ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>

At this point it goes without saying. 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. Our goal is to consistently provide the best local arts coverage possible to our fantastic readers -- always be on the lookout for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us.

Here's a look at the Volcano arts coverage waiting for you this week in print and online.

MOVIE BIZ BUZZ: The Sea Is All I Know

If you think TFF lacks any celeb cred, think again. Tucked away in Saturday's Drama Shorts package (4:15 p.m., Grand Cinema) lies The Sea Is All I Know, which boasts not one but two of those Hollywood folks you may know. Melissa Leo most notably won the Best Actress Oscar earlier this year for her work in The Fighter, and character actor Peter Gerety has, over three decades, appeared in numerous TV shows and movies. (I personally relished his world-weary police captain in Inside Man.)

Known for his supporting roles, Gerety finds himself front and center in The Sea, playing Sonny, a New England fisherman married to Sara (Leo). They have a terminally-ill daughter, Angelina (Kelly Hutchinson), who asks Mom and Dad to help her in performing euthanasia. Together and in private these parents agonize over their final decision, wavering unsteadily between mercy and what Sonny calls "natural law." ... -- Christopher Wood

FEATURE: OLYMPIA FALL ARTS WALK

Olympia's Arts Walk happens twice a year, but the fall edition has always been the little sister, bundled up and toting her umbrella, not as glamorous as spring's costumed, sandaled walk.

This time around, though, the autumn walk has grown to two days. Waterproof gear is still a good precaution, but there's twice as much time to see the art. There are also more businesses participating (106 compared to last fall's 101) and performances happening both days.

Besides visual art, music, dance and street performance, Arts Walk offers the chance to see and be seen. And many participating businesses offer snacks, desserts and even wine. ... -- Molly Gilmore

FEATURE: TACOMA FILM FESTIVAL

How about a magic trick? Most films perform one; they conceal as much as they reveal. They have us so mesmerized by the world flashing onscreen that we barely tune in to that other world just beyond the frame, that of the film's creators. They cover up their own tracks so nicely, sacrificing their real stories to serve the fictions spun for an audience's enjoyment.

Well, the curtain comes down at this year's Tacoma Film Festival. From Oct. 6-13, The Grand Cinema will blanket this town in over one hundred shorts and features. All of us will find something worth seeing, I'm sure. But beyond keeping movie lovers happy, TFF exists for producers, actors, writers and directors. Many will come from near and far to mingle with viewers and share their works, as well as a part of themselves - the stories behind the stories. ... -- Christopher Wood

THEATER REVIEW: THE LOVE LIST

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Olympia theater companies aren't competing with each other (even last weekend, when three different shows opened downtown), they're competing with television. If you're a producer who plans to charge money for tickets to a musical, then it needs to be better than Glee - a task which, let's face it, hasn't been difficult for over a year. But if you stage a sitcom, by golly, you've bitten off a challenging task indeed, because your competition is Modern Family, Parks and Rec, and Up All Night. Situation comedy has always been hit or miss, but cable subscribers have plenty of yuk-worthy material to enjoy on their DVRs. If your production can't be as polished and funny as what's on the boob tube, then you'll find yourself playing to barren houses.

The Love List at Harlequin has been playing to standing ovations, and that's because it's better than TV. ... -- Christian Carvajal

THEATER REVIEW: ALWAYS ... PATSY CLINE

I suppose one of the defining traits of legendary talent is that it cannot be reproduced. Thousands of doughy Elvis impersonators later, there's still just one King, and Beatlemania remains a mere echo of the Fab Four. Likewise, there has only ever been, and can only ever be, one Virgina "Patsy" Cline. We don't need to be fans of early Sixties country to know that. To this day, "I Fall to Pieces" remains one of the great karaoke destroyers of all time. You can't sing it; I can't, either, though it seems to have been written for my deep baritone range.

So give it up for Kittra Coomer, who dares not one, not two, but 27 Cline numbers in a little over two hours for Capital Playhouse's production of Always...Patsy Cline. ... -- Christian Carvajal

THEATER REVIEW: LITTLE WOMEN

Unfortunately, for all the talent on display, they were still doing a musical adaptation of Little Women, and there is only so much you can do to rescue a show from such a fate. A book about four women growing toward adulthood, and the changes that gradually affect their lives, is distilled into a play in which some things happen, people change suddenly and, for no apparent reason, there are some weddings ... the end. ... -- Joseph Izenman

THEATER REVIEW: BUNNICULA

Last I checked Dictionary.com, a vampire was defined as a preternatural being who sucks the blood of humans or animals, and that's a scary concept for youngsters. Luckily, James and Deborah Howe's kid-lit Bunnicula is nothing of the kind. Rather, he's a nocturnal rabbit with teleportation powers who prefers to drain the carotene from carrots and other produce. In Olympia Family Theater's version, those powers are accompanied by brief strobe effects, which I'll warn you about as I'm pretty sure house management didn't. (It's a common oversight in local theater, but I've seen the worst-case neurological repercussions so I'm sensitive to it.) That glitch aside, Bunnicula is a wittily staged, charismatically acted comedy that'll entertain rather than traumatize patrons of all ages. ... -- Christian Carvajal

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