[SPOKEN WORD] + FRI, JUNE 21

It should be no surprise that Free Ya Mind and Stella Haioulani have provided the longest running poetry/literary/hip-hop community programming in the Pacific Northwest, since 2001. Some may be unaware of the artistic community developed by Haioulani and inspired by the emotional remains of the horrific 9/11 tragedies.  What was inspired was a consistency of quality literary, visual, educational and hybrid art in the form of a movement in the greater Tacoma-area, which continues more than a decade later.  This summer's ‘Til Midnight Poetry Series is one such program, produced by FYM. Friday, the series welcomes the poetry and hybrid art of Travis Anderson and his presentation, "Bathers of the Sun, Bathers of the Moon." Anderson will perform his unique brand of poetry/gospel/hip-hop inspired by fellow artists Leonardo Lanzolla, Jennifer Kuhns and Mary Pacios.  Anderson's performance begins at 8:40 p.m. followed by an open mic and open studio, where the community is invited to participate. {JOSE S. GUTIERREZ JR.}

‘TIL MIDNIGHT POETRY SERIES, 8 p.m., B2 Fine Arts Gallery, 711 St. Helens, Tacoma, 253.238.5065

[ART-FOLK-POP] + FRI, JUNE 21

The concept of the Broadway Center's Cathedral series is simplistic to the point of perfection: get some beautiful-sounding artists to perform in beautiful spaces designed to bounce around beautiful sounds. These are not raucous events, but rather contemplative experiences that take exploit churches' natural abilities to heighten and highlight negative space. This time around, my money is on Denver's Paper Bird as the band most likely to fill in those empty spaces. A baroque art-folk-pop seven-piece, there's never a moment wasted or tossed away without being occupied by some lively instruments or flatly gorgeous harmonies. The opening track Rooms, "As I Am," is as potent an opening salvo as I've heard in some time, the energy building and building in a pleasantly organic fashion, the voices aching to pull every last note from deep inside, propelling them out with great velocity. {REV. ADAM MCKINNEY}

PAPER BIRD, w/ Shenandoah Davis, Elk and Boar, 7:30 p.m., Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 901 N. J St., Tacoma, $16, 253.591.5894

[FUNK] + FRI, JUNE 21

"All the bands are top musicians," says Lee Brooks, who is presenting the third consecutive Soulstice! celebration in Olympia Friday. "The key word we've been using is ‘heavy.' It's heavy funk. Its amazingly mind-blowing heavy funk." The Jefferson Rose Band, McTuff and The Brown Edition will be plowing through spring and straight into summer with their world-renowned funk, jazz, fusion and variations. Bonus: The Brown Edition - voted best band by Weekly Volcano readers in the 2011 Best of Olympia issue - will be playing a set hot off being named Best Funk/Fusion/Jam Album at the 2013 Independent Music Awards. After a predicted four days of rain, this Friday show will be a welcome-back party for the sun, perfect for a Soulstice! party. Come on down and get groovy. {NIKKI MCCOY}

SOULSTICE! w/The Jefferson Rose Band, McTuff and The Brown Edition, 9 p.m., all ages, bar w/ID, Olympia Ballroom, 116 Legion Way SE, Olympia, $15, 360.943.9242

[PSYCHEDELIA] + FRI, JUNE 21

The similarities between Bloodbirds' album, Psychic Surgery, and the early Flaming Lips album, Telepathic Surgery, don't stop at the names. Like the work of the early Flaming Lips, Bloodbirds create psychedelic slash-and-burn screeds, with little dashes here and there of the kind of charming silliness in the lyrics that would eventually come to overtake the Flaming Lips. But Bloodbirds are in their larval stage, still hungry and fighting for attention, for credibility, and as such their music is uncompromisingly gritty, no nonsense rock. The type of brain surgery they do is less the gentle psychic variety advertised in their album title, and more the medieval kind - you know, the kind that involved ice picks and that aimed more for ridges and divots than anything in particular. Their music is a slapdash perusing of your brain matter. {REV. AM}

BLOODBIRDS, w/ Plant of Giants, 10 p.m., Le Voyeur, 404 E. Fourth Ave, Olympia, no cover, 360.943.5710