SATURDAY, OCT. 18 2014 >>>

1. It's October, which can mean only one thing: fans of hip-hop and cartoonish German culture can rejoice. Maltoberfest is back and as Olde English-sodden as ever! For the uninitiated, Maltoberfest is a sublimely beer-soaked celebration of hip-hop and oompah, punk and pretzels and - above all else - more malt liquor than anyone has ever seen in one place at one time - 7 p.m. at Stonegate Restaurant & Bar. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in their best hip-hop and/or German attire, while a wide array of bands serenade the increasingly drunk revelers. This year's performers include favorites like rap collective 508 Disturbanceand punk marching band Artesian Rumble Arkestra, as well as newcomers like the indie rock of the Breakfast Cowboy and the weirdo hillbilly rap of Three Ninjas & the Weird Old Tricks, among others.

2. The Washington Beer Commission will host its inaugural South Sound IPA Festival with two sessions at downtown Tacoma's Union Station. Its first venture into the City of Destiny, the WBC will host 26 Washington breweries - including several for the South Sound - pouring their IPAs during an afternoon and evening session at Union Station in downtown Tacoma. In all, there will be at least 48 craft beers, most hitting the high mark on the International Bitterness Units (IBUs) scale. For complete details, click here.

3. In celebration of Tacoma Arts Month, Nitty Gritty Tacoma Salvage & Industrial Art Show will feature local art that revolves around Tacoma industry and architecture from 1-5 p.m. at Earthwise Architectural Salvage. Puyallup Tribe graffiti artist Daniel Yeloe and mural artist Chris Sharp will be in attendance for a meet-and-greet and the unveiling of their art from 3-4 p.m. Kim Archer, A Flock of Geezers and Shotgun Kitchen will provide the live soundtrack. Food will be available for purchase from Finnwick's Kitchen. Anthem Coffee will be providing free beverages.

4. The Northwest Playwrights Alliance's Double Shot Play Fest is a chance for local scribes to show off and, just as important, for the organization to make a little spending cash. Consider this: eager writers go to work the evening before the festival, as that's when they're handed the topic for a brand-new, 10-minute play. A troupe of actors arrives at Broadway Center the next morning to rehearse the resulting scripts for a 7:30 show at Theatre on the Square. Then the same plays are performed at a 2 p.m. tomorrow. This year, in a welcome shift toward marginalized voices, the writers, directors, and repertory cast are all women. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on the Double Shot Play Fest in the Music & Culture section.

5. There's just no faking the sort of unbridled exuberance that bursts forth from Portland punk trio Hey Lover. How awesome are these guys? The husband and wife that make up two thirds of the group played Hey Lover's first show following their own wedding. That had to have been the best wedding reception in the history of the form. With regards to their music, Hey Lover work almost exclusively in rowdy blasts of endorphin-sapping punk. Catch the band with Anteek Junkees, Various Moods and Heads Out the Window at 8 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive.

LINK: Saturday, Oct. 18 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

How was your first time? Was it painful? Exhilarating? Humiliating? Was it true what they say about band camp, or church camp, or those roommate-warding socks on dorm doorknobs? Was it your high school or college sweetheart, some stranger at a party, maybe someone you thought was in the friend file? Was it his or her first time, too? Did you plan for the big event? Had you worked your way up to it for months, or was it over in a moment of weakness? Were you ready? Were you willing? Were you protected? Was it love?

Why, yes, I too have an amusing story about my first ... OK, so maybe it isn't suitable for this particular venue, but I can tell you it ended positively for everyone concerned. You probably have your own funny, shocking, moving defloration account. You may have even been gutsy enough to post it on MyFirstTime.com, a website that catalogs anonymous milestone stories, most of which appear to be true. The site's been active since the Internet's inception. Over the last 16 years, it's attracted tens of thousands of writers whose memories range from all over the tragicomedy spectrum. Why, that might make for a fun night of storytelling, you imagine, and you would be right. In fact, it has: My First Time: The Play opened off-Broadway in 2007 and ran for two and a half years, spawning productions all over the world. In it, two female and two male actors perform a series of highlights from the archive, offering insight into our most intimate selves. "This has been my favorite course of study in college," one character reveals, "and I'm thinking of going to grad school to pursue this undeclared major." My First Time may not be everyone's idea of a perfect first date, but I can promise you this: it will inspire fascinating post-show conversation.

As the Internet evolves, so do our views of and exposure to sexuality. We live in a lust-frenzied world, overwhelming for young people and almost as scary for grown-ups determined to protect them. Yet even now, when our moment of truth arrives, it requires us to overcome our deepest vulnerabilities and move forward toward adulthood and, ideally, love.  

MY FIRST TIME, 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 26, Centerstage! Theatre, 3200 SW Dash Point Rd., Federal Way, $10-$50, 253.661.1444

SUNDAY OCT. 12 2014 >>>

1. The Tacoma Arts Month Studio Tour continues today. There are 61 artists within 37 studios to visit. Luckily, almost all of the studios are within Tacoma city limits, and a map is available online to assist you on this free, self-guided tour. These private sanctums of creativity will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some will offer hands-on activities.

2. WILLO - Women's Intergenerational Living Legacy Organization - hosts its first annual WILLO Storytelling Festival at noon in Theatre on the Square, hosted by Amanda Westbrook. Celebrate the voices of women and girls in at this free event, full of storytelling, hands-on art-making and community engagement. Stick around after the event for author and activist Sister Helen Prejean's talk, "Dead Man Walking in Washington State," starting at 5 p.m.

3. Russian composer Alexander Glazunov is mainly remembered for his score for the ballet Raymonda, and his Violin Concerto gets occasional airings. Distinguished professor of music and head of the Puget Sound piano department Duane Hulbert has set out to champion Glazunov via the piano. Hulbert spent 30 years playing and marveling Glazunov. He has spent the last 15 years recording all 19 solo and duet piano works by the composer - five full hours of music. The new four-CD collection Glazunov: Complete Works for Piano was released last month, and Tacoma audiences will be the first to hear Hulbert perform a selection of the often magical and always enjoyable Glazunov compositions as part of the Jacobsen Series at 2 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall. The concert also will feature guest pianist Yoshikazu Nagai '92, a professor at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a former student of Hulbert's. The 4-CD set will be on sale at the concert.

4. Two South Sound threater productions end their run today beginning at 2 p.m. Whodunit? Criminal mastermind Agatha Christie's 1943 And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) - based on her best-selling novel of the same name - is a mind-bending murder mystery that asks that very question at the Lakewood Playhouse. Read Joann Varnell's review of And Then There Were None in the music & Culture section. Olympia Family Theater's Busytown, Richard Scarry's musical comedy for kids, was also reviewed by Varnell.

5. Amanda Schukle and Tracy Shapiro are Oakland rock duo Steel Cranes. With Schukle on drums and Shapiro on vocals, the two will showcase their debut album, Ouroboros, at Northern Pacific Coffee Company at 7 p.m. Wild Berries and Skates!, will open.

LINK: Sunday, Oct. 12 art and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, OCT. 10 2014 >>>

1. While none of The Comic Strippers possess Chris Farley's shirtless je ne sais quoi, it's fair to say they'll never give Magic Mike a run for his sweaty singles. Truth be told, they may not even take off their pants. But once their shirts are off, they'll apply their trained torsos and minds to the sexy art of ... improvisational comedy. Read Christian Carvajal's full feature on The Comic Strippers in the Music and Culture section, then catch the Canadian improv comedians at 8 p.m. in the Rialto Theater.

2. The story of the von Trapp family who escaped Austria, moved to the United States and toured the world singing for two decades has inspired generations since the film The Sound of Music was released in 1965. The story continues as the great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp take up the family tradition anew. Meet Sofi, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp, four siblings that, for the last 12 years, have been singing on stages around the world to critical acclaim and packed houses. Check them out at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

3. Lucy Kaplansky has some fierce little tunes. The New York City singer-songwriter with the Fast Folk pedigree and the masters in psychology has a beautiful flair for harmony and eloquent in her assessment of human foibles and domestic dynamics. She released Reunion, her seventh solo CD, in 2012, reuniting with her with musicians Buddy Miller, Richard Shindell, Jonatha Brooke, John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, J. Geils Band), Jon Herington (Steely Dan) and producer/drummer Ben Wittman (Paula Cole, Don Byron). It's doubtful most of these folks will be with her at 8 p.m. in Morso wine bar in Gig Harbor, but you can be certain the night will be filled with deeply moving, joyful, meditative and rollicking stories of human foibles and domestic dynamics.

4. Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. knows if you listen to country music and fly a rebel flag everywhere you go and your neck gets burnt from exposure to the sun when you're out partying with friends while country rap band THE LACS blares in the background, you might be a redneck. Therefore, the downtown country/western joint hosts Rednecktoberfest from 9-11 p.m. Enjoy $2 cans of PBR, Hamms and Rainier, as you could win a pair of tickets to see THE LACS live at Steel Creek Nov. 16.

5. Amanda Schukle and Tracy Shapiro are Oakland rock duo Steel Cranes. With Schukle on drums and Shapiro on vocals, the two will showcase their debut album, Ouroboros, at Le Voyeur at 9 p.m. Lazy Animals and Coma Figura will open.

LINK: Friday, Oct. 10 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area.

THURSDAY, OCT. 9 2014 >>>

1. The 2014 Tacoma Film Festival is shaping up to be everything a good film fest should be. There are movies from around the world, flicks in a variety of languages, screenings exploring the margins of different societies, and films from the comedy, drama, and short film categories and local ditties. Yes, this festival hosted by The Grand Cinema packs quite the cinematic wallop. This year, the opening night festivities pulls a reverse - the party is after the film. The sweet, star-studded romantic comedy Laggies will screen at 7 p.m. at The Grand Cinema followed by a mixer and DJ Broam at 9 p.m. in the TFF Lounge. Read Jared Lovrak's feature on the 2014 Tacoma Film Festival here.

If you like drinking beer in public places, well you're in luck, our tippling exhibitionist friend, because there are some great opportunities tonight in Tacoma. The Swiss hosts an Oktoberfest battle royale, Pint Defiance shines a spotlight on Top Rung Brewing and The Copper Door invites No-Li Brewhouse through its door. Click here for details on these events.

What goes into the production of a quarter pound burger? According to J.L. Capper in The Journal of Animal Science, 6.7 pounds of feed, 52.8 gallons of drinking water, 74.5 square feet of grazing, and the equivalent amount of energy it takes to run a microwave for 18 minutes. The average American eats approximately 271 pounds of meat a year - or three, quarter pounder burgers a day.  Meat is a tasty part of culture; it's a part of our special holidays and our daily meals, but is the product worth the cost? Pacific Lutheran University's Ruth Anderson Public Debate asks, is it right to eat animals? Chime in at 7 p.m. in Xavier Hall.

4. Prepare yourself for a theatrical extravaganza, a thespian feat seldom seen before! Think of it, 37 (ish) plays, from 400 years ago performed in 97 minutes (or so), a virtual cast of hundreds brought to life by three brave men in tights! Duck and weave on this madcap journey through the canon of the Bard's immortal works. You'll laugh, you'll cry (probably from laughing too hard) and dodge the occasional vomit as Scott Douglas, Dennis Worrell and Patrick Gilmore bring to forth the power, the glory, the hilarity of the when Theater Artists Olympia presents Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)[revised] at 8 p.m. in The Midnight Sun.

Olympia-based DJ Pasquan has arranged another night of hip-hop and rap for his frequent joint, The Cypher. At 9 p.m., Pasquan will host a night of MCs on the microphone at the quaint and intimate eatery/nightspot, Le Voyeur. An Oly mainstay and favorite for out of town acts, the Voyeur will open its doors and its floor for performers Tripple Three, Dr. Roks, Lazlo Steele, Lega C Jones, MC Swamptiger and special guest, Kyle Mclin.

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

SUNDAY, OCT. 5 2014 >>>

1. Midday Veil takes cues from krautrock without explicitly copying it. There's experimental improvisation and rigid beats, but the '70s were a long time ago. What remains with Midday Veil is an exploratory way of approaching an inscrutable subgenre dipping into different cultural influences to provide an mélange of textures and atmosphere. Catch the band with Swahili, Total Life and Lost Integrity in 8 p.m. at Northern.

2. The town of Steilacoom will host their annual cider squeeze from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. offering to press apples for folks, or having jugs of fresh squeezed cider available. And if the cider isn't reason enough to go, then go to sample fresh baked apple pies, cider floats, apple fritters, pony rides and music by Barleywine Revue and Steve and Kristi Nebel.

3. Matika Wilbur's "Project 562" is an ambitious and fascinating photographic study of Native American culture and an equally ambitious artistic project of which Tacoma Art Museum is fortunate to be able to present to the world the inaugural exhibition. Today is the last day to see the exhibit. Read Alec Clayton's full review of Matika Wilbur's Project 562" in the Music & Culture section., then see the show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

4. Shakespeare can be a bit inaccessible for the average Joe and many a community theater company has butchered it so badly as to make the audience loathe ever catching another production of The Bard's works. So leave it to director Suzy Wilhoft and Tacoma Little Theatre to stage something that could go so, so wrong. Fortunately it doesn't and the audience is presented a modest start and a whiz-bang finish in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which closes today at 2 p.m. Read Joann Varnell's full review of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Music & Culture section.

5. Fans of Comedy Bang! Bang! rejoice! James Adomian will be at the Tacoma Comedy Club at 7 p.m. You've no doubt heard his voice on the podcast, doing spot-on impressions of Jesse Ventura, Tom Leykis, Dov Charney, Alan Rickman and Paul Giamatti, among others. While Adomian is nominally an impressionist, what makes his characters so special is that he takes them and spins them into surreal and inspired territory. It's a crime that he hasn't been cast on Saturday Night Live, where he is destined to become a post-modern Darrell Hammond. He's only appearing for one night, so consider this a can't-miss.

LINK: Sunday, Oct. 5 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, SEPT. 21 2014 >>>

1. The Weekly Volcano gears up for the annual Tacoma Maritime Festival like the Super Bowl. We just can't get enough of celebrating Commencement Bay, and the "Working Waterfront" as it's known. This year marks the 22nd annual Maritime Fest - and it might host the most fighting ever at the Dock Street Building, Foss Waterway Seaport and the land in between the tow buildings from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Today's events include NOAA Tours, port tours, free guided tours of the Foss Waterway, LEGO exhibit, remote-controlled boats, crafts, games, Seaweed Sisters band at 12:30 p.m., Doug Mackey and Mr. Blackwatch at 2 p.m., Steve and Kristi Nebel at 3:30 p.m. and much more.

2. The rapid growth of Valhalla Coffee Company, which includes shipments overseas, forced A.J. Anderson to relocate his operation from his embedded situation at the former Mandolin Café to the small storefront on Sixth Avenue. Anderson thinks in terms of flavor profiles and uses adjectives such as "robust, rich, and acidic" to describe his coffee. He wants people to realize that coffee is not just a cup of black liquid but a complex and important commodity. In conjunction with its exhibition, "Ethnobotany: An Artists' Study of Planets," the W.W. Seymour Conservatory hosts Anderson for an aromatic and educational Valhalla Coffee tasting titled "Tacoma Loves Coffee" from 10-11 a.m.

4. Little Bill Engelhart is soul on wheels, thanks to his musicianship and polio. He grew up on Hilltop Tacoma and learned rock 'n' roll by playing rhythm and blues with the black musicians downtown, which was unusual for a young white kid at the time. He formed a band with some of his teenage friends and had a national hit when he was just 19 titled "I'm in Love with an Angel." He is a legendary Northwest blues musician and perhaps the Godfather of rock 'n' roll in Tacoma. He and his band, the Bluenotes, will perform at The Spar at 7 p.m.

4. The Lord Franzannian Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show promises a "fast paced variety show" with "a little something for everyone." Will this mean jugglers? Probably. Contortionists? Perhaps. Rampant fun? Almost certainly. Proceeds benefit BigShowCity, a non-profit Performing Arts Organization that supports and helps finance burgeoning artists. They say laughter is good medicine. Here's a heaping spoonful of proof at 8 p.m. in The Midnight Sun Performance Space. 

5. Remember that time in high school when your parents went away? You know, plot line of every teenage movie ever made - except this time, you blew up the house. Standing in the ashes as your parents roll up, what do you do? Say it with us now -iiiiiimprovise. Take notes at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Comedy Club when male and female comedians battle with improve and sketch skills.

LINK: Sunday, Sept. 21 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 12 2014 >>>

1 Whodunit? Criminal mastermind Agatha Christie's 1943 And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) - based on her best-selling novel of the same name - is a mind-bending murder mystery that asks that very question. And the Lakewood Playhouse production will keep you guessing, beginning at 8 p.m. Ten strangers are trapped on an island resort and one of them is eliminating them one by one until there are none. If there's a dude wearing a striped shirt and metal claw in the show, our money is on him.

2. Spaceworks Tacoma is excited to announce the latest Spaceworks Creative Enterprise to open its doors, The Blue Octopus on Pearl. Grand opening festivities are set for from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., plus a reception from 6-8 p.m., at 5013 N. Pearl Street in Ruston. Nationally recognized artist Kerry Cole, owner of The Blue Octopus, offers painting parties, an art gallery, and a painting studio at her new location.

3. Holy Leslie Knope! Can you imagine Tacoma without Optimist Park? Without Ursich Park? Without anywhere to take your dog off the leash and let her run? Even in dense, urban areas, open space is a calming force, giving us a place to sit, lie, tag zombies or walk amidst the birds and the trees. National Park(ing) Day - the annual global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into "PARK(ing)" spaces: temporary public places - invades Tacoma Sept. 19. First, we need to discuss it. Three speakers will present concepts in Pecha Kucha format (20 slides, 20 seconds each) followed by a discussion on the topic of public space and "parklets" (or mini parks) from noon to 1 p.m. at UW Tacoma (Joy Building 215).

4. In its first full production, Tacoma nonprofit theater Working Class Theater Northwest presents contemporary playwright David Ives’s farce The School for Lies at 8 p.m. in the former Deltan Club space at 733 Commerce. Directed by South Sound theater alum Tom Sanders, with a local cast of six men and three women, the farcical, fast-paced and scintillating comedy runs modern variations on Molière's The Misanthrope.

5. Isaac Olsen, the acclaimed Tacoma filmmaker who gave us Quiet Shoes (2010) and Ich Hunger (2013), is related to the Tacoma band Girl Trouble by blood. He's also the guy our readers named Best Filmmaker in 2014. His new documentary, Strictly Sacred, delves into Girl Trouble's archive of historical treasures. "Girl Trouble is a vastly creative band," Olsen explains, "who have brought all their artistic talents to the fore in the pursuit of pure entertainment experience. They were early pioneers of DIY. ... The other unique aspect of Girl Trouble is that they were avid chroniclers of their own story. ... It's almost as if Girl Trouble has been generating biographical material for the express purposes of a comprehensive film." Strictly Sacred opens Friday at 9 p.m. in The Grand Cinema (voted Best Movie House every year) for a week's run. Olsen will lead a discussion after the film.

LINK: Friday, Sept. 12 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 2014 >>>

1. The summer is winding down and clothing retailers are rolling out fall's thick knits and denims, so why on earth are people across the city hitting stores in a mad scramble to find crisp, white duds? It's because Le Diner en Blanc Tacoma outdoor dinner party is from 6-8 p.m. at Wright Park. And if you go and want to help create Instagram pictures as pretty as a postcard, you need to show up in style - all-white style, that is. Yes, looking wicked in white is going to take a little effort, people. But it'll be worth it for what's becoming, along with perhaps the Pride Festival, the fashion spectacle of the summer. Plus, it's a fundraiser for First Night Tacoma. Guests are encouraged to bring a picnic. Tables, tablecloths and chairs will be provided.

The kids are back in school, so it's time for you to take care of yourself. Pour at Four wine bar hosts a wine tasting of "Back-to-School" wines, meaning six delicious wines that will help you relax and you will surely enjoy from 5:30-8 p.m. The Copper Door beer store and taproom hosts a launch party for San Diego's Green Flash Brewing's season triple IPA Green Bullet from 7-11 p.m. New Zealand grown Pacific Gem and Green Bullet hops were used to create this bold IPA with notes of spicy pine, mango and pineapple. Also on tap will be Flash's Saison Diego, East Village Pilsner and Road Warrior Imperial Rye IPA.

3. Filmmaker Isaac Olsen and band Girl Trouble collaborated on a gallery exhibition to accompany the Olsen's film about Girl Trouble, Strictly Sacred. Fulcrum Gallery hosts the exhibit, with an opening-night gala from 6 to 10. It highlights T-shirt art by guitarist "Kahuna" Henderson, paintings by drummer Bon Von Wheelie, a dress worn by octogenarian dancer and Girl Trouble superfan Granny Go-Go, and a massive store of art and arcana from a band that's still happily banging away. Read Christian Carvajal's full story on the show and film run at The Grand Cinema here.

3. Will Eno, a playwright (and Pulitzer finalist) born in 1965, was cocky enough to write his own, 21st-century take on Our Town. The resulting script, Middletown, is less than four years old, so it truly is about the meaning of life in our time. Its ad copy emphasizes the arc of life from birth to death, and that's a fair summation of the play. An anti-Seinfeld, it's a show about everything. It's loaded with jokes, but none are delivered as jokes. We laugh a few seconds later, having solved a mental puzzle. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Middletown in the Music & Culture section., then catch it at 8 p.m. at Harlequin Productions.

As a band name, Golden Hour sounds like it would give you a pretty clear idea of what to expect - when using the term for photography, golden hour (or magic hour or lavender hour) denotes the period just before sunset when everything is slightly aglow with a reddish hue, lending a softness and clarity to image, so you might naturally picture a twee gentleness to any band that would adopt the name. While there's a certain delicate air to Portland's Golden Hour, there's a lurking feistiness that lends a twitchy energy to their music. Jangly guitars and cooing vocals will suddenly give way to jubilant yelps. Catch the band with Oh, Rose, Camp Wisdom and Sister Palace at 8 p.m. in Northern.

LINK: Thursday, Sept. 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, AUG. 30 2014 >>>

1. Hailing from Seattle, The Fabulous Frenzy Tour is a collective of touring burlesque artists bringing high quality and sexy entertainment hitting the Rhythm and Rye stage at 8 p.m. See Tootsie Spangles, Queenie O'Hart, Jovie DeVoe, Pixie Parcelle and Olympia's own Zsa Zsa Bordeaux take it off.

2. You're either at Bumbershoot or the ParkWay Tavern's IPA Fest today. Both events will be packed with people. We believe the Seattle music and art festival slightly edges out the Tacoma Stadium District tavern's gathering in terms of attendance numbers. Also, Bumbershoot has more Slovakian Gypsy acrobats. The ParkWay's IPA Fest is a huge deal. It has been circled on calendars for months. Vacation days have been submitted. Relatives have been shunned. The ParkWay's taps will be consumed by 32 deliciously bitter India pale ales from 11 a.m. to close. It's a true tribute to hops and those who love them. Listen to Radio On and The Rusty Cleavers beginning at 3 p.m. Enjoy burgers and ribs off the barbecue.

3. The LeMay Car Show is definitely a unique event. More than 500 vintage vehicles from the LeMay Family Collection are on view at the LeMay Museum at Marymount Academy, plus hundreds more at the LeMay home grounds, and local owners of vintage cars bring their vehicles for display on the Marymount show fields. The LeMay Car Show is a two location car show, which means that it's the one day a year that in addition to the LeMay Collections at Marymount, Nancy LeMay and her family open their private LeMay homestead property in Spanaway for the general public to come gawk and walk from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to the vintage vehicles, there are special displays of dolls, antiques, a General Store and Soda Fountain Room and more Americana.

4. Remember when jazz guitarist Ed Taylor gigged every weekend in the South Sound? His residential move to Seattle put a sad nix on that habit. Good news. The accomplished guitarist and his band play at 7 p.m. in the Al Lago Ristorante at Bonney Lake. That's right, a view of the lake and Mount Rainier, flavorful Southern Italian menu and Ed. Nice.

5. There are artists that transcend time and space and still sound sparkling decades later - the Stones, the Clash, AC/DC, even the Cult and Metallica to a degree - and then there are a lot of records that fairly scream out their genre and historical notch on the musical scale. Soundgarden's catalog belongs in the latter category. Most date-specific bands lose a good deal of their original vibrant color when a sample is placed against the musical fabric of the moment. Soundgarden doesn't. Yeah, the band sounds weighty, fat, dark purple and muddy as hell. It still sounds damn good. Catch them with Nine Inch Nails at 7 p.m. at the White River Amphitheatre.

LINK: Saturday, Aug. 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area