The precious democratic freedom of the United States has been threatened by a number of forces, both foreign and domestic. Among the domestic sort are those oppressive Elizabeth Dole-esque types who believe the world would be a safer place if only children were protected from stimulating literature. So, to celebrate their perpetual defeat, in a big fat thumbing-of-the-nose at all that stupid censorship stuff, King’s Books and the Tempest Lounge are proud to present Banned Books Week.

The week will feature free speech discussions, storytime with banned books, banned film night, music, art auction and more at King’s Books Sept. 28-Oct. 4.

The Tempest (913 MLK Way, Tacoma) will host the Banned Book Slut Social Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. allowing book lovers to discussion free speech, trade books and try the new banned author cocktail.

A complete list of events can be found at the King’s Books Web site.

So, if you are the kind of person that enjoys thumbing your nose at things and hearing what they don't want you to hear, your week is booked. â€" Suzy Stump

Watermark Gifts and shop proprietor Karen McGrath hosts a Baggallini Trunk Show Friday, Sept. 28. What is a trunk show? Trunk shows are typically a first viewing of new products that allows limited numbers of buyers first-shot purchasing.

Jerry Boyle, Baggallini representative, will be bringing a truckload of bags in fun fall colors and will be on hand to answer questions and share his expert opinion on what bag is best for you based on your function needs. Baggallini products are known to be durable, high functioning and fashionable, made with quality fabrics and strong stitching. Check out oversized totes, carry-alls, messenger bags, makeup bags, purses, and more. Designs have a broad range appeal due to the varied styles and Baggallini’s smart ability to offer items that compliment almost anyone’s fashion sense and personal style. â€" Jennifer Johnson

[Watermark Gifts, Friday, Sept. 28, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1115 A St., Tacoma, 253.383.2041]

Last year, when Dick Dale played Hell’s Kitchen, the show was easily one of the highlights of the year. It’s not everyday that the man who invented surf guitar plugs in at the Kitchen, and it’s not every day you get a chance to stand only feet away from his amps.

It’s not everyday, but if we’re lucky, it may happen every year.

That’s because this Saturday, Sept. 29, Dick Dale will be back in Tacoma, once again bombarding the grit city with surf riffs loud enough to make your ears ring for days, and he’ll be joined by two of the best bands Tacoma has to offer â€" Girl Trouble and the Fucking Eagles.

If you thought the show was hot last year, just wait until you see what Dale has up his sleeve this year. If you missed the show last year, consider yourself lucky. You’ve been given a golden opportunity to once again see a music legend up close and personal. Don’t blow it this time. â€" Matt Driscoll

[Hell’s Kitchen, Saturday, Sept. 29, 9 p.m., $20 at Ticketweb, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

THE DAILY WORD
Learn it, use it, spell it

Hebetude \HEB-uh-tood-; -tyood\, noun:

Mental dullness or sluggishness.

USAGE EXAMPLE: If you thought the hebetude Michael Vick displayed with his dog fighting fiasco was impressive, you should see his hebetude … on weed.

THE MORNING NEWS

LAKEWOOD: Skinny-dipping past your house.

TRANSPORTATION: Ron Sims says “no.”

SCIENCE: Dudes popping pills for more popping?

MEXICO: No place like home.

HUSTLER OF CULTURE
You can stand atop the mountain and scream your naked desires to the universe or shed that synapse epilepsy and hug the South Sound today with your fellow man:

MUSIC: Bobble Tiki isn’t very politically active, doesn’t often think about the big picture, and doesn’t much care who’s the leader of the free world â€" as long his pizza shows up on time and wine continues to be cheaper in the box. However, that doesn’t mean Bobble Tiki doesn’t appreciate, and down right enjoy, the music of Fear Train Caravan. In the same vain as icons like Dylan, Petty, and Pearl Jam, Fear Train Caravan goes heavy on the politics, but does so with a musical skill that lets even layman like Bobble Tiki enjoy the show. FTC will play Jazzbones on Friday. If you’re a fan of top notch music with a message, or just a fan of top notch music period, consider yourself booked on Friday.

MORE MUSIC: What's on tonight.

DISH: Where do you want to eat tonight?

FILM: “The Kingdom” rules the lot.

BOBBLE TIKI'S THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
Turdus Musicus will play Hell’s Kitchen on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Bobble Tiki isn’t a very intellectual fellow, nor has he ever claimed to be. That said, Bobble Tiki was primarily interested in writing about this show for two reasons. First off, Wednesdays at the Kitchen equal $1 PBRs. That’s never a bad thing. Secondly, it sounds funny to say “Turdus Musicus.”

Please be Bobble Tiki’s friend here.

Breakfast with Bobble Tiki runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  Deal with it.

Congratulations to Tacoma-based artist Oscar Tuazon for winning the 2007 Betty Bowen Award.  Tuazon was chosen over 462 applicants from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho for the $11,000 award.

An award ceremony and reception will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 5:30 â€" 8 p.m. in the Nordstrom Lecture Hall at the Seattle Art Museum’s newly expanded downtown location.

Here is what the press release says about Tuazon:

• Oscar Tuazon resides in Tacoma. He graduated from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1999, and participated in the Whitney Independent Study program in 2001 and 2002. The nature of his practice does not establish boundaries between his life and his artistic output. Rather, his practice is a lifestyle that is rooted in a theoretical investigation of space and architecture in pursuit of creating an alternative approach to living within contemporary society. Basing his aesthetics on a commitment to sustainable economy, self-sufficiency, and mobility, Tuazon often uses recycled materials and found objects to create works that double as functional dwellings or appliances, which facilitate alternative means of survival. The artist has stated: “My recent work inhabits a central concept of VONU living: that architecture is simply a mode of occupation, a way of living. This is an intangible architecture, not a design practice but a lifestyle that shapes the space around it.” Tuazon has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including shows in Paris, Oslo, and Vancouver. He is a founding member of the Center for Urban Pedagogy in New York.   

Back in junior high, I was anything but cool. I've never really looked like other people, I was sky-high taller than all of them, and I was a social outcast because I wasn't small, I didn't have blond hair, fair skin, and I didn't own one article of clothing made by Genera.

While so many of my fellow female classmates were looking up to pop stars like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, I had trouble relating. Music was indeed what got me through those awkward times, but it wasn't of the Wonder Bread sort. I felt more akin to great female artists like MC Lyte, Monie Love and one of the strongest figures who would help shape my confidence and character: Queen Latifah.

And guess what, yo?! She's coming to Tacoma Nov. 28 to play a show at the Pantages Theater, her only stop in the Northwest! Tickets go sale Monday, Oct. 8 at the Broadway Center box office.

She's on tour promoting her new release, Trav'lin' Light.

Since my junior high days, Latifah has gone on to accomplish whatever she's wanted in this world, from rapping, acting, authoring a book and becoming a Maybelline cover model.

Her stop here in Tacoma will be one that you won't want to miss, and I know the second her plane lands, I'll feel her strong presence.

I've got nothing but props for the Broadway Center for Performing Arts for bringing this worthy role model to our diverse city.

Shout it with me now:

HAIL THE QUEEN! â€" Natasha

[Pantages Theater, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 8 p.m., tickets on sale Oct. 8, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

Do you love the Grateful Dead?

Do you enjoy supporting the arts?

Then put down that burrito â€" we have a show for you.

Dark Star Orchestra will grace the Pantages Theatre tonight with its unique interpretation of the Dead’s music on their DSO Rex Caravan Tour.

Check out the details here, man. â€" Tony Engelhart

How about something that’s always reminded me of the importance of simply enjoying life: the Arts. You know, poetry, theater, needle point.

Look around and you’ll see people who can serve as a source of inspiration in your quest to enjoy more of the arts.

There’s that gal you know who’s always learning a new instrument or tracing her hand for Thanksgiving invitations.

There’s that guy you know who transforms his laundry lint into works of art, manipulating every fiber to express his different moods, emotions and personal experiences.

Then there’s you.  You need help.  You need Art at Work Month.  Yes, you do.

Tacoma Art Commission’s sixth annual Art at Work Month â€" November 2007 mind you â€" is in stone with a brochure sitting right here. It contains a calendar of events, listing of art exhibits as well as classes and workshops, information about the two-day Arts Symposium, Art Slam at the Rialto Theater, index of exhibits, studio tours, and on and on. It’s 30 days chocked full of arts in Tacoma.

The brochure will also be scattered about smartly throughout Tacoma.

A nifty poster by Art Chantry sits inside the little treasure, too.

The world is filled with people who do interesting stuff. Why not check them out for inspiration. â€" Suzy Stump 

Janesaw Massacre and Slim Finnegan are getting their wheels lubed and ready for Saturday’s roller derby bout.

In just a couple of days, they’ll be poised with their Femme Fiannas teammates, with one win and one loss so far this season, tying them with the Hellbound Homewreckers (and placing both teams about the Marauding Mollies, with two losses).  The Fiannas can’t wait to toe the line, waiting to bash into a few Trampires and build on the winning momentum that the Femmes enjoyed at the last Dockyard Derby Dames bout.

“We’re very excited about this bout,” Slim says. “We’re coming up on top, and we’re gonna take ‘em down.”

Adding to Slim’s determination, the fact that it’s her birthday on Saturday, “Losing is not an option,” she promises.

But it’s not just the Femme Fiannas who are building momentum: the league itself is going places, with a traveling team, a potential secure home at the Tacoma Soccer Center, and an expensive new addition: “We’re christening the new floor,” Janesaw boasts, talking about the brand spankin’ new, $20,000 addition to the league.

The first bout featured a wobbly, decrepit floor that caused more than a few issues. The wobbles will be worked out for this bout with the help from a sub-floor that Gray’s Lumber gave the Dames a screaming good deal on, as well as the aforementioned new floor.

This bout will be the season’s penultimate bout, with the final bout of the season set for Nov. 3, also at the Soccer Center. “All of us have gotten so much better,” Janesaw explains. “To watch us, it feels professional.”

To build on that professional feeling, the traveling team recently boasted a win over Spokane’s travel team, 124-80.  “We smoked ‘em,” says Slim.  After the Dockyard Derby Dames regular season ends, the traveling team will head south to Portland to bout against the Rose City girls later in November, then on to San Diego in July, where the travel team will square off in a stadium built to hold 2,500 people.

And even after the regular season ends, tryout schedules will remain as they are now, on the third Sundays of every month from 10 a.m. to noon at Parkland’s Skate n Station. “In out off season, we’ll be getting strong, honing our skills, revving up for the next season,” Janesaw tells us, promising, “We’re putting together a structured season.”

For now, feel the heat rise as the Dames set out to prove who’s better, and who’s best, in the semi-championship bout on Saturday.

Go, Saturday.  Feel the RAWR. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Home On The Range BBQ, a professional barbecue team from Fife, has earned the right and will compete in the 19th Annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue Oct. 27 in Lynchburg, Tenn.

Team Fife will compete in eight categories: Ribs, Pork Shoulder, Beef Brisket, Whole Hog, Chicken, Cook’s Choice, Dessert and Jack Daniel’s Sauce.

For more info, including photos from last year’s Championship, check it here. â€" Brad Allen