DANIEL BLUE: MEET SAM PASCOE >>>

Sam Pascoe was born in Tacoma in 1980, and is a true Tacoma Lifer. Educated at the Annie and Charles Wright's primary and secondary private schools, Pascoe is a gentleman and a scholar.

"After School, I took a job in Denver reinsuring new construction projects, it was boring," says Pascoe. "I came home."

I met Pascoe in the front room of the Kickstand Café nearly five years ago. He was a quiet customer, and at the time was drinking free coffee for having supplied the struggling new ownership with a playlist that the young majority of their customers would enjoy hearing. Music is a necessity for a café of caliber, we were all thankful not to have to hear Dawn's "meditation music."

I invited him out for a game of after-hours foursquare one night, he was a natural, and his quiet demure faded quickly once he had dominated the king square for a few rounds. I found him to be highly intelligent, and he educated me on many of the subtleties of class and culture in the North Haven of Tacoma's neighborhoods.

Having a taste for the finer things, Pascoe is an excellent resource for the high-ticket consumer. These days he can be found zipping around town on the back of a red Yamaha or at the Black Water Cafe with his nose buried in the New Yorker.

SUZY STUMP: LOTS OF MUSIC IN MAY >>>

We hit the Tacoma Art Museum’s Building Birthday Bash May 3, celebrating TAM’s fifth year in their building, cramming as many cupcakes down our throats as we could and working it off before DJ Pana-Jesus Villegas in the plaza outside.  It was a beautiful, fun bash. TAM lined its walkways with multi-colored non-edible cakes created by local artists in honor of the museum’s fifth year of residency.

Steph DeRosa invited a University Place convenient store owner to her Dinner with DeRosa on May 4.  Innocently parked in front of a store in a parking space and sitting in her car, he walked out with a sandwich board and placed it in front of her car.  The sign read (in his handwriting): NO PARKING.  She ignored him.  He walked up to her window and started banging on it.  She ignored him.  He started banging on her window and yelling.  Her daughter got scared.  She flipped him off.  He punched her car with his fist and bent her mirror in.  She hauled ass out of the car, kicked down his sign, and scared the piss out of him as she yelled in his face for him to back the F off her.  As she yelled, police arrive.  She fortunately averted arrest and was sent on her way.

A mobile cranes ran amok in downtown Tacoma just after noon on May 9. The thing  barrelled ass down 15th and crashed near Pacific at the 705 off-ramp. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Saturday, May 10, SOTA hosted the third annual Artrageous, a fund-raiser for the SOTA Partners Foundation designed to encourage and induce monetary support from the community for the SOTA vision, as well as a chance for SOTA students to put their work on display and tell the story of their school. Artrageous 2008 took place at Urban Grace at Ninth and Market, and included multiple galleries of student and SOTA instructor work as well as short documentaries about SOTA students and a main stage performance.

Bandito Betty has filled out the application, paid the membership dues, and practiced the secret handshake in order to become part of the illustrious club called MARRIAGE.  The only thing left to do was to give her a proper initiation.  An initiation that involved embarrassment, harassment, and lude public mockery.  This was an initiation most people would call a bachelorette party â€" and Steph DeRosa and ladies did it Tacoma style May 11.

Brad Allen stood five feet from Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow at Hell’s Kitchen with 100-150 people on a Wednesday, May 14.

After weeks (if not months) of hype and excitement, the 2008 Broadway Tacoma Farmers Market was finally a reality May 15. And, of course, the Weekly Volcano is there, too â€" documenting the action and looking for free samples.  Steph DeRosa and Matt Driscoll blogged it live.

Carmen Jones rocked to diverse beats all day May 18 at Rock the Cause, a concept that came from the neurons that fire in her head, but actually wound up being more incredible than she ever could've imagined.

Eight Tacoma bands â€" including Nasty Left â€" all agreed to play for free (such an honor), each representing different styles in the vibrant T-Town music scene, and proceeds from the function went to benefit Project:U and the United Way of Pierce County's Community Solutions Fund.

Steph DeRosa was graciously asked by the powers above (read: no one else wanted to do it) to represent the Weekly Volcano at the judge’s table for the 97.7 The Eagle Sturgis Girl Model Search May 22.  The contest was held at Lady Luck’s Cowgirl Up, which is the Parkland equivalent to an internationally renowned bar known as Coyote Ugly.  The girls were smokin’ hot.  Not only the models were hot, but also the servers who brought us beer and danced on the catwalk.  It was a major blow to her self-esteem and body image, but it was all good times nonetheless.

The 2008 Tacoma Jazz & Blues Festival visited Freighthouse Square and Harmon Brewery and Pub May 24. One of the highlights was guitarist Nick Vigarino sliding the frets with various items off the tables at the Harmon.

By nightfall on May 24, Carmen Jones couldn’t wait to go to the Randy Hansen, Jimi Hendrix emulator, show. Jazzbones was super busy with so many people like her who were amazed at how Hansen sounds like Hendrix in a very eerie way. What an awesome show.

KAke and Steph DeRosa hightailed it to the Gorge in George for the Sasquatch Music Festival May 25.  The saw The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Spearhead and lots of spacey people.

BRAD ALLEN: I'M TALKING ABOUT THE GOOD SONICS >>>

Tacoma's rock and roll legends The Sonics will perform Friday, Oct. 31 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. The 8 p.m. Halloween show will feature singer/pianist Gerry Roslie, guitarist Andy Parypa, bassist Larry Parypa, drummer Bob Bennett and saxophonist Rob Lind.

Tickets are $26.50 to $62 at Ticketmaster. Tickets are on sale Saturday, June 7 at 11 a.m. with an Internet presale Thursday at 10 a.m.

LINK: The Sonics on MySpace

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. â€" Teresa Budasi
[The Grand Cinema, 4:40, 6:55, and 9:10 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

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

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Sedulous \SEJ-uh-luhs\, adjective:

Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.
Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

USAGE EXAMPLE: After an amazing display of perseverance and truly sedulous effort, Bobble Tiki finally managed to try a shot of every scotch the Friendly Duck had to offer. In retrospect, Bobble Tiki doesn’t regret his feat, he simply wishes he would have spread the event over more than one night.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Fox's update

OLYMPIA: Council to discuss RV parking tonight

SEATTLE: 40 miles per dollar

UNITED STATES: Media critic

JUST BIZARRE: $10 smokes in NY

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Preparation S - for stupidity

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

PAUL SCHRAG: COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES >>>

Hey … pssst … remember government of the people, for the people and by the people? Some crazy people in Tacoma are trying that old game again. And it sort of works.

Now a year in the making, the so-called Community Based Services program is an experiment in community involvement, led by the City of Tacoma and plain old citizens. Local officials met with a group of community volunteers at Lincoln High School last night to review successes, recruit new soldiers and to talk about moving forward with a program that Tacoma should be proud to be among the first to try.

Officials in charge of the program say their goal is recruit members of the community and integrate city services delivery in a way that makes governing things more sustainable and effective … and probably save some tax dollars. So far, a lot of cleaning has been done. Edwina Magram, who attended the event and self-identified as a general troublemaker, says she and her fellow citizens, along with help from the City, have achieved goals such as cleaning up 70 litter-strewn yards during a weekend “Call to Haul.” Programs like this show the power of the people, and that local government still apparently needs citizens to be involved to get things done.

So how about it Tacoma?

LINK: Community Based Services Web site.

SUZY STUMP: GOOD DAY TO CATCH A FILM >>>

The Grand Cinema Executive Director Philip Cowan reminded the Tacoma Listserv that one of his favorite movies of all time will end its run at the theater Thursday.

“This Thursday marks the end of the screening schedule for the movie Young@Heart at the Grand Cinema,” states Cowan on the Tacoma Listserv.  “If you haven't seen this movie, please think about adding it to your calendar.  It is truly one of my favorite movies of all time.  It is funny, heart warming and a bit of a tear jerker all at the same time.  It has been fun to see so many people view it once, then later bring back friends to see it with them again.  This documentary appeals to all ages...I really can't say enough about this movie.”

Film critic Jeff Johnson also loved the film. Check out his review on the Weekly Volcano’s Web site.

[The Grand Cinema, through Thursday 3:40, 6, and 8:30 p.m., $4.50-$8, 606 S. Fawcett, downtown Tacoma, 253.572.6062]

NATASHA GORBACHEV: OH SWEET LIQUOR >>>

I’ve rapped about the Acme, located at 1310 Tacoma Ave., before â€" but the Acme is comin’ correct with some news that none of you should be quick to dismiss.

THE ACME IS NOW SERVING LIQUOR!

That’s right, the Acme scored their liquor license and they’re now mixing tasty cocktails in addition to the amazing rotating microbrews on tap.

For the last several months I’ve watched the Acme updates on MySpace that just say: “The Acme is the secret clubhouse.” I must admit that regardless of how often I catch that post every time I see those words, it makes me smile.

But what do they mean when they say they’re the secret clubhouse?

Read my column in Thursday's Weekly Volcano for the answer.

[Acme Grub Cage, 1310 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.272.1892]