THURSDAY, SEPT. 23, 2010 >>>

1. Leave it to liberal academia to romanticize soft-ass Europe and the continent's history of thinking and talking and stuff. And we don't mean thinking and talking about who got kicked off of Survivor, either; we mean intellectual stuff. It's so un-American. From 5:30-7:30 p.m., University of Puget Sound Prof. Laurie Frankel, fast off the release of her latest book - The Atlas of Love - will hold shop at a UPS English Department sponsored "Coffeehouse Conversation" inside the Trimble Forum on campus. There'll be light snacks, refreshments and big words.

2. Artists Jessica Balsam, Jeremy Mangan, Nicholas Nyland, and James Porter will discuss their work, careers, and practice, specifically their paintings and drawings as part of the Foundation of Art Award from the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation show, from 3-4 p.m. inside the Kittredge Gallery on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. The Thursday Beer Runners will lace up at 6:30 p.m. in front of the Rock The Dock Pub & Grill on Dock Street, head out for a 3-mile run, then return to Rock The Dock to pound drinks until the wee hours.

4. Vashon Island landscape painter Victoria Adams, known for such pastorals as River's Edge and Morning Shimmer, creates broad panoramas of the American countryside devoid of humans.  She sets horizons low in her frame to feature vast, meteorologically accurate skies in the Dutch tradition.  As a highlight of her exhibition Where Sky Meets Earth:  The Luminous Landscapes of Victoria Adams at the Tacoma Art Museum, Adams will climb up the hill to the Tacoma Public Library on Tacoma Avenue South for a lecture and slide show centered on said show beginning at 7 p.m.

5. I Defy, Dead Peasants, Sickamore and My Eternal will rock Hell's Kitchen's new $3 Thursday night - $3 wells, $3 beers, $3 for two hot dogs - beginning at 8 pm.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound