SATURDAY, SEPT. 14 2013 >>>
1. We've often heard it said, "I'd run only if something were chasing me," most often while listening to myself at the gym. We submit that a killer app for the Kinect would be a game in which if a player doesn't run in place fast enough, he or she is overrun by the Walking Dead. But why wait? Wright Park is proud to present its Zombie Tag Takeover! (Exclamation point theirs but understandable.) Ward off the biters and shield your personal flags by lobbing sock bombs and skipping past infested blood splatters at 5:30 p.m. in Wright Park. Then celebrate the zombie apocalypse by knocking back steins in a comforting Hilliard's Beer garden. You'll earn a survivor T-shirt and donate all ordnance to the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Hey, Deputy Rick, you want to quit ogling your dead wife and help out here? Hello?
2. Stadium Fare, Tacoma's original craft market, runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the First Presbyterian parking lot across from Wright Park. The Fare offers local food, vintage and artistic wares, and entertainment. It's awesome.
3. The Olympia Independent Music Festival (OIMF) has put on one hell of a shindig the past few years, creating a free block party with all the usual perks of Olympia - killer bands, ladies of burlesque, art, vendors, chin-balancing - all in the name of helping the Olympia Film Society. From noon to 9 p.m., organizers are bringing back all that Oly love, but under a new moniker: OOPS!: The Olympia Outdoor Public Spectacle. And a spectacle it will be. In addition to a lineup featuring The Fabulous Downey Brothers, Fruit Juice, Full Moon Radio, The Hard Way, Horace Pickett, Tangerine and Teardrop City, the event will be hosted by funny women Elizabeth Lord and Lauren O'Neill and there will be an attempt at a Guinness World Record for chin-balancing by Big Sam Miller. There will be an outdoor beer garden for those 21+, a silent art auction in the mezzanine of the Capitol Theater, a cakewalk with the ladies of TUSH! Burlesque, a local business raffle, plus lots of local food and craft vendors. Read Nikki McCoy's full feature on OOPS!: The Olympia Outdoor Public Spectacle in the Music and Culture section.
4. The Oly Funk Fest is an overnight break down to celebrate the end of summer with the proper booty-shaking, beer-drinking, boom-shaka-lakin, finger-snapping, jiving, locking, popping and electric boogalooing that it deserves. At 3 p.m. in a field at 4326 Shincke Rd. NE, Funk Agency, DBST, Polyrythmics, and Eldridge Gravy and the Court Supreme will set the mood for this festival that benefits Safeplace of Olympia. Camping is encouraged and food will be available from Al Forno Olympia Sicilian Cuisine.
5. The Squeak and Squawk Music Festival has invited indie bands from all over the Northwest and beyond to stop by Tacoma and unleash their magic through Sept. 16. Here is the schedule for today: (6-9 p.m., all ages, Library at Sanford and Son) Tender Forever, La Luz, Margy Pepper; (9:30 p.m., 21+, The New Frontier Lounge) I Will Keep Your Ghosts, Man Plus, Future Bass Dance Party. Descriptions of the bands can be found here.
(6. Dale Chihuly, James Mongrain and Pino Signoretto are collaborating in the Museum of Glass's Hot Shop today.)
LINK: Saturday, Sept. 14 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
