MATT DRISCOLL:SAND TO GLASS >>>

It’s, like, 97 degrees in my office this afternoon. Or at the very least it’s hot as fuck. I don’t have an exact temperature reading, but the sweat pouring down my back is all the proof I need.

This, my friends, isn’t prime weather for record reviewing. Slip and sliding, yes, but as I sit here in front of the computer digesting Don’t Tell Sophie’s latest EP, Sand to Glass, it’s taking restraint from every bone in my body not to run like a madman for the nearest margarita â€" or strip down do my underoos and head out into the yard to dance through the sprinkler.

But I’m a man who takes my responsibilities seriously, and thus I persist. Every Thursday you can expect a new record review to be posted on the Weekly Volcano’s Web site, and that doesn’t change when the weather turns warm.

Sand to Glass is relatively short â€" a mere four songs â€" but that’s not to say the record doesn’t pack a punch.

Read my full review here.

SUZY STUMP: 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY >>>

2:30-9:10 P.M.: Vicky Cristina Barcelona is typical of a lot of Woody Allen’s mid-range work.  It involves affluent characters at various levels of sophistication, involved in the arts and the intrigues of love.  They’re conflicted about right and wrong.  They’re undoubtedly low-level neurotics.  In addition, they are attractive, amusing, and living lives we might envy â€" in this case, during a summer vacation in Barcelona. Read full review here. See it at The Grand Cinema.

5 P.M.: Gary Murrell â€" the Green Party candidate for U.S .Congress from Washington’s 6th Congressional District â€" will be at King’s Books in Tacoma for what’s being called a “community dialogue.” Murrell â€" a longtime Hoquiam resident and teacher at Grays Harbor Community College â€" is expected to elaborate on his desire to seek “an immediate withdrawal of American forces in Iraq, affordable education, campaign reform, Constitutional restoration, civil liberties, and single-payer not-for-profit health care,” according to kingsbookstore.com.

7:30 P.M.: Capital Playhouse is staging Fiddler on the Roof â€" the well-known story about family traditions and social customs in a changing world place in the Ukraine during the tumultuous times of World War II â€" through Sunday at South Puget Sound Community College’s KJM Center. This closing production of its summer theater program will go out with a bang as the cast peaks at 63.

8 P.M.: To be brief, Hypatia Lake is less a band of musicians as it is a story about a small, fictional town with a candy shop and a lot of problems. This story has been told through three albums so far, and is the brainy work of Hypatia Lake frontman Lance Watkins. The good thing about this situation is â€" whether we’re just too stupid to get it or the concept behind Hypatia Lake is a bit much to swallow â€" the show at Bob’s Java Jive tonight is going to be musically fascinating all the same.

8:30 P.M.: Pat Benatar is now 55, but the trailblazing female rocker with the voice of an angel is sexier than ever. Along with hubby Giraldo, Benatar and her feel-good anthems like “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” and “Love Is a Battlefield“ will echo at the Emerald Queen Casino tonight. Fire away here.

LINK: Viva South Sound arts and entertainment calendar
LINK: Live music and DJs

JAKE DE PAUL: THE MORNING BREW >>>

1. East Coast-Midwest rapperâ€"burger mogul war erupts? (NY Magazine)

2. For luxury that's worth the wait (LA Times)

3. Eat and walk your way through Northwest cities (Crosscut)

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide
LINK: Visit a dive bar today

DANIEL BLUE: MEET CHRIS SHARP >>>

Many things have been written about Chris Sharp, which I believe is due to his name.  Chris is very sharp.  I have found him to be straightforward and confident in most all his endeavors.

Chris is kind of like a cool older brother to me and some of my contemporaries. We thrive on his creative wisdom. On several occasions I have consulted him for advise about projects I am working on.  His eye is explicit and his experience sets him in the major leagues.

He is forever bicycling and recently skateboarding about the downtown corridor, to and from multiple coffee shops and his studio in the Merlino Arts Center.  A sign maker, and a designer by trade, there are few hands that know both the digital and the analog versions of their craft as well as Chris. 

The most noticeable thing about Sharp is his deadpan sense of humor.  Often heavy handed in wit and intelligent sarcasm, I find myself laughing at things he has said far after they were removed from his mouth.

LINK: The Tacoma Files archive

SUZY STUMP: THE JOEL SHOW III >>>

It’s time for another installment of the Joel Show â€" No. III to be exact. Local dancer and choreographer Joel Myers invites you to join him and several of his vastly talented students this Saturday, Aug. 16, at Annie Wright â€" not Stadium High School that has been advertised the last few months.

Presented by MOVE!, MLKBallet’s contemporary dance series, Myers and an elite group of dance students have prepared a moving mix of modern dance that will take audiences on a journey through various life stages, rooted in various tree themes.

[Annie Wright, Saturday, Aug. 16, 6 p.m., $10-$14, 827 N. Tacoma Ave., Tacoma, 253.921.2858]

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Blackguard \BLAG-uhrd\, noun:
1. A rude or unscrupulous person; a scoundrel.
2. A person who uses foul or abusive language.
3. Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, "blackguard language."
4. To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.

USAGE EXAMPLE: During the filming of 1992’s the Bodyguard, whenever the cameras weren’t rolling Kevin Costner turned into a huge dick. This is how he earned the on set nickname “the blackguard bodyguard,” however Whitney Houston didn’t know what it meant. 

MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: More than originally expected

OLYMPIA: Securing water

SEATTLE: Greener hempfest

UNITED STATES: McCain's buddy

ENVIRONMENT: Choosing green seafood

JUST BIZARRE: Disney bust

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Kind of like Bobble Tiki's mom

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

MATT DRISCOLL: TONIGHT'S VIBE >>>

I may not be sexy, but I know enough to realize when women think some other dude is sexy. This can definitely be said for all members of the Eric McFadden Trio, who will drop in to Jazzbones tonight for what should be another amazing Tacoma performance. Every time Eric and Company head up and down the coast it seems like a stop at the Boneyard is involved â€" and every time McFadden does stop in Tacoma it seems like fans leave Jazzbones with smiles. Tonight’s performance should be no different. Read more here.

Anchored by the wildman guitar antics and deep howl of McFadden â€" who’s played regularly with Parliament Funkadelic and is a founding member of the Stockholm Syndrome â€" the Eric McFadden Trio is the perfect outlet for this artist’s brooding and boiling-over talent. Husky barks and overdriven amplified acoustic guitar work create an almost spiritual aesthetic. Mix in drummer extraordinaire Jeff Cohen and the standup bass wizardry of James Whiton â€" a sexy man in his own right â€" and you have a band to take note of.

Whether for their sexiness or musical skill, you’ll get a chance to do just that with the Eric McFadden Trio this Friday at Jazzbones. If you have yet to lay eyes on the EMT, don’t let this chance slip by. They’re a must see.

[Jazzbones, 8:30 p.m., $8-$10, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

BRAD ALLEN: OUTDOOR DRINKING >>>

Wednesday, Tater Tot and I snagged a table on Red Robin's street-side patio, the perfect spot for an evening of nachos, people-watching and gossiping up a storm.  Although they do not sport heat lamps, and the traffic can be noisy, the patio hops on summer nights. 

Red Robin has an extensive list of cocktails guaranteed to throw almost any drinker out of the nest. There’s the Sand In Your Shorts, the Electric Watermelon and the Nuclear Ice Tea, but we went straight for the infamous Flat On Your Beak. Made with white rum, Bacardi 151 rum, sloe gin, orange juice, grenadine and sweet ‘n’ sour, this favorite can ruin a business meeting â€" two days after. Our heads felt like they had been pecked by Hitchcock’s birds.   

[Red Robin, 3901 S. Steele St., Tacoma, (253) 473-7447.