posts that will be on the front page
By Adam McKinney For over two decades, Jenn Champion has been making open-hearted music in the Pacific Northwest. Champion made her name in indie rock favorites Carisa’s Wierd, then found success with her solo project, S, which favored a more stripped down bedroom pop. It’s refreshing to see Champion’s recent pivot to electro-pop, presented in …
By Christian Carvajal We all know the state of Washington is proud of its creativity. Over 200,000 Washingtonians make their livings in the arts, adding $22.7 billion to our state’s domestic product. In order to be installed in Washington’s new Certified Creative Districts program, however, a community must first meet clear criteria. Managed by Annette …
By Molly Gilmore Masterworks Choral Ensemble begins its 38th season by celebrating nature’s glories. The singing group will wade in the water — and explore the elements of earth, air and fire, too — in Sacred Elements at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. “I really resonate with the environment,” said Masterworks artistic director …
By Kameko Lashlee Every Tuesday evening on the corner of Fourth and Plum Street, a cacophony of uptempo jazz music and foot-stomping emanates from the second-floor ballroom of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Ballroom and Conference Center. This weekly shindig, broadly known as Oly Swing, is a time capsule of sorts: a revival of 1950s-style …
By Jonah Barrett For a vegan, dining out can be a minefield. Options are usually limited to Asian food, bland burritos and the old fallback, green salads. Downtown Olympia has an alternative for that with the recent opening of The Wayside Cafe & Deli. Jamie Vulva and Kevin Rainsberry opened their Capitol Way restaurant on …
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Carol Hannum is an underappreciated local treasure. Her art has been shown in museums and galleries and is in private and public collections worldwide, including many in Lacey and Olympia, and she has taught at South Puget Sound Community College. And yet a glance at her resume …
By Karen Lunde and Billy Thomas Imagine a 20-pound rodent that looks like a weird cross between a beaver and a rat. It has enormous orange teeth and a skinny tail. It lives in swampy, tidal areas and dines mostly on aquatic plants. It procreates prolifically. You’ve got yourself a nutria, and it’s the subject …
By Alec Clayton The angst, artistic sensibility and intelligence of the great abstract-expressionist painter Mark Rothko will be on display — raw nerve ends and all — when Olympia Little Theatre brings to the stage John Logan’s dramatic two-man show Red, directed by Jim Patrick and starring Christopher Valcho as Rothko and John Tuttle as …
By Karen Lunde Olympia brings artists and thousands of art lovers together each spring and fall for its semi-annual celebration of the arts, Arts Walk. Angel Nava, arts-program specialist for City of Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation, has taken the helm for the fall event, shifting responsibility from arts-program manager Stephanie Johnson. Johnson pointed out …
By Adam McKinney Olympia has never been short on entertainment options; the city’s embrace of the arts and wide varieties of creative expression ensures there’s something interesting to do and see just about every night. The sheer volume of options borders on overwhelming. It’s helpful, then, to know of one place, in particular, that always …