STEVE DUNKELBERGER: A FLOOD OF TALENT >>>

Tonight's offering at Northwest Festival of Plays is all about home-grown talent as  Grace Livingston portrays Elaine Madonna Bergeron in Tacoma playwright C. Rosalind Bell’s hit "The New Orleans Monologues," which was directed by University of Puget Sound's Geoff Proehl. The Tacoma university was home to the first theater to ever stage the work when it was produced  in November. It has been gaining attention ever since. This is a show to see if you are going to see any of the shows in the festival, of course the shorts are always sort of fun too, but that is a post for tomorrow.

The show starts at 8 p.m. at Tacoma's Broadway Center for the Performing Arts' Theatre on the Square.

Sunday will bring a list of shorts starting at 5 p.m. and another roster running at 7:30 p.m.

The festival runs through the weekend and also Thursday to Sunday next week at Theatre on the Square, 905 Broadway, Tacoma; $9-$12; www.ticketwindowonline.com, www.northwestplaywrights.org.

THE SHOW
Oscar Party
And ... today is the day. Oscar day. The day all those little-golden-statue-grubbers have been losing sleep over. You want to watch, you know you do. But. You are cool. You are hip. You are in. And, in your crowd, you do not watch the Oscars. It is not done. But, oh, how you want to. What’s a hipster to do? The Grand Cinema Academy Awards Party at the Rialto Theater. Your ticket helps keep The Grand’s projector wheels spinning, and you will get to alleviate your cultural conscience while maintaining your coolness while enjoying food from the Varsity Grill, desserts from El Gaucho, hello cupcake and Corina Bakery, a raffle, an auction and a cash bar. You win, again. â€" Suzy Stump

[Rialto Theater, Sunday, Feb. 24, 5 p.m., $14-$17, 310 S. Ninth, Tacoma, 253.572.6062]

REGGAE
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
One of the most exciting reggae bands touring and recording in the new millennium is the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. Comprised of talented musicians who actually lived as refugees in the West Africa nation of Guinea, the band has recently grabbed worldwide attention via a PBS Documentary in 2007, and has received a big hug from Oprah. Calling for a positive revolution, SLRAS carries out a positive message of hope while tackling such issues as social injustice, war and government corruption. â€" Tony Engelhart

[Pantages Theater, 3 p.m., $24-$44, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890]

CELTIC
The Town Pants
Self-dubbed as West Coast Celtic, this Vancouver, Canada sextet leans toward Irish folk, but they mix it up by adding shades of Americana and Latin rhythms for a new fangled spin. Akin to bands such as the Pogues or the Waterboys, their music is rambunctiously upbeat with more energy than the gravitational collapse of a supernova. â€" TE

[Jazzbones, 7 p.m., all ages, $8, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

ROCK
Monotonix
I’m calling this a surefire show, and I’m willing to bet it will be. This band is loud, fearless, and reportedly the most energized group of rock ’n’ rollers you’ll ever see. That’s good enough for me. If you miss this one, you miss out. Period. â€" Matt Driscoll

[The Brotherhood Lounge, Monotonix, Go Go Simba, Dim Rocket Delta, 9 p.m., $5, 119 Capitol Way N., Olympia, 360.352.4153]

STEPH DEROSA: CHANGE OF PLANS TODAY >>>

Dear five people who read Dinner with DeRosa,

As of this morning I am officially on the downhill slide towards 40 years old.  (As stated by my friend John).  I turn 36 today, and I'll admit that the past few days have caught up with me.

Thursday and Friday night I tore up Wintergrass and was up far later than my granny self should've been .  Last night KAke and a I celebrated my birthday with about 16 bottles of wine.  Then to make this weekend even better, my dad has flown in from Houston.  Yee-Haw!

Today I'll be hanging out with my family, getting ready for Dockyard Derby Dames Expo Bout tonight at the Skate N Station, and recovering from the past 36 years of evil doing I've spread upon my surrounding environment.  Happy Birthday to ME!

So, my gift to you on this day when history was made back in 1972, is that you will not have to suffer through a Dinner with DeRosa.  Enjoy it while you can.

Love, hugs, and all that mushy shit,

Steph DeRosa

MATT DRISCOLL: LIVE FROM HIS COUCH >>>

4:58 p.m. - It's just about time for all the Academy Awards madness to begin. In case you can't tell, I'll be live blogging the whole damn fiasco. In truth, I'm doing this more because I like being able to say "live blogging" than because I know anything about movies. I do know I like Jon Stewart, and I do know Regis makes me embarrassed for mankind. Both topics seem worthy of some live blogging.

5:13 p.m. - My wife and I are trying decide whether to order Thai or pizza. Any thoughts, Tacoma? Also, Mickey Rooney looks dead.

5:26 p.m. - Is it just me, or does the Oscar countdown on the bottom of the screen look like a big middle finger?

5:46 p.m. - I missed the first award presentation on a cigarette break. Apparently it had something to do costume design. Apparently someone won. Anyway, Gaydolf Titler.

5:50 p.m. - I'm watching with my lovely wife and daughter tonight, and the baby just took her first Oscar poop. Precious.

5:55 p.m. - Thank god. I have always said the world wouldn't be right until Ratatouille won an Oscar.

6:00 p.m. - By my count that was the second time the music has cutoff a thank-you happy winner. It kind of makes you wonder whether keeping the show to just under five hours is worth the rudeness.

6:01 p.m. - The first musical performance has made me realize it absolutely is worth the rudeness to shorten this show any way possible.

6:08 p.m. - So the Rock's real name is Dwayne Johnson, huh? Wonder why he had to change it for wrestling?

6:15 p.m. - We're closing in on the award for Best Supporting Actor, the first biggie of the night.

6:19 p.m. - Javier Bardem emerges victorious for No Country for Old Men.

6:24 p.m. - The Thai food just showed up. Mmmm. Silky Special Beef.

6:39 p.m. - Tilda Swinton wins the award for Best Supporting Actress.

6:41 p.m. - Pappi Swarner just texted me with an update from the Rialto's Academy Awards Party. He says it's three fourths full, and the sound is really loud. Local artist James Hume is reportedly sporting a burgundy jacket, and Teddy Haggarty is wearing gold tennis shoes from Belgium.

6:55 p.m. - These musical performances are atrocious. Seriously. Really bad.

7:07 p.m. - Pappi Swarner reports the hot raffle item at the Rialto's Oscars party is a Snakes on a Plane DVD.

7:13 p.m. - And the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role goes to...

7:14 p.m. - Another damn foreigner.

7:16 p.m. - My wife just bitched me out for referring to Marion Cotillard as another damn foreigner.    

7:35 p.m. "Nicole Kidman is not pretty. There. I said it." - Pappi Swarner

7:46 p.m. - I think I should get hazard pay for putting up with the musical performances.

7:50 p.m. - John Travolta gets booed at my house. How about yours?

7:56 p.m. - Why wasn't P Diddy's movie nominated? I think I saw John Stamos was in it.

8:02 p.m. - Does anyone else feel bad for the dead folks who don't get clapped for in this montage of deceased film people?

8:19 p.m. - This is starting to feel like it'll never end.

8:25 p.m. - Diablo Cody just won an Oscar for writing Juno. Definitely a highlight.

8:37 p.m. - Daniel Day-Lewis is, apparently, this year's best leading actor. I have my doubts.

8:45 p.m. - The Cohen brothers just won their second Oscars of the night. No Country for Old Men is having a big night.

8:46 p.m. - OMG. I think it's almost over...

8:47 p.m. - Did I mention No Country for Old Men was having a big night? The film just won best picture. Cormac McCarthy is at the Oscars, which is kind of weird. Thank god Oprah brought him out of hiding.

8:50 p.m. - The Academy Awards have officially ended. If you started watching at 5 p.m., like this live blogger, that's three hours and fifty minutes of your life wasted. My wife pointed out how thankful she is for Jon Stewart. Imagine if Billy Crystal was still hosting. Tonight's big winner was No Country, and the big loser was everyone who was forced to sit through the musical performances.

Here are a few photos from The Grand Cinema's Academy Awards Party at the Rialto Theater.

The 30-something dudes dressed as Juno and Bleeker won the costume contest beating little Charlie Chaplin.

FILM
No Country For Old Men
Regards a completely evil man with wonderment, as if astonished that such a merciless creature could exist.  He is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who travels Texas and kills people with a cattle stun gun.  He is one strand in a plot involving a drug deal gone bad.  Another is a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a third is a hunter (Josh Brolin), a poor man who comes across $2 million in drug money. It won Best Picture at last night’s Academy Awards. (R) Four stars â€" Roger Ebert

[AMC Narrows Plaza 8: 2:30, 5:10, 7:55; Regal Martin Village 16: 12:25, 3:35, 7:20, 10:35; Regal South Hill Cinema 6: 12:40, 4:10, 6:50, 9:35; Yelm Cinemas @ Prairie Park: 7:25]

MORE FILM: On local screens today.

LECTURE
Rev. James Lawson
I never heard of the Rev. James Lawson, but if Glen Anderson of Olympia’s branch of Fellowship of Reconciliation says he’s “one of the strongest leaders in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement,” then he must be. I trust Anderson.

Lawson will speak in Tacoma tonight at Shiloh Baptist Church; Tuesday, Feb. 26 at St. John Baptist Church; and Wednesday, Feb. 27 at the University of Washington, Tacoma. 

Lawson was the main organizer of the nonviolent sit-ins to integrate lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn., in about 1961. He has a strong background in Gandhian nonviolence and had actually spent time in India studying the principles and methodology with some of Gandhi’s close associates.

"Speaking to Lawson is the closest most of us will ever come to speaking with Martin Luther King, Jr., who called him the leading theorist of nonviolence in the United States," says Prof. Michael Honey of the UW-Tacoma.

For more information, call: Associated Ministries of Tacoma/Pierce County at 253.383.3056 ext 119. â€" Alec Clayton

[Shiloh Baptist Church, “Where Do We Go From Here? Forty Years Since Martin Luther King Jr.,” 7 p.m., Feb 25, 1211 South "I" Street, Tacoma]

PAPPI SWARNER: ACADEMY AWARDS T-TOWN STYLE >>>

Check out a few snapshots from The Grand Cinema's Academy Awards party at the Rialto Theater in downtown Tacoma.

LINK: Matt Driscoll watches the Academy Awards and blogs it live.

BOBBLE TIKI: MELANGE, OSCARS, MAHJONGG >>>

THE DAILY WORD
Melange \may-LAHNZH\, noun:
A mixture; a medley.

USAGE EXAMPLE: Bobble Tiki typically gets his day going with a mélange of vodka, half a grapefruit, some Pepcid AC, and a handful of Hostess powdered sugar Donette Gems.  Nutritionally, it doesn’t do much for Bobble Tiki, but mentally the mélange gets Bobble Tiki’s brain firing on all cylinders.

MORNING NEWS

SEATTLE:Yick Fung Co

TACOMA: Flu outbreak

OLYMPIA: Daycare union

OSCARS: Oscar recap

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: Tonight at Bob’s Java Jive in Tacoma, the www.myspace.com/theeveningepisode ">Evening Episode and the Bombadil will be throwing it down Monday style. Bobble Tiki doesn’t know much about either band, but he does know the show is about the only thing happening tonight.

MORE MUSIC: What’s on tonight
SPRAY PAINT WAR: In this week’s issue
FORUMS: Check ‘em out

THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
Bobble Tiki is currently slaving away on his column for the week, which focuses on Mahjongg’s show this weekend at the Capital Theater in Olympia. It’s not done yet, which means you’ll just have to wait until Thursday to read the magic Bobble Tiki comes up with. Rest assured, though, it will be magic.

Breakfast with Bobble Tiki runs six days a week now. Deal with it.

SUZY STUMP: LOCAL FILMMAKERS GO HORROR >>>

Tacoma filmmaker Chad Ruin has entered his film Trash Day into the George Ramero's Diary of the Dead Video Contest, which includes local actor/filmmaker Joe Rosati as the Zombie.  Rosati is asking his Tacoma peeps to vote for his film.

“We are excited to be a part of a competition that may help put Tacoma on the map for a film in the horror genre,” says Rosati from his Dungeon Of Terror. “We have a great team of people on board with the equipment and ability to pull this off, so we are giving it a true shot. It is contests like these that give the indie filmmaker a chance to be seen by people established in the industry.”

This is an art community event as all the votes help and the viewer is part of the process. To vote, visit the film on MySpace, then add to favorites.

LINK: Trash Day on MySpace.

BRAD ALLEN: R.E.M. HEADLINES >>>

The band lineup for the Sasquatch! Music Festival has been announced. R.E.M., The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse and many more will invade the Gorge Amphitheatre May 24-26. Tickets start at $55 a day and go on sale at noon Saturday, March 8, at Ticketmaster outlets.

LINK: Sasquatch! Web site.