SUNDAY, DEC. 1 2013 >>>

1. We've given trumpeter Rich Wetzel a lot of love over the years, not only because he's a groovy guy, but also because he's always playing a gig worth mentioning. Tonight is no exception as his Groovin' Higher Jazz Orchestra brings its annual jazzy holiday to a bar - Stonegate Pizza and Rum Bar this year, from 5-8 p.m. The high-note trumpeter promises three sets of jumpin' holiday tunes - "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas," "Do You Hear What I Hear,"  "Let It Show," "The Christmas Song" and many more - as well as special holiday drinks egg nog, Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer and hot buttered rum.

2. Look, there's a decent chance you need a Christmas tree. Or, at the very least, you know someone who needs a Christmas tree. But acquiring said Christmas tree doesn't have to cost you at least $65 for anything that doesn't look ghetto, and more importantly it doesn't need to be a huge pain in the ass. Head on down to the rarely-used Tollefson Plaza and check out Two Five Trees. Today, in celebration of the Zip Cars in downtown Tacoma, Two Five Trees encourages you to walk or take transit to the Polar Plaza and the Two Five Trees elves with tie your Two Five Tree to the roof of a Zip Car and give you a lift home. The free rides will operate from noon to 6 p.m. Grab a cup of hot cocoa and chill.

3. At 1 p.m., storyteller Judy Cullen will join forces with Kevin Lee, a voice actor from Minnesota, and Shandon Loring, a Nevada storyteller. Together, the three will deliver a rendition of a Christmas classic in a way never before seen or experienced. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Three performers in vastly different zip codes. One show. One digital platform. Inside the Knights of Pythias Hall in downtown Tacoma.

4. They're still going strong, and still swarming The Swiss to do good, get loaded, raffle stuff off and enjoy the spirit of the season. The Friends of the Holidays benefit from 1-8:30 p.m. at The Swiss, and the T-town institution shouldn't disappoint: The Rectifiers, Little Bill Trio, Twang Junkies, Dean Reichert, Nolan Garrett, Boneyard Preachers and Tahoma Souls Alive will all be doing their part for underprivileged families this year. Look, these times are tough for everyone, but if you can have a fun night out while also making someone else's life a little better, We call that Yahtzee. 

5. JLK is a band from Montreal. Babysitter is a band from Victoria, B.C. Together, they have joined forces to become: JLK & Babysitter. Well, OK, so their combined moniker may be somewhat lacking, but the sheer inventiveness of their music is liable to blindside you. Sounding at once timeless and utterly original, JLK & Babysitter reach back and draw both from the sparse blues of the 1910s and the sound experiments and free jazz that burst out of the '60s and '70s. The result of this mash-up is frequently disquieting while remaining strangely hypnotic. Catch the band with Happy Noose and Clayface at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

PLUS: Holiday Events Calendar

PLUS: South Sound Holiday Command Center

LINK: Sunday, Dec. 1 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, NOV. 29 2013 >>>

1. In the spirit of making the best out of a bad situation, Zach Powers has organized a Black Friday "mini-concert series" to simultaneously take the sting out of the dubious holiday and to direct shoppers to local establishments. From 1 to 5:30 p.m., select downtown Tacoma stores will be host to mini-performances from local acts. At each of these businesses, one band will show up and play a brief, 15-minute set, designed to draw in shoppers with being too distracting a presence: 1 p.m. at Learning Sprout Toys will feature singer-songwriters Olivia Joy Hustoft and Jenny Snipstead; 2 p.m. at UrbanXchange will have Rockwell Powers; from there, it's 3 p.m. at King's Books with Goldfinch; 4 p.m. finds Apartment Lights at Millesime Designs; and the day closes out at 5 p.m. with Q-Dot at Feather & Oar. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on the Tacoma Black Friday Concert Series in the Music and Culture section.

2. As you know, the Washington State History Museum has taken a step back in time to study one of America's greatest unsolved mysteries: the 1971 disappearance of skyjacker D.B. Cooper from a plane traveling from Portland to Sea-Tac. What you might not know is Geoffrey Gray - the author of Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper - will host a 2:30 p.m. book signing and 3:30 p.m. presentation on his research and conclusions. He'll also be available to join attendees and chat theories afterward at The Swiss. 

3. We dig holiday lights. We just don't like holiday lights on our office (why? laziness, lack of skill, laziness, lack of patience, laziness - you get the drift). Ah, but there's that wonderful Tacoma institution of Zoolights, the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium's holiday light show and extravaganza. We are not talking a few dinky lights thrown haphazardly into a shrub (much like our sad little office displays). No. We are talking more than half a MILLION lights, crafted whimsically throughout the zoo. Better? Zoolights throws in these groovy little extras like camel rides (yes, really), an antique carousel and a scuba-diving Santa on select days. Zoolights opens for the season from 5-9 p.m.

4. Break out the feel-good tears, tissues, angel wings and silver bells, because local theater is bringing a holiday classic to life. Here are some hints: George Bailey, Clarence the Guardian Angel, Bedford Falls, Christmas Eve transformation, life really is good, "every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings" ... (sniff, sniff). The wonderful and historic Tacoma Little Theatre, located in Tacoma's Stadium District, has been delighting audiences of all ages since 1918 (making it one of the oldest community theaters in the United States) and is taking on the holiday staple, It's A Wonderful Life, at 7 p.m. 

5. Little Orphan Annie likes you. Little Orphan Annie wants to be your friend. Little Orphan Annie wants you to visit her in the orphanage. Little Orphan Annie wants you to adopt her. Little Orphan Annie wants to live with you. Little Orphan Annie wants. Little Orphan Annie wants. Go watch her from a distance in the happiest musical in America and be grateful she has Daddy Warbucks. Little Orphan Annie can be seen at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Musical Playhouse.

PLUS: Holiday Events Calendar

PLUS: South Sound Holiday Command Center

LINK: Friday, Nov. 29 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, NOV. 22 2013 >>>

1. Franciscan Polar Plaza ice rink opens at 4 p.m. The Polar Plaza is on its third year of setting up an ice-skating rink decked out in wintery goodness at Tollefson Plaza, just across from Tacoma Art Museum. With two fabulous years behind them, the Plaza folks put their heads together and found a few key ways to make this ritzy rink even better for 2013. What's New in 2013? Click here and discover the magic.

2. Hungry for holiday cooking inspiration and ideas? Hungry for real? Food lovers, there's a terrific 24-hour market in Tacoma's Proctor District offering great food samples, food advice, and so much more during the make or break week before the Thanksgiving holiday cook-off madness. From 3-6 p.m., Zola coffee and Somerdale Cheese nibbles are at Metropolitan Market.

3. It's been 10 years since Avenue Q, the racy Sesame Street parody for adults, garnered a raft of awards on Broadway, including the Tony for Best Musical. It uses hand puppets to represent 20-something New Yorkers dealing with the ennui of post-collegiate life. My friends, you are not precious daisies, and the landlord demands his rent no matter how hard you try at your failing artisanal muffin shop. Ain't existence crappy? Perhaps you can relate. So if song titles like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "The Internet Is for Porn," and "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?" sound intriguing, rest assured they brighten the mood of a deeply funny show, which begins at 7 p.m. inside the Fort Steilacoom Theater at Pierce College.

4. Though they have a song that's explicitly called "Surf Rock Band," it would be a mistake to call them one. A Happy Death plant their feet firmly in the court of garage-pop madness, seemingly content to thrash away in blissfully psychedelic, noisy bliss, while never crossing the threshold into noise-rock or brain-melting chaos. Mostly, reverb is utilized to create a haze of '60s revivalism, though it finds itself imbued with a sweetness frequently found in the hordes of garage nostalgists. Catch the Portland band at 8 p.m. with Thunders of Wrath and Our Burgundy at O'Malley's Irish Pub in Tacoma. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on A Happy Death in the Music and Culture section.

5. Mirrorgloss is a very new band, having only played a handful of shows thus far. Even still, their sound is so clearly drawn out and natural, so well-defined and - the best part - relatively novel for Tacoma. With the exception of a couple bands, like Death by Stars, there isn't much in the way of electro-rock to be found in these parts. Made up of singers Del Brown and Najamoniq Todd, guitarist Danny Kenny and drummer Bryan Robertson, Mirrorgloss is a dance-rock band in the vein of LCD Soundsystem. The band joins the Pecos and I Like Science at 8 p.m. in Medi's Pizza on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue.

PLUS: Holiday Events Calendar

PLUS: South Sound Holiday Command Center

LINK: Friday, Nov. 22 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Exterminate! 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, NOV. 22: POTTY-MOUTHED SOCK PUPPETS, KATNISS EVERDEEN AND VIDEO GAMES

It's been 10 years since Avenue Q, the racy Sesame Street parody for adults, garnered a raft of awards on Broadway, including the Tony for Best Musical. It uses hand puppets to represent 20-something New Yorkers dealing with the ennui of post-collegiate life. My friends, you are not precious daisies, and the landlord demands his rent no matter how hard you try at your failing artisanal muffin shop. Ain't existence crappy? Perhaps you can relate. So if song titles like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "The Internet Is for Porn," and "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?" sound intriguing, rest assured they brighten the mood of a deeply funny show. I caught it at the Balagan in Seattle. Now you can see it even closer to home, for less than the cost of a grande Frappuccino. So here's another Avenue Q song title you'll find useful: "There Is Life Outside Your Apartment." Take a date, a really cool date who'll enjoy the song "You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)." Catchy!

AVENUE Q, 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Pierce College, Fort Steilacoom Theater, 9401 Farwest Dr. SW, Lakewood, $3, 253.964.6710

As we've come to expect from middle installments of genre trilogies post-Empire, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire goes dark. Katniss Everdeen finds herself on a victory tour of Panem with the boy she bent the rules to save at the end of the first book. The Emperor - er, President Snow, rather - announces he'll mix things up for the 75th Annual Hunger Games by making it an all-star tournament of previous winners, including our gutsy heroine and her ostensible boyfriend. This time, the battleground's a circular jungle; and, thanks to the worldwide box office success of the first film, its cinematic visualization has a workable budget and convincing CG effects. I always felt the books lost the element of surprise as they went along, but I suspect the movie series will peak with Catching Fire. On the other hand, I thought Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Almost Human would be awesome, so feel free to doubt my clairvoyance. (Oh, and by the way, Disney's animated Frozen and an action film starring Jason Statham, Homefront, open Wednesday the 27th. Talk about fun for the whole family.)

Trouble, is there's a good chance you'll be too busy to hit up a theater, any theater, this weekend, because either because you'll be bloodshot-eyeballs-deep in your week-old PlayStation 4 or standing in line for an Xbox One. Microsoft's cutting-edge console integrates a Kinect 2 motion sensor, Skype client, voice and gesture commands, cloud computing, and lightning-fast eight-core processor in a sleek, black Imperial torture droid, streeting Friday with 22 optional games including Call of Duty: Ghosts and Madden NFL 25. The real excitement, however, will coalesce around next year's release of a 343 Industries Halo sequel. Xbox One will set you back just shy of $500, PlayStation 4 about $400. Alternatively, I checked eBay, and the Atari 2600's running about $24. Adventure, anyone?

SATURDAY, NOV. 23: DOCTOR WHO

Does it seem strange to anyone but me that Doctor Who premiered the night after President Kennedy was murdered? It seems a bit cavalier, right? Do missing frames of the Zapruder film reveal a British police box on the grassy knoll? Is it true the Comedian's whereabouts that afternoon have never been established? The History Channel may never know. What we do know is the BBC and BBC America have orchestrated a weekend-long celebration of all things Whovian. Expect a TV movie recounting the origin of the whimsical series, An Adventure in Space and Time, Friday the 22nd. Then, on Saturday, a special episode, "The Day of the Doctor," will be simulcast all over the world - including cinematic showings in 3-D. The plot jumbles a crisis in Elizabethan England, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, a monster in the National Gallery, David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, a battle in space and John Hurt. Best of all, it's written by show runner Steven Moffat, the mastermind behind the BBC's riveting Sherlock. Pop some popcorn and watch it with the kids. Shape new little geeks. Allons-y!

Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may you never cross streams by confusing your hydrospanner with your sonic screwdriver. Isn't that right, K-9?

See Also

Judging by the Trailer

SUNDAY, NOV. 17 2013 >>>

1. The Tacoma Symphony has decided to skip Craigslist and choose its next music director by throwing them to the dogs first chairs. The fourth and final candidate  - best-selling author, conductor, polylinguist, Rhodes scholar and public speaker Scott Speck - will lead the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra with Oksana Ezhokina on piano through Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1, Philip Glass' "Funeral for Aknaten" and Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 5 at 2:30 p.m. in the Pantages Theater. Talk about a group interview. ...

2. Beer and food have always co-mingled, especially in European cultures such as Belgium, Germany and England. At points, beer was food. According to lore, European monks brewed ales and bock beers to provide sustenance during their Lenten fasts. Beer and grilled sausage: the two are a natural fit. The Red Hot has added three sausage hot dogs to its menu: The Cowboy ($4.75), Berliner ($4.25) and The Dakota ($4.50). TRH bartender Mitchell gave nod to The Cowboy, a locally made beef/cheddar sausage link on a steamed poppyseed bun, topped with barbecue sauce, chopped onions, slice of bacon, nacho cheese sauce and jalapeños. Giddy up! The Cowboy pairs well with Belgian style ales, which are $1 off on Sundays.

3. As you might guess, converting a stadium from baseball to football is more than just pulling down some outfield walls and laying down new line markers. The outfield fence pads and fence posts are removed and stored ... somewhere. The pitching mound must be removed from what will be midfield on the sideline. Two bullpen mounds - one in each end zone - also are removed. Sod is laid down. Screw it. Let's just watch a football game on a baseball stadium's big screen. The Seattle Seahawks play the Viking at 1:25 p.m. Cheney Stadium will open its doors to fans 21 and older to watch the game on the 50 foot video board from the Sterling Bank Summit Club. Get in on the party at 253.752.7707.

4. What could be better than one thought-provoking piece of theater? Seven, of course. Saint Martin's University Theater Department presents An Evening of One-Act Plays, a taste of crazy-quilt comedy theater of actors taking to the stage to perform student-directed, one-act plays exploring topics as diverse as discordant marriages, life and death, and an initial meeting between Adam and Eve in a bar. Catch them at 2 p.m. in the Kreielsheimer Arts Building. Click here for the list of schedule plays.

5. Brian Lee & The Orbiters will fill The Spar in Old Town Tacoma with blues at 8 p.m.

LINK: Sunday, Nov. 17 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, NOV. 16 2013 >>>

1. Erin Guinup knows her way around a concert stage. After earning her degree in vocal performance and music education from the University of Puget Sound, she went on to perform some of the best-loved roles in musical theater. She's directed, taught, conducted and acted her way around the entire region, performing for companies as diverse as Tacoma Opera and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Now she's returning to her alma mater for a one-night-only revue, which features female composers and lyricists of the last hundred years, from operetta to present-day Broadway. Catch The Ladies of Lyric and Song at 7:30 p.m. in the Schneebeck Concert Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus.

2. Tacoma's Arts Leadership Lab is hosting a full-day arts conference from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the University of Puget Sound. Sessions and forums cover topics such as arts education, funding, online engagement, public art, creative small businesses, and arts careers. The day will conclude with a rapid-fire presentation and panel discussion focused on the way space helps define arts programming.

3. Beginning at 11 a.m. at the Tacoma Urban League, the Tacoma Chapter of The Zulu Nation, aka Z53 Zulu, is celebrating National Hip-Hop Month by hosting Food For Thought, an event centered on collecting warm coats and jackets for those in need during this chilly season, as well as offer information about regaining one's right to vote and getting one's record expunged if her or she have gone wayward of the laws. There will be a screening of Hidden Colors 2, the sequel to the first "controversial" film that examines race from an Afrocentric perspective. Oh yeah, there will be food for everyone - and it's all free.

4. It takes cajones to be a good storyteller! You have to impress a crowd with no props, no fancy lighting and no CGI-crafted battle scenes! Each year around the world, "Tellabration!" is celebrated to honor these brave souls and their fans! In its purest form, Tellabration! binds people together in the most wonderful way: with stories and exclamation points, told in all languages and drawn from all manner of cultures - a way of detaching yourself from the video games and gnat-sized attention spans! Since stories were invented the Mt. Tahoma Storytelling Guild has hosted the national celebration at Antique Sandwich Company! It's on again at 7:30 p.m.! Hurrah!

5. Perhaps Aan's best quality is that they hit you with big impressions right off the bat. The Portland band's song "Mystery Life" bursts out of the gates with such impact that it's hard not to take notice. That the song never, ever lets up, is positively intoxicating. Pounding drums and churning guitars explode from the word "go," but what is most affecting is the lead vocal from Bud Wilson. Though his voice initially sounds like a straining yelp, what eventually becomes clear is that you haven't yet heard the boundary-pushing energy that he has to offer. Their press kit compares Wilson's voice to Jeff Buckley's and, while it lacks the pure beauty of Buckley's, it does possess that rough elasticity. Aan performs with Gothic Tropic and others at 8 p.m. in Northern. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Aan in the Music and Culture section.

LINK: Saturday, Nov. 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, NOV. 15 2013 >>>

1. Drunken Telegraph (taking its name from a Rudyard Kipling quote about Tacoma) is a local storytelling live show. Each show has a central theme featuring various Tacomans telling different stories on that theme, with the final act being a storytelling slam from members of the audience. This installment - hosted by the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts as part of their "Free For All" series - is entitled "Clash of the Titans," and will focus on the battles faced by the evening's storytellers. The tales begin at 7:30 p.m. inside Broadway Center Studio III.

2. Talented artists command the Madera Architectural Elements Showroom semi-monthly, illuminating their work and creativity with the visually aided enhancement implied by the name of the series, TRIPOD Slide Shows. Created by Tacoma artist Lynn Di Nino, the night of digital slides features three artists and one creative theme.  The next TRIPOD Slide Show slides into Madera tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. featuring 15-minute slide shows by Becky Frehse, Burk Ketcham and Sam and Sarah Tower following the theme "Americans Who Work Abroad."

3. Working Class Theater NW presents pop-up theater showcases readings from its upcoming season - thanks to the generosity of Spaceworks Tacoma. At 7:30 p.m., enjoy a staged reading of David Mamet's Life in the Theater, the first show WCT will be producing next year, on the 3rd floor of the Downtown Tacoma Post Office.

4. Regardless of your stance on Jane Austen's writing style, Lakewood Playhouse's production of Pride and Prejudice is a funny, well-acted play that will leave you loving the delightful characters, hating the rude and being impressed with the acting and technical skill of everyone involved. Catch it at 8 p.m. Read Joann Varnell's full review of Pride and Prejudice in the Music and Culture section.

5. Champagne Sunday brings its folk rock to the new Gig Spot in Gig Harbor at 8 p.m.

LINK: Friday, Nov. 15 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, NOV. 10 2013 >>>

1. Fiesta, Familia, Folklore! music and dance performance at Tacoma's Rialto Theater promises to provide an authentic regional representation of Mexican music through the use of traditional songs and dances. Witness the vibrant pageantry of ballet folklórico of Bailadores de Bronce. Hear the bright brass music of the Oaxaca region by La Banda Gozona. Feed off of the inspiring youthful exuberance of Mariachi Huenachi. The fiesta begins at 3 p.m.

2. Tacoma Musical Playhouse opened its 20th anniversary season with the Broadway hit Les Miserables, which ends its run at 2 p.m. TMP raised roughly $1.2 million to renovate the stage, orchestra location and backstage areas. The stage is larger and the orchestra is now placed above and behind the stage which helps the actors voices come through better whether they are mic'd or not. TMP's choice of opening its new stage with Les Mis guaranteed a solid start to its season. With added space, choreography is less cramped and sets are able to be more grand. The spectacle of this production did not disappoint with the sets showcasing the talent and skill of the designers and carpenters. Read Joann Varnell's full review of Les Miserables in the Music and Culture section.

3. 12 Years a Slave is the latest from British director Steve McQueen. The film, adapted from the 1853 autobiographical novel of the same name, chronicles the misfortunes of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man living in the northern United States in a time when living in the southern United States would have meant he was someone's property. Yes, Northup lived during that time in American history when literally owning another human being was considered a status symbol rather than a crime against humanity, at least in the south. Tacoma playwright Rosalind Bell will be leading a discussion about the film after its 2:40 screening at The Grand Cinema.

4. See dance as you've never seen it before - trouncing through a bookstore! At 3 p.m. in King's Books, the BareFoot Collective will take to the shelves and deliver a unique performance in a unique venue that is just about the opposite of a formal theatre in every way. Today's performance continues tBFC's modern dance performances out of the black box. The group aims to take dance into public spaces around Tacoma. The road shows will be 30 to 40 minutes long and will incorporate improvisation, contemporary, dance-theatre and hip-hop works. All performances are free. Oh, King's Books will not be held responsible for any airborne books and beverages high-kicked ceremoniously from your hand.

5. Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning producer and guitarist Pete Anderson, who melds blues and country to forge a style all his own, will perform at 7 p.m. in The Spar in Old Town Tacoma. Known as a pioneer in the roots-rock genre and an early champion of the Americana movement, he had a hand in introducing the world to artists such as Michelle Shocked, Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, Rosie Flores and his musical partner of 20 years, Dwight Yoakam.

LINK: Sunday, Nov. 10 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, NOV. 9 2013 >>>

1. Many artists and institutions are embracing immersive environments - creating an experience of "being there" - to immerse the visitor in a virtual world where one's senses are overwhelmed, forcing the viewer out of his physical self. The artists' goal is to turn the viewer from passive perceiver of the material world into active participant in a conceptual inner world. When it works, it creates a feeling of presence, when all the senses perceive the digital environment to be physically real. Digital media pioneer Jennifer Steinkamp fabricated a vividly seductive digital artwork following a tree through the four seasons as though blown by unpredictable winds, causing the branches to twist and clench. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tacoma Art Museum, the artwork charts the passage of time by following the path of a single tree as it cycles through a year of change in 11 minutes.

2. Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhltransforms the reputation of the vibrator from Seattle Fringe Festival prop to serious theatrical subject matter in In The Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) at 2 and 7:30 p.m. in the Norton Clapp Theatre at the University of Puget Sound. With pre-show hype claiming it's "a story of repressed sexuality and physical exploration with equal doses of humor and emotion," In the Next Room revolves around the prim Victorian medical practice and home life of Victorian-era gyno Dr. Givings and his wife, Catherine. They just had their first child, but they are forced to hire a wet nurse, bringing the bereaved Elizabeth into their lives. As Catherine gossips with Elizabeth, and meets more and more of her husband's patients, she learns about the mysterious, new therapy. Read Weekly Volcano theater critic Christian Carvajal's review of the show here.

3. We have a hankering for bluegrass tonight. Maybe it's the rain, the flannel shirts and the switch from summer's gin to autumn's whiskey. Whatever the case, it's nice. Tacoma's Cottonwood Cutups are bringing that satisfying pluck and twang and funk to Soutbay Dickerson's BBQ for a hot 8 p.m. set in its cool bar. The three brothers - who enjoy Dr. Dre, campfires and the Hoh Rainforest - deliver toe-tapping Americana, tickled by mandolin and banjo, with guitar and an upright bass to root it all down. Southbay's Pig Bar is the perfect backdrop - intimate, wood walls, nice people, warm food and cold beer. Scuff & Al open.

4. It's a jungle in there. The lighting is dim, but you can still spy the wild life scattered across the landscape. Lushy - think The Jetson's with swizzle sticks - will pounce with its original samples and Bossa beats plus elements of vintage-Latin jazz, exotica, surf, new wave and sixties pop to create its own distinctive intercontinental sound the band likes to call progressive cocktail pop. Perched on the cliff, The Ukadelics are an eight-member uke band influenced by Disneyland's Tiki room and cocktails with a repertoire from classic "hapa-haole" Hawaiian songs such as "Blue Hawaii" and "Tiny Bubbles" to the lounge favorites such as "Secret Agent Man." Yup, it's a jungle party at Bob's java Jive and the cool cats dance beginning at 9 p.m.

5. The late-night mini-fest of blood-injected spazzmatic anti-cinema All Freakin' Night is sure to cause at least one of your major organs to fail when the projector is flicked on at midnight. As part of the Olympia Film Festival, and running through early morning Sunday at the Capitol Theater, Tumult, Sightseers, The Rambler, Motel Hell, Burial Ground: The Nights Of Terror and City of the Walking Dead will flicker with enough carnage to terrify, not just sicken. Host Kenny Ward will pass out enough coffee to keep your head spinning - completely around.  Wedged between the movies will be contests with plenty of putrid prizes.

LINK: Saturday, Nov. 9 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, NOV. 8 2013 >>>

1. Eager to add modern attractions while staying true to the classics - this gentle tug between new and old defines the Olympia Film Festival at its 30-year mark. The Capitol Theater's sixty-five-thousand-dollar, 4K-resolution digital projector will whir to life for the first time for the French feature Swim Little Fish Swim at 6 p.m. The night cruises along with a live concert headlined by The Julie Ruin, featuring that blast from Olympia's punk past, Kathi Wilcox and Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill fame.

2. Combining angelic R&B-indebted vocals with muscular instrumentation and wistfully romantic lyrics, Tangerine sound like very little else on the market right now. Led by Marika Justad - along with drummer Miro Lion (Justad's sister), bassist Ryan Baker, and guitarist Toby Kuhn - Tangerine quickly began gaining traction and attention, aided as much by their strong live performances as by their pristine recorded songs. Where did they come from, and how did they get so good in such a short amount of time? Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Tangerine in the Music and Culture section for the answers. Then visit Anthem Coffee & Tea at 7:30 p.m. to watch the band perform with J. Martin and Jake Loden.

3. Driving Miss Daisy - an intimate socio-drama about an elderly, vinegary Jewish widow Daisy Werthen and her good-natured black chauffeur Hoke Coleburn down Dixie way spanning the pre-to-post-civil-rights era - is sweet and sharp: an examination of humanity and the racial divide with only a smattering of it's-good-for-you preachiness. At first, Hoke's presence in her life is met with disdain. But over the course of 25 years, Hoke becomes not only her chauffeur, but against all odds, her best friend. Catch the play at 7:30 p.m. in the The Dukesbay Theater at 508 S. Sixth Ave. in Tacoma.

4. If a norm jazz show is a house scotch on the rocks, then this jazz show is a Glenlivet scotch on the rocks with a twist. Percussionist/composer Steve Bentley will join forces with saxophonist Jim Pribbenow, bassist Steve Luceno and pianist Brian Kinsella to launch the Washington Center's 2013-14 Black Box Cabaret Jazz Series at 8 p.m. Bently's rhythms and arrangements take the "drums" places they've never been before. By pushing the boundaries on many levels, he mixes the influences of jazz, world beat and classical masters. It's the perfect band to open the Box.

5. The Portland-based, Idaho-born lovelies the Shook Twins are fresh off their Midwest tour and are bringing their music to the Olympia Ballroom for a night of bluegrass/rock/funk you won't forget. While talent is no question, their niche seems to be their creative use of instrumentation, which includes banjo, guitar, electric and upright bass, mandolin, electric guitar, electronic drums, beatbox, glockenspiel, ukulele, banjo drumming and their signature golden egg. Shook Twins performance will be a perfect accompaniment to local lady Kendl Winter, known for her solo gems of loop pedal, guitar and banjo. The fun begins at 8 p.m.

LINK: Friday, Nov. 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area