SUNDAY, APRIL 20 2014 >>>
1. Starting at 4:20 p.m. (for some unexplained reason), there will be many delirious festivities to be had at The New Frontier Lounge. Returning local heroes and tireless road warriors the Night Beats will be performing, along with a cavalcade of psychedelic friends, including People Under the Sun, MILK, the Pharmacy, and out-of-towners Cosmonauts and the Black Seas. At press time, it's unclear what's so special about starting a show at 4:20 on April 20, but one thing is absolutely clear: this will be a long, sloppy day of psych-rock so blistering it'll blast the haze from your head. Every once in a while, it's a good idea to take a squeegee to your brain before coating it with some more smoke, liquor and other unsavory pastimes.
2. Two shows close today at the Tacoma Art Museum. "Optic Nerve" highlights a collection of works from its permanent collection - including works by Riley, Anuszkiewicz, Vasarely and others - that stretch the definition of optical art - including photo-realist paintings because paintings that look like photographs are a kind of optical illusion. "Sitting for History: Exploring Self-Identity Through Portraiture" is an exhibition of more than 60 paintings, drawings and photographs by artists such as Pierre August Renoir, Chuck Close, George Luks, Mary Randlett, Gilbert Stuart and Andrew Wyeth, plus some sculpture and jewelry. See both from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
3. Between 1853 and 1929, through both the American Civil War and World War I, the Orphan Train Movement shipped over a quarter of a million parentless children to the Midwestern states from overcrowded metropolises on the Eastern seaboard. Olympia Family Theater tells 12 stories from the Orphan Trains in its finally production of "Orphan Trains" at 1 p.m. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Orphan Train in the Music & Culture section.
4. Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill hosts a 420 Smoker with the musical stylings of Church of Hate and others beginning at, yup, 4:20 p.m.
5. Aaradhna calls her sound "retro-metro," after studying R&B greats Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Little Anthone and the Imperials. Catch her silky voice and old-school soul at 7 p.m. with Sammy J and Stay Grounded in Jazzbones.
LINK: Sunday, April 20 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
