THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2011 >>>

1. Poetically gifted singer-songwriter and Grammy-nominated Eliza Gilkyson will fill Morso wine bar with roots, folk and Americana tunes at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. She's kind of a big deal.

2. It's Third Thursday Artwalk from 5-8 p.m. in downtown Tacoma! Spaceworks Tacoma is hosting a party to celebrate the next round of awesome storefront exhibition from 5-7 p.m. inside the studio of Chris Sharp and Jeremy Gregory (904 Broadway). Fulcrum Gallery on Hilltop is hosting a prints sale. The ART BUS is back and rolling leaving the Tacoma Art Museum at 6 p.m. for a two-hour tour of the Artwalk. All the other downtown Tacoma museums and galleries are open tonight, too.

3. Artists, musicians, poets, thought provokers and listeners alike are invited to the Be the Spark Open Mic Night hosted by The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation from 6-8:30 p.m. inside the Mandolin Café. You will also have the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Be the Spark event on May 13 featuring Desmond Tutu, Craig Kielburger, Ben Union and many others. 

4. Olympia's own Rebels by Bus, Mary Williams and Gail Johnson, take the bus for leisure travel, sharing their journeys on their blog (rebels-by-bus.net), subtitled "Slow Travel With Low Carbon Footprint." They'll be talking about what they do and why at 7 p.m. inside the Olympia Timberland Library, no doubt pointing out that riding the bus is good not only for the planet, but for the budget too - especially with soaring gas prices.

5. News Tribune sports columnist Dave Boling wrote much of his 2009 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award-winning book Guernica in airports and hotel rooms while on the road. Boling will be at the University Place Library at 7 p.m. to discuss his book and the effort it took to write it.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound