BENEFIT
Urban Art Festival
One of the great perks of living in such an artistically vibrant and prolific city is an event like the Urban Art Festival, which brings together artists of all shapes and sizes in June and invites Tacoma to get dirty right alongside. This year will mark the fourth annual Urban Art Festival, and the fun will go down at Fireman’s Park.
In preparation for the Urban Art Festival, those in charge of orchestrating the event are busy planning and pulling off fund-raisers, building hype and stashing money to power the Urban Art Festival come June. Just such a fund-raiser will happen tonight at Sanford and Son, when live bands, DJs, synergy painting, and an all-ages crowd will mix for explosively enjoyable results. The Vamanos, Trip the Light Fantastic, Battersea, Abstrack Synergy with Voronoff the Human Sculpture, and DJ Jimmy Sparkles will provide sonic vibrations, and an art raffle and beer garden will make the evening right. â€" Bobble Tiki
[Sanford & Son Library, Urban Art Festival Benefit Show, 7 p.m., all ages, $5, 743 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.272.0334]
ROCK
Bug Nasties
As much as I should really focus on the present with a band like the Bug Nasties, I can’t help but descend into the past for a moment when writing about them. The drive behind the Nasties comes from frontman James Burdyshaw, who’s something of a Northwest rock artifact even at the young age of 40-something. He spent the ’90s wielding a guitar for the Sinister Six, an amped-up garage punk act that did well for themselves in Seattle. And even before his Sinister Six fame, Burdyshaw made worldwide ripples with Cat Butt â€" a short-lived grunge band that grabbed attention thanks to a spot on the now famous Sub Pop 2000 compilation and one of the most memorable band names in rock history.
The Bug Nasties will play Bob’s Java Jive tonight with Plants Eat People and the Moonspinners. While James Burdyshaw has played many brands of rock in his day, the current band brings it all together. The Bug Nasties are a combination of everything that’s good and true about rock and roll. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Bob’s Java Jive, The Bug Nasties, Plants Eat People, Moonspinners with Darrren Selector, 8 p.m., $3, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843]
LINK: Atomic Outlaws and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Escape to the island on Lakewood.
LINK: Let’s eat at a bistro today.