BRAD ALLEN: ON SALE THIS WEEKEND >>>

Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift will play the Tacoma Dome Saturday, April 5.  Tickets will go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 16 at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster outlets.

CHARLES MONROE: GET TO KNOW YOUR COPS >>>

The City of Lakewood has announced six candidates for its open the police chief slot. City Manager Andrew Neiditz will choose one of the six to replace long-time Chief Larry Saunders, who has opted to join to United States Army to fight in Iraq, in lieu of fighting crime in Lakewood.

The candidates are:

• Assistant Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar. Farrar has been a crime fighter for 20 years, mostly in Lakewood.
• Tacoma Police Captain Paul Mielbrecht. Mielbrecht has been a crime fighter in Tacoma for 30 years.
• Cheney Police Chief Jeffry Sale, 50. Sale spent 25 years with the Washington State Patrol before taking over in Cheney, Wash. Cheney lies southwest of Spokane, and has an estimated population of a little more than 10,000.
• Seattle Police Lieutenant Eric Sano. Sano has served 23 years.
• King County Sherrif’s Office Captain Scott Somers. Somers was an officer in Kent, as has been with the Sherrif’s Office for 23 years.
• Sammammish Police Chief Brad Thompson. Thompson has been with the King County Sherriff’s Office for 29 years, and has spent the past several years serving the wealthy lake-side community of Sammammish, near Bellevue.

Candidates were recently interviewed by a series of community panels, part of a long, deliberate public process that will culminate in a selection sometime this spring.

MATT DRISCOLL: BUT TOKYO POLICE CLUB IS COOL >>>

I don't trust Canadians. Never have, never will. They talk funny and ever since their money became more valuable than ours I think they've gotten a little cocky.

However, Ontario's Tokyo Police Club is an exception. They may be Cannucks, but the guys in this band know a thing or two about rock. They're a guitar band coming of age.

Tokyo Police Club announced they will release Elephant Shell, their first full length album on the Saddle Creek record label on April 22. Start getting excited now.

SUZY STUMP: GLASS PARTY >>>

A glass event after Valentine’s Day could be blown out of portion and into a childish pun. Too easy.  After all blowing glass is hard.  The Rebecca V Gallery hosts Winterglass ’08, an artists opening and reception for 12 established and emerging glass artists including Michael Church, Melissa Misoda, Greg Piecy and Evan Schuass.  OK, I suppose the people who attend this party Saturday will get lucky too â€" they might find that perfect piece of art.

The event benefits Tacoma’s Hilltop Artist in Residence program.

[Rebecca V Gallery, Saturday, Feb. 16, 6-9 p.m., 3010 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.9111]

ART
Lino Tagliapietra
Lino Tagliapietra is a glass maestro from the oldest international glass art capital in the world â€" and no, I don’t mean the upstart glass capital of Tacoma, Wash. I mean Murano, an island off the coast of Venice, Italy, that was a recognized world glass center before the United States was a country.

Americans don’t even have such things as maestros â€" although we do sometimes use the word as a term of respect. A real maestro in the European tradition is someone who has served an apprenticeship, mastered his craft and taught it to others. Tagliapietra began his glassblowing apprenticeship with Archimede Seguso at the age of 12 and became a maestro at 21. Now 72, he is lauded throughout the world for his skilled craftsmanship and classical design.

Tacoma’s Museum of Glass will host Tagliapietra’s first retrospective exhibition beginning Feb. 23. In conjunction with the exhibition, Tagliapietra will come to Tacoma for two five-day visiting artist residencies working in the museum’s Hot Shop Feb. 13-17 and Feb. 27-March 2. â€" Alec Clayton

[Museum of Glass, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $10, 1801 Dock St., Tacoma, 253.284.4750, www.museumofglass.org]

MORE ART: In the galleries and museums today.

KLEZMER
Baith Jaffe Klezmer Orchestra
Klezmer music is enjoying a degree of hip ubiquity these days. If it was once associated only with the Jewish religion, the music today connotes much more. Baith Jaffe Klezmer Orchestra will stroll into Pacific Lutheran University Wednesday to mix modern jazz with traditional Klezmer that draws upon Eastern European musical traditions. Klezmer music evolved in Medieval Europe, taking inspiration both from the synagogue and the non-Jewish world. The band relies on its Eastern European roots while sounding decidedly jazzy at times. I can’t dive deeper due to the band’s Web site is written in Zürich talk. â€" Brad Allen

[Pacific Lutheran University, 8-10 p.m., $3-$8, Lagerquist Concert Hall, 124th Street South and 10th Avenue South, Parkland/Tacoma, 253.535.7787]

BLUES
Robben Ford
Robben Ford isn’t the greatest singer in the world.  It doesn't really matter, though. Ford's songs are mostly excuses for his guitar solos, and it's a sight to behold when he bends the high notes. Ford built his résumé as a hired hand to such legends as George Harrison and Joni Mitchell, but it was his 1988 solo album Talk to Your Daughter that earned him a national following. His clean, pure tone and deficiency of raw feeling have drawn comparisons to Robert Cray, but Ford's skillful jazz modulations set him apart from the bulk of his 12-bar contemporaries.

[Jazzbones, Danny Godinez opens, 7:30 p.m., $30, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

MORE MUSIC: In the clubs tonight.

STEPH DEROSA: TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS >>>

Yes, Valentine’s Day is a stupid made-up greeting card day.  You buy flowers, chocolates, some Colt 45, a box of Trojans and call it good.  I’m sure Greek mythology can take me back to the real meaning if I dig really deep, but I really don’t care to dig at all.  My thoughts are that I have to spend money â€" to buy the supplies â€" to put together cards â€" to put some candy on them â€" to hand out to my daughter’s class â€" so that everyone can have one â€" all 24 of them â€" and be happy.  What a pain in the ass.  Or is it?

The message that these Valentine’s cards are sending is plain and simple: You are loved.  Who doesn’t love to hear that they are loved?  So what if Hallmark is buying gold toilet paper with the millions they’re making off this bullshit holiday?  I get to hear that people actually LOVE me, and that thrills me to no end.  Nothing beats a gloomy day better than a friend letting you know they care, that they are thinking of you, that you are special.

I know I can be outspoken with my rants, my headaches, and my incessant ramblings of cynicism â€" but this time I ask you to let me speak out for a good cause: To Write Love On Her Arms. Through music, this non-profit organization brings hope to people fighting depression, drug addiction, self-injury, and suicide. 

I’m not asking you to spend any money, I’m asking you to do just one thing: Spread the love.  Today, on Feb. 13, tell the people you care about that you do actually care about them.  Not because of a holiday, not because you just want to get laid, but because that person’s happiness is important to you.  Love IS the movement.

BOBBLE TIKI: HEBETUDE, HILLARY’S DOOM, ROBBEN FORD >>>

THE DAILY WORD
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

SEATTLE: Coveted booty

TACOMA: Sumner council shootout?

CAMPAIGN ’08: Is it over?

SPORTS: Clemens is a liar

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: Guitarist Robben Ford will bring his lighting fast hands to Jazzbones tonight for what should be an amazing performance. The show posters around Tacoma state that Ford will be joined by the rhythm section of Government Mule. Bobble Tiki doesn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but he’s heard this may or may not be true. Bobble Tiki is keeping his fingers crossed the posters won’t have deceived anyone and Ford delivers a show worth the 25 dollar ticket.    

MORE MUSIC: What’s on tonight
NEW FORUMS: Check ‘em out

THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
Bobble Tiki’s Threats and Promises column runs every week in the Volcano. Earlier this week Bobble Tiki told you he’d be covering Sean Costello’s show coming up at Jazzbones. Bobble Tiki lied. Bobble Tiki changed his mind and will now be covering Team Unicorn Records and their party at Bob’s Java Jive this weekend. Bobble Tiki hopes he hasn’t disappointed anyone, but feels confident in the decision. Bobble Tiki will not be losing any sleep over the matter.

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

STEPH DEROSA: DERBY DIARIES >>>

They’re out for blood. They’re out for revenge. They’re also out of their minds. The Trampires have what it takes to cut you both mentally and physically. One look at these bloody broads and you’ll be heading for the hills. Don’t doubt that they have just enough crazy in them to hurt any one of their opponents.

Their colors are black like your soul and red like your blood â€" scary huh?

Donning fangs, capes and fake bloody makeup, these roller queens are a sight to behold. Last season they took out the Maurading Molly’s in “sudden death” overtime, kicked some Hellbound Homewrecker and Femme Fianna ass, and claimed the Dockyard Derby Dames Championship for the 2007 season. That’s right, they were undefeated, and they pretty much kick ass.

Vorpal Bunny and Paula Bunion are the Trampires’ fearless leaders, and quite possibly the best jammers on the league. Leave it to these two to create a mad team of rollerchicks who want to do nothing but hurt a skater.

Trampires to be scared of

• My Tai Smashya #187 â€" This bitch can BLOCK. I dare a girl to try and pass her.
• Judy Asa Punk #6:58 â€" Another blocker who let’s nothing stand in the way of her jammer getting through the pack.
• Mo Ratorium â€" All-around badass. She’s coming back from a knee injury, and she can do it all: jammer, blocker, and pancake maker.

Message from the Trampires to the other three Dockyard teams: We were out for blood last season, now we’re back and hungry for more.

The countdown is here to witness the entire Dockyard Derby Dame league in action.  On Feb. 24, 7 p.m., it's Good vs. Evil battling it out at the Skate 'N' Station.  I'll be there, and I need your help.  You can either show up to watch the girls skate and buy me a beer, OR you can show up to volunteer for the league and buy me a beer.  You're choice.

Past Derby Diairies

LINK: The Marauding Mollys.

LINK: Hellbound Homewreckers.

LINK: Femme Fianna.

MATT DRISCOLL: WISHES SOMETHING EXCITING WOULD HAPPEN>>>

With lawmakers in Washington D.C. apparently content to waste the day interrogating Roger Clemens about whether or not he used H.G.H. and whether Andy Petite heard what he thought he heard, I think it's only fair that I be allowed to waste the day with meaningless Spew postings. Here's a look at what the politicians have been up to this morning. I've been racking my brain all day trying to come up with something witty and pertinent to post, and as you can tell I've had limited success.

They're talking about banning smoking in parks in Auburn. There are a few paragraphs about it on the Trib's website. Check it out here. Apparently Puyallup and Gig Harbor have already banned smoking in parks.

Also, I guess there's no smoking in Point Defiance Park - something I learned reading the piece. Oops. My bad.

Then, of course, there's the presidential race. To be honest, I'm tired of it. I can only imagine how Barack and Hillary must feel. I think it's no secret  I support Clinton, and think her plans are a lot more solid than Obama's, but at this point if it's Barack it's Barack. I don't have the will to fight the momentum. I think both candidates have their merits, and right now I'm feeling ready to unite rather than continue this bitter contest. Something tells me that aint going to happen. Something tells me the fight will go on, and on, and on.

Just like this slow news day...

MATT DRISCOLL: SAD STUFF>>>

I just read on OlyBlog that Otto's in Olympia recently closed. Bummer.