RON SWARNER: MORE PHOTOS ARRIVED >>>

We've all felt it It is what we accept as fact, part and parcel of our shady existence, the undeniable, cleansing truth. It is the Faustian bargain we make every time we knock back another triple Jack, every time we empty another few pints. It is a revenge that would make Montezuma hide under a pile of cocoa leaves. It is the biggest turnaround since Benedict Arnold. It is a full-time synonym, attached to all manner of post-celebratory excess, applicable to riots and recovering economies alike.

We've all felt it â€" except Carmen Jones. The Weekly Volcano columnist can't relate. Seriously.

Jones continues her three-day weekend party in Tacoma. She sent more photos. She'll explain them in her Weekly Volcano column Thursday.

Keep your eyes peeled for here today. She's still going strong.

STEPH DEROSA: AND BY "DINNER" I MEAN ... >>>

As mentioned I few days ago, I was fortunate enough to be a judge in the 97.7 The Eagle’s Sturgis Girl Model Search at Lady Luck Cowgirl Up.  The victims of this week’s Dinner with DeRosa are some of the various souls I came in contact with at the event Thursday night.  In honor of women being nearly naked before my eyes and last week’s Innuendo Day (as claimed by Rusty George) â€" I shall do my best to leave you with nothing but sexual innuendo confusion.

I’ve decided to serve French toast from Puget Sound Pizza this week.  My stomach is growling just thinking about it.  Perfectly crisp on the outside and tender-bready on the inside, this delectable breakfast treat is laced with powdered sugar and topped with butter.  The French toast is just one of the many treats for your tummy PSP has to offer.  And by “treat for my tummy” I mean. …

My first guest is Beth McBain.  She’s the marketing director for 97.7 The Eagle and she rocks just as much as her radio station does.  Sweet and kind, strong and powerful, Beth has all of the characteristics a woman in her position should have.  And by “position” I mean. …

Our Lady Luck Cowgirl Up server for the evening and my next dinner guest is the super beautiful Suzie.  Did I spell her name right?  I don’t care.  It was loud in the bar and I’m hard of hearing.  And by “hard” I mean. …

Jared Beldore and Nick Ortiz are the next two to grace us at the dinner table.  Jared most likely has no recollection of meeting me.  It was his 21st birthday and he was one drunk m*therf*cker that night.  He and Nick are cool in my book because they, like me, are always game to do the V-tongue at either appropriate or inappropriate times.  I prefer the latter.  And by “latter” I mean … well, OK, I mean the last one.

Jimmy and his girl, Liz, are also guests at DWD this week.  Jimmy was reppin’ the Harley Davidson crew like no other man in a leather vest could do.  He was also one of the few talented judges that I had the honor of meeting.  I say “few talented” because it seems as though myself and maybe one other judge knew math well enough to calculate our scores correctly.  And by “score” I mean. …

Lastly I’m having Eric to my DWD.  I have no reason other than he’s damn hot. I never met him, and I never spoke with him that night.  All I know is he’s a firefighter.  He’s a firefighter who’s been in the 2007 WSCFF Burn Foundation Firefighter’s calendar. I really don’t need any other reason than that.  Let this be my most shallow request for a dinner guest to date.  He doesn’t need to talk, he just needs to sit there and look pretty.  This man also doesn’t need a sexual innuendo.  The thought of where I could sexually take this paragraph almost makes my head explode.

And by “head explode” I mean. …

Well, anyway, If you are one of the many women (like myself) who has taken the time to gander through the WSCFF calendar pictures, I’d like to leave you with one last thought:  The ceiling cat.

Mangiamo!

JAKE DE PAUL: BABBLIN' BABS BISTRO BREAKFAST >>>

You did not have A Frenchy French Benedict featuring homemade hollandaise napped over egg, French ham and a croissant this morning.  You also didn't have Crabby Babs crab cakes with New Orleans seasoning, Riesling Waffle with Salmon or Santa Fe All the Way featuring a lean brisket of beef drizzled with a Santa Fe solution this morning either.

Babblin' Babs Bistro doesn't serve breakfast Sunday mornings ... until next Sunday when they open the doors at 9 a.m. for the summer season. Ten breakfast dishes, espresso drinks and unusual nectar juices will be served every Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Aug. 31.

The lavender latte rules.

ART
Chuck Close and poet Bob Holman
Chuck Close is something of a one-trick pony, but he does that one trick magnificently. He does portraits of his friends in an almost endless variety of media and techniques, usually close-ups with sharp focus on the center of the face and fading along the edges. This internationally famous artist who grew up near Tacoma and went to school at the University of Washington first became famous in the 1960s for his stark, in-your-face photographic realism â€" images of faces seen so close and in such gigantic scale that every pimple, scar and wrinkle was seen in almost microscopic detail.

Now showing at Tacoma Art Museum is a collaborative project two years in the making between Close and the poet Bob Holman â€" visual and word portraits of themselves and their friends â€" titled A Couple of Ways of Doing Something: Photographs by Chuck Close, Poems by Bob Holman.

The poems are witty and inventive. If you happen to be familiar with Glass’ music or Murray’s paintings and Sherman and Serrano’s photographs, then the poems will have enhanced meaning. One of the funniest is Holman’s poem in praise of himself, which is presented as a letter to him from “the rest of the world except for you.” â€" Alec Clayton
[Tacoma Art Museum, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $6.50-$7.50, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4258]

FILM
The Visitor
The following is a bare-bones synopsis of writer-director Thomas McCarthy’s latest film, The Visitor. A lonely man keeps to himself upon losing someone dear to him. He then meets an energetic stranger who helps recharge his broken spirit. A couple of women also enter his life and help to reawaken his tender side.

Now read it again and apply it to McCarthy’s only other film, the much-lauded indie favorite The Station Agent (2003). Funny how that works. McCarthy wrote and directed both films, and both are terrific if you buy in from the get-go that strangers from wildly different backgrounds can form intimate bonds in a short time. Give McCarthy credit, because it works. Rated PG-13 for brief strong language. Three and a half stars. Full review here. â€" Teresa Budasi
[The Grand Cinema, noon, 2:15, 4:40, 6:55, and 9:10 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

LINK: Rockaraoke and more in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Find out when the movie starts here.
LINK: Let’s eat Mexican today.

MICHAEL SWAN: SEE YOUR FUTURE, BE YOUR FUTURE >>>

WASHINGTON TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: The organization announces the 2008 Most Endangered Washington State Properties on the Murray Morgan Bridge.
Tuesday, May 27, 11 a.m., 11th Street, downtown Tacoma

TACOMA FARMERS MARKET/LOCAL LIVING LOUNGE: Support local farmers, organizations and businesses and check out the Local Living Lounge for hands-on community interaction.
May 29, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., no cover, Broadway Tacoma Farmers Market, Broadway between Ninth and 11th, downtown Tacoma

FROST PARK CHALK CHALLENGE: Tacoma community draws on the sidewalk for prizes and mean looks from the City of Tacoma street sweepers.
Friday, May 30, noon, free, Ninth and Commerce, downtown Tacoma.

RON SWARNER: NEW BATCH OF PHOTOS >>>

Weekly Volcano scribe Carmen Jones is still at it. Here are a few more shots from her three-day weekend. This batch should have dropped yesterday. Somehow, the Internet messed with us.  Enjoy.

Remember to pick up the Weekly Volcano Thursday and read her column for an explanation behind these photographs.

MATT DRISCOLL: EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC FEST UPDATE >>>

Believe me, I know it’s Memorial Day. The sun is shining, and hopefully most of you are far from your computer screen enjoying a beer or a barbecued burger â€" or better yet both.

But there’s always work to do here at the Weekly Volcano â€" at least a little- and while going through my inbox today (packed from a weekend’s worth of inactivity on my part) I stumbled on an update from festival co-founder Jim McAdams about next month’s www.myspace.com/olystrangemusic ">Olympia Experimental Music Festival.

It appears, sadly enough, that www.myspace.com/carlabozulich ">Carla Bozulich and her band www.myspace.com/evangelistasounds ">Evangelista have cancelled their west coast tour due to an injury. This means the band’s much anticipated show at the Oly Experimental Music Festival is off.

The silver lining is Portland’s www.myspace.com/gaydeceivers ">Gay Deceivers will be replacing Bozulich and Evangelista. According to McAdams, this should “bring a nice touch of crazy post-riot grrl dance beat madness to the proceedings.”

So, there you have it.

Now get the hell off the computer and go enjoy the holiday. I’ll do the same.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST >>>

Lakewood Playhouse gets a bit dark with its staging of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a theatrical adaptation by Dale Wasserman of the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey.

The novel isn't all roses and mountaintops, and neither is the movie by the same name starring Jack Nicholson in the iconic role of Randle McMurphy, a devil may care troublemaker who thinks he made a good decision when he opted for time in an Oregon insane asylum rather than jail.

The theatrical adaptation, which has been revived on Broadway since it premiered in 1963, follows the book more than the movie. But seeing the movie provides a pretty good hint about the depth of the show.

Check out my review in the Weekly Volcano. This is a show to watch and discuss; however, you should leave the children at home. There are some rough scenes and language.

[Lakewood Playhouse, through June 22, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $11.50-$19.50, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood, 253.588.0042]

Photo by Dean Lapin