BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD
Inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\, transitive verb:
1. To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice.
2. To obtain by ingenuity or flattery.

USAGE EXAMPLE: After many compliments, Bobble Tiki was finally able to inveigle Mrs. Tiki back to bed.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: More on MLKHDA

OLYMPIA: Busted brothel

SEATTLE: NW gas usage

UNITED STATES: Mothers, daughters, and Hillary

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

RON SWARNER: DREAMY POP ROCK >>>

The title of this post isn’t a typo. I’m not posting a piece on the Travel Channel. My rickety fingers actually typed Travel By Channel, which is a young Tacoma band scheduled to fill urbanXchange with melodic rock tomorrow with the Headbangs and Makeup Monsters. The quartet of Kyle Gootkin (vocals, guitar), Eli Massey (lead guitar), Brittany White (bass) and Mike Pa (drums) created Travel By Channel through friendship in middle school.  They’re a band that alternates between the beautiful and the disarray.

I caught up with Gootkin before tomorrow’s show.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Travel By Channel? What the hell?
KYLE GOOTKIN: It was seriously just one of those things that I think is easier to do nowadays than even 15 years ago. I hit “random article” on Wikipedia and came up with a combination of words. I started with Air Travel, then Travel by Air, and finally Travel By Channel.

If I'm going to inject any meaning into it, I will say that people are constantly plugging themselves into channels of thought, whether on YouTube, cable news, American entertainment â€" with each new advance, individuality paradoxically decreases. But in reality I came up with the name because I like the assonance in the “travel” and “channel,” and the others liked it fine. Originally, we were going to call ourselves Prepare To Use Explosives ... so anything was an improvement.

VOLCANO: Describe your sound.
GOOTKIN: Bottom line, Travel By Channel plays rock. In my opinion, it's too easy to get hung up on the different sub-genres, and limiting yourself to a very specific style limits the experimentation in songwriting. With that said, and I hate to speak for the rest of the band, our influences include Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Radiohead, Broken Social Scene, Metric, and Tokyo Police Club. Those are the ones that come to mind for me, but everyone in the band is listening to different stuff at any given time. The multiple influences are usually a good thing when we sit down to write songs.

VOLCANO: Through what channel did you four meet?
GOOTKIN: We all knew each other in middle school. After finding out that we both played guitar, Eli and I started hanging out and writing songs in the eighth grade. After a while we realized the music wasn't going anywhere without drums and we called up Mike, he brought over his set and things just clicked. Brittney was the only person we knew who would play bass with us, but it was complicated by the fact that Eli had dated her and they had a messy break up. I bitched and moaned at Eli until he called Brittney up, and they got over the awkwardness pretty quick. We've all known each other the better part of 10 years, so it's always been a band made up of friends.

VOLCANO: How long have you been traveling by channel?
GOOTKIN: We’ve been together for two to three year. We started getting serious between freshman and sophomore year. I can't remember the date, but our first show was at Hell's Kitchen for BigTime Entertainment.

VOLCANO: BigTime Entertainment? How do you feel about pay to play?
GOOTKIN: I want to go on record as saying that these organizations that pray on aspiring musicians with pre-sell tickets need to be boycotted. Any band that's just starting up needs to avoid these production companies and start learning how to promote themselves and make actual connections.

Travel By Channel will perform inside the hip, urban retail store urbanXchange with Headbangs and Makeup Monsters. Even with a threat of snow, this show’s worth the travel.

[urbanXchange, Saturday, April 19, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover, 1934 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280]

LINK: Travel By Channel MySpace page.
LINK: Discover urbanXchange.

BRAD ALLEN: DOYLE'S DOES GOOD >>>

I received an e-mail from Doyle's Public House co-owner Russ Heaton. Apparently, they drink some beer at Doyle's.

Thank you!
We blew our goal out of the water. From April 7-17th we were able to raise 842 Pints For Public Radio.
Through your support and effort Doyle's will be able to contribute $842 to KUOW & Public Radio.
We are already getting excited for this Fall! Can we say 1,000 pints!
Russ Heaton
Doyle's Public House & Perfect Pint LLC
208 Saint Helens Avenue
253.272.PINT

Oh, and Doyle's Second Anniversary Bash last night was killer fun. The Joshua Cain Band rocked. The Weekly Volcano is stoked that the Joshua Cain Band will open for The Posies May 14 at Hell's Kitchen. We are sponsoring the show.

MATT DRISCOLL: FYI, TACOMA >>>

Changes happen â€" sometimes at the last minute. This is the nature of life, and also the nature of booking local music venues.

The Weekly Volcano just received word that tonight’s show at www.myspace.com/bobsjavajive ">Bob’s Java Jive has been tweaked. While our music calendar says the Curious Mystery and Cody Madison will play the Java Jive this evening, that lineup has been altered. We’ve got the information on good authority.

In addition to the Curious Mystery and Mr. Madison, Seattle’s www.myspace.com/diminishedmen ">Diminished Men and a solo set from www.myspace.com/theabodox ">Nathan Smurthwaite of Abodox have been added to tonight’s lineup.

While I can’t claim to be an expert on Diminished Men, from what I gather they’re an instrumental rock band that pays heavy homage to the Ventures. Perhaps you’ll just have to see for yourself, but for what it’s worth I hear they’re good.

The lineup tonight at the Jive has changed, but it seems for the better. The garagey, throwback psych-rock of the Curious Mystery was going to be good, but with Diminished Men also on the bill things just got that much better. Throw in Cody Madison and Nathan Smurthwaite and you’ve got yourself one hell of an evening.

You’ve been warned.

BRAD ALLEN: WORKING TO THE MAX >>>

On the way home from Doyle's last night around midnight I snapped a few shots of Team Maxwell's working its ass off on the soon to open Maxwell's Speakeasy + Lounge at the corner of Sixth and St. Helens in Tacoma.

I can't wait for their target opening on Wednesday, April 23.

LINK: Natasha nabbed the early word.

STEPH DEROSA: I TOOK BACK THE PARK AGAIN >>>

One of the many reasons KAke and BanditoBetty are my trusted friends is because they don’t over analyze my silly requests.  If I ask Bandito, “Hey, hold this sign over your butt and let me take a picture,” she just does it.  No questions asked.  KAke, being true to her role as my No. 1 Partner in Crime (PIC), yet again followed a stupid Steph DeRosa request.

I called KAke this morning on my way to the gym asking if she was up for some Frost Park hijinks.  Without hesitation she was in for the ride, and immediately fulfilled my demand for construction cones and caution tape.  It was our time to submit what would hopefully be a legitimate entry into the Frost Park Sidewalk Chalk Sketch-Off.

Before anyone else had shown up, Lance Kagey with Beautiful Angle took a leap and dove right in â€" taking over one particular wall of Frost Park.

It rained, then it was sunny, then it rained, and the wind blew, then it was sunny again.  Through it all the committed chalk competitors showed their asses to the world as they bent over and let their creativity flow.

Adam the Alien and Erik from Exit133 flexed their camera muscles for my camera.

The street sweepers actually admitted to me that they skipped the block we were playing on, and then took a break for as long as it would’ve taken them to sweep it.  This is the part where you can make up your own witty comment about “tax dollars at work.”

Here’s the final creation of the KAke and Steph DeRosa:

Vote here. See the entries for yourself.

SUZY STUMP : DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN >>>

Relationship self-help books and marriage therapists got nothin’ on Rob Becker. His Broadway hit, Defending the Caveman, breaks down the bare necessities for men and women and has proven very therapeutic for couples â€" not to mention hilarious.

The comedy will play at the Theatre on the Square May 15-25. Details and tickets can be found on the Broadway Center Web site.

The Broadway Center will incorporate Caveman Marketing to help sell tickets for the show. Wandering around Tacoma in a leopard skin cape, David Newkirk will discuss fire, rocks, and hottie Betty Rubble in an effort to transport you out of the Stone Age and into the arts.

Be on the lookout.  He speaks softly buy carries a big club. 

FAIR
Demolition Derby
A demolition derby has a certain poetry to it. The evening starts with a beauty contest of old cars â€" which one is painted the best and whatnot. Then, the pretty little machines bash into each other with enough force and adrenaline to make WWF wrestlers proud. See it all at the Puyallup Spring Fair. The fair lasts through April 20 and includes Dragon Steps acrobatics, Lost Boys Pirates, choir and ensemble competition, Red Hatter Contest, rising country star Ashton Shepherd, exhibits, rides pig races, Dock Dogs, tons of food, and the demolition derby tonight at 6 p.m. â€" Suzy Stump
[Puyallup Fairgrounds, April 17 3-10 p.m., April 18-19 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., April 20 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Ninth and Meridian, Puyallup, 253.841.5945]

ROCK
Club Impact 10 year anniversary
This weekend marks 10 years of Club Impact, and whatever you want to say, that’s a pretty astounding accomplishment. If you can tell me a venue in Tacoma that’s been doing it longer, I’d love to hear it. I can’t think of one.

Many remember the shack on Puyallup Avenue, near the Tacoma Dome, where the drug, alcohol and smoke-free all-ages venue once operated â€" with a mission as much about the music as it was about creating a safe atmosphere for kids to “facilitate discussions about spiritual and life topics as well as encourage artistic expression and creativity,” according to Clubimpact.org. The location has changed, with Club Impact operating out of the Brick City Project at Ninth and Pacific since 2006, but the mission has remained constant.

Tonight, Club Impact will celebrate their 10 year anniversary with a show featuring Lakes, The Lives of Famous Men, Last Chance Hero, A Leaf, and Return of the Bison. With such a lengthy history, it should be quite a walk down memory lane. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Club Impact, The Lives Of Famous Men, Lakes, Last Chance Hero, Return Of The Bison, A Leaf, Saturday, April 19, 7 p.m., all ages, $7, $6 with can of food, 754 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, www.myspace.com/clubimpact]

LINK: Patches Pals 4 Life Benefit, Angela Jossy and more in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s finale!
LINK: Let’s eat a steak today.

RON SWARNER: MAXWELL'S VIP OPENING >>>

Only one thing is guaranteed true at a restaurant's opening night: No other night will bear any resemblance to it in terms of service, menu, music, vibe, attitude, anything. I've seen restaurants bring in guest chefs for openings, hire mercenary servers and bartenders to crutch up their floor staffs, cook menus with absolutely no relation to what will eventually be the daily board of fare.

Not the case at last night's Maxwell's Speakeasy + Lounge invitation-only opening.

Maxwell's theme is Northwest comfort food. And the comfort was spread thick last night. Yes, proprietors Troy Christian and Sean Quinn, who helped launch Asado and Masa on Sixth Avenue, packed Maxwell's with dignitaries from the city, county, the arts and the restaurant scene.  And the duo diligently created happiness even though the final touches â€" wall art, stocked bar, full menu â€" were absent (not a shock since 10 people were still in construction mode at 4 a.m. yesterday). Still, everyone was at ease, chatting, drinking, and nibbling on steak tartar and prawns. It felt more like a cocktail party than a restaurant opening.  And comfort will ultimately make Maxwell's a success. Mark my word.

I will skip the specifics since Natasha nailed it this week's in the Weekly Volcano. 

I will say I'm eager to sample the menu. Peppercorn Rib Steak hits the ceiling at $32. The remaining items will not only capture the special occasion crowd due to the innovative dishes, atmosphere and valet parking, but grab those eager to eat out after Art Walk, a movie or the symphony without refinancing.  Espresso & Porcini Dusted Beef Tender with roasted mirepoix ($14), Apple Wood Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich on grilled ciabatta ($11), NW Organic Beet Salad with smoked hazelnuts ($9), "Classic" French Walla Walla Onion Soup ($7), artisan cheese flights in $3 single or $9 for four servings, and Oregon Blue Cheesecake with fried sage ($8) entice.  They also offer sides to share â€" Grilled Young Broccoli, Bombay Sapphire Fried Onion Rings (yes please!), Herb Flecked Pappardelle Pasta, eight in all â€" in the $5 to $8 range.

Enough jabbering â€" here are a few shots I snapped last night.

Maxwell's Speakeasy + Lounge is still scheduled to open Wednesday at the corner of Sixth and St. Helens Avenue. I will spend many comfortable nights there.