Yes, January 20 is Inauguration Day. Given the circumstances and the setting, it’s hard not to think back to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when insurrectionists attempted to impede the peaceful transition of power.
If there’s any chance you’ve forgotten the chaos and terror of that day, you’ll remember in an instant when viewing the images taken by a Seattle photojournalist who captured the historic moment in Washington, D.C.
Nate Gowdy, who was covering Trump’s “Save America” rally for Rolling Stone that day, ended up in the middle of a mob bent on breaching the Capitol Building. His arresting black-and-white photos reveal a powder keg of people — wearing Trump hats, tactical vests and, yes, a Viking helmet.
“It resembled a high school pep rally gone way wrong,” Gowdy told Crosscut in a 2023 story about his photos. “The adrenaline and the toxic masculinity. The war cries.”
Gowdy is currently showing 23 of these striking shots as archival pigment prints in Witness, at Spectrum Gallery in Madrona (through Feb. 15; artist reception Jan. 16, 6 - 9 p.m.).
Grammy-winning Seattle singer/songwriter Johnaye Kendrick will perform the songs of Billie Holiday on MLK Day.
January 20 is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so if you’d prefer to focus your attention on Reverend King and his teachings, there are many ways to do so — including by listening to or watching the “I Have a Dream” speech, which he gave at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
The Northwest African American Museum is hosting its annual King Day Celebration (Jan. 20), an all-day event that this year includes the opening of two vibrant portrait shows by local painters: Recognition, Love, Healing by AshaAung Helmstetter and Where Do We Go From Here by Myron Curry.
The Royal Room is celebrating the legacy of Dr. King with Painting the Town Red: The Music of Billie Holiday (Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m.), featuring stars of Seattle jazz including vocalist Johnaye Kendrick, drummer D’Vonne Lewis and pianist Wayne Horvitz.
KEXP is celebrating two ways: With the 25th annual Expansions MLK Unity Party (Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Clock-Out Lounge), featuring DJs including Supreme La Rock and Riz Rollins. Then on Jan. 20, the station will air special MLK Day music and programming (5 a.m. to 7 p.m.).
And over at Town Hall, East L.A.’s Grammy-winning Chicano band Quetzal — which is committed to social justice as well as folk-infused music traditions — will play a concert in honor of MLK (Jan. 20, 6:30 p.m.).
“Mammie Wada” by Joyce J. Scott at Seattle Art Museum. For this series, the artist channeled African stories of a water deity into small amphibious figures using bone, yarn, fake hair, beads and glass. (Brangien Davis/Cascade PBS)
The Seattle arts scene is starting the year strong, with tons of great things to see and do. Here’s a smattering of options by art form.
Visual arts
This weekend is your last chance to see Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams (through Jan. 19 at Seattle Art Museum). When Scott, aka “The Queen of Baltimore,” arrived at the press preview back in October, she entered the room singing an a cappella gospel version of “Stop, Children What’s That Sound” — and held us in rapt attention for the next hour.
The 75-year-old artist’s fearless personality shines through in 150 colorful and meticulously crafted works from the 1970s to the present, including intricate glass beadwork, sculptures, jewelry and textiles.
Imbuing her work with humor and sparkle, Scott doesn’t flinch from sending powerful messages about racism and other injustices (for example, her startling “lynching necklaces”).
See also: Eva Funderburgh’s toothy and rotund ceramic creatures in Gifts of the Forest at J. Rinehart Gallery (through Jan. 29; artist talk Jan. 18 at 1 p.m.) Endearingly roly-poly yet slightly menacing, these “monsters” radiate humanity.
Theater
Seattle Opera presents Les Troyens in Concert (Jan. 17 and 19 at McCaw Hall). This abridged version of Hector Berlioz’s epic tale (which was based on Virgil’s Aeneid and debuted in Paris in 1863) centers on Acts 3, 4 and 5, when Aeneas falls in love with Queen Dido while fighting invading Nubians.
Starring as Queen Dido is Tacoma native and Grammy winner J’Nai Bridges, who back in high school made the tough choice of singing in the choir over playing basketball. Lucky us!
See also: Lewis and Tolkien (Jan. 22 - Feb. 22 at Taproot Theatre), a very different kind of entanglement, which imagines a pub encounter between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Once close literary pals at Oxford, the conversation highlights how the writers’ paths diverged.
Whim W’Him dancers rehearse a newly commissioned piece by Canadian choreographer Cameron Fraser-Monroe. (Jim Coleman)
Dance
Seattle-based contemporary dance company Whim W’Him presents its Winter ’25 performance (Jan. 17 - 25 at Cornish Playhouse), featuring three new pieces by an exciting bill of choreographers.
Cameron Fraser-Monroe, a member of the Tla’amin First Nation in Canada, combines Indigenous dance forms with contemporary movement, all set to a score by Diné jazz trumpeter Delbert Anderson. Also on the roster: works by Chicago-based Robin Mineko Williams and by company founder Olivier Wevers, who reflects on “water as the source of all life.”
See also: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (Jan. 23 - 25 at Meany Center), the popular drag ballet troupe that combines canon spoofs and physical humor with no-joke dance skills.
Literature
Percival Everett, whose 2024 novel James won the National Book Award, visits Seattle for a Seattle Arts and Lectures conversation at Town Hall (Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; in-person tickets sold out but live-streaming tickets available).
The witty, insightful and sometimes very funny book reimagines Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Huck’s enslaved traveling companion, Jim. Everett has said Twain’s writing was a big influence on him growing up; in his own book he takes a similar approach to observational humor, blending it with the stark reality of slavery.
See also: Seattle-based author Jewell Parker Rhodes visits Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park (Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.) to talk about her newest book for youth, Will’s Race for Home. Called “an exciting gallop through history” (Kirkus) with “hauntingly engaging prose” (School Library Journal), the coming-of-age story follows a young Black boy in 1889 Texas who sets out with his father on the historic land rush — harboring high hopes that clash with post-Civil War actualities.
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