SATURDAY, JAN. 3 2015 >>>

1. You've been waiting for tonight. You have questions. You've dissected The Oly Mountain Boys' epic concept album White Horse every which way. You've played it backwards. You've synced it to the Wizard of Oz. You are certain you can hear "Paul (Williams) is Dead" in the lyrics. You need to ask this quintet of Olympia bluegrass musicians if there's more to this concept album about a man named Charlie McCarver and his rough life in Washington state during the early 20th century. If you like your bluegrass complex, melodic and focused on weighty matters, then catch The Oly Mountain Boys at the Franciscan Polar Plaza ice-skating rink from 7-9 p.m. If you like your bluegrass with high-energy drive and a Pacific Northwest bent, mixing traditional tunes with revolutionary original bluegrass compositions, then lace up.

2. Grab a seat in one of the vintage school desks scattered haphazardly about Tacoma Art Museum's spacious Weyerhaeuser gallery and prepare to be immersed in desolate beauty as Mary Lucier's five-channel video installation "The Plains of Sweet Regret" takes you to another time and place not so far away - the plains of North Dakota in the recent past.

3. Lakefight are a concentrated blast of jittery energy. The amount of churning forward momentum produced by the trio is a bit bracing at times. Comprised of guitar, drums and keyboard, the sound maintains a spry lightness, even as it barrels ahead like a runaway train. Citing influences ranging from the black heart of evil in the world, the redeeming powers of pizza and Blue Velvet's Frank Booth, Lakefight may seem scattered and, well, they sort of are. Still, it's this manic dot-connecting that colors the best aspects of their music, with torrents of yelped lyrics running roughshod over top of blazing instrumentation. Catch the band with the Pecos, Cradle Cap and the Variety Hour at 8 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive.

4. The country genre nowadays often seems to favor superstar pop-artists, and one can also admit that it has lost a lot of original flavor and a great amount of heart and soul. The Twang Junkies are loaded with original flavor and soul. The Tacoma band will mosey up to the bar with Cash, Haggard, Hank and Earle on one side and Jagger, Lennon, Bowie and Gibb on the other, then take The Spar stage at 8 p.m. with their own blend of alt-country: a Southern twang bass with a hint of indie rock.

5. Children of the '80s need to squeeze into your old 501s and Members Only jacket (good luck!), embiggen your hair and motor your bitchin' self to Jazzbones at 9 p.m. The Spazmatics are in town, dude! - with gnarly covers of all your '80s favorites, including "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Take on Me" and a pitch-perfect "Bohemian Rhapsody" (technically 1975, but shut up). It's a totally awesome, high-energy song-and-dance show that'll have you, like, stoked to the max. Cool beans, McFly!

LINK: Saturday, Jan. 3 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area