FRIDAY, JAN. 9 2015 >>>

1. After more than 20 years of taking the punk ethos and bending it to the will of a clothes horse and a stylistic maverick, Ian Svenonius has arrived at Chain and the Gang, which similarly takes elements of early soul music and abstracts them to conform to a 2015 attitude. When we first saw Chain and the Gang, Svenonius commanded the stage with a punk version of James Brown, giving high kicks and melodramatic kneels that belied the minimalistic instrumentation that accompanied it. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Chain and the Gang in the Music & Culture section, then catch the band with Rocknho, and Vexx at 8 p.m. in Northern.

2. My Brother Kissed Mark Zuckerberg returns to the Dukesbay Theater in Tacoma at 7 p.m.  Written and performed by Peter Serko, this inspiring true story offers a glimpse into the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and ‘90s.  When Mr Serko's younger brother David is diagnosed HIV positive in 1988 he is suddenly drawn into his brother's life.  David's death from the complications of AIDS in 1992 leaves a legacy finally revealed 20 years after his death.

3. Who doesn't like to sit in attendance while junkyard cars get smashed and toppled by massive, petrol-chugging monster trucks? Probably no one. That's like suggesting there's someone out there that doesn't like nacho cheese and back fat. Likely story. ... Anyway, at 7:30 p.m. "the world's biggest and baddest monster trucks battling it out in the ultimate event of intense speed, racing and destruction as the Monster Jamevent rolls into the Tacoma Dome." 

4. David Mamet may have won the Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross back in 1984. But in today's climate of corporate scandal and economic crisis, this emotionally charged black comedy/drama - opening at 8 p.m. in the Lakewood Playhouse - seems eerily relevant. Set in the cutthroat world of real estate investment sales, Glengarry Glen Ross offers a harsh look at human weakness and the moral decay of business. It's a brilliant study in gullibility and greed - a classic piece of theater that makes us squirm in our seats as Mamet exposes the "art of the deal."

5. Portland-based experimental pop maestros Aan are making their return to Olympia for a 8 p.m. show at Deadbeat Olympia, a record store that's quickly making a name for itself with exciting in-store shows. Although Aan opened for the Smashing Pumpkins, there's little of the Pumpkins' melodramatic posturing to be found in Aan's music. Rather, there's a crispness and clarity of vision to accompany their wildly exploratory pop music, ripping apart songwriting crutches and stitching them together again, like Frankenstein's monster, before electrifying them into something wholly new and exciting. Also on the bill are local favorites Fruit Juice and Wild Berries, who stun with glam-rock kaleidoscopes and soulful garage rock, respectively.

LINK: Friday, Jan. 9 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area