FRIDAY, JAN. 14, 2011 >>>

1. Makeup Monsters will play their last show in quite some time tonight at The New Frontier Lounge tonight. As the Volcano's Jason Baxter so aptly noted in this week's paper, "Makeup Monsters (formerly the duo of Shayne Weeks and Isaac Solverson, now a trio including Jay Clancy) are a band that's frustratingly talented, handsome and widely beloved. They're also remarkably young - something that's been discussed to death here and elsewhere. MM's youthful energy is in keeping with their aural ancestry, which dates back to the distant year of 2001, when vibrant, fresh-faced sensations (the Strokes, et al.) helped re-legitimize FM "alt" radio with contagious, candied rock. But rather than simply regurgitate those millennial tropes, Weeks, Solverson and Clancy make them their own, infusing feel-good jingles with rhythmic restlessness and barbed, sometimes-prickly lyrics. Theirs is not your father's rock music, but it might sound a little like a revisionist take on your older brother's."

2. Bates Technical College always gets in on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration - and this year is no different. Today, the school will sponsor a free screening of Stanley Nelson's documentary, Freedom Riders, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the downtown campus.

3. Unschooled in the "neo-cabaret" musical genre? Don't fret - just check out Portland's Vagabond Opera Friday in Olympia. Truly offering music of the world, the six-piece Vagabond Opera reportedly dabbles in sounds spanning the globe - from European cabaret, to Balkan belly dance, to Old World Yiddish theater and beyond. Tonight, the Vagabond Opera takes over the Kenneth J. Minnaeart Center for the Arts in Olympia.

4. What's that rumbling you hear? It's the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam, bringing demolition to the Tacoma Dome once again - and crushing things throughout the weekend.

5. Comedian Rebecca Corry kicks off a sure-to-be-funny-as-hell weekend stand at the Tacoma Comedy Club tonight. Share the laughs.

LINK: New movies open today

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound