Hide/Seek in Tacoma

The biggest art exhibit to come to town opens tomorrow. Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture opens at the Tacoma Art Museum. Running from March 17 to June 10, this is the ONLY West Coast stop of the tour, and it's final stop.

The exhibit opened last year in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian's Portrait Gallery, and while it was closed due to patron complaints, the exhibit has toured to great acclaim. The exhibit spans almost 150 years of American art and contains works by, among others, John Singer Sargent, Andy Warhol, and Georgia O'Keefe.

The Tacoma Art Museum has a feast of events, lectures, and movies planned around this exhibit. Some highlights: April 19 is the Third Thursday Art Walk - this night you are encouraged to share your thoughts about the exhibit in an "open mic" setting (opens at 6pm); March 20, April 10, and May 29 the Grand Cinema will be showing films that will enhance the discussion started by the exhibit.

Go check out the Tacoma Art Museum page to get all the information you'll need. You do not want to miss this exhibit!

Weekend in the 253

You've made it to Friday! Congratulations! Now what are you going to do with your weekend?
Here are a few suggestions from our friends over at the Weekly Volcano.

FRIDAY, MARCH 9: AMOCAT LIVE

Time flies when you're having fun. Or so the saying goes - and fun is definitely one of the many great, hyper-local bits of awesomeness being served every day at Tacoma's Amocat Café, celebrating one year this Friday with the aptly titled, "Amocat Live." Expect an evening full of live music for all ages including John Dolge, Jon Parker, Micaela Cooley, Sam Bogle, Russ Dahler, Gen Obata, and The Collaborators. Best of all, it's free. Plus, the ambiance at Amocat can't be beat. This event is a win for all involved. Stop bye and thank proprietor Morgan Alexander for a year of service to his community.

• Amocat Live, 7 p.m., NC, 625 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.242.3370

SATURDAY, MARCH 10: THE BAD PLUS

Everything is jazz. Or damn near everything. As The Bad Plus proves, bald heads and fu Manchu mustaches are pretty freakin' jazzy, too. But let us not trivialize this world-renowned jazz band, hitting Tacoma's Pantages Theater Saturday, as anything but remarkable. There's good reason why Billboard, and subsequently the Broadway Center's website, hypes the band as, "America's most "audacious, rule-breaking jazz trio." It's because all those aforementioned adjectives apply. Plus there's the facial hair. Catch The Bad Plus in Tacoma Saturday taking on Stravinsky's Rite of Spring - a pairing that should make for quite an evening of entertainment.

• Pantages Theater, 7:30 p.m., $24-$56, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890

SATURDAY, MARCH 10: POETRY OUT LOUD STATE FINALS

In high school, you went to State in pizza eating and acne. It could have been cooler. Saturday, you'll have a chance to see a dozen Washington high school students get a better jump on their lives than the Little Caesar's slogan, "Pizza! Pizza!" ever afforded you, competing in the Poetry Out Loud State Finals. Presented by the Washington State Arts Commission, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, Saturday's Poetry Out Loud State Finals will pit winners from seven regional finals held across Washington state in an ultimate throwdown of poetry recital. Along with ultimate statewide bragging rights, competitors will be vying for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Poetry Out Loud national finals.

• Rialto Theater, 1 p.m., free, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890

SATURDAY, MARCH 10: AUGUST WILSON'S JITNEY

Playwright August Wilson is best known for his Pittsburgh Cycle - a series of 10 plays each set in a different decade recalling the struggles and comedies of the African American experience in the 20th Century. That's what happens when you win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. At 3 p.m., the Broadway Center, Northwest Playwrights Alliance and hosting venue Washington State History Museum bring us a staged reading of Jitney, part of Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle that centers on a cab driver's station in the late 1970s. Hype on the Broadway Center website describes the play, saying "his character driven performance features sharp-witted, hustling co-workers who gossip, argue and dream in between jobs."

• Washington State History Museum, 3 p.m., $14, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.3500

SUNDAY, MARCH 11: FREE ELECTRONICS RECYCLING

Speaking of how everyone is becoming a major techie, collecting newfangled and ever-fancier gadgets at warp speed, our desk drawers here at Weekly Volcano World Headquarters sure are full of a lot of obsolete pieces unwanted tech - from flip phones to classic Fisher Price Viewmasters. While we're not about to give away the Viewmasters, everything else can go - which is why we'll likely head to Sunday's free electronics recycling event in the parking lot of Tacoma's Champion Centre (1819 E 72^nd St., Tacoma). Organized by the Seattle-based organization Friendly Earth, the goal of Sunday's event is to take as much unwanted tech off the streets as possible, and recycle it instead of letting it rot in the ground or in your desk drawer. Tax write offs will be given to any donated tech, and the list of accepted electronics is substantial, including appliances, metals, computer equipment and components, home and business electronics, batteries and machinery. Sadly, speakers, light bulbs, paints, wood based products and small miscellaneous plastics will not be accepted - making disposing of that pimped out yet unused lizard tank in your closet still difficult.

• Champion Centre - Parking Lot, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., 1819 E 72^nd St., Tacoma