The combination of sleep deprivation, heat and Bobble Tiki's body funk (he's wearing the same clothes that he wore yesterday â€" don't ask) are overwhelming. Enjoy Bobble Tiki's random Bumbershoot shots while he rests up for the New Pornographers. â€" Bobble Tiki

These days, the term “supergroup” is more likely to produce groans than glee from serious music fans. On paper, the idea looks good â€"a bunch of independently monster musicians get together to jam out equally monster songs â€" but in practice you end up with Supernova (save them Storm Large!). Toss “indie” in front of the whole thing and that just means it’s a group full of people you’ve never heard of, from bands you don’t care about, dicking around instead of finding a real hobby.

Watching the New Pornographers rip up the Bumbershoot Mainstage today Bobble Tiki couldn't help think that's what Vancouver, B.C., native Carl Newman originally intended this group to be â€" a part-time hobby where he could fine-tune the perfect pop band without fan interference.  He'd take time away from his underrated band Zumpano, gather up pals like pre-twanged Neko Case and Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar and enter the pop laboratory.

As evident from today's crowd, large considering it's an early show today, The New Pornographers became much more than a distraction for Newman.

The band's lush arrangements and jangly guitars thrilled the large crowd, especially on "The Bleeding," "Mass Romantic," "Body Says No," "It's Only Divine Right" and "From Blown Speakers."  Sound problems interfered with "Jessica Numbers" and "Graceland."

They took a few momemnts to poke fun at Kanye West's ego.  Newman explained they have opened for West before but haven't been within 1,000 feet of him.  "We are not allowed in his general area," said Newman.

They ended the show with pop bomb Sing Me Spanish Techno.

BTW, check out who was checking out Bobble Tiki in the photographer's pit. 

Nice! â€" Bobble Tiki

Bobble Tiki would describe Seattle popsters Crystal Skulls as what it might sound like if Steely Dan and Stereolab were to get in a bar fight. Their sound sits somewhere between '70s AM radio gold and indie pop.  The Skulls played the late Sunday afternoon slot on Bumbershoot's Backyard Stage giving the mostly lounging crowd a little snap, jangle and pop. â€" Bobble Tiki

Sunday's Bumbershoot highlight for Bobble Tiki was Thee Emergency's 5 p.m. performance at EMP's Sky Church.  Their engrossing blend of Stooges/Stones classic rock overload and punk-powered energy that leaves the indie-rock kids struck dumb and the punk kids wondering why all their CDs at home sound like crap.

Singer (rather gospel-inflected wailer) Dita Vox, guitarist Sonic Smith, bassist Nick Detroit and Drummer "don't call me John Densmore even though I look like him" Tom T. rock like rock stars.  They leap in the air.  They crawl on the stage.  They play their instruments behind their head.  The hold their fists in the air.  And they use every inch of the stage.

A little ticked that some dude in the crowd had his arms folded, Smith, donning a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and, instructed the dude to start dancing.  "People who dance go to heaven. People who don't go to hell," he shouted.

Drenched in sweat, the Seattle quartet commanded through their songs off their debut CD, Can You Dig It? before posing for photographs with Japanese fans offstage.

The KEXP radio jock who introduced Thee Emergency to the packed venue said this band was going to rock our asses off.  He said that Bobble Tiki and fellow enthusiasts would leave without our asses.  I'm standing as I type this as Bobble Tiki doesn't have an ass left. â€" Bobble Tiki

This rodeo is a bone, and all of the marrow is now gone, but it's SO worth it.

I went back to the Tav last night after my nap was interrupted by several phone calls from the bros.

Drinking, drinking, drinking.  I went and rocked the Palace Cafe with some homies for a while. As soon as this big, tall cowboy walked in, I was reminded of something awesome that happened on Friday that I forgot to tell you about.

I had a vocal show down with that cowboy, in the middle of the street, probably at midnight.  I'm not really sure how it started, but we went back and forth there on 4th Avenue with freestyling and covers.  It was so entertaining that we amassed a crowd.  I cleared the gate with a rousing rendition of Susan Tedeschi's "It hurt so bad."  That cowboy went down in a blaze of glory.

On Saturday at the Palace someone somehow played Tina Turner's "What's love got to do with it" on the juke box.  I serenaded that cowboy, and people were in awe.  Catholic school choir was worth something.

I had to go back to the Tav to find my own personal Nick Dav.  I wish I could put him in my pocket and bring him back home with me so you could meet him.  We sat there in a booth for hours and solved all of the problems in the world. Yes.

After, I was confronted with a perplexing circumstance.  When I was 25, I made a pact with my friend Jason that if I wasn't married by the time I was 30, I'd marry him.  It dawned on me last night that I'm 30.  We considered going to Las Vegas, but decided to rock some after hours because we knew that would be even more fun.

Amongst several friends, we boozed until 6 a.m., people, 6 a.m.  Then, naturally, we did what red-blooded, Wrangler-wearing, Ellensburg Blue would do: We went to the Frontier Tavern because that's when they open.

Janetty went and got doughnuts, and we drank the brews until 8 a.m., minus the one that I spilled on myself.

The bros are calling now so I have to be off to more cavorting. There's no time for sleeping.

This rodeo is making it's best attempt at trying to kill me, but good gawd this is the time of my life. â€" Natasha

Well, I lost the bet that I reported on earlier.  I said that this would be the year where I would have absolutely no rodeo romance, to the tune of $10.

I lost. An Eburg local decided to fall in love with me, so I had to face the music and pay my bros.

Damnit.

But that's just one minor set back to this fantastic adventure.

I moseyed downtown yesterday to find different sub sets of friends at three locations.  Naturally, I went to all of them.  I spent time with about 20 of my pals at the Palace for hours.  Most of us were sitting at the long bar and we were playing thumbmaster, which was funny every time.  One of the girls had a fake toy rodeo gun that she had strategically placed in her holster.  Any time people got smart, we put a cap in their as*.  That never got old, either. I was a juke box hero, especially with the perfect rodeo pick: Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive."

BFF Joy showed up after she got done watching the rodeo (I've decided to avoid all of that this year and just stick to the bars) and we went to the Horseshoe where I promptly took over the dance floor with my friend Carrie.  She's from University Place, so she knows what's up.  I had enough space to break out my hip hop soldier moves and routines (I used to be an instructor).  It wasn't very rodeo of me, but the crowd went wild.

I retreated back to the Tav to find another of my dearest, Andrew.  He and I have the same last name. We were in a "relationships and personal development" class together during college. The professor asked if there were any married couples in the room because he wanted to form a panel. Andrew's eyes got big and his hand shot up in the air.  I talked him out of it because I wanted to avoid letting people know what our relationship really consisted of: Getting faded while drinking Keystone Ice (we were poor college kids), screaming the lyrics to Fugazi's 13 Songs. That's one of the truest senses of liberation that I've ever known.

So, my rodeo Sunday drew to a close with nothing more than a brisk walk back to my base camp here at the Eslinger's.

Right now I'm about to saddle up to the Starlight for their fantastic brunch.  I hear my homie Kenny is working at the Horseshoe tonight.  I might have to go check that out this evening.  Never a dull moment.

I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all.

Encore Media Group out of Seattle has launched a bi-monthly, "Creative Living For Tacoma" magazine that hits the streets today.  The beautiful 32-page book includes a well-written article by the Volcano's own Alec Clayton on Native American artist Shaun Peterson.  City of Tacoma arts administrator Amy McBride also pens her thoughts on Tacoma. 

Best of luck to editor Jeffrey Hirsch and crew. â€" Ron Swarner

I finally made my way to the lunch buffet at India Mahal at the edge of University Place.  I have enjoyed dinner there before, but promised myself I’d check into the buffet, and I’m glad I did.  The $7.99 all-you-can-eat buffet features hot and cold dishes, including rice pudding and nan â€" the bread of the gods.  The small strip mall space turns out the best Indian food in the area.  The spices and quality of ingredients are fresh and flavorful â€" nothing tastes over manufactured, old or stale.  1905 Bridgeport Way, University Place, (253) 564-2039. â€" Jason de Paul

Najamoniq Todd uses a razor to cut a longer-looking style into Gavin Drummond’s hair.

Supernova Hair and Tattoo hair designer Najamoniq Todd knows Tacoma.  And she knows hair.
The two will combine for her this weekend when she helps Jason Ganwich by doing all of the hair for his upcoming zombie movie shoot, and then when she does the same for a photo shoot project called “Glam fantasies from Rock and Roll.”
Originally from Oakland, Todd’s been a Tacoma resident for over a decade and loves her vantage of the city in the hair and tattoo salon Supernova, which has been open just under a year. After some community college for business classes, Todd knew where her heart was and got into cosmetology, finishing up her education with time at the Gene Juarez advanced course.  Her advice to prospective hair artists is “get your cosmetology license anywhere, save $10,000; then go to the advanced course.”
Advice for prospective clients: While Todd says she will cut you into a faux-hawk with a tail or give you big ’80s rocker hair, she says, “I will not cut a mullet.”
Her hot new hair tip: “Steps are the new thing. I love steps.” â€" Jessica Corey-Butler
Supernova Hair & Tattoo, 817 Division, Tacoma, (253) 428-8288

SCENE OF THE CRIME by Natasha
I had walked by City Lights a million times before I finally was enticed to enter.
Fundamentally, I'm really not into playing pool.  My hand-eye coordination isn't so keen, and I don't like to be distracted from socializing.  Well, maybe I'm a little bit of an attention whore, too.  That's probably it.
However, City Lights, or rather now Tacoma's City Lights & City Nights, has gone through some changes recently that sweetened the deal for me and for you.
In addition to the 21 pool tables, big televisions and games, City Lights has added a music room.
Even though it was a school night, the world-famous Bluecifer convinced me to catch his band there.  Not only was it my first time being in City Lights, it was also my first I Defy performance, and I got to enjoy it with those model squad broads - Chesty Meow and Ebony. Quadruple the pleasure.
When you walk into the pool hall portion of City Lights you'll feel like the room is filled with smoke even though we're not allowed to do that anymore.  The lights are low, and there's a mix of different customers. Some are shady; others are swank.  Ladies, you'll want to be on top of your game here. I was approached by three different dirtbags, all of whom I quickly dissed and dismissed.
The music room was easy to settle into for the show. It's spacious. The tables are set back far enough away from the stage that you can get your groove on if necessary, and I appreciated the acoustics.
City Lights is an interesting setting for a show because the music room has windows all the way around it. The dingy Tacoma Avenue South people walking around outside made us laugh a number of times, and there was even a woman who flashed her hoo-has.  We also had the chance to wave to the Durango 95 lead singer, who is too young to be in the place. That's one reason to turn it into an all-ages venue.
I Defy offered a great acoustic performance. Carl bravely played his guitar with one string broken, and Bluecifer was donning a banana-yellow cowboy suit. He's so tall that he had to let the hems of the pants out, but he knew the outfit was destined for him, which made me giggle. The lead singer asked everyone in the audience to give him the middle finger during the show.  I was smiling and refused because he hadn't done anything to tick me off.  He came straight up to me to antagonize the situation, and instead of flipping him off, I kissed him on the cheek.  Awww. 
So, would I recommend City Lights for the booze, pool or a show?  Sure. Grab your friends and have a ball.
Tacoma's City Lights & City Nights, 445 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, close to Tacoma Grand Cinema, (253) 383-3301

Tell me where you like to party here.