MATT DRISCOLL: TACOMA'S BEST EXPERIMENTAL BAND AT BOB'S >>>

Whom the Gods Notice They Destroy. It’s both the name of the new www.myspace.com/wavesandradiation ">Waves and Radiation album set to be officially released tonight during a party at www.myspace.com/bobsjavajive ">Bob’s Java Jive, and the reason I walk quite like a ninja.

On the scene since 2006, Waves and Radiation have made a solid name off atmospheric and ambient indie rock, the kind places like Portland go gaga for. In this rare instance, for the sake of such an inspiring band, I wish Tacoma was just a little more like PDX. But just this once. And I can do without the mustaches and pretension. I'd just like to see Waves and Radiation get the credit they deserve.

Anyway, word on the street is Lino from www.myspace.com/sonsofivan ">Sons of Ivan is set to dole out some solo action at tonight’s CD release show. This, along with the excitement of seeing Tacoma’s top experimental band, should be more than enough to get your ass off the couch, right? It is Friday, after all.

Don’t think. Act. Check out Bob’s Java Jive tonight and you’ll go home happy.

MATT DRISCOLL: STILL WAITING FOR A CHECK FROM OBAMA >>>

Since superdelegates will most certainly end up deciding who wins the democratic nomination for president, it's interesting to note how much money both Obama and Clinton have forked over to these suddenly ultra important pawns in our nation's future.

Guess what?

It's a lot.

Here's a list of who got paid from Obama and Clinton. And before you go talking about the Audacity of Hope on this issue, note that Obama has spent three times as much wooing superdelegates. Of course, Hillary probably would have given more if she wasn't under constant sniper fire, but that's another story.

STEPH DEROSA: LOOK AT ME! I’M TAKING IT BACK! >>>

Before I realized it was going to snow on the 28th of March, I committed myself to supporting my Tacoma community at an official “Take Back The Park.”

Every Friday a growing number of people are meeting at Frost Park on the corner of Ninth and Commerce in downtown Tacoma for lunch.  Historically, it’s been fairly pleasant weather.  Not so much today.  While I was on the treadmill in the a.m. hours at the downtown YMCA, the snow started to fall.

I felt something warm for these vigilante Tacomans was in order, so I phoned up ol’ Jim at Puget Sound Pizza. Unfortunately he is in jury duty this week, but that didn’t stop Melinda from hooking us up with a donation of two very large pizzas.  I cannot thank PSP enough â€" and am ever so grateful that they are a part of the Tacoma community.

Thomas from Woody’s on the Water showed up with some delicious cheesecake to share.  I really enjoyed talking to him and look forward to seeing him again at Woody’s.

The kids got to run around, and I was especially happy to shake hands with some of Tacoma’s finest citizens.  Appearances were made by RR Anderson, Kevin Freitas, Cassioposa, Mandiferous, Tacomachickadee and her brother Adam the Alien, Trish from Embellish, Jamie from Thrice All American, Joe and Don Izenman, Ensie and Franklin from No Rhubarb!, sweet pea, and Erik from Tacoma Urbanist, just to name a few.  (Thank you Girlfriend in Tacoma for the help with identification.)

As though we weren’t cold enough and ready to get into something warmer, a stroll down Broadway sounded in order.  That’s when we saw it: someone crazier than us.  Scott Franklin at NW Lending Professionals had had enough of the crappy weather.  With spring on their minds, they made it look cool to be bar-be-queing in the snow. 

I was honored to be a part of all the foolish freaks out there in that nasty weather today.  And as usual, I’m honored to be a part of such an amazing community.  Snow BBQers and all.

FOLK ROCK
Deborah Page
Sure, Page is an attractive woman, but so are a lot of women. That doesn’t mean I’d want to spend an evening listening to them play music.

I’d most certainly want to spend an evening listening to Page play music, and just such an opportunity will happen tonight at Bob’s Java Jive. Page mixes her haunting voice with heartfelt lyrics, throws in some alternative folk-inspired guitar work, and delivers the package with presence. It’s enough to catch any music lover’s attention, not just fans of external beauty. With Page there’s beauty abound, both inside and out. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Bob’s Java Jive, Deborah Page, The End Times, Aurora Roarers, Hardison with Darren Selector, 9 p.m., $3, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475. 9843]

INDIE DISCO
Romanteek
Romanteek’s stated mission is to “bring the love, to help people get in touch with their feelings, and to induce a dance attack.” When singer Ruby Valentine started Romanteek as a one-woman vision in 2001, these are the lines she was plotting along. When then-drummer Le Matt joined her shortly thereafter, the band’s drive only intensified â€" and the duo created some of the most ass-shaking and contagious tunes Olympia had to offer â€" and considering the ass-shaking that goes down in Oly, that’s saying something.

But that was only the beginning. In mid-2006, Romanteek took a major step and ditched the digitalized aspects of their shtick in favor of a living, breathing band â€" a five-piece to be exact that’s taken Romanteek’s groove to a whole new level. Le Matt moved to guitar and created room for drummer Heather Dunn, bassist Ean Ackerman and keyboardist Ira Coyne. “The five fingers of Romanteek,” as Valentine likes to call them, have been causing a stir on dance floors and in hearts ever since. â€" MD
[Le Voyeur, Romanteek, Madhappy, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

LINK: Carlos Del Junco and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Tacoma City Ballet goes Bohemian tonight.
LINK: Let’s eat a great steak tonight.

SUZY STUMP: ALEC UPDATED HIS BOOK >>>

Weekly Volcano art critic Alec Clayton’s newly revised and expanded version of As If Art Matters is now available from amazon.com. The book is twice as big as the original version â€" expanded from 64 to 113 pages â€" with a lot of new reviews and some of the older reviews and essays expanded and updated.

As If Art Matters is his book of art criticism including selected reviews of regional, national and international artists that he has written for Art Access, the Weekly Volcano and other publications over the years.

For more information, go to ClaytonWorks Publishing or As If Art Matters on Amazon.

BOBBLE TIKI: LATE LUNCH WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD
Excrescence \ik-SKRESS-uhn(t)s\, noun:
1. Something (especially something abnormal) growing out from something else.
2. A disfiguring or unwanted mark, part, or addition.

USAGE EXAMPLE: After seeing Lindsay Lohan’s Marilyn Monroe style pictorial, Bobble Tiki appeared to have an odd excrescence growing in his pants.

AFTERNOON NEWS

TACOMA: New laptops for Tacoma schools

OLYMPIA: Arrests in burning deaths

SEATTLE: Smoking making a comeback?

UNITED STATES: Conan on Leno

THINGS TO DO TODAY
FILM LISTINGS: Look here
MUSIC LISTINGS: Here’s what’s happening

CLASSICAL
Phantom of the Opera
Lon Chaney lives again and is coming to the Pantages with the help of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, music director Harvey Felder, film composer/accompanist Rick Friend â€" and a large movie screen. This season’s spring pops concert today is titled “An Afternoon of Music and Film,” and is being devoted to a screening of Lon Chaney’s 1925 film portrayal of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The movie will be shown in its entirety.

The film’s original music score (also performed live of course) has long since disappeared, but California-based composer Rick Friend has written a new orchestral piece for the film, drawing on a variety of styles and works designed to suit the film and its portrayed era. (The film takes place within â€" and beneath â€" the Paris Opera House during the 19th century.) Friend’s musical inspirations included music by Schuman, Prokofiev and Gounoud, which the composer blended with melodies of his own composition. â€" Bill Timnick
[Pantages Theater, 2:30 p.m., $10-$75, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.272.7264, www.tacomasymphony.org]

FOLK POP
A Room Called Remember
Now here's a band that would have come into heavy play on my pink mini iPod (jealous much?) sometime in the middle of my last breakup â€" which was a long time before there were pink mini iPods, but never mind. A Room Called Remember, a bunch of lads from Tacoma, have a  folk pop sound and a melodic drive that can be adequately described as so Gin Blossoms. John Nichol’s lyrics on “Winter” reduced me to blubbering tears. Cry you face off tonight at Origin 23. â€" Suzy Stump
[Origin 23, A Room Called Remember, Oh Voices, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover, 3518 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.212.1503]

LINK: Rock Zombie film fundraiser concert and more in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Sanford & Son jumps up on the Soapbox.
LINK: Let's eat Japanese today.

Looks like a good sequel.