MATT DRISCOLL: TODAY’S VIBE >>>

Most of us also have Nintendo game music subconsciously lodged in the recesses of our brains, just waiting to be tapped into. There’s just no way spending an entire summer playing Ninja Gaiden and drinking Kool Aid doesn’t have that sort of effect.

For this reason, the Skull Kid â€" who will play Bob’s Java Jive tonight â€" just might be the most brilliant band ever. Probably not, of course â€" but they might be close. A band dedicated to flawless renditions of classic video game themes, the Skull Kid are like a grin-inspiring blast from your childhood â€" only this time around you can sip a beer inside the Java Jive and enjoy it. Myspace.com/nintendocovers gives you a sampling of their work, showing the band’s ability to lay down everything from the Super Mario 3 theme to music from Dragon Warrior.

According to gaming.wikia.com, Skull Kid “are a race of people/monsters from the Legend of Zelda series. They first appeared in Ocarina of Time, but the Skull Kid commonly referred to as the Skull Kid is most remembered for his role as the main villain in Majora’s Mask.”

That’s only part of the story.

Skull Kid are also a creative, if not slightly nerdy, highlight of this weekend. If you’re a child of the ’80s, the Skull Kid just might strike a chord. If nothing else, they’re worth a shot.

[Bob’s Java Jive, Skull Kid, Moon Runners, The Sadmen, and Sammy Swell, Friday, Aug. 8, 8 p.m., 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843]

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

SUZY STUMP: 5 THINGS TO DO TODAY >>>

10 A.M.: The Pierce County Fair offers animal competitions, carnival rides, kids activities, FFA demonstrations, live entertainment, tons of fair food, and enough vendor exhibits to restock your entire ranch home. Starting today through Sunday, take some time to take part in one of this region’s most historical events. Get going to Graham.

11 A.M.: This year’s Showcase Tacoma offering of Tacoma talent reaches a nice, quiet critical mass. We offer as introductory evidence Fulcrum Gallery’s topographical sculpture made from recycled junk; or seemingly random light-pole cozies by local devil-knitters; or the cardboard whale to be crafted by folks from the Helm; or the Weekly Volcano’s Lava Tube; the requisite beaded jewelry kiosks; or the all-day, communal chalk drawing; or guitarist/singer Brandon Summers who croons on par with Bono and Chris Martin; or go see Deborah Page â€" range, rhythm, presence, tone, a little funk; all happening in and around Tollefson Plaza in downtown Tacoma.

4 P.M.: store.com">King’s Books hosts a free zine-making workshop as part of Showcase Tacoma. The Tacoma bookstore would like for you to create a zine around the theme of “community.”

5 P.M.: Novelist Jess Walter, author of The Zero, Tacoma poet laureate William Kupinse and musical guest Scott Andrew headline A River & Sound Review, a live literary entertainment program featuring music and literature as part of Showcase Tacoma, tonight in Keystone Auditorium.

5 P.M.: Organized much like the Iron Chef television program, Tacoma Art Museum’s Iron Artist Challenge puts local artists in a timed, toe-to-toe art smack down â€" giving all contestants an hour and a pile of surprise material â€" then waiting to see what happens. At the end of that hour, the new “works of art” are displayed to all on hand, and popular vote determines the winner. May the best artist prevail and fun be had by all.

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

JAKE DE PAUL: THE MORNING BREW >>>

1. Leaf wraps are a natural for the grill (LA Times)

2. Food mags â€" what's in your pile? (Seattle Times)

3. Tasting Abe Schoener's major white inspirations (SF Gate)

LINK: Remember to try your luck at El Gaucho
LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MATT DRISCOLL: VAGABOND SKIES AND FOREIGN GIRLS >>>

As an artist Brooklyn’s Joseph Arthur can be called a lot of things. Gentle. Yearning. Prolific. Atmospheric. Haunting. Spiritual. Often shirtless.

As a promoter Joseph Arthur can only be classified in one way: genius.

Later this year Arthur will release his latest full length CD, Temporary People. Instead of just being happy with that fact, however, Arthur is pushing the envelope. In what can only be described as a promotional blitz of unheard of proportion, Arthur has released four (count them, four!) EPs this summer to get fans and music critics ready. The EPs have all been made as Arthur makes Temporary People. Now, instead of the material that doesn’t make the new full length finding its way to the cutting room floor, it finds its way to fans through the release of six songs EPs that also serve as strategically dispersed hype for Arthur’s new full length, due out in September.

It’s a move that’s nothing short of brilliant.

Read my take on his latest two here.

ALEC CLAYTON: DOWNTOWN OLYMPIA IS PRETTY >>>

The Here Today public project art sponsored by the City of Olympia features temporary art installations in various locations throughout downtown Olympia and along the boardwalk at Percival Landing. Including visual, performing art, literature and music, these works by local artists “celebrate a sense of place through reflection and response to our physical and social environment,” according to promotional materials from the Olympia Arts Commission.

Read my full story here.

SUZY STUMP: BEND AT THE KNEES >>>

It’s Friday and that means only one thing: Frost Park Chalk Challenge. Head down to Ninth and Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma to chalk up the cement, eat your lunch or just hang.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET MICAH TUCKER >>>

Micah Tucker is a working artist. When I first moved to Tacoma, he was painting huge canvases and hanging them in his friends' apartments. This is perhaps some of the first "art" I was exposed to outside of the graffiti some friends had shown me in Seattle. Not to compare the two, Micah's art was different than anything I had seen that far. Playing on shadows and silhouettes, he had mastered the art of predicting how a person would look, where their eyes would move and what they might see in a chronological order. 

Looking at his paintings was kind of like reading a mystery novel, as they revealed themselves bit by bit and sometimes never completely. For the longest time I stared and stared at a painting he had hung in his and Duggan's hallway. It looked like a random shape, just a pipe and a weird fedora hat thing .... blurry and blocky and cartoony. I knew something was in there, something that I couldn't get my mind to see. That feeling of knowing you don't know, is important to me. I'm frustrated by it, but Micah knows it's all too easy to pretend that what greets your eyes is the end-all truth. He was asking us to take the time to bend our minds in new ways, and in that respect he was a teacher.

Currently Micha is working for Doug Knudson as an end-all, be-all construction cobra. I didn't see his paintings for a while, but recently he hung a show at The Helm. He has not lost his ability to cast your mind into doubt about what you are looking at.

LINK: The Tacoma Files

RON SWARNER: BAD POSSE ON FAWCETT >>>

Last night between 10 and 11 p.m. a convertible full of kids sped down Fawcett Avenue in downtown Tacoma body bombing car windshields. I caught them returning to one of their bombings. They were pointing and laughing. I couldn't grab the license plate number in time.

MATT DRISCOLL: THE WEEK AHEAD >>>

This coming Tuesday, Aug 12, U.S. Rep Adam Smith, the democrat from Washington’s 9th District, is set to give the Tacoma City Council what’s called a “congressional update.”

I don’t claim to be an expert on exactly why or how often these updates happen, but I do have a pretty good indication of what Rep. Smith is likely to talk about. I just got off the phone with a very helpful member of Smith’s staff, and here’s what the Tacoma City Council and all the 17 people tuning in on TV can expect:

Congressional updates are fairly informal, I understand, so Smith could decide to talk about any number of things. However, it seems like a safe bet to say Smith will touch on the economy, specifically energy and housing issues, and probably give Baarsma and Co a run down of the Comprehensive Foreclosure Act that was passed recently in DC.

There’s a decent chance Smith will want to discuss Tacoma’s recruitment and retention efforts â€" which basically means trying to keep Russell in town. The city’s plan to do just that includes some federal pieces, so Smith will likely provide an update on where those pieces stand.

Finally, while Tacoma is many things, one thing Tacoma is for sure is a Federal Renewal Community â€" meaning under HUD’s Community Renewal Initiative for Renewal Communities and urban Empowerment Zones, the federal government cuts Tacoma breaks to help us renew ourselves. It’s a pretty sweet designation, but one that’s up for reauthorization soon. Smith is expected to touch on the subject.