Apart from the word “sex,” only “free” captures the human imagination with such force. “Win” isn’t bad either. For the ultimate in attention grabbing, then, nothing does the trick quite like “win free sex.” Watch them leap, see them run.
Alas, while we can’t offer help in the sexual arena, this weekend offers a wealth of free activities. Much of it, of course, is offered by public institutions such as libraries. So stop complaining about taxes and make the most of what you’re offered. You’ve already paid. Thanks to tax revenue, you have no right to be bored this summer. By the time you get through this helpful, humble summer gallery of free offerings, you’ll wonder why you were ever stupid enough to pay money for seasonal entertainment.
Here are a few inexpensive things to do this week.
Public pride
Summer’s a great time to go on safari and see public art and right now Olympia’s got the goods.
Here Today is a temporary public art project that celebrates a sense of place through local artists and the arts throughout downtown Olympia beginning Friday, Aug. 1.
The bench project is a public art project to enhance and decorate downtown benches beginning Monday, Aug. 4 with a preview Aug. 1 during First Friday Art Walk. Artists Shaw Osha, Kristine Sogn, Christopher Gerber, Dana Squires, and Vince Ryland want you to sit on their talents in front of the Capital Playhouse, Last Word Books, Capitol Theater, Starbucks on Legion and the Heritage Bank.
These projects are great examples of the kind of edgy, unexpected public-space spectacle that can happen when you combine an artist’s vision, some dollars and support from your city.
Festival Latino
- Cuisine and music from Columbia, Mexico, Brazil and beyond celebrate the free-market economy of international culture.
- Latin music and hips, when mated, produce wiggly, gyrating offspring (often concealed beneath tight black pants or short skirts). And so, the bands: Cambalache, Miho Diego Duo, Vamola and more.
- Latin music speaks a sensual language, perhaps best received while sitting on the pier at Foss Waterway Seaport trying to think of all the dirty words you know in Spanish.
- Even the most arrhythmic wallflower can learn to stamp feet and shake hips where salsa music has staked its claim.
- Witness the Gloria Colombiana tall ship dock at the festival. Will the crew share? Will they pull hair? Yes, and I bet no.
[Foss Waterway Seaport, Aug. 2 noon to 10 pm, Aug. 3 noon to 8 pm. $5 a family, 705 Dock St., Tacoma, www.think-latin.com]
Summer Sounds and Comcast Outdoor Cinema
Time was that Dad stuffed the ’73 Impala full of eager children (including, perhaps, one or two secreted in the trunk) and motored off to the Auto View Drive-in for a double feature and a double order of corn dogs. Alas, the drive-in movie, with a few exceptions, is as dead as James Dean. Instead, we now have the Summer Sounds and Comcast Outdoor Cinema, a politically (and environmentally) correct alternative to the passion pit of old at which moviegoers stroll up to the venue (The Centre at Norpoint this week) with lawn chairs in hand, sit down, watch a band and take in a flick under the stars. With or without the corn dogs (you’re more likely to sniff sushi in the crowd), the experience is a glorious bow to community. This week Maia Santell and House Blend perform jazz and blues before a screening of Casablanca. Metro Parks, you have done a beautiful thing!
[The Centre at Norpoint, Aug. 2, 6:30 p.m., no cover, 4818 Nassau Ave. N.E., Tacoma, www.metroparkstacoma.org]
National Night Out
Tuesday is the 25th anniversary of National Night Out around the country. NNO is designed to generate support for crime prevention, heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, strengthen police/community relations and neighborhood spirit, and send criminals a message letting them know that neighborhoods and rockers are fighting back. That’s right, while block parties, police presentations, cookouts, and other neighborhood-organized events happen across the nation, the Brick City Project in downtown Tacoma will rock out in the name of NNO. Hosted by Club Impact and Safe Streets Robots vs. Humans — the band — will inject a little pubescent emo rock into the Brick City Project Tuesday with New Heights, Ghost Runner On Third and hip-hop artist Verzatile.
Here’s hoping this group of musical masterminds can rock the crime out of downtown Tacoma. — Brad Allen
[Brick City Project, Aug. 5, 7 p.m., no cover, 754 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, www.clubimpact.org]
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