SATURDAY, JUNE 15 2013 >>>
1. It's hard to believe it's been 28 years since Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) first leaped into that plutonium-powered DeLorean and time-traveled back to 1955. LeMay - America's Car Museum is kicking off its summer drive-in movie series at 4:30 p.m. (movie starts at sunset) with Back to the Future. ACM will have a giant 40-foot movie screen that will allow people to park and watch the movie – free of charge – from their cars or spread out on its lawn with blankets and chairs — accompanied by ACM's two DeLoreans on the showfield. Additional activities including zip-lining and food will be available for purchase.
2. Opening today and running through Oct. 6, The Herb and Lucy Pruzan collection will be on display at Tacoma Art Museum. Representing half a century of art collecting, the Pruzan collection features more than 100 works from well-known Northwest artists including such art world stars as William Cumming, Gaylen Hansen, Paul Havas, William Ivey, Fay Jones, James Martin, Alden Mason, Ginny Ruffner, Preston Singletary, Akio Takamori, and more. Called Creating the New Northwest, the exhibition shares the story of how Northwest artists have shaped new perceptions and a new sense of artistic identity.
3. The sundresses and flip flops that are released from their closets this time of year are fine and dandy for this fundraiser.at 4 p.m., break out your inner Algernon or Lady Bracknell (please imagine the "r" rumbling like thunder as you read that name) for Lakewood Playhouse's Party on the Patio, which benefits the playhouse in, er, Lakewood. Before its 8 p.m. staging of The Importance of Being Earnest, the staff and board - none of them named Earnest - will host an outdoor cook-out on its patio, which no doubt will be wickedly clever, full of brilliant aphorisms and entirely insincere - at least the play will be. Expect a silent auction, raffle, board elections, open house and more leading up to curtain time. A jaunty romp from beginning to end we're sure.
4. Vocal legend Tony Bennett pushes boundaries when it comes to his duets, most notably those with k.d. lang. But when it comes to flying solo, the man gives the people exactly what they want: his smooth, elegant, laidback take on standards you'd swear were his to begin with. Each time through the South Sound the man has sounded suave ... and has looked it too. Remember that canary-yellow sport coat he wore? How about the voice? Cynics may call it a gimmick, but Bennett's modern-era performances always include an a capella number. All said and done, when the spotlight shines, silence covers the room, and a still-strong version of, perhaps, "The Best is Yet to Come" flows from the 86(!)-year-old Bennett. Bonus: Bennett's 7:30 p.m. concert at the Pantages Theater is a benefit for the arts in public schools.
5. When jazz trumpeter Lance Buller isn't holding court at Metropolitan Market's espresso area or every Friday at Maxwell's Speakeasy, he's producing jazz concerts, including a Jazz@TMP series at Tacoma Musical Playhouse. Buller has lined up another winner as the Black Swan Classic Jazz Band from Portland, Ore. and their vocalist, Marilyn Keller will fill the old Narrows Theater with music one would find in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the 1920s or F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby at 8 p.m. According to hype, "Black Swan will serve up blues, stomps, marches, ragtime and gospel. Songs will be selected from the 1890s through Tin Pan Alley through the Golden Age of song to selections recently composed by our band members."
LINK: Saturday, June 15 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
