SUZY STUMP: METRO PARKS CARES >>>

First of all, it’s quiet.

So quiet, you can get lost in your thoughts.

Begin at the Point Defiance Park entrance.  Pick a parking slot, lace them up, stretch those calves and groin and head into the Park. The quiet will help you concentrate on the first few steps of your run.

Not that you have lot to concentrate on.

Forget political science, literature, biology. Forget chemistry, French and calculus. Go back to before you could think.

Just past the Japanese Gardens veer left toward the zoo.  Just short of one mile veer left and head uphill to the Five Mile Drive.   

So follow the paved road. At 1.9 miles check out the Vashon Island viewpoint. Let thoughts come back to your mind. Start with the basics. The multiplication tables, the spelling tests. Remember the first time you glued macaroni to paper?

Continue on.  At 2.2 miles you’ll pass the Mountainier Tree, a 400-year-old Douglas Fir. Your pace will increase at mile 2.4 as you get a view of gorgeous Gig Harbor. Remember the fastest time you ran a mile in school, how you picked out one or two of your classmates in gym class â€" secretly â€" and vowed that you would run faster than each of them, no matter what? Remember how that felt like stealing second â€" and beating the throw?

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge viewpoint is at mile 2.6.  You are more than half way there.  Enjoy the serenity of the forest, and the cool, crisp fall air. 

THEN A CAR HITS YOU. YOU ARE THROWN 10 FEET. YOU ARE BLEEDING. YOU CAN’T THINK.

Solution
Metro Parks doesn’t want to see you die on the Five Mile Drive. Five new speed tables are scheduled for construction to help slow vehicular traffic in Point Defiance Park Sept. 3 and 4 if the weather doesn’t suck.  Metro Parks has contracted with the City’s Public Works Department to install traffic calming features in pedestrian crossing areas and straightaway stretches where cars often exceed the park’s 20 mile per hour speed limit.

So stay in the zone if you see Public Works messing with your Five Mile Drive next week. Think good thoughts.

BTW: The two month pilot project that added Sunday mornings to the drive’s vehicle-free hours concludes this weekend. The District is collecting feedback from park visitors about the pilot project through an online survey available here through Sept. 15.

JAKE DE PAUL: THE MORNING BREW >>>

1. Best sandwiches in the south Sound (Weekly Volcano)

2. Eat at the Tacoma museums (Weekly Volcano)

3. Opening a restaurant is tough business (Weekly Volcano)

4. Asado has a new menu (Weekly Volcano)

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

SUZY STUMP: 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY >>>

9 A.M.-2 P.M.: It’s Family Day at the Tacoma Farmers Market at Ninth and Broadway. Yippee! Kids running about like maniacs while you try to squeeze fruit. On the docket today: Blackberry Pie Festival, music by Luke Breton Van Grol, and the Chef in the Market demonstration is Matt Colony from Maxwell’s Speakeasy. Start shopping here.

6-9 P.M.: Mindy Barker’s Slice at Fulcrum Gallery is a series of five paintings on glass that hang from the gallery ceiling, two more paintings done directly on the gallery windows, five separate and slightly different paintings in the front gallery, and four smaller paintings and a series of 25 painted compact discs in the small back gallery. Check it out, part by part, here.

8 P.M.: Robots vs. Humans â€" the band â€" will inject a little pubescent emo rock into Bob’s Java Jive tonight. Formerly Garvey Switch, Robots vs. Humans, judging by the band’s MySpace page centers around brothers Tyrus and Rusty Trusky, who sing and play guitar, respectively. Check them out with Skull Kid tonight at 2102 S Tacoma Way.

8 P.M.: Harlequin Productions has created a name for itself as a thinking person's theater. Its shows are often deep in cultural references and plays on words. Its latest offering fits right into that reputation. The show Psychopathia Sexualis is a comedy that is not only accessible because of its surface level dialogue and storyline, but it also has clever cultural puns and, dare I say, highbrow humor that would fit right into the repertoire of the conversations of National Public Radio or Public Broadcasting Service listeners. Study it tonight at the State Theater in Olympia.

9:30 P.M.: Not neo-soul, not urban, and not contemporary R&B, the Next Movement is authentic R&B akin to such legendary Motown units as the Temptations and the Four Tops.  Chock-full of tight arrangements, fat horns and flawless harmonies, the group is a live act not to be missed. Groove to them tonight at the Muckleshoot Casino.

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

BOBBLE TIKI: ANOTHER WEEK IN THE 253 >>>

There is a certain evident moment when, try as Bobble Tiki might to ignore it, it becomes clear things are careening dangerously out of control. Often its true weight hits when Bobble Tiki realizes he became the guy who drinks wine out of a box every evening, who can’t figure out how to stop the toilet from running all the time and whose major excitement each week revolves around hoping the new issue of Rolling Stone has some good cleavage shots. The best Bobble Tiki can do is spring three times and with road work everywhere exclaim there's no place like Tacoma … there’s no place like Tacoma:

TACOMA AT THE DNC: Tacoma City Council member Marilyn Strickland reports from Denver

BRIDGE CONNECTION: Murray Morgan Bridge too important not to save

KICKED IN THE WINTERGRASS: Hotel Murano might pull the plug

THE METER: Below average week in Pierce County

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

THE DAILY WORD

Chthonic \THONE-ik\, adjective:
Dwelling in or under the earth; also, pertaining to the underworld

USAGE EXAMPLE: Few people realize that before his radio career, Rush Limbaugh served as a big, fat chthonic tour guide â€" showing tourists from around the world the hell he came from.
 
MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: New leader for Centro Latino

OLYMPIA: Cleaning up the Chehalis

SEATTLE: Dying to save gas

UNITED STATES: Obama set for Mile High Stadium

ENVIRONMENT: Joe Biden's green talking points from last night's speech

JUST BIZARRE: Junk raft

MORE STRANGE NEWS: Why not to send your hostages on a beer run

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

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: THEATER THURSDAY >>>

My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is ending its run at the Encore! Theater. This classic musical about the battle between nature and nurture is presented on the always entertaining open-air stage at Gig Harbor. The play deals with the transformation of Eliza Doolittle at the hands of Professor Harry Higgins, who takes her under his wing in an effort to transform her into a lady. Bring a picnic dinner, beach chairs and blankets to watch this fun show with some of the best music the genre has to offer.
[Impact Church International, My Fair Lady, through Aug. 31, 7 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, $6-$15, 4819 Hunt St., Gig Harbor, 253.858.2282]

Shrek: the Musical
Shrek: the Musical at the Fifth Avenue Theatre is another option for your theater dollar. This Broadway-bound show is exactly what you would expect. It has the usual line of characters but a new story and original music.
[Fifth Avenue Theatre, through Sept. 21, downtown Seattle]

LINK: Psychopathia Sexualis review
LINK: Steve Dunkelberger rocks

DANIEL BLUE: MEET DAVID FEWSTER >>>

David Fewster and I used to see each other more - mainly at open mics.  A few years ago the Tacoma open mic circuit was alive and buzzing with what we thought was the ultimate manifestation of our arts renaissance - spoken word, the poetry mic, the slams, the crowds, the girls - oh the beatnik groupies, such fond memories. 

David hails from a time when beat was more than a sideline competition for wanna-be MCs.  His words sometimes are like warnings, urging me not to fantasize too much about becoming Jack Kerouack or Ken Kesey.  His poems tell me that being an artist is hard and people often are sad and hungry.  This work is real, not waiting for my permission to speak honestly. 

Currently married, making music and working at the used book store near Freighthouse Square, David has moved from the open mic circuit to the performance art/modern dance scene, starring in recent works from Barefoot Studios. 

Its good to see him - the Godfather of the Tacoma beats.

LINK: The Tacoma Files archive

MARILYN STRICKLAND: DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, AUG. 28, 10 A.M. >>>

Here's how the story goes.  When Sen. Barack Obama was assembling his campaign team, he insisted on one thing:  No drama.   He made it clear that his bid for the White House would be an effort that is focused and steady.  He told his troops to stay on message and not to over-react to the ups and downs of a long campaign season.  This is how he planned to make history.  On Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008, Obama became the first African-American to lead a major political party.  It's official.  Typing those last two sentences gave me the chills.  Barack Obama and I were toddlers when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964.  He's on the verge of becoming our next president.

Our state delegation was told to arrive early at the Pepsi Center yesterday. Most of us were anxious to cast our votes, asking for the ballots.  We were giddy. The roll call couldn't start soon enough. Some delegates took photos of their signed ballots.  Gov. Gregoire, an Obama supporter, signed her ballot and pumped her fist in the air.  We cheered.  The roll call started with Alabama, one of the reddest of the red states.  They cast 48 votes for Obama and five for Clinton.  This set the tone.  As we moved toward the middle of the alphabet, some of us noticed a lot of secret service congregating on the floor.  Hillary Clinton emerged and moved to suspend the roll call to declare Obama the Democratic nominee by acclimation.  She managed to make me cry two days in a row. 

Love him or hate him, Bill Clinton is one of our greatest political talents ever.  He took the stage to a flag waving screaming crowd and couldn't stop smiling.  Some people are meant to be in the spotlight. Clinton is one of them. He wholeheartedly endorsed Obama, and made sharp contrasts between the two parties.  The big dog delivered and then some.

John Kerry gave what I consider the best speech of his career.  He was impassioned, factual, funny and smart.  The man was on fire and he made a compelling case for what is at stake in this election.  I hear that the networks cut away to the pundits and didn't broadcast Kerry's speech.  If true, that is a shame. Kerry gave my favorite speech of the convention so far.

If America fell in love with the Obamas on Monday night, they are in deep like with the Bidens.  Joe Biden was officially nominated at the Vice-Presidential candidate.   He was then introduced by his son who is soon leaving for Iraq. He touched on campaign issues but spent more time talking about his family, his background and values.  After his speech, he said there was a special guest in the house.  Obama joined Biden on stage and the crowd went crazy.  Now I know why I received a text message saying that the building was on lockdown.

This morning at breakfast, the state party chair described tonight's general session as "The DNC meets Woodstock."  More than 70,000 people will swarm Invesco Field at Mile High to hear Obama's acceptance speech.  Tonight's speakers include Gov. Bill Richardson who was bumped from last night's schedule, and Al Gore.  Delegates will sit on the field.  It will be 82 degrees today and we are encouraged to dress casually, bring sunscreen and drink plenty of water.  Actress Jennifer Hudson will perform the national anthem.  I love the DNC house band but Stevie Wonder is scheduled to take the stage tonight.  Rumor has it that Springsteen might show up.  I'm physically and emotionally exhausted, but I can't wait for tonight's general session.

Tacoma City Council member Marilyn Strickland is blogging the Democratic National Convention for the Weekly Volcano. She is an Obama delegate.

LINK: Democratic National Convention
LINK: Tacoma at the DNC