TUESDAY, OCT. 7 2014 >>>

1. The man who gave us A Christmas Carol - not to mention an adjective used for describing everything from working conditions to an episode of The Wire - receives a big toast in Tacoma's Stadium District every holiday season. This year marks the 10th edition of the Dickens Festival. The man who gives us the yearly Lumins Festivus illuminated parade - not to mention tacomasoutsidersguide.com, an alternative guide to Tacoma - will illuminate this year's Dickens Festival at Stadium. Adam Martin will hang luminaria stars throughout the district this season. From 6-9 p.m. he's holding the first luminaria star-making workshop at Gibson's Frozen Yogurt in the Stadium District. You'll need to remember two things. First, Martin is a deep thinker so the stars will have alternative meaning. Second, keep it together if you run into an illuminated Tiny Tim.

2. The last time we heard a car story, it was a rare Pixar dud and turned out to be the end of the road, more or less, for both Paul Newman and George Carlin. We're due for another car story. Each first Tuesday of the month, a staff member from LeMay - America's Car Museum picks a car and offers a fascinating peek into its history. The discussion at 11:30 a.m. will be "Cars as Metal Art Part 1: Automotive Body Sculpting," with Scot Keller, ACM chief curator. This program is part of Tacoma Arts Month's Metal Urge series.

3. The One I Love marks Mark Duplass' most high-profile film in two years, and he's joined by Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss. Together the pair portray a husband and wife on the outs who head to the countryside to reconnect at the behest of their marriage counselor (Ted Danson). There, they find a guest cabin that ... well, we're not going to spoil what's in that cabin. Catch the film at 2:15, 6:55 and 9:10 at The Grand Cinema.

4. Sherilyn Lightner runs the bar at Dillingers Cocktails and Kitchen, the Prohibition-era speakeasy in downtown Olympia. She has been bar mistress at Dillingers since it opened Jan. 28 of this year. You already know this as you read Lightner's Q&A yesterday. She joins Dillingers Chef Denise Alsonso for a night or Roaring '20s food and drink at Bayview School of Cooking, beginning at 6 p.m. It's $55 a person; RSVP here.

5. "Now Wally, I want you to go in the living room and pick up those orange peels that you left on the coffee table. If your father comes home and sees them he'll be in a terrible mood all through dinner and won't let you and The Beaves rock the Red Wind Casino at 6:30 p.m." - June Cleaver

LINK: Tuesday, Oct. 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 8 2014 >>>

1. It's been a couple decades, but third wave ska revival giants Less Than Jake have remarkably stuck around with essentially the same line-up. Even though they've kept up with releasing album after album, things haven't fundamentally changed about the band; the order of the day remains the sort of bright, upbeat ska-infused pop-punk that you most likely came to know as a teenage dirtbag. Even if nostalgia is the only thing that brings you to Jazzbones at 8 p.m. - not that we doubt that you've been keeping strict tabs on Less Than Jake - you probably shouldn't pass on the rare opportunity to skank with impunity. Big D and the Kids Table and The Interrupters open.

2. University of Puget Sound Associate Professor of Painting Elise Richman creates innovative, process-based paintings that explore elements of the material world and states of flux. Janet Marcavage, also an Associate Professor of Art at UPS, specializes in printmaking, such as lithography, etching, relief, and intaglio, plus experimental, photomechanical and digitally-augmented methods. The two professors share a show, "Ripple and Unfold," at the Kittredge Gallery on campus. Ripple and Unfold explores their shared interests in pattern and visible process, juxtaposing Richman's paintings, drawn from natural forms, with Marcavage's prints, which investigate the manmade, both deliberate and accidental. The artists' reception is from 5-7 p.m.

3. The second annual Frank Herbert tribute, Stillsuit Cocktails, is undoubtedly the coolest and nerdiest thing happening tonight - uniting the fierce passions of booze and science fiction. The Dune author and Tacoma native is honored by Hilltop Kitchen and Post Defiance (on his birthday, no less) with cocktails inspired by his works beginning at 7 p.m. Drinks with names such as Duncan Idaho and Harkonnen should dredge up images for Herbert fans.

4. The KMPS 12 Man Jam featuring country and western musicians Randy Houser, Scotty McCreery, Jon Pardi, RaeLynn, Katie Armiger, Frankie Ballard, Dean Alexander, Kristian Bush and Josh Thompson begins at 7 p.m. in the Emerald Queen Casino.

5. Saxophonist Kareem Kandi has hosted an open jazz session for years, a backyard patio for his music school friends, fellow musicians and newbies to jam out standards - fresh, fiery and exciting. The jam now resides every second Wednesday at 8 p.m. in The Swiss.

LINK: Wednesday, Oct. 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another installment of "Trail To Western American Art," our weekly update on the progress of Tacoma Art Museum's new wing featuring the Haub Family Collection of Western Art, which will officially open Nov. 15 with a huge shindig.

Julie Speidel's brightly colored sculpture "Kinetic Repose" will be installed on the parking level near the new glass vestibule entrance of the Tacoma Art Museum in preparation for the big opening. The sculpture comprises 10 pieces, including three benches for seating. The tallest component, nicknamed "Big Red," is more than 14 feet high. Speidel's work references the region's geologic history. She says, "I seek to arouse curiosity and wonder through forming a link from our particular time and place to a larger history reaching back to geological time."

This is sweet: TAM has partnered with Celebrity Cake Studio to provide cupcakes for the Nov. 15 grand opening, and the Weekly Volcano will sponsor entertainment for the day.

Painting in the Haub Family Galleries is underway, and we're told the walls are taking on a beautiful range of hues, while Museum preparator Ben Wildenhaus and Haub curator Laura Fry continue their work on the gallery layout. Meanwhile, work on the Museum lobby wall that fronts the TAM Store is underway. A series of tall sliding glass doors will be installed. The doors can be moved to the side to completely open these spaces to the lobby, supporting a lively lobby experience.

As the museum prepares for the grand opening they it also prepares for the Protective Ornament exhibition, opening Oct. 18; for various events associated with the city of Tacoma's "Metal-Urge"; and for the 10th anniversary of the Dia De Los Muertos Community Festival. Protective Ornament: Contemporary Amulets to Armor will showcase approximately 80 wearable works in metal, including helmets, brass knuckles, breastplates, chain mail, amulets, talismans and protective gear.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. third Thursday, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, $8-$10, 5 and younger free, 253.627.6031

SEE ALSO

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Checking in with the Tacoma Art Museum

Colors, video, improved store at Tacoma Art Museum

THURSDAY, OCT. 9 2014 >>>

1. The 2014 Tacoma Film Festival is shaping up to be everything a good film fest should be. There are movies from around the world, flicks in a variety of languages, screenings exploring the margins of different societies, and films from the comedy, drama, and short film categories and local ditties. Yes, this festival hosted by The Grand Cinema packs quite the cinematic wallop. This year, the opening night festivities pulls a reverse - the party is after the film. The sweet, star-studded romantic comedy Laggies will screen at 7 p.m. at The Grand Cinema followed by a mixer and DJ Broam at 9 p.m. in the TFF Lounge. Read Jared Lovrak's feature on the 2014 Tacoma Film Festival here.

If you like drinking beer in public places, well you're in luck, our tippling exhibitionist friend, because there are some great opportunities tonight in Tacoma. The Swiss hosts an Oktoberfest battle royale, Pint Defiance shines a spotlight on Top Rung Brewing and The Copper Door invites No-Li Brewhouse through its door. Click here for details on these events.

What goes into the production of a quarter pound burger? According to J.L. Capper in The Journal of Animal Science, 6.7 pounds of feed, 52.8 gallons of drinking water, 74.5 square feet of grazing, and the equivalent amount of energy it takes to run a microwave for 18 minutes. The average American eats approximately 271 pounds of meat a year - or three, quarter pounder burgers a day.  Meat is a tasty part of culture; it's a part of our special holidays and our daily meals, but is the product worth the cost? Pacific Lutheran University's Ruth Anderson Public Debate asks, is it right to eat animals? Chime in at 7 p.m. in Xavier Hall.

4. Prepare yourself for a theatrical extravaganza, a thespian feat seldom seen before! Think of it, 37 (ish) plays, from 400 years ago performed in 97 minutes (or so), a virtual cast of hundreds brought to life by three brave men in tights! Duck and weave on this madcap journey through the canon of the Bard's immortal works. You'll laugh, you'll cry (probably from laughing too hard) and dodge the occasional vomit as Scott Douglas, Dennis Worrell and Patrick Gilmore bring to forth the power, the glory, the hilarity of the when Theater Artists Olympia presents Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)[revised] at 8 p.m. in The Midnight Sun.

Olympia-based DJ Pasquan has arranged another night of hip-hop and rap for his frequent joint, The Cypher. At 9 p.m., Pasquan will host a night of MCs on the microphone at the quaint and intimate eatery/nightspot, Le Voyeur. An Oly mainstay and favorite for out of town acts, the Voyeur will open its doors and its floor for performers Tripple Three, Dr. Roks, Lazlo Steele, Lega C Jones, MC Swamptiger and special guest, Kyle Mclin.

LINK: Thursday, Oct. 9 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Alright, fucking ENOUGH. There are great vampire movies, already. I swear to you. Here is a sampling, you broad-foreheaded, mouth-breathing, movie-viewing public: Dracula (yes, the original, in black and white), Nosferatu (legitimately creepy, despite the fact that he doesn't know parkour), Werner Herzog's Nosferatu, the Vampyre (because it's Herzog, and fuck you if you're not into that), and even the most recent-and, likely, the last legitimate take on the vampire mythology - Shadow of the Vampire (starring two actual crazy people, Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich). This is not to mention the stunning Let the Right One In, which you should just go and watch before reading the rest of this.

As much as the well has seemingly run dry on modern takes on vampires, here we're met with another grim specter: Dracula Untold, which has the bad timing necessary to have a title reminiscent of The Unauthorized Saved By the Bell Story.

To start with, Dracula Untold's trailer has the gall to winkingly reference the Universal Horror era of monsters, with a black and white Universal logo. Much like the gritty King Arthur of several years ago, this film seems to imply that we're going to be getting the raw, uncut version of the titular character's origin. Dracula Untold seems to be dripping with a smug attitude that almost shouts something like, "See! No teenagers or glitter to be found in this vampire movie! It's just what you've wanted!"

Instead of getting back to basics, Dracula Untold manages to complicate Dracula's myth even more, granting him the power to make giant fists out of bats (?), while seeming to ignore most of the blood-sucking aspects that we've come to know and love about Drac. Thankfully, the film seems to take place in an age before hoodies, unlike the risible I, Frankenstein that dropped earlier this year. Granted, I'd sooner believe a vampire in a hoodie than a monster made of various dead body parts, but that's a conversation for another time: never.

FRIDAY, OCT. 10 2014 >>>

1. While none of The Comic Strippers possess Chris Farley's shirtless je ne sais quoi, it's fair to say they'll never give Magic Mike a run for his sweaty singles. Truth be told, they may not even take off their pants. But once their shirts are off, they'll apply their trained torsos and minds to the sexy art of ... improvisational comedy. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on The Comic Strippers in the Music and Culture section, then catch the Canadian improv comedians at 8 p.m. in the Rialto Theater.

2. The story of the von Trapp family who escaped Austria, moved to the United States and toured the world singing for two decades has inspired generations since the film The Sound of Music was released in 1965. The story continues as the great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp take up the family tradition anew. Meet Sofi, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp, four siblings that, for the last 12 years, have been singing on stages around the world to critical acclaim and packed houses. Check them out at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

3. Lucy Kaplansky has some fierce little tunes. The New York City singer-songwriter with the Fast Folk pedigree and the masters in psychology has a beautiful flair for harmony and eloquent in her assessment of human foibles and domestic dynamics. She released Reunion, her seventh solo CD, in 2012, reuniting with her with musicians Buddy Miller, Richard Shindell, Jonatha Brooke, John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, J. Geils Band), Jon Herington (Steely Dan) and producer/drummer Ben Wittman (Paula Cole, Don Byron). It's doubtful most of these folks will be with her at 8 p.m. in Morso wine bar in Gig Harbor, but you can be certain the night will be filled with deeply moving, joyful, meditative and rollicking stories of human foibles and domestic dynamics.

4. Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. knows if you listen to country music and fly a rebel flag everywhere you go and your neck gets burnt from exposure to the sun when you're out partying with friends while country rap band THE LACS blares in the background, you might be a redneck. Therefore, the downtown country/western joint hosts Rednecktoberfest from 9-11 p.m. Enjoy $2 cans of PBR, Hamms and Rainier, as you could win a pair of tickets to see THE LACS live at Steel Creek Nov. 16.

5. Amanda Schukle and Tracy Shapiro are Oakland rock duo Steel Cranes. With Schukle on drums and Shapiro on vocals, the two will showcase their debut album, Ouroboros, at Le Voyeur at 9 p.m. Lazy Animals and Coma Figura will open.

LINK: Friday, Oct. 10 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area.

Oct. 9 is a chilly, misty morning on American Lake. The water is still. It's quiet and peaceful as a pair of otters play nearby. Then a Ch-47 Chinook helicopter flies in low over the lake. The rotors spray water and kick up wind, violently disturbing the tranquility. One by one, soldiers jump out the back of the helicopter and swim to shore.

The soldiers shiver as they emerge from the lake, shaking and trying to keep warm. "That was awesome!" one of the soldiers shouts as he wades out of the water. Then they load up in vehicles waiting by the shore.

It's time to do it again.

The soldiers are members of the 555th Engineer Brigade, the Triple Nickel. They're conducting a Helocast - a water insertion by helicopter. I witnessed their confidence building exercise. About a quarter of the group is training to go to the elite Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. But more of them are training to go to Sapper School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Sappers are combat engineers. They specialize in building things - and destroying things - under the stress of combat conditions.

>>> Members of the 555th Engineer Brigade wait to board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter to conduct a Helocast - a water insertion by helicopter - into American Lake on Oct. 9. Many are training to go to either Ranger or Sapper school. Photo credit: Kevin Knodell

Master Sgt. Don Batchan is overseeing the exercise. He says it's important for the soldiers to have this experience, and that it's about more than just confidence. He says waterborne insertion is something they may one day have to do on the battlefield. They have to be ready for anything.

Even so, the engineers don't often get opportunities for this sort of training. It's largely reserved for Rangers and Special Forces troops. It's hard to get the helicopter and the rest of the equipment on the same day to pull it off. But every once and awhile the stars align.

"I keep pushing buttons until it goes through," Batchan says.

>>> Master Sgt. Don Batchan / photo credit: Kevin Knodell

He explains the 555th has a 75 percent graduation rate for students it sends to Sapper School. That's a staggering achievement, as the average rate is closer to about 40 percent. Batchan credits intense training and preparation for this unusually high success rate. "We don't want anyone to say they were exposed to anything they weren't prepared for," he says.

>>> Sgt. Robert Parish / photo credit: Kevin Knodell

"You don't get this kind of training unless you're at Bragg," Sgt. Robert Parish tells fellow soldiers as they wait on the lake in their boats. Parish is in charge of safety on the water, leading a mini fleet of boats to grab weak swimmers if they start to struggle - as well as keeping civilian boats from entering the drop zone.

The helicopter comes back, spraying us all with rotor wash as it comes in low, and drops the soldiers into the lake for round two. Many of them are dragging ruck sacks in tow this time. They constantly banter and jeer. Parish shouts out to a young soldier going slower than the others, asking him what's holding him back. "It's just that I don't really feel like swimming today Sergeant!" the soldier replies. Parish cracks a grin.

"I wish I could be out there right now," Parish looks over and tells me. "Those are my guys."

1st Lt. Travis Emery was the first soldier to make the jump. A graduate of air assault school he's no stranger to helicopters. But this is the first time he's jumped into water. "This is definitely the best experience I've had jumping out of a helicopter," the young officer says.

>>> 1st Lt. Travis Emery / photo credit: Kevin Knodell

This experience is important. Emery says he's going to Sapper School next month.

Batchan says he hopes they will be able to do exercises like this far more often. He'd like to see the, do one a year - if not more.

The engineers load up to leave, soaked and tired. As luck would have it, the sun starts to shine through the clouds. "That figures," remarks one of the soldiers. Sgt. Parrish - still dry - looks back at the lake as the others leave.

"Next time, I'm jumping too," he says.

>>> 555th Engineer Brigade Safety Team / photo credit: Kevin Knodell

>>> Soldiers of the 555th Engineer Brigade float in the water to avoid the breeze. Photo credit: Kevin Knodell

SATURDAY, OCT. 11 2014 >>>

1. Olympia alt-bluegrass band The Pine Hearts, Tacoma old timey meets folk-punk band The Cottonwood Cutups and rustygrass band The Rusty Cleavers will pitch a tent inside Bob's Java Jive at 8 p.m. It will be a cacophony of spirited group-singing and hoops and hollers. Read Kevin Knodell's feature story on Forest Beutel, singer and banjo musician with The Rusty Cleavers.

2. The Tacoma Arts Month Studio Tour is this weekend. There are 61 artists within 37 studios to visit and only two days to accomplish the task. Luckily, almost all of the studios are within Tacoma city limits, and a map is available online to assist you on this free, self-guided tour. These private sanctums of creativity will be open to the public Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11 and 12, and some will offer hands-on activities. For those who don't want to plan their tour, Duchess of Downtown Tours, best known for the Tacoma ART BUS, will be visiting eight diverse studios for $11, or $22 if you want the VIP swag bag.

3. Top Rung Brewing Co.'s Hoptober party will consume its taproom, front patio and the large parking lot behind the brewery from 2-9 p.m. Expect barbecue food, games such as cornhole, ladder toss and Jenga. As mentioned previously in the New Beer Column, Top Rung's Trashed Pumpkin Ale will be released at the party. Bluegrass trio The Outlanders will perform three sets beginning at 6 p.m. There isn't a cover charge.

4. Spectrum Dance Theater LOVE is Tony-nominated choreographer Donald Byrd's exploration of the most complicated of human emotions. LOVE returns Byrd to the grandness and aesthetic beauty of pure dance, with leaps, lifts, and extensions. Backed by a minimalist stage, the performers create the rawness of LOVE and all that it encapsulates with their motions - frailty, comfort, jealousy, passion, and more - the dance is an ever-evolving view of LOVE. See LOVE at the Tacoma Armory beginning at 8 p.m.

5. Their most recent Jesus Rehab LP, The Zoo At Night, is described by band members and brothers Jared and Dominic Cortese as being about "mind-reading lizards, chubby 10-year-olds, and what its like to grow up in a world where no one is as they seem" - a fanciful and emotional description that, along with the heavy guitars and crashing drums, reminds once again of the Flaming Lips of the early '90s. For a two-piece, the Cortese brothers do an admirable job of creating an enormous sound that bounces and skips when it's not slashing and burning. The nimbleness of their minimalist setup means that the Jesus Rehab are free to careen anyplace, anytime. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on The Jesus Rehab in the Music and Culture section, then catch the band with Back From Hiatus, Terrapin and Trevor Peach at 8 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: Saturday, Oct. 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY OCT. 12 2014 >>>

1. The Tacoma Arts Month Studio Tour continues today. There are 61 artists within 37 studios to visit. Luckily, almost all of the studios are within Tacoma city limits, and a map is available online to assist you on this free, self-guided tour. These private sanctums of creativity will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some will offer hands-on activities.

2. WILLO - Women's Intergenerational Living Legacy Organization - hosts its first annual WILLO Storytelling Festival at noon in Theatre on the Square, hosted by Amanda Westbrook. Celebrate the voices of women and girls in at this free event, full of storytelling, hands-on art-making and community engagement. Stick around after the event for author and activist Sister Helen Prejean's talk, "Dead Man Walking in Washington State," starting at 5 p.m.

3. Russian composer Alexander Glazunov is mainly remembered for his score for the ballet Raymonda, and his Violin Concerto gets occasional airings. Distinguished professor of music and head of the Puget Sound piano department Duane Hulbert has set out to champion Glazunov via the piano. Hulbert spent 30 years playing and marveling Glazunov. He has spent the last 15 years recording all 19 solo and duet piano works by the composer - five full hours of music. The new four-CD collection Glazunov: Complete Works for Piano was released last month, and Tacoma audiences will be the first to hear Hulbert perform a selection of the often magical and always enjoyable Glazunov compositions as part of the Jacobsen Series at 2 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall. The concert also will feature guest pianist Yoshikazu Nagai '92, a professor at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a former student of Hulbert's. The 4-CD set will be on sale at the concert.

4. Two South Sound threater productions end their run today beginning at 2 p.m. Whodunit? Criminal mastermind Agatha Christie's 1943 And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) - based on her best-selling novel of the same name - is a mind-bending murder mystery that asks that very question at the Lakewood Playhouse. Read Joann Varnell's review of And Then There Were None in the music & Culture section. Olympia Family Theater's Busytown, Richard Scarry's musical comedy for kids, was also reviewed by Varnell.

5. Amanda Schukle and Tracy Shapiro are Oakland rock duo Steel Cranes. With Schukle on drums and Shapiro on vocals, the two will showcase their debut album, Ouroboros, at Northern Pacific Coffee Company at 7 p.m. Wild Berries and Skates!, will open.

LINK: Sunday, Oct. 12 art and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, OCT. 13 2014 >>>

1. The Tacoma Film Festival is on, celebrating current independent film from around the globe ... and in our backyard. The 253 represent at this year's TFF. A whole slew of local film shorts will be screened at the Tacoma Community College at 7 p.m.: Lost  byRussell Brooks; Enmity Gauge by Ben Andrews and David S. Hogan; Deadline by Doug Stapleton; Solitude Dawson Doupé and Todd Tapper; Lovesick by Pat Lavigne; Quiet Move by Ronald Lagman; Love-Stuck by Sierra Fein; Fake It ‘Til You Make Believe Kris Crews; and Weeping Willow by Maxwell Swet and Annie Poling.

2. The City of Tacoma's Proposed 2015-2016 Biennial Budget was shared with the City Council Oct. 7. The public is invited to attend a Budget Input Meeting hosted by Mayor Marilyn Strickland to share your thoughts and learn more about how the City is working to prioritize funding between existing services, deferred maintenance, and new and expanded services. It begins at 6 p.m. at The Evergreen State College Tacoma campus.

3. Alison Hawthorne Deming will discuss her new book, Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit at 7 p.m. in Orca Books. In this collection of linked essays, Deming asks, and seeks to answer: what does the disappearance of animals mean for human imagination and existence? Moving from mammoth hunts to dying house cats, she explores profound questions about what it means to be animal. What is inherent in animals that lead us to destroy, and what that leads us toward peace? As human animals, how does art both define us as a species and how does it emerge primarily from our relationship with other species? If this sounds like altogether too much intellectual mumbo-jumbo for you, don't worry. She will have her books on hand, so you can just follow along with the pictures.

4. Portland garage-rock husband-and-wife duo, Justin and Terah Beth Varga, aka Hey Lover, perform at 8 p.m. in Northern in downtown Olympia. Opening will be Needles and Pizza from Portland, Mythological Horses from Alaska and Werecat from Olympia.

5. Life Partnersscreens at 9:45 p.m. in The Grand Cinema as part of the Tacoma Film Festival.Straightlaced and straight Paige (Gillian Jacobs) makes a pact with her best friend, sapphic slacker Sasha (Leighton Meester), that she won't get married until Sasha has the same legal right. When Paige falls for handsome doctor Tim (Adam Brody), the two women struggle to find a place for him in their "womance" in this touching comedy from director Susanna Fogel.

LINK: Monday, Oct. 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area