THURSDAY, DEC. 18 2014 >>>
1. Can you smell it? Holiday shopping panic. (You smug bastards who already finished your shopping can just keep it to yourselves. No one wants to hear how organized and on top of things you are.) But panicking doesn't help; it just makes you drink more and understand why suicide rates go up around the holidays, and no one wants that. What you need is a little break. A third Thursday hits this week, which means the Tacoma Art Bus will hit the streets of Tacoma, toting around art enthusiasts to art shows in galleries, spaces and businesses - away from the gridlock and parking nightmares. And, most likely, you'll happen upon that perfect gift for picky-ass Aunt Edna whose good side you're trying to get on for inheritance reasons. Holiday ugly sweaters are encouraged, awesome Puget Sound Pizza will provide pizza and the tour begins at 5:45 p.m. in front of the Tacoma Elf Storage.
2. Spaceworks Tacoma partnered with property owners Jori Adkins and Rick Semple to help launch a collective of furniture makers - REVIVE, locally crafted custom furniture close to the Tacoma Dome. The beautiful 2,500 square foot showroom, right on the corner of Puyallup and D Streets, is a perfect fit along "Furniture Row." The five businesses are: Alchemy Concrete, birdloft, reply Furniture, Spring Fever Upholstery and Wane + Flitch. The grand opening is from 5-9 p.m.
3. Ho, ho, hold up - where's your ugly holiday sweater? Don't show up to Tacoma Runners Ugly Sweater Run tonight without one, because some sort of ugliness - be it a deck-the-halls display or a simple Santa face - is mandatory. The event will kick off with a 6:30 p.m. check-in at Slappy's Garage - North End Tavern. The Christmasy 3-mile run will wind through Tacoma's northend, with the runners returning to Slappy's to toss back a bunch of drinkies. You've finally got a use for that reindeer sweater grandma knitted you, so Febreeze off the mothball odor and come run around the Proctor District to spread some Christmas cheer.
4. Bruce Pavitt helped put the Pacific Northwest on the music map in the 1980s with his record label, Sub Pop, with business partner Jonathan Poneman. Pavitt has written a book about his experience at Sub Pop. He will talk about and read from that that book, SUB POP U.S.A.: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology, 1980-1988, at 7:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. K Records founder Calvin Johnson, a.k.a. Selector Dub Narcotic, will DJ 45s following the reading and book signing. This program will occur after regular library hours and no other library services will be available.
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. Catch him tonight with local comedian Nate Jackson at 8 p.m. in Little Creek Casino in Shelton.
LINK: Thursday, Dec. 17 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area
