WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30, 2011 >>>

1. Scout Niblett, originally hailing from England, manages to wring more tremulous menace out of her guitar than seems quite possible. A singer/songwriter with a taste for the ominous, Niblett has a way of making songs that straddle the line between intimate and violently standoffish. The moment her vocals lull you into a feeling of personal connection, a guitar stab crashes in to create a separation. Echoes of Nirvana and the Beatles run through Niblett's music, which tends toward the minimal. Rarely are more than a guitar and drums featured, and this starkness transforms the music into a sort of void, open, waiting to be fallen into. Tonight Scout Niblett plays the Capital Theater Backstage in Olympia.

2. Can you guess what "Pin a Dorito on an American" is about? This art installation by Lynn Di Nino is part of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation's Fourth Annual Foundation of Art Award exhibit show, which itself is a part of Spaceworks Tacoma, a program that utilizes vacant storefronts to display various forms of art. "Dorito" features five sculptures of people, each around 16-inches tall, and each enormously fat. Di Nino says her inspiration came from the United States' unhealthy relationship with corn byproducts. It's humorous examination of what is quite a real problem. Catch Di Nino's "Dorito" today at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Tacoma between 5 - 7 p.m. as part of a celebration of (and showing of work from) the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation's artist of the year nominees.

3. This week's installment of Wednesday Sessions at Jazzbones brings the hot country licks of Aces Up. The best part: It's all ages. The show kicks off at 9 p.m.

4. MetroGruv on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue (formerly Hell's Kitchen) busts out the burlesque shows tonight - surely enough to get the rainbow unicorn painted on the front of the building all riled up.

5. And it's "Quiz Night" at Engine House No. 9 - get your smarty-pants on.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight

LINK: This week's freebies