ALEC CLAYTON: FORTY YEARS >>>

John McCuiston is a ceramic artist and something of a Tacoma institution. His ceramic figures are fun and funky, and there’s 40 years worth of work on view at Kittredge Gallery through Oct. 8.

Pictured here is McCuiston's recent masked creation, Blackwater Burka.

It's a show worth seeing.

[Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, through Oct. 8, Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday noon to 5 p.m., free admission, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma, 253.879.3701]

LINK: My full review of Forty Years

SUZY STUMP: IT'S OPEN >>>

Thankfully Weekly Volcano columnist Natasha diverted my attention from Palin's circle of lies and diversions to tell me the New Frontier club is now open. It's doors are open at the 1904 black Masons building at 301 E. 25th St. in the Dome District.

It will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to close Sunday.

LINK: Natasha's New Frontier column

BRAD ALLEN: THE MONSOON ROOM >>>

Pappi Swarner’s pappi texted Pappi that The Monsoon Room was closed Wednesday night. Yesterday, Exit133 reported that the Hilltop ultra-hip lounge closed for remodeling. I have since learned that the Monsoon is indeed closed to make the bar bigger, construct an awning and has a reopening target date around Thanksgiving.

Let’s hope owner Laura Malone can remodel faster. Seriously, what they hell am I suppose to do now?

MICHAEL SWAN: AND THE WINNER IS >>>

I think last night’s V.P. debate winner was moderator Gwen Ifill. She kept the debate on schedule without once yelling at the candidates, and so skillfully handled topic changes that viewers hardly noticed that Sarah Palin kept answering questions not yet posed â€" except Weekly Volcano Associate Editor Matt Driscoll who kept texting me with fears including, “This is like a bad Bronco game â€" only the fate of the world is at stake. My palms are damp and I feel nauseated. I just want it to end, but I can’t look away.”

Here is what other thought of last night’s debate:

CROSSCUT: Amid a swirl of national affairs, two rock-steady debaters

NEW YORK TIMES: In Debate, G.O.P. Ticket Survives a Test

CNN: Palin gets back on track, but Biden wins debate

ALTERNET: Biden vs. Palin -- Who won? 6 short takes on the VP debate

THE MELON: VP debate live â€" blog

RON SWARNER: HOWDY! >>>

If you're under 45, the romance of the West probably doesn't resonate with you all that much. Hopalong Cassidy might have been your father's or uncle's childhood obsession, Bonanza was something you watched in reruns amid the dregs of Sunday-morning TV, and Gene Autry is a fading cultural landmark. For the most part, it's old hat â€" no pun intended. But there are still traces of that lost Western mystery out there, thanks to Neil Harris and George Reed-Harmon who opened the Western-ish New Frontier Lounge Wednesday night. OK, there isn’t hay bales, mechanical bulls or anything remotely country-western cheesy. Nope, this joint in the Tacoma Dome District is has a rustic, Butte, Montana feel to it.

The bar is rectangle in shape, has a sole pool table, stage in the corner and a mix-match of furniture â€" all have seen some time on this planet.

Perched high in the corner sits the old New Frontier Lanes sign from the former bowling alley that sat on Center Street for years. Harris bought it off the demolition team for $300. Yes, the retro sign was headed for the dump! Unbelievable.

Mark my word â€" the New Frontier Lounge will be the new happening place in Tacoma. Both Harris and Reed-Harmon have long ties to the Tacoma music scene, so expect the low-rise stage in the corner to be filled with talent â€" including the upcoming Squeak and Squawk Music Festival. 

Check out Natasha’s column for more back ground on the New Frontier.

[New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma] 

LINK: More photographs on the Photo Hot Spot

SUZY STUMP: OPA! >>>

St. Nicholas Greek Festival
I dig this annual Greek group hug. I dig the group dancing, the fine food; hell, I even dig yelling “Opa!” for no apparent reason. But let’s be real. For me, the entire festival is just a complicated set dressing for a baklava-delivery system. Oh, I’ll hang out and listen to them ramble on about Socrates, the Olympics and “Summer Lovers,” but I’ll be picking the flaky crumbs from my blouse and stuffing them into my hungry taste-hole while I do it. I’ll dance (three groups of dancers throughout the weekend) and eat the food (souviklakia, gyros, calamari, salata, loukomades) not just because I like it, but in an attempt to bring the honey content in my blood down low enough so I can scarf down another slab of triangular goodness.

[St. Nicholas Church, Oct. 3-4 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Oct. 5 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., $11-$12 sit-down dinner, special $7 lunch Oct. 3, 1523 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.0466]

PLUS: Tonight’s Banned Film Night at King's Books and Olympia Arts Walk

LINK: ViVA South Sound arts and entertainment calendar

CHIRSTOPHER WOOD: TACOMA FILM FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT >>>

Fall has arrived, and so has The Grand Cinema’s third annual Tacoma Film Festival 2008. Eight days of cinema commenced with a soiree last night at the United Methodist Church â€" a block from The Grand. Guests snacked on hors d’oeuvres while the Palin/Biden vice-presidential debate played through the room’s speakers. Noting this strange mixture of politics and film, I scoured the room for soundbytes.

I hobnobbed with actor-writer-substitute teacher Jody Arensberg, who journeyed from L.A. to see her romantic comedy Blind Luck get its Tacoma debut. Having already visited several other West Coast festivals, Arensberg says, “It’s fun to see your work come alive and for people to enjoy it.”

The evening continued at The Grand with its opening night screening. Pierre had viewers gushing over a love-starved rodent desperately seeking affection from the human hottie dwelling in his abode. Narrating his own “tail” with a seductive French purr, Pierre faces disappointment with an unabashed passion for life.

If you think directing a rat would pose challenges, leave it to a USC student to set his sights significantly higher. Richard Martin’s heady drama Light Years has an ambitious task: span the globe to show four Complicated Human Relationships, and resolve said relationships right before Unstoppable Worldwide Apocalypse â€" all in 15 minutes. Despite good cinematography and some solid acting, Years just needs more time to better illuminate its glossed-over characters.

The night’s feature On Paper Wings achieves a refreshingly innocent storytelling. Like its dreamlike title, the WWII documentary by Ilana Sol draws you in with rhythmic pacing and a simple yet effective score. The film’s recurring image â€" that of a weapon hovering silently above the earth, its destination determined only by the wind â€" has lasting power. Sol graciously answered viewers’ questions when her movie concluded.

Given last night's selection of cinema, the next week should prove worthwhile.   

Tacoma Film Festival schedule

Friday, Oct. 3
More details here

11 a.m.
The Grand Cinema
Children’s Film Series: Multi From Musnaka, Montrose Avenue, Aston’s Stones, Piano Lesson, Cookies For Sale, Shhhh..., Rindin The Puffer, When I Grow Up, Raven Tales

2 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Ancestor Eyes, Homeland

4 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
L.A. Noir, Yesterday was a Lie

6:10 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
America Betrayed, My Biodegradable Heart

6:15 p.m.
School of the Arts Blackbox Theater
Arusi (Persian Wedding), Kivumvu: Basket Boy, Velocipede, Bike Project

8 p.m.
First United Methodist Church
Indestructible

8:10 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Partes Usadas (Used Parts)

8:15 p.m.
School of the Arts Blackbox Theater
Certifiably Jonathan, Stuck

10:10 p.m.
The Grand Cinema
Who is KK Downey?          

RON SWARNER: RAIN OR SHINE >>>

The Frost Park Chalk Challenge is on today at noon â€" rain or shine. The City of Tacoma is offering today’s prize â€" a gift coupon for 3 cubic yards of Tagro. Put on your slicker and check out the chalk action at Ninth and Pacific in downtown Tacoma. As usual, the Tacoma Urbanist has the full scoop.

MICHAEL SWAN: MOVING FORWARD >>>

CNN reports that the House has passed the economic bailout bill 263 to 171.