WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26 2016: South Sound events + craft beer …
The Washington Center + Growler Garage = Ben Folds, A Piano and Fort George
University of Puget Sound + Zog’s = jungle
Tacoma Comedy Club + BrewDad’s of Bonney Lake = comedy
Obsidian + Pints & Quarts = Halloween prefunk
BEN FOLDS
Multi-platinum selling singer/songwriter/producer Ben Folds will pound pianos in a solo rock performance entitled “Ben Folds and A Piano” at 7:30 p.m. in The Washington Center. The tour, reminiscent of his first solo tour in 2001 where he defied skeptics by delivering a high energy rock performance using the intimacy of just a piano, will feature Folds performing his classic and current pop songs, telling stories, interacting with the audiences, performing improvisation with a host of instruments and, hopefully, leading a conga line to one of the many downtown Olympia watering holes after his show.
PREFUNK: One of Oregon’s finest breweries ventures north to commandeer the kegs at Growler Garage in West Olympia. Expect Fort George beer and prizes from 6-8 p.m.
HISPANIC FILM FESTIVAL
Director Ciro Guerra’s El Abrazo de la Serpiente is a black and white film that cuts back and forth between the turn of the 20th century and the 1940s deep in the Colombian Amazon. Foreign explorers travel down the river searching for a flower with healing powers alongside a shaman whose tribe was decimated by foreigners, leaving him alone in the jungle. Along the journey, timelines blur and memories become part of the present as the worlds of colonial powers and traditional cultures collide. Catch the film as part of the 12th Annual Hispanic Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. in McIntyre Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus.
PREFUNK: We’ve said it many times: we love Zog’s on Fox Island. The waterfalls, the rockery, the shrubbery, the woodwork, owner Andrew Herzog’s smiling face. … Speaking of awesome, at 5 p.m., sales executive Mike Lay and his No-Li Brewhouse represent will tap five kegs at Zog’s, including a brand new Citra Pale, hand out swag and host a Golden Tee competition.
COMEDY OPEN MIC
Standup comedy hasn’t evolved much since the glory days of ventriloquist and puppet. Every so often, there’s a Gallagher smashing watermelons or a musical funnyman like Jack Black, but for the most part, comedy is a dude on a stage with a microphone, plodding through a joke-punchline-new-joke routine. You’re funny. You need to change the course of comedy forever. At 8 p.m. the Tacoma Comedy Club opens its stage to the public for a comedy open mic.
PREFUNK: BrewDad’s of Bonney Lake does a switcheroo and hosts a brewery on a Wednesday night instead of its typical Thursday night brewer’s night outing. When you make delicious craft beers as Eric Akeson and his Puyallup River Brewing Co. does, well, you have to bend the rules. Hang out with Akeson from 6-9 p.m., enjoy his brews — including your last chance to taste the 2015 Gourdy Wow — win some swag and enjoy the musical stylings of Burt Bacharach.
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
Hotel Broslin will be hosting a free film screening of the horror classic Return of the Living Dead at 10 p.m. in Obsidian in downtown Olympia. Although admission is free, the café and music venue requests you bring a can of food to support the Thurston County Food Bank for which you’ll receive a special spooky prize. Feel free to bring any VHS, DVD or records you would be interested in for a swap. This will be a fun and creepy way to kick off your Halloweek with some gruesome drink specials during an extended happy hour.
PREFUNK: Pints & Quarts in West Olympia hosts Halloween Bingo at 7:30 p.m. The craft beer bar asks you to dress in costume. We say you get to check a box if you see a man dressed “Gangnam Style,” another box for a scantily-clad children’s book character, two boxes for any personalities from Moonrise Kingdom (extra points if Bill Murray is with the group), and you win if anyone asks to take a picture of you in your awesome costume. Feel free to use this on Monday, when we’re sure another cast of ghouls, goblins and sexy kittens will be roaming the streets.
