Out and About: Hear Wilco, listen to award-winning writer, or support arts space

Really big show

Wilco is playing Saturday, Oct. 9, at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, an unusually intimate venue for the eclectic indie rock band. The show is sold out, but for those who feel ready to spend a couple of hours in a space with 1,000 other people, tickets are still available through online resellers. The band is touring in support of 2019’s “Ode to Joy,” an album that Rolling Stone’s Will Hermes called the group’s best in years. The show is at 7:30 p.m. at the center, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test is required for entrance.

Book Award winner speaks in Lacey

Seattle novelist Nicola Griffith, who’s won numerous awards for her sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction and memoir writing, is speaking Wednesday, Oct. 13, in Lacey. Both “Hild,” a fictionalized account of the early life of St. Hilda of Whitby, and “So Lucky,” a thriller about a woman dealing with multiple sclerosis, a divorce from her wife and a mysterious string of murders, have won the Washington State Book Award for fiction. Griffith’s free talk, “Story: Making and Remaking the World,” is part of Saint Martin’s University’s Les Bailey Writer Series. It happens at 7 p.m. at the Worthington Center, 5000 Abbey Way SE, Lacey. Masks are required.

Art gala

Olympia Lamplighters, a nonprofit art gallery and co-working space, is holding a gala fundraiser Friday, Oct. 8. The event will include live music, a raffle and a silent auction, plus a chance to get to see what the nonprofit offers the community. The Lamplighters space is at 211 Fourth Ave. E, Olympia. Tickets, available online or in the store, are $20, and proof of vaccination is required to attend.

A chill ran through freelance writer Molly Gilmore when she wrote “in a space with 1,000 other people.” She talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.