Aloha,

Bobble Tiki is experiencing one of those weeks in which the only thing he can do is sigh heavily, throw up his wooden hands, and exclaim, "Thelma Houston, Bobble Tiki has a problem!" At the start of the workweek, Bobble Tiki arrived at his desk all bright-eyed and bushy-browed, only to find that his computer was sick with not one, but four viruses. And then Bobble Tiki got sick. Can computers infect humans? He suspects he caught his bug from the machine because he had the same symptoms: Lethargic responses to outside stimuli and an inability to reboot. Both Bobble and machine are slowly returning to normal - or as close to normal as possible - and to celebrate this gradual recovery, Bobble Tiki's ready to kick up his one good spring and deliver some news.

This week Maurice the Fish Records added another local band to its roster - Tin Man. You might remember Bobble Tiki interviewed Tin Man founder Rusty Parrish nearly two years ago:

Tin Man was started as my solo project and has now been fully realized as a band. I didn't want to go and perform using my name, so I came up with this name to hide behind, so to speak, I grew up in Minneapolis playing in bands, so having a (band) name seemed like the way to go. I moved to the Northwest in 1995 and kinda gave up music to raise a family. But the bug bit me again and I started playing solo in 2006. I went to coffee shop route but grew bored with it quickly and knew I had to work with a band again. I put out two solo CDs during that time of material I had recorded in my home studio. When I went looking for musicians to play with most of them couldn't understand where I was headed. So I decided in the spring of 2010 to head back to Minneapolis and record my strongest and best songs with musicians I had played with in the past and (who) understood what I was looking for. The result is the new CD, Somewhere in the Middle. ...

Read the rest of Bobble Tiki's interview with Parrish here.

Anyhoo, Bobble Tiki asked Maurice the Fish label man Raymond Hayden what it is about the Tin one that makes it worthy to join the label.

"For past three years plus a tid bit we have been doing shows together and I have become good friends with the members of this project," says Hayden.  "I'd say my favorite thing about Tin Man is their inherent ability to bring it every time they set foot on any stage - all the while, supporting the other bands in our community by lifting them up every chance they get.  This band understands the power of networking ... community and backing up a great product with great business sense."

Catch Tin Man with Hitchkick Friday, April 12 at Jazzbones.

Bobble Tiki is normally not one who succumbs to neurosis (ha ha ha, it's looks even funnier in print), but VH1 Classic is ruling his already dominated-by-popular-culture life. Not a day goes by where Bobble Tiki doesn't halt some other task (like this column) to flip it on in hopes of seeing April Wine's "Just Between You and Me" or Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" video, which he only caught half of last week just before slipping into a coma. (Editor's note: get to the point!)

VH1 Classic's father - before it morphed into a pop-cultural network for people who find E! "too brainy" - VH1 used to be all about music - albeit music for people who thumbed through Restoration Hardware catalogs at the same time - Sting, Phil Collins, Sting, Cyndi Lauper, Sting, Annie Lennox, Sting. However, their Behind The Music shows ignited a plethora of MTV-like non-music shows ... such as Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual.

That's right, In this new WeTV reality series, Bobble Tiki learned that '80s pop star Cyndi Lauper is not only still so unusual, but also still alive.

Seriously, though, it was just a matter of time before Lauper got a reality show. Not just because nearly everyone else has one, but also because she's a character. And as Bobble Tiki learned from watching Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family, watching characters be themselves in their real lives is pretty entertaining. Lauper's show is decent, if not sweet. If you're tired of the reality shows with women fighting or the reality shows featuring people famous solely because they're on reality shows, this is a nice place to land.

Speaking of Lauper, and really the only reason Bobble Tiki is speaking about Lauper, the Broadway Center is bringing her to the Pantages Theater Sunday, June. 16. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of her iconic debut album, She's So Unusual - which spawned four Top-5 hits on the Billboard 100, including "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," "She Bop" and "All Through the Night." 

Opening for Cyndi Lauper will be all-girl alternative rock band, Hunter Valentine. 

The Lauper show tickets are $59, $89, $99 and $129 and are on sale for Broadway Center Members Tuesday, April 2, and the general public may grab them Monday, April 8. To purchase tickets call the Broadway Center Box Office at 253.591.5894.

As always Bobble Tiki doesn't give a crap what you do this week because he doesn't even know you. And unless you can explain why croutons come in airtight packages but are freakin' stale to begin with, then Bobble Tiki is certain he doesn't even want to meet you. Besides, it's time for him to blow this joint and search for the arcade game with the dangling claw that snatches prizes. Impossible to win? Refer to some of Bobble Tiki's shining moments over the years: the cartoon Batman doll scored at Kmart, the Halloween mask he won and then wore back to his table at Denny's, the cat doll dressed unmistakably as a prostitute and, of course, the lobster harmonica from the bowling alley. OK, that last one happened to Otto on The Simpsons, but still. ...

Bobble Tiki is going out of his head via e-mail at bobbletiki@weeklyvolcano.com.