SATURDAY, MAY 18 2013 >>>

1. "Since the earliest days of our Union, America has been blessed with an unbroken chain of patriots willing to give of themselves so their fellow citizens might live free. Whenever our Nation has come under attack, courageous men and women in uniform have risen to her defense. Whenever our liberties have come under assault, our service members have responded with resolve. Time and again, these heroes have sacrificed to sustain that powerful promise that we hold so dear - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And on Armed Forces Day, we honor those who serve bravely and sacrifice selflessly in our name," said Pres. Barack Obama in his Armed Forces Day proclamation. So, let's celebrate.

2. Get your Gilligan from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. when the Port of Olympia resurrects the Swantown Boatswap and Chowder Challenge. Boat connoisseurs will be able to peruse boats listed for sale, pick up parts and accessories all while enjoying a little bit of live music and chowder from Thurston County eateries. The chowder contest starts promptly at 12:30 p.m. when 12 local restaurants - including Fish Tale Brew Pub, The Sidewalk Café, Tugboat Annies and Lucky Eagle Casino - will serve their finest clam chowder and compete for "best chowder" honors, voted buy the eating public.

3. The Olympia Youth Chorus is one of those organizations you just can't help but feel good about supporting. With an end goal of nurturing an appreciation for music and choral art in kids as young as kindergarten age, the Olympia Youth Chorus has been going strong for over 16 years. At 4 p.m. in the Westwood Baptist Church, the chorus presents "Bach to Rock" - billed as "a sampling of choral music from J.S. Bach and Hildegard von Bingen to Sister Act's 'Joyful, Joyful.'"

4. Weekly Volcano music critic Rev. Adam McKinney says there's vocal similarities between Bodybox frontman Kurt Lindsay and late cult singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley.  The Rev. says, "Lindsay's voice, like Buckley's (though, of course, no one can truly touch Jeff Buckley, vocally), is simultaneously full of bravado and wounded timidity. It quivers with feeling, though it might be noted that Lindsay's voice often comes across as more lost, searching, which adds a nice element to what is largely music that errs toward modern rock, with some detours to friendly mixers like R&B and folk." See for yourself over a glass or three of wine at 8 p.m. in Cork Wine Bar. 

5. There's a full, complicated backstory of the mARMITs, involving an "inter-dimensional long shoreman/neon harvester named Wildcat," of which the mARMITs are captives. The rest of the narrative we'll leave for them to describe at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur, but what we will mention is the music, which is a delirious concoction that calls to mind other insane innovators like Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, with a distinctively populist bent (music-wise) in search of artistic abstraction.

LINK: Saturday, May 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area