Community Calendar

Celebrate Seattle-based author/educator Shaun Anthony McMichael's debut novel (over 10 years in the making), WHISTLE PUNK FALLS (Alternative Books Press) by coming out to Whistle Punk Brewery. After mingle and book signing, Shaun will read from the novel. The event will close with more mingling and book signing. See you there!

Welcomed by KNKX. Frank Vignola is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, John Lewis, Tommy Emmanuel, Lionel Hampton, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List:” for the Wall Street Journal.

His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.

Pasquale Grasso - It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazine’s February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians who’d impressed him. “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso,” said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. “This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult. “Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell],” he continued. “What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model—which is an incredible model to have—is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.”

When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. (Any resemblance to past White House shenanigans is purely coincidental.) In a searingly funny Broadway hit, POTUS follows how seven women of dramatically different backgrounds minimize the damage done by male arrogance and political posturing, in an endearing homage to the women who keep things running behind the scenes.

The evening’s format:
Set one: Circles Around The Sun
Set two: Circles Around The Sun with Mikaela Davis

Live Music Returns to the Waterfront This Summer!

Get ready for an unforgettable summer on the water—Oodalalee: Concerts at Pier 62 is here. Brought to you by your friends at The Crocodile, this brand-new summer series transforms the recently renovated Pier 62 into a beautiful open-air concert venue, right on the edge of Elliott Bay.

Kicking off June 1 with a performance from Hermanos Gutiérrez, the series brings a stacked lineup all summer long, including Silversun Pickups, Watchhouse, Deltron 3030, Cosmo Sheldrake, Blind Pilot & John Craigie, Fruit Bats, and Otoboke Beaver with even more to be announced.

The Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival features local, international, and regional blues and R&B artists/groups in both free to the public and ticketed performances on the beautiful outdoor stage in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Ship Point Picnic Site.

Headliners include The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Shemekia Copeland, and Bywater Call, plus opening acts Wet Future, James Vickers Band, and Slim Sandy's Atomic Cocktails. There are also free concerts. See website for the complete schedule.

Supported by KNKX. One of jazz's marquis performers, Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed Grammy nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. In the course of a thirty plus year career, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others and founded a prominent independent record label, RKM.

Born in Long Island, the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, Ravi was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Ravi and it was he who encouraged Alice to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Ravi produced and played on Alice Coltrane’s powerful, Translinear Light, which was released in 2004.

Ravi has released six albums as a leader. His latest, Spirit Fiction, was released in June of 2012 for the Blue Note label. Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem, The Blue Note 7, among others. He is a co-leader of the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman.

Sponsored by KNKX. LTD Presents with the generous sponsorship of MJR Development, J Squared Investments and Kat McNeill & Lance Bowman, proudly bring to Broadway, the Downtown Tacoma Blues & Jazz Festival.

Beginning Saturday evening, August 23rd and all-day Sunday, August 24th between 11th and 13th streets in downtown Tacoma, this free to the public event features regional, national and international blues and jazz artists from around the country for two exciting days of musical performances that are not to be missed!

Saturday night’s pre-funk party will be held inside at The Tacoma Centre at 1145 Broadway with the support of Ebony & Ivory Coffee. The event starts at 5:00PM with rousing performances by regional and national bands spanning the genres of blues, funk, and soul jazz, culminating with a special performance by Rick Estrin & The Nightcats’ own Derrick D’MAR Martin and ending with an all-pro jam.

Sunday’s festivities begin outdoors on Broadway at 12:00PM with two alternating stages, a beer garden hosted by the South Sound Blues Association, and various vendor stalls and food trucks. The lineup this year includes a regional jazz favorite, Elnah Jordan, and national stars Marcel Smith featuring D’MAR and Chris O’Leary Band out of upstate New York. International Blues legend, John Primer and The Real Deal Blues Band, will take the 13th Street Stage and up and coming multiple award-winning Blues star, D.K. Harrell, brings his brand of classic and contemporary blues. To top off the day we are thrilled to bring to back the PNW, the sultry and driving Danielle Nicole Band.

JAZZ & BLUES MUSIC: The 2025 Festival features nationally acclaimed jazz, blues, gospel, and GRAMMY winning bands, 70 Northwest wines, fine art, food, and MORE. Bands include: trumpeter and 10-time GRAMMY-winner Arturo Sandoval, vocal jazz and gospel icons Take 6, blues harmonica virtuoso Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland, GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist David Benoit, jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, The Rumba Kings, Seattle jazz singer Greta Matassa, jazz singer Halie Loren, Christopher Brown Quartet, Strange Pilgrims, Ben Rice & The PDX Hustle, Taylor Newville & The Riders, the Bridgetown Sextet, pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, and Oregon Hall of Fame blues guitarist Norman Sylvester Band. 18 concerts are scheduled for the 3-day festival.