EVENT
McChord Air Expo
If you live in Lakewood, this might not be the weekend to begin your meditation program. The Thunderbirds, the Air Force's precision flying team, will be in the skies over McChord Air Force Base this weekend as the McChord Air Expo is back! Five hours of flying shows are scheduled Saturday and Sunday, when more than 100 aircraft and other military hardware will be on display. Access to the base, usually restricted, will be open to the public. â€" Michael Swan
[McChord Air Force Base, July 19-20, 8 a.m. gates, 11 a.m. show, free, 150th St. S.W. and Military Road, Lakewood, www.mcchordairexpo.com]

EVENT
MLK/Historic K Street Guided Walking Tour
Join the MLK/Historic K Street Guided Walking Tour and discover the plethora of untapped history lurking behind this infamous district’s buildings and streets. Your informative guides from the Historic Tacoma organization will discuss past, present and future with an emphasis on historic neighborhood identity and what the community is doing to preserve itself. This includes areas such as: Historic K Street Business District, Johnson Candy Company, historic churches and meeting halls, and Tacoma Medical Center. â€" Steph DeRosa
[People’s Park, 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., free, People’s Park, South Ninth and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.761.9349]

EVENT
Tacoma Food Co-op
The people behind the Tacoma Food Co-op program are invading People’s Park on Hilltop from 4-9 p.m. For those five hours YOU people can find out what OTHER people are talking about when you hear those crazy words “Food Co-op.” Since 2006 this group of urban go-getters has embraced the need area Tacomans have had for an affordable, organic, local, and natural food market. Finally, their actions and persistence have brought everyone a sense of accomplishment as they become legitimate and incorporated as a business. Entertainment, refreshments and enthralling food co-op information will be at the people’s fingertips in People’s Park Saturday. â€" SD
[People’s Park, 4-9 p.m., free, People’s Park, South Ninth and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.272.8819]

BLUES
Tinsley Ellis
When it comes to modern blues, Tinsley Ellis is the bomb. Rarely doesn’t the guitar virtuoso play a shuffle. With influences by ‘60s British invasion bands such as the Stones and Cream as well as the Kings â€" BB, Albert and Freddie â€" he smokes in Albert Collins style of funky grooves and heavy rock tempos. Ellis posses a rough and road-tested voice that compliments his intense licks giving him authenticity. As a live performer, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone more energetic than Ellis. Rather than playing his tunes note for note, he leaves room for off-the-cuff jamming and improvisation making the live Ellis experience one you’ll remember and cherish long after he’s gone. â€" Tony Engelhart
[Jazzbones, 9:30 p.m., $12, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

ROCK
The Centre Cannot Hold
Things fall apart, as is evident by the Centre Cannot Hold’s show with Stauffer (a solo project of Aaron Stauffer of Seaweed), Basic Radio and Raylazer tonight at Hell’s Kitchen. The performance will be the Centre’s last, after a brief but promising two year career here in T-town.
For anyone not familiar with the Centre Cannot Hold’s aggressive but new school brand of punk, a helpful reference point is At the Drive-In. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Hell’s Kitchen, The Centre Cannot Hold, Stauffer, Basic Radio and Raylazer, 9 p.m., $5, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

LINK: Loose Gravel & The Quarry and others in the clubs tonight.
LINK: Viva South South arts and entertainment guide.
LINK: Movie times
LINK: Restaurant guide

DANIEL BLUE: MEET BRANDON HUGHES >>>

Brandon Hughes is a scholar and a poet. He also can sing like a fucking angel. 

A graduate of the Tacoma School of The Arts, Brandon is one of 11 founding members of the fancy fancy Dear Records. 

His current musical project is called Freeze & Fur Coat, they are soft and medium hard at the same time.

Brandon has recently taken an interest in two-wheeled transport, having purchased a Honda Spree 50cc motor scooter. It is black, and so is his helmet, and when he is riding he keeps his hat against his chest with the power of the wind. 

A mutual friend, who told him that I had demonic control over his mind, made Brandon suspicious of me for a short time. I do not think that is true, but I started to be afraid of demons for a little while. 

Brandon and I met at urbanXchange where we became coworkers for a few months.

We became friends over music last summer when the Warehouse was the spot.  Brandon is fighting the good fight for musicians everywhere by undermining the management of the industry, cutting out the middle man and making music without compromising heart.

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Malinger \muh-LING-guhr\, intransitive verb:
To feign or exaggerate illness or inability in order to avoid duty or work.

USAGE EXAMPLE: As they began to lift the many boxes, Emilio Estevez quietly ducked out of the room. Estevez is the king of malingering. The man who starred in Men at Work actually hates work.

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: Smuggling soldier

OLYMPIA: Lakefair weekend

SEATTLE: Not knowing when to give up

UNITED STATES: Obama's on tour

ENVIRONMENT: Bottled water backlash

JUST BIZARRE: Soccer players save the day

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Where not to go for your new tattoo

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

STEPH DEROSA: OH WE OH WE OH >>>

My dates last night at Zoobilee included not only my husband, but also Pappi Swarner, Ginger Knoxx, Chiara Wood, and The KAke.  So fortunately for the wild animals at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, last night I had to be on my best behavior.  I was fine with that, actually. Really all I felt like doing was eating, drinking, and dancing anyway.  What a perfect venue Zoobilee was for me to fulfill all my glutinous needs.

Zoobilee is traditionally voted as one of Tacoma’s “must do” events of the year.   Last night we shelled out the some-odd $200 a piece to check out what all the hubbub was about.  To me what it was all about a classier, drama-free prom.  Except this time the food was significantly better and I could legally get my drunk on.

First things first â€" as with any prom or sorority event I’ve ever been to, a pre-function (pre-func) is in order.  A deep, warm glass of Cabernet warmed my tummy at Maxwell’s Speakeasy + Lounge as my group enjoyed taking the edge off from a long Friday at work. 

The bumpy, yellow bus-ride in from the sandy go-kart parking lots to the zoo entrance made me thankful I had visited the restrooms before boarding the illustrious magic school bus.  I dusted off my freshly manicured toenails as I reached up and caught a snap of the bus crowd.

Directly inside the entrance was a table filled with champagne glasses available for a $20 purchase.  Buyers were told to keep the plastic glass, and later a number would be called (printed on the glass) for a chance to win a two-karat diamond.  My mind was not on diamonds last night, but more on finding some wine, so off to the vendor tents we headed.

My all-time favorite cupcake store, Indulge Cupcakes, was in da’ house.  I was told they had prepared for Zoobilee by baking 4,300 mini-cupcakes.  Hot damn those things are delicious. 

Other vendors made me happy with simple cheese plates to accompany my wine â€" Metropolitan market, for example.

It was nice to see the men not take dressing up so seriously last night.  I loved the short-tuxedo look.  Many men wore tennis shoes and flip-flops with their suits.  I was happy to be with Pappi and Mr. DeRosa who swore off penguin outfits this year and donned simple dress shirts with jackets. 

It was also nice to see that even the men’s restroom had a line for once. 

One of my favorite steakhouses, Goodfella’s Steakhouse, was serving up perfectly cooked steak skewers.  They also had one of the longest food lines all night, one that was well worth waiting in.

Ginger Knoxx tasted Dry Fly Distillery â€" Washington’s first distillery, and she actually liked it.  Being the boozehound that she is, this is quite a compliment.  Plenty of other Tacoma food and drink vendors were represented such as: Masa/Asado, CANS, Pinwheel Catering’s Herban Café, Pacific Grill, Ravenous Restaurant & Unique Wines, Doyle’s Public House, CI Shenanigans, Katie Downs, Duke’s Chowder House, Joeseppi’s Italian Ristorante, and The Melting Pot â€" just to name a few.  The food was decadent, the drinks were flowing, and the night was my own personal heaven â€" aside from the crowds.

Finally we scored a sweet spot on the sidelines of the Morris Day and The Time performance.  This gave us ample viewing of all Zoobilee-things inebriated.  People watching at its finest.

Thank you Zoo Society, it’s event chairs, and all the sponsors for one damn fantastic evening.  I loved my Zoobilee 2008 prom almost as much as my high school 1990 one â€"you guys really know how to throw a party!

EVENT
McChord Air Expo
If you live in Lakewood, this might not be the weekend to begin your meditation program. The Thunderbirds, the Air Force's precision flying team, will be in the skies over McChord Air Force Base this weekend as the McChord Air Expo is back! Five hours of flying shows are scheduled Saturday and Sunday, when more than 100 aircraft and other military hardware will be on display. Access to the base, usually restricted, will be open to the public. â€" Michael Swan
[McChord Air Force Base, 8 a.m. gates, 11 a.m. show, free, 150th St. S.W. and Military Road, Lakewood, www.mcchordairexpo.com]

JAZZ
Kareem Kandi Band
Jazz is the only purely American music and the one genre that has embraced elements of all musical forms.  This is why it is always exciting to find young artists who push the boundaries to create their own unique style, and Kareem Kandi is one musician who does just that.  The Tacoma-based sax player â€"along with guitarist Mason Hargrove and crew, performs a style of jazz that incorporates blues, funk and rock. Kandi, who lists his influences from such renowned jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane, plays in a free-style manner that sounds improvised. â€" Tony Engelhart
[The Mandolin Café, 3 p.m., 3923 S. 12th St., Tacoma, 253.761.3482]

ROCK
Bacchus
Have you ever seen the smile of a person who loves his job?  The perfection of contentment, also known to Western culture as the shit-eating grin.  Deep in a foundry, down where rivers of molten iron flow hot and free, three soot-covered psychopaths bathe themselves in a joy that produces such maniacal grins.  Through a rooster tail of sparks peer the feral eyes of master craftsmen enamored with the Zen of purpose.  Rarely do we gaze upon these beautiful moments.  In these shady days of the apocalypse, we sometimes lose sight of what’s important, like rocking the fuck out.  Bacchus has been sent as divine inspiration to deliver us from our perilous apathy, bringing with them a high-octane, alcohol-fueled frenzy of pure uncut hard rock.  Tapping the energies of Helmet and Mudhoney, these Olympia boys’ passion for fury will lead you through the fire into salvation. â€" Owen Taylor
[Club Vertigo, with Hellrancho, Silver, and Dirty Knockers, 9 p.m., 5240 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.472.0880]

LINK: Igneous Rocks and others in the clubs today.
LINK: Viva South Sound calendar of events
LINK: Movie Times
LINK: Restaurant Guide

DANIEL BLUE: MEET HANNAH BUCK >>>

Hannah Buck keeps a poker face on at all times. Mostly because she always has the winning hand. Consistently wearing the perfect outfit, this sophisticate is someday going to be your boss. She will probably be the boss over everyone.

Hannah and I met when her sister, Taylor, moved into The Warehouse last summer. Hannah was mostly quiet and seemed star struck by all the arty dorks hanging out at all hours of the night. To this child of Gig Harbor, the city underbelly must have been a real culture shock. Quickly adapting and growing her cool, Hannah became a regular fixture at most dance parties and dinner functions. 

A student of SOTA, and a recent tenant of the University of Puget Sound section of North Tacoma, Hannah splits her time between school and fun, just like you did when you were in school. 

Last I heard, Hannah wanted to be a fashion designer, we have spent a little time reviewing current lines and her eye is sharp and her understanding actually quite vast. There have been few young people in this town that have impressed as much with her no-nonsense attitude and fastidious poise.

BRAD ALLEN: BRUNCH WITH IGNEOUS ROCKS >>>

I think it probably happened like this: Around 1900 â€" a guy named Simon woke up on a sofa in England with a bruising hangover. Gingerly opening one eye to the glare of the noontime sun, he remembers little of the party except for being sozzled, in his cups, pickled and soused. There is also the faint recollection of grabbing at a frisky dance-hall girl’s garters. Stumbling to his feet semi-conscious, he surveys the previous night’s damage: There are half-empty Champagne bottles strewn about his flat, along with the remnants of dinner â€" some crusty bread here and shreds of roast beef and cold potatoes there. Parched, Simon reaches into the icebox for orange juice. And surmising that leftover bubbly might help calm his jangled nerves, he invents the first mimosa. From there, it’s just a matter of scrambling some eggs with leftover beef and potatoes, and violà! Brunch was invented.

Tater Tot and I are enjoying this thing called brunch right now at The Swiss. Co-owner Gayl makes a mean Eggs Benedict and Huevos Rancheros.  We’re tipping back a few mimosa’s in Simon’s honor and enjoying the musical stylings of Igneous Rocks.  Back from a hiatus, this rockin’ cover band, dressed as restaurant servers and chefs, opened with “Can’t Explain,” followed by “Sign, Sealed, and Delivered,” “Used Me,” "Jailhouse Rock" and is now mixing Pink’s “Get The Party Started” with Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams.”

Come on down.

As a side note, the Weekly Volcano wishes Swiss bartender Nobby a speedy recovery. We miss you.