Sure, one acoustic guitar is nice, but it's a whole new ballgame when three acoustic guitars come at you full force like a snorting caribou in the middle of the wild. Despite what you may have heard, in such a scenario, playing dead is not the best idea - unless you're looking to get sonically trampled. It's best to strap in and face the three-headed acoustic beast head-on.

Thursday at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Italy's Guitar Republic - more specifically Pino Forastiere, Stefano Barone, and Sergio Altamura - will arrive in town much like the aforementioned caribou (or something). According to hype, the three acoustic-guitar-wielding members of Guitar Republic were "united by a love of the guitar and a passion to explore new musical territory."

Faced with this performance, will you play dead or face the music head on?

You make the call. ...

[Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts at SPSCC, 7:30 p.m., $13.50-$27, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia, 360.753.8585, olytix.org]