Seattle Spin: What's Happening this Week

Fashion: Trash Fashion Bash, Jan 22^cd, $125.  The crapola from the garbage can transformed into haute couture.  All attire is designed and created from recycled and salvaged organic materials.  It's a bit of Vouge, where the body is a framework for the art of the clothes.

Gala: Pacific Northwest Ballet Winterland Wonderland Ball, Jan 22^nd, $40+, an event for parents (and grandparents) with their kids.  Boy, this has gotta be kids at their peak cuteness.  An event with dancing lessons, food, a silent auction, and appearances by PNB dancers.  Like, how many times will you have a chance to dance with your own kid?

Singles: Speed Dating, Jan 26^th for singles aged 35-45, $25 when you use discount code NH12 for $5 off.   If your New Year's resolution is to meet new people, here's a unique way to do just that.  A lament of people in this age group is, "Where can I meet new people?" since the club and party scene is a vestige from the past.  Here's a way to connect with several people in one night with similar backgrounds and interests. 

Lectures: The African American West, 1528-2000, series starting Jan 17^th, $60, showcasing the contributions of African Americans in formulating the western frontier.  ж  Also, Parenting Young Children? Tips for Nurturing Christian Behavior at Emerald Heights Academy, Jan 19^th, 7-8:30 PM, free.  Even though they're young, the minds of tots can be complex, so here's how to keep the Big Guy as part of the family fabric.   ж  Also, The History and Transformation of Marriage, Jan 24^th, free, about the history and future of marriage and family relations.  ж  Also, Extreme Makeover: Jews And The Invention Of Cosmetic Surgery, Jan 19^th, $8, on how plastic surgery has affected the notion of Jewish identity.

Workshops: Multiple Male Orgasms, Jan 20^th, $20.  If popping one off is ecstasy, then two or three should feel even more fantastic, right?  If you think so, then here's the class.  ж  Also, Yoga for Scuba Divers, Jan 21^st, $45.  Here's how yoga on land improves performance in water.  ж  Also, Stress is not a Resolution! Jan 20^th, free.  Create the foundation that makes your other resolutions possible and puts life on your terms.

Theater: On Golden Pond, starting Jan 18^th, $20+.  You spend 44 years together summering at a lake cottage, so you think the 45th would go pretty much the same, right?  Nope.  This is a story of new love and challenge between an aging couple.  ж  Also, Rescues, Inc, starting Jan 20^th, $20.  Why be adversaries?  A dragon and damsel see if they can find true love in this original comedy.  Also, Catch-22, starting Jan 20^th, $18+, about a pilot's endurance of the insanity during WWII.

Music: Happy Birthday Wolfgang, Jan 21^st - 22^nd, $30.  Back in his day, Mozart was just a flash in the pan.  Now, 250 years later, we're still celebrating his great music.  ж  Also, Seattle Presents, the free lunchtime concerts at Seattle Hall, free.  For Jan 19^th, the Warren Chang Music Ensemble celebrates the lunar new year with traditional Chinese music.  ж  Also, Inside the Music with a Flashlight, Jan 20^th - 21^st, $5 and bring a flashlight.  This is an interactive piece of music and images cast within an 8' X 8' X 8' room.  (Whenever we think of finding a flashlight with good batteries, we're reminded of a favorite lie of one of the staffer's father: "I have three sons and three flashlights and they all work.") 

Film: Ecological Design, Jan 18^th, $12 requested donation.  Here's how to develop the big stuff with green in mind.  Also, Buyer Be Fair: The Promise of Product Certification, Jan 23^rd, free, but you need to RSVP.  Here's how to use your buying dollars for social justice.

Business: 2006 Investment Climate, Jan 19^th, $72.  The big Venture Capitalists in town come in and give their prognoses on how much their gonna open they're wallet this year.

Volunteer: Discover Park volunteer open house, Jan 21^st, 1-3 PM, at the Discovery Park Visitor Center.  Discovery Park is one of the top five parks in the city, so here's the chance to help with the stewardship of this great resource.

Organization: Seattle Freelancers.  Freelancing has gotta be a tough way to make a living, surviving from one gig to the next.  Here's an organization for mutual support and enrichment.

Opera Stuff

A bit of Opera with Dinner.  For a grand experience, go to a restaurant where the staff performs arias for entertainment.  Some of these restaurants include Salute, Ristorante Savino, and La Fontana.  This could be the most romantic thing you do all year.  Imagine enjoying a sumptuous dish with your sweetie while being serenaded by a love sonnet.  It's little wonder that these restaurants brag of the number of on-premise engagement proposals by customers over dessert.

Dance Opera: The Onion Twins, starting Jan 20^th, $20.  It's like half opera and half ballet put together into some sort of hydra.  This is a modern dance opera based upon a Swedish folktale of a medieval fertility experiment gone awry.  Since it's half-and-half, think of this as an ultimate two-for-one deal.

Of course, there's always the real McCoy.  Seattle Opera starts the performance of  Die Fledermaus, until Jan 28^th.  This is a lighter comedy, so it's good for beginners, but weighing in on the scales at more than three hours, you better have a bit of patience built up.  It also helps to study the storyline beforehand.  If you go in cold, then it could end up as just a bunch of boring people singing.