WEDNESDAY, AUG. 4, 2010 >>>
1. Foxtrot have a way of making somewhat difficult songs that eschew the conventions of normal pop songcraft. They sort of sound backward or upside-down. The guitars, the drums, the bass - they're all there, but being used in a way that sounds slightly foreign to the ear. Yet somehow it works for us. They perform at 9 p.m. with The Razzberry Jam Band and Future Ranger inside Bob's Java Jive. Read the full story here.
2. The Thurston County Fair opens at 10 a.m. with the theme Whimsical Nights and Carousel Rides. Start the ride here.
3. Olympia UrbanSketchers - people who tour the town with sketchbooks and pencils - will meet 6:30 p.m. near "The Kiss" at Percival Landing then head out for two hours of drawing before returning to the same spot to compare sketches.
4. Harlequin Productions hosts "swamp rock" band The Band of Heathens in their first tour of the northwest at 7 and 9:30 p.m. inside the State Theater in Olympia. Their bass player, Seth Whitney (son of Harlequin musical director, Bruce Whitney, and nephew of Harlequin artistic directors, Scot and Linda Whitney) is an Olympia native who moved to Austin, Texas, several years ago to up his music game.
5. The quintet Sambatuque (samba-too-kie) will perform music from Brazil and the Caribbean from 7-8 p.m. at Sylvester Park in downtown Olympia.