 777-3357; Older Lesbians Organizing for Change/WA State Chapter: gloria@oloc.org, mary@oloc.org, www.oloc.org; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives: www.pnwlesbianarchives.org; RainshadowWomen: RainshadowWomen@aol. com; Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network: BiSeattle. wixsite.com/SBWN; Seattle Girls of Leather: www. sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org; Women of West Seattle (WOWS): a fun, member-driven social group for Lesbians, http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/womenofwestseattle; YWCA Women’s Health Outreach: providing low or no-cost mammograms for income eligible 40+ LBTQ individuals. Follow us at http://lbtqhealth-ywca.blogspot.com, twitter.com/ingridWHO or email lbthealth@ywcaworks. org, (206) 461-4493. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.) YOUTH: B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group): Youth Eastside Services offers many programs for GLBT youth, including B-GLAD, (425) 747-4937; Coyote Central: www.coyotecentral.org; Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; GLSEN/Washington State (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) & Washington State GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Network: GLSEN works to create safe schools for LGBT students. WA GSA Network supports youth-led GSA’s to fight harassment & homophobia in Washington state schools. (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa. org; www.wagsa.org. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): a support group & HIV/STD prevention program for GLBTQ youth, 14-20, in Everett, (425) 263-2908, www. globeyouth.org; It Gets Better Project: www.itgetsbetter.org; Lambert House: an activities & resource center for LGBT youth, 14-22, in Seattle, 1818 15th Ave @ E Denny Way; (206) 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: (206) 957-1665; www. llaa.org/HEYO; www.MatthewsPlace.com ; The Mockingbird Society: (206) 323-KIDS (5437), www. mockingbirdsociety.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org; OKAY! LGBTQ+ Outreach for Kent Area Youth: (253) 859-0699 ext 3034. OKAY! is an open support group for youth ages 13-19 who identify as LGBTQ+. A program of Kent Youth & Family Services; OUT There Adventures: www.outthereadventures.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724, www. seattle-pflag.org; Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS) Drop-In Center & Young Adult Shelter: 1609 19th Ave @ E Pine St., (206) 726-8500; www.psks.org; Pizza Klatch: weekly lunchtime support groups for LGBTQ youth in Thurston County, www. pizzaklatch.org; Prism: for LGBTQ youth, 14-21, in Puyallup - Cherise.Alexander@ multicare.org; www. facebook.com/PuyallupPrism; Proud Out Wonderful (POW!): for LGBTQ youth, 13-21, in South King County, (206) 326-9112, www.facebook.com/proudoutwonderful; Q Youth Resources: in Kitsap County - (360) 698-3335; www.kchaf.org; Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS): LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth drop-in group, ages 12-18 - Sarah Hardin, (425) 271-5600, ext 155; sarahh@rays.org; Roots Young Adult Shelter: 1415 NE 43rd St., (206) 632-1635; www.rootsinfo.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org; (206) 451-SAFE, (206) 451-7233 (non-emergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): (206) 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): (206) 524-7301 ext 111; www. streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: (206) 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, (206) 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; Vista Youth Center: for LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth, ages 14-21, in Kennewick, (509) 396-5198, www.vistayouthcenter.org; YouthCare/ Isis Program (Transitional Living Home for LGBTQ Young Adults, 18-22): (206) 522-8412; YouthCare/ Orion Center Young Adult Shelter: 1828 Yale Ave @ Stewart St. (206) 622-5555; Youth in Focus: (206) 723-1479; www.youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): (206) 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273-TALK, www.yspp.org

19 [PET SERVICES]

KITTY CO. –

WE EXCLUSIVELY SERVE CATS

Capitol Hill based provider of in-home cat sitting services. Licensed, bonded, insured and meticulous about your cat care needs. Book now for peace of mind while you’re away. Gay owned! www.kittycoseattle.com; 206-612-1533 39/3

MASSAGE - NON-SEXUAL]

EXCEPTIONAL BODYWORK

Given by highly trained LMP. I specialize in injury treatment, acute, chronic, and repetitive stress motion. I have a studio on CapHill, and one just north of the UW. Insurance accepted. Matt Shafer, LMP, 206-2357766. 01/12

22 [FOR SALE] 37 [BODYWORK]

TIDY'S HAUL IT ALL offers a professional appliance and junk removal service at a competitive price. Free estimates. Tidy, 206-354-8949. 52/3

20 [HEALTH & WELL-BEING]

ENERGY/BODYWORK

Therapeutic massage. 30 years experience. Relaxation, major/minor injuries, chronic muscle pain. Small Ballard home office/studio. Massage table or massage chair. Convenient parking. (I’m a Gay-friendly straight male graphic artist, web author.) First session 50% off = $45/1.5 hours (travel extra). By appointment only. References available. Chris Pringer, Reiki Master, 206-286-0899. If you get a voice message mentioning “extension #,” please hang up and call back again; otherwise, please leave a message. Brochure, testimonials, etc. via chalicebridge.com/BMI-Brochure. html. 44/21

PETS OF THE WEEK

Adoption Center

Sunday – Wednesday | 11 a.m.

p.m. Thursday – Saturday | 11 a.m.

13212 SE Eastgate Wy, Bellevue, WA 98005 (425) 649-7563 | adoption@seattlehumane.org

Is your life missing a furry friend? Now is the perfect time to open your world to a pet in need. Coldwell Banker’s Homes for Dogs program with Adopt-a-pet.com has helped place 20,000 dogs into homes across the country. Could your place be the next happy ending for a pet in need? Make your house a home by visiting the shelter and bringing back the pet of your dreams.

The Magic of Cats

14-18

Intriguing animals aren’t they, cats? The scientific community is still fascinated by topics like, “why do cats purr?” “What is a cat’s brain’s reaction to catnip?” and “what and how much can cats see at night?” Begin your own study of fantastic felines by adopting a cat at Seattle Humane in Bellevue! Magical cats are awaiting your discovery. Come to the shelter this weekend Jan. 16-18 while adult cat fees are waived. Learn more at seattlehumane.org.

Chuck Norris

EROTICALLY CHARGED nude full body rubdown from playful top, stimulating the senses. Get seduced. Incalls in Renton area. Scott, 206-355-4469. 51/3

GREAT MASSAGE

Given by highly-trained, clean-cut, handsome guy. I have two private studios, one on CapHill, and one just north of the UW. Call/text Matt, 206-235-7766. In/ out calls. 01/12

RAIN CITY JACKS

RCJ is Seattle’s private club hosting hundreds of group jack-off events since 2005. Hot, friendly, and genuine male bonding for men 18+ only. Email or visit our web site for information. info@raincityjacks.org; www. raincityjacks.org. 02/12

FREE & ANONYMOUS HIV & STD COUNSELING/TESTING Walk-In or by Appt GAY CITY HEALTH PROJECT 517 E. Pike St. M-F: 3pm-8pm; SAT: 12:30pm-5pm More Info & to Schedule Appt 206-860-6969

This handsome fellow is Chuck Norris! He's a 2-year-old orange tabby who can't wait to meet his new best friends! Chuck is an incredibly friendly kitty who thinks face rubs are the best things ever, along with following and hanging out with his favorite people. If you're looking to add a sweet feline to your family, Chuck Norris just may be your kitty. Meet him today at Seattle Humane – you'll be glad you did!

All of our cats go home spayed or neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. Each pet will go home with a certificate for a complimentary veterinary examination. PLUS, most cat adoptions include 30 days of pet insurance from Trupanion – a great way to start off on the right paw!

Meet Kramer, a 1-year-old Mastiff mix! Kramer is a handsome guy whose gorgeous brindle coat is sure to catch your eye. He loves to be out and about and will thrive in a home where he can go on long walks and hikes. Kramer loves walks and snuggling on the couch. He bonds quickly to his people and responds well to snacks. If you're looking for a friend who's half-athlete, half-couch potato, come meet Kramer today at Seattle Humane! You'll be glad you did!

All of our dogs go home spayed or neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. Each pet will go home with a certificate for a complimentary veterinary examination. PLUS, most dog adoptions include 30 days of Trupanion pet insurance and six weeks of on-campus training classes – a great way to start off on the right paw!

Introduce to dog-savvy teenagers. Resident dogs are required to meet Kramer prior to adoption. Please see our adoption advisors for additional behavior information.