SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2012 >>>

1. Watching a good independent film at a festival is a bit like meeting The One, then losing his/her number - you may never run into each other again. But The Grand Cinema, our local cinematic Cupid, believes in second chances, and second screenings. So in case you missed Losing Control at the Tacoma Film Festival last October, or just want to rekindle your pleasure for writer-director Valerie Weiss's romantic comedy, her movie hits the theater again at 4:30 and 9:10 p.m.

2. What started as Paul Manuel's outgrowth of monthly youth jams at Jazzbones on Sixth Avenue has turned into something much more involved; kids of all ages are forming bands, learning to play new instruments, performing and competing through their affiliation with the Puget Sound Music For Youth Association. See it in all its glory at 2 p.m. inside The Swiss.

3. Each April brings a shower of poetry to the South Puget Sound. Inaugurated as National Poetry Month by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, the entire month is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating poets, poetry, libraries, bookstores, and the literary arts community across the nation. The South Sound has its own praiseworthy poets with words to spit about our own place in the American poetry scene. A few big name poets will read their works from 3-5 p.m. at the Museum of Glass. Tacoma's Poet Laureate Josie Emmons Turner, Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, and poets Rick Barot and Michael Schmeltzer will be rhymin' and readin' their swirl of stanzas.

4. Randy Oxford's trombone skills are front and center as he showcases his brand of blues - an upbeat, funky, jazzy, high-energy sound - backed by some of the best musicians in the region at 5 p.m. inside the Marine View Church. 

5. The LGBT elder film series sponsored by SAGE Olympia in collaboration with Olympia Film Society continues with Southern Comfort, playing at the Capitol Theater at 5 p.m. SouthernComfort is a 90-minute feature-length documentary about the life of Robert Eads, a 52-year-old female to male transsexual who lives in the back hills of Georgia.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours