SUNDAY, JUNE 1 2014 >>>

1. It's become tradition in our area - a yearly blues-blowout local music fans look forward to for the quality it draws. And, like clockwork, it's back. From 2-10:30 p.m. at Jazzbones, the preliminary contest of this year's South Sound Blues Association sponsored Back to Beale Street 2014 Blues Competition goes down, offering a chance for competitors to earn their way to the heralded International Blues Challenge in Memphis in early 2015. Schedule to perform before three judges are Clover Creek, The Julie Duke Band, Phat Daddy and the Zone, Pacific Drive, Aaron Jones and the Way, Thai Barker Band, Rafael Tranquilino Band, Palmer Junction, The CD Woodbury Band, Blues County Sheriff and Brian Lee and the Orbiters. Those in the know recognize four of the bands represent the Puget Sound Music for Youth Association, which is cool. 

2. The Mother Earth News Fair returns to the Puyallup Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family-oriented sustainable lifestyle event will features hands-on workshops and demonstrations from experts from the leading authorities on renewable energy, small-scale agriculture, gardening, green building, small-scale livestock, green transportation and natural health.

3. In 2001, wife-and-husband team Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen conducted interviews with more than 40 exonerated Death Row residents, then condensed some of those interviews into a direct-address theater piece, The Exonerated. Their play won numerous awards and was adapted into a star-studded telefilm that aired, appropriately enough, on Court TV. Director Don Welch has assembled an impressive cast of a dozen undergrads plus one soulful saxophonist (Sean Lindemeier) for a passionate, provocative, poetic 90 minutes of despair and redemption. It's terrific. And it ends today at 2 p.m. at the South Puget Sound Community College. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of The Exonerated in the Music and Culture section.

4. Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Orchestra will drop in on Stonegate Pizza to perform a rockin' big band jazz dinner show from 5-8pm.

5. Five of the best up and coming stand-up comedians - Aaron Kirby, Monica Nevi, Tyler Smith, Tyrone Hawkins, MC Mike Coletta - will perform for $5 at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Comedy Club.

LINK: Sunday, June 1 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area