The Chihulymania appears to have begun, with more human bodies and upside-down ice-cream cone Museum of Glass stickers cavorting about the museum district in downtown Tacoma than I’ve seen in years.
But what about the Washington State History Museum's 10-year anniversary main-event slated to have started today, and running hard-core tomorrow?
Can you even use the term “hard core” for a historical museum?
I was there today, but I missed the part about “symposium” and so arrived roughly four hours late.
Technically, the history museum is slated to have the real celebration start tomorrow, with a 10 a.m. kickoff (free museum entry!) and events and happenings slated to go on through the day: a Brazilian Dance troupe will samba on through at noon, the Chief Leschi Drum and Dance Group perform at 1:30, and if you haven’t had enough rhythm, then the Congo Carter drum circle will certainly fix you right up, at 2:45.  At 4:15 p.m. Asia Pacific Cultural Center Dance Performance takes the stage, which will be taken over by alt country band Last Chance Romeos at 5:45.  Closing remarks (6:45) will be followed by Maia Santell and House Blend’s own flavor of jazz and blues, with giveaways, a barbecue, and a valet train.
I’ll be there â€" and you? â€" Jessica Corey-Butler?

SCENE OF THE CRIME By Natasha
I went into Puget Sound Pizza for my first time about a year ago for lunch with some of my colleagues. I hadn't yet joined the South Sound inner circle at that point, and I wish I would've known then what I know now.
I've always thought the pizza there was great, but it wasn't until recently that I discovered what a cult following PSP has.
I've been spending quite a bit of time there lately because Ginger Knoxx has been kind enough to introduce me to several of Tacoma's social ambassadors, including my favorite rock star/PSP maestro, Bluecifer.
He let me in on some of the greatest news of all for you fellow PSP fans: They're expanding.  AWESOME. 
PSP recently scored the lease on the location right next to it.  The wall between the two places will be blown out, adding to PSP 40 seats, a bathroom, darts, pinball, and, much to the delight of my libationary tendencies, a bar. I was so excited to hear this that I felt like my eyes were filled with stars.
I recently made a new friend at PSP while sitting at the current bar who helped me make even more sense of the place.  His name was Jamie, and we had great talks about PSP's glowing personality, the delicious pizza, and the types of people that the place attracts.
Jamie put it perfectly.  It's intelligent pizza.  A native of Pennsylvania, he said he's met some of the most interesting and intellectual people with his regular stops at PSP.  I could say the same of Jamie. No offense, dear Tacoma, but impressive people aren't always easy to come by here in the Dirty South, but PSP seems to have an abundance. I have my fingers crossed that I'll get to high-five Jamie again soon.
PSP has a rock 'n' roll, sublime grunge era feel to it that's obviously such a fit for who I am and where I've been.  But more than that, it's approachable for anyone, regardless of your experiences.  A steady flow of people pop in at all hours of the day, and the phone is always buzzing with to go orders. 
PSP recently introduced me to the Fish Tale Organic IPA, which was the perfect accompaniment to the tasty pizza, sauce and crust.  I'm particularly down with IPAs that have a subtle bite to them, and the Organic is just what the doctor ordered. PSP just switched taps, though, and this week, you should order up the Harmon's Mt. Takhoma Blonde Ale there. Scrumptious. 
I keep hearing about PSP's amazing breakfasts, with omelettes the size of your life, but socialites like me rarely get their day going before noon on the weekends.  I promise that I'll make it in soon, though, PSP.
I can't wait for the expansion, and I've been hearing that a kick-ass Halloween party might be in store.  How did they know that Halloween is my favorite holiday ever?
But best of all, I'd just like to thank PSP for feeding my belly and firing the neurons in my noggin.
Ahhhhhh.
Puget Sound Pizza, 317 S. Seventh St., Tacoma, (253) 383-4777

Tell me where you like to party here.

Dancers, percussionists and instrumentalists in full costume celebrating the sounds of Brazil make two appearances today. The performances feature Eduardo Mendonça, the founder of the group and a well-known Brazilian recording artist.  Show Brazil combines the music brought to Brazil from the African slaves in the 16th century, Afro-Brazilian war dances, martial arts from the 17th century, reggae and more during a one-hour performance.  Modern and native instruments, including the berimbau â€" a tall, bowed instrument with a gourd â€" are combined with drums and percussion to create the kind of experience that demands clapping and audience participation.  It’s the perfect sunny day event. Aug. 10, noon-1 p.m., free, Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma.  7:30-8:30 p.m., free, Pioneer Park, 324 Meridian S., Puyallup. â€" Michael Swan

PERMANENT LIPSTICK by Ginger Knoxx
Need to wish drummer Michael Kinder a sweet birthday. He's celebrating another year of outrunning Father Time by constantly gigging with his bands Butterbean and Blues Brothers Revue. It must be all that clean living he does.
While driving friends home Sunday morning, we passed Mr. Montagne and J. Taylor on foot on Sixth Avenue. Wonder if they were headed for Shakabrah's tasty breakfast (as Hollywood was) or just dragging their well-partied selves home.

THURSDAY, Aug. 3
Rampart Gallery artists converged on The Swiss for post-monthly meeting carousing. Commence dissection of Tacoma City Council, rising housing costs, the ridiculous condo boom (stop it, stop it, stop it) and some shady artist selection processes by some city's museums. The Italian and I joined the crew and got the scoop on Kulture Lab, Hume's upcoming big event. The Swiss' bartenders were sporting this intense look till something funny was said. Then their faces lost 10 years with smiles. Man, who doesn't love those guys? Oops, probably the guy being escorted out, that's who. Pretty much, you can have whatever kind of fun you want at Bob and Jack's place, but youz gots to maintain, ladies and gentlemen, I say, maintain.

SATURDAY, Aug. 5
Proctor District Art Festival seemed under attended. The Italian and I bought our way through the streets acquiring a killer ceramic mask, a set of handworked silver martini sticks, strawberry lemonades, and organic grass fed lamb and pork. The guy from the local farm says, "If you like those country pork ribs, I've got hot Italian sausage for you." Uh-huh - priceless. I chimed right back, "Well, I've already got that." Heh. Onto Woofstock '06 at Cheney Stadium. By 3 p.m. Dugan reported that over 700 people had come through and 27 animals were adopted. Mission accomplished. www.myspace.com/inlunarblue">In Lunar Blue was doing a pretty good version of Tool as we bounced. Ran into Jonah Jensen in the parking lot. He turned us onto his upcoming book: Voices, the Art of Construction - a photo documentary of Stadium High School. Right in time for the centennial celebration. Sweet. Hotrod-A-Rama. What can I say that doesn't get said every year? This year was bigger, better, had more jiggly pinup cheesecake, hot males, a welcome smattering of cars that looked like they'd been on fire at one point versus pristine typical gloss jobs, killer bands, more beer, and just, well, more badassedness (totally not a word, but it fits). The sun burned down, and a Fort Bender dinner break was deemed necessary. Slim Finnegan skated in; Ike and the boys huddled and talked all things punk rock. Breaking away, The Italian and I scooped up Zolack, heading for Rock Pasta. MarTee Cee toured us through Buzzard's VIP Room promising more good times ahead. Yo! We knew you wuz down. A brief chat about the Chihulygans who'll be roaming downtown this weekend led to tales of recent ill-advised, hilarious adventures. Regret them? Nah, I just wish they didn't carry repercussions - like 3-day hangovers. But I should learn to hydrate myself before binge drinking, shouldn't I? Keep your eye out for costumed figures jiving through the museum stretch.

Check out my live show picks of the week here.

Give me a wink and a kiss here. Knoxx knows.

Pour At Four wine bistro in Tacoma's Proctor District continues it's "Italy Comes To Pour At Four" theme, concentrating on wines from southern Italy through Saturday. Matt the chef's planned dish today is marinated prawns and grilled peppers.
So yum.
Matt's remaining dishes this week are: prawns and angel hair pasta Friday and pan-seared red snapper Saturday.
For more information on Pour At Four's wine events, check out their Web site. â€" Jason de Paul

All right, I'll admit it.  I used to be a covert country music fan. When company came calling I hid my Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earl, and Gram Parsons CDs.  But recently I began hearing artists such as Neko Case, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, and the Elected and proudly jumped on the alt country music bandwagon and fell passionately and openly in love with the genre.  Now that I'm out of the closet, allow me to share my latest find with you. Drawing inspiration from traditional country crooners such as Hank Williams Sr., Buck Owens and Patsy Cline to the legendary punk outfits X and the Blasters, Ruby Dee & the Snakehandlers offer up a cocktail of Bakersfield hard twang, Memphis rockabilly, Southwest Tex-Mex and Northeast rock 'n' roll for a shit kickin' barnyard stomp. Ruby Dee's boisterous voice is complemented by the lush harmonies offered up by acoustic guitarist Liz Smith while Jorge Harada's Telecaster guitar adds just the right amount of twang.  The Seattle-based honky-tonkers just released their first full-length, North of Bakersfield, in July.  Like their previous two EPs, the disc encompasses a mix of hardcore country and rousing rockabilly but slows it down for crying in your beer ballads. 9 p.m., free, Eastside Club Tavern, 410 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia. â€" Tony Engelhert

Now Bobble Tiki knows what you’re thinking: Scotch is what fat old men drink while discussing the war, the Truman administration or something equally archaic. However, thanks to increased American interest, and more distilleries handling their own bottling, single malt scotch whisky has become one of the most interesting and accessible liquors.
Bobble Tiki leans toward the Islay scotches, including his favorite Laphroaig.  Stanley & Seaforts, which brags that it has the largest selection of single malt scotches in Tacoma, adds half a shot of Laphroaig to its Collection Martini, giving the Ketel One treat a bit of smoky flavor, thus its former title â€" Smokey Martini. 
Bobble Tiki recommends grabbing one of these puppies this weekend and watch the people dart around Chihuly, from atop the hill.  Just remember Bobble Tiki’s rule: “Martinis are like a woman’s breasts. One is not enough, and three is too many.” 115 E. 34th St., Tacoma, (253) 473-7300. â€" Bobble Tiki

I needed to be pinched yesterday, I was having one of those “am I dreaming?” moments. 
So there I was, at the University of Washington-Tacoma, where they were setting up the Chihuly beer garden spot, and I was looking across Pacific Avenue, and I saw people.  Not just one or two stragglers, but a bona-fide crowd.  I heard the primal sounds of drums, and had to go to their source.
The Washington State History Museum's 10-year anniversary fete, combined with the Chihuly In Tacoma festivities, made for a really cool city-like experience: the drummers had booties shaking; there was a climbing wall, and a pitching cage (a kid was throwing a respectable 30 miles per hour) and an archaeological dig-site (a blow up pool with dirt in it, and kids digging for treasure) and last but very not least, in case we thought historical-society-types were staid, there was a beer garden.
Inside the museum a respectable number of people milled about looking at the exhibits, and  I noticed a fair amount of them had Museum of Glass stickers on their chests. Cari Sherman with the history museum reported attendance at 1077 at 3 p.m., over anticipated numbers, and mentioned she thought a fair amount of attendees might have been initially in the museum district for Chihuly.
Whatever the reason they came there, they were enjoying the Kitsap Live Steamers train rides out in front of the museum, where a steam-powered mini-train took riders on a route even shorter than the Link.
As the entertainment changed to Asia Pacific dancers in crazy hair (note: if it’s a crowd you want, get bright-colored bubble wigs!) I let, wanting the savor the “crowded Tacoma” experience.  Carpe Diem! â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Pacific Plaza.
Lovely downtown Tacoma gathering spot. Dumb name?
The Tacoma blogging community is linking to Kevin Freitas' blog and his poll to rename Pacific Plaza.
What if this weekend's Chihuly festivities sat on Tacoma Triangle instead of Pacific Plaza?
After the poll closes Monday morning, Freitas will submit the results to the Tacoma City Council Monday night. The council toys changing the plaza's name.
Go here and vote today. â€" Suzy Stump

When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go - downtown
When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know - downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?

Well, Petula Clark didn't exactly describe downtown Tacoma in her song, "Downtown."  However, downtown Tacoma is where you should be this weekend â€" Chihuly in Tacoma, Showcase Tacoma, Washington State History Museum, Rampart Toilet Party...
Here's another reason to get your butt downtown.
ArtRod celebrates the opening of Ido Fluk's "Dreams of Failure," the latest exhibition at the Tollbooth Gallery, with a little shindig at Critical Line gallery Saturday, Aug. 12.  Israeli video artist Fluk will be on hand from the Big Apple to launch his exhibit and to meet you Saturday over wine and refreshments from 7-9 p.m. Also check out Critical Line's new exhibit, "Keeping Score."
Critical Line gallery is at 741 St. Helens, Tacoma.  For more information, give them a buzz at 253.444.2741 or shoot them an e-mail. â€" Suzy Stump