THIS WEEK'S FREEBIES NOV. 7-13 >>>
Hey, what happened? Bobble Tiki was just traipsing happily through autumn, watching the leaves turn pretty colors and fall into someone else's yard, when it suddenly turned cold!
When the cold arrives is when Bobble Tiki begins doing his old man thing: puttering around the house. Bobble Tiki walks around turning lamps on and off, makes coffee, calls to see which checks cleared overnight, visits the porch to see which plants he has killed and, well, just putter. Anything you read on this page must be taken with a grain of salt, because Bobble Tiki can't remember what it is he's supposed to be doing.
But don't fret, gentle reader, because Bobble Tiki sends you another fresh Freeloaders column to keep your tootsies toasty. This week, Bobble Tiki will focus on free events centered on things that are old. Like Bobble Tiki.
MONDAY, NOV. 7: Tacoma playwright C. Rosalind Bell presents a free staged reading of her screenplay about blues guitar legend Robert Johnson at the Toy Boat Theatre in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood. Twelve professional and community actors will bring to life the African American blues artist who, in the 1930s south, developed a sound and approach that was to influence the entire genre of rock and roll music, before his untimely death at 27 after being poisoned by the husband of a woman he was wooing.
TUESDAY, NOV. 8: For some reason, the history books concentrate on the presidents after the adoption of the U. S. Constitution. However there were 14 presidents prior to the U. S. Constitution, eight of which served under an earlier constitution, The Articles of Confederation. The 14 Presidents Prior to George Washington exhibit - on display at Karpeles Manuscript Museum next to Wright Park in Tacoma - will discuss history during these 14 presidential terms. As always, admission is free.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9: Emile Zola's epic Germinal was published in 1885: the year Freud arrived in Paris to study hysteria, and the year the miner's son, DH Lawrence, was born. Psychologically, socially and politically, Germinal was a trailblazing fiction set in the 1860s in a mining community in northern France. Meeting in Tacoma since 1994 - the year Bobble Tiki was beat up by his construction site buddies after Bobble Tiki said he preferred anti-folk, no-wave and some math rock over country music - the Classic Book Club will discuss Germinal at 7 p.m. inside King's Books.
THURSDAY, NOV. 10: For the past 25 years investigative journalist David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape with his weekly audio series Alternative Radio, a one-hour public affairs program carried by over 125 radio outlets in the U.S., Canada, Europe and beyond. In September, he was deported from India for his work on Kashmir and other revolts. At 7:30 p.m. Barsamian will give a free lecture on "Uprisings: Form Kashmir to Egypt to wall Street inside the Washington State Labor Council office in Olympia.
FRIDAY, NOV. 11: The Washington State History Museum will admit active duty and retired military and their family free admission on Veteran's Day. At 2 p.m. the downtown Tacoma museum will commemorate Veteran's Day by reading aloud a series of recollections written by or about military service members past and present. Members of the public are invited to recount, in 500 words or less, a personal experience related to the American armed forces or a memory of someone who is or was in military
SATURDAY, NOV. 12: What was life on Earth like in the years between the dinosaur extinction and the rise of human beings? Bobble Tiki was thinking it must have been pure bliss. But no, there were dangers a plenty, which you may witness if you drop in on the shark feeding at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium at 11 a.m.
SUNDAY NOV. 13: Remember how sweet life was before everyone was addicted to TV and the Internet? When situations weren't created for you - you actually had to use your imagination to spice up life? Shake the dust off your brain, and listen to Dr. Lorraine McConaghy discuss her newly released book, New Land, North of the Columbia: Historic Documents that Tell the Story of Washington State from Territory to Today, at 2 p.m. inside The Tacoma Public Library Main Branch. Historian McConaghy has traversed the state and sifted through the files of three dozen archives to cull the 400-plus documents that bring to life Washington's last 150 years.
LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound
LINK: Nightlife It List