Billy Thomas 
By Alec Clayton The Chinese dragon mural in downtown Olympia will be dedicated Saturday, August 24 to honor Chinese-American history. The public is invited to attend the dedication at noon on the corner of Fifth Avenue SW and Columbia Street SE. Dragon Mural Committee spokesperson Anna Schlecht said, “In 2015, I was inspired by a …
By Molly Walsh Hailing from Olympia, Ethan Tucker’s acoustic-guitar-driven songs range from midtempo party anthem “Crazy Tonight” to the melancholy strums of ballad “Josephine.” Expanding beyond his Pacific Northwest origins, Tucker has toured the country with such acts as Jimmy Cliff, Buddy Guy and The Wailers. With a slightly raspy, soulful voice and sweet, acoustic …
By Alec Clayton The storytellers at StoryOly are at it again. The fourth-annual StoryOly Grand Slam competition will be held at Rhythm & Rye Saturday, September 7. StoryOly is Olympia’s premiere story-slam event. Community members come together every month to share, compete and tell true stories based on a monthly theme. Past themes have included …
By Ellis Boran Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is another amazing film by the Japanese writer/director Hayao Miyazaki. This movie is about Nausicaa, a young woman who risks her life to protect her home in the Valley of the Wind from a toxic jungle. The complicated part of the story is that, even …
By Molly Walsh Inspired by Los Lobos, Santana and WAR, Flor De Luna is classic Latin rock with hints of blues, jazz and Afro Cuban influences over a wide range of classic-rock hits. Band members range from their 20s to their 60s. Thus, the band’s classic playlist dons a modern edge. A Flor De Luna …
By Jonah Barrett When one hears about electronic music, pianos don’t necessarily come to mind. This August, one-man musical project Beetle Box will perform in Olympia for two consecutive days. He’s brought his piano. Beetle Box is the brainchild of John Pennington of Little Rock, Arkansas. A series of piano lessons having ick-started his love …
By Billy Thomas The Beatnik history can be traced back to the steamy coffee shops and poetry dens of Soho in New York’s Greenwich Village. Today, the Beatnik legacy lives on in four young men who adhere to the ideology that music is more than a mere background for our lives. The band performs the …
By Billy Thomas What would one weigh on the moon? What would magic look like performed in the vacuum of space? Do space aliens exist? Jeff Evans’ show may bring up more questions than it answers, but kids and adults alike will have interstellar fun at this local magic show. What Lacey in Tune: Jeff …
By Molly Walsh The mission of Tacoma Concert Band is to deliver professional, symphonic sound to audiences in Puget Sound and beyond. It’s well-traveled, with stops in Budapest, the French Riviera, Prague and Vienna. It played the 39th-annual South of Ireland Band Competition last summer and took best band, best brass section and best performance …
By Melinda Minton Celebrating its second year, Hoodstock comes with a diverse blend of musical genres with an authenticity and love of artistry for which the event is known — a tapestry of sounds in the surroundings of Hood Canal celebrating local musicians and other artists. Among the local musical talents taking the stage this …