DANIEL BLUE: MEET JASON GANWICH >>>

Jason Ganwich has lived in beautiful Tacoma for the entirety of his life. Born and raised on the seedy soil and tepid tap of this glorious gridded peninsula, Ganwich knows most everyone you know and has the stories that you want to hear about your friends. 

An excellent and artistic photographer and filmmaker, this icon of Tacoma culture can be seen at weddings, parties, funerals, and most any other event that asks to be remembered.

Ganwich is a master of the human image, possessing some perhaps alien understanding of the figurative gesture. Of the many that have tried, Ganwich has taken the best picture, in my humble opinion, of me. One quarter of the population of the world should have themselves filmed being photographed by this genius behind the lens.

One of the first people I met here, I was outside the Kickstand Cafe having a conversation with Austen Hoogen (a fellow filmmaker) when Ganwich dropped into the conversation and invited me out for a drink. I was delighted at the friendliness of these two chaps, and agreed immediately. They took me to a bar of their choosing, seeing as I had no idea where anything was, and as I walked down the steps of the Silverstone, I noticed the rainbow flags hanging in the hallway.

FESTIVAL
Juneteenth
Many may not know that Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom by commemorating June 19, 1865- the day that Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with the news that the Civil War had ended and Southern slaves were finally free.

This celebration is the oldest known commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. While marking that pivotal date, Juneteenth is also about encouraging self-development, unity and respect for all cultures.

This year's Tacoma Juneteenth celebration is open to everyone and features guest speakers Bishop C. Edwards Pringler, Stella Haioulani, General Wojack, Fatimah and many others, plus music, spoken word, food, and raffles, and it will afford attendees the opportunity to learn about Tacoma's African-American history.- Michael Swan
[People's Park, Saturday, June 14, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., free, South Ninth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.759.0373]

ART
The Neddies
The Neddies are here again. The Neddy Fellowships are among the most prestigious art awards in the state and are granted each year to two worthy Washington state artists in honor of longtime Seattle painter Robert "Ned" Behnke, who died in 1989. Every year for the past four years Tacoma Art Museum has shown works by the winners and nominees. The Neddy Artist Fellowship 2008 exhibit opens Saturday night with live music, hors d-oeuvres and a no-host bar. - Alec Clayton
[Tacoma Art Museum, Saturday, June 14, 7 p.m., $10, members free, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4258]

SINGER/SONGWRITER
Dave Roberts
On Dave Roberts' business cards, his title reads: -Songwriter / Entertainer and all around good guy. I don't think I could've said it any better myself. At least, that's not what I would say about myself. I am far from being a good guy.

If you've ever had the chance to catch guitarist Dave doing his acoustic cover (with a Mexican flare) thing on any given Tacoma night at any given Tacoma bar, you've seen an entertainer at his best.

Dave Roberts will be empowering Meconi's Pub & Eatery Saturday night. This offers up a great opportunity to hang out, listen to the musical stylings of Roberts, and sip on some of Meconi's righteous beer selections. This event is for the big kids to play, so leave the minors at home. - Steph DeRosa
[Meconi's Pub & Eatery, 7 p.m., 709 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.3388]

SPORTS
Roller derby
The Dockyard Derby Dames are real, they rock, they have heart, and they skate like they live, with energy and vivacity and a bit or Rawr for good measure. Whether you're high-brow, monster-truckin', perverse, or hipster. Certainly the past packed-house crowds reflected that, with little kids running amongst an old woman with a walker and all ages and types in between, who watched assorted cool fishnets, cleavage, and butt-cheeks. - Jessica Corey-Butler
[Tacoma Soccer Center, Saturday, June 14, 7 p.m., $10-$12, 2610 Bay St. E., Tacoma, www.dockyardderbydames.com]

ALT-COUNTY
Jeffery Halford and the Healers
While Ryan Adams is credited with popularizing alt-country, he never really did it for me. I like my country a bit more rough around the edges, and Jeffery Halford and the Healers fit my liking. The San Francisco-based, Dallas-born and-raised Halford is a singer/songwriter who plays a mean six-string. With shades of country, blues and rock and roll, he and his band play with a fiery fury that is raucously delightful.

Growing up, he was inundated with music by everyone from Ray Charles and Dave Brubeck to Johnny Cash and Elvis and books by Walt Whitman and Dylan Thomas. It was these two mediums that shaped Halford as an artist. His personal story would make a great movie as he gave up architecture schooling to become a street singer in San Francisco until the police shut down his corners. This led him to Oakland where he played alongside blues legends Sonny Lane, Mississippi Johnny Waters and JJ Malone. His hard living as a young man prepared him to pen honest accounts of brawling, boozing and loving, and he is about as authentic as the day is long. - Tony Engelhart
[Jazzbones, 8:30 p.m., $8, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

LINK: South 11th & Sarah Connor CD Release Party and more in the clubs tonight.
LINK: The movie starting times are here.
LINK: Let's eat Mexican today.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET RYAN WHINERY >>>

Ryan Whinery was born in George Orwell's favorite year (1984) and raised right here in vapid Tacoma. Partly home schooled through elementary and then shoved into the hands of the public school system at Fawcett Elementary, he then attended Stewart Middle School and a trilogy of high schools way too hard for me to spell.

When I met him he was drumming the hell out of an awesome rockabilly band called The Vamanos, and we were enemies. Both of our hearts were set on a cute hairstylist who then worked at Embellish Multispace Salon by the name of Rachel Morshead. Neither of us turned out to be fit for her, and we became friends on the night of a full moon, having ninja-scaled our way onto a rooftop near the old Silent Studios, where Ryan lived and played. 

For a time this drumming maniac was gone from us, touring construction jobs out of our state. When I asked him what brought him back he said simply, "Family, friends, climate, environment and greenery."

This is the kind of man you can trust to tell you the truth. His piercing wolf like ice blue eyes seem to take you in and process your entire soul.

Ryan is still drumming for The Vamanos, and learning the art of construction contracting.

BOBBLE TIKI: LUNCH WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Bon ton \bahn-TAHN\, noun:
1. Fashionable or elegant manner or style.
2. The proper or fashionable thing to do.
3. Fashionable society; a fashionable social set.

USAGE EXAMPLE: With his Reebok Pump tennis shoes, Costco blue jeans, and Seahawks hoody, Bobble Tiki isn’t exactly part of the bon ton.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Dead runners

OLYMPIA: Evergreen graduation

SEATTLE: Settlement unlikely in Sonics case

UNITED STATES: How R. Kelly got off

JUST BIZARRE:Obama condoms

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Full diaper

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

THEATER
Hypothesis
Tacoma-born magickian Geoff Kanick invites you to follow him down the rabbit hole this weekend. A master of many arts, Kanick’s talents will be offered this weekend as part of Hypothesis, a synthesis of illusion, comedy, sideshow feats, juggling and vaudeville variety. As he describes it, Tacoma should prepare to get its mind “blowed.”

Kanick spells magick with a “k” to distinguish his art. Magick with a “k” is a linguistic signal pioneered by Victorian bad boy, mountain climber and legendary mystic Aleister Crowley, who used the word magick, with a “K,” to distinguish his explorations of consciousness and other psychonautic systems from the stage work of everyday magicians. Kanick, like Crowley, is no everyday magician, and says his goal is to take people out of their comfort zones to a place where magick is more than an act. â€" Paul Schrag
[McAstocker Theater, 2 p.m., $10, Bellarmine Preparatory School, 2300 S. Washington St., Tacoma]

PSYCHOBILLY
Frenzy
Upright bassist Steve Whitehouse started Frenzy in 1983, and though he’s the only original member of the band still playing with the group, Frenzy’s musical vision hasn’t deviated much. With guitarist Steve Eaton and drummer Adam Seviour rounding out Frenzy these days, the rockabilly threesome still manages to appeal to the same senses that brought the group accolades in the ’80s for songs like “I See Red.” Whitehouse slaps the bass as a rockabilly upright man should, and the twang-punk licks of Eaton fall into place. While true scholars of the band can probably dissect the differences and subtle shades the band has picked up along the way, for most people all that’s important about Frenzy is this: 25 years later the band still packs a punch â€" be it older, slightly grayer, and not delivered by the same musicians who started it. â€" Bobble Tiki
[Hell’s Kitchen, Frenzy, Henchmen, Nicole DeVille And her Manhands, The Boneyard Crawlers, 5 p.m., all ages, $10, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

LINK: Pearl Django and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Movie starting times are here.
LINK: Let’s eat Italian today.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET KRIS JENSON >>>

Kris Jenson was born in Sarasota, Fla. in nineteen and eighty-two.  His family moved to the city when he was, "this many (holds up four fingers)."   He went to Rodgers Elementary, split junior high between Stewart and Curtis and found himself at Lincoln High School until he decided to try Running Start at Tacoma Community College.   Currently he works for State Farm Insurance in DuPont, but I have no idea in what capacity.  I'm sure it's devastating to his artist's soul, but we all have to eat. 

Kris is actually a photographer.  His images are provocative and actually just plain fun to examine.  I find they hold my attention longer than other images I see day to day - I think this is due to the tortured soul of their creator. 

Kris is a cat man, like myself, and has a cute purrball in his apartment that is very personable. 

You can generally find Kris hanging at the Hob Nob's Side Door Lounge where he regularly buys me a drink.  What a generous and friendly fellow. 

I have known this awesome bastard since I moved here, and his beard is better than yours. 

Kris says, "The thing I like about Tacoma is that there is nothing to hate about Tacoma."

STEPH DEROSA: UPPER CRUST, SONS OF IVAN, DRUNK CHICKS >>>

I have nothing but the best things to say about Upper Crust Bistro on North 21st Street in Tacoma.  Everything aside from the ham items at this amazing, hidden, and untapped bistro is handmade in the store with care and compassion for food at it’s best. 

Upper Crust will be providing this week’s dinner for Dinner with DeRosa.  For the reasonable fee of $7.50 we can pick a three-item handmade calzone pizza.  If you are considering the roasted (on premises) chicken like I did, beware: it’s about the most flavorful piece of white meat you’ll find this side of the Puyallup River.

For our entertainment I’ve decided to rope Sons of Ivan into a little session for us.  I was able to catch them last night at urbanXchange for a free show. Father Ivan, I would pay more than that to see your sons play again.  They. Were. Fantastic.  I am so happy to have their submission for the Trax from the 253 compilation CD we here at the Weekly Volcano are putting out.*

Molly Hamilton from urbanXchange gets to chow at my dinner, definitely.  She managed to put up with all the yahoos last night, so I’ll feed her.  Handmade calzones are just another way of saying, “Thank you for dealing with bands setting up shop in a downtown Tacoma thrift store.”  Seriously, I read that somewhere.  I think it’s a custom in Uruguay.

What made my entire day yesterday was my next group of guests, and catching the ultimate wedding photo.  Congrats, and welcome to my Dinner with DeRosa.

I caught Angela Phillips from the Metropolitan Development Council moshing on a veggie dog at The Red Hot. It was a pleasure to meet her and she was extremely friendly. But what floored me was to hear that she lived within walking distance, yet that had been her first time dining on TRH dogs.  How can we let such travesties occur in our community?  I think my concern should be addressed at some sort of very important council meeting in the near future.  I plan on wearing a wild Hawaiian shirt and flailing my arms very offensively when I talk.  That should show ‘em I mean business.

Next I’m inviting the Birthday Bachelorette Brigade.  I can’t tell what the fuck they were celebrating, but it seemed apparent that many shots and obscenely loud vocals were the precedent for the evening.  The mandatory plastic tiara and purple boa screamed, “Look at me!  I’m celebrating something and I’ll be DAMNED if I don’t get the insecure attention I deserve!”  Now that I think about it, I’m assuming it was a birthday party, the obligatory penis-on-a-rope was conspicuously missing from her neck.

I often kid around, poke fun, and tease people from behind my computer.  But once in a great while something comes along that I can truly bow down to in admiration.  This time, I found the ultimate pimp ride.  Erratic driving, loud music, and tacky Christmas lights are three things that are not only useful during sex, but also helpful in decorating a get-away vehicle for drunken women on a Saturday night. Add a few really hot partially naked men, and that is one paddy wagon I wouldn’t mind being thrown into.

Mangiamo!

*To submit your original, local band’s music email me for more information.  Or message me on my hip, cool, and harmonious MySpace page.

JAKE DE PAUL: TAKE DAD OUTSIDE >>>

Here are a few local restaurants that sport a patio or deck. Call ahead as some Tacoma restaurants are closed on Sunday.

Here is the Weekly Volcano restaurant review archive.

Beers to ya.