SUNDAY, DEC. 28 2014 >>>

1. Does Stickshift Annie and The Fugitives really need an introduction? Is there a more professional band? Is there a more respected one? Are you really going to pretend that you don't enjoy hearing America's sweetheart Stickshift Annie on vocals? Let alone watching her front the band with charisma few have, right? Do you not remember how great a guitarist Kimball Conant is? Geez, why are you not at The Spar right now securing a front row seat to watch this awesome blues band perform at 7 p.m.?

2. Franciscan Polar Plaza is the place to be once winter hits. Think you can find something better to do than busting out some ice skates? Yeah, good luck with that. Polar Plaza is on its fourth year of setting up an ice-skating rink decked out in wintery goodness at Tollefson Plaza, just across from the Tacoma Art Museum in downtown Tacoma. With three fabulous years behind them, the Plaza folks put their heads together and found a few key ways to make this ritzy rink even better for 2014. Skate from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

3. In the Appalachians, the holiday season is devoted to dance-happy house parties. That's the tradition celebrated by husband-and-wife mountain music gurus Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones in their "Breaking Up Christmas and Appalachian Country Dance" program at 6 p.m. in the Prosperity Grange Hall. They'll be joined by caller Charmaine Slaven, fiddler Tony Mates and guitarist Catherine Alexander; and, as folks might say up in the holler, it'll be finer'n a can o' snuff.

4. Temecula, California, hardcore/death rock band The Coltranes spread holiday cheer at Le Voyeur beginning at 7 p.m.

5. As the son of longtime Seattle DJ Bob Rivers, Andrew Rivers got accustomed early to the not-always-flattering spotlight. "I was the butt of so many jokes on the radio show," he says. Maybe that's why - despite his jokes about how he's not tough enough to walk those female friends to their cars - Rivers seems to have a pretty thick skin. Read Molly Gilmore's full story on Andrew Rivers in the Music & Culture section, then catch Rivers at 8 p.m. at the Tacoma Comedy Club.

LINK: Sunday, Dec. 28 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area