TUESDAY, MARCH 10 2015 >>>

1. Science Café of Olympia meets each month on the second Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Orca Books. It provides an informal atmosphere where people with and without scientific background can meet to deepen their understanding of interesting topics in science and technology. After a presentation by an expert in the field, the meetings are opened for discussion. Tonight, a big brain will discuss cutting edge electron microscopy. The electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a beam of electrons to create an image of the specimen. It is capable of much higher magnifications and has a greater resolving power than a light microscope, allowing it to see much smaller objects in finer detail, like our imagination in creating this paragraph.

2. Part of The Grand Cinema's Tuesday Film Series, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night continues the trend - as epitomized by Only Lovers Left Alive - of the "vampires hanging out" film genre. The Iranian/American film centers around a ghost town in Iran called Bad City, and the lonely vampire that haunts it. If it's anything like the sumptuous Only Lovers Left Alive, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is not to be missed. Catch it at 1:15 and 6:25 p.m.

3. This St. Patrick's Day, whether you choose to celebrate with a more authentic Irish Lamb Shepherd's Pie, or with the traditional American-style Corned Beef and Cabbage, Chef Treacy has you covered. He'll take you step-by-step through the preparation of these dishes so you can make them at home for family and friends on March 17. As a fine accompaniment to the meal, his soda bread biscuits are a fun twist on the standard recipe. Grab $55 and reserve your 6 p.m. spot at the Bayview School of Cooking.   

4. If you're curious how California's Stone Brewing Company grew from a small startup brewery into one of the largest craft breweries in the world, then drop by Rainier Growlers from 6-9 p.m., get in a Stone groove, maybe win a raffle prize and enjoy Stone's Go To IPA, Green Tea IPA, Quadrotriticale and Old Guardian brews.

5. Jerry Miller was named one of the top 100 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone above Eddie Van Halen, Johnny Winter and Randy Rhoads. The Tacoma native has enjoyed a rich career sharing the stage with countless musicians including members of the Doobie Brothers and Carlos Santana. Miller hosts an open jam at 7 p.m. in Dave's of Milton.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11 2015 >>>

1. Saxophonist Kareem Kandi has hosted an open jazz session for years, a backyard patio for his music school friends, fellow musicians and newbies to jam out standards - fresh, fiery and exciting. The jam now resides every second Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in The Swiss.

2. Kittredge Gallery is showing the work of three recent University of Puget Sound graduates - Haley Andres, Abbie Baldwin, and Kristan Shuford - created during a post-graduate residency at Halle 14 in Leipzig, Germany. At 4 p.m., Baldwin and Shuford, along with exhibition curator and UPS art history alum Luc Sokolsky, will offer a gallery talk about the work and discussion of their experiences. The talk will be followed by a reception and viewing of the exhibition from 5-7 p.m. Both talk and reception will take place at Kittredge Gallery and are free and open to the public.

3. A penny saved is worth two in the bush. And your burning bridges have been gathering moss lately, anyway. The time has come to rework your literary life (or maybe, to create a literary life). Too long have you lingered in the annals of John Grisham; the Classic Book Club may be just what you need. You will save your pennies (because the book club's novels are long; therefore you will take longer to read them, and therefore, go book shopping less - such logic, eh?) and keep moss from burning, ahem, your brain. And you'll become hopelessly intellectual and never make lame, extended jokes involving metaphors, ever. This month the group is ripping apart Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, at 7 p.m. in King's Books.

4. Dub Narcotic Studio in downtown Olympia will host a live, in-studio performance and recording with San Francisco trio Bad Jazz, Olympia experimentalist Arrington de Dionyso and Olympia treasure Knotpinebox. The mics flip on at 7 p.m.

5. Every Wednesday night at Puget Sound Pizza, the Volcano's music critic Rev. Adam McKinney hosts a karaoke session showcasing a Tarantino-like mix of downtown denizens seriously singing Bill Withers and glasses-wearing gals squawking out punk rawk, plus appearances by local rock stars. McKinney, always looking dapper in his sportcoat, has a mellifluous singing voice, perfect for "Disco 2000" by Pulp, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" by Tom Lehrer, "Little Green Bag" by the George Baker Selection, "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" by Squeeze and his standard closing song, "Bottle of Wine" by the Fireballs.

I'm tight with Andrew Gordon, the actor-playwright who co-authors and produces mystery nights for his company, Open Road Productions, at Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen in Tumwater. His latest is an all-new musical, Murder Beyond the Stars. Andy, you have the floor:

"It's set at the 26th annual Journeycon, a celebration of the TV show Journey Beyond the Stars back in the '90s. It has a cast of characters you might recognize, starting with a brash but heroic colonel. We also have the original producer and creator of the show, who's now the convention organizer. There's a fangirl, played by Amy Shephard, and she has a deep dark secret. The colonel has a Russian love interest. Actress Heather Christopher and I went to Tacoma to sit down with a 93-year-old woman who grew up in Russia, who knew all these great Russian curse words. We added those to the songs.

"The convention takes place 26 years after the show ended disastrously. The two leads weren't speaking to each other. Something terrible happened, and that's to be revealed. The producer has decided to bring back the show as a movie, but instead of hiring the old cast, he's going the Chris Pine route. He went with a new, young, idiot actor, whom the script describes as all teeth and no brains. Kyle Henick plays him, and Rob Taylor plays his assistant. I don't think I'm giving away secrets when I tell you someone dies. Of course, everybody looks at least a little like a suspect.

"This is the fifth murder mystery I've written, and it's new in a couple of ways. We're working with Daven Tillinghast to create brand new musical pieces. We had the chance to work with kick-ass costume designers, Ricky German and Mishka Navarre, who've elevated our game. Pellegrino's has been incredibly supportive by investing in a live band, the Wildwood Orchestra. It's a thrilling creative process. Amy helped write scenes as well. The script developed over about eight months, so we had plenty of time for readings and directorial notes from Jenny Heddin. It's turned into more than I thought it'd be. I love putting characters in a box and shaking them up and seeing what happens to them.

"I'm definitely a geek myself, and I'm learning to be proud of it. Amy has this beautiful song about what it's like to be a fan of an actor like Leonard Nimoy, how she relates to this distant being. I wanted to be sure we weren't making fun of something precious. The geeks save the day. There's a celebration of fandom in the piece, and I'm elated about that given recent circumstances."

As for the eats, Pellegrino's will open at 6 for a cocktail hour before the main event. Then it's time for chef Sam Pellegrino's mushroom polenta, and an entrée of beef scaloppini, prosciutto-and-mozzarella-stuffed chicken, or stuffed portabella. Dessert is a tuxedo truffle mousse cake, because nom. So ahead warp factor one, Mr. Gordon. Second star to the right, and straight on till morning.

MURDER BEYOND THE STARS!, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 13-21, Pellegrino's Event Center, 5757 Littlerock Rd. SW, Tumwater, $50-$60, 360.709.9055

THURSDAY, MARCH 11 2015 >>>

1. Giving boaters and anglers an opportunity to see and touch, compare prices and features, and talk with experts about the newest technological advancements in boats and motors and fishing gear holds great appeal and utility in the Puget Sound area. Just before boat season begins, the Puget Sound Boat Show will showcase 2015 models and closeout models offered by more than 20 area dealers, boating accessories and fishing gear and more than two dozen hours of how-to seminars through Sunday, opening at 11 a.m. in the Tacoma Dome. Shop and compare a selection of boats - ranging from kayaks and inflatables, aluminum models popular with fishermen, fiberglass sport boats and offshore models offering luxury and durability.

2. The quarterly Ancient Victorys Open Mike brings back some of the 3,000 acoustic music performers from open mikes run by Chris Lunn in this state and California from the 1965 through 1990 to the Antique Sandwich Co. at 7 p.m.

3. Based on one audience suggestion, The Improvised Shakespeare Co. will create a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center. Each of the players has brushed up on his "thee's" and "thou's" to bring you an evening of off-the-cuff comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you're wondering where the story is going ... so are the actors.

4. Having worked with everyone from 2Pac to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre (his half-brother), Warren G is a vital voice of not only reality rap and party music, but he has always been a conscientious and active voice in community driven issues. Long Beach is in the house for a 8 p.m. show with Grynch, Wanz at Crytical in Jazzbones. Sing Nate Dogg's (RIP) hooks, y'all! 

5. More so than many of the other bands striving to capture the feeling of music in the '90s, pop weirdos Dead Larry feel like they emerged straight from the time capsule. It's remarkable how uncanny their resemblance is to the pop eccentrics like They Might Be Giants, Ben Folds Five, the Lemonheads and Crash Test Dummies. Dead Larry is unabashedly upbeat music that finds their footing in piano pop, with diversions into white-boy-funk, and stoned psychedelic explorations. Catch the band with Birger Wink, Larry Wish and American Forrest at 8 p.m. in Deadbeat Olympia record store.

FRIDAY, MARCH 13 2015 >>>

1. We encountered Jake Shimabukuro through his much-admired rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," a piece that went viral in YouTube's infancy. Since then he's toured with Jimmy Buffett and played the West Hollywood House of Blues, B.B. King's Nightclub in New York, Bumbershoot and popular TV and radio talk shows. He's a household name in Japan, where he's the ambassador for Hawai'ian tourism. His instrument has only four strings with little sustain and can cover a mere two octaves from middle C up, but that's close to the range of the average human voice. Thus, Shimabukuro has all of the popular music at his disposal. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on Jake Shimabukuro in the Music & Culture section, then catch the ukulele virtuoso at 7:30 p.m. in the Pantages Theater.

2. Andrew Gordon, the actor-playwright who co-authors and produces mystery nights for his company, Open Road Productions, at Pellegrino's Italian Kitchen in Tumwater. His latest is an all-new musical, Murder Beyond the Stars, at 7:30 p.m. Andy, you have the floor: "It's set at the 26th annual Journeycon, a celebration of the TV show Journey Beyond the Stars back in the '90s. The convention takes place 26 years after the show ended disastrously. The two leads weren't speaking to each other. Something terrible happened, and that's to be revealed. The producer has decided to bring back the show as a movie, but instead of hiring the old cast, he's going the Chris Pine route. He went with a new, young, idiot actor, whom the script describes as all teeth and no brains. I don't think I'm giving away secrets when I tell you someone dies. Of course, everybody looks at least a little like a suspect."

3. From the manic mind of comic Steve Martin comes the offbeat comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Set in Paris at a bar known as The Lapin Agile (The Agile Rabbit), Martin imagines a meeting between a young Pablo Picasso and a young Albert Einstein, two men who will transform the 20th century. Pablo, Al and their friends meet at The Lapin Agile to eat, drink and change art and science forever. Tacoma Little Theatre draws open the curtain at 7:30 p.m.

4. The father-and-sons quartet New Kingston are of rasta heritage, but the Pantons are second-generation Americans who drop laid-back jams like "Today" and "La La La" in a Brooklyn accent. They're a bashment, in reggae slang, meaning a party in progress. Their lyrics are socially conscious, but don't worry too much about that right now. Instead, close your eyes and sip cocktails on a beach in your mind at 8 p.m. in Jazzbones. In fact, I hear Jazzbones makes a ranking rum punch. New Kingston will urge you to "puff it and pass it" - but even in Washington, you have to wait till you get home for that. One love!

5. Seattle quartet Freeway Park offers up angular noise-pop accompanied by the manic preaching of frontman Graham Isaac. When you eliminate singing from your band, the onus then becomes dangerously focused on the strength of the words and the music. Isaac's deadpan reading of his wryly funny lyrics serves as a handy counterpoint to the jittery guitars. Catch the band with Coast Culture, 100 Ounces and Godfish at 8 p.m. in Deadbeat Olympia record store.

SATURDAY, MARCH 14 2015 >>>

1. In the late '60s and into the '70s, there was a sea change in the world of country music. Rather than drawing from the glut of radio-ready folk and country that dominated the airwaves, a new class of country singers came up through the ranks, bringing with them a more progressive world-view and a more idiosyncratic sound. People like Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson would become the face of progressive country, lending a more personal sound to a genre that had grown complacent with cookie-cutter artists that were as interchangeable as they were popular. Eventually, this scene would spawn even more disparate artists and influences, creating the slippery genre known as alt-country. At the forefront of this developing genre was Joe Ely, whose immersion into the scene was through the most circuitous of routes. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's interview with Joe Ely in the Music & Culture section., then catch Ely with Ruthie Foster and Paul Thorn in the Southern Troubadours in the Round show at 7:30 p.m. in the Pantages Theater.

2. Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel is dealing themselves in the beer festival game hosting their first annual Beer and Wine Festival from 1-5 p.m. For $25 at the door, you will receive a commemorative pint or wine glass, eight drink tickets and a straight line to Dick's Brewing Co., Hi-Fi Brewery, Mt. St. Helens Cellars and others.

3. Some people really can't wait until St. Patrick's Day to don oppressive shades of green and drown themselves in Guinness. Celebrate four days early at Doyle's Public House Pre-St. Patrick's Day Bash. The outside tent is up and beginning at 3 p.m. Nolan Garrett, Fields Under Clover, Ethan Tucker and The Staxx Brothers will fill it up.

4. Northwest Sinfonietta will present a reunion between Cuban jazz pianist Aldo López-Gavilán and his brother, Ilmar Gavilán, along with The Harlem Quartet - for the first public performance of the brothers in the U.S. - at 7:30 p.m. in the Rialto Theater. The Gavilán brothers grew up in Cuba as prodigies of a robustly musical family. Ilmar won several prestigious violin competitions before becoming a founding member of the trail-blazing Harlem Quartet, while Aldo pursued a phenomenal solo career as a Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist and composer.

5. Dark Palms music is a barbaric, pulsing, yet nuanced and nimble band based out of Olympia. The type of band that proves that modern post-punk sounds can still hold pop sensibilities - that musically you can still see what's in your rear view while looking forward. The band performs with Radio On, Josh Duhamel the Band and Dirty Malkovich at 9 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive.

MONDAY, MARCH 16 2015 >>>

1. The Grand Cinema's Science on Screen series pairs screenings of classic, cult, and documentary films with lively lessons by notable figures from the world of science, technology and medicine. Each film is used as a jumping off point for the speaker to reveal current scientific research or technological advances, providing the perfect combination of entertainment and enlightenment - even for the most science-phobic culture vulture. At 6:45 p.m., Dr. Steven Fradkin, coastal ecologist at the Olympic National Park, will discuss the science behind our state's coast, followed by a screening of the adventure drama, Kon Tiki, the retelling of one man's journey to traverse the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft in 1947.  We fully expect Fradkin to warn against floating across the Pacific on a balsa wood raft.

2. Get out your dancing shoes and join in the whimsy of a country western shuffle dance, hosted by the Evergreen Country Dancers, at 6:30 p.m. in the Olympia Elks Lodge. What is a shuffle, you say? It's the country western version of polka - the primary difference being that the style of shuffle is less hoppy than the polka. The basic step consists of a triple to the left followed by a triple to the right.  The shuffle is sometimes called double two-step or traveling swing, for it also uses components of two-step and the popular East Coast swing. This makes shuffle a very versatile dance, allowing a mix and match of patterns, which can result in some exciting variations - and there's nothing wrong with that.

3. The Keith Henson Octet will play an extensive repertoire of jazz and American songbook standards with five-horn arrangements at 8 p.m. in Rhythm & Rye. Led by Henson and composed of jazz folks from around the South Sound, the group includes arrangements by Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers, Vaughn Wiester, Bill Holman, Sammy Nestico from composers including Shorty Rogers, Harry Warren, Mingus, Coltrane and many others.

4. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones will either be your novel opportunity to act as frontman, or be completely intimidating. Perpetually packed with people, Rockaraoke boasts a unique twist for karaoke in Tacoma: instead of a backing track, you get a three-piece band playing behind you. Check it out at 9 p.m.

5. Trizz, born Arthur "Tre" Lea III, is a self- released rapper from the Inland Empire, a region of Southern California, east of Los Angeles. He, along with Suspect, Curci, Mer5e and Mad Max are part of the Reefers And Liters Tour, which hits Tacoma's El Potrero at 9 p.m.

Cody McCartney stood ramrod straight at attention.

In front of him stood a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet from the University of Washington.

The inspector looked and sounded serious.

Very serious.

One of 21 Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from South Kitsap High School Wolf Battalion, McCartney, a senior, faced a barrage of questions as he stood for inspection.

"Who is the secretary of defense?" the inspector cadet asked McCartney.

"Sir, the honorable Secretary Ash Carter," came the automatic reply.

The inspector stared into McCartney's unmoving eyes.

"What is General Order Number 3," the inspector pressed as he moved an inch closer to McCartney.

"Sir, General Order Number 3 states that I am to report all violations of order I am instructed to enforce," McCartney calmly recited.

Satisfied with McCartney's answers, his uniform and the condition of his M1 Garand, the inspector turned on his heel and moved on to the next cadet.

The inspector began a whole new line of pointed questioning.

McCartney remained rock still.

>>> Cadets of the South Kitsap High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps enter the Inspection Deck during the Northwest Drill and Rifle Conference competition at Mt. Tahoma High School. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

This past Saturday, 31 high schools and more than 800 JROTC cadets from Western Washington and Northern Oregon gathered at Tacoma's Mount Tahoma High School for the annual Northwest Drill and Rifle Conference (NWDRC) competition.

Think of this competition as a tune-up for the final competition of the teams vying for the first three places.

"What you see here is a large civics class in action," explained Harold Vickers, Jr., senior petty officer, USN, (Ret.) and the South Kitsap team's Naval Science instructor.

"The JROTC program does not promote one service over the other; it exists to educate students in being good citizens, good Americans."

>>> A Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet from South Kitsap High School presents his M1 Garand Rifle for inspection. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

Vickers also said that over the past year the South Kitsap cadets have performed more than 2,000 hours of community service.

The teams competed in the areas of both armed and unarmed drill, color guard, physical fitness and air rifle marksmanship.

The top three teams will move on to the conference championships.

Mount Tahoma High School will also host that championship.

For more information about the JROTC programs in local high schools, contact that specific school.

Five-year-old Isabelle Poole sat quietly as a barber trimmed her hair.

"We're fixing her hair," her mother, Karen Poole, said.

"This past Thursday she tried cutting her own hair, so today's event came at a good time for us to stop by," she added with a thin smile.

I began to get the picture.

Standing nearby, husband and Sgt. 1st Class Greg Poole, 1st Special Forces Group, held the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Kayla.

"She also cut her sister's hair as well," the girls' mother continued. "So both girls are now getting their hair fixed."

Now I had the picture.

Servicemembers like the Pooles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Camp Murray, Naval Base Kitsap, reservists and retired military had accepted an invitation to attend a His & Her Party Sunday afternoon at the Marymount Car Museum.

Lining the walls of the Marymount gymnasium where the majority of the event was staged were vintage cars, gasoline signs and other automobile memorabilia.

The Ranger and Northwest Airlifter newspapers produced the event, sponsored by USAA.

As to Marymount, it is a propitious venue.

Marymount Military Academy opened in 1923 under the guidance of the Sisters of St. Dominic with 30 boys in attendance, though the number fluctuated over the years to as many as 120 students.

With the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the sisters ended their operation of the military school.

By the 1980s, maintenance problems led the sisters to sell Marymount. It is at this point that Harold and Nancy LeMay purchased the buildings and ground.

Today, Marymount is the home of the LeMay Family Collection Foundation. 

The event's activities included a Man Cave, antique cars, hair services, teeth whitening, hand treatments, door prizes, giveaways, game shows with prizes and acupuncture.

"It's really nice to be here to show our support of the military," said Ann Goode, co-owner of Sportclips. "And this is a wonderful place to hold the party."

There's a knee-jerky, punchline quality to the news that an artist will perform at a casino, a category of venue that falls one notch above the state fair in the public consciousness. Either way, that condescension's unfair. Consider, for example, the case of Emerald Queen Hotel & Casinos. Over the past few months, that Tacoma institution has hosted one killer act after another. Cheech and Chong played there in November, as did Alice Cooper. EQ's New Year's Eve headlining act was Three Dog Night. Then came Cedric the Entertainer and Willie Nelson in January, Air Supply and Brian McKnight last month, and Smokey Robinson two weeks ago. Granted, some of these performers have been around the block more times than the Good Humor man; still, their reputations are justly deserved. And if you think hot new artists never play casinos, listen up. The next few paragraphs will come as a shock.

Fargo, North Dakota native Jonny Lang has had five albums in the Billboard top 50. He recorded his first blues guitar album, Smokin', at the tender age of 14. Two years later came Lie to Me, an album that went multi-platinum and earned raves from major critics. After a Grammy nomination for Wander the World in 1998, he won the award for Turn Around. He's toured with Aerosmith, Blues Traveler, B.B. King, the Stones, and other iconic artists. Lang's most honest testimonial came from fellow singer and guitarist Jimmy Thackery, who admitted, "He plays so good I want to break his fingers." Yowza.

Then, only one night later, Amy Schumer will be in the motherlovin' house. If I need to tell you who Amy Schumer is, you must not own a TV. Her Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer was nominated for an Emmy. Both Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone praised it as one of last year's best series, especially a firecracker of a sketch about a Call of Duty-type video game. Schumer wields one of the 21st century's most distinctive, vital, quotable comic voices, and it's won her gigs from Cosmo to Fox News to a slot in the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot. That's right, Amy Schumer will soon be given her very own proton pack. For a comedian in her 30s, that's like being named one of the apostles.

Kudos to you, Emerald Queen. Keep ‘em coming! And if, let's say, a certain Volcano blogger and promo writer were to crack an obvious joke or two about your upcoming featured acts Keith Sweat and (OMG!) Whitesnake, I hope you'll understand it was all in good fun.

JONNY LANG, 8:30 p.m. Friday, March 20, Emerald Queen I-5 Showroom, 2024 E. 29th St., Tacoma, $35-$85, 360.753.8586

AMY SCHUMER, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21, Emerald Queen I-5 Showroom, 2024 E. 29th St., Tacoma, $50-$120, 360.753.8586