THURSDAY, FEB. 17, 2011 >>>

1. Don't even act like you're not going, Olympians. The Weekly Volcano is celebrating this week's first-ever Best of Olympia issue by blowing the roof off The Brotherhood Lounge, beginning at 9 p.m. No cover. Old School Pizza, free. Live music by DJ James, the Dirty Birds, Morgan & the Organ Donors and Western Hymn. Thurston County's best and brightest. A killer raffle. And, best of all, your favorite local Volcano "celebrities," including the cool chick who bartends and that dude with the neck problem.

2. Greater downtown Tacoma art galleries, museums and businesses will host artists and artwork from 5-8 p.m. as part of the Tacoma Third Thursday Artwalk. Mineral gallery hosts Contour Intervals, an exhibition of paintings by Selinda Sheridan. Juliette Ricci will be selling her art at Sanford and Sons Antiques. Viceroy Art Gallery featuring new paintings by C. Michael Wiswell and Nice Threads - an installation featuring 7,000 feet of colored string by the Dead End Boys.  Mavi Contemporary Art will host Michael Croman, William Turner, William Quinn and Christopher Mathie. The 253 Collective will feature artist Alisa Rasmussen. These are just a few of the participating venues.

3. Tacoma Community College hosts some of Louisiana's finest musicians at 7:30 p.m. Tab Benoit, Cyril Nevill, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidacovich, Jumpin' Johnny Sansone and Waylon Thibodeaux will perform in the TCC Theatre under the title "The Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars in Concert."

4. The Harmon Brewery has new tables, painted walls, food menu, drink list, wine list and more. To celebrate its new things the downtown Tacoma restaurant will host a party 5-7 p.m. offering a sampling of its new menu. At 8 p.m. the human jukebox Steve Stefanowicz will perform.

5. Nate Jackson organizes a super funny collection of super comedians weekly, which is super. He's a super funny comic himself, so much so that he reigned supreme at the same Bay Area Black Comedy Competition won previously by Mark Curry and Jamie Foxx. Super! He promises nationally known headliners every Thursday night at 8 p.m. inside the Varsity Grill, which is amazingly super. Unfortunately, one of those comedians was Marc Price, aka "Skippy" on Family Ties. ... OK, but the rest? Super.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound