Mother Nature was onto something in the South Puget Sound last Saturday.

The day started with boisterous thunder claps and gusty winds, followed by an area tornado warning (yes, really). Said tornado did appear in the form of a water spout off of Anderson Island to stunned locals. The finale? The clouds parted giving way to bright sunshine, glorious blue skies and mild temperatures. OK, it wasn't the finale. The finale came as small earthquake hit eight miles northwest of Olympia close to midnight.

Why the wild weather?

Mother Nature knew that the all-female, nonprofit roller derby team from the local military community, the JBLM Bettie Brigade, was about to converge for a raucous birthday bash and season kick-off party like no other at the Cheers Bar and Grill. "Given" names were tossed out the window in favor of beloved derby names only and the holiday Halloween theme was out in full force.

Of course, just like the unpredictable and wild weather, the Betties had a little wild weather of their own.

The first thunder bolt struck this very party. Through no fault of their own, the original venue for the party, abruptly bumped them from their longtime reservation, mere days prior. Ah, but those resilient Betties don't let THAT stop them. Toxic and Dis-Orient-Her, Bettie event planners, took the party elsewhere without a hitch.

And what a job they did! Creepy crawlers, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns and cobwebs covered the venue delightfully.

And then there was this totally rad, custom-designed celebratory cake, total derby style!

The music was pumping, the karaoke DJ was spinning, the drinks and grub were flowing and the costumes were nothing short of off the hook! Look at these!

Melicious Beast and hubby looking totally rad and hauntingly beautiful.

A modern take on the Big Bad Wolf in the form of Ill Will, Bettie coach!

Of course every big bad wolf needs a lil' red riding hood (in the form of Sgt. Severe).

It's peanut butter jelly time!

Bomb Diggityand hubby are natural-born cereal killers.

Lady Die, Princess of Wails, an unworldly, robotic mechanic!

Some serious derby voodoo doll magic!

As darkness sets in and the wind kicks up, the Betties are just getting started. Excitement for the new season and Bettie love was strong. When they say they are like family and they remain positive and resilient in the face of a challenge, BELIEVE them.

Lady Die, Princess of Wails, was chomping at the bit to join a roller derby team for five years. She found the Betties and has been skating for them since June; in her words, she couldn't have asked for any better. Her young daughter has also caught derby fever and has joined the junior league, the JBLM Bratz family. The love and support is contagious.

"This is the first sport that she's lasted more than a week," smiles Lady Die." It's given her more confidence, helped her build her strength and has been amazing for her."

For the Betties, the experiences seemed to center around "amazing" overall. And while the team faces some unique challenges, the season looks bright.

"Military teams are always a different team each season," explains Bomb Diggity. "There's a lot of people that have to move. This season, not many are moving away and we have some great new girls."

While the Betties totally get the challenges of functioning as a military community team and coping with moves, there's another challenge ahead of them that they meeting full steam ahead. The team's home rink, the Bettie Bunker facility in Lacey, is not going to be around for much longer. The team is going to need to move their practices and home bouts to a new facility. Returning to post isn't an option right now as that skating facility is under renovations.

The team is looking to find a new facility to rent.

Currently though, they are working out of a Tacoma rink; the digs are temporary and they are not ideal.

Yet, JBLM Bettie Brigade president, Annie Mae-Hem, while embracing the challenges, sees the positive side. They all do.

Mae-Hem doesn't mince words.

"It's a season of change. We know the changes of locations aren't easy for our athletes and our fans. The good news, with renting a rink, is that the newbies can have access to skates and our "borrow box"so they can try it out. It can be a big commitment to make equipment changes and purchases. This way, they can try it out and see if they like it first.

We are looking at spaces and options. We aren't married to any ideas."

And with that, Mae-Hem steps up on chair - dressed as actor Tom Cruise's character in the spirited and infamous celebratory underwear dance scene in the movie, Risky Business - and does an energetic toast to the Betties. The spirit in the room is electric.

Mae-Hem raises a toast to the Bettie family!

To really take the spirit further, Ms. Mae-Hem mightily took the mike in song and dance and whipped the Bettie family into an absolute frenzy.

Annie Mae-Hem channeling local music legend, Sir Mix-A-Lot, flawlessly. And instead of the donning the Risky Business tightie whities, Mae-Hem has Bettie-inspired skivvies. Perfection.

Here is one more photo to round out the night.

If you are interested in more about the Betties or lending a hand with a new space, visit and contact them at their site, bettiebrigade.com or visit them on their Facebook page.

MONDAY, OCT. 14 2014 >>>

1. Ohio-based quartet Saintseneca has more in common with fellow ANTI- Records alumni such as Calexico, Dr. Dog and Wilco. Theirs is a supremely melodic sound, filled to the brim with surprising turns and grace notes. Saintseneca may also have the first Christmas-related song we've heard since we don't know when, with "On Holiday" - which is reportedly about a Christmas where a brick flew through singer Zac Little's window. Lots of Saintseneca's songs have this quality of taking what might be twee and steering it into cheerful darkness. Catch the band with Busman's Holiday, Globelamp and Generifus at 8 p.m. in Northern. 

2. Puget Sound Pizza hosts 7 Seas Brewing Brewer's Night from 6-8 p.m. Expect prizes, giveaways and beards.

3. The Settlers of Catan is the best board game of all time. The Weekly Volcano cannot overstate the coolness of this fast, ever-changing, family-friendly game. If you haven't played it yet, then get to it. Of course, finding this world-renowned German board game can be a challenge. See, Settlers is something of a rarity. You're not going to find it at a typical toy store or a big box retailer. But you can find it - and a tasty adult beverage at 6:30 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge. Gamers are serenaded by "Kaletron," aka Kale Iverson, who plays a mix of groovy dance hits and all original spacey tunes, which are many times inspired by the games out on the floor. The New Frontier Lounge offers specials during Settlers of Kaletron night, including $8 and $14 microbrew pitchers, $2 pizza slices and dollar tacos. A bevy of nonalcoholic beverages is available for those who want a clear head, including Italian cream sodas, ginger beers and root beer.

4. Classical Tuesdays in Old Town concert series offers a grab bag of awesomeness at 7 p.m. It offers world premiers of compositions by Tacoma composers Rob Hutchinson, Greg Youtz, Deborah Anderson and Kareem Kandi. Also, as a "Metal Event" for the Tacoma Art Commission's Metal-Urge focus this month, we'll hear an improvised work by Miho Takekawa on vibraphones (just go with it). Wait, there's more! New Tacoma Symphony Orchestra conductor Sarah Ioannides will drop by to tell you what's what. Catch this wildly eclectic music mix at the Slavonian Hall.

5. The Tacoma Film Festival is on, celebrating current independent film from around the globe ... and in our backyard. At 8:45 p.m. in The Grand Cinema, Jarhead meets Office Space in the dark comedy Zero Motivation from director Talya Lavie. Two Israeli Defense Force soldiers, Zohar (Dana Ivgi) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar), spend their time getting into office shenanigans with their fellow soldiers, all the while counting down the hours until they can finally leave their boring base.

LINK: Tuesday, Oct. 14 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

How was your first time? Was it painful? Exhilarating? Humiliating? Was it true what they say about band camp, or church camp, or those roommate-warding socks on dorm doorknobs? Was it your high school or college sweetheart, some stranger at a party, maybe someone you thought was in the friend file? Was it his or her first time, too? Did you plan for the big event? Had you worked your way up to it for months, or was it over in a moment of weakness? Were you ready? Were you willing? Were you protected? Was it love?

Why, yes, I too have an amusing story about my first ... OK, so maybe it isn't suitable for this particular venue, but I can tell you it ended positively for everyone concerned. You probably have your own funny, shocking, moving defloration account. You may have even been gutsy enough to post it on MyFirstTime.com, a website that catalogs anonymous milestone stories, most of which appear to be true. The site's been active since the Internet's inception. Over the last 16 years, it's attracted tens of thousands of writers whose memories range from all over the tragicomedy spectrum. Why, that might make for a fun night of storytelling, you imagine, and you would be right. In fact, it has: My First Time: The Play opened off-Broadway in 2007 and ran for two and a half years, spawning productions all over the world. In it, two female and two male actors perform a series of highlights from the archive, offering insight into our most intimate selves. "This has been my favorite course of study in college," one character reveals, "and I'm thinking of going to grad school to pursue this undeclared major." My First Time may not be everyone's idea of a perfect first date, but I can promise you this: it will inspire fascinating post-show conversation.

As the Internet evolves, so do our views of and exposure to sexuality. We live in a lust-frenzied world, overwhelming for young people and almost as scary for grown-ups determined to protect them. Yet even now, when our moment of truth arrives, it requires us to overcome our deepest vulnerabilities and move forward toward adulthood and, ideally, love.  

MY FIRST TIME, 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 26, Centerstage! Theatre, 3200 SW Dash Point Rd., Federal Way, $10-$50, 253.661.1444

Over the past week, the Internet collectively lost its shit like a bunch of whiny babies at the very notion of a female Peter Venkman. Director Paul Feig announced that his Ghostbusters reboot would indeed feature an all-female Ghostbusters team, which prompted legions of fedora-wearing, neckbeard-having troglodytes to declare the franchise officially ruined.

Personally, I'm just glad that Dan Aykroyd's lunatic hands are staying far away from this project, but if you're still not sure that Ghostbusters can't survive the casting of some g-g-g-girls, let me make this very easy for you: it's not the casting that's the problem, it's you. You, the people that saw red when Thor was rebooted as a woman. You, the people that came out en masse to harass a female journalist for daring to offer even a mild criticism of the portrayal of women in video games. You, Ghostbusters alumnus Ernie Hudson, who expressed his displeasure at this new casting news by saying - out loud, in front of microphones - that he hopes the new Ghostbusters cast would at least be hot, even if it was unlikely they'd be funny.

In this day and age, where women continue to make strides for their rights in the face of disgusting opposition, it's remarkable to me that we can still be bickering about the gender of people in jumpsuits shooting plasma rays at marshmallow puppets. Just grow up and watch your children's entertainment with as much dignity as you can muster.

THURSDAY, OCT. 16-SATURDAY, OCT. 18: RON FUNCHES

Tacoma Comedy Club's Fourth Anniversary weekend is a great way to take your mind off the Internet's confused He-Man Woman-Haters with performances from Ron Funches. You'd be hard-pressed to find many more lovable comedians working today than Ron Funches, who brings his delightful laugh to Tacoma for a three-night engagement. The ability to come across as likeable and completely natural is a hard one for comedians to tap into, but Funches brings it in spades.

It doesn't hurt that he's also a massively funny guy, bringing a gentle whimsy to even hard subjects like race. Ron Funches has an uncanny ability to disarm audiences, even opening with the line, "Hello, Mr. Whiteface. I mean you no harm, so please don't come at me," before revealing that this was a conversation he had with a cat. Whenever you get bogged down with how unbelievably shitty people can sometimes be, it helps to get soothed by a guy like Ron Funches. One giggle out of him and all the misogynist Ghostbusters fans of the world seem to wash away. 8 p.m. Thursday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Tacoma Comedy Club, 933 Market St., Tacoma, $15, 253.282.7203

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 14 2014 >>>

1. What the hell is a Hamell on Trial? Hamell on Trial is the nom de la musique of Ed Hamell, solo punk poet extraordinaire, beloved among cognoscenti at the Venn-diagram intersection of folk, punk and observational standup comedy. His current album, The Happiest Man in the World, was inspired by a recent divorce, but don't let his aggro delivery scare you: this guy can sing a joke. He'll remind you of Bill Hicks. Even better, he can play the rockin' hell out of a '37 Gibson guitar. We were especially won over by his YouTube video for a jaunty number called "I Hate Your Kid." Catch him with Tacoma garage rock band Radio On at 8:30 p.m. in The Swiss Restaurant and Pub.

2. Musically, Woman Who Left Behind is lushly spare, and Tess Seipp's tremulous, silky voice wraps around the four tracks like a nice hemp sandal. Growing up 62 miles from the Mexican border in the Chihuahuan Desert city of Marfa, Texas (known for its Minimalist art and the 2006 filmings of both No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood) and coming of age selling vinyl in Pacific Northwest record stores, Seipp, who is also known as Molybden, tells tales of the homeland and ponders the world around her, pulling together influences from Elliott Smith and Patti Smith to Charlie Feathersand Rosanne Cash, as well as paying homage to poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Need another reason to catch her show at Rainy Day Records at 8 p.m. She performs with Eleanor Murray and Mona Reels.

3. Doyle's Public House's version of a pub quiz is fun to play and the prizes are always tasty. Nick Walsh is off for the night so Nicole Karen Olson will be reprising her role as the Quiztress. Same format as usual with 50 percent brainteaser riddle and 50 percent current event questions. Two sessions will go down - 8 and 9 p.m.

4. Harlequin Productions presents The Nightmare Before Improv with their improv comedy troupe at 8 p.m. in The Historic State Theater. Those brave enough to attend can expect frighteningly funny Halloween-themed improv comedy, a costume contest and an evening of ghostly delights.

5. Indigenous Robot cram the stomping menace of Black Sabbath and the masculine poetry of the Doors into something resembling Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Psychedelia still works, as shown in Indigenous Robots' in-and-out brevity, which allows them to pack a considerable amount of punch into three minutes or less.  See the band with Glass Elevator at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

LINK: Wednesday, Oct. 15 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Opening day for the new wing of Tacoma Art Museum is getting closer by the day, and the museum continues to gear up for a huge celebration. Curators are reviewing, restoring and acquiring period frames for a small number of works in the collection. Painting the galleries is complete, and the museum is finalizing the logistics for the Marie Watt sculpture installation, "Blanket Stories: Transportation Object, Generous Ones, Trek". The bronze sculpture made from 400 donated blankets is estimated to weigh 2,500 pounds.

Asia Tail, a member of the Cherokee Nation, recently joined TAM in the role of Haub Fellow. She is reaching out to local Native Americans and tribes across the nation that are included in the artwork of the Haub Family Collection to bring the voice of Native people into the interpretation of the exhibition. This will be an ongoing project and TAM hopes to incorporate quotes and input in various formats throughout the exhibition.

The museum staff continues work testing and operating the lighting system in the new wing. Last year, TAM's team visited the San Francisco Modern Art Museum because as part of their expansion, SFMOMA had established a full-scale test gallery to evaluate lighting systems. The TAM staff was able to learn from SFMOMA's research to make an efficient selection of lighting for the new Haub Family Galleries.

You may see a large "A" on the steel grating of the new entrance canopy; this is a test for the scale of the new logo signage expected to be installed in early November.

TAM's largest annual benefit raising funds for educational programming, called the Go West Gala, takes place Nov. 14 and will include cuisine by El Gaucho, with drinks, dancing and entertainment by performance artist Shovelman with his shovel-turned-guitar, and there will be a gala auction featuring, among other items, beautiful paper cuts by Nikki McClure of Olympia and works donated by artists including Dale Chihuly, Susan Russell Hall, Jeremy Mangan, Camille Patha and Kurt Solmssen.

The Go West Grand Opening will include free Wells Fargo Stagecoach rides on Pacific Avenue from 1-4 p.m. Visitors can join artist Marie Watt in a sewing circle; Other activities on opening day include storytellers, face painting, western-themed food in the freshly updated TAM Café. The Weekly Volcano has summoned The Oly Mountain Boys and banjo musician Forest Beutel to fill the new wing with bluegrass during the opening day festivities. Buetel and The Oly Mountain Boys will also perform at the downtown Tacoma Polar Plaza Ice Rink this holiday season as part of the Weekly Volcano's Rhythm & Ice: Down Home Holiday Hootenanny shows every Saturday night during the rink's run.

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

Painted walls, "Big Red," Celebrity Cake Studio and metal coming to Tacoma Art Museum

Sellen Construction dangles the keys

Checking in with the Tacoma Art Museum

Colors, video, improved store at Tacoma Art Museum

THURSDAY, OCT. 16 2014 >>>

1. You say you want some spooky? The Voodoo Organist, the Los Angeles artist sometimes known as Scott Wexton, channels Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Devo, The Doors and an evil roller-rink to conjure a circus of lounge sounds darkly peppy. The Voodoo Organist has powers, brother - and unless you're willing to dance in the moonlight with Satan himself, the Weekly Volcano recommends you skip The Valley's first live music show featuring said organist, the return of bizarro punk jug-band Swampy Draws and Los Hermanos Brothers. The whale of the Voodoo Organist's Hammond and the moan of synths will get inside you - and it just might wreck you for good. If you do decide to brave it, the free show begins at 8 p.m.

2. Tacoma artists Chandler O'Leary of Anagram Press and Jessica Spring of Springtide Press host a dual exhibition reception beginning at 4 p.m. Here's how it works: stop by O'Leary's reception at the Tacoma Public Library Downtown Branch first and pick up an illustrated keepsake. Then, take your keepsake down the hill to Spring's reception at the Old Post Office, and print a phrase on it with her antique printing press. Both events are free and open to the public. Except a small pop-up shop at Spring's reception, stocked with goodies related to both shows and also featuring guest artist Mare Blocker.

3. The University of Puget Sound's Art + Science Salon series returns to the Tacoma Art Museum for a conversation about the intersection of science, analog and technology at 6 p.m. Expect to hear big words from computer-controlled installation artist Brent Watanabe, audio-visual artist Joel Ong, music composer James Bernhard and multi-media artist Cable Griffith. Admission is free.

4. This weekend the seventh annual Gig Harbor Film Festival will prove once again there's plenty of life across the Narrows by welcoming a variety of locally-made films, independents, documentaries, shorts and more to the Galaxy Theatres Uptown. Upping the ante, special guests scheduled to appear at the Gig Harbor Film Fest include Karolyn Grimes who played Zuzu in It's a Wonderful Life. Tonight, at 6 p.m., the comedy Frank Vs. God kicks off the festival with a post-film Q&A with producer Scott Schill.

5. DJ SlimRock spins soul, funk and more beginning at 9 p.m. inside The Brotherhood Lounge.

LINK: Thursday, Oct. 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Wow wow wow. The first few seconds of the trailer for The Best of Me actually made me laugh out loud. We open with not one, but two, unattributed quotes about love and stuff (the first one, hilariously, credited to "Anonymous"). If you thought you'd seen Nicholas Sparks get all Nicholas Sparks-y, then you ain't seen nothing yet.

The Stephen King of trashy, condescending romance novels has returned with another sappy story of two lovers in peril. Beginning with two high schoolers in love, we then flash forward 20 years to find them reunited after backwoods thugs kept them apart. Because this is based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, we can expect lots of kissing in the rain and candlelit proclamations of devotion, right before incongruously pulpy violence enters the picture.

It's amazing how much cache Sparks has just because everyone cried at The Notebook. The bizarre war-torn romance of The Lucky One and the absurd last-act twist of Safe Haven (which I would love to spoil for you right now, if that movie weren't so ridiculously enjoyable to watch and gawk at) weren't enough to shake lose the legions of adoring fans of manipulation and pretty people with Southern accents frolicking.

What might remain the most unbelievable aspect of this movie - barring a Safe Haven-esque left turn - is watching the young leads somehow age into James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan. Like the actually pretty good 17 Again, this aging process seems to involve the fundamental reshaping of skull structures. Also, there may have been a time tunnel involved to account for the non-existent 20-year difference in age between these actors.

Still, I'll eagerly await reading spoilers of The Best of Me, in the hopes that it can rival Safe Haven - which, by now, I hope I've teased you into watching. Seriously, that shit's bonkers.

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 2014 >>>

1. Named after a scientific discovery, The Van Allen Belt are doing their part to tear down and rebuild. Their recent LP, Heaven on a Branch, is a sly study in mixing and matching. The ways they play with sounds and expectations is sometimes so subtle that you find yourself waking from a trance at a song's end and wondering what route you took to get your head where it's arrived. A big part of the band's success comes down to lead singer Tamar Kamin's effortlessly soulful voice, which handily weathers the storm of mastermind Benjamin Ferris' gently forceful experimentation. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on The Van Allen Belt in the Music and Culture section, then catch the band with Anna Gordon, Swoon and Beatrix Sky at 8 p.m. in Northern.

2. Following a successful first run, "Reach Out at the Well" returns to downtown Olympia's Artesian Commons Park from noon to 3 p.m.  The Olympia Outreach Workers League, a coalition of nearly a dozen downtown service organizations who operate with generous volunteer support, hosts the free community fair. Participating organizations setup booths and provide information on their services and volunteer opportunities. "We aim to uplift the downtown neighborhood through strengthening relationships, cultivating networks, and encouraging volunteerism," said Renata Rollins, event organizer and a coordinator with the Outreach Workers League. "It's all about the ethic of courageous community caretaking. It takes a village to raise a village."

3. Members of the BJ Shea Morning Experience will celebrate their 15th year on the radio with a little shindig at 7 p.m. in Jazzbones. BJ will be giving away a trip to Atlanta to attend a VIP party on the set of the Walking Dead, where you'll tour the real Terminus location, meet members of the cast and maybe even some of the undead. You'll also get the chance to win tickets to see Judas Priest and Lewis Black. Admission is free for this 21 and older event.

4. St. Patrick's Day celebrations aren't easy. You must practice to prepare yourself for the zaniness that goes down every March 17. Doyle's Public House knows this. That's why they host monthly St. Practice Day parties, of which happens again Friday. The party begins with Doyle's Guinness Club toast at 5:17 p.m. All the members gather before Grand Poobah Russ Heaton, who recognizes members who have hit milestones, such as 500 pints of Guinness, while the other members tear up. After the announcement, Heaton raises a glass of the Irish Mother's Milk and toasts the members. At 9 p.m., musical guest Polecat gives everyone another reason to raise a glass. The Bellingham band's nimble, high-energy, fiddle-fueled, hybrid-Americana music really must be seen live to be truly appreciated.

5. The lessons '70s psych bands taught us were not in vain, and some restraint applied to the right blend of mind-melting antics can be very effective. Enter Indigenous Robot, who cram the stomping menace of Black Sabbath and the masculine poetry of the Doors into something resembling Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Psychedelia still works, as shown in Indigenous Robots' in-and-out brevity, which allows them to pack a considerable amount of punch into three minutes or less. The band performs with Bottlenose Koffins and Static and the Cubes at 10 p.m. in Half Pint Pizza Pub.

LINK: Friday, Oct. 17 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 2014 >>>

1. It's October, which can mean only one thing: fans of hip-hop and cartoonish German culture can rejoice. Maltoberfest is back and as Olde English-sodden as ever! For the uninitiated, Maltoberfest is a sublimely beer-soaked celebration of hip-hop and oompah, punk and pretzels and - above all else - more malt liquor than anyone has ever seen in one place at one time - 7 p.m. at Stonegate Restaurant & Bar. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in their best hip-hop and/or German attire, while a wide array of bands serenade the increasingly drunk revelers. This year's performers include favorites like rap collective 508 Disturbanceand punk marching band Artesian Rumble Arkestra, as well as newcomers like the indie rock of the Breakfast Cowboy and the weirdo hillbilly rap of Three Ninjas & the Weird Old Tricks, among others.

2. The Washington Beer Commission will host its inaugural South Sound IPA Festival with two sessions at downtown Tacoma's Union Station. Its first venture into the City of Destiny, the WBC will host 26 Washington breweries - including several for the South Sound - pouring their IPAs during an afternoon and evening session at Union Station in downtown Tacoma. In all, there will be at least 48 craft beers, most hitting the high mark on the International Bitterness Units (IBUs) scale. For complete details, click here.

3. In celebration of Tacoma Arts Month, Nitty Gritty Tacoma Salvage & Industrial Art Show will feature local art that revolves around Tacoma industry and architecture from 1-5 p.m. at Earthwise Architectural Salvage. Puyallup Tribe graffiti artist Daniel Yeloe and mural artist Chris Sharp will be in attendance for a meet-and-greet and the unveiling of their art from 3-4 p.m. Kim Archer, A Flock of Geezers and Shotgun Kitchen will provide the live soundtrack. Food will be available for purchase from Finnwick's Kitchen. Anthem Coffee will be providing free beverages.

4. The Northwest Playwrights Alliance's Double Shot Play Fest is a chance for local scribes to show off and, just as important, for the organization to make a little spending cash. Consider this: eager writers go to work the evening before the festival, as that's when they're handed the topic for a brand-new, 10-minute play. A troupe of actors arrives at Broadway Center the next morning to rehearse the resulting scripts for a 7:30 show at Theatre on the Square. Then the same plays are performed at a 2 p.m. tomorrow. This year, in a welcome shift toward marginalized voices, the writers, directors, and repertory cast are all women. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on the Double Shot Play Fest in the Music & Culture section.

5. There's just no faking the sort of unbridled exuberance that bursts forth from Portland punk trio Hey Lover. How awesome are these guys? The husband and wife that make up two thirds of the group played Hey Lover's first show following their own wedding. That had to have been the best wedding reception in the history of the form. With regards to their music, Hey Lover work almost exclusively in rowdy blasts of endorphin-sapping punk. Catch the band with Anteek Junkees, Various Moods and Heads Out the Window at 8 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive.

LINK: Saturday, Oct. 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area