The Weekend List: The arts and culture guide to Seattle's good life

"Angels in America": A cast that soars. Gastropod channels Mandalay Cafe. Interpol does the Paramount (musically).
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Ty Boice (Joe) and Charles Leggett (Roy) in Intiman Theatre's "Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika" September 3 - 21, 2014, at The Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center.

"Angels in America": A cast that soars. Gastropod channels Mandalay Cafe. Interpol does the Paramount (musically).

* Denotes items that are $15 or less

Angels in America: Perestroika

Part two of Intiman Theater’s epic production “Angels in America” is now up at the Cornish Playhouse and let me just take a moment to celebrate the cast. Because it is magnificent, potent enough to make you want to sit in your seats for back-to-back shows and watch these actors for seven hours straight. (Which you can now do, catching both Part 1 and Part 2 for the next two weekends). I can’t remember feeling so many different things in one performance: joy, hope, anger and anguish. Each actor is so riveting on stage whether they’re repulsive (Charles Leggett’s Roy Cohn), sassy (Timothy McCuen Piggee’s Belize), infuriating (Quinn Franzen’s Louis), freaked out (Adam Standley’s Prior), orgasmic (Marya Sea Kaminski), Ken Doll-esque (Ty Boice’s Joe), pragmatic (Anne Allgood’s Hannah Pitt) or Valium-induced cray cray (Alex Highsmith’s Harper). What’s your favorite accolade for something that is so damn good? Yup. This is it.

If you go: Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2, Cornish Playhouse, Now through Sept. 21. ($35-$56). — F.D.

Mandalay Café pop-up at Gastropod

There is no restaurant in Seattle that I find more tantalizingly dream-worthy than Gastropod. I’ve trekked to SoDo five times in the past six months since discovering it, and I can still name every dish I’ve had  (watermelon wasabi gazpacho with pickled rind was the standout). This week the restaurant pays tribute to the late Mandalay Café Chef Erik McWilliams, who recently passed away. Gastropod will try its hand at Southeast Asian and Indian food. The menu includes a chutney sampler (peach, tamarind date, apple mint); spiced lamb and clams with lime leaf, sake and shrimp chips; Sumatran white nut curry; and Thai basil cheesecake and sweet onion Malawi ice cream and fig for dessert. The best part of all?  As always, Epic Ales’ inventive and delicious brews are available in two sizes ($5 for a pint or $2 or $3 for a 6-ounce). And since most of the plates are under $9, you can try (nearly) everything.

If you go: Mandalay Café at Gastropod, Now through Sept. 13 — N.C.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: Homeless in Seattle

eSe Teatro’s production is the culmination of three years of work. Playwright (and theater co-founder) Rose Cano was inspired to re-imagine the Don Q story after observing the many facets of humanity at Harborview, where she works as a Spanish-language interpreter. So she made Quixote a homeless Latino man who only speaks English; his sidekick, Sancho Panza, is a Yakima-raised Latino who speaks Spanglish. The pair roam Seattle, weave in and out of odd jobs, suffer bedbugs as well as an assault and forge a friendship. As a work-in-progress, Cano took her story to various homeless shelters and agencies — to double-check her accuracy and to bridge a connection between the arts and the underserved. A 30-minute performance of the show will be held for free at the Seattle Central Library on Sept. 13.*

If you go: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: Homeless in Seattle, ACT Theatre, Sept. 12 to Sept. 28 ($30) — F.D.

Interpol

“If time is my vessel then learning to love may be my way back to sea.” That’s how “Public Pervert” begins on the 2004 album “Antics.” A different track offers an alternate take: “Time is like a broken watch / I make money like Fred Astaire.” This sardonic theme is woven throughout the disparate songs of the album, emblematic of Interpol’s painstaking attention to the details of their post punk influenced altrock. In fact, I feel guilty saddling them with any descriptors whatsoever. They’re definitely outside of the mainstream guitar music aesthetic, but it’s painful to reduce such a nuanced band to a handful of words. Disregard a brutal 5.9 review from Pitchfork; I hear the same attention to detail in their newest album “El Pintor,” which was released this week.

If you go: Interpol, The Paramount, Sept. 12 ($29.25-$33.25) — J.S.H.

Blue Scholars and Made in Heights

This show is a local music scenester’s dream come true. Legendary Seattle rap/producers Blue Scholars are performing alongside Blue Scholars’ DJ Sabzi’s epic side project, Made in Heights. Sabzi’s beats garnered recognition years previously, when Geo, the other half of the Scholars, was lacing his basslines with intelligent, progressive raps. For Made in Heights, Sabzi backs Portishead-channeling singer Kelsey Bulkin with appropriately trip-hoppy beats reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens’ production on Age of Adz and his side project Sisyphus.  Meaning the instrumental side of Made in Heights is chill, harmonious, and sometimes dancy.

If you go: Blue Scholars and Made in Heights, The Showbox Market, Sept. 12 ($20). — J.S.H.

Georgetown Art Attack! *

Take in the fleeting rays of summer while meandering down Airport Way South at this month’s edition of the Georgetown Art Attack! As usual, dozens of studios and local businesses (All City Coffee! Fantagraphics!) with art shows will open their doors. Be sure to wander into the Old Rainier Brewery, home to Krab Jab Studio and a host of other artists’ studios, and take the ART ride down to Equinox Studios, featuring the work of blacksmiths and metalworkers. This edition also celebrates the return of the Georgetown Trailer Park, the too-cute-to-be-real craft and vintage market set up in an alley. Stop by Brass Tacks for a craft cocktail or Via Tribunali or Fonda La Catrina for dinner.

If you go: Georgetown Art Attack! throughout the Georgetown neighborhood, Sept. 13.  All Ages (Free) — N.C.

Puget Soundtrack: Vox Mod *

This week marks the launching of Northwest Film Forum's new music series, Puget Soundtrack. The name is cute and the idea is even cuter: Local musicians select a film and then perform a live soundtrack to it. Think the Silent Movies at The Paramount but, with a musical variety twist. For its debut offering, NWFF is being kind of coy with information; local electronic musician Vox Mod has chosen a film (to be revealed on Saturday night) and will play a live, never-before-heard score. According to the theater, "Think Japanese, think dystopian future, think canonical anime influence. 'Because science-fiction films are my main inspiration, each album or record I have made is really the soundtrack for a movie I did not make.' "

If you go: Puget Soundtrack: Vox Mod, Northwest Film Forum, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. ($15). — N.C.

Lykke Li

While discussing her latest album, “I Never Learn,” with Rolling Stone, Lykke Li shared her identity statement: "I want to be the last song that plays at the disco for the outcasts."

If you happen to be one of those outcasts, even in the most figurative sense (Haven’t we all felt that way at least once?), her lofty synthpop anthems trigger a spine-tingling empathetic response. That recent LP she released is an earth-shattering breakup album as well, but her signature towering, high-energy hooks are more powerful than ever. Lykke Li’s music is sensitive — not depressing.

Lykke Li - Gunshot [Official Video] from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

If you go: Lykke Li, The Moore Theatre, Sept. 17 ($35). — J.S.H.

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About the Authors & Contributors

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Joseph Sutton-Holcomb

Joseph is a full-time landscaper, part-time journalist and full time culture junkie discovering the hidden joys of life as a UW graduate in Seattle. When not taking care of plants or writing, he spends his time in the company of good friends enjoying film, music and the great outdoors.