So you’re sitting around playing games on your cell phone. Yes, you are. That’s not productive in any way. It’s worse than computer solitaire. It’s Thursday night â€" you should go support your local budding artists during Third Thursday Art Walk.

May I suggest the Two Vaults Gallery artists’ reception and the Kulture Lab?  Thank you, I will. 

Two Vaults offers a show devoted to Carol Mosher’s found object sculptures and SOTA student Andrew Phan’s urban industrial black and white photography of Tacoma.  Two artists, Two Vaults, too much fun with wine and food.  The show is up for a month, too. 
[Two Vaults Gallery, Thursday, Feb. 15, 5-9 p.m., 602 S. Fawcett, Tacoma]

James Hume spent his entire Sunday cleaning Kulture Lab after their big "Erotic Art Party" last Saturday.  "What the hell," he says.  "Let's open up tonight for Third Thursday Art Walk."

Nice.

Expect erotic art, Ding-Dongs and wine. â€" Suzy Stump
[Kulture Lab, 5-8 p.m., free, 608 S. Fawcett, Tacoma]

Whoa Suzy, sure South Fawcett will be hopping tonight, but may I suggest Embellish Multispace Salon for a multi good time tonight.

Check out my preview of the Jana Losey show at Embellish tonight that ran in today's Weekly Volcano. â€" Angela Jossy

• With a Sarah McLachlan sweetness, Jana Losey sings sure-footed but tender love songs without the slightest tinge of the stereotypical New Yorker attitude. After spending a few years writing and performing songs on Broadway, Losey decided to try her hand at writing piano driven pop songs. The result is a remarkable album titled Bittersweet. A strong believer in environmentally responsible living, Losey has been educating new friends about permaculture while driving across the country in a hybrid car with her guitar wielding co-hold Melanie Peters while promoting the new album.“My plans are to make less and less of a footprint,” says Losey, “and to just be aware of what I’m doing. Eventually I will have a completely sustainable (zero impact to the planet) home and surroundings, and I’ll be able to teach people how to do the same.”

• Losey has very definitive plans. She will simply keep playing music every day. “I love writing new songs. I also love when I can be on stage with no holds barred ... when I can just be myself and I get to FEEL the music and be in the present with the other musicians on stage with me. I’d rather live in a trailer towed behind the band van than do anything else,” she says.

• Losey and her tiny footprint will perform tonight at Embellish Multispace Salon during Tacoma Third Thurday Art Walk. Remote Impact opens. Visual art by Cara Jennings and free edibles by Over the Moon Café. 

[Embellish Multispace Salon, 6-9 p.m., no cover, 1121 Court D, downtown Tacoma, 253.752.8144]

I’m afraid tonight’s “Night on the Town” left me feeling cold.

It wasn’t the weather: while it was windy, the rain abated, and the climate was really downtown walking mild.

And while the crowds weren’t surging, I did find individuals I liked a lot at each of the places I visited; the hosts and hostesses were amenable (and yes, the wine was flowing), the art was all really noteworthy, and the vibe was T-Town warm.

All the makings were there for a perfect wine-wobble/art/community-appreciation night, despite the numbers being lower than I remember from October and December.

But I didn’t really get a chance to get into it.

Did I think anything was wrong with the event?

No, in typical Hungarian daughter fashion, I blame myself.  I tried to pack too much into one hour.

Think of it.  One hour.  Not at all enough time to wander from one place to the next, sampling wine, chatting, and appreciating art.

But one hour was all I had, since I wanted desperately to make my voice heard at Coffee and Rhetoric.  So I sprinted.

My starting gate was the Met Vet, where I was greeted by a super cool art car and the smiling and wonderful faces of Dr. Natalie and Julia as well as the wonderful “take me home” kitties in the reception area. The art, by Kelly Lyles, is whimsical and fun, and was the perfect start for my evening. 

Driving by Two Vaults Gallery and Kuture Lab, I saw signs of life and happy art viewing; I drove on, for I had many destinations to go and 43 minutes left.

I peeked in at Embellish, where I was treated to a heavenly hand-spa (dang, those products are cool!), beautiful “Faces,” by Cara Jennings, and music that made me want to sit and stay, especially with the concept Jana Losey posed, an alternative to TV called “Art Warriors.”  And stay I did, for a moment, but I was getting nearer to 7 p.m.

So I drove on.

Parking near the former David’s on Broadway, I sprinted as far as Moroccan Interiors and enjoyed the ambience of the brand-newly opened store.  Despite issues with their POS system, the show went on, in an opulent fashion.  I was offered wine, and nearly cried as I refused it; on I raced.

Into Sanford and Sons Shops I veered, past the former-Mecca dumpsters. The shop spaces are all inhabited and the midlevel feels alive and thriving and I was giddy with the vitality of it all.  Did I stay for multiple sips of wine?  No, sweatily, I had to bid my adieu of the nattily dressed Alan Gorsuch, preparing to read from his book, and the rest of my favorite shop-keeping friends, despite loving the cynical Valentine art set up on the auction-room “gallery.”

I raced on, late, past Rampart, where I desperately yearned to go see and learn and be with the cool kids I’ve heard about and don’t yet know.

But that was not for me.  I arrived, panting, at my car, and made it into the Coffee and Rhetoric Art-straveganza 15 minutes late.

I learned about the Tacoma Party-Art community, and I shared in conversation as to why Tacoma is The Coolest, and how we can make it even cooler.

From that, I learned, “be involved.”

From it, as well, I learned, “It’ s hard to be involved in all of it.”

And that was a liberating concept.

Past that, upon consideration, how cool is it, that we have, within our confines, a vital arts + community event that can’t be experienced in an hour?

Tres cool, I would have to answer. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Chris Cornell quit Audiosuck, and readies for release of his second solo record, Carry On.

Check it out here. â€" Matt Driscoll

The Shins Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop)

Despite the great reviews of their debut the Shins remained Sub Pop Records best kept secret. It wasn’t until 2003’s Chutes Too Narrow that they gained the airplay they deserved.  Following a high profile appearance on the “Garden State” soundtrack, the Shins found themselves embraced by the mainstream despite their indie roots.   Three years since their last release the Shins are launching a high profile outing for their third record, Wincing the Night Away.

Like the band’s previous work, Wincing the Night Away retains their jangly guitar sound and lush harmonies with a pop sensibility of the ‘60s British invasion, yet this time they up the ante with a nod to ‘80s wave that is a fresh break from a proven formula. The first single, “Phantom Limb,” is actually the only track that has the Beach Boys timbre synonymous for the quartet.  Airy cuts such as “Sleeping Lessons,” “Pam Berry,” and “Black Wave” finds them straying even farther their signature sound with a synth-intense aura that feels wispy and wistfully dark.  “Sea Legs,” “Turn On Me,” and “Girl Sailor” are straight ahead rockers that each have a the Jam-like rock-wave appeal. The disc ends with low key “A Comet Appears” featuring a solo performance by James Mercer and the gentle strumming of his electric guitar.  While the threat that the Shins will become another corporate indie rock band is a definite possibility, they haven’t sold out yet and have only gotten better with each album.

The Shins play the Paramount Theatre Tuesday, Feb. 20.  Tickets available at Ticketmaster. â€" Tony Engelhart

A minute ago, after numerous honks at the drive-up window at Perky's, Tacoma's other coffee pot, the barista never arose from her slumped position in front of her espresso machine.  I drove away from the joint on Bridgeport Way Southwest wondering if she was asleep or dead.

I feel guilty.  Please someone check on her. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Even as the highly esteemed music columnist for the Weekly Volcano, sometimes the lineup at Jazzbones leaves me confused, wondering "who the fuck?" Often times, it takes reading the press release to realize the significance of who the nightclub has booked.

Tonight's show with Bobby Previte's Coalition of the Willing (featuring Bobby Previte, Skerik, Reed Mathis, and Brian Coogan) is just such a show.

I quickly found out Coogan performs with Stanton Moore's trio, Bonerama, Hairy Apes BMX, and Astral Project, among others. Skerik is a pioneering saxophonist from Seattle who has worked with a list of noteworthy musicians long enough to fill this page, including Roger Waters, Les Claypool, Mad Season, Stone Gossard, R.E.M., and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few. And Previte is a drummer turned composer extraordinaire, whose genius alone was enough to bring this mind-boggling "Coalition of the Willing" together.

Sure am glad I read the press release. Bobby Previte's Coalition of the Willing may be the most interesting thing hitting town all week. â€" Matt Driscoll 

[Jazzbones, Aaron Spiro opens, 9 p.m., $10-$12, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

Things are crazy-cool on Broadway at 6:30 p.m.  Mariachi music is streaming out onto the street from an event at the Crystal Ballroom, the jazz crowd is walking up the hill to the Rialto to see Bill Frisell, the Black History Celebration is packing the Pantages, and as the rain spatters down, the actors at Tacoma Actors Guild are waiting to get into the building for their show, "Proof," set to hit the stage at 8 p.m. 

TAG's Direcotr of Education Jesse Star Michener walks up, keys in one hand, plate of banana bread muffins for the cast and crew in the other, two bags over her shoulder.  Letting everyone in, she makes her rounds in the vast building, unlocking doors and showing me around “behind the scenes.”

I’m impressed.

We walk up the street to Tully’s, and she tells me that the Broadway vibe on this night makes her happy, and sad.  Happy, because this is exactly the energy that makes the Theatre District feel alive.  Sad, because she’s uncertain that TAG will survive.

“The community just has to show its support by coming to the show, or else the organization just won’t be here,” she admits sadly.

This organization is both her past â€" as well as her husband’s â€" and her household’s livelihood.  Her husband, Mikel Michener, is technical director for "Proof," though right now she’s technically “laid off.”

“Three of us were,” she tells me. “We’re just doing this because we believe,” she adds.

“Everyone here at TAG is giving 150 percent, and it’s just not working,” she admits sadly.

Funding, which petered out and hasn’t come back, has created the need for a creative group of people to resort to creative measures, like the Hitlist seen and heard about in cyberspace, as well as a silent auction, raffle, and proposed donations from sales of artworks by artists Frank d’Ippolito and Alec Clayton, as well as items from the ArtStop at LeRoy Jewelers.

The hope is that these measures, as well as others (like the dare to past subscribers: see the show, for free.  If you like it, join the Hitlist) will lure audiences back into the theater.

“We’re doing everything we can to show the community, ‘we’re back,’“ Jesse asserts, alluding to the non-TAG recent past when the shows produced were technically, “the house of TAG” but driven by the Bellevue Civic Theatre.

Some long-time supporters I talk to before the show have held stoically to their belief in TAG. 

“If I had to choose between TAG and the Sonics,” a gentleman asserts, “I’d choose TAG.”

Betsy Miller, our volunteer Flight Attendant and stand-up comedian for the evening, introducing the show, explains to us that everything we’re about to see is TAG; it “proves” the caliber of what a Tacoma theater is capable of.

I hear someone murmuring “beautiful set” behind me (and I agree, inwardly,) and then the play begins.

I’m impressed.   

I’m also amused, fascinated, emotionally involved, and gut-level troubled by the story that rolls out in front of me.  Yep, F-bombs are scattered about.  Yep, there’s some sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

I’m not a theater critic; anymore I rarely attend the theater and have no “formal” knowledge of what make a theater tick, or what makes a show work.

All I know is, based on my viewing, and experience at the show I saw, I’m joining the Hitlist, despite not having been “tagged.”

I’m challenging all of you reading this to go see the show as well.  Take some time away from the computer, sit in a theater with a few of your closest friends, and get swept away.

The show plays until March 4, and is, in my humble estimation, wicked good. 

Another woman questioned after the show, a Seattleite visiting our fair city, agrees with me.  She’s seen the Broadway version, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, and thought the T-Town version was better.

Yeah, for real. 

Once again, I’m impressed. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Underneath this respectable, suburban veneer lies a seething hotbed of decadence; behind a curtain of boring hides an orgiastic cacophony of richness. It’s called the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival.

This year’s festival, scheduled to follow the Daffodil Parade Saturday, April 21, will consume four downtown Tacoma venues:   

1. Big Bands / Jazz Orchestras Stage - Tacoma Convention Center
12:30 - 1:30pm  Jazz Senators
  2:00 - 3:00pm  Emerald City Jazz Orchestra
  3:30 - 4:30pm  Jazz Police
  5:00 - 6:00pm  Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Jazz Orchestra

2. Jazz Combos / Smooth Jazz Stage - The Swiss
12:30 - 1:30pm  Darren Motamedy
  2:00 - 3:00pm  Michael Powers
  3:30 - 4:30pm  Native Blue
  5:00 - 6:00pm  The Jay Thomas-John Stowall Quartet

3. Blues Stage - The Harmon
12:30 - 1:30pm   Nick Vigarino
  2:00 - 3:00pm   The Randy Oxford Band
  3:30 - 4:30pm   Maia Santell and House Blend
  5:00 - 6:00pm   The Michal Miller Band

4. Education Stage - School Of The Arts / Broadway Entrance
Line up to be announced soon.

For more information and tickets, keep an eye here. â€" Bobble Tiki

Link & Drink â€" a guerrilla economic movement by dedicated resident hipsters that consists of packing themselves onto Tacoma's Link Light Rail and visiting four of downtown Tacoma's spiciest establishments hits the tracks again Saturday, Feb. 24, starting at Alfred’s Cafe & Bubble Room at 6 p.m.

Participants purchase a Passport Book filled with original artwork by local artists at Alfred’s and at each stop along the route, their Passport will be stamped by the participating artists.  Only 50 Passports are available, so reserve one today by RSVPing to bennett@net-venture.com.

The Link & Drink route has been set by Natasha, a nightlife columnist for the Weekly Volcano. So, rest assured, you'll be in for a treat.

The Must-Haves for Link & Drink:

• A designated driver or money for the cab ride home;

• A passport book for a mere $3 (just to cover the cost of printing);

• A reasonable sense of balance after you've had a couple of drinks, or the common sense to hang on;

• New acquaintances and fun. â€" Suzy Stump