By Juliet Brewster

The weather is such a tease this time of year. Looking out the window this morning, I am tempted to stay in bed with a book until I know the sun is here to stay. There is so much to see out in the world, though—and so much more coming up this summer!

My mom and I both celebrate our birthdays this week, so I am taking her to see Giselle danced at the Edmonds Center for the Arts on Sunday. The Olympic Ballet Theater performed the classic tragedy last Sunday at the Everett Performing Arts Center, and I am very excited to see the second show here in Edmonds. Giselle and The Wilis is the story of an innocent peasant girl seduced by a nobleman in disguise. When she learns his true identity, and that he is engaged to the princess, her weak heart gives out and she dies from grief. I haven’t given anything away yet, though—that’s only Act I. To find out who “the Wilis” are, and how they exact their revenge on deceitful men, you’ll have to join Mary Kay and me at ECA at 5 p.m. this Sunday. Tickets are available through the Olympic Ballet Theater website. (and remember to wish Mary Kay a Happy Birthday if you’re in the bookshop this weekend!)

Speaking of the Edmonds Bookshop…

World Book Night is kicking off this Tuesday, April 23. All across the U.S., community members are volunteering to distribute boxes of books to the non-readers around them. The idea is to spread a habit of reading from person to person. In Catalonia, April 23 is their version of Valentine’s Day (La diada de Sant Jordi), when lovers exchange books and roses. It’s also the shared death-date of Shakespeare and Cervantes in 1616. So if someone hands you a book on Tuesday, don’t be offended, take an hour to sit down and celebrate the human tradition of literacy—you may even enjoy it!

Janette Turner (remember her?) is speaking on Thursday at the Friends of the Edmonds Library meeting on “Connecting Community Through Story and Memoir.” Janette writes for My Edmonds News in addition to heading EPIC, our local writers’ support group, teaching non-fiction writing at the battered women’s shelter, and finishing her memoir, “Confessions of a Cosmo Addict: A Magazine Memoir.” The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 25 upstairs in the Library’s Plaza Room.

The Taj Mahal Trio and Shemekia Copeland show at ECA on Wednesday, the 24th, is sold out! I envy those of you who got your tickets on time; this promises to be an amazing show. Taj Mahal has been playing the blues for over 40 years, gradually mixing in Caribbean, West African, Hawaiian, European, and Latin American influences. His curiosity for musical discovery has led him all over the world, tracing musical trends to their roots. He is a two-time Grammy Award winner. Opener Shemekia Copeland just released her seventh album ’33 1/3’—a reference to her age—in 2012. The record has already been nominated for Best Blues Album, and has stayed at the #1 spot of Roots Music Report for four months. Copeland started singing at fifteen when her father’s (Texas blues guitarist Johnny Clyde Copeland) health started failing. She possesses an otherworldly set of pipes, and uses it to rail against domestic violence, wage inequality, and religious hypocrisy.

And finally, looking forward to summer…

Kate Larsson’s design has been chosen to represent this year’s Edmonds Arts Festival, which will be held as usual over Father’s Day Weekend at the Frances Anderson Center.

The Hazel Miller Foundation will sponsor a summer concert series beginning in July, in Hazel Miller Park (on 5th Ave S. between Dayton and Maple). Look forward to Thursday night folk, jazz, and classical guitar and Tuesday afternoon music, storytelling, magic, and more!

Call to artists! City of Edmonds Arts Commission and Public Works Department are planning a roundabout at Five Corners, and are looking for Northwest artists to contribute to the design. The artwork site is in the middle circle of the roundabout, a raised landscape area, which has a 25-foot diameter. The goal of the artwork portion of the project is to provide greater visual identity, a distinctive sense of place, and a unique signature for the Five Corners neighborhood.

More information and application guidelines are available on the City of Edmonds Arts Commission website.

Artfully Edmonds columnist Juliet Brewster, an Edmonds native and Edmonds-Woodway High School graduate, has a degree in literature from Bennington College. To have your arts happening listed, email her at brewster.juliet@gmail.com.