Oct 21 Tuesday
Stage of Fools Written by Joy McCullough Directed by Amy Poisson
A scrappy feminist theater company is about to go under when they receive an offer they can't refuse: has-been 80s action movie star Jake Stone will endow them with more money than they've ever dreamed of, if they'll produce King Lear, with him in the titular role. Never mind that he's an entitled, egotistical blowhard. These women can survive anything for the sake of the theater they love...right?
Evening and matinee performances.
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.”
Nicknamed the Gypsy-jazz Warbler by the New York Times, Tatiana Eva-Marie is a transatlantic bandleader, singer, author, and actress. She plays music derived from the Django tradition with Gypsy and French jazz influences.
Accruing 100 million views on YouTube, Tatiana Eva-Marie was acclaimed as “a millennial shaking up the jazz scene” by magazine Vanity Fair. She performs regularly in New York at various clubs (Blue Note, Dizzy’s, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Birdland…), across the USA (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival, Freight and Salvage, Winter JazzFest, Rochester Jazz Festival, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Tucson Jazz Festival…) and around the world (recently Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom…).
Though her interests have led her to explore a wide range of musical styles, Tatiana Eva-Marie’s craft is always inspired by her own French and Balkan heritage; a love for the Parisian art scene era spanning the 1920s to the 60s; a passion for traditional Gypsy songs; a fascination for New Orleans music; and a deep connection to the Great American Songbook.
Since their formation in 2015, Brooklyn-based duo Rachael & Vilray have achieved a certain timeless quality with their singular take on traditional pop. Though rooted in the language of an earlier age, their songs transcend nostalgia with wit and a flair for the theatrical. On their third album West of Broadway, vocalist Rachael Price (also of Lake Street Dive) and guitarist/singer/songwriter Vilray evolve their music’s previous dreaminess to achieve a refreshing angularity built on left-of-center instrumentation (e.g., vibraphone and alto saxophone coasting above the moody strains of baritone sax and trombone). Produced by Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Bahamas), West of Broadway unfolds in a series of sharply drawn vignettes inspired by a recent fascination with classic musicals—bringing their luminous vocals to offbeat tales of love and heartache along city streets.
Recorded at the legendary Sear Sound in Manhattan, West of Broadway took shape with the help of renowned musicians like saxophonist Steve Wilson (a former member of Chick Corea’s Origin sextet) and drummer John Riley (Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie). Over the course of 10 lush and effervescent tracks, the album delivers standouts like “Love Comes Around” (a joyously romantic piece that set the direction for the LP’s West Coast jazz-inspired aesthetic), “My Key to Gramercy Park” (a fantastically salty number narrated by a well-to-do character who lives in lonely suspicion of all those who covet their key to the notoriously exclusive private park), and “Off Broadway” (on which golden-voiced comedian Stephen Colbert joins in for what the duo dubs an “oddly grumpy anti-Broadway screed”). Thanks in large part to the colorful detail and extravagant personality of Rachael & Vilray’s storytelling, West of Broadway ultimately immerses the audience in an exquisitely out-of-time vision of their beloved New York City.
Oct 22 Wednesday
Sponsored by KNKX. October is Tacoma Arts Month, featuring a wide variety of arts and culture events, programs, and exhibits for all ages all around Tacoma, some of which are free. There is something for everyone to enjoy: music, dance, and theater performances; hands-on experiences; cultural events; visual art exhibits; literary readings; workshops; and film screenings.
All you have to do is choose what you want to enjoy. Take this opportunity to experience something new as we celebrate Tacoma’s cultural community!
Lean Into Hope serves as a powerful reminder that this is exactly what survivors of domestic violence do when they escape abuse and begin their lives anew.
Together, we can all support survivors in their journey. This fundraiser will support YWCA Pierce County in providing safety, healing, and empowerment through services such as emergency shelter, legal advocacy, counseling, and more to domestic violence survivors.
Echoes of the Floating World features a striking collection of 18th, 19th and early 20th-century Japanese woodblock prints from the Tacoma Art Museum and others, displayed alongside works by contemporary Northwest artists. This exhibition honors the rich legacy of ukiyo-e while exploring its cultural impact on today’s artistic expressions.
Hours-
Monday CLOSEDTuesday CLOSEDWednesday 10 am – 5 pmThursday 10 am – 8 pmFriday 10 am – 5 pmSaturday 10 am – 5 pmSunday 10 am – 5 pm
We are protesting project 2025. TacomaRama marching band will join us for the next 4 years. We will meet each month on the Saturday closest to the 18th each month. Always 10am, always Reconciliation park. Feel loved and supported.
The period from the 1870s to the 1900s, known as the Gilded Age, saw the rise of the railroad, textile industry, and production. It also saw a rise in migration to US cities, providing workers to fill low paying jobs producing many of the fashions of the era. This era marked a turning point in fashion as new technologies and changing cultural norms transformed the ways in which people dressed.
Explore this history and enjoy the rare chance to see clothing, notions, and artifacts of the period from the Washington State Historical Society collections.
