Figurehead

I usually don't have a clue what performance art pieces are all about—and I'll plead ignorance again regarding the "Figurehead Roll" happening in downtown Tacoma on New Year's Eve. Cooked up by artists Lynn Di Nino, Claudia Riedener, and Steve Kanick, the three- minute performance piece will involve rolling 1,000 vacuum-form plastic heads downhill from Broadway and Ninth Street at 10 p.m. sharp. Opera singers Susan Carr, Elizabeth Ripley, and Karl Reyes will belt out arias as heads succumb to gravity, while a gaggle of assorted jesters and monks will add to the madness. Like I said, I don't have a clue what it's all about, but it sure sounds cool. It's all part of Tacoma's First Night celebration, a family-oriented, nonalcoholic bit of New Year's revelry. While you're down there, check out the opening of Marty Fehl's "Sacred Cows: Portraits From a City Scandal," an assortment of distorted and pixilated paintings of all the figures involved in Tacoma's Brame murder scandal. Figurehead Roll: 10 p.m. Fri. Dec. 31. Downtown Tacoma (Broadway and Ninth). Sacred Cows reception: 5 p.m.-midnight, Dec. 31. Sanford & Son, 743 Broadway (Tacoma), 253- 272-0334. For more information on First Night ($10 buttons gain you entry to all events) call 253-572-8373.