FRIDAY, FEB. 15 2013 >>>

1. On any given morning, after eating her daily oatmeal, and feeding her several dogs, legendary musician Roberta Flack gets busy in her New York City home - busy rehearsing, busy planning, busy listening to or writing music. "I'm a busy person. I have a busy personality," Flack says over the phone. "I have ongoing commitments constantly. ... And now with the Internet slapping you in the face, there's really no excuse. You gotta be motivated to move and make something." All this gusto from a woman who has enchanted the jazz, soul and R&B scene with her singing, songwriting and piano skills since the late '60s, earning two consecutive Grammy awards in '73 and '74 with chart-toppers, "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song," respectively. See her perform at 7:30 p.m. inside the Pantages Theater. Read Nikki McCoy's interview with Roberta Flack in the Weekly Volcano's Music section.

2. After six long years of closure due to safety issues, the Murray Morgan Bridge saw the dawn of a new era Friday, Feb. 1. The bridge reopened to car traffic - as well as bicycle and foot traffic via new pathways - just in time for its 100th birthday celebration today. This past week downtown businesses offered discounts and Harmon Brewery distributed Eleventh Street IPA in celebration of the old steel bridge over the Thea Foss Waterway reconnecting the Port of Tacoma with downtown Tacoma. An official dedication ceremony with local dignitaries will be held at 10 a.m. The event will take place near the bridge at the intersection of 11th and A streets.

3. Stroll through the W.W. Seymour Conservatory sipping on wine or champagne and indulge on handmade chocolates or chocolate covered strawberries from French Hen Bistro while Andy Carlson fills the space with melodies from 5:30-7 p.m. Be present at 6:30 for a drawing of a Hilltop Artist's glass piece.

4. These are digital days, and they're thick with artists - artists who push the technological boundaries of expression further with every bend of a circuit, every twitch of a knob, every densely packed recontextualization of what's come before. The cartoonland of Mark Monlux; the extremes of Ryan Loiselle's weird humor; the virtual tablet painting of John Carlton: This is not some graying curator's business as usual. This is not the sort of art, of creative industry, that's regularly encompassed by a city's more old-school contingent of galleries and exhibitions. You want to bust these ghosts out of the machine, so to speak? Who you gonna call? Lynn di Nino and her monthly TRIPOD Slide Show. See three slideshows on digital art and how these three artists make it from 7-8:30 p.m. at Madera Furniture Company a couple blocks from El Gaucho.

5. Drag show troupe New Queens on the Block has produced shows at the Urban Onion since September, dropping a themed show on Olympia every third Friday of the month. In December, the New Queens added holiday flair to its fabulous affair. In March, the show will geek out to a Comicon theme. Tonight at 9 p.m., Valentine's Day is front an dcenter with "The Lupanara: A Burlesque Themed Drag Variety Show" at the Onion. Read Nikki McCoy's full feature on New Queens on the Block.

LINK: Friday, Feb. 14 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area