FOOD
Taste of Tacoma
More than 30 vendors- including Asado, Masa, Southern Kitchen, Katie Downs and Federal Way-s Pac Island Grill- along with live entertainment will plant roots at Point Defiance Park this weekend. Full details here. - Suzy Stump
[Point Defiance Park, June 27-28 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., June 29 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., $7 and less an entré, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma]
ART
Naked Tacoma
In this show, photographer Paul Uhl focuses on extreme close-ups of the normally objectified parts of the body, mostly nipples and vaginas. It is the many nipple close-ups (most from the same model) that best illustrate what the photographer is up to in these works. Starting with images shot in such extreme close-up that they are almost abstract, he then manipulates the images, adjusting contrast, double printing, solarizing the images and so forth so that they become even more abstract. Many of them look like photographs we've seen of planets as taken from cameras in space. There is one image that looks like the surface of the moon and others that look like the halo effect of the sun rising over the crest of a moon or planet. Alec Clayton
[delight gallery, Thursday-Friday 1 to 6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. through mid July, inside Sanford & Son, 743 Broadway, Tacoma]
EVENT
What You Got? Festival
D.I.Y. stands for Do-It-Yourself, and when so moved, that's exactly what the people of Olympia do. The fifth annual What You Got? Festival is a fine example. Over the course of two days, Numbskullz, DEK, The Cut Throats, Anna Bri, Logical Deer and others will do what they do best- all in the name of youth. Expect some youth-centric workshops, art and film, too. - Brad Allen
[Capitol Theater, June 27 3 p.m., June 28 noon, $5-$8, 206 Fifth Ave., Olympia, 360.754.5378]
JAM
Beyond the Bridge Cafe
The third Friday of every month Beyond the Bridge Cafe hosts local raw acoustic jam sessions that will melt your face off. Owners Ben and Trish Rubke take these performances very seriously, and have no trouble filling up the room. With tables removed and organized seating in place, only guests who have called and put their names on a special list are allowed in. And believe me, they've had to turn people away at the door.
Today, Trish and Ben will be introduce performances by The Travis Barker Band, Matt Coughlin, James Coates, and The Cloves (featured on 103.7 The Mountain's Music Lounge). - Steph DeRosa
[Beyond The Bridge Cafe, 7-10 p.m., $5, 13624 Valley Ave. E., Sumner, 253.863.0556]
POP PUNK
Smooch Knob
Smooch Knob, a Portland-based hybrid of pop punk and bare breasts with a sound surprisingly less suggestive than their name, will hit Hell's Kitchen tonight. Though the band (presumably) takes great pride in their combination of well written pop songs and onstage eye candy- another way of referring to the nearly naked "Smooch Girls" that accompany the band at every show - the funny thing about Smooch Knob is this: The tits and ass the Smooch Girls provide are nice, don't get me wrong (seriously, don't get me wrong), but the band doesn't really need them. Musically speaking, Smooch Knob's melodic and catchy, often Weezer-esque, sound is enough to carry them. This, as much as any boner-inspiring stage antic, is the key to Smooch Knob's appeal.
The Smooch Girls are really just icing on the scantly clad cake. - Matt Driscoll
[Hell's Kitchen, with Mumma Stoge, Sea Jayne Trip and Jonny Bobaluie & The Masters of Bation, 9 p.m., $5, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]
LINK: Dead Brothers Band and others in the clubs tonight
LINK: Check out what movies open today
LINK: Let's eat at QB today