ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>
At this point it you are moving your lips before you read the next sentence. If you're looking for coverage of local arts in Tacoma, Olympia, and all points in between, the Weekly Volcano is THE place to find it. While others cut back or bow out, the Volcano pushes on, continually providing the best in local arts coverage to our fantastic readers and always looking for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us.
Here's a look at the arts coverage waiting for you in print and online.
THEATER: Brighton Beach Memoirs
CAPITAL PLAYHOUSE: Jackson Jones throws strikes in "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Photo credit: Capital Playhouse
There are stage veterans who scoff at Neil Simon, but I'm not among them. It'd be easier to dismiss his career if 21st century theaters boasted a humorist with even half the quality of his résumé. That said, Simon was always more gifted at writing jokes (a talent honed in 1950s TV) than crafting genuine pathos. His first major attempt at autobiography, Chapter Two, falls flat at each attempt at marital conflict. Brighton Beach Memoirs, penned six years later, is more ambitious than Chapter Two, but whiffs at as many pitches as it hits. What was probably his most heartfelt material seems, more often than not, manufactured instead of observed. — Christian Carvajal
FEATURE: Wanda Sykes to play the Pantages Theater
Wanda Sykes is one of those people that everyone knows. She's been doing standup comedy since 1987, but many just know her as some indefinable presence in comedy - having spent time as an actress on TV and in movies, as well as a writer for The Chris Rock Show. It's easy to take for granted what a brilliant comedian she is. Now, more than 20 years into her career as a standup, Sykes' comedy is becoming more personal and confessional. – Rev. Adam McKinney
VISUAL ARTS: New featured art at Matter gallery
"Knocking on Heaven's Door": Coco Edmunds' painting of a sock monkey is knocking on an actual door screen. Photo credit: Bob Snell
Olympia's Matter Gallery keeps it fresh by constantly bringing in new artists and new works by the gallery's regulars. Among some of the new work showing now I detect a theme. The theme is painting. Specifically expressionistic painting, mostly abstract or with stylized imagery and expressive handling of paint - or in many cases stuff that looks like paint. - Alec Clayton
MOVIE BIZ BUZZ: Couch Fest Films
Couch Fest Films founder Craig Downing (Icelandair shirt) and friends are coming to a couch near you. Photo credit: Couch Fest Films
I still haven't attended the Port Townsend Film Festival, but I can vouch for another fest held that same weekend worth taking in: the Seattle-based Couch Fest Films. For one day only - Sept. 24 - the concept takes films out of the traditional, formal theater setting and into a homier atmosphere - basically, folks' living rooms. Each participating home hosts its own batch of shorts, grouped into various genres (comedy, animation, etc.) that repeat every hour from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Couch Fest motto sums it up: "Awkwardly Awesome." – Christopher Wood