TUESDAY, JULY 2 2013 >>>

1. Meet two Muscle Beach boys from the neon 1980s who fall in love with some circus aerialists and end up join the immortal, 200-year-old traveling troupe, which is part of Portland's Wanderlust Circus. Wanderlust is different from a traditional circus. It's more of a theatrical show, with a storyline titled "The Endless Road" (see: muscle boys in the '80s) that feels a little Steampunk-ish Vaudevillian. Oh stop, there's ton of action, including Risley juggling in which people are juggled instead of objects like barrels. Be sure to arrive on time to see opening act Poki and Ember of Button Wagon who team up with artists from Lookout Arts Quarry in Bellingham to create a surreal circus world of floods and fairytales. The show will go on at 7 p.m. in the Capitol Theater.

2. Lakewood's own Kari Ehli was somewhat of a child protégé and began recording in her early teens. While she lists her influences as rockers Heart and Pat Benatar, her sound is closer to Shania Twain or LeAnn Rimes. With shades of rock, blues and country, Ehli reflects the new face of Nashville with the face of an angel. She uses her powerful pipes to belt out self-penned originals with a sincerity that is genuine. Catch her and her band from 1:30-4:30 p.m. at the Lakewood Farmers Market.

3. The Zen of Bennett, a documentary playing exclusively at The Grand Cinema about Tony Bennett as he approached his 85th birthday in 2011, is like the singer himself -  smooth and classy. Created by Bennett's son Danny, the film centers on the recording of the 2011 album Duets II, which had the singer collaborating in-studio with artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Willie Nelson. The vocal performances are extraordinary, but the film finds its purpose in Bennett's low-key musings on the value of beauty and authenticity in art. It screens at 2 and 6:30 p.m.

4. Randy Linder's Trilogy Of Rock: A Tribute To Bob Seger, Mick Jagger and Tom Petty hits Red Wind Casino at 8 p.m.

5. The Raven and the Writing Desk are about confounding expectations. A six-piece outfit from Denver, the Raven and the Writing Desk's music initially conjures up connections to bands like DeVotchKa (another literary allusion) and Beirut - these purveyors of gypsy-and-otherwise-worldly musical strains. It's notable that the heart of the Raven and the Writing Desk is located in their piano, violin, and percussion. These instruments can travel anywhere, but fit quite nicely into the sort of theatrical flourish that accompanies gypsy music. Catch the band at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur. Read Adam McKinney's full feature on the Raven and the Writing Deck in Northwest Military's Music & Culture section.

LINK: Tuesday, July 2 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

By now you know the Tacoma City Ballet is in the midst of a yearlong scavenger hunt for Golden Krakatuk Nuts. The nuts tie into the company's highly anticipated Dec. 7, 2013 performance, Prequel to The Nutcracker.

Here's a refresher: TCB hides hand-painted Golden Krakatuk Nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to Tacoma City Ballet's World Premier of said Nutcracker in December. Each month through the year, Golden Krakatuk Nuts will be hidden at businesses throughout Tacoma. To find the nuts, decipher the poetic clues, which will be posted at Tacoma City Ballet's website, Facebook page, as well as this blog. You find the Golden Krakatuk Nuts and great riches will be heaped upon you! For complete on the contest and Nutcracker performance, click here.

The July Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

Read more...

MONDAY, JULY 1 2013 >>>

1. Deep Space Showcase is a collaboration of five female puppeteers, burlesque dancers, sideshow freaks and clowns hailing from points across the United States. The weird circus combines the puppetry prowess of the Many Furs Puppet Troupe with the tranimalistic shenangians of the Bonobohobo's Panspermic Circus, adds a dash of live music and a handful of aliens and blasts the whole shebang across Northern in downtown Olympia. Check out the evening of evocative entertainment for earthlings and extraterrestrials alike at 7 p.m.

2. Standup comedy hasn't evolved much since the glory days of ventriloquist and puppet. Every so often, there's a Gallagher smashing watermelons or a musical funnyman like Jack Black, but for the most part, comedy is a dude on a stage with a microphone, plodding through a joke-punchline-new-joke routine. You're funny. You need to change the course of comedy forever. At 8 p.m. the Grit City Comedy Club opens its stage to the public for a comedy open mic.

3. Jazz and blues band Maia Santell & House Blend will perform at 8 p.m. inside The Swiss.

4. Wyoming punk rocks Ackrite and Nebraska ska punkers Bombs Blast plays a 9 p.m. show at Le Voyeur in downtown Olympia.

5. Every Monday at 9 p.m. Jazzbones presents Rockaraoke - live band karaoke. Expect $2 PBR drafts, $3 Sinfire shots, $4 Smirnoff flavor vodka bombs.

LINK: Monday, July 1 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, JUNE 30 2013 >>>

1. Man, we don't ever get tired of slide guitar. Ex-Sheryl Crow guitar slinger Todd Wolfe plays classic rock with jam-band elements thrown in and a wicked blues slant. He and bandmates bassist Justine Gardner and drummer Roger Voss conjure up tones that are swampy, greasy and menacing. Wolfe's blues is the kind of sexy, slithering strain you'd expect to hear coming through a broke-down Delta joint's screen door. Great music for dancing slow, for dancing close. Catch the band at 7 p.m. in The Spar in Old Town Tacoma.

2. There is no such thing as a typical bicyclist, but there are certainly bicycle types.  You have your die-hard cyclists, who pour their sinewy bodies into neoprene suits, ride their bikes every day and regard automobiles with derision.  You also have your weekend riders, who aren't necessarily competitive like the die-hards, but might spend big bucks for a brightly colored off-road bike.  And then you have the newbies, the amateurs and the lazies - who may ride occasionally, rarely, or not al all since their parents sold their banana seat Huffys at neighborhood yard sales 20 years ago.  But if there' one issue that bicyclists around Pierce County can agree on, it's that the Tour de Pierce bike ride is flat out fun. And if flat is your speed, skip the 30- and 50-mile routes and enjoy the flat, easy 12-miler. The ride begins between 7:30-11:30 a.m. at the Gold parking lot of the Washington State Fair in Puyallup and winds through Puyallup, Sumner and adjacent farmlands.

3. A stalwart in the Tacoma community - as a musician, bartender and all-around good guy, Brian Redman was killed when he crashed his scooter in September 2009. In remembrance and to raise money for young musicians, the Brian Redman memorial Poker Tournament and Concert will be held Sunday, June 30 at Jazzbones. The poker tournament begins at 11 a.m. for a $50 donation. Music starts at 6 p.m. for a $5 donation. Raymond Hayden and The Monsters in the Dark, Champagne Sunday and Mahnhammer are on the bill. Raffle tickets will be on hand in $5 and $20 increments, with incentive for multiple purchases. Read Nikki McCoy's full feature on the Brian Redman Memorial Poker Tournament and Concert on our Walkie Talkie blog.

4. The final evening of the Olympia Experimental Music Festival will include a performance from Olympia native Derek M. Johnson. The cello-wielding and award-winning experimental musician will surely pack a number of tricks up his sleeve. His performance will allegedly feature music created with Kodak slide projectors, filtered through the extensive array of pedals he will have at his disposal. His "ektagraphtastic" set will undoubtedly be something to write home about. For a list of band performing tonight, click here.

5. We suppose it's fitting that the Mormon Trannys will be gracing Olympia with their presence on a Sunday. We also suppose there's no way for me to really know if they're actually scorned former members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, like they claim, but what is utterly apparent is that these guys are packed almost to the breaking point with the kind of sneering satire and politically incorrect social commentary that marked bands like the Frogs and other punk weirdos. The over-the-top show begins at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

LINK: Sunday, June 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, JUNE 29 2013 >>>

1. An almost too obvious entry point for the kind of satirical Americana of Shotgun Kitchen would be their spiritual forefather, John Prine. Just as Prine had a tendency to almost undermine salient points in his songs by making stoned-out, hallucinatory jokes about chasing rainbows down the street and nonchalantly tossing off non sequiturs about having a sister who's a nun, Shotgun Kitchen's perfectly legitimate satire is given a winking treatment that lets the medicine go down nice and easy.Catch them tonight at 9 p.m. at The New Frontier Lounge.

2. Be irresponsible. Take a day off from smartphones and the Internet, video games and televisions, Go fly a kite at the annual Kite Festival at Chambers Bay from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Besides people craning their necks upward the free, fun-filled day will feature kite vendors, food, face-painting and a free concert with the saxophone quartet from the Tacoma Concert Band. The first 250 kids can make their own kite, compliments of Pierce County KiteFliers Association.

3. In its 19th year, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival features bands from near and far who favor experimentalism, texture, ambience, improvisation and psychedelia over straight-up rock 'n' roll.  The three-day ordeal will take over all-ages venue Northern in Olympia June 28-30. The festival will feature 18 different acts - many from Olympia, and the rest mostly spanning from Seattle to Portland. Today brings Denver band Thinking Plague to Olympia. Founded in 1982, the Colorado-based band's unpredictable melodies and instrumentation will be right at home the South Sound. For the other bands performing today, click here.

4. As the most successful girl band, The Supremes further extended their longevity with their renaming to "Diana Ross & The Supremes." If only future girl bands had learned the lesson, we might still be graced by the melodious tunes of "Jordan Knight & The New Kids On The Block." But we disgress. At 8 p.m. Centerstage Theatre pays tribute to the iconic American girl-group featuring Seattle-based entertainers Nique Haggerty, LaNita Hudson and Amy van Mechcelen, backed by the six-piece Purple Phoenix Band. The concert will be staged in the 1960s style of the Las Vegas/Atlantic City showrooms in their heyday.

5. Professional storytelller Elizabeth Lord's original The Swimsuit Area stage play "explores reproduction in today's modern age.  What it means to be a parent, and more importantly what it means to choose not to be a parent." In an encore performance, Lord will explore the hard issues such as deciding not to have a child - and what someone does about that - and the finality of hysterectomy surgery which results in never being able to conceive a child - all with her trademark humor lined glow. The show starts at 8 p.m. inside The Midnight Sun Performance Space.

LINK: Saturday, June 29 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, JUNE 28 2013 >>>

1. A first listen to Jack Endino's "Set Myself on Fire," the title track of his band Endino's Earthworm's upcoming full-length release, and we're sold. Deep vocals, edgy lyrics, and a crushing ride of instrumentals leaves us pleased. Endino may have produced Nirvana and Mudhoney, but all that matters is that his band is going to tear up The New Frontier, with Mosquito Hawk and Electric Falcons at 9 p.m.

2. The Taste of Tacoma runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Point Defiance Park. Expect healthier options, the inclusion of mobile food truck vendors, and most notably The Taste Cooks!, a cooking stage featuring Tacoma chefs and culinary experts.

3. Carol Gore, whose family has owned the the Goldfish Tavern since the 1950s, is trying to reopen it. The family hosts their annual beer garden party during the Taste of Tacoma, which will be held across the street at Point Defiance Park. The hope is the outdoor beer garden will raise enough repair money for a new floor.

4. North Shore Golf Course (4101 North Shore Blvd., Tacoma) is hosting a Whiskey and Scotch Tasting 6-8 p.m. Friday, June 28 from. This isn't simply a tasting but a party with live music to entertain and a full buffet for diners to pair with their samples of whiskeys and scotch for only $20.

5. You're likely to hear lots of noise coming out of Olympia this weekend. While that might not be news to some, the strange sounds emanating from the city will be calculatedly noisy. In its 19th year, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival features bands from near and far who favor experimentalism, texture, ambience, improvisation and psychedelia over straight-up rock 'n' roll.  The three-day ordeal will take over all-ages venue Northern in Olympia June 28-30. The festival will feature 18 different acts - many from Olympia, and the rest mostly spanning from Seattle to Portland. Music begins at 6 p.m.

LINK: Friday, June 28 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, JUNE 27 2013 >>>

1. Do you find science less than thrilling? Maybe all those memories of sitting in biology class while your teacher prattled on about the phylum classification of the thorny-headed worm has put you off forever. But what if you could listen to an exciting presentation about researching and planning for dangerous viral outbreaks, followed by the screening of a cult classic ABOUT a dangerous worldwide viral outbreak and its consequences? How could you say no to that? At 6:45 p.m. The Grand Cinema and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department present "Science on Screen." Emerging Diseases expert Dr. James Bales, and disease outbreak control public health leader Nigel Turner (try fitting that on to a business card!) will give just such a presentation. This will immediately be followed by the 1995 film 12 Monkeys. The next lecture and film in this series will undoubtedly be about an attack of giant thorny-headed worms. 

2. At 7 p.m., three local writers will take to the hallowed spaces of King's Books for a reading - an evening of good old fashioned storytelling in Tacoma's most awesome of bookstores. The three writers: Titus Burley, Melissa Thayer and Joshua Swainston seek to entertain you with their clever words, their wit, their art.

3. The four-day America's Classic Jazz Festival in Lacey kicks off today with an upbeat mix of ragtime, jazz, swing and blues on the menu. Saint Martin's University will transform into Dixieland during the festivities presented by the Greater Olympia Dixieland Jazz Society. The "Kick Off Party" from 7-10:30 p.m. features bands West End, High Sierra/Brady McKay and Wally's Warehouse Waifs. For a complete festival schedule, check out olyjazz.com baby.

4. The Barleywine Revue will fill The Swiss with bluegrass beginning at 8 p.m.

5. Punk bands Kramer, the Mormon Trannys, Enemy Combatants and Raptor Tractor play a free 8 p.m. show at O'Malley's Irish Pub in Tacoma.

LINK: Thursday, June 27 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

"Grief does not change you ... It reveals you." - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars  

If the truth in this statement is as real as it feels, then Jim Redman and family always had it in them to do better in this world. To take something as meaningful to them as music was to Brian Redman and pay it forward so that others could experience the same joy.

A stalwart in the Tacoma community - as a musician, bartender and all-around good guy, Brian Redman was killed when he crashed his scooter in September 2009.

In the years following his brother's death, Jim Redman and a circle of family and friends have thrown a benefit concert and poker tournament to help raise awareness of Brian's legend and to raise money for a scholarship program for young musicians.

"Tacoma was Brian's home and he loved playing for a local crowd," said Jim. "He played for his community and that's what we want to continue."

Since starting the memorial fund, which is under the umbrella of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, the family has been able to award one kid per year $1,000 each to continue pursuing their passion of music and community service.

But Jim wants more.

Read more...

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26 2013 >>>

1. On Happy Noose's forthcoming releases, the Amagosa and Haunted EPs, find the Olympia band embracing the darker, more romantic side of their sound, even as their hooks become bigger, catchier and more anthemic. Where their earlier output was spunky in that youthful punk sort of way, Amagosa signals the natural maturation of a still relatively new band circling and landing on its voice. Catch them with Romantic Feelings and Handwritings at 10 p.m. inside Le Voyeur. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Happy Noose in Northwest Military's Music & Culture section.

2. Australian artist Jessica Loughlin will be in the Hot Shop at the Museum of Glass today through Sunday, July 7 as part of the Visiting Artists Summer Series. Loughlin takes her artistic cues from the landscape, creating an illusory sense of depth in her quiet horizons of glass powders and cast layers. Loughlin received the Tom Malone Prize from the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2004 and 2007 and was the 2001 winner of the Outstanding New Artist in Glass award from UrbanGlass. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark, the National Gallery of Australia and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

3. The first-ever Fife Farmers Market opens today, and will run every Wednesday until Aug. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Every week the market will sprout up at Fife City Hall and the adjoining Centennial Park at the corner of 54th and 23rd Streets. The Fife Farmers Market will initially host about 20 vendors selling local farm-fresh produce, prepared and processed foods, handcrafted items, and lunch-ready foods. Their stalls will line Centennial Park and a portion of Fife City Hall's parking lot.

4. Lyonpride Music is holding auditions for the music stage at Seattle Hempfest 2013. Bands will be rockin' Jazzbones beginning at 7 p.m., including Death By Stars.

5. The small town of Moore, Oklahoma was hit with a devastating storm. More than 40 comedy clubs across the country will hosts benefit shows today with 100 percent of the ticket money going directly to the victims. The Tacoma Comedy Club is in, with comedians Duane Goad, Rodney Sherwood, Tyrone Hawkins, Andrew Rivers and Adam Norwest in the house at 8 p.m.

LINK: Wednesday, June 26 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Humans are fickle, always wanting what we can't have. Now, at Babblin' Babs Bistro in the Proctor District of Tacoma, you can get breakfast and lunch all day long with their new "Best of Breakfast and Lunch" menu, launched June 19.

"The response has been good," said Chef William Mueller. "During the week, people wanted breakfast later, since it's not offered many places. And then on weekends, people were looking for a bite, like soup and sandwiches."

Now you can get biscuits and gravy at noon or a New Orleans crab burger at 8:30 a.m. Choice is a beautiful thing.

The menu might be simplified, but the flavors are as complex as ever. Chef Mueller's creations are one-of-a-kind, making Babblin' Babs a unique culinary destination, and easily one of the best breakfasts in town. The new menu took 50-plus items down to 20, with a newly added farmer's vegetable soup and side salad. There's also a specials menu that changes weekly, featuring some of the favorites that are no longer on the daily menu.

On a recent visit, I found the new menu easier to navigate, but still with plenty of options. The Bistro Steak and Egger ($22), a top sirloin on a bed of spinach and pancetta, topped with a custard egg and served with sweet potato hash, was perfection. The Black Lentil Mushroom Breakfast Burger ($15), topped with a custard egg and served with home fries, was an artful combination of both breakfast and lunch in one dish. The baked-to order cheese and blackberry Danish ($4) melts on your tongue with a buttery flakiness.

They also have new summer hours, and are open Wednesday-Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

BABBLIN' BABS BISTRO, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, 2724 N. Proctor, Tacoma, 253.761.9099