Tacoma Concert Band mixes Russian and American

Seattle soprano Heidi Vanderford is the soloist in the Tacoma Concert Band’s final show of the season, “A Russian-American Potpourri,” including works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Gershwin and Bernstein, plus student solo winner flutist Candy Chang. 7:30 p.m. May 1. $15-$30. Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org, www.tacomaconcertband.org

“Flow” at Mineral

Calligraphic art from locals Andrea Erickson and Maureen McHugh – the one sumi-character-based, the other modernist – is up now at Mineral. Noon-5 p.m. Tue, Thur and Sat and by appointment. Free. 301 Puyallup Ave. Ste. A, Tacoma. 253-250-7745, www.lisakinoshita.com

Outsider …

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By C. R. Roberts
The News Tribune

They earned a rousing standing ovation at a recent anniversary bash hosted by City Club, and now they’re back for a one-night stand at Tacoma Musical Playhouse.

The “Grit City Fab Follies” will hit the West Tacoma stage at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 6.

The satirical revue reprises the songs sung at the City Club event – with the addition of another handful of tunes likewise written by Tacoma native Doug Mackey and sung by a sextet comprising high school students from throughout Pierce County.
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Urban Grace Church, local poetry sponsor, has announced that Tacoma poet Tammy Robacker has won the 2010 Soul of the City poetry competition and is the city’s Poet Laureate through April 2011.

The five judges that chose Robacker as Laureate include current Laureate Antonio Edwards, past Laureate William Kupinse, poets Emily Noelle-Ignacio and Grace Livingston and artist Holly Senn. Robacker, who published her first book “The Vicissitudes” in 2009 under her own company Pearle Publications and who has co-edited the anthology “In Tahoma’s Shadow,” received her BA in writing from Evergreen College and is an active poet around …

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Northwest glass artist Preston Singletary will speak on Tlingit culture with storyteller Walt Porter this Sunday at the Museum of Glass. Singletary is a Seattle-based Tlingit artist who uses traditional cultural motifs and stories in his glass art, and the Museum of Glass is currently running a major exhibit of his work. He and Porter, a Tlingit Indian from Yakutat, Alaska, will present Tlingit stories and legends.

The event will take place from 2-3 p.m. May 2 in the museum theater, and is limited to 180 visitors. Cost is included with museum entry, which is $12 adult/$10 seniors, students …

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Ready for some sunnier weather? Then join the Puget Sound Revels in Tollefson Plaza this Saturday from 2-3:30 p.m. to dance, sing and otherwise make merry on May Day. There’ll be Maypole dancing, flower decking, poetry reading and plenty of folksongs. 

And no, you don’t need to know how to do any of it! If you want a last-minute practice session, there’s one from 6:30-8 p.m. Friday April 30 at First United Methodist Church, 621 Tacoma Ave S, Tacoma (enter through the double glass doors in the basement on the alley side of the building.) But the Revels folks …

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Shakespeare-a-thon at the Speakeasy

Alternative Shakespeare company Shakespeare in the Parking Lot will stage five of the bard’s history plays over 48 hours in downtown Tacoma. Be prepared for contemporary settings and lots of audience action. 6 p.m. tonight: “Richard II”; 8:30 p.m. tonight: “Henry IV” parts 1 and 2; 11:30 p.m. tonight: “Henry V”; 3 p.m. April 24: “Henry VI” parts 1, 2 and 3; 10 p.m. April 24: “Richard III.” $10 suggested donation/free for under-18/$32 for three Friday shows and Elizabethan meal. Both Saturday shows are free.

Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, 746 Broadway, Tacoma. www.sitpl.org

Procession of the …

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If you haven’t taken your kids (or inner kid) to see “The Secret Language of Animals” at Tacoma Art Museum yet, this Sunday is a great day to go. The museum is holding its quarterly free Community Festival in conjunction with the animal-themed exhibit, and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. there’s all sorts of animal activity going on down there.

Highlights: 11 a.m. Alaskan Kuteeyaa Dancers mimicking animals and spirits in Tlingit-language songs

1 p.m. Meet a real sloth from Pt. Defiance Zoo

2 p.m. Be part of a story-telling about mosquitoes.

4 p.m. Hear the Rainier Ringers bell choir play …

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It’s hard to believe it’s the end of the 2009/10 concert season already, but the last subscription concert for the Tacoma Symphony season is this weekend. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday night the Pantages will fill with the lush symphonic sounds of Dvorak, Berlioz and Michael Daugherty, together with those of rising cello soloist Soo Bae.

The program’s a hefty one. Daugherty’s an American composer whose Elvis tribute was played by the Northwest Sinfonietta last fall; the TSO will play the slapstick “Oh, Lois!” section of his Superman-inspired “Metropolis Symphony.” Up-and-coming Korean-Canadian cellist Soo Bae, called “superb” by The New …

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