BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Perdurable \pur-DUR-uh-bul; pur-DYUR-\, adjective:
Very durable; lasting; continuing long.

USAGE EXAMPLE: It’s not that Bobble Tiki’s underwear is especially perdurable, or made out of anything different than average BVDs, it’s just that Bobble Tiki doesn’t like change. That’s why he’s still wearing the same six-pack of whitey tightys he got for Christmas in 1998.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Enticing Russell

OLYMPIA: Oly traffic woes

SEATTLE: Clay Bennett lying

UNITED STATES: Straight talk

JUST BIZARRE: It started with a beard

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Is that a lobster in your pants?

THINGS TO DO TODAY
FILM LISTINGS: Look here
MUSIC LISTINGS: Here’s what’s happening
SHOOT THE SHIT: Weekly Volcano forums

DANIEL BLUE: MEET BYRON T. BETTS >>>

Byron T. Betts and I met several years ago in Crack Alley. He dated a friend that had just ended her marriage with another friend of mine.  I kind of thought Byron was a bag of poop for a while, but he lived next door to me and the more I saw him the more I liked him.  There is an irresistible charm to this strange man, if you can keep yourself from being wierded out, a tangible love for the people around him shines through.   

There was a summer somewhere in there, where late at night I would come out from my cave into the alley of crackedness, knowing that Byron would faithfully join me to smoke cigarettes and hug me goodnight.  When he temporarily moved out of the Alley to study make up design in Los Angeles, there were nights that I had trouble falling to sleep for lack of my goodnight buddy routine. 

Currently Byron is working for Valhalla Coffee, driving a spectacular beetle, and being a total pinko-commie-weirdo.

MATT DRISCOLL: A BRIEF BRIEF >>>

On Mondays City Manager Eric Anderson sends out his weekly briefs to members of Tacoma’s City Council. On Tuesdays, these briefs usually reach press types like me. And by Wednesday, if I haven’t spent the night high on legal hallucinogens, I typically pass these briefs along to you.

Mr. Anderson was short and sweet this week. Here’s a look at the heads up the City Manager gave Baarsma and Co:

- Representatives from the paving industry (bet they have awesome Christmas parties) met with Mr. Anderson last week to discuss the City owned asphalt plant that’s operated by the Public Works Department.  After the meeting, Anderson asked Internal Auditor Scottie Nix to find an independent auditor with skills in financial and performance auditing to take a closer look at the City’s asphalt plant and to examine “production and delivery and then make cost comparisons with other alternative sources of asphalt.”

- Anderson spoke last week at a Pierce County Law and Justice Counsel meeting, discussing his highly touted Safe and Clean effort â€" you know, the one designed to eliminate crime and blight in Tacoma by 50% over 14 months. According Anderson’s brief, “I had a good informational exchange with those attending from across Pierce County.”

- And finally, Anderson attended a CEO Transportation Forum last week along with many executives from Tacoma. Apparently, the head honchos talked about “transportation issues, alternatives, commute trip reduction and other topics.” No word on whether Anderson drove a scooter to the forum.

ART
Naked Tacoma
My first exposure to nude photography left me almost as scarred as the time I farted in my seventh-grade math class. While flipping through the pages of a pinhole-photography compilation my wacky grandma published, I came across my 73-year-old grandfather lounging on my grandparents’ bed, buck naked except for his volunteer fireman boots. Gag reflex and fetal position ensued.

My grandfather won’t make an appearance in Naked Tacoma at the new delight gallery, but other Tacomans will. The show is a celebration of the human form, Tacoma style. Photographer Paul A. Uhl shot 24 Tacoman’s private parts up close â€" 32 breasts, 16 vaginas, four penises and one butt.

The delight opens tonight during Third Thursday Art Walk. Deborah Page will perform, with clothes on. â€" Suzy Stump
[delight gallery, 5-9 p.m., no cover, inside Sanford and Son, 743 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.437.2747, eststudios.com]

PARTY
Solstice Sing
Partly in preparation for Tall Ships Tacoma ’08 and partly as a celebratory nod to the summer solstice, Puget Sound Revels â€" a now 16-year-old group of song loving, community driven, participation theater fanatics â€" will hijack King’s Books tonight at 7 p.m. for what’s being called the “Solstice Sing.” According to promotional material being circulated about the event, the night will feature “seasonal songs, drinking songs, rounds, and some sea songs and chanteys to get us in the mood for Tall Ships!” Everyone is encouraged to attend â€" whether you have any singing skill or not. â€" Matt Driscoll
[King’s Books, 7 p.m., no cover, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]

INDIE POP
The Newspapers
Producing a medley heavy on indie-pop quirk with dabbles of synthesized funk, the Newspapers are both catchy and creative enough to compete on the same turf that bands like the Shins and Menomena have marked as their own.

The Newspapers will play Le Voyeur in Olympia tonight, and Bob’s Java Jive in Tacoma Friday, June 20. If you can dig on eccentric indie pop with a funk in its step, the Newspapers are your kind of band. â€" MD
[Le Voyeur, with Glass Elevator and The Hard Way, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

LINK: Kim Archer Band and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Some movies will end tomorrow. Catch them today.
LINK: It's Third Thursday Art Walk tonight.
LINK: Let’s eat seafood today.

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Grandee \gran-DEE\, noun:
1. A man of elevated rank or station.
2. In Spain or Portugal, a nobleman of the first rank.

USAGE EXAMPLE: It’s not so much his accomplishments on the football field that have lifted Tony Romo to the status of pop culture grandee, it’s his off the field escapades with the likes of Carrie Underwood and now Jessica Simpson. The fact that Romo hasn’t delivered in the playoffs doesn’t stop Bobble Tiki from fantasizing about him and Simpson constantly. The problem is Bobble Tiki’s not quite sure which one of them makes his Tiki nether region tingle more.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Teacher accused of getting it on with students has new lawyers

OLYMPIA: Oly beer from your tap?

SEATTLE: Clay Bennett sucks, yada yada yada

UNITED STATES: Obama rumors to forward

JUST BIZARRE: Sometimes you just need a smoke

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Most eligible bachelor

THINGS TO DO TODAY
FILM LISTINGS: Look here
MUSIC LISTINGS: Here’s what’s happening
SHOOT THE SHIT: Weekly Volcano forums

STEPH DEROSA: GOLDFISH TAVERN >>>

Yes, the Goldfish Tavern is a dive. I’ll cut right to the chase on this one. I think all dive bar fanatics are well aware of this. But the ambiance inside this local fish-themed tavern gives off a sensation of actually sipping cold brews on a beach. It’s not the décor, per se, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe the sunny windows? The fact that it’s by a large open park â€" away from the hustle and bustle of Tacoma’s thriving metropolis? Or maybe it’s the mindset that automatically occurs when you hear the word “goldfish”? Who the hell knows?

Comfy barstools held our butts as bandito Betty and I assumed our standard belly-up position to the historical bar top that offers patrons a chance to leave their mark. Check out what we saw here.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: THEATER THURSDAY >>>

Tempest
Take a trip in space for a trippy, sci-fi version of Tempest as Theater Artists Olympia stages a version of the work by William Shakespeare that includes a ruling wizard and her daughter facing off with a fairy creature, a beast, and an odd assortment of nymphs and fanciful creatures.
[Black Box Theater, Kenneth Minnaert Performing Arts Center, through June 29, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $12 and available at www.buyolympia.com, South Puget Sound Community College,  2011 Mottman Road S.W., Olympia, 360.357.3471]

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. What makes this show work is the strength of the supporting cast. There were no stereotypical “crazy people”; each had his own ticks and nuances that showed the actors paid attention to their roles and developed their characters.
[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]

LINK: The Beauty Queen of Leenane review
LINK: Local stage calendar