THURSDAY, JAN. 30 2014 >>>
1. The Mantles hail from San Francisco, where legions of bands are embracing the '60s sound, though largely in the context of fuzzy garage rock, this sort of Nuggets influence that seems to color all Bay Area bands. Meanwhile, the Mantles tend to incorporate brightly ringing guitars with delicately hazy melodies. Each song, while lo-fi, is a chiming bit of bubbly sound that defies the current trend of shrouding songs in fuzzy haze. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on the Mantles in the Music & Culture section, then catch the band with Still Caves, Not From Brooklyn and Loser Dog at 9p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.
2. Tacoma Goodwill's Youth Barista Program new hands-on classroom for youth (16-24) barista training opens at 9 a.m. for a "first pour" ceremony at its Coffee Buzz training facility and coffee shop at the Hilltop Regional Healthcare Center in Tacoma. District managers from Starbucks are volunteering to help with the program kickoff.
3. The Crown Bar in Tacoma hosts an Anderson Valley Beer Night at 5 p.m. Tasty brews include Boont Amber, Hop Ottin, ESB and Bourbon Barrel Stout. Food specials will include bangers and mash and fried oyster rolls.
4. Puyallup Main Street Association meetings aren't all boardrooms and slideshows. Its meeting and reception dinner tonight will include a Margaritaville themed murder mystery, no host bar, a margarita luge and games such as the limbo and karaoke at The Manor-Station House (726 N. Meridian, Puyallup). The buffet style menu includes a Santa Fe salad, chef carved carne asada and other delights with, of course, a Margaritaville flair. Tickets cost $30 presale or $35 at the door; festivities will occur from 6 to 10 pm. Tropical attire is suggested. Purchase online at puyallupmainstreet.com or at the PMSA office, 107 N. Main in Puyallup.
Jason Baldwin, a man who spent 18 years in Arkansas prisons as one of the WM3 - the West Memphis Three - for a grisly 1993 murder, despite spotty evidence, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. Baldwin, a teen when he was convicted in 1994, will discuss his experience as an innocent man sentenced to life without parole. The story gained international attention, and outcries by a long list of celebrities, after the 1996 release of the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which was critical of the investigation of the crime and the trial. Following his talk, Holly Ballard of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will speak about capital punishment and the work that is being done in Washington State.
LINK: Thursday, Jan. 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
