Work Hard - Play Hard

The weekend is here! So many options to choose! The Weekly Volcano has narrowed it down to five epic choices. There's something for every taste. Take a look, pick, and have a great weekend!

1. With an ambitious 10-day lineup spanning the ages of cinema, the Olympia Film Festival literally is something for everyone - of any age. OFF kicks off tonight at 6 p.m. with hors d'oeuvres served by ladies of TUSH! Burlesque, the stage fantastic of Saul Tannenbaum and Mona Van Horne, sparkly dancers and the 1933 film, Gold Diggers of 1933. The Weekly Volcano previews OFF here.

2. We all know Elmo. Even if you don't have kids, will never have kids, in fact hate kids and everything about them, and have never even been a kid yourself, you know who Elmo is ... or at least you think you do. Elmo, of course, is the hug-giving, furry little red dude from Sesame Street - a staple of the last 25 years. In real life, however, Elmo is puppeteer Kevin Clash, who created the character we've come to know and love and has portrayed Elmo on TV since 1985. The award-winning documentaryBeing Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey opens today at The Grand Cinema at 11:45 a.m., 1:40 and 6:20 p.m., allowing the old and young alike a chance to meet the man behind the puppet. 

3. Investigative journalist David Barsamian will discuss "Uprisings: From Kashmir to Egypt to Wall Street" at 7:30 p.m. inside the Washington State Labor Council office in downtown Olympia.

4. The fifth Jacobsen Series classical concert hits Schneebeck Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. with Masterworks for String Quartet. Under the masterful hands of violinist Maria Sampen, violinist Tim Christie, violist Joyce A. Ramée and cellist David Requiro, the audience will hear Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 5, Opus 18, Aaron Copland's Two Pieces for String Quartet and Johannes Brahms' String Quartet No. 1 in c minor, Opus 51.

5. The Angels of Mayhem present the Murder Masquerade Ball featuring with Sad Face, The Hardcount, Cityfaire, Angels Of Mayhem Burlesque, DJ Traxx, DJ Berry and Magician Cary Durgin hits Stonegate Pizza at 9 p.m. The party benefits the independent short horror film, The Resolution.

Five Fabulous Things to do This Weekend

The weatherman says the weekend will be nice, so what to do with this pause in the winter grey? The Weekly Volcano has five fabulous suggestions.

1. Show up at Jazzbones at 8 p.m. and you'll encounter a pulsing, breathing, three-pronged attack of art-meets-music. The gist of this gig won't be much different than the image the name conjures up, combining the mastery of the "violinistextremist" known as Kytami, billed as "perhaps Canada's most diverse and engaging fiddle player," the DJ skills of The Phonograff, a venerable turntable wizard with almost two decades of experience in the game, and reggae-bred mic-master Mista Chatman - mixing the varied ingredients into a sight and sound rarely seen.

2. Sorry fans of Pearl Harbor and The Prime Gig - the Gig Harbor Film Festival doesn't include "Gig" and "Harbor" flicks. Instead, the three-day festival will include today's screenings of Family of the Wa'a (10:25 a.m.), Paint (2:30 p.m.), A Relative Thing (5:45 p.m.), OxyMorons (8:45 p.m.) plus many more that include features, documentaries, shorts, and foreign films at the Galaxy Theatre at Uptown. We have call into the festival folks regarding the rumor that For Whom the Bridge Tolls will screen.

3. This weekend bird lovers from far and wide will flock (get it?) to Tacoma for the 8th annual Bird Lovers' Weekend at the Museum of Glass. Events kick off today with bird-related art activities in the Studio, Oiva Toikka documentary in the Theater, "Birds by Toikka" glass bird-making demonstrations by Tero Välimaa in the Hot Shop and Professor Toikka;s new, limited-edition bird is available for purchase in the Museum Store.

4. Sandra Sunrising Osawa, whose prolific films and television productions tell the stories of contemporary Native Americans, will deliver the keynote speech at the Contemporary Native American Issues in Higher Education symposium at 2 p.m., in Philip Hall on the University of Washington Tacoma campus.

5. Criticizing a poet is like kicking a crippled child in the groin. It's not pretty, and it doesn't solve anything. That's what we love about tonight's Distinguished Writer Series, which hits King's Books at 7 p.m. After the featured poet - Ed Harkness, author of poetry collections Saying the Necessary and Beautiful Passing Lives -you can stand up on stage and let it all hang out during the open mic without a single vegetable whizzing by.

Celebration Time!!!

It's once again time to celebrate you, the client, as well as us as artists!! At this month's Third Thursday Artwalk at Embellish we will be featuring your favorite Daymakers as the artists and would love to celebrate with you because without you our artwork would not be possible. We will be featuring new looks that you can do at home, our "Hot In My Salon" video that is now being featured on Stylist.com as well as some of our work that has been recently published in some of Tacoma's favorite publications, South Sound Magazine and The Weekly Volcano. Stay tuned for more info on product and service specials exclusive to those that attend.

Can't wait to see you there!!!