THURSDAY, DEC. 1, 2011 >>>

1. Tacoma's Blue Mouse Theatre kicks the holiday season off in style today with a classic, 1954's White Christmas - which will play at 7 p.m.. Director Michael Curtiz shrugs off the cynicism in his Casablanca and plunges into this unabashedly sentimental musical starring Bing Crosby. The teary finale makes the singing and dancing near worth it.

2. In Olympia, the Blackbery Bushes Stringband will play at McMenamins Spar Café & Bar at 7 p.m. All ages can get in on this bluegrass and Americana-tinged good times, and there's no cover.

3. William Breitenbach, a professor of history at the University of Puget Sound, will lead a public conversation on the Civil War today at the University Place  Pierce County Library. The event, which is the first installment of a series of book readings and discussions led by Breitenbach called "Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War" happening on the first Thursday of the month, will run from 7-9 p.m. Tonight's event is especially important, as a short orientation meeting and distribution of the free books to be read will kick things off. Register at the library or by contacting Adult Services Librarian Jason Anderson at janderson@piercebountylibrary.org.

4. Today is World AIDS Day. In that spirit, the Tacoma Art Museum invites the public to join them and Visual AIDS, "to honor 30 years of AIDS by viewing the film Untitled by Jim Hodges, Carlos Marques de Cruz and Encke King," according to the press release. The film is described as, "a moving, nonlinear montage of archival and pop footage recalling the passionate activism sparked by the early years of the AIDS crisis." Find more info here.

5. The band Keeping Secrets will play Hell's Kitchen tonight - a dynamically rocking reason to start your weekend just a wee-bit early. Plus, the dudes of Keeping Secrets are all about standing around in large bodies of water (see above). So there's that.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight

LINK: This week's freebies