Scarf it up
Cashmere scarves and oversized sunglasses have been a Hollywood trademark for the past few years. They are the perfect accent piece to turn any ensemble from drab to fab. Casual and sophisticated, they keep you warm and fashion forward transforming muted winter looks into eye-catching style.

Let’s dive deeper. Scarves have been a fabulous accessory for centuries, dating all the way back to Ancient Rome. They were originally used to wipe the sweat off the face but quickly became a symbol of fashion for men, either knotted at the waist or around the neck. In the early 18th century scarves were seen on kings, queens and other people of importance.

Scarves are a classic piece that has become a fashion icon. They have been used in almost every culture on every continent to either show military status, accentuate a look or for religious purposes. By adding a scarf to your outfit you are adding a piece of history to your wardrobe.
Today, brighter and bolder is better. At Nordstrom there are lovely scarves in the brass plum section for only $18.

This winter be instantly glamorous with a scarf, and have your style stand the test of time. â€" Alexandra DeLong

[Nordstrom, 4502 S. Steele, Tacoma, 253.475.3630]

Lover’s Package
Plain and simple, I think Valentine’s Day blows. It’s just another holiday pushed by the greeting card companies, the chocolate factories, florists and every restaurant around (does anyone really need an excuse to go out to eat?) via every media outlet known to mankind. If you’re feeling pressured to spend money and buy something tangible as a way to prove your undying love (or at least strident interest) for someone, you should at least get some ... er, I mean something out of it, too. Lover’s Package is a chain store focused on pleasure … er, I mean pleasing its customers with great sales people who are jovial and nonchalant as they bluntly ask, “Can we help you find something?” and they really will walk you right over to whatever adult item you mumble about and then make suggestions on what products are rated better than others. It’s like asking about tires at Goodyear, except you don’t put these rubbers on cars.

From tame to tawdry, sex kitten to scary dominatrix, Lovers Package sells lingerie hot enough to finish melting the polar ice caps. Drop in to discover DVDs, creams, potions, tickly toys, and devilish whips to tantalize your naughty bits. It’s worth the trip just to be able to say, “Show me to your battery-powered spanker.” Meow! â€" Jennifer Johnson

[Lovers Package, 7002 Tacoma Mall Blvd., Tacoma, 253.475.2271]

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: THOUGHTS ON COMMUNITY THEATER >>>

Like all journalists these days, we here at the Weekly Volcano are branching further into the Blogosphere. I thought I would start off my contribution to this effort by asking folks to comment on what they look for in community theater and how they determine if a show is "good enough to see."

People ask me that question a lot, and it's a bit more difficult to answer than what it might seem, since I realize the sort of theater I like is different from that of other theatergoers. I, for example, have likely seen more shows during the last decade or so I've been writing about theater than most  other theatergoers in the South Sound. I can't count the number of times I have seen the same Agatha Christie play staged over the years. But that is a post for a different time.

Anyway, I review a show on sort of a sliding scale based on the theater's previous works and the talent pool from which it draws its actors. Harlequin, Tacoma Musical Playhouse and Capital Playhouse have a higher threshold for me since they have long track records of doing good work. Centerstage and Lakewood are entering those ranks as well. They get judged, in my mind, on a tougher scale than say Tacoma Little Theatre, which is going through some transitions right now. I'll cut David Duvall some slack this year as he presents his vision of the theater's role in the community.

That is not to say I grant anyone any favors. I own the readers who pay for their tickets my thoughts on where they should spend their entertainment dollars. Theater tickets are not cheap these days.   I'll say if a show sucks if I think it sucks. I'll just explain more why a show blew as advice to the theater on how to not make the same mistakes again.

Is that fair?

BOBBLE TIKI: PIED-A-TERRE, SNOW, CEDARWOOD DOME >>>

THE DAILY WORD
Learn it, use it, spell it
Pied-a-terre \pee-ay-duh-TAIR; pyay-dah-TAIR\, noun:

A temporary or second place of lodging.

USAGE EXAMPLE: Though not frequently, from time to time during Bobble Tiki’s marriage, a particularly fierce disagreement with Mrs. Tiki (or even an unnecessary nightcap) has led Bobble Tiki to establish a pied-a-terre in the front yard. Usually, this pied-a-terre consists of the Tiki family camping tent, a cooler full of Pabst, and Bobble Tiki’s collection of back issue Victoria Secret catalogs.

THE MORNING NEWS

SEATTLE: Snow in the mountains

TACOMA: U.S. Open buzz

CAMPAIGN ’08: Caucus Saturday

SPORTS: M’s finally land Bedard

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 would like to be able to say that he’s got some great party to attend tonight, or that he’ll be out and about at one of the really exciting shows around town â€" but saying either of those things would be a lie. If there’s one thing Bobble Tiki is not, it’s a liar. Tonight, with only a limited amount of shame, Bobble Tiki will be at the Cedarwood Dome in Milton to see the Grand Delusion (a Styx & Journey tribute band) along with LaGrange (a ZZ Top tribute). The show starts at 9 p.m.

MORE MUSIC: What’s on tonight

MONEY TALKS: Sound Investment

THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
New Orleans born Henry Butler knows a thing or two about change. After building his legendary name tickling piano keys for years in his hometown, crafting a quintessentially New Orleans sound influenced by McCoy Tyner and Professor Longhair, Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Like so many, Butler’s world was forever altered, and change was forced upon him.

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

SUZY STUMP: BLACK AND WHITE AND READ ON THURSDAY >>>

Steven Naccarato will hang his black and white photography at the Fulcrum Art Gallery beginning Thursday, Feb. 21.

Fulcrum owner Oliver Doriss describes the show in a press release:

“Steve’s true artistic passion resides in good living, food, people, and our immediate environment. He uses photographic methods to capture these fleeting glimpses of emotion, enchantment, and awe. Communicating visually with stark compositions of texture and form. Steve’s work explores our relationships with everyday objects through the lens of his inner eye.”

Read about Naccarato's "First Glimpse" show Thursday in the Weekly Volcano.

JAZZ
Kareem Kandi Band
The Tacoma-based sax player Kareem Kandi will perform a style of jazz that incorporates blues, funk and rock tonight at the Engine House no. 9. Kandi, who lists his influences from such renowned jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane, plays in a free-style manner that sounds improvised. â€" Tony Engelhart

[Engine House No. 9, 6 p.m., no cover, 611 N. Pine St., Tacoma, 253.272.3435]

INDIE
Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson has pounced on the national scene thanks to her work on the movie Juno, for which she wrote and recorded nine songs on the film’s soundtrack. Dawson’s style is unmistakable and one of a kind. Her voice, and for that matter her music, is hilarious and bitter, melancholy and luminous â€" all at once. Her work traverses a scope of human emotions that can only be described as real â€" and realness these days is a commodity sorely lacking in the world of music. For this reason alone, Dawson’s time has come.

Dawson will perform today at the Grand Cinema where Juno screens today.

[The Grand Cinema, Kimya Dawson, 6-7 p.m., no cover, $10 suggested donation, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

PARTY
Oly Rollers
Like Tacoma’s Dockyard Derby Dames, Olympia’s Oly Rollers are a growing collection of tough-as-nails women (school teachers, nurses, and mothers by day) who love nothing more than strapping up the old skates and doling out some punishment on the rink.

Want to meet them?

Tonight they roll into The Royal Lounge to dance before band Moms Rocket, hand out merch and prizes all to raise funds for their trip to Colorado to smash the faces of the Rocky Mountain Roller girls. â€" BA

[The Royal Lounge, 9 p.m., $3, 311 Capitol Way N., Olympia, 360.705.0760]

INDIE DISCO
Glass Candy
Glass Candy will be heading our way tonight to play what should be an amazing show at the Brotherhood Lounge in Olympia. It should be amazing because Glass Candy’s uber-stylized glam disco is as inventive as it comes, and Ida No and Johnny Jewel (the band’s two members) have their act perfected. Glass Candy has a couple of things going. No’s vocal presence, and by vocal presence I mean ability to sound like she could beat Blondie and David Bowie’s ass (and look better doing it), is second to none. No sounds like she’s from the future and might draw you close for a lustful lip lock, only to ram a jagged beer bottle into your guts and watch you bleed. Johnny Jewel would be there too, in the back of whatever seedy bar of the future you were in with Ida, laying down a soundtrack of hard-drive drumbeats and space age keyboard lines, the perfect soundtrack for a late night Sci â€"Fi Channel special. â€" MD

[The Brotherhood Lounge, Glass Candy, Joey Casio, Grab the Bat Killer, followed by Scream Club DJ set, 9 p.m., $5, 119 Capitol Way N., Olympia, 360.352.4153]

MORE MUSIC: In local clubs tonight.

JAKE DE PAUL: KRIS BLONDIN TAKES TIME OFF >>>

The Spew has it on good authority that Vin Grotto Cafe and Wine Bar has sold. Vin Grotto was one of the first restaurant pioneers within recent years at the north end of Pacific Avenue. The wine bar has been in operation for over four years with owner Kris Blondin at the helm. Rumor has it that Blondin would like to spend more time with her family and concentrate on future projects.

The new owners plan to remodel the space and open a rustic Italian style restaurant headed by local chef Jeff Bishop, formerly of Il Fiasco and Brix 25. We at The Spew think this will be a great addition to the Theater District, but will miss all the fabulous wine and cheese at Vin Grotto. And what will we do without that yummy turkey sandwich?

We hear that Blondin plans to hang onto the name "Vin Grotto," so my guess is we haven't seen the last of her.

STEPH DEROSA: DINNER WITH PEOPLE HOLDING SIGNS >>>

I accidentally stumbled upon the Hillary Clinton pajama party at the University of Puget Sound Friday.  Seriously, it was an accident. I was there to talk to the UPS Theater Arts Department about their upcoming year, and the masses of people along Union Avenue threw me off.    This is how little I care to listen to the news.  Televised media can really irritate me, so I ignore them a lot of times. The porn mags I subscribe to are a bit weak in the current events department, so that doesn’t help me either.  But then I see it: I see the potential.  This place is just crawling with people who need some DeRosa love.  People I shall invite to dinner.

I first run into Jerry Beckendorf, Karen Willard, Johnathon Abbott, and Ryan Mello.  Apparently they had no idea I was attending the event, or else they would’ve been holding the standard “DeRosa” sign as most people do at the entrance to such festivities.  They’re on a street corner, freezing their asses off, dancing around to stay warm, and for what?  Some guy named Calvin Goings?  I don’t care, and I don’t want to know what this Goings dude has done to these people to make them stand in severe weather holding his name up.  These people are crazy committed to him.   The Jerry guy starts pushing me to join a “steelworker’s union” for $5 a month. I immediately warn him that unless these “steelworker’s” have tight asses and are wearing neon G-strings, I’m not payin’.

But what a cool name for a male revue: The Steelworker’s Union.  Think about it.

Then I meet Bart Bodrian.  He’s a senior at UPS who is majoring in biology.  Cute dude holding a sign, yeah I’ll make you dinner.  After he turns me down for some mid-morning cocktails, he informs me that there was once a bottom half to his sign.  It said: “Obama didn’t”.  I was about to express interest when from my right comes a little female college twit.  “Yes, he did,” she says, “He supported it.”  Then Bart implies that since Obama wasn’t in office, it doesn’t count.  Regardless, he tore the bottom half of the sign off with respect to the fact that it might be propaganda.  Yes, an honest scientist who is not afraid to state his opinion to the opposition.  Nice.

Later Bart was caught dangling his sign over the railing inside the rally.  I’m really diggin’ a guy who likes to stir shit up.  I’ll have to hang out with him more often.

I’m inviting the guys at the Obama table.  Why? Because they have a table.  You can’t have a dinner without a table.  And they have duct tape.  That’ll come in handy with the steelworker strippers.

Then I see these two people with their “Stop the WAR” signs.  I can’t think to get their names, because honestly I’m a little confused.  Her sign, it has both parties crossed out.  I don’t get it.  Is this like one of those 3D posters where you have to let your eyes relax to see the hidden meaning?  More importantly, look at the amount of TPD vehicles behind them.  If I were a criminal in the Tacoma area, I’m thinkin’ Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. would’ve been prime looting time.  Like when the Rodney King riots broke out in Los Angeles â€" free televisions for everyone!

Mangiamo!

BRAD ALLEN: NEW BLUES FESTIVAL >>>

The producing team behind the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival have parted ways.  Trumpeter and band leader Rich Wetzel grabbed the festival name and tentatively plans a two-day festival May 23 and 24 in downtown Tacoma.  His former producing partner Doug Miller has announced a festival of his own.  He and his Tacoma Events Commission will present the Gray Sky Blues Music Festival immediately following this year’s Daffodil Parade at noon, Saturday, April 12. 

With two venues loaded with blues on board â€" all ages at the Harmon and 21 and older at The Swiss â€" the free Gray Sky Blues Music Festival will also sport a classic Mustang car show, sponsored by The Harmon Bicycle Club, across the street from the Harmon, and a Corvette car show on Jefferson Street in front of The Swiss Pub.

Seven Northwest bands will perform including The Michal Miller Band, the Randy Oxford Band and Maia Santell and House blend.

The featured artist of the festival will be Teddy Lee Hooker from Long Beach, California.  Teddy Lee was voted best blues artist of the year in 2005 at the South Bay Music Awards and was one of the top ten finalists in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn., in 2007. 

For more information contact Gary W Grape at 253.230.6851.