SATURDAY, DEC. 13 2014 >>>

1. It's deep in the third quarter of the mandatorily festive holiday season. Have you ice-skated at the Franciscan Polar Plaza? What could be more apropos for the holidays than skating around in circles to punkgrass? We suggest throwing on that Technicolor scarf your grandma knit for you before Bush the First was in office and hitting the downtown Tacoma ice rink from 7-9 p.m. to skate to The Rusty Cleavers band. It seems only natural to combine the worlds of bluegrass and punk, and The Rusty Cleavers do so magnificently, with all manner of mandolin, banjo and backyard clatter coming together in a cacophony of spirited group-singing and hoops and hollers.

2. A rare sequential time sequence and date pattern will occur this morning: 10:11 a.m. on 12-13-14. In recognition of this infrequent occurrence, three local Volkssport clubs - Evergreen Wanderers in Tacoma, Daffodil Valley Volkssport in Puyallup and Capitol Volkssport in Olympia - have organized a guided group 10 km (6.2 mile) walk beginning at 9:30 a.m. sharp at Fort Steilacoom Park, so that all walkers are on the trail at 10:11 a.m. on 12-13-14. Imagine if they began at 9:10.11 a.m. Whoa.

3. Duck The Malls sounds fun on paper. If nothing else, this holiday sale to benefit the Olympia Film Society cuts out so much of the guesswork and crap of going to a regular flea market: With just the freaks on board selling their Yaz CDs, hipster bicycles and Ronald McDonald drinking glasses, you're sure to be steering clear of screaming babies and the scary men selling kicker boxes and enormous knives. Meanwhile, you may finally pick up that home-tattooing manual you've always wanted, along with that Boss phaser pedal whatshisname uses. You know there's going to be that moment where somebody runs into her ex, who's behind a table selling everything she ever gave him. Check it out from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Capitol Theater.

4. Tacoma's acclaimed Fulcrum Gallery hosts its annual Holiday Artists Market Saturday and Sunday offering one offs, B-sides and studio gems from such artists as Kellë McLaughlin, Darlene Dihel, Ometepe Art (Victor Inmaculada and Maria Davis), Artifaex Studios (Michael Wishwell), Mossport Studios (Gail Kelly) Scott Nelson and Lynne Farren and gallery owner Oliver Doriss from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This will be good.

5. Peter Tietjen, drummer and lead singer for Umber Sleeping, has essentially carried the sound and vision of Umber Sleeping through various incarnations, changing the roster and the name whenever he sees fit - I Like Science, Follow the Kites and Balloon Power Challenge have all subbed in for Umber Sleeping. In all of these forms, the Umber Sleeping ethos of spacy, Kraut-rock-indebted psych has remained essentially the same. Now, the original lineup of Umber Sleeping, featuring Doug Morse, James Jenkins and newcomer Jake Frye will be performing together, once again, at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge. Add to that the release of the Variety Hour's new album, and this is an unmissable show.

LINK: Saturday, Dec. 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area