BLUES
Friends of the Holidays
Today at the Swiss, Friends of the Holidays â€" a 10-year-old nonprofit dedicated to providing food and holiday cheer to Pierce County’s less fortunate come December â€" will host a fund-raiser. Food is expensive, after all, and it takes money to accomplish what Friends of the Holidays prides itself on. Last year the nonprofit fed 470 families during the holiday season. With help from you, this year the goal is 500.

Aided by the music talents of Steve Stefanowicz, Chymes of Freedom, Tim Hall Band, Eddie Gillans’ Love Child, Junkyard Jane, The Randy Oxford Band, Rock-n-Roll Magic and PoodleBomb, the Swiss will be packed with do-gooders on Sunday, dead set on raising money for a worthy holiday cause â€" not to mention getting their blues rocks off. By the look of the lineup, both goals should be easily achieved. â€" Matt Driscoll
[The Swiss, 3 p.m., $10, 1904 Jefferson Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2821]

JAZZ
Darren Motamedy
Everyone has had the jazz singer/musician fantasy. The smoky room, piano, tight red dress, long lost love, etc. Well, nothing kills a fantasy like a little reality. As in, jazz is really friggin’ hard to play. But nothing helps one overcome the initial reality shock like some friendly instruction and encouragement. And that’s exactly what Darren Motamedy received when he and his family moved from Los Angeles to Kent in 1969.  Although the clarinet was his first love, his high school jazz band instructor forced the saxophone on him.  Throughout high school and his time at the Central Washington University music school, he received top-notch instruction and encouragement in both instruments, played in every kind of band, earned the prestigious Presser Scholarship, studied under America’s premier clarinetist Raymond Wheeler and eventually graduated with a music education degree.  Today, he leads one of the most popular jazz jams in the South Sound. Check it tonight at the Cedarwood. â€" Brad Allen
[Cedarwood Sports Bar at the Dome, 7 p.m., $7.50, 7404 Pacific Hwy. E., Milton, 253.922.5727]

LINK: Monster Monster and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Check out when the movies start.
LINK: Let’s eat Chinese today.

Angela Jossy and Deborah Page will play McCabe’s American Music Café tonight. Bobble Tiki jumped inside acoustic popster Jossy’s noggin.

BOBBLE TIKI: What do you really enjoy about making music?

ANGELA JOSSY: Ever since I was a kid I’ve been influenced by music â€" the great mood enhancer.  I used to say I had a good enough voice to be in a choir but not good enough to be a soloist.  Then I went through a tough time in my life, and Alanis Morrissette started singing songs that seemed to come from my very own heart. I would turn up Jagged Little Pill and wail along with her as a release of my sorrow and pain. It was brilliant therapy! I knew this was my calling because it felt so good. I wanted to make other people feel good too. I prayed to God to give me a voice and something to say. He must have been listening that day because my voice began to change from choir girl to rock star.  Soon new songs were flooding my brain like a download from the great beyond. It’s been like that ever since.   

TIKI: Who’s your favorite Duran Duran member and why?

JOSSY: Nick Rhodes â€" I’m always a sucker for a hot guy.

TIKI: What’s your guilty pleasure?

JOSSY: Dancing with reckless abandon, of course!

[McCabe’s American Music Café, 7 p.m., $5, 2611 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.5403]

DANIEL BLUE: MEET DOUG KNUDSON >>>

Doug Knudson is a man of warm presence and friendly poise. His dog Charlie the poodle is the most personable animal I have encountered, I pretty much regard him as one of us people. You can tell a lot about a man from his poodle.

I met Knudson at a Monday night dinner at Sandy's house that inspired many Monday night dinners in different parts of the city. Jack Jennings introduced us, and Knudson made me feel right at home in the nicest backyard garden he has ever designed. He owns a company called Arrow that does everything from Sandy's backyard to your den remodel, and has fingers in pies that always end up tasting good.

I asked him if he has lived in Tacoma his whole life and he said, "I haven't lived anywhere my whole life yet." He grew up in Seattle and moved to Tacoma in 1999.

Doug is a constant supporter of the arts in Tacoma. He owns several local artists' paintings and has shared his shops and garages with artists such as the increasingly famous Chris Sharp.

Knudson's warmth and friendly nature are the kinds of things that really bind a community together, we are strong when we lift each other up.

STEPH DEROSA: DRINKING ON A BOAT >>>

I had the fortunate opportunity to be a part of the www.myspace.com/lovetacoma ">Love Tacoma cruise that the charming Roxanne Murphy and Love Tacoma recently set up for our amazing Tacoma citizens.  The three-hour free cruise took us through Commencement Bay and into Gig Harbor.

Our favorite Doyle’s bartenders were on hand to serve the masses drinks, and people from Sunrise Rotary raffled off an El Gaucho dinner.  I met many awesome folks from Sunrise Rotary, Pierce County, BCRA and the Young Professionals Network. 

Every minute was enjoyable, the night was perfect, and the company aboard the chartered vessel made making new friends and meeting great people extremely easy.

Seeing as how it was a “three-hour tour”, I took it upon myself to find the cast from Gilligan’s Island right there on the boat.  These fine ladies and gentlemen will be this week’s Dinner with DeRosa guests. 

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a beautiful trip
That started from this Tacoma port
Aboard this tiny ship.

Roxanne was a mighty one with plan,
The skipper brave and sure.
Fifty passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The weather was oh-never rough,
The sun stayed out all eve,
If not for the courage of Love Tacomans
This cruise would not be free, this cruise would not be free.

The bartenders brought it up from Doyle’s, to get us all tipsy
With Gilligan
The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Love Tacoma cruise.

Playing the part of Gilligan is this guy.  I have to admit, I never got his name, but I did witness him getting silly drunk and then spilling an entire glass of wine (my glass) all over the skipper’s logbook.

The skipper as himself.

Thurston Howell III and Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell were played by real life husband and wife Erin and Matthew Janiga.

Ginger Grant and Mary Ann Summers were easily represented by Bett Simpson of YPN and her friend Lauren.

At first I thought Steve Buchanan from Institutional Investors Consulting Company was a shoo-in for Gilligan, but being the incredible mathlete that he is, I’m adopting him as The Professor.

Mangiamo!

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Capacious \kuh-PAY-shuhs\, adjective:
Able to contain much; roomy; spacious.

USAGE EXAMPLE: Few things in life are more
capacious than the pants of Ruben Studdard

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: New trail on the horizon

OLYMPIA: There's a lot of pride in Oly

SEATTLE: The raw milk debate

UNITED STATES: The economy in Houston

ENVIRONMENT: The candidates and oil

JUST BIZARRE: Stupid journalist

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Where the money goes

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

FILM
Kenny
The 2006 film Kenny brings to the surface a subject we normally cringe at: poop and pee. Its eponymous hero installs and cleans public waste receptacles for a living. Almost two hours of excrement- sounds like the perfect vehicle for Adam Sandler's juvenile brand of comedy, right? Kenny actually hails from Australia. Already having garnered multiple awards and won fans Down Under, Kenny smartly avoids the easy raunchiness of its premise, instead painting an enjoyable and sympathetic picture of a man- and occupation- that society ignores. Read full review here. -Christopher Wood
[The Grand Cinema, 2:30, 4:45, 7:05 and 9:10 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

MUSIC
Rockaraoke
If you give Tacoma a microphone it knows what to do with. That much is proven night in and night out at karaoke joints all over town. Now, give Tacoma a microphone and a live band, and you have Rockaraoke at Jazzbones every Monday night. Fun is always had by all, and booze is consumed at an alarming pace. The $1 High Life pints and $4 Jaeger bombs might have something to do with it.  Fun. - Suzy Stump
[Jazzbones, 9 p.m., no cover, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

LINK: Baby Gramps and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Check out when the movies start here.
LINK: Let's eat Mexican today.

MATT DRISCOLL: BECK UPDATE >>>

As you probably know, Beck will be one of the headliners at this year’s Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle â€" which as always will take place at the end of August (August 30- Sept 1, to be exact.)

As you probably also know, at least if you’re a fan, Beck will be releasing a new record, Modern Guilt, on July 8.

If you’re having trouble waiting for the release of said new Beck record, check this out. In a world of new promotional ideas, it’s what’s being called a “custom created video trailer for the record.” I’m not exactly sure what that means, but the results look pretty cool. 

MATT DRISCOLL: NAUGHTY TIME >>>

What’s your fetish, Tacoma?

I’ll give you a hint about mine: it involves two Mikey Burgers from Little Holland, an empty kiddy pool, a jar of peanut butter, a cockatoo, and three traffic cones.

That’s all you’re going to get about my fetish fantasies, Tacoma, but as you can probably tell â€" I like it hot!

If you’re similarly naughty, the Fetish Ball at Hell’s Kitchen on July, 13 may be just what the tied and bound doctor ordered. Hosted by the lovely Lelani Love, the Empress’ Fetish Ball should prove to have a little something for everyone â€" at least everyone out there with some kink running through their veins. While we know it’s a few weeks off, a promotional email for the Fetish Ball just hit the Weekly Volcano’s inbox and we thought we’d pass it along. When it comes to fetish festivals, you can never plan too far in advance.

See you there, Tacoma. I’ll bring the traffic cones.