SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013 >>>

1. There are better ways to spend St. Patrick's Day than sitting at home in front of a big-ass bowl of Lucky Charms. Plan your ultimate Irish wake with the Weekly Volcano's St. Patrick's Day Command Center.

2. Part high-tech-heaven, part creative design and old-world style, FabLab has been offering workshops - from laser cutting and robotics, to leather and woodworking - to the community since November. From 2-4 p.m. the public is invited to an afternoon FabLab Member Social & Open House. This will be a chance for members to share and the publuc to see recent projects and hear updates.

3. You might remember the title from movie previews in 1993. You might have read the book ... or rather your mom read it. Even if you've done neither, you've likely heard of The Joy Luck Club, the modern classic by Amy Tan about four young Chinese-American women, their traditional, Chinese mothers and the hijinks that ensue as they try to understand each other. TAcoma Little Theatre stages the play at 2 p.m. Read Kristin Kendle's full feature on The joy Luck Club in the Weekly Volcano's Arts section.

4. The Northwest Sinfonietta bills itself as, "an orchestra to be reckoned with," not to mention an orchestra of, "passion, vision, thrill, and creation." Anyone who has seen the Northwest Sinfonietta in action would have trouble arguing with these statements, as the musical body routinely wows audiences in Tacoma, Puyallup and Seattle. Saturday the Northwest Sinfonietta will perform the original score to Charlie Chaplin's flick, The Gold Rush at 2 p.m. inside Puyallup's Liberty Theater. In the film, the Little Fellow is cast as "the Lone Prospector," one of the hopeful hordes of prospectors during the Alaskan gold rush of 1898. Chaplin drew his creative muse from grim history, specifically the tragic saga of the Donner Party, an ill-fated expedition of westward travelers who got caught in a bitter winter storm in the Sierras, resorting to cannibalism to survive.

5. There are better ways to get your Irish on than at a Vicci martinez show. That said, there are not many better shows than a Martinez performance, which will happen at 9 p.m. inside her home away from home, Jazzbones. Tacoma's Martinez became a household when she competed on NBC-TV's The Voice. 

LINK: Sunday, March 17 arts and entertainmetn events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area