SATURDAY, MARCH 8 2014 >>>

1. Do you like the idea of skiing more than the actual activity? Are you considering taking up an extreme sport, but need a hit of inspiration before acquiring the mandatory tattoos and safety equipment? Then consider watching BANFF Mountain Film Festival's Radical Reels Tour's that explore environmental, adventure or adventure-related themes, including BASE-jumping, snowboarding and mountain climbing at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater. Mountain do or mountain don't? You decide.

2. Presented by the Washington State Arts Commission, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, today's Poetry Out Loud State Finals will pit winners from seven regional finals held across Washington state in an ultimate throwdown of poetry recital from 1-5 p.m. in the Theatre on the Square. Along with ultimate statewide bragging rights, competitors will be vying for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Poetry Out Loud national finals.

3. Learn color theory from Elise Richman, associate professor of Art at University of Puget Sound, as you create your own artwork and explore the fundamentals of color, including hue, saturation, value, shadows, highlights, and color mixing at 2 p.m. in the Tacoma Art Museum.

4. Olympia's Broken Water is terrifically mesmerizing. Listening to the avant-garde, shoegaze threesome forces a sort of centering that is hard to come by - 16 minutes of indigenous-like melodies, distorted into synched-out soundscapes and sonic awareness will flip a new perspective on any external force. While the comfort of headphones and home might be my preferred method of listening, we're sure the 8 p.m. all-ages show at Northern - which had to move from Dumpster Values because it was getting too much of a draw - will rock the room full of fans into an abyss of collective consciousness. P.S. While you're there, make sure and check out San Francisco's legendary street musician, The Space Lady. 

5. Jay-Z proclaimed "Death of Auto-Tune," but by judging from the prolonged career of rap/pop artist T-Pain, the death of auto-tune has been much exaggerated. T-Pain's career has continued to flourish; his recent hit, "Up and Down", is still pumping on the radio airwaves and in the clubs. In fact, the dread-headed, top hat wearing hit-maker will grace the stage at 8 p.m. in Olympia's Royal Lounge Saturday. T-Pain will rock the stage with some of the Puget Sound's premier entertainers including comedian Nate Jackson hosting and DJs UltraMega, Kid One & Contagious rocking the afterhours house party until 3 a.m.

LINK: Saturday, March 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area