Took a stroll through Vintage Arts Saturday afternoon. It's a great place to perform Tai Chi. The aisles are so narrow that I had to move slowly and delicately as not to knock off a 1960s lamp or martini glasses from the 1950s.

For a snapshot of the Sixth Avenue store, check out this article on the Weekly Volcano Web site.  Everyone should take a slow stroll through the shop.  It's a Tacoma treasure. â€" Suzy Stump

We're like, um, brains. â€" Suzy Stump

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FILM
Kung Fu Movie Night
Swanky 21 Commerce Restaurant & Martini Bar has seen creative changes under General Manager Danno Rankin, who also runs The Loft Nightclub. The newest addition to 21’s roster of good times is Kung Fu Night on Tuesdays beginning tonight. The 9 p.m. bang of a gong kicks off the showing of three different Kung Fu movies a night â€" old Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee flicks to “Five Deadly Venoms” and “Chinese Super Ninja” â€" all played on large, flat screen TVs around the joint.

There’s no cover charge, so throw back $2 beers, pound the table for $2 sake bombs, and then grip your barstool for $3 Tokyo Teas, a spin-off on the Long Island with just as much booze and a dash of Midori liqueur.

They know you eat, too. Devour mouthwatering Manila clams in pancetta herb white wine broth, seared duck breast or pork loin from 21’s Northwest, Mediterranean and French inspired menu. â€" Jennifer Johnson

[21 Commerce, 9 p.m., no cover, corner of Commerce and 21st Street, downtown Tacoma, 253.272.6278, www.21martinis.com]

FILM
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is such a superb crime melodrama that I almost want to leave it at that. To just stop writing right now and advise you to go out and see it as soon as you can. I so much want to avoid revealing plot points that I don't even want to risk my usual strategy of oblique hints. You deserve to walk into this one cold.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play brothers who conspire on a “victimless crime” with dire consequences, in one of the year’s best thrillers â€" and films.

It Co-stars Marisa Tomei, Amy Ryan, Rosemary Harris.

It’s rated R for a scene of strong graphic sexuality, nudity, violence, drug use and language. Four stars â€" Roger Ebert

[The Grand Cinema, 3:45, 6:15, 8:45 p.m., 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

MORE FILM: Playing on local screens.

JAM
Billy Farmer
Billy Farmer runs the musical gamut.  A gifted guitar player, Farmer plays acoustic with a folk style, electric in a Chicago blues stomp style and knows his way around the Delta, too.  His arsenal of strings includes a reliable 12 string, Dobro, mandolin and banjo. When he needs a little oomph, Farmer plugs in his Les Paul or Stratocaster. Farmer is a master of mimicry and can imitate everyone from Jagger to Cash.  Farmer leads the Tacos & Jams Open Mic tonight. â€" Tony Engelhart

[O’Callahan’s, 7:30 p.m., no cover, 15610 92nd St., KPN Key Center, 253.884.9766]

MORE MUSIC: In the clubs tonight.

THE DAILY WORD
Learn it, use it, spell it

Egregious \ih-GREE-juhs\, adjective:

Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.

USAGE EXAMPLE: Even though, as a football team, the San Francisco 49ers teeter on the verge of egregious, Bobble Tiki still loves a victory shutout in front of a nationwide audience. If it wasn’t for Tony Kornheiser and the Drew Carey interview, Monday night’s ESPN telecast of the Seahawks vs. 49ers game would have been perfect.

THE MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Sounder commuter rail raises concerns.

MOSCOW: Crabman jailed.

MUSIC: Cowboy’s singer dies.

GEORGIA: What huge, loud plane?

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: On Wednesday, Hobo Libido will play Hell’s Kitchen. If nothing else, these guys have a sense of humor.

Not only does the thought of a hobo libido make Bobble Tiki smirk a bit (because Bobble Tiki thinks he’s seen that porn), but this band of rockers from Renton have shown a penchant for penning tunes right down Bobble Tiki’s adolescent alley. According to MySpace, a Hobo Libido set usually includes the songs “COCK PUMP â€" a day in the life of a hypothetical sap who falls for all the wang-enhancement spam emails and the like. ‘WE'RE NOT LEAVIN' 'TIL WE'RE HEAVIN' â€" The party cut! And LOVE COW â€" A song about an inflatable, mooing cow with an asshole.”

Sounds like Bobble Tiki’s kind of set. If you feel inspired, get off your ass on Wednesday and experience Hobo Libido.

Mooo.

MORE MUSIC: What's on tonight.

BOBBLE TIKI’S THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
Bobble Tiki loves Mono in VCF. Loves them. Bobble Tiki can’t think of a more original band from Tacoma, and Bobble Tiki can’t think of a band he’d rather spend the night with.

When Bobble Tiki realized Mono in VCF will be taking over the Pacific Science Center’s Laser Dome in Seattle Wednesday, Nov. 14, for a listening party featuring the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut, his jaw hit the floor. Everyone has a record release show, but it takes real cajones to book the Laser Dome.

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

When it comes to finding the odd kitchen gadgets and bakeware you can't find anywhere (and by anywhere I mean Target), the first place I turn is Urban Gourmet on Sixth Avenue. They've pacified my need this right NOW! attitude many times. There were the times of smoked sea salt, the mini-madelines pans, silicone pans, and most recently the Caldrea cleaning products. I blame this one on fellow Volcano scribe Jessica Corey-Butler. I wash my hands obsessively when I go to her house just to use her Caldrea soap. Then there was that one time she showed me her magnificent, soft, goat-haired duster with the wooden handle. That's when I fell in love with Caldrea for life.

So yeah, I just HAD to run to Urban Gourmet for my Caldrea fix. Oh, and while I was there you know I just HAD to use the bathroom. The Urban Gourmet owner almost wouldn't let me use it. She kept going on and on about all of the construction due to the new kitchen they're putting in the back for cooking lessons. I laughed in her face while Bandito Betty shot her in the neck with the tranquilizer gun, then we headed back to the bathroom.

While I was in there I started thinking how I should pick up some Christmas gifts and get some of that shit out of the way early. I went down my mental list of relatives, what I should get them, thought of how it couldn't be anything big or heavy so as not to weigh down the USPS airplane and make them crash into a deserted island where the other's could kill some of them off one by one, but keep the good one's locked up for medical research. What? You know you love Lost just like I do.

Well I know for sure I have one gift already taken care of. My brother Jason. He came to visit recently, and we had the inevitable masturbation discussion. It's a normal family discussion, right? So let me ask you guys: When you are staying with a family member at their house, do you spank the monkey while you're there? If so, where do you leave the monkey spit?

I was changing the sheets after he left, and that's when I had the unfortunate opportunity to find out where my brother left it when he was staying at my house. Nope, you're wrong. Not the sheets. No, it wasn't a piece of his clothing he left behind either. A Kleenex? Nope. Give up? Fine, I'll tell you: It was one of my very nice Ralph Lauren guest towels from the guest bathroom. That 30-year-old man left his dead babymakers in my Ralph Lauren guest towel¬" and left it on my floor. For me to find. Didn't even put it in the hamper, or at least have the decency to steal it and take it home to wash it himself.

SO, what did my brother get for Christmas this year? I already packaged it up and mailed it: One crusty Ralph Lauren guest towel compliments of Steph DeRosa.

As I finished up my womanly potty business I admired the original exposed brick with it's toasty, warm colors and simplistically elegant textures. I thought to myself how I might've cheated my brother out of a quality Christmas gift, but how he undoubtedly deserved it. All that's left to wonder is: Will I get a thank you card? And if so, I wonder if it will be stuck together.¬" Steph DeRosa

Bobble Tiki’s never been one to hide his prejudices, so he’s just going to come right out and say it: Bobble Tiki loves Brazilian music. He loves Rita Lee from Os Mutantes and could listen to Astrid Gilberto reading the phone book. These days he’s got a little thing for Juju Stulbach, the actress and dancer turned sultry crooner for Mosquitoes.  All these people will not play the South Sound tonight. Drat.

Wait.  Here’s an intriguing substitute.  Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma will host Viva la Musica tonight at the Slavonian Hall.  Bobble Tiki is talking chamber music by composers of South American as well as the Caribbean and Europe.

Brazilian soul on flute and clarinet is so sexy. â€" Bobble Tiki

I learned that I’m spending Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family. I'm not terribly happy about it.

In fairness, the Stevens are as welcoming as you could possibly be to someone they wish wasn’t dating their son. However, I never feel quite at home there. Why? Here’s one of many.

The Stevens have this weirdly mature and cinematic approach to alcohol, trotting it out in quaint cordials and steamy, seasonal ciders, but never just turning me loose on their liquor cabinet. Alcohol, it seems, isn't for fun; it's meant only to highlight the fennel in their oyster-and-sausage stuffing or to warm the throat while I’m standing outside with the deep-fryer bin. To rely on alcohol for conviviality or endurance is weak and unseemly, apparently. And yet, what do I need most when I’m around people that disciplined and controlling? Bottomless drinks.

Therefore, I will politely excuse myself after the Stevens’ Thanksgiving dinner and sprint to The Red Hot. Beginning at 5 p.m. Nov. 22 The Red Hot bar staff will act like substitute family members and serve $3 pints all night long. Thanksgiving dinner dogs â€" Turkey dogs topped with mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce, served with a pecan pie on the side â€" will still be served (you can grab them beginning Wednesday, Nov. 21).

I will need a cold one or 10 after a day with the Stevens.

By the way, The Red Hot hosts Lazy Boy Brew Night Tuesday, Nov. 20 beginning at 7 p.m. Three dollar pints of Lazy Boy IPA, amber, and porter will flow like wine. They will also serve a Lazy Boy Hefeweizen Bratwurst. â€" Suzy Stump

[The Red Hot, 2914 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.779.0229]

Josh Rizeberg and producer Xaviant are about to answer a lot of prayers. The native poet and beatsmith have alchemically distilled something really special. It's not hip-hop. It's not spoken word. Don't call it fusion, please. The duo's first collaboration, dubbed "Spoken Worlds," features tight, grimy euro-bangers by Tacoma-born, Cuba-raised, Miami-forged Xaviant, and silky, smart, multi-rhythmic flows from Rizeberg. The full-length album evolves too much to fit into any pop-culture box, so I'll call it what it is. It's plain ill.

You can catch him performing a commissioned work for the MLKBallet's MOVE! series this Friday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Tacoma School of the Arts Auditorium. â€" Paul Schrag

[Tacoma School of the Arts, with NorthWest Dance Syndrome, Joel Myers and Lisa Fruichantie, Metro Parks Dance and MLKBallet’s Student Company, Friday, Nov. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m., $14, 118 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.906.2190]

ROCK
Hobo Libido
Tonight, Hobo Libido will play Hell’s Kitchen. If nothing else, these guys have a sense of humor.

Not only does the thought of a hobo libido make Bobble Tiki smirk a bit (because Bobble Tiki thinks he’s seen that porn), but this band of rockers from Renton have shown a penchant for penning tunes right down Bobble Tiki’s adolescent alley. According to MySpace, a Hobo Libido set usually includes the songs “COCK PUMP â€" a day in the life of a hypothetical sap who falls for all the wang-enhancement spam emails and the like. ‘WE'RE NOT LEAVIN' 'TIL WE'RE HEAVIN' â€" The party cut! And LOVE COW â€" A song about an inflatable, mooing cow with an asshole.”

Sounds like Bobble Tiki’s kind of set. If you feel inspired, get off your ass on Wednesday and experience Hobo Libido.

Mooo. â€" Bobble Tiki

[Hell’s Kitchen, with 30 Witch Hunt, Dumbass Jones and Pretty Ugly, 9 p.m., 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

NEO-NEW WAVE
Mono in VCF
Mono In VCF are Tacoma’s entry into the Neo-New Wave movement, alternative rock’s invigorating return to ’80s post-punk sounds. They’re reminiscent of Echo & the Bunnymen, the Smiths, the Cure, Joy Division, and the Chameleons.

Mono in VCF will be taking over the Pacific Science Center’s Laser Dome in Seattle tonight for a listening party featuring the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut. â€" Brad Allen

[Pacific Science Center, 8 p.m., all ages, 5 p.m., 200 Second Ave. N., Seattle, 206.443.2001]

MORE MUSIC: In the clubs tonight.

I tried to be inconspicuous as I listened to the Northwest Sinfonietta last night from my privileged perch on the Rialto Theater stage with the players. 

I watched as the maestro coaxed nuanced changes out of the players who’d been traumatized in the previous rehearsal the day before, when the tempo of the piece was revealed.

Sinfonietta Executive Director Neil Birnbaum grinned an impish grin as he asked how many shots of espresso the conductor had as we chatted before the rehearsal.

But despite the frenetic tempo, which the orchestra seems to effortlessly keep, the Northwest Sinfonietta’s conductor Christophe Chagnard helped his musicians create mystery in one segment; levity, in another; and drama, in yet another.

Chagnard helped buff out rough spots with a sense of humor and compassion, suggesting ways a bassoonist can make it through and arduous series of insanely fast notes, and even apologizing for a “suicidal” transition, humming in that conducto-hum familiar to musicians as he explains how to work through the patch that is the musical equivalent of blinding, wet roads becoming torturous switchbacks.

As he sipped his latte before the rehearsal, Chagnard explained that he’d researched Beethoven, and felt as though he understood the man who’d been so influential in pushing the future of classical music.

Check out my preview of the Sinfonietta's weekend shows tomorrow in the Weekly Volcano. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler