Pouring one out for Xenu in his electronic mountain trap, this is Nerd Alert, the Weekly Volcano's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete, and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak.

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

Sadly, Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood), Morena Baccarin (V, Homeland) and Jenna Coleman (the lovely and charming Clara Oswald) had to bow out of appearances at this weekend's Emerald City Comicon. The event recovered, however, by adding Jewel Staite and Gina Torres of Firefly. Also in attendance: Hayley Atwell (aka Agent Carter), Kurt Busiek (Astro City and Marvels), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, Lucy Knisley (Displacement and Relish), STAN LEE, Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), Bruce Timm (DC's animated series), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) and dozens of other folks you'll recognize or should. The second level of the Washington State Convention Center will be devoted to gaming tournaments, including a dozen demos. Genre authors Kevin J. Anderson, Greg Bear and Michael A. Stackpole offer informed advice to new writers. A kids' area includes a costume parade, a workshop devoted to clay animation, and a visit from Emperor Palpatine's feared 501st Legion. For superhero, sci-fi and fantasy geeks all over western Washington, this weekend-long festival is annual home base.

EMERALD CITY COMICON, Friday through Sunday, Washington State Convention Center, 800 Convention Place, Seattle, $10-$295, 888.372.3976

The shamelessly sentimental comedy I'm directing for Olympia Little Theatre, Charles Morey's Laughing Stock, is about a summer of rep plays at a star-crossed theater in a refurbished barn in New England. The year is 1993, as "The Playhouse" struggles through rehearsals and performances of Dracula and Hamlet, with Murphy's Law in full effect and love and chemical fog in the air. Here is my promise to you, the consumer: if you laugh harder at any other play this year, I will personally buy you a Coke.

LAUGHING STOCK, 7:55 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 1:55 p.m. Sunday, through April 19, Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave. NE, Olympia, $8-$14, 800.838.3006

An unsettling drama from Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty) reunites a pair of estranged brothers two decades after devastating childhood events In a Dark, Dark House. It's not a musical. It sure ain't a comedy. It is, however, perfect for the dark, dark Midnight Sun Performance Space, and for avant-garde Theater Artists Olympia. Christopher Rocco directs. There will be trigger scenes.

IN A DARK, DARK HOUSE, 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, through April 11, 2:30 p.m. April 12, Midnight Sun Performance Space, 113 Columbia St. NW, Olympia, $15, 360.259.2743

SATURDAY, MARCH 28

The self-described "legendary sexpots" of Olympia's Rock Candy Burlesque celebrate their third anniversary with host Tyler Lockwood, special guests Bananas Foster and Mae Zing, and cake, if you know what I mean. (I mean cake. I like cake. Count me in.)

ROCK CANDY BURLESQUE: A TIME FOR CAKE-PAST, FUTURE AND PRESENTS!, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Rhythm & Rye, 311 Capitol Way N., Olympia, $10-$13, 360.705.0760

SUNDAY, MARCH 29

HBO and documentarian Alex Gibney take on the Church of Scientology in Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, based on Lawrence Wright's jaw-dropper of a book and debuting tonight at 8. Our lawyers inform us Scientologists are a fine organization of people who haven't been duped by a schlocky extended space opera con of a pseudo-religion. Also, our fondness for that noble body should in no way be attributed to its propensity for devastating lawsuits.

TUESDAY, APRIL 1

Christopher Nolan's mind-expanding masterpiece Interstellar, which gives 2001: A Space Odyssey a run for its monolith as best hard-SF epic of all time, arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD. April Fools! Oh, Interstellar does hit video today, but its screenplay is light-years from being as clever as it thinks (and, frankly, declares) it is. That third act in the LSD library is rather a mess. I did like the cameo and robot.

Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may you attain the full glory of the state of Clear.

TUESDAY, MARCH 24 2015 >>>

1. Oakland trio Religious Girls is gospel music for noise. Praising everything both beautiful and abrasive, Religious Girls are fascinated with taking clattering and chanting and making it a main character. Eardrums are pummeled, pupils are dilated, and minds are expanded to the place where they can receive that glut of input being ejected from Religious Girls. Above all else, the drums become the frontman for Religious Girls, shoving and cajoling the music into places it wouldn't otherwise have gone. Catch the band with Saul Conrad, Joseph Hein and the Breakfast Cowboy at 8 p.m. in Deadbeat Olympia record store.

2. Tim Burton's film Big Eyes reunites him with the writers of Ed Wood, his best-ever film. It stars the red-hot Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. It will screen at 2 and 6:40 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

3. Broken Spoke on Hilltop Tacoma hosts a Brewer's Night honoring breweries 21st Amendment, Hopworks, Hop Valley and Oskar Blues Brewery. Expect the release of two new beer cans, swag giveaways, taco truck and a lot of talk about bicycles, from 7-10 p.m.

4. There's a sport for everyone. Whether it's video football or dangling from great heights by little ropes, you have enjoyed at some point the principles of fair play, hard work, achievement, etc. Well, so did many folks in 1936. History professor Chad Moody wants to tell you all about the intersection of sport, spectacle and fascist ideology ... for free at 6:30 p.m. in the Gig Harbor Library. You game? Well, run like hell (you are an athlete, after all) to the Gig Harbor Library tonight. Learn about Jesse Owens, German athletes and Hitler during the 1936 Olympics. Bring friends and make the lecture some sort of sport. There's a sport for everyone.

5. With a voice that is influenced by old soul-singers such as Otis Redding, but also spiced with some folk sensibilities, Kurt Lindsay knows how to evoke emotion and have full control of every song he explores. Lindsay's voice, like Jeff Buckley's, is simultaneously full of bravado and wounded timidity. It quivers with feeling, though it might be noted that Lindsay's voice often comes across as more lost, searching, which adds a nice element to what is largely music that errs toward modern rock, with some detours to friendly mixers like R&B and folk. Catch him at 7:30 pm. in Smoke + Cedar.

Let the Right One In

Because Hollywood just can't fucking leave well enough alone, we are now being faced with yet another adaptation of the Swedish masterpiece, Let the Right One In. We've already been given an English-language version that hewed so close to the original that it gets a pass, for lack of ruining greatness. Now, I fear, we've flown too close to the sun, because the showrunner behind the Teen Wolf TV series is helming an American version of the new classic in television form.

For those unfamiliar (and, by the way, get familiar already), Let the Right One In is a tender, spooky, violent, unexpectedly moving take on the vampire story. Centered on the friendship between a socially awkward little boy and a girl (who happens to be an eternal bloodsucker) that lives in his apartment complex, the film is an absolute triumph and a signal that there's more to tell about vampires than that they're sexy and glitter in the sun. Based on what I know of the Teen Wolf TV show (which features lacrosse, instead of basketball, barf), there will be a higher rate of chiseled abs in this incarnation of Let the Right One In than I would prefer.

How long can you tell a story that was perfectly laid out in under two hours? A thousand years, if you monsters watch this abomination.

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel

The success of Welcome to Night Vale was unlikely, but not unwarranted. Bite-sized bits of podcast that revolved around a velvet-voiced radio host named Cecil giving updates to the citizens of the dire, bizarre, Lovecraftian town known as Night Vale doesn't exactly scream mainstream appeal, but the fans have been vocal and fervent. Over time, the half-horror-half-comedy world of Welcome to Night Vale has expanded its considerable mythology into something that would be better off contained in a book, if only such a thing were to exist.

But, wait! What luck! A novel is approaching, and it goes by the handy title of Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel. Centering on the travails of pawnshop owner Jackie Fierro and treasurer Diane Crayton, the book will offer a more narrow view of the expansive madness that is Night Vale. Even though the book won't be out until October, it has already become the No. 5 most ordered book on Amazon. Clearly, the thirst for The X-Files and The Twilight Zone is strong, in America. Just don't look at that light on the edge of town. You know why.

What We Do in the Shadows

If, like me, you're INFURIATED about the Let the Right One In TV adaptation, why not indulge yourself in an actually quite good vampire movie? Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, of HBO's Flight of the Conchords, star in What We Do in the Shadows, the story of four vampires living in a house together. And what happens when four bloodsuckers stop being polite and start getting real?

Clement has proven himself to not only be a facile and hilarious comedian, but also a competent actor. If there's anything left to be injected into the genre of the vampire movie, some humor can only help. If I see another immortal monster brooding, I will take a flamethrower to Hollywood.

TUESDAY, MARCH 17 2015 >>>

1. After nearly a week of celebration at Doyle's Public House, your liver is more than ready for St. Patrick's Day. After hosting the Nolan Garret Band, Fields Under Clover, Ethan Tucker, Staxx Brothers and Positive Rising all day Saturday in the ginormous outdoor tent, today's official 3 p.m. to close St. Paddy's throwdown with Dixie Highway, Ockham's Razor and The Rusty Cleavers at Doyle's should cap off your week of greenness with an authentic Irish bang - which (spoiler alert!) usually includes a blackout.

2. For a few edible St. Patrick's Day recommendations in Pierce County while getting good and snockered, click here.

3. We're hardworking, tax-paying citizens (most of us any way), and we deserve the right to wear our finest green attire and down a pint every bit as much as anyone who's authentically Irish. Click here for a few spots to grab a beer on St. Patrick's Day.

4. Classes crash in Paolo Virzi's lashing satiric drama Human Capital, along with bikes and SUVs and the fortunes and dreams of the haves and the wanna-have-mores. Virzi's stylish, sometimes funny tale screens at 1:40 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

5. The famous Irish Drinking Day falls on Tuesday this year so Rock The Dock Pub & Grill's official Irishman Dustin Lafferty will be doing a jig and drinking green beer while he hosts his weekly open mic. Tonight's 7 p.m. Irish version will include tons of drink specials. Lafferty will write you a doctor's note for tomorrow.

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.

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.

Wishing Harrison "fly yes, land no" Ford a speedy recovery, this is Nerd Alert, the Weekly Volcano's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete, and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak.

I'd be remiss if I didn't begin this installment with a tribute to the late, lamented Leonard Nimoy. (Cue the Vulcan salute and "Amazing Grace" bagpipes.) Mr. Nimoy was a hell of a lot more than half-human, but of course I have to start with his most beloved character. Spock represented, not the alien, but the alienated. He stood for all of us who got picked on for being smart and socially awkward - pretty much all of SF fandom. I was addicted to Fringe, on which he played a recurring role, and the docu-series he hosted on Nickelodeon, Standby: Lights, Camera, Action! I loved his stage Sherlock. He was probably the first actor I knew by name. In short, I've been a Leonard Nimoy fan for 40 years. We all have. He lives in us now. Nimoy has been, and always shall be, our friend.

Our nation has contributed hundreds of characters to the planetary mythos over the years, a fact about which we should be patriotically proud. Yet many of those characters are defined by their ability to kill. Others are famous for quests purely vengeful or materialistic. Spock's goal is different: he wants to understand as much as possible of the universe. He seeks to find kinship with those least like himself. His favorite word, "fascinating," attaches value to the "merely" interesting. His catchphrase, "Live long and prosper," is both secular and applicable to all. That character lives on, of course, in Zachary Quinto's respectful performances, and his spirit owes to the labors of multitudes. Yet I think it's important to remember why Spock and Leonard Nimoy were synonymous in so many people's minds: they stood for the same unimpeachable goals. I hope future guardians of Star Trek and its ideas will remember that.

FRIDAY, MARCH 13

Who's got big balls? Disney princess geeks, that's who! So don your blue ribbon, transmogrify Bruno, Gus, Jaq and Luke, and saddle up, fellow Mouseketeers! Kenneth Branagh, acclaimed director of Thor, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and umpteen Shakespeare adaptations, has lavished his talents on a live-action retelling of Cinderella. It stars Lily James (Downton Abbey's Lady Rose) as Ella, Cate Blanchett as her snotty stepmum and Helena Bonham Carter as the world's greatest personal stylist. As I write this, RottenTomatoes.com rates the flick a bippity-boppity-beautiful 94 percent. Ah, Cinderella: disparaging stepparents in favor of the patriarchal monarchy since 1634.

SATURDAY, MARCH 14

Feel like getting your act on? Olympia's Shakespeare-in-the-Park company Animal Fire Theatre is auditioning for King John at 11 a.m. in the Midnight Sun (113 N. Columbia). Think Game of Thrones minus zombies and whores, but with bloodthirsty mosquitos the size of direwolves. At 7 the next evening, Lakewood Playhouse would love to see actors and singers for Drood, a musical adaptation of Dickens's unfinished novel. The Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret, which features both prostitutes and Nazis, holds auditions at Tacoma Little Theatre on March 22. It's springtime for Hitler!

Two promising stage productions open this weekend: Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at Evergreen State College, and Steve Martin's thinky Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Tacoma Little Theatre. I've peeked through the windows of the real Lapin Agile on Montmartre. It's the size of a Starbucks. Who knew?

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17

After getting unceremoniously expelled from NBC's prime-time campus, season six of Community moves to something called Yahoo! Screen, where it probably streams between levels of Candy Crush. In a related story, Generalissimo Francisco Franco and Chevy Chase are still dead to us.

Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may you live long and prosper.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5 2015 >>>

1. Portland's There Is No Mountain is a husband-and-wife duo that seems to set itself up to be just another cutesy, folk-pop duo before sharply and forcefully shifting gears into restlessly experimental trajectory. Kali Giaritta and Matt Harmon bring effortlessly lovely harmonies to the table. Musically, though, their adventurousness is evident. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on There Is No Mountain in the Music & Culture section, then catch the band with Mike Blackburn at 10 p.m.in Le Voyeur.

2. The issue of police misconduct and brutality is certainly not a new one, but the level of activity, allegations and attention have ramped up recently with incidents such as the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the outrageously surreal footage of the shooting death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes by Pasco Police last month. Arresting Power, a new documentary charting nearly 50 years of police brutality in Portland reaches back to the late '60s to examine numerous police killings as well as robust community resistance. The film screens at 6 p.m. in the Capitol Theater.

3. Led by Dr. Anne Lyman, the TCC Voices and TCC Singers perform with Bong Lang Ruamjai, an ensemble from the Thai Buddhist temple Wat Washington Buddhavanaram, at 7:30 p.m. in the Tacoma Community College Bldg. 2 Auditorium. The concert features folk music from the northeast of Thailand, as well as Thai pop and Northern melodies.

4. An extended act of hero worship masquerading as a laugh riot, Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor is filled with one-liners, peopled entirely by folks who either write or want to write jokes, and fairly accurately reflects the three years when many of the gods of 20th century comedy - including Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart - regularly assembled in one room to help make Sid Caesar the funniest man on television. Harlequin Productions will stage the comedy at 8 p.m.

5. Andra Taylor is an indie acoustic singer/songwriter from Philadelphia. Her musical style blends rhythmic guitar work and soulful vocals with thoughtful and provocative lyrics. In 2012 she teamed up with fellow songwriter, Nate Dodge, sold her apartment and set out on tour. Taylor and Dodge form a fiery and energetic duo, merging her indie/Americana with his progressive/alternative and collaborating on each other's tunes. Catch their eclectic, fiery, energetic and versatile show at 9 p.m. in The Swiss.

It's been eight years since the last Modest Mouse album has hit stores, after the disappointing We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. But, over the past few weeks, singles from their forthcoming Strangers to Ourselves have been appearing online. While the songs I've heard have proven to be more of the same sanitized Modest Mouse we've come to except over the past decade, it's always nice to have some more Isaac Brock in our lives.

Perhaps it should come as no shock, then, that Brock - whose writing has frequently sparred with the vast mysteries of the universe - would find himself influenced by a night of unexplainable phenomena. As laid out in a recent interview on Studio 360, Brock recounts the flight he took to Phoenix in 1997 to master The Lonesome Crowded West. Apparently, the plane was grounded under mysterious circumstances, which he later realized were tied to the now-infamous Phoenix Lights, a notorious incident of UFO sightings. That night has now informed the latest single from Strangers, "The Best Room," about the hotel he was sequestered in while officials sorted out all the chaos.

While Modest Mouse might no longer be the mad genius underdog of the indie world, there's no doubt that Brock remains one of the more fascinating figures in American rock music. Now, if only he can turn that madness back toward the quality of his earlier work. ...

Choppie

Director Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) has been in the news quite a bit, recently, with announcements that he will be directing the next installment in the Alien franchise, and he admits maybe, sorta fucked up the landing with Elysium. All of this is coming in anticipation of his third studio feature, Chappie. So, how does it look?

Judging by the trailer, Chappie is refreshingly multi-cultural, featuring British, American, South African, and Australian actors - gasp! - using their actual accents. Centering around the world's first sentient robot, and the rest of the world's fight to destroy it, it feels like a hyper-violent take on WALL-E. Weirdest of all, though, is the presence of Ninja and Yolandi of rap provocateurs Die Antwoord.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

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. 1:15 and 6:25 p.m., Tuesday, March 10, The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, $5.50-$9, 253.593.4474

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 2015 >>>

1. Pacific Lutheran University presents the Eighth Annual Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education, a unique and perpetually relevant three-day event that provides educators, students and community members a way to use the lessons of the Holocaust to empower themselves and others to challenge prejudices, violence and other forms of dehumanization. The conference, held at PLU from March 4-6, focuses on the theme "Children's Voices: The Holocaust and Beyond." This year's conference opens with a 7 p.m. screening of the Emmy-nominated film 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, which chronicles the courageous and intricate work of an American couple committed to saving Jewish children on the eve of the Holocaust. A discussion with 50 Children director/producer/writer Steven Pressman follows at 8:15 p.m.

2. "Building the Future: Collections at Evergreen" closes today at The Evergreen State College. The show highlights not only works of art from Evergreen's art gallery collection but also collections from the Malcolm Stilson Archives and Special Collections, the Chicano/Latino Archive, the James F. Holly Rare Books Collection, the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center and Evergreen Pictures. Read Alec Clayton's full review of "Building The Future: Collections at Evergreen" in the Music & Culture section, then catch its final day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. The Swiss Restaurant and Pub hosts Tippin for Tigers tonight. For each beverage you imbibe between 5 and 9 p.m. 50 cents will be donated to the Tiger Conservation Campaign. There's no easier way to get a case of the warm and fuzzies than to have some beers in support of some majestic furry friends.

4. For two decades Boundary Bay Brewing Co. has operated out of a historic 1922 warehouse on Railroad Avenue in Downtown Bellingham. A couple of weeks ago the brewery accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sustainable Connections in Bellingham. They think local first, take care of their employees and live the principled life. That's not to say the brewery won't be thinking about the South Sound March 4 when it pours a bunch of their beers from 6-9 p.m. at the Puyallup River Alehouse. Boundary Bay representative Bryan Bendix will also have some sweet Boundary swag.

5. Author Trevis Gleason will give a free book talk and signing at 7 p.m. in the Wheelock Library. His book, Chef Interrupted: Discovering Life's Second Course in Ireland with Multiple Sclerosis, is not a book about diagnosis or coming to grips with a "new normal" of living with multiple sclerosis. It is a celebration of life and the indomitability of the human spirit, illustrating those lifelong dreams can still be realized with a bit of gritty determination, some serious planning, a positive attitude and the ability to laugh at yourself.