TUESDAY, MARCH 18 2014 >>>

We are deeply saddened by this morning's tragic KOMO News 4 helicopter crash in downtown Seattle. Our thoughts and prayers are with those involved and their families.

1. We've all been there. You met her when she was a young teen, then you two nurtured a growing romance over the next several years despite the objections and outright bitter legal battles with her father. When you finally married, you composed a great deal of romantic lieder describing your feelings for your wife. Hear Robert Schumann's version of your story along with Richard Strauss' Zueignung and Hugo Wolf's Der Tambour when Opera tenor Thomas Harper performs a selection of musical works by German artists at the next Music @ 11 event at 11 a.m. in Kreielsheimer Hall on the Saint Martin's University campus.

2. The Grand Cinema's Tuesday Film Series hosts a more romantic variation on Clerks. The film Detroit Unleaded charts the budding relationship between Lebanese-American gas station owner Sami - compelled to take over the family's Detroit-slums business with ambitious cousin Mike after his father is killed in a robbery - and his beautiful cousin Naj. Catch it at 1:45 and 6:40 p.m.

3. Ivar's Seafood Bars and full service restaurants are once again paying tribute to beloved flounder Ivar Haglund and his would-be 109th birthday with a deep-sea deal. Today, all Ivar's fans who purchase one regularly-priced entrée and wish Ivar "Happy Birthday," will receive a second entrée of their choice for $1.09 off a special birthday menu. In addition to the birthday discounts, Ivar's will also treat the first 109 guests to a sweet slice of birthday cake.   

4. Accountants-turned-pirates, a daydreaming bureaucrat from a dystopian future, folklore-collecting con-artist brothers, a fantastically lying baron, and an ill-fated attempt to bring Don Quixote to the big screen. These could all be among the topics tonight as Saint Martin's University presents "The Films of Terry Gilliam" as part of their Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. in Harned Hall on the Saint Martin's University campus. Jeff Birkenstein, Anna Froula and Karen Randell lead a discussion of the Monty Python alumnus' cinematic works based upon their book The Cinema of Terry Gilliam: It's a Mad World. A screening of the Gilliam classic Time Bandits follows; the trio will then present an analysis ofthe film - perhaps clearing up once-and-for-all the mystery of how Horseflesh, the supposedly-deceased seventh dwarf, ends up on the side of Evil. Or the nature of Vincent's "problem" which he needed fruit to cure.

5. Lakewood Historical Society celebrates Women's History Month by hosting a panel of local women writers - Dorothy Wilhelm, Nancy Covert, Carol Neufeld Stout, Meg Justus - at 7 p.m. in St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

LINK: Tuesday, March 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area