FRIDAY, SEPT. 16, 2011 >>>

1. It is not too early to be planning your St. Patrick's Day celebration - March 17 is than six months away. To help you get in the mood - and sell a pot full of Jameson whiskey - Doyle's Public House will host its annual Halfway to St. Patrick's Day Party tonight and tomorrow.  Besides $3 dollar appetizers from 3-6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. both days, the Stadium District watering hole hosts Floater frontman Robert Wynia for an acoustioc with drums show at 9 p.m. Wynia is touring in support of his solo release, Iron By Water. Blvd Park hits the stages tomorrow at 9 p.m. Both shows are free.

2. At 4:30 p.m. at Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound Associate Professor Janet Marcavage will discuss her prints in conjunction with the exhibition, "Show and Tell: Art Department Faculty 2011," currently on view at the gallery.

3. These six little spelling champs are kids we've seen before - lonely outsiders and bratty overachievers, adolescents whose parents neglect them or push them too hard to succeed. The characters come close to stereotype without ever quite falling into it. As a result, we can laugh at them and empathize simultaneously. We, of course, are referring to Tacoma Little Theatre's 7:30 p.m. production of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which theater critic Joe Izenman reviewed here.

4. Tonight, the owners of Big Whisky Saloon in Tacoma are opening a second location in the former Vault Nightclub space in downtown Olympia. The new Big Whisky will feature all the hits of original Big Whisky, complete with more than 50 whiskeys from around the world. "I think people will be shocked and impressed with the feel," says part owner Todd Ruzicka. Nothing like a little shock and awe to get the ball rolling on a new club.

5. For those of us who retain cognitive memories of the ‘80s, Tempest Lounge brings down the house every third Friday at 9:30 p.m. with "Beat Boxxx" straight outta that decade. You can throw your hands in the air, and wave ‘em like you just don't care. DJs dAb, Suga Jones and rotating guests man the decks and cover all the bases - funk, pop, old school, club classics - throwing in the occasional '80s track you probably haven't heard in decades, depending on which decade you were born in.

PLUS: More events in our Weekend Hustle

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: New movies open!