FRIDAY, NOV. 22 2013 >>>

1. Franciscan Polar Plaza ice rink opens at 4 p.m. The Polar Plaza is on its third year of setting up an ice-skating rink decked out in wintery goodness at Tollefson Plaza, just across from Tacoma Art Museum. With two fabulous years behind them, the Plaza folks put their heads together and found a few key ways to make this ritzy rink even better for 2013. What's New in 2013? Click here and discover the magic.

2. Hungry for holiday cooking inspiration and ideas? Hungry for real? Food lovers, there's a terrific 24-hour market in Tacoma's Proctor District offering great food samples, food advice, and so much more during the make or break week before the Thanksgiving holiday cook-off madness. From 3-6 p.m., Zola coffee and Somerdale Cheese nibbles are at Metropolitan Market.

3. It's been 10 years since Avenue Q, the racy Sesame Street parody for adults, garnered a raft of awards on Broadway, including the Tony for Best Musical. It uses hand puppets to represent 20-something New Yorkers dealing with the ennui of post-collegiate life. My friends, you are not precious daisies, and the landlord demands his rent no matter how hard you try at your failing artisanal muffin shop. Ain't existence crappy? Perhaps you can relate. So if song titles like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "The Internet Is for Porn," and "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?" sound intriguing, rest assured they brighten the mood of a deeply funny show, which begins at 7 p.m. inside the Fort Steilacoom Theater at Pierce College.

4. Though they have a song that's explicitly called "Surf Rock Band," it would be a mistake to call them one. A Happy Death plant their feet firmly in the court of garage-pop madness, seemingly content to thrash away in blissfully psychedelic, noisy bliss, while never crossing the threshold into noise-rock or brain-melting chaos. Mostly, reverb is utilized to create a haze of '60s revivalism, though it finds itself imbued with a sweetness frequently found in the hordes of garage nostalgists. Catch the Portland band at 8 p.m. with Thunders of Wrath and Our Burgundy at O'Malley's Irish Pub in Tacoma. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on A Happy Death in the Music and Culture section.

5. Mirrorgloss is a very new band, having only played a handful of shows thus far. Even still, their sound is so clearly drawn out and natural, so well-defined and - the best part - relatively novel for Tacoma. With the exception of a couple bands, like Death by Stars, there isn't much in the way of electro-rock to be found in these parts. Made up of singers Del Brown and Najamoniq Todd, guitarist Danny Kenny and drummer Bryan Robertson, Mirrorgloss is a dance-rock band in the vein of LCD Soundsystem. The band joins the Pecos and I Like Science at 8 p.m. in Medi's Pizza on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue.

PLUS: Holiday Events Calendar

PLUS: South Sound Holiday Command Center

LINK: Friday, Nov. 22 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area