5 Things To Do Today: Danny Quintero Quintet, Polar Plaza ends, "The Homesman," Kim Archer Band ...

By Volcano Staff on January 11, 2015

SUNDAY, JAN. 11 2015 >>>

1. The Jazz LIVE at Marine View kicks off its seventh year with dynamic vocalist Danny Quintero. His keen ear for subtle nuances of the "Sinatra School of ‘Bel Canto' singing" - the articulation, phrasing, dynamics and breath control belies his 25 years of age. He personifies a fresh, likeable and personalized approach to the Great American Songbook. For fans of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, this is worth the drive to Northwest Tacoma. Joining Quintero will be Alexey Nikolaev on saxophone, Chris Morton on piano, Nathan Parker on bass and Adam Kessler on drums at 5 p.m. in the Marine View Church.

2. Today is the last day to bundle up, pinch your cheeks until they glow and strap on a pair of silver skates, Hans Brinker, for a glide across the frozen expanse at Tollefson Plaza. The Franciscan Polar Plaza, located on the corner of Pacific Avenue and South 17th Street, ends today. Hit the ice from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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 2 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. The Homesman is a cinematic western that follows a group of women forced to travel across the wild frontier. Hilary Swank plays Marry Bee Cuddy: industrious and unmarried, she drives a mule team and tends a farm on the barren plain. When she happens upon an opportunity to make some cash she goes for it, even if it calls for transporting three local women to an insane asylum in a distant city. Along the way, Mary Bee meets up with Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), who is as desperate for salvation as he is for his next drink. See the film at 5 p.m. in the Capitol Theater.

5. With a timeless vocal delivery only matched by her engaging stage presence, Kim Archer and her band have been pleasing live music fans in our area since 2004. Archer's powerful voice a la Janis Joplin and Chaka Khan gelled nicely with the sonic buzz of the guitar and groove from the backbeat. Archer commands the stage playing her own original songs rooted in old school soul, funk and classic rock, sultry blues and ballads while remaining a master at giving choice cover tunes the "Kim Archer treatment," such as the crowd pleasing "Shaft." Catch the band at 7 p.m. in The Spar in Old Town Tacoma.

LINK: Sunday, Jan. 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area