Wednesday, October 6th
- NWFF’s Local Sightings festival comes to an end, but not before its closing night film about Seattle spoken word poet/performance artist Jesse Bernstein, I Am Secretly an Important Man @ the Moore
- Seattle City of Music Awards honor Brandi Carlile, Clarence Acox and Scott Brown, and Gerard Schwarz @ Showbox
- Yasmeen Reza’s God of Carnage, directed by Wilson Milam, opens @ Seattle Rep
Thursday, October 7th
- Frightened Rabbit of Scotland and Plants and Animals of Montreal play a sure-to-be spectacular post-rock show @ Showbox
- Get buzzed and hear Steven Johnson talk about the birthing ground of ideas @ the Sorrento
- Christian Rizzo’s b.c, janvier 1545, fontainebleau opens @ On the Boards
- African dance troupe Compagnie Jant-Bi begins a 3-night gig at the UW World Series @ Kane Hall
Friday, October 8th
- Cutie pie Project Runway Season 5 winner Leanne Marshall gives fashion tips @ Southcenter
- Ten drummers from all over the world come together as part of Global Rhythms: DRUMMING! @ Town Hall
- Get ready for three comedy shows (1 Friday, 2 Saturday) of new material/hot pockets from Jim Gaffigan @ the Paramount
- The Eighth Annual Men in Dance Festival opens @ the Broadway Performance Hall
- Former Sleater-Kinney front-lady goes solo with The Corin Tucker Band @ Showbox
- Kenyan/Rwandan/Canadian rapper Shad brings his near-Polaris prize winning album TSOL @ Nectar
- Nothing says hip in 2010 like 3D, so Alice in Chains will film its native-city BLACKDIAMONDSKYE tour stop in the fancy format. Deftones and Mastodon round out a monster bill that will get loud @ KeyArena
- Tommy Smith’s Sextet opens @ Washington Ensemble Theatre
- Macbeth, re-envisioned as a HARD BARD Halloween production by GreenStage, brings buckets of blood to the stage (through October 30) @ 2115 5th Avenue
Image © Connie Watts, “Vereinigung,” 1997, Birch plywood and hardwood dowels (Photo: Spike Mafford)
Saturday, October 9th
- Celebrate the return of winter beer (it makes the return of winter easier) with performances by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, the Moondoggies, and a new snowboarding movie at the 13th Annual SnoCap Party @ Pyramid Alehouse
- Run or walk to raise money for all-ages music, compete for fantastic prizes and hear some tunes along the way @ Run Vera Run
- Harborview Medical Center welcomes a new sculpture from Connie Watts with a dedication and blessing ceremony (Nuu-chah-nulth Cultural Performers from West Vancouver Island, T’ilibshudub of the Duwamish Tribe and the Coyote Soldier Boys Drum from Seattle) @ Harborview’s Ninth & Jefferson Building
- Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs, John Roderick, Rusty Willoughby, Kristen Ward, Gary Westlake, and more come together and celebrate what would’ve been John Lennon’s 70th (!) birthday @ the Triple Door
- It’s a blast from the past Saturday with James saying something, anything @ Showbox and a reunited Guided By Voices drinking heavily @ Showbox SoDo
- Warm up down south with Lary Barilleau & The Latin Jazz Collective and a night of Latin jazz and salsa @ Columbia City Theater
Sunday, October 10th
- It’s the last day for Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo, a documentary on the annual Oklahoma State Penitentiary event and the convicted cowgirls who take part @ NWFF
- Nothing says Columbus Day weekend like a Hitchcock mini-fest @ SIFF Cinema
Monday, October 11th
- Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble kick off their new season with a show and party @ Tula’s
- Beggars of Life (1928) is the crime-spree movie in Trader Joe’s Silent Movie Mondays fest @ the Paramount
- It’s the Fourth Annual Celebrity Waiters Dinner fundraiser, this time featuring Seahawks linebacker Will Herring and teammates John Carlson, Justin Forsett, Jordan Babineaux, Roy Lewis, Ben Obomanu, and David Hawthorne @ the Metropolitan Grill
Tuesday, October 12th
- New Yorker music critic/historian Alex Ross has already proven that The Rest is Noise. Tonight he talks about music as a way of knowing the world @ Town Hall
- Local burlesquer The Swedish Housewife is proud to present legendary drag cabaret star Joey Arias channeling Billie Holiday @ the Triple Door
- Contemplate the rise and fall of Liz Phair @ the Croc
- South African-by-way-of-Namibia singer Dion Roy has conquered TV (with airplay on The Real World, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Bad Girls Club, and Tosh.0) so that’s why his songs will sound so familiar when he opens for Tyler Hilton and Josiah Leming @ Showbox SoDo
- Manu Chao returns to Seattle with multilingual global revolutionary rock @ the Paramount
- Ulrich Schnauss brings his chill German atmospheric electronic to Ballard @ the Sunset Tavern
- Choklate begins a 2-night gig of her hip-hop, R&B, blues, and jazz mashup @ Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley