MONDAY, AUG. 25 2014 >>>

1. As a band, Emby Alexander resemble Parenthetical Girls, who also dabble in experimental album structures and concepts. Combining chamber pop with modern affectations and unbridled energy is the calling card of Emby Alexander. The variety and depth of the bands to whom they're compared should say it all-among them being the Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, the Smiths and David Bowie - but the aggressive beauty denotes a restless worker behind all of these frantic sounds. While they don't quite possess the assertive experimentation of the Dirty Projectors, Emby Alexander don't lean on the inherent prettiness of their classical experimentation. Including looped samples and virulent percussion, Emby Alexander come prepared to attack. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Emby Alexander in the Music and Culture section, then catch the band with Middlewave, The Straws and Crowd the Sky at 8 p.m. in Northern.

2. Weekly Volcano scribe Jackie Fender has created Creative Colloquy aiming to share Tacoma's rich literary talents and foster relationships built upon mutual admiration of the written word. Held at 7 p.m. on the last Monday in B Sharp Coffee House, the spoken word night has been so successful a print publication is in the works with a driving Indiegogo campaign. CC heads back to the B this week with Pierce County Prosecutor and author Mark Lindquist in the house as the emcee, keeping Joshua Swainston, Alec Clayton (performed by actor Steve Tarry), Aaron Flett and Dawn Ellis between the lines, reading from selected pieces of work and immediately followed by an open mic. Come imbibe in libations or sip on roasted bean concoctions and watch storytellers do the thing they do best - narrate their tales.

3. A fitting fanfare to the end of August, eight piece ensemble Trumpets Five are reuniting with standard jazz tunes, modern jazz classics, and a few original tunes all expertly arranged for five voices. Seattle jazz icons Jay Thomas and Thomas Marriott are joined by Jim Sisko and Olympia trumpeters Syd Potter and Andy Omdahl for an evening of excitement and lush, harmonious blends at 8 p.m. in Rhythm & Rye.

4. The Crazy Texas Gypsies will play The Swiss' Blues Monday series at 8 p.m. Founded in 1999 by vocalist and guitarist Kenny Williams and bass player and vocalist Kevin Fraser, this rockin' blues band has opened for ZZ TOP, Ted Nugent, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, The Ford Brothers and many others. With the addition of drummer Billy Barner and keyboardist Doug Skoog in 2012, the band is crazy good.

5. Full Moon Radio, Broken Water, Kt Spit and Underpass perform at 8 p.m. at Dumpster Values clothing store in downtown Olympia.

LINK: Monday, Aug. 25 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, AUG. 14 2014 >>>

1. CannaCon opens today at 10 a.m. in the Tacoma Dome and runs through Sunday. The cannabis convention is more home-and-garden show than a public smoke-out as marihuana smoking will not be allowed. More than 500 exhibitors - Pipes, vaporizers, dirt, nutrients, lights and everything else but no medicine, because it has to be I-502 compliant. Also expect a whole section about hemp, from biofuels to paper, makeup, all the things that can be made out of hemp.

2. Tacoma Runners was founded over beers. When the weekly running group launches its 3-mile run at a brewery, it's almost like coming home. We have no idea what that means, so meet at 7 Seas Brewing in Gig Harbor at 6:30 p.m. and get in on the party. 7 Seas Brewing was named Best Brewery in Pierce County in the Weekly Volcano's 2014 Best of Tacoma issue.

3. Old Growth Poetry Collective is hosting a weekly poetry open mic at Cafe Love every Thursday at 7 p.m. A different featured spoken word artist from the Cascadia area is featured every week.

4. Not sure what this means astrologically speaking, but it's time again for another Jazz Under the Stars concert, which kicks off at 7 p.m. in the outdoor amphitheater of the Mary Baker Russell Music Center on the Pacific Lutheran University campus. The Jazz Sound Trio is in the house, which is comprised of PLU faculty members David Deacon-Joyner on piano, Clipper Anderson on bass and Mark Ivester on drums. In this performance, the trio will back Scott Whitfield, one of the world's greatest jazz trombonists, and his wife, Ginger Berglund, the newest addition to the legendary Modernaires. Show organizers say the event series has only been rained out twice (it heads indoors if it rains), so pack yourself a picnic.

5. New York City-based comedian Joe Zimmerman is praised for his accessible style of comedy that combines absurdity with a fun loving demeanor. He has been selected by Ricky Gervais as a Conan contest finalist and can be heard regularly on SiriusXM and Pandora. He is an original member of the Beards of Comedy. Catch him at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Comedy Club.

LINK: Thursday, Aug. 14 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Tacoma has a poet laureate!

Smiraldo, Lucas, is our wordsmith's name.

His Laureate Listening Project-what of it?

It seeks to bring our local verse acclaim.

Smiraldo gathers verse from Northwest pens,

Each ode about a neighborhood locale.

We'll see Tacoma through poetic lens;

A "sense of place" is Lucas' rationale.

Each poem will be read in spoken word,

Then posted to a Google map online.

Thus searchable, the poem may be heard

Accompanied by music. How divine!

To learn the many other things we'll get,

Consult VanillaSoul@clear.net.

MONDAY, JULY 28 2014 >>>

1. Tacoma has a few Irish traditions. One of them is going to Doyle's Public House on St. Patrick's Day and being part of a party so huge that anyone can incidentally wander (stagger?) into St. Helens Avenue and block it like a giant amoeba without having to worry about being arrested or asked to please step aside. Hopefully, here's a new tradition. David McDonnell, author of ClanDonnell, the epic story of Ireland told through the lives of the McDonnell clan and their descendants, will discuss his family history at 7 p.m. in King's Books. Because the first McDonnells were mercenaries called to service in all corners of Ireland, the clan's history is intertwined with the history of the entire island. Immediately following the talk, the group will wander (not stagger) next door for storytelling at Doyle's.

2. A visit to Bill Colby's latest exhibition at The Gallery at Tacoma Community College is like a trip to the beach. The gallery is filled with - by my cursory count - 44 bright paintings dominated by clear blue water and clear blue sky complemented by rocks of bright orange. It's a feast for the eyes, restful and joyous. "The joy of nature is within all of us and in my art work," said Colby in his artist's statement. "'Water and Rocks' has been an evolving theme from 1956 to the present." Read Alec Clayton's full review of Bill Colby's "Water And Rocks: A Journey" in the Music and Culture section, then see the show from noon to 5 p.m.

3. A Most Wanted Man is a taut, tense spy thriller, a fitting swan song for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and a poignant reminder of why he was a most wanted man in Tinseltown. Read Jared Lovrak's review of the film here, then catch it at The Grand Cinema at 1:10, 3:45, 6:20 and 9 p.m.

4. Flamenco dancer and Seattle native Savannah Fuentes presents La Luna Nueva, a presentation of Spanish flamenco music and dance featuring special guest artist, direct from Spain, world renowned flamenco singer Jose Anillo in The New Frontier Lounge at 8 p.m.

5. Podunk Funk will combine elements of jazz, rock, Bluegrass, classical, fun, and many other influences to produce a "jazz-grass and psycho-grass" sound in Rhythm and Rye in downtown Olympia at 8 p.m. 

LINK: Monday, July 28 arts and entertainment event sin the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, JULY 22 2014 >>>

1. A few years ago, Canadian filmmaker Brent Hodge was at dinner with friends when one of them, Ashleigh Ball, started talking about a curious side-effect of her job. Ball is the voice of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and other characters on the TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Her biggest fans? Little girls ... and grown men. "Bronies" are mostly men who are fans of the show. They get their day in the sun in A Brony Tale, a documentary screening at 2 and 7 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

2. Join film critic Robert Horton for a conversation about some of the wildest book-to-movie adaptations and how they can show us something new at 6:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. Horton will touch on some notably creative adaptations. How did The Tempest become Forbidden Planet? How did Jane Eyre turn into I Walked with a Zombie? And how on earth did the Coen Brothers take Homer's Odyssey and come up with O Brother, Where Art Thou? See how a wild adaptation cannot only illuminate the original, even when we barely recognize it, but also teach us about being open to the unexpected.

3. The Beatniks, Seattle's most famous cover band ('60s-'80s) will perform an outside concert at Skansie Brothers Park in Gig Harbor beginning at 6:30 p.m.

4. Every Tuesday night at Stonegate Pizza on South Tacoma Way Leanne Trevalyan hosts an acoustic open mic at 8 p.m.

5. The Washington Center hosts the legendary Joan Baez for an evening encompassing five decades of music. Baez, a fixture of the 1960s folk and protest movements as well as concert companion to Bob Dylan, remains a musical force of nature whose influence is incalculable. Her earliest recordings fed traditional ballads into the rock vernacular with appeal extending far beyond folk music. She takes the stage at 8 p.m.

LINK: Tuesday, July 22 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, JULY 8 2014 >>>

1. I remember the day when my junior high buddies and I finished our weekly Wednesday of all-you-can-eat Pizza Haven feast then strolled into the Villa Plaza to check out girls inside the Liberty House store. Suddenly girls took a back seat when sitting in the middle of the store was the debut of Pong. The store manager had to kick us out. Today, video-game competitions are serious business, with tens of thousands of dollars in prize money at stake, sponsorship deals and all the other trappings of a big-league sport. But there was a time when video games were much simpler - and probably a lot more fun, too. The Tacoma Public Library wants my generation to relive those good times. It's hosting a Retro Video Gaming for Grownups night from 5-7 p.m., erecting Atari, Nintendo Entertainment System, PS1 and Gamecube systems. Who's up for some Missile Command? Oh joystick! 

2. Jessica Oreck's documentary Aatsinki: The Story of Artic Cowboys chronicles a year-in-the-life of Finnish reindeer herder brothers Aarne and Lasse Aatsinki's rugged existence. Hear sounds of crackling flames, the insistent rasp of wind against her microphone and the hum of a generator at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

3. Join author Novella Carpenter for a reading from her latest book, Gone Feral, at 6 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. After writing the national best seller, Farm City, Carpenter has turned to write a more personal book about her family. The book documents her quest to find her missing mountain man father. Novella was raised in Shelton, and currently lives in Oakland, Calif. 

4. This may be a bit weird, but our favorite smell in the world is polyester ink. The strong odor makes us weak in the knees, which is why we are pumped for Last Word Books' poetry reading at 7 p.m. Last Word moved to 111 Cherry Street NE in Olympia, sharing a building with local screen printing company Don't Stop Printing. Sure, our ears will be tuned to poets Adam Hassel, Paul Elliott, Craig Harrison, Cleo Divine and Tess Elizabeth, but our noses will be wandering.

5. The Doors tribute band The American Night hits the Red Wind Casino's stage at 8 p.m. Strange days have found us.

LINK: Tuesday, July 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, JUNE 30 2014 >>>

1. When's the last time someone read you a story? If it's been a while, check out the latest Creative Colloquy session at 7 p.m. in the B Sharp Coffee House. This installment of the wonderfully satisfying monthly storytelling series centers on the YA genre. Featured yarns will be spun by New York Times Best Selling author Marissa Meyer, Michaela Eaves, Brook Ellen West, Karen Harris Tully and the winner of CC's Youth Writer Contest. As usual, all scribes are encouraged to attend and read their works, to test the prose or read finished work. Reading opportunities are available on a first come, first sign up basis and authors are asked to keep content performance at 5-minute maximum.

2. According to Fed Up, the latest from writer-director Stephanie Soechtig, Oscar-winning producer Laurie David and Katie Couric, (who also narrates the film), sugar reigns supreme among the most corruptive comestibles lining shelves and plates across America, not to mention our digestive tracts and circulatory systems. And according to this documentary, we eat a lot of it, whether we know it or not. Read Jared Lovrak's full review of the film on our Served in the South Sound blog, then catch it at 2, 4:20 and 9:05 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

3. Dean Reichert's soulful voice carries in it the history of American popular music: There's the down-home rhythm and testifying punch of gospel-based R&B, the snarl of the blues, the mournful rumination of honky-tonk, sultry jazz and the up-front sexuality of funk. Oh, and he's a talent guitar player, too. Reichert heads to The Swiss at 8 p.m. for the Tacoma joint's longstanding blues night.

4. Local comedian and host Eric Puddin Lorentzen hosts the "Monday Madness Comedy Night with Puddin" at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge. Expect 6-10 minute sets, each recorded. The audience will choose a winner, who will headline the following week. It was the great Bill Cosby who said, "Puddin, you can't be a comedian without him," or something.

5. Singer-songwriter Chelsey Heidenreich lives and grew up in the small town of Ritzville, Wash. She brings her indie folk sound to Le Voyeur at 10 p.m.

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

THURSDAY, JUNE 26 2014 >>>

1. Like the residents of Yelm, Washington, United States of America, we're super-psyched for the big and annual "Yelm Prairie Days Parade" which strolls down Yelm Avenue at 7 p.m. and has all the great parade stuff, marching bands, drill teams, fire trucks, old cars, various community organizations, girls wearing white gloves, Joint Base Lewis-McChord represent, farm animals, open-topped cars with like "Miss Yelm" and "Jr. Miss Yelm" and stuff like that, marching-band people carrying bigass drums and horns and whatever, and, of course, nutty guys with the tiny cars The parade kicks off Yelm Prairie Days, which runs through the weekend at Yelm City Park.

2. When the weather starts to turn warm, there's nothing we love more than to spend a night with a great book and spicy stir-fried fiddleheads with chile paste, sesame oil and walnuts. OK, maybe we also enjoy a little company, but where to find someone with the same weaknesses? Consider heading to The Commons at Fertile Ground at 6 p.m. for the Olympia Food Co-op's new Read and Eat book and potluck club. This week, the book they will discuss is Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, Novella Carpenter's story of her move to an Oakland, Calif., neighborhood plagued by gang violence and her decision, despite the circumstances, to dive headfirst into urban farming.

3. The Copper Door in Tacoma's Stadium District hosts Double Mountain Brewer's Night featuring the release of the Hood River brewery's Cluster Single-Hop IPA with pineapple and orange flavors, dewy herbal character and a lovely floral note at the top. Also expect the Homestead, Rusty Zipper and free swag beginning at 6 p.m.

4. Tacoma poet Luke Smiraldo presents another Live at the Auricle performance, this time experimenting with word and sound and a loop machine at 7 p.m. in the B Sharp Coffee House. Smiraldo will create an instant collaboration of accapella voice, song and rhythm. Drunken Telegraph winner and Moth second place finisher Jim Kopriva will anchor the second set with a story linked to the loop theme.

5. Hailing from The Rose City, Landon Wordswell combines enthusiasm with sharp craft and delivery on the microphone. Billed as Wordswell's "Return To Olympia," and joined by his homie Mo Stafa, they picked Jezebels Bar and Grill for their return, with a flock of local openers including Dr. Roks, Syncopated Knock, Mistervits, MC Swamptiger, Soulless Kings and Krucial Bars at 8:30 p.m.

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

It'll be left to the nerd history books to unravel just what went so catastrophically wrong with X-Men: The Last Stand (though, let it be said, The Last Stand looks like Citizen Kane compared to X-Men Origins: Wolverine). What we know for certain is that Brett Ratner did no one any favors when he brought his clunky directorial style to the proceedings.

Far be it for Ratner to take all of the blame, however. There was a man named Zak Penn lurking behind the scenes. As the writer for The Last Stand, Penn should shoulder a bit of the blame. But, as you may be thinking, what's one clunker? Everyone makes mistakes! Ah, but, a cursory examination of Penn's IMDB page paints a more disturbing picture. Penn was also the man behind Elektra (which, ugh) and the Inspector Gadget movie.

Still, there's a time for redemption with all of us, and it may come for Penn in the form of his adaptation of Ready Player One, a film that's been long in the gestation process. It's based on a well-liked, breezy, young adult novel about a futuristic world wherein all of mankind lives in a virtual online game. If Penn wants to wrench his nerd cred from the clutches of mediocrity, now is his chance.

Monday, June 30

In local nerd events, Monday sees the arrival of June's installment of Creative Colloquy. In addition to being a literary website, Creative Colloquy doubles as a monthly writing showcase bringing local authors together to read their works for an audience. Previous participants in the live readings include this fine rag's own Christian Carvajal, as well as Nick Stokes and L. Lisa Lawrence, including many others.

This month's edition will focus on works of young adult fiction. Writers featured on Monday include New York Times Bestselling Author Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles), Michaela Eaves (42 Sketches), Brook Ellen West (The Blood Keeper's Prophecy), Karen Harris Tully, and the winner of Creative Colloquy's Youth Writer Contest, Hawwa Alam.

For fans of the written word, as I should hope you all are, this is a great way to discover new talent and get exposed to local voices. The literary scene in Tacoma is one that could use some nourishing, and that's thankfully coming more often in the form of stuff like Creative Colloquy and Post Defiance's upcoming reading silent reading series, SHUT IT (AKA "Silent Happy Uninterrupted Time for Intoxicating Texts") at the Hotel Murano.

In short: read a book!

CREATIVE COLLOQUY, 7 p.m., B Sharp Coffee House, 706 Opera Alley, Tacoma, no cover, 253.292.9969

TUESDAY, JUNE 10 2014 >>>

1. More than 20 years have passed since Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas' workplace sexual harassment. Conservatives then set up a smear campaign to discredit her testimony, but the national dialogue about harassment had changed. The television broadcasts sent shock waves through every office in America, bringing the issue of harassment into the open and ending the Mad Men era forever. Freida Mock documentary Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, is compelling for its first hour, as she recounts the high drama of Thomas' confirmation hearings. The second half shows Hill being applauded at lecterns. So strange to think there are now generations who don't know the name Anita Hill or understand her importance in history, which makes the documentary important. Catch it at 2:10 and 6:45 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

2. Westside Olympia is happening, but that's not news to those who live up on the hill. If you want proof, drop by the Tuesday West Olympia Farmers Market from 4-7 p.m. In addition to an awesome selection of local vendors, this season features live music, raffles and special events. Drop by for fresh produce, baked goods, pastured poultry and meats, flowers, veggie starts and crafts.

3. Commencement Bay Haiku will meet at King's Books to read haiku or one page of haibun (prose with haiku), as well as discuss various aspects of haiku, haibun, or haiga (a painting, sketch or photo with haiku). It's not easy to convert the innards of your soul into scrawled words on paper and then wax rhapsodic as judging eyes stare at you. You have our permission to use this haiku at King's: "At the tractor pull / We shared super nachos, Coors / Belched each others' names."

4. The Pierce College Concert Band presents "A Little Bit of Americana" spring concert including students Aaron Petit on "Rhapsody in Blue" and trumpeter Tyler Rasmussen on "Danse Napolitaine" at 7:30 p.m. at the Pierce College Puyallup campus.

5. Teeph, Joseph, Enumclaw, Mad Mardigan and Amigos On Speed will rock Half Pint Pizza Pub at 8 p.m.

LINK: Tuesday, June 10 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area