TUESDAY, FEB. 11 2014 >>>

1. You can't swing a microphone cable around South Sound's spoken-word poetry scene without hitting William Kupinse. Now the poet, Tacoma's first Poet Laureate and associate professor of English at University of Puget Sound, is teaming up with composer Greg Youtz, professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University, in the performance Poetry Above the Roar: Erin Calata Sings Songs of Gregory Youtzin the Mary Baker Russell Music Building at Pacific Lutheran University. Calata, mezzo-soprano and 2008 alumna of PLU, will sing a cycle of 10 pieces of music composed by Youtz, with words from Kupinse's collection of poems Fallow (2009, Exquisite Disarray). The words should, er, sing around 8 p.m.

2. Kill Your Darlings is the feature directorial debut from John Krokidas. The film focuses on the complicated college days of famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe). Ginsberg's writing talents earn him a place at Columbia University, and he has a bright, if a bit controversial, future ahead of him. He gets to wile away his undergrad days in the company of Beat Generation wunderkinds such as Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster). Heck, his best friend is Lucien Carr (Dane Dehaan)! Ginsberg is also a homosexual in an era when it is both dangerous and illegal to be so, and he's in love with the malevolently manipulative Carr, who takes advantage of him to further his own ends. Then there's that issue of Prof. David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), being murdered in Riverside Park. Read Jared Lovrak's review of the film here, then see it at 1:45 and 6:30 p.m. in The Grand Cinema. 

3. Though often unfelt, the South Sound experiences earthquakes often, raising questions of preparedness for the inevitable "big one." You can never be too prepared or too alert when dealing with earthquakes. Geologists Brian Atwater and Pat Pringle will discuss how to prepare for earthquakes, and volcanoes, at 7 p.m. in The Triad Theater in Yelm.

4. Quick! Tell us who played Violet Bickerstaff, Screech's love interest, on three episodes of the television show Saved by the Bell? If you said "Tori Spelling," then going to a trivia night might be for you. There are trivia competitions all around the South Sound on a Tuesday night, where you can unleash your inner Ken Jennings. Two of our favorite Tuesday night trivia are at Fish Tale Brew Pub in Olympia and Farrelli's Wood-Fire Pizza in Tacoma, both start at 8 p.m.

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, Feb. 11 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, FEB. 10 2014 >>>

1. Sometimes you just need to bang your head. At least we do, and tonight's head-banging options will satiate any and all neck-injuring, hair-thrashing needs you may have. Check out cock-rock dinosaur Michael Schenker - the German guitarist, famous for his half-black, half-white Gibson Flying V guitar - at 9 p.m. in the Rock N Roll Lodge. Schenker - unknown to most, but legend to his fans - started down Debauchery Road at a young age, having played lead guitar for the revered Eurometal bands UFO and Scorpions by the time he was 18 years of age. He went on to the Michael Schenker Group in the '80s, which was one long guitar solo.

2. Myriam J.A. Chancy - a Haitian-Canadian writer and professor of English who wrote The Loneliness of Angels, which explores a spiritual world ranging from mysticism to Judaism - will speak on "The Memory Table" at 5:30 p.m. in the Tahoma Room at Commencement Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. Musician and educator Antonio Davidson-Gomez will discuss Afro-Latin music legacies through a hands-on presentation combining instruments and rhythms with history, language and more at 7 p.m. in the Lakewood Pierce County Library.

4. The New Frontier Lounge isn't The Five Spot on Cooper Square. Then again, it doesn't sit in the East Village of the 1950s either. But, grab the corner bar stool Monday nights at The New Frontier, nurse a double bourbon, close your eyes and let pianist Nate Dybevik, bassist Arneson Cameron and drummer Peter Tietjen take you to the famous New York City jazz club over the din of the drinking Tacoma crowd. It as it should be: hearing cool jazz in a comfortable, no-pressure environment. The Peach Serene Jazz Trio kicks it at 9 p.m.

5. Every Monday 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, $4 Smirnoff flavor vodka bombs.

LINK: Monday, Feb. 10 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, FEB. 7, 2014 >>>

1. Barney Rubble belted it in the bath. Spongebob stole Squidward's thunder by singing it underwater. And most famously, Bugs gnawed his way through several rounds of "Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!" in the toon classic, "Rabbit of Seville." Between its easily followed romcom plot and a score made universally familiar by the aforementioned pop culture references, Rossini's The Barber of Seville is an ideal introduction to opera. Tacoma Opera's presentation will follow the exploits of Seville's self-celebrating barber, Figaro - a character who literally sings his own praises - at 7:30 p.m. in the Rialto Theater. Everybody shares secrets with their barbers, and this barber is only too happy put what he learns to work.

2. As part of its salute to Black History Month, the University of Puget Sound will screen Pariah at 7 p.m. in the Tahoma Room at Commencement Hall on its campus. Directed by Dee Rees, Pariah, follows the journey of Alike, a young African-American woman struggling to embrace her identity as a lesbian.

3. Two of our Tacoma sons return for a 7 p.m. show at B Sharp Coffee House. Dylan Treleven and Colin Scott Reynolds are touring with their new project, The Silver Dollars. Born out of Treleven's desire to write his own material while out on lengthy tours in other bands, the Silver Dollars feels like a natural extension of what began back at SOTA. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on the Silver Dollars in the Music & Culture section.

4. Casey Anderson grew up in Montana surrounded by wild animals and spaces, and was nicknamed the "animal magnet" as a kid. After college, he became a trainer at wildlife parks from the United States to Africa. Then a grizzly bear named Brutus was born in an overpopulated wildlife park and Casey rescued him from being euthanized. He went on to build a sanctuary for Brutus that became Montana Grizzly Encounter, a rescue and education facility he co-owns and directs, and the base from which Casey and Brutus teach park visitors about grizzly anatomy and conservation. An enthusiastic and passionate advocate for wildlife as well as an entertaining and thoughtful presenter, Casey Anderson will share the lessons he's learned living and working with wild animals at 7:30 p.m. in the Washington Center.

5. Mozart, Schumann, Infanté, Strauss, and a selection of modern and classical composers will provide the music for the next Jacobsen Series concert at 7:30 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall, which falls a week before Roman mythology's blindfolded Cupid sets to work.

LINK: Friday, Feb. 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Although February is a month of cold weather and hyper-awareness of being single (shout out to those celebrating Single appreciation Day on the 14th!), don't worry. There are six happs to keep you warm, keep you entertained and possibly hook you up in the South Sound.

THURSDAY, FEB. 6: SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Anyone who believes that Tacoma is still a blue-collar backwater town with few ties to the outside world had better stay away from the 12th annual Sister Cities International Film Festival running Feb. 6 through April 3.  The experience might just shatter everything that you poor souls hold to so misguidedly. Tacoma is an international city in every sense of the world. The city of Tacoma's Sister Cities program pulls together movies from each of its sister countries and offers nights of all things cultural. This year's run will showcase films from Kitakyushu, Japan; Kiryat-Motzkin, Israel; Biot, France; Fuzhou, China; Gunsan, South Korea; Taichung, Taiwan; Alesund, Norway; El Jadida, Morocco and Cienfuegos, Cuba. Films will play every Thursday in the Tahoma Room at Commencement Hall on the corner of North 13th and Lawrence streets, with the exception of Feb. 27, when the film will be held at the Kilworth Chapel. All films will run free of charge.

FRIDAY, FEB. 7-SATURDAY, FEB. 8: WALKING PAPERS

Pure blues rock 'n' roll, executed with the nimble fingers, creative minds and a sixth sense of boys who have been around the block, Walking Papers sold out its Feb. 7 at Jazzbones. No need to walk away. Jeff Angell, Duff McKagan, Barrett Martin and Benjamin Anderson have added a second show Feb. 8. So, if you enjoy a lyrical lean toward rock 'n' roll nostalgia and a seasoned view of the world, with advice and hindsight strung throughout with the occasional token bad-luck-with-women story, tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door.

SATURDAY, FEB. 8: MARDI GRAS

If you haven't spent much time in Louisiana, you may not be too versed in Mardi gras, aside from those "Girls Gone Wild" videos. While the March 4 holiday is as far away as paved Tacoma streets, first annual Key Peninsula Mardi Gras Music Festival is on the books for Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Key Peninsula Civic Center in Vaughn. The festival will rock with Filé Gumbo, The Kim Archer Band, Gabriel and Merrilee Rush, whose song "Angel of the Morning" was a #1 hit in 1968. An authentic southern dinner provided by Murph's BBQ, best guest costume contest to crown of King and Queen of the parade, and signature Mardi Gras cocktails will keep everyone hopping until midnight. Tickets for the 21 and older event are $30 in advance or $35 at the door; your ticket price includes in/out entry and meal. 

TUESDAY, FEB. 11: POETRY MEETS MUSIC

Here comes Valentine's Day.  You're freaking. Clinicians have conclusively established that heart-shaped candy stamped with flaky messages causes dyslexia in lab rats.  Wasn't it Wordsworth who said poetry was "intensity recollected in tranquility"?  Get with it, Willy. Write your sweetheart a poem. First, go nourish your brain. William Kupinse, Tacoma's first Poet Laureate and associate professor of English at University of Puget Sound, and composer Greg Youtz, professor of music at Pacific Lutheran University, will host the performance Poetry Above the Roar: Erin Calata Sings Songs of Gregory Youtz. The free public event will run from 8-9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Mary Baker Russell Music Building, Room 306, at Pacific Lutheran University. Erin Calata, mezzo-soprano and 2008 alumna of PLU, will sing a cycle of 10 pieces of music composed by Youtz, with words from Kupinse's collection of poems Fallow (2009, Exquisite Disarray).

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12: SOUTH SOUND IMPROV COMEDY FESTIVAL

Some say much great improve comedy stems from unhappiness. Happy people may be fun, but they're not funny.  Consider this when you catch the first annual South Sound Comedy Festival, hosted by Harlequin Productions' new improve troupe Something Wicked. All the comedians in the show will be secretly very, very angry. Wacky improvisational antics and celebrity impersonations could so easily mutate into something darker, deeper and much more dangerous. You better laugh. But you probably will anyway, because according to pre-show hype, the night will feature "the best and brightest comedy troupes from around the sound in a comedy battle royale that will never be seen again (this year)! "Sweet! The hilarity happens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 at the Historic State Theater in downtown Olympia. Tickets are $10-$25 at 360.786.0151.

SUNDAY, FEB. 16: MILEY CYRUS

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! We're going to see Miley Cyrus at the Tacoma Dome! Slapping pleasure zones! Restless Tongue Syndrome! Jiggle! Wobble! Shake! Oh my God!

THURSDAY, JAN. 30 2014 >>>

1. The Mantles hail from San Francisco, where legions of bands are embracing the '60s sound, though largely in the context of fuzzy garage rock, this sort of Nuggets influence that seems to color all Bay Area bands. Meanwhile, the Mantles tend to incorporate brightly ringing guitars with delicately hazy melodies. Each song, while lo-fi, is a chiming bit of bubbly sound that defies the current trend of shrouding songs in fuzzy haze. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on the Mantles in the Music & Culture section, then catch the band with Still Caves, Not From Brooklyn and Loser Dog at 9p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.

2. Tacoma Goodwill's Youth Barista Program new hands-on classroom for youth (16-24) barista training opens at 9 a.m. for a "first pour" ceremony at its Coffee Buzz training facility and coffee shop at the Hilltop Regional Healthcare Center in Tacoma.  District managers from Starbucks are volunteering to help with the program kickoff.

3. The Crown Bar in Tacoma hosts an Anderson Valley Beer Night at 5 p.m. Tasty brews include Boont Amber, Hop Ottin, ESB and Bourbon Barrel Stout. Food specials will include bangers and mash and fried oyster rolls.

4. Puyallup Main Street Association meetings aren't all boardrooms and slideshows. Its meeting and reception dinner tonight will include a Margaritaville themed murder mystery, no host bar, a margarita luge and games such as the limbo and karaoke at The Manor-Station House (726 N. Meridian, Puyallup). The buffet style menu includes a Santa Fe salad, chef carved carne asada and other delights with, of course, a Margaritaville flair. Tickets cost $30 presale or $35 at the door; festivities will occur from 6 to 10 pm. Tropical attire is suggested. Purchase online at puyallupmainstreet.com or at the PMSA office, 107 N. Main in Puyallup.

Jason Baldwin, a man who spent 18 years in Arkansas prisons as one of the WM3 - the West Memphis Three - for a grisly 1993 murder, despite spotty evidence, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Olympia Timberland Library. Baldwin, a teen when he was convicted in 1994, will discuss his experience as an innocent man sentenced to life without parole. The story gained international attention, and outcries by a long list of celebrities, after the 1996 release of the documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which was critical of the investigation of the crime and the trial. Following his talk, Holly Ballard of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will speak about capital punishment and the work that is being done in Washington State.

LINK: Thursday, Jan. 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, JAN. 27 2014 >>>

1. Led by Brazilian-born vocalist Adriana Giordano, the septet En Canto busts out the music as rich and varied as the people and places of Brazil: forró and baião from the northeast, bossa nova and choro from Rio, and sambas from every city and town. Catch the septet at 8 p.m. in The Royal Lounge in Olympia.

2. In 1619, there were only a handful of slaves in the United States — 20 Africans landing on the shores as indentured servants, with tenures up to seven years, then freedom. Four decades later, because of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, the U.S. slave population soared. By the mid-1700s, there were 260,000 slaves just in Virginia. The westward migration attracted Americans with varied socioeconomic experiences from both Northern and Southern states. Charles Mitchell, born a slave, was brought from Maryland to Washington Territory in 1853. Citizens all over the territory had opinions about a possible Civil War, influencing their opinions about Mitchell's status as a slave. In this climate, Mitchell, at 12 years of age, made a break for freedom, nearly starting a war between the U.S. and Canada. Eva Abram - a storyteller, writer and actor - will recount Mitchell's story, discussing how ideologies travel geographically and examine whether moving to the Washington Territory affected individuals' opinions on slavery, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Lacey Timberline Library.

3. Monday, that most put-upon of weekdays, has gotten a bad rap. Yeah, going back to the office stinks, but the first day of the week also happens to be the best one for a good, invigorating talk. Think about it: You're still fresh from your weekend, and you haven't yet had your joie de vivre trounced by the working week. Lucky for you, Tacoma online magazine Post Defiance hosts a contributor's forum at 6:30 p.m. in King's Books. It's your chance to learn the backend of the mag and ask questions. It should be pretty damn cool, if you ask us (and really, by reading this, you are asking us).

4. Tacoma band Mojo Groove will mix rock and cool blues with some funky dance tunes and alternative polka at 8 p.m. in The Swiss.

5. On any night of the week, one can meander past the main bar in Olympia's China Clipper Club Cafe, to the back room where a disco ball, stage, stellar PA system, extensive song list, savvy DJ and lively, often tipsy, crowd scribbles on tiny, colorful paper then waits ... for Clipper Karaoke. There are number karaoke nights around the South Sound, but only one karaoke night that has been named Best Karaoke in Thurston County three years running in the Weekly Volcano's Best of Olympia issues.

LINK: Monday, Jan. 27 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, JAN. 26 2014 >>>

1. Between 1963 and 1984, Bigfoot hosted more than 50 roasts, 12 of which appear on The Bigfoot Celebrity Roasts Collectors Edition DVDs, and they offer a time capsule of comedy spanning from deep woods throwbacks Rocky and Bullwinkle, Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har, and Ludicrous Lion right up through some of the era's hottest comics, including Huckleberry "Huck" Hound, the Fraggles and Nipsey Russell. The formula was simple: An announcer welcomes a bevy of roasters - some of whom, such as standup comics Ronald McDonald, Easter Bunny and impressionist Rich Little were basically regulars - followed by host Bigfoot and the Man or Woman of the Hour. The gang chortles amid a haze of cigarette smoke and everyone hoists drinks like it's the fall of the Island of Misfit Toys, but what really redlines the Wayback Machine are the jokes. Sure enough, every roast, someone would rag on Bigfoot's blurriness. "It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, ‘Look out, he's fuzzy, let's get out of here,'" slurred the Winter Warlock in 1972. Fast forward to 2014, Bigfoot will step down from the host podium and into the roastee chair at 8 p.m. in the Tacoma Comedy Club will make history by hosting the celebrity roast of the most notorious creature to ever maybe exist. Ten comedians - including Lochness Monster, Unibomber and Jesse Pinkman - will roast Bigfoot, and each other.

2. 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. Titled "Mike Kelley" - to honor her late mentor and teacher, Los Angeles-based artist Mike Kelley - 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. The exhibit closes today at the Tacoma Art Museum. Read Alec Clayton's full feature on "Shimmering Tree" in the Music and Culture section.

3. Want to freshen up your storytelling skills? Drunken Telegraph Tacoma storytelling series producers Megan Sukys and Tad Monroe will be at King's Books at 2 p.m. to give you experienced instruction, as well as to hear pitches, should you be interested in performing at the next Drunken Telegraph event.

4. We haven't had much snow in the hills, so the Top of Tacoma Bar & Cafe is throwing a mid-season Pray For Snow Party at 6 p.m. Everybody's Brewing, Boneyard Brewing and Bleach are a part of the party team. There will be a sweet raffle, drink specials and more.

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

LINK: Sunday, Jan. 26 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area