THURSDAY, MAY 29 2014 >>>

1. Jackie Kashian is funny, snarky, smart, Wisconsin-y, and, well a dork. Her podcast, The Dork Forest, is dense with her obsessions with video games, comic books and birdwatching. On The Dork Forest, Kashian interviews fellow comedians as well as non-celebrity guests, focusing the conversation around her guests' "dorkdoms" - special obsessions that may or may not fall within the bounds of traditional nerdiness. As a comedian, her act is sharp and warm, biting and personable. She talks about her Midwestern upbringing and salesman father; her marriage to a fellow dork and video game designer; and her current life in Los Angeles. All this comedic wonderfulness is going to be at the Tacoma Comedy Club at 8 p.m. 

2. The ParkWay Tavern hosts a Planned Parenthood fundraiser featuring Pike Brewing Company's Morning After Pale Ale beginning at 5 p.m. Expect a raffle. Expect a Randle.

3. Three Pacific Northwest writers - Sophia Pfaff-Shalmiyev, Cooper Lee Bombardier and Inga Muscio - will read from their works about gender, loss and racism at 7:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library.

4. Charley's Pub in Fircrest hosts "Real Chicago Blues Thursdays" featuring Richard Molina at 8 p.m.

5. Brewing a hot pot of shoegaze and Krautrock bubbled through a psych filter, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete knows how to ride the edge of groove and gently cut back to spacey atmospherics to superb effect. Catch the band with Billions & Billions at 9 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

LINK: Thursday, May 29 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, MAY 26 2014 >>>

1. Memorial Day is the one day of the year that we set aside to remember and honor our country's patriots, yet we owe them a debt of gratitude, every day of every year. The Evergreen State College will hold a remembrance roll-call commemoration honoring the U.S. military men and women of all races, faiths, and nationalities who have died serving in the global war on terror at noon in the Evergreen State College Library Lobby. There will also be an exhibit of names of all of the U.S. military fatalities since the start of the war. Both are open to the public. Pierce County Veterans Advisory Council and Mountain View Funeral Home, Memorial Park & Crematory present their annual Veterans Memorial Day Service at 2 p.m. at the Joint Services Memorial in Mountain View's Garden of Honor section. The general public is warmly welcomed to participate.

2. In director James Gray's The Immigrant, Ewa Cybulksi (Marion Cotillard) and her sister, Magda (Angela Sarafyan), arrive at Ellis Island in 1921, intent on pursuing the fabled "American Dream." Their plans get derailed when Magda is denied entry and quarantined due to a lung disease and Ewa is nearly deported because of alleged prostitution on the very ship that brought her to New York. The mysterious Bruno Weiss (Joaquin Phoenix) gets Ewa out of trouble and into a dancing gig in his Bandits' Roost Theater where she can earn money for her sister's treatment. There's just one catch: Bruno's dancers dance vertically and horizontally. It's far from the glamorous new life Ewa imagined, but it's a means to an end. Catch the film at 12:15, 2:50, 5:30 and 8:45 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

3. Creative Colloquy, which goes down at 7 p.m. at B Sharp Coffee House, encourages scribes to connect with like minds. Short stories and novel excerpts are encouraged but other prose is welcomed. Each performer will have up to 5 minutes to read. Opportunities are based upon those who arrive and sign up first. Tonight's featured storytellers include Nick stokes, L. Lisa Lawrence, William Norris Turbyfill and the work of Alec Clayton performed by actors Sharry O'Hare, Michael O'Hara and Christian Carvajal. Come imbibe in libations or sip on roasted bean concoctions and watch storytellers do the thing they do best - narrate their tales.

4. New vintage swing band Chickadee will perform tunes that invoke and satisfy dreams and passions for dancing and romancing at 8 p.m. in Rhythm and Rye in downtown Olympia.

5. Every Monday at 9 p.m. Jazzbones is packed to the brim with college kids. Party types. The type that wear tight shirts and trucker hats. Throngs of Chad Fratguys and Sarah Sororitysisters swarm the bar, line up for the bathroom and dance to the Rockaraoke - live band karaoke. The Rockaraoke band is skilled, too. Expect $2 PBR drafts, $3 Sinfire shots and $4 Smirnoff flavor vodka bombs.

LINK: Monday, May 26 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, MAY 22 2014 >>>

1. Lights! Camera! Acne! Here is a unique film event for local cinephiles to support. This could be your chance to meet the next Scorsese, or at least DePalma. The Tacoma School of the Arts seniors Dylan and Dustin Rich will produce the Tacoma High School Film Festival, in partnership with the Tacoma Film Festival and The Grand Cinema. The program will include the screening of a collection of original short films by filmmakers who are students at local high schools followed by a film discussion with the filmmakers in The Grand's lower lobby. Our words of advice: Remember these kids' names - chances are you'll be seeing them again soon enough. The Grand turns on the projector at 6:45 p.m.

2. King's Books hosts a special reading from the new anthology Reverberations from Fukushima: 50 Japanese Poets Speak Out at 7 p.m. The U.S. editor, Leah Stenson, will read selections from, and talk about, this important new collection about the horrors of the century's first nuclear disaster and the empathy required to heal our communities.

3. We're not certain if they'll be school hazing inside Tacoma Community College Building 2 Auditorium, be we're certain awesome music will be performed when the TCC Symphonic Band and Jazz Band host the Eastern Washington University Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and Code Red (pep band) for a 7 p.m. concert.

4. What happens when you fuse spoken word with deep, funny, tender, raucous Broadway tunes? Claudette Evans, an alumnus of AMDA College and Conservatory of New York City, brings her heavenly powerhouse voice to the B Sharp Coffee House in collaboration with Tacoma poet Lucas Smiraldo, beginning at 7 p.m. "Being Alive" explores the life of one lonely soul in the aftermath of the 911 attacks. 

5. Oregon-based folky Alice DiMicele will drop by Traditions Café at 8 p.m. to bust out a soothing blend of acoustic-soul and folk-rock. She's shared the stage with some of music's best, including Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, JJ Cale, David Grisman, Arlo Guthrie and Steve Winwood. Don't screw up.

LINK: Thursday, May 22 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, MAY 13 2014 >>>

1. It's a true-enough story about something that really happened: Posing as a Canadian filmmaker, a CIA agent got six Americans out of Tehran in 1980 after an angry mob of "students" stormed our embassy and held its occupants hostage for 444 days, a siege that gave us, more or less, the Reagan presidency. Mark Lijek was one of those six hiding in Iran. At 10:30 a.m. in the Garfield Book Company, Lijek will reveal how he and the five other Americans avoided capture, detail their months of hiding and describe the facts of the CIA rescue, which includes more Canadian involvement than portrayed in the film, Argo. 

2. The exhibition called "Wet" and subtitled "Abstract Expressionism in Fluidity, Movement and Space" at B2 Fine Art is a retrospective of work by Chuck Smart with some works by other well-known artists thrown in - like Yakime Brown, who is beginning to make a splash in New York; Judy Hintz Cox, a regular at B2 who has four excellent paintings in this show. And just for good measure there are a few glass vessels by Dale Chihuly. But Brown, Chihuly and Cox are bonus artists. What this show is really all about is the amazing artwork of Chuck Smart. Read Alec Clayton's full review of "Wet: Abstract Expressionism in Fluidity, Movement and Space" in the Music & Culture section, then check out the show from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. Next Goal Wins, a documentary about American Samoa's soccer team and how it became known as the worst soccer team on the planet after compiling a 0-31 record, will screen at 2 and 7 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

4. Twelve years ago, Jason Padgett was a party-loving jock and a college dropout who'd never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging permanently and profoundly altered the way his brain works, giving him unique gifts. He's now a devoted student and an award-winning artist, hand-drawing the stunning geometric patterns he sees everywhere. His is the first documented case of acquired savant syndrome with mathematical synesthesia. At 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch, Padgett discusses his book, Struck By Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel.

5. You are getting sleepy, v-e-r-y sleepy. Now, go see the hypnotist show at 8 p.m. inside the Red Wind Casino. Whether a skeptic or believer, the show will be sure to entertain with its comedy, rock and roll and outrageous hypnosis, like people sneezing and having orgasms(!) when Ron Stubbs, the man behind the magic, utters the word "pepper."

LINK: Tuesday, May 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, APRIL 28 2014 >>>

1. The Swiss Restaurant & Pub celebrates its 21st birthday will run 11 a.m. to close. The Swiss and 7 Seas Brewing in Gig Harbor collaborated on a special imperial red ale for the occasion, which will be released at 11 a.m. Raffle prizes will be doled out on the 21st minute of every hour. Junkyard Jane will hit the stage at 8 p.m., normal starting time for bands during The Swiss' popular weekly Monday Night Blues sessions. The show and party are free. 

2. Cocktail aficionado Hilltop Kitchen hosts a Vino de Mezcal tasting at 2 p.m. That's right, artisanal mezcal on a Monday afternoon. So nice. The entire line of Vino de Mezcal from Fundación Agaves Silvestres will be poured as daylight shines through the Hilltop Tacoma lounge. The $45 ticket price includes the taster flight of seven mezcals and light snacks. This is a delightful opportunity to discover something new and gain boozy insight and knowledge. The man behind these spirits, Erick "Alma Mezcalera," will be in the house. Tickets are at brownpapertickets.com.

3. The Weekly Volcano's art critic's prose will be read by the Weekly Volcano's theater critic at Creative Colloquay, which was founded by the Weekly Volcano's food critic. The literary event will also feature storytellers Jack Cameron, Titus Burley, J Anne Fullerton and David Mucklow reading from their works. An open mic follows. Talk may be cheap, but Creative Colloquay is free. Step up at 7 p.m. in the B Sharp Coffee House.

4. The Tacoma Cult Movie Club continues its homage to Mike Vraney of Something Weird Video with screenings at 7 p.m. in the Acme Grub Cage. Besides free admission and popcorn, expect a large raffle, which will include gift certificates from Olympic Cards and Comics.

5. Jazzbones has amped up its weekly live band karaoke. For the past six weeks it has hosted a singing contest with the grand prize being two nights and flight to Las Vegas. Tonight at 9 p.m. is the finals. 

LINK: Monday, April 28 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014 >>>

1. For most musicians the worlds of classical and modern music move in different orbits, if not galaxies. But when he sits down Thursday at the piano in the Rialto Theater, Christopher O'Riley should, once again, bring these spheres together. American pianist O'Riley has been sneaking Radiohead into the classical music world for years. As host of NPR's child-musician showcase From the Top, he gets to pick the music that gets played during station breaks. Rather than Mendelssohn preludes, O'Riley would draw up piano transcriptions of pop songs, which he'd then play without preannouncing. O'Riley will tape From the Top in front of a live audience at 7:30 p.m. in the Rialto Theater. If they haven't listen to anything written since 1900, he most likely will mess with their heads.

2. More than 50 establishments will be participating in Dining Out for Life today. During this large scale culinary fundraiser 25 percent of your bill will go directly to fund AIDS and HIV advocacy care and prevention programs. All types of cuisine are available from the rise of the sun until that late night nibble in the South Sound. Check out full details and a list of participating restaurants at diningoutforlife.com.   

3. Say friend. Do you like the poetry? Tacoma Poet Laureate Lucas Smiraldo is back at B Sharp Coffee House for another "Live at the Auricle" show. Spoken word will be fused with the musical styling of percussion master Davidson Gomez beginning at 7 p.m. An open mic will follow.

4. Barleywine Revue is just awesome. The band writes and performs contemporary, relevant bluegrass and Americana music while paying homage to the traditions that have come in generations before ... think Bill Monroe meets Bill Withers. Oh man, that's fresh! Catch the band from 7-10 p.m. at The Swiss Restaurant & Pub.

5. Formed by Dustin Hill, Black Pussy is a band that leans into the stoner rock label, despite the fact that listening to their music doesn't instantly evoke images of smoke sessions and unbearable jams. Rather, their sound and look is absolutely reminiscent of the '70s and the nascent birth of cock rock, back when cock rock was essentially still just synonymous with rock 'n' roll. They come across like the fictional band at the center of Almost Famous - all long hair, denim, booze, and groupies for days, a band lost in time. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Black Pussy in the Music & Culture section, then catch the band at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge. 

LINK: Thursday, April 24 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 2014 >>>

1. In honor of National Poetry Month, the Olympia Poetry Network will allow local lit nerds to pay homage to their beloved late poets, as members read poems, hopefully, in full costume with accompanying props. The séance will summon Kenneth Rexroth, Adrienne Rich, May Swenson, Jane Kenyon, Denise Levertov and Frank O'Hara at 6:30 p.m. in Traditions Cafe. Those are certainly worthy poets to summon. An open mic is available for those attending to channel other dead poets. We'll give big ups to anyone who can pull off a Whitman beard, and we'd be pretty impressed to see someone show up in a full-on Emerson three-piece suit. At the very least, light a cig and say your Cummings.

2. Artist Yvette Endrijautzki presents "CONSTELLATION - an Overture to the Zodiac" featuring 40 local, national and international artists interpreting the 12 Zodiac signs via different media from noon to 6 p.m. at Tacoma's Fulcrum Gallery.

3. Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Tacoma hosts an artist reception for local artist Sandra Offutt and some of the Metropolitan Vet team, which will include raffle prizes, from 5-7 p.m.

4. Olympia Timberland Library presents "Celebration of the Species," four Wednesday evening events in April featuring presentations by experts on some of the wild animals that live among us, often in our own backyards or just over the fence. At 7:30 p.m., author and citizen scientist Maria Mudd Ruth discusses "The Marbled Murrelet.

5. Pink Martini's blend of American swing, Latin rhythms and chamber arrangements, along with vocals in five languages, give the group's largely original material mass appeal - meaning the audiences consist of people who normally don't sit next to each other. Thomas Lauderdale of Portland, Oregon, founded the "little orchestra" Pink Martini in 1994. It has gone on to become a genre unto itself. We adore the band's cosmopolitan mix of Disneyfied Latin rhythms, cabaret Orientalia and Arabic tunes kissed with carnival atmospherics and ragtime horns. Catch the band with the von Trapp Family Singers at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

LINK: Wednesday, April 16 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 2014 >>>

1. If someone asks, "How are you?" and you smile warmly and say, "I feel great and life is amazing," something is clearly wrong with you and you should be shunned. We mean, obviously. Life is one giant death-defying chase. Don't believe us? Catch six, thrilling real-life stories from local people who found themselves in a chase: on rollerblades, with government officials, after a murder suspect, for sexiness, for a reason to live and as fast as the speed of sound. It's called Drunken Telegraph, and the chase begins at 7:30 p.m. in Broadway Center's Studio III. Got a chase story? After the main-stage performers, audience members can take their own turn sharing stories on the spot during the "Story Slam." Do tell.

OK, if you are going to have nine bands play a show, it's awesome to start at 4:30 in the afternoon, and it's awesome to make it all ages. So, there's that going for Captain Jack Fest '14. The other thing going is it's at The Midnight Sun, which is going through some changes. But, perhaps, the most important thing is the line-up totally rules. Do I write about our 2014 Best of Olympia Best New Band winner Fruit Juice and their poppy, fantastic dance vibe? Do we write about Mosquito Hawk's sexy, tight, space-themed rock? Or do we write about Captain Algebra's punk/metal, Karp-esque skills? Man, Olympia rules.

Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly, when performed well, fulfills all of the promise of what opera can be. It is a perfect story of innocent love and betrayal. Cio-Cio-San - Butterfly's Japanese name - is one of the best-developed and most sympathetic characters in the operatic repertoire.  And the music that envelops this touching tale is rich with melody and orchestration. Opera lovers look forward to seeing it time and time again, and many a novice has come to love opera through Butterfly.  Experience Tacoma Opera's version at 7:30 p.m. in the Pantages Theater.

Pacific Lutheran University's Dance Concert 2014 is a repertory dance concert comprised of dances created by PLU student choreographers, PLU's Dance Team, and two works of professional choreography by Director Paula J. Peters and guest choreographer Mary Reardon. A variety of choreographic works featuring upbeat rhythms, strong and succinct movements, and elegant sophistication revealed through serious and comical pieces will hit Eastvold Auditorium's stage at 7:30 p.m.

5. The Portland Cello Project and Stephanie Anne Johnson - who enjoyed an extended run on NBC's "The Voice - will perform at 8 p.m. in the Blue Mouse Theater. 

LINK: Friday, April 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TUESDAY, APRIL 8 2014 >>>

1. While pipes and whistles could also describe half the Volcano's staff's college years, more accurately (and relevant to this attempt at blurb-sized information spreading) it's the description given to the Battlefield Band, scheduled for 8 p.m. in Traditions Café and World Folk Art.The Battlefield Band has led and been at the forefront of a great revival in Scottish music. Enjoy the unmistakable fusion of old songs and music with ancient and modern instruments. In the last couple of years the band has added a very dynamic young fiddler and piper Ewen Henderson who performed with the band at their last Traditions show. He joins talented musicians Sean O'Donnell, Alasdair White and Mike Katz. If you know anything about Scottish music, you have all ready bought your tickets.

2. Claude Lanzmann built Shoah, his nine-hour, 1985 Holocaust documentary, from more than 350 hours of footage - interviews, staged scenes, silent European landscapes as seen from a passing train, their secrets reborn in tender shades of green. At the age of 85, Lanzmann revisited footage from his groundbreaking Holocaust documentary and assembled a story that haunted him for years; one that very few people know. Lanzmann's film The Last of the Unjust center on Benjamin Murmelstein, the last president of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council, who was forced to have daily negotiations with Nazi official Adolf Eichmann. See The Last of the Unjust at 1:15 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema.

3. Commencement Bay Haiku will meet at 6 p.m. in 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 may use this haiku about King's Books cats: Wanna go outside. Oh, no! Help! I got outside! Let me back inside!

4. What little information there is to be found about Seattle quartet, Be Calm Honcho, indicates an almost off-putting confidence for such a young band. Led by vocalist Shannon Harney's insinuating lilt, Be Calm Honcho create indie rock that drifts dreamily along, punctuated by stabs of surfy guitars and winsome oohs and aahs. Catch the band with Oh Rose!, New Slang and Judson Claiborne at 9 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

5. The 1230 Room probably has you at "$4 lemon drops," but you also may be interested in the downtown Olympia club's Tuesday deep, tech and progressive house night "Deep Tuesdays." It launches at 9 p.m. with drink specials, no cover and resident DJs Alex Bosi and Evan Mould.

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

MONDAY, APRIL 7 2014 >>>

1. Writing good poetry isn't something that comes naturally to everyone. It's hard to find that "inner voice" without sounding cliché. Maybe there's help: Poetry Matters is a two-session poetry workshop encouraging poets and poetry lovers to share feelings and words in a noncritical atmosphere, led by poet Joanne Clarkson. The inaugural session is at 7 p.m. in the Lakewood Library offering exercises in sound, form, voice, image, memoir and story inspiration from favorite poets using different styles and subjects. Writing prompts and suggestions to keep the muse singing, if you will. April 21 will be the day you share.

2. Perhaps no single substance, save for water, has had the vital impact on humanity that wood has. From the very trees that provide this resource, to myriad man-made uses, we interact with wood on some level every day of our lives. Now, a range of artists interprets the significance of one of nature's most abundant organic materials in The Meaning of Wood, which opens at noon in The Gallery at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts. 

3. The titanic burger throwdown finale in on! Voting for the 2014 Weekly Volcano Tournament of Burgers Readers' Poll Championship game is live. Online voting will end at 5 p.m. Voting will resume at 6 p.m. live at the Tournament of Burgers Party at Meconi's Tacoma Pub in downtown Tacoma. Ballots will be handed out, which will also serve as raffle tickets. The live vote will close at halftime of the NCAA Men's Tournament final and the South Sound Burger champion will be announced. Join us!

4. Our ears perked up and our stomachs flipped a little when we heard the phrase "ultra cool spy themes." It sounds dangerous and sexy. Blues, that most American of musical forms, will receive a dose of spy music, as well as surf tones, at The Swiss' Monday Blues Night at 8 p.m. Seattle guitarist and singer Chris Stevens will fill the downtown Tacoma watering hole with electric blues lines via a big Gibson archtop. Taking their unusual name from a song title by legendary blues guitarist Freddy King, Stevens' back band, the Surf Monkeys, keep a firm footing in the blues while stretching the boundaries with "ultra cool spy themes," reverb drenched surf twang and Chris' own "blues on the edge of jazz" originals.

5. Jazzbones has amped up its weekly live band karaoke. Every Monday at 9 p.m. for the next four weeks it's hosting a singing contest with the grand prize being two nights and flight to Las Vegas. Jazzbones will choose three finalists from each night to compete in the finals. The competition will be judged by the applause-o-meter.

LINK: Monday, April 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area