MONDAY, JAN. 7 2013 >>>

1. Rich Wetzel's Groovin' Higher Jazz Orchestra has been popping up in local bars and restaurants, introducing folks to jazz of years gone by, as well as a few current numbers. Lately, the big band has put more emphasis on the jazz-rock fusion, some hot Latin jazz and some big band rock tunes from Chuck Berry and James Brown. That said, Maynard Ferguson hovers above the band like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Wetzel and crew visit The Royal Lounge's Monday Jazz Series at 8 p.m.

2. Dale Croes, wet archaeological site specialist, talks about a 10,700-year-old Northwest Coast wet site discovery on small Ellen Island in southernmost Haida Gwaii, off the west coast of British Columbia at noon inside the Washington State Capital Museum.

3. Director Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson supposedly chronicles the momentous first meeting of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Britain’s King George VI, but all that’s just background noise. Really, the movie is about how FDR’s dowdy distant cousin, Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney), had a schoolgirl crush on the commander-in-chief.? Hyde Park on Huson screens at 2:05, 4:15, 6:50 and 9 p.m. inside The Grand Cinema in Tacoma.

4. "In the Family centers on one of the notable performances I've seen — if, indeed, it is a performance. ... This is his first feature, and may signal the opening of an important career." So wrote Roger Ebert of Patrick Wang, the writer-director and star of a drama whose plot could scarcely be more topical in these parts: A gay parent in Martin, Tenn., faces losing his son when his dead partner's sister files a custody challenge.In The Family screens at 6:30 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia.

5. The Olympia Area Square Dancers will be offering a free Introduction to Square Dancing class with a 10-week set of lessons starting at 7 p.m. inside Lac-A-Do Hall, 1721 46th Ave. NE in Olympia. 

LINK: Monday, Jan. 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area