(UPDATED October 18, 2016) On the third Tuesday of each month, Rhythm & Rye hosts StoryOly, Olympia’s most beloved “story slam” event. Half the suggested donation to compete or listen goes to Olympia SafePlace. Starting at 5:30 p.m., volunteers throw their names in a hat, and 10 are invited to tell an eight-minute autobiographical story …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Now showing at Olympia Family Theater (OFT), Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” is a small play that packs a big wallop for kids. I was not familiar with Mo Willems’ series of Elephant & Piggy children’s books before reading about them in the program. …
VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The exhibition of drawings and paintings by Kathy Gore Fuss at Salon Refu offers proof positive that practice makes perfect. When she started plein air painting in the dense forests in and around Olympia, then later at the gritty, industrial Port of Olympia, she found her …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Geraldine Ondrizek, artist and professor of art in Portland, Oregon, works in the crossroad between visual art, architecture and medical research. Her ongoing exhibit, Tracing Genetic Inheritance, is a synthesis of three of her most-recent collections (Chromosome Painting Edition II 1-X, Shades of White and mtDNA) and addresses issues …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Olympia comedian Sam Miller will compete in this year’s Seattle International Comedy Competition. He’ll compete in the first round of preliminaries Nov. 2-6, and if he finishes in the top five among that group, he’ll advance to the semifinals, including a Nov. 17 show in Olympia. The host of …
by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS In November, Dillinger’s Cocktails & Kitchen will open an expanded dining room and bar. The cocktail lounge, modeled after the Prohibition-era speakeasy, has become a popular destination downtown. The new space will almost double the establishment’s footprint and capacity. Owner Sandy Hall says the business has outgrown the original …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Ben Folds—he of the clever and oh-so-revealing lyrics and piano skill that’s earned the respect of Billy Joel and Elton John—will perform Oct. 26 in Olympia. And he’ll take requests. “People have been throwing paper airplanes with requests on them for the second half,” Nashville, Tennessee’s Folds said in …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Veteran vaudevillian Lord Franzannian is back in town. Franzannian is the host of Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show, the 10th edition of which opens Oct. 14. He’s also the alter ego of storyteller/actor/director/producer Elizabeth Lord, transformed with rosy cheeks, a fake mustache and a big belly she …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS In Islam, there are three times a day when it is forbidden to pray: sunrise, sunset and when the sun rests at its highest position on the horizon. Sunset, when praying isn’t allowed, is called Shuruq. Since 2012, in the South Sound, Shuruq has also become the casual name …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS The photo book Banned in DC, about the punk scene in the nation’s capital, was published in 1988—so quickly that some questioned whether it was too soon to document the scene. Nearly three decades later, co-author Cynthia Connolly has produced a seventh edition and is making stops around the …