TUESDAY, SEPT. 13, 2011 >>>
1. We fell under the spell of bluegrass music long before The Grand Cinema ran Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? for 13 years in a row. Our dad filled the truck's cab with the high, lonesome mountain-blues sound of Bill Monroe's plaintive voice accompanied by a banjo, mandolin and fiddle. The Oly Mountain Boys are putting together a celebration of the music of Monroe on the occasion of his 100th birthday at 7 p.n. inside the Black Lake Grange Hall. Runaway Train will headline, the Oly Mountain Boys will open, and Pickled Okra from Seattle will do an all-Monroe set in between. There will be birthday cake, door prizes, rare concert film projected, and an all-around toe-tappin' good time.
2. Prairie Line was once the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, today running through the University of Washington-Tacoma campus and other areas around downtown. This stretch of land has largely been forgotten in modern times, but there's a facelift in its future - a walking and biking interpretive trail headed up by design studio Thoughtbarn, made up of Lucy Begg, Robert Gay and Todd Bressi. These folks will hang from 9:30-11 a.m. inside the Rain City Café to share their plans with the public. Read the Weekly Volcano's story a program called Public Art In Depth (PA:ID) is kicking up its heels along the Prairie Line Trail here.
3. Olympia's Le Voyeur often slips through the cracks. But for those in the know, this trendy little restaurant is a perfect spot to sip PBR and discuss obscure Soviet films. Le Voyeur doesn't offer too many specials, but they do have $4 sandwiches on Tuesdays. The cheap sandwiches are a perfect complement to inexpensive beer, the amazing garlic fries and the ultra-hip clientele that are some of Le Voyeur's other specialties.
4. Geeks Who Drink Quiz Night with Quizmaster Holland Hume goes down at 8 p.m. inside Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub in Tacoma. The game consists of eight rounds of eight questions and is played in teams of up to six people. Questions are read aloud by Hume; teams write their answers on provided sheets and turn them in at the end of each round. The team with the most points after eight rounds is the winner. Oh, and there's drinking involved, too.
5. The DJ & Drummer Duo Battle featuring DJ Switch and Chris Dahl begins at 9:30 p.m. at the Backstage Bar & Grill on Sixth Avenue.