THURSDAY, JULY 11 2013 >>>
1. Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist hosts his annual Autographed Book & Wine Auction at 5 p.m. in King's Books. Lindquist's re-election campaign fundraiser will swarm with local political types, wine enthusiasts, crime fighters and notable authors. Last year's event brought a surprise guest, author Maria Semple, who wrote the New York Times bestseller, "Where'd You Go, Bernadette." Semple is expected to return for this year's event, along with other authors whose books will be auctioned off during the fundraiser, including true crime writer Ann Rule and some surprise guests.
2. Pacific Lutheran University opens its 15 annual Jazz Under the Stars concert series tonight from 7-9 p.m. The series, a different band every Thursday through Aug. 15, kicks off with the Steve Howland Trio in the college's amphitheater. Dr. Howland teaches jazz and classical guitar at PLU and co-directs the PLU Guitar Festival, so he'll know how to explore the space. Joining guitarist Howland will be Nate Omdal on upright bass and Adam Kessler on drums, playing standards and originals that reflect broad influences and interests.
3. Hailing from Portland, Muscle and Marrow is the project of singer and guitarist Kira Clark. We want to emphasize those words: singer and guitarist. Muscle and Marrow is entirely concerned with the dance and interplay between Clark's tremulous voice and the fuzzy tones emitted from her guitar. The gauzy guitar makes a bed for Clark's simultaneously strong and vulnerable voice, which at times resembles Jeff Buckley's indelible, ghostly vibrato. Catch Muscle and Marrow with Oh Dear, Rowhouse and Trasholes at 8 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.
4. If you are a lover of men in fishnets and wigs that reach higher than Marge Simpson's beehive, phone the baby-sitter, prepare to call in sick to work the next day, and make the trip to the Mansion at 9 p.m. to see "One Night Only," a drag show to kick off Tacoma Pride weekend. Expect fabulous costumes, choreography, guest stars and a cavalcade of some of the most polished queens in the South Sound, including Cannoli, Dominique D'Amour, Rychard Le'Sabre, Delyla Dalyte, Sedusa Slitt and Nenee Michaels shaking their groove things. Also, making her stage debut will be INYA Bottom! Never mind that this is a drag show; few weekly shows of any kind are quite as spectacular, and this one costs only $7 at the door.
5. Sam Vicari is clearly a practiced creator of jangly pop, making the deceptively difficult act of crafting immaculate hooks and pristinely ringing melodies look utterly effortless. Recalling everyone from Matthew Sweet to Weezer, They Might Be Giants to Big Star, "Teenage Dirtbag" to C-86, and generations of spangly, guitar-driven songsmiths in between, Vicari's music is blessedly uncomplicated and unpretentious in its worship of the song as an unparallelled importance.See him with Captain Algebra at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur.
LINK: Thursday, July 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
