THURSDAY, DEC. 22, 2011 >>>

1. Weekly Volcano theater critic Christian Carvajal announced his annual Cervy Awards. Capital Playhouse's Scrooge: the Musical blanket Carvajal's nominees for best of 2011. In fact, the show won in two categories. Scrooge: the Musical, like all incarnations of A Christmas Carol, is a transformation story. Rarely has that been so clearly represented as in this year's impeccable production at Capital Playhouse. It hits the Olympia stage at 7:30 p.m. Read Carvajal's review of the show here.

2. Call the mayor and draw up a proclamation: it's Power Pop Night in Tacoma. The SEACATS will leave the comforts of Kelso and fill the all-ages Red Room with Weezer-esque pop rock beginning at 7 p.m. Joining the CATS will be Books and Covers, a mammoth a wooly mammoth, Specters and Talkton and Easy.

3. The Tacoma Comedy Club has a three-for-the-price-of-one awesomeness scheduled for tonight. Catch topnotch comedians Adam Norwest, Susan Jones and Andrew Rivers as part of a show that kicks off at 8 p.m.

4. Actor/director/pianist Josh Anderson, the man behind Saul Tannenbaum's oversized glasses and bad wig, is no stranger to the region's stages. But for Tannenbaum, who made his first Olympia appearance two Christmases ago, playing the Black Box at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m., is a big step. Performing with Tannenbaum will be the sultry Mona von Horne (Christina Collins); Belles Kitty Beaujolais (Lauren O'Neill), Donna Beldonado (Katie Youngers) and Lola de Sazerac (Kristin Carlson); and special guests Milt and Mindy McNaughton (Mark Alford and Sam Cori).

5. Weekly Volcano music critic Rev. Adam McKinney says there's vocal similarities between Bodybox frontman Kurt Lindsay and late cult singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley.  The Rev. says, "Lindsay's voice, like Buckley's (though, of course, no one can truly touch Jeff Buckley, vocally), is simultaneously full of bravado and wounded timidity. It quivers with feeling, though it might be noted that Lindsay's voice often comes across as more lost, searching, which adds a nice element to what is largely music that errs toward modern rock, with some detours to friendly mixers like R&B and folk." Check it out at 9 p.m. when Bodybox, Life Afterlife, the Estafets and Levendy feat. Vanna D perform at Hell's Kitchen.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: This week's freebies

LINK: Santa Says Blog