SATURDAY, NOV. 16 2013 >>>
1. Erin Guinup knows her way around a concert stage. After earning her degree in vocal performance and music education from the University of Puget Sound, she went on to perform some of the best-loved roles in musical theater. She's directed, taught, conducted and acted her way around the entire region, performing for companies as diverse as Tacoma Opera and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Now she's returning to her alma mater for a one-night-only revue, which features female composers and lyricists of the last hundred years, from operetta to present-day Broadway. Catch The Ladies of Lyric and Song at 7:30 p.m. in the Schneebeck Concert Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus.
2. Tacoma's Arts Leadership Lab is hosting a full-day arts conference from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the University of Puget Sound. Sessions and forums cover topics such as arts education, funding, online engagement, public art, creative small businesses, and arts careers. The day will conclude with a rapid-fire presentation and panel discussion focused on the way space helps define arts programming.
3. Beginning at 11 a.m. at the Tacoma Urban League, the Tacoma Chapter of The Zulu Nation, aka Z53 Zulu, is celebrating National Hip-Hop Month by hosting Food For Thought, an event centered on collecting warm coats and jackets for those in need during this chilly season, as well as offer information about regaining one's right to vote and getting one's record expunged if her or she have gone wayward of the laws. There will be a screening of Hidden Colors 2, the sequel to the first "controversial" film that examines race from an Afrocentric perspective. Oh yeah, there will be food for everyone - and it's all free.
4. It takes cajones to be a good storyteller! You have to impress a crowd with no props, no fancy lighting and no CGI-crafted battle scenes! Each year around the world, "Tellabration!" is celebrated to honor these brave souls and their fans! In its purest form, Tellabration! binds people together in the most wonderful way: with stories and exclamation points, told in all languages and drawn from all manner of cultures - a way of detaching yourself from the video games and gnat-sized attention spans! Since stories were invented the Mt. Tahoma Storytelling Guild has hosted the national celebration at Antique Sandwich Company! It's on again at 7:30 p.m.! Hurrah!
5. Perhaps Aan's best quality is that they hit you with big impressions right off the bat. The Portland band's song "Mystery Life" bursts out of the gates with such impact that it's hard not to take notice. That the song never, ever lets up, is positively intoxicating. Pounding drums and churning guitars explode from the word "go," but what is most affecting is the lead vocal from Bud Wilson. Though his voice initially sounds like a straining yelp, what eventually becomes clear is that you haven't yet heard the boundary-pushing energy that he has to offer. Their press kit compares Wilson's voice to Jeff Buckley's and, while it lacks the pure beauty of Buckley's, it does possess that rough elasticity. Aan performs with Gothic Tropic and others at 8 p.m. in Northern. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Aan in the Music and Culture section.
LINK: Saturday, Nov. 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
