SATURDAY, JAN. 25 2014 >>>

1. In the early ‘80s, Donald Glaude filled Lakes High School house parties with Funkadelic, Commodores and underground hip-hop. While the dudes played REAL quarters the women flocked around Glaude. His musical knowledge, good looks and outgoing personality made him king of Lakes High School. From there, he emerged himself in the Seattle house and rave music scene before becoming one of the most traveled international DJs of our time. Always a smile, and women on both side of his decks, Glaude still commands the worldwide house music scene, in front of the turntables and behind the studio mixing board. Glaude returns home for a night at Jazzbones, with Skeemer and Mr. Clean opening, and the Northwest DJ roster before him. Respect.

2. The Proctor Art Gallery celebrates its fifth anniversary from 1-5 p.m. Drop by and chat with the artists, take advantage of sales, enjoy refreshments, entertainment and door prizes. 

3. In its 12th year and for the seventh straight year in Olympia, the community is invited to take part in an active weekend of highlighting the plagues of poverty, discrimination, inhumanity and homelessness while simultaneously celebrating the spirit of togetherness during the annual Hip-Hop 4 The Homeless benefit. For the cost of donated items such as food, clean clothing, hygiene items and cash, the 5 p.m. family friendly concert in The Olympia Ballroom features Afrok & The Movement, Speaker Minds (Portland), AKA & The Heart Hurt Goods, The Sharp Five and Real Life Click, plus the annual 25360 Awards celebration.

4. A few decades ago, the term "early music" (generally speaking, any music written before J.S. Bach) had the same cachet as brown rice or granola: esoteric stuff that was vaguely good for you, but none too tasty or easy to digest. And as for performing early music, only specialists need apply. Nowadays, performances of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music on period instruments - not to mention instrumentalists and vocalists versed in early performance styles as a matter of course in their studies - are the very enjoyable norm, and a lot of great, previously unknown music has become popular and beloved by audiences. At 7 p.m. in Tacoma's Trinity Lutheran Church, the Salish Sea Early Music Festival will focus on the musical styles during the reign of Louis XV, who became king in 1715 at the age of five upon the death of his grandfather Louis XIV.

Producing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is like saddling a dragon. We caught struggles for lines, most adroitly concealed. The blocking isn't great for performance in the round. There are patrons who won't know what to make of all its profanity, carnality and perma-drunk savagery. What unnerves most, though, is the fact that this drama has no hero or heroine for us to cheer. There's no tragic downfall, as its characters bring misery on themselves. Yet the acting in this Lakewood Playhouse production, on all four counts but especially from Deane and Garman, is extraordinary, some of the best we'll see all year. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the Music & Culture section, then catch the 8 p.m. show.

LINK: Saturday, Jan. 25 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, JAN. 24 2014 >>>

1. "It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark ... and we're wearing sunglasses." If this quote rings a bell, you've probably seen The Blues Brothers (1980). As original cast members of Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi created the characters of Jake and Elwood Blues, leading to a successful live album, the film and two more albums before Belushi's untimely death in 1982. The Official Blues Brother Revue captures the original spirit of the film and those first albums, with Wayne Catania and Kieron Lafferty inhabiting the immortal Jake and Elwood, and backed by their eight-piece Intercontinental Rhythm & Blues Revue Band. Catch it at 7:30 p.m. at the Pantages Theater.

2. The Hands On Children's Museum has something new on tap from 6-9 p.m.: beer. No, really. The museum is launching Adult Swim, a quarterly adults-only night, with a beer-tasting event. True to the museum's mission, though, the idea isn't that museumgoers will simply guzzle beverages from eight craft breweries and one meadery. Rather, the party includes crafts and science experiments. Read Molly Gilmore's full story on Adult Swim here.

3. Rockwell Powers, Xperience and DJ Save1 will fill Tacoma's Bleach store with hip-hop beginning at 7 p.m.

4. Those of you who actually read your high school literature assignments should remember that Atticus Finch is the dignified Southern lawyer who defends a black man wrongly accused of rape in Harper Lee's Pulitzer prize-winning 1969 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Set in 1935 Alabama, three children face the life lessons of good and evil and the power of convictions when small-town attorney Atticus Finch agrees to defend a black man charged with attacking a white teen-ager. Tacoma Little Theatre brings the literary classic to life, opening the stage version at 7:30 p.m. for a two-week run.

5. Professor Barry Goldstein and his bandmate Gen Obata are The Unassuming Beekeepers, an American roots band with shades of bluegrass, country, swing and rockabilly. They sing, strum guitars and know their way around a mandolin.  Catch the band at 8:30 p.m. in the Oppenheimer Café on the University of Puget Sound campus. Oh, bring your fiddles, guitars, banjos and that thing the goes "boing!" when plucked in your mouth as a bluegrass jam will follow The Unassuming Beekeepers.

LINK: Friday, Jan. 24 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, JAN. 23 2014 >>>

1. The annual Tacoma Home and Garden Show opens 11 a.m. and runs through Sunday at the Tacoma Dome. Everything we want to know or see in the garden world will be on display. The huge event features the first-ever "$25,000 Backyard Makeover" contest, award-winning garden writer and designer Don Engebretson, aka "The Renegade Gardener," will be in the house Friday and Saturday, as will local garden experts Ciscoe Morris, Marianne Binetti, Pete Lisoskie of KIRO Radio's "Home Matters," and many others sharing tips and trends in daily seminars. Show attendees can get a jump on spring gardening projects with inspiration from local vendors, headlined by a feature garden created by Olympic Landscape, and the popular plant sale staged by Olympia's Bark & Garden Center. 

2. Unveil the mysteries of exquisite flavors and treat your senses to the extraordinary foods of Persia when Mitra Mohandessi teaches you the secrets of the dishes she grew up at 6 p.m. in the kitchen at the Bayview School of Cooking.

3. The Washington Center launches its annual Comedy in the Box series at 7:30 p.m. featuring headliner David Crowe, as well as Todd Armstrong and emcee Geoff Brousseau. Cozy into the Black Box Theater-turned-cabaret, and enjoy. A full bar in the lobby completes the action for those 21 and older.

4. Few comedians are so confident that they can take a joke as far as it can go, effectively drive it into the ground in the process, and still drag the audience kicking and screaming the whole way. Watching Gilbert Gottfried lay a joke out in explicit and hilarious detail is a sight to behold, which you can see at 8 p.m. at the Tacoma Comedy Club.

5. Jane Wagner penned the one-woman comedy The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe for her life partner, Lily Tomlin, basing segments on many of the comedian's characters. Tomlin famously allowed a dozen or so characters to inhabit her body, including Agnus Angst, the 15-year-old punk whose hero is G. Gordon Liddy; Lud and Marie, a retired couple (and the grandparents of Agnus Angst); and Trudy the Bag Lady, who acts as a tour guide for visiting space aliens. Harlequin Productions presents award-winning Seattle actress Terri Weagant in the lead roles at 8 p.m.

LINK: Thursday, Jan. 23 arts and entertainment in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

When David Serko was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, he could've become just one more overlooked statistic in a dismal, plague-paranoid era. AIDS patients often found themselves suffering and dying alone. David fared somewhat better, though, as his big brother, Peter, returned to his side after decades on the other side of the country. That wasn't enough to keep David healthy, unfortunately; but in the years following his death in November of 1992, Peter established contact with more than 100 people who knew and interacted with David as an adult. In so doing, a richer, fuller picture of the man emerged, as if he'd been summoned back to life. By sharing these experiences, Peter is now helping David - and the causes they shared, including the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) - remain vital in people's minds.

I spoke to Peter and found him upbeat and animated, a far cry from the dismal eulogist one might cynically expect. No, his story's a joyous rediscovery of a talented song-and-dance man, whose mortality couldn't keep him from changing the course of people's lives. "He was adored," Peter says. "I kinda knew that from my own feelings about him, but he was a very charismatic individual. ... He had a big impact on many, many people."

David's final words, "Listen to your heart," have inspired a celebratory tribute to brotherly love. "It's a media-rich production," Peter promises. By incorporating voices and memories from those closest to David, the show paints an audiovisual, multilayered portrait of a stricken hero, the vibrant New York scene he inhabited, and the epidemic that failed to defeat either one.

MY BROTHER KISSED MARK ZUCKERBERG, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, 7 p.m. Feb. 8, Dukesbay Theater, 508 S. Sixth Ave. #10, Tacoma, $15, peterserko.brownpapertickets.com

TUESDAY, JAN. 21 2014 >>>

1. The Abigails are fixtures in the Southern California psych-rock garage scene. Thomas has been a member of bands like the Growlers and the Grand Elegance, and fellow Abigail Kyle Mullarky has been in the Starlite Desperation - all bands that occupy a sort of LSD haze. Additionally, the Abigails are members of Burger Records, the epicenter of SoCal psych-rock. Read Rev. Adam Mckinney's full feature on the Abigails in the Music & Culture section. Then, catch the band with MILK at 8 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma.

Read more...

SUNDAY, JAN. 19 2014 >>>

1. Nolan Garrett has been playing guitar since the age of 8. Not finding much interest in sports, his mother suggested he try music. His reluctant guitar lessons at Ted Brown Music and subsequent passion for music have not only transformed Garret into a guitar maniac, but also a soulful singer and excellent songwriter. At 6:30 p.m. Garret will perform with his full band Raymond Hayden, Paul Sawtelle, Eddie Mendoza and Joe Hendershot, each an accomplishes musician, as the headliner for an all-ages show at Louie G's Pizza in Fife.

2. Do you know the story of The Magic Flute? Mozart's famous 1791 opera tells the tale of four hopeless romantics who triumph over adversity - including giant serpents, a ruthless queen and evil sorcerers - to find true love. By Victorian standards, The Magic Flute was considered risqué because it candidly reveals male attitudes about love and sex - kind of like an 18th-century version of The Man Show. Sorry, guys, no jugs at this film. Yup, nope, just an immensely likeable score, jokes then transcend time and language and the Queen of the Night's big arias bringing down the house from the Salzburg Festival, August 2012. Catch the film at 2 p.m. in the Washington Center.

3. A Martin Luther King, Jr. Redeeming the Prophetic Vision interfaith service and event featuring a new theatrical creation from C. Rosalind Bell, spoken word, African drumming and group singing of civil rights-era songs will be held from 2:30-4 p.m. at Urban Grace Church in Tacoma.

4. You may have heard there's a big football game on the tube this afternoon. Any bar or lounge with a TV will have the Hawks game on. Click here for a list of South Sound bars.

5. Saxophonist Kareem Kandi's sound is virtually unrelated to the roomy traditions of soul saxes, honking saxes or deep-chested boudoir ballad saxes. It derives from the classic, free, often enthusiastic tradition of Joshua Redman as filtered through Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt, all of whose shadows can be traced-Redman in Kandi's funky organicism, Gordon in his dynamic harmonics, Stitt in the intensity that coats his every note with a Gritty City finish. The Kareem Kandi will be joined by bassist Osama Afifi and drummer Andre Thomas at 6 p.m. in the Cliff House Restaurant.

LINK: Sunday, Jan. 19 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, JAN. 17 2014 >>>

1. Betty Friedan, Anne Moody, Helen Reddy, National Organization for Women and ... Gloria Steinem. Having spent many fervent hours of our childhood reading the words and following the actions of these women and listening to Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Cilla Black the Weekly Volcano will be in familiar territory at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse when the theater company stages Shout! The Mod Musical at 7 p.m. Shout! will chronicle the liberation of women through the '60s and '70s through the unforgettable music of the time.

2. Bates Technical College will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at its annual celebration 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the college's Downtown Tacoma Campus Auditorium. The community is invited to reflect on Dr. King's memorable march and historic "I Have a Dream" speech with the city's Mayor Marilyn Strickland, Dr. Dexter Gordon, and local musical guest, Jerusalem's Gate. For more MLK Day events, click here.

3. Clifford Odets' Tony award-winning play Awake and Sing! continues the Broadway Center's Free For All yearlong celebration at 7:30 p.m. in the Center's Studio II. The drama, first produced in 1935, is set in Depression-era Bronx and tells of the Berger family's struggle to survive in abject poverty. The free performance features eight area actors reading nine characters in this very tightly crafted and instantly engrossing three-act family drama.

4. The Hub in Gig Harbor hosts another winter concert under its event tent at 7:30 p.m. Tonight features the awesome talent of Stephanie Anne Johnson and Steve Stefanowicz.

5. Said in the growliest voice ever: "METALTOPIA 2014 IS ABOUT TO MELT YOUR FACE OFF." Yes, it's true boys and girls, five of the northwest's most badass metal bands are converging in one place - the magical Track House in Olympia, where bands play, beers flow and miracles happen. Black metal, doom metal, experimental metal - you name it - is covered in one night of metal mayhem, beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: Friday, Jan. 17 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

When you have eliminated the impossible, 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, JAN. 17

Which movie character has been portrayed by actors who also played Lamont Cranston, Dr. Richard Kimble, Matt Murdock and Jack Frost? If you said CIA Deputy Director John Patrick Ryan, Sr., Ph.D., CPA, USMC (Ret.), KCVO (Hon), give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Of course, before Ryan was all those things, he was junior analyst Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit; his latest movie opens this week. Chris Pine joins a club whose officers emeritus are Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. His latest installment is a reboot from an original screenplay by the guy who wrote, of all things, The Wings of the Dove. Ryan's sent to Moscow to match wits with Viktor Cherevin, a baddie played by the film's director, Kenneth Branagh. Ordinarily, when a film gets pushed back from Christmas to January, that's a bad sign, but this episode may surprise us. That's because Paramount moved Shadow Recruit to clear a slot for its own Oscar contender, The Wolf of Wall Street. Also, Branagh directed the surprisingly effective Thor, so he knows from both acting and action. Opening Friday as well (but not as good): two Ryan-fodder thrillers, Devil's Due and Reasonable Doubt.

I, on the other hand, must delay catching up with Agent Ryan, as I'll be at Tacoma Musical Playhouse for its premiere of Shout! The Mod Musical, a celebration of female musical artists of the 1960s. The show's song list includes such classics as "Downtown," "Son of a Preacher Man," and "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," so I bet I won't mind the wait.

SHOUT! THE MOD MUSICAL, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Feb. 9, Tacoma Musical Playhouse, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, $20-$29, 253.565.6867

SATURDAY, JAN. 18

As Mia Wallace once opined, "Beatles people can like Elvis, and Elvis people can like the Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally." Well, I'm a Beatles guy, but far from immune to the allure of a soulful rendition of "Suspicious Minds." And that's where Robert Washington, Elvis impersonator extraordinaire, hip-swivels into the picture. This Saturday, the Capitol Theater presents Washington's tribute to the King of Rock and Roll. Don your gold-lamé jumpsuit, enjoy a documentary called Almost Elvis and then "Surrender" to a hunka, hunka "Burning Love." Incidentally, in a stirring tribute to color-blind casting, Mr. Washington - who does a pitch-perfect Elvis - is African-American, yet won the first Elvis World Championships down in peckerwood Memphis. Thank you ... thank you very much.

ELVIS BIRTHDAY BASH, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia, $15, 360.705.1658

SUNDAY, JAN. 19

If you're a regular reader of this column, you know my respect for Doctor Who showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat knows no bounds. He's an absolute genius. His sitcom Coupling is legendary in the UK (though its U.S. incarnation fared poorly), and his Adventures of Tintin script for Steven Spielberg was admirably faithful to its source material. You can establish the quality of any Doctor Who episode by noting how proximate Moffat was to its script. For me, however, Moffat's crowning glory is Sherlock, the BBC's modern-day update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's irascible detective. Each season (or "series" in British TV jargon) includes three movie-length episodes, all loosely based on classic Conan Doyle adventures. If you've never watched the show, I implore you to seek out all six previous episodes while adding Series 3, commencing Sunday with "The Empty Hearse," to your DVR. (In "The Adventure of the Empty House," Conan Doyle explained how Sherlock survived a seemingly fatal encounter with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls.) Oh, my friends and fellow Sherlockians, the game is once more afoot!

Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may I draw your attention to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time?

THURSDAY, JAN. 9 2014 >>>

1. Green Drinks Tacoma, known locally as Tacoma's Green Happy Hour, is a monthly forum for business owners, students, academics, entrepreneurs, and members of the public to meet, exchange ideas, and grow their level of sustainability. It's a get-together for Green people - No, not individuals from other planets, but rather those interested in the environment, conservation and sustainability. Green Drinks kicks off 2014 at 6 p.m. with an informal get-together and brief discussion lead by Tacoma Power regarding its energy conservation efforts and programs at The Office Bar & Grill.

The locavore movement is real. It's in the Oxford Dictionary. So are the words doughnut hole, red velvet cake, panko, bibimbap and affogato. The English language has never stopped and will never stop evolving. Same with the locavore movement, thanks to authors such as Whidbey Island resident Vicki Robin. Her book, Blessing the Hands That Feed Us, is loaded with practical tips on adopting your own locally-sourced diet, in a candid, humorous, and inspirational voice. Grab a hold of Robin's views and tips at 7 p.m. in Orca Books.

The Tides Tavern has been an anchor in Gig Harbor nightlife scene. If the waterfront watering hole wants to have its New Year's kickoff party on Jan. 9, who's to argue. Appropriately Gig Harbor '70s and '80s acoustic rockers The Shy Boys will be the entertainment from 7-9 p.m. Happy New Year!

4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Now that's what we call a play. Three acts of two married couples screaming and crying into the existential void of Cold War America. Nice. Catch the pay at 8 p.m. in the Lakewood Playhouse, and pay-what-you-can.

As you read in this week's Nerd Alert! column, Rev. Adam McKinney has been following comedian Matt Braunger. "With a boisterous and animated style reminiscent of Brian Regan, Braunger has been receiving a lot of attention for the past couple years, culminating in the release of his 2012 Comedy Central special, Shovel Fighter. Coming out of a remarkably fertile scene in Chicago that also nurtured the careers of peers such as Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, T.J. Miller and Kyle Kinane, Braunger is a comedian still on the rise, and one that seems poised to keep getting better as time goes on." Catch him at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Comedy Club.

LINK: Thursday, Jan. 9 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, DEC. 26 2013 >>>

1. Nine fortnights and four days ago the Karpeles Manuscript Library brought forth in this city documents, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men (and women) should come see them. We are now engaged in a great holiday war, testing whether we, or anyone, can endure long enough through this holiday to visit the Karpeles before "The Final Days of the American Civil War" exhibit closes. We have come to dedicate a portion of the Karpeles Manuscript Library as a final resting place (at least until Dec. 30) for these Civil War documents about those who gave their lives that this museum might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot duplicate, we cannot regurgitate, we cannot own these documents. They are collected here, far above our poor power to add or detract. Or do any other kind of math to. The world will little note, nor remember what we said here - unless they go to the Internet version, which'll be around forever. But these documents won't. They're gone Saturday. So go forth and view them from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Karpeles Manuscript Library.

2. Tonight marks the 200th running of the Tacoma Runners. The group will depart from the Harmon Tap Room at 6:30 p.m. The routine is the same every Thursday - run 3 easy miles on simple-ish routes with a sprinkling of hills and stairs (sometimes), followed by good times back at the bar after the run. This group has been running and growing like crazy over the last nearly four years. Join them for a run and the celebration.

3. Sated? Maybe it's time to dig out from under the spent wrapping paper, tinsel and ham to spend a few moments in reflection. In the meantime, here's Christian Doyle doing Frank Sinatra and a beat poet. Here's Amy Shephard in a clown suit and roller skates, like ya do. Maggie Lofquist has a lovely alto singing voice, which sounds great with Shephard's. Mark Alford pulls off a fabulous Elvis but overacts manically throughout the show. The music's executed with polish and conviction. It's The Stardust Christmas Blizzard at 8 p.m. at Harlequin Productions. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of The Stardust Christmas Blizzard in the Music & Culture section.

4. Christmas might be over, but good ol' Saint Nick's got one more present for all you country music fans. Steel Creek in downtown Tacoma presents "Saint Nick's Last Gift" featuring free line dance lessons starting at 8 p.m. plus free cover and free bull rides all night long. And to make the party a little merrier, Steel Creek's little country elves will be pouring $3 Fireball Whiskeys starting at 9 p.m. Yeehaw! 

5. Every Thursday night at 9 p.m. in 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. 

LINK: Thursday, Dec. 26 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area