Aimee Mann, Hip-Hop Nutcracker and 50-year-old horror-romp provide escape from election week
Aimee Mann comes to town
Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, who won the 2018 Grammy for Best Folk Album for “Mental Illness,” is performing Friday, Nov. 8, in Olympia. In 2006, NPR’s Robin Hilton named Mann one of the top 10 best living songwriters, along with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. She’s best known for the Grammy- and Oscar-nominated “Save Me,” written for the 1999 film “Magnolia.” Before launching her solo career, she co-founded the new wave band ’Til Tuesday and wrote the 1985 hit “Voices Carry.” The concert, with guest Jonathan Coulton, is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $39-$99 for regular seats and $209 for a VIP package including sound check.
Cult classic with an Olympia twist
The Olympia Film Society is celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Phantom of the Paradise,” about a singer-songwriter who loses his soul and terrorizes a concert hall. The Friday, Nov. 8, screening will feature a live shadow cast led by singer-dancer-actor Amy Shephard, who’s co-producing the event. The Shephard connection: Her late father, Will Shephard, played “Rock Freak,” a featured extra in the film, directed by Brian De Palma. Will Shephard also donned a gorilla suit for the 1976 “King Kong” (starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange) and wrote a book about the experience (2014’s “Inside King Kong). Amy Shephard grew up hearing stories about her dad’s appearances in films “I definitely think it impacted my desire to be a performer, but I developed a love for performing even as a small child,” she told The Olympian. “I think it’s genetic to some extent.” The screening begins at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia, with doors opening at 6. Tickets are $20, $25 for film-society members.
‘Nutcracker’ reimagined
“The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” which mixes elements of the holiday classic with a series of dance battles, returns to Olympia on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (Its first performance in town was in 2021, when theaters were just reopening after the pandemic.) The show, featuring Tchaikovsky’s music and a short set by hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow, relocates the show to present-day New York and changes up the plot, with young Maria-Clara traveling back in time to help repair her parents’ relationship. “Our theme is love conquers all,” Blow told the Mercury News in California in 2021. The holiday tale takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $59-$109.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore is fond of Mann’s “That’s Just What You Are.” She talks with DJ Kevin the Brit about what’s happening around town on KGY-FM’s “Oly in a Can,” airing at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fridays.