FRIDAY, FEB. 21 2014 >>>
1. Do you love animals? How 'bout dark comedy? Do Sarah McLachlan ads for the ASPCA make you projectile weep? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then do we have the show for you. Elliot Weiner (pronounced "winer") is a playwright, actor, and director most recently seen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Lakewood Playhouse. Sadly for Tacoma, he's moving eastward next month. His going-away present to the South Sound is a one-act play called What About Grandma? that purports to reveal how far a grandmother might go (sink?) to protect the people she loves at 7:30 p.m. in Tacoma Little Theatre. The only admission cost is a donation to the Tacoma Humane Society's Cinderella Program for Spay and Neuter or the Northwest Spay and Neuter Center. Bob Barker will love you for it.
2. The "1001 Faces Exhibition" at B2 Fine Art Gallery explores archival, ceremonial and tribal masks from around the world, and featuring the works of: Peruvian wood carver Enrique Leon, artist John Edward Smith, Yup'ik Eskimo artist Terresa "Michuar" White, Maori carver Takirirangi Smith and others.
3. At 6 p.m., Edgewood viticulturist David Johnston will chat all things grapes, highlighting "Growing Grapes in the Pacific Northwest" at King's Books. It's an awesome opportunity for green thumbs to pick his brain. This event is sponsored by Sustainable Tacoma Pierce County (natch).
4. The Lakewood Playhouse's 75th Anniversary Season party continues with a stage production of 12 Angry Men at 8 p.m. In the stage adaptation, and subsequent Sidney Lumet film, a dozen men debate whether a teenage boy with a rap sheet is guilty of murdering his father at knifepoint. The defendant's race is never specified, but he's "one of these people," so pick your minority.
5. Thomas Mudrick's music is a thrilling and unexpected stew of genres, calling to mind musical chameleons like Beck and Ween, but with a dedicated love of light psychedelia and soul. "Soul Glow" is a breezy bit of '70s beach funk, layered with dreamy aaahs and wah-wah guitars. "Do Me Like Jesus," with its winsome acoustic guitars and vibrant stomp, comes across like a long-lost party band from a defunct desert festival. Interspersed between Mudrick's more rock-oriented songs are bits of stripped down hip-hop ("Banana Peel") and world music-indebted electronica ("Boomarangatang"), adding to the kaleidoscopic experimentation that seems to define his music. Catch him with Garage Heroes and Black Nite Crash at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.
LINK: Friday, Feb. 21 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
