MATT DRISCOLL: TGIF >>>

Every Friday, as you may have noticed, a fine member of the KUPS 90.1 FM The Sound staff takes the time to submit a CD review from a band they've been digging lately, and we run that review on our website.

This week, Quinn from KUPS introduces us to Tacoma's Rituals, and their new EP Color Tape.

You can find it here. Might we suggest you give it a read, and then call it a week. It is Friday, after all.

LAUREN NAPIER: CONTENT TO DO THEIR THING >>>

Hailing from the back roads of Vermont, the River City Rebels â€" a namesake born from the town of White River Junction â€" is a band that evades genres, not to mention any other form of concrete scene. Making their way across the country and playing a plethora of settings â€" from bars to house parties and the occasional conventional venue â€" the band has booked over a month’s worth of shows in the spirit of D.I.Y. Dan O’Day, the lead singer of River City Rebels, says, “The tour has been amazing and very satisfying.” While spouting off influences, Dan lists such names as Bruce Springsteen, the Clash, Van Morrison, and the celebrity comedian Andrew Dice Clay. Put those artists in a blender and you might just come up with the River City Rebels. In a music scene that is “a bit stale,” according to O’Day, this rebellious pack of musicians is content to “just do (their) own thing.” When the River City Rebels share the stage with Avenue Rose and The Greatest Hits tonight at Hell’s Kitchen, wear your sunglasses to shield your eyes from the brilliance.

[Hell’s Kitchen, 5 p.m., $7, All Ages, Bar w/ I.D., 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

Photo taken from Myspace

CHRISTOPHER WOOD: OLYMPIA FILM FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT >>>

A couple strolls past storefronts decorated for Christmas. Fall leaves dance across quiet rain-slicked streets. Have I just crossed over into The Norman Rockwell Zone?

Nope. It’s just another evening for that city to the south, Olympia.

The sensation of unreality heightens as I approach Fifth Avenue. People saunter about in clothing almost a century old. Above our heads, construction cranes, like monstrous insect legs, arch across Capitol Theater’s walls. Men in hard hats puzzle over the newly-built old-fashioned marquee, which stubbornly refuses to sparkle in time for Olympia Film Festival’s opening night. I feel someone will yell “Action!” any moment.

At this intersection of past and present I spot a familiar face â€" Kevin Jacobs, a filmmaker who hosted his own cinefest in town earlier this year. While we chat a flapper girl hands us a pamphlet on hip 1920s verbiage. OK, I’ll give it a whirl: Birds got spifflicated on giggle water while eyeing the gams on nearby tomatoes.
Balled up yet?

An MC in top hat and tails eventually ushers attendees into the expansive theater. “In Olympia…we do things OUR way,” she tells a cheering crowd. The gals at Studio West began with a dance set to sultry guitar strumming. Then the huge screen lit up with L’Etoile de Mer. Man Ray’s 1928 silent work stars a man, a woman, and a starfish that out-acts them both. Luckily, pianist Jack Nelson’s graceful accompaniment makes the avant-gardeness bearable.

Next, Buster Keaton’s masterpiece Steamboat Bill, Jr. moved viewers in ways I’ve rarely witnessed. They gasped and booed while Buster’s innocent character Willie encounters obstacles while trying to win the hearts of both his hot-tempered father and a riverboat rival’s daughter. And they gleefully walloped every time Willie unleashes his breathtaking physical agility. Ultimately he triumphs because, like Olympia, he does things his way.

If these silent films indicate the rest of this fest, then we ain’t heard nothing yet.

[25th AnnualOlympia Film Festival, Nov. 7-15, $6-$75, Capitol Theater, Mariah Art School, Olympia, 360.754.6670]

LINK: Olympia Film Festival cover story
LINK: Olympia Film Festival Web site
LINK: Olympia Film Festival schedule

LINK: Martin Short at the Pantages tonight
LINK: Grab a bite before or after

MATT DRISCOLL: AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEMS AREN'T CHEAP >>>

Great White has been influential on our lives in a number of ways â€" whether you like it or not. The band’s style of hair dominated the ’80s â€" which I suppose they can’t take credit for alone â€" but more recently the band’s pyrotechnic disaster in 2003 that killed 100 people continues to have lasting repercussion.

Locally, one of the places those repercussions can be felt is Hell’s Kitchen. Since the creation of RCW 19.27.500 through 19.27.520, which require music venues all over Washington to upgrade to automatic sprinkler systems by Dec. ’09, the Kitchen has been scrapping and clawing, trying desperately to raise the pile of money needed for such an expensive upgrade.

Sunday, Nov. 9, Hell’s Kitchen will host another in a long line of benefits designed to do just that. The bands Left Alive, Eterna Nocturna, Darkness Stole the Sky, Unhailoed, Beneath All Chaos, Ken Parker and Falling of Ages will provide the face-melting rock, and every single $8 cover charge collected at the all-ages show will go toward the purchase of a new sprinkler system for the Kitchen.

“What happened is RCW 19.27.500 through 19.27.520, which is a direct result of the tragic fire in Rhode Island started by Great White and their poor decisions of when and where to use cheap pyrotechnics,” says Hell’s Kitchen booking agent and head honcho Flash Connel. “The estimates we have received start at $60,000 and go up from there. This includes $25,000 to the City of Tacoma just to get enough pressure to our meter to install a sprinkler system! How messed up is that?”

That’s incredibly messed up, if you ask this hack journalist. Though it’s obvious the intent of the law is to protect show-goers, one has to wonder if the impact on small businesses was fully considered â€" or considered at all. Protecting show-goers is important, but charging a place like Hell’s Kitchen $25,000 â€" which will go to the City of Tacoma â€" just so the club will have enough water pressure to make the required sprinkler system work seems like a poorly conceived law, to say the least. So far, Connel estimates Hell’s Kitchen has raised around $3,000.

“We have a donation bucket available near the front door at all times,” says Connel. “I am confident that we will be able to make it happen, but it’s not going to be an easy road.”

Do your part, Tacoma. Keep your eye out for future sprinkler system benefits at Hell’s Kitchen, and show up in force today for one hell of a show. It’s the least you can do.

[Hell's Kitchen, 4 p.m., $8, all ages, bar w/ I.D., 3839 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

MATT DRISCOLL: EVEN CONTRA >>>

Tonight at Jazzbones, Tacoma based jazz musician Cliff Colon will celebrate the release of a new CD-a CD that's not your average disc. Made up of the music from the video game Contra, Colon's ContraBand (get it?) is something for jazz purists and aging video game nerds alike.

I know this for a fact because Colon sent me an advance copy of the record. I fit into one of the above categories. I'll let you guess which one.

Anyway, this week I caught up with Colon to get his take on his new record, as well as his CD release show coming up at Jazzbones tonight.

You can check it out in the latest issue of the Weekly Volcano by clicking here.  

SUZY STUMP: CHECKING IN WITH ART AT WORK >>>

Ahhh, Art at Work month is sure fun, isn’t it?  Fun and loving.  And creative.  And community filled. Wish it came more than once a year, don’t you? Or maybe, for some odd reason, you don’t.  Either way, the month is far from over. Here are a few upcoming Art at Work month events:

BOOK ARTS AUCTION
Raise funds for book acquisition for underfunded Tacoma school library programs by buying beautiful book art. Nov. 12, 5-9 p.m., King’s Books

ARTS SYMPOSIUM
Provides local artists with nuts and bolts information in order to become and remain successful in the arts. Nov. 15-16, University of Puget Sound campus

ART SLAM
An opportunity for local collectors and art enthusiasts to see the art that is being produced in the South Sound region. Nov. 21, 6:30-9 p.m., Rialto Theater

OPEN HOUSE AND POETRY MARATHON
King’s Books invites you to browse the books, drink coffee or tea and check out the following poets: Lana Hechtman Ayers, Mivhael Magee, Jack McCarthy, Chris Jarmick, Shannon O’Donnell, Kevin Miller, Casey Fuller, Kelly Richstrein, Jeff Lair, Richard Brugger, Connie Walle, Josh Rizeberg, Peter Ludwin, Lorraine Healy, Allen Braden and others. Nov. 22, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., King’s Books

LELAVISION PHYSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Physical Music is a display of physical agility and musical prowess infused with a delightful sense of humor.  Nov. 28, 1 and 3 p.m., Museum of Glass

LINK: Art at Work month events

LINK: ViVA South Sound arts and entertainment calendar

STEPH DEROSA: IT'S ALL ABOUT SERVICE >>>

When I told Mr. DeRosa I would make him anything he wanted for this week’s Dinner with DeRosa, he quickly responded, “Cioppino!”  I have a quick and effortless Cioppino recipe that is absolutely delicious, so I had no problem accommodating his request.    Unfortunately I have no photo of the actual Italian fish stew I made, due to the fact that I forgot to take a picture.  Read: I drank too much wine while the stew cooked â€" thanks to Bill from Tacoma Wine Merchant. 

With all the seafood involved in Cioppino, it was a no-brainer for us to head down to Johnny’s Seafood on Dock Street for all our fresh fish needs.  We made it down there just as they were about to break down the store and close up for the night.  Typically staff would be anxious to leave and not as willing to go out of their way, but that was not the case with this Johnny’s Seafood staff.  Over an already cleaned for the night stainless steel table, they had no problem pulling out an entire fresh halibut and filleting just under a pound of that fleshy white meat right before our eyes.  Mr. DeRosa and I were impressed and extremely thankful.  These guys are all invited to my imaginary DWD this week.

You can find Jake hanging out at The Mix on Market Street pretty much any night of the week, and that’s exactly where I found him last Tuesday.  The Mix was having a grand election party, and I was there to blog live on the Spew.  Jake began to talk to Bandito Betty and I about politics, and when we gave general non-sided answers he immediately assumed we were Republican and began ridiculing us.  Thanks to Bandito Betty and her quick comebacks, Jake had met his match when it comes to witty badgering.  One of my favorite parts of the evening was meeting Jake’s family.  They are all beautiful, supportive, and fun to talk to.  All are invited to dinner this week.  Plus his sister’s name is Stephanie, so she’s automatically in.

Joe will be joining us for dinner.  JCB and I had gone out with the families last Friday night, and although it took over 10 minutes for Joe to greet us at The Hub â€" he was quite possibly the best server I’ve ever had at a restaurant.  Come to my imaginary dinner, Joe. Take a break, because this time I will serve you.  Not sayin’ it will be great service, but at least you know you’ll get your drink on when it comes to being at my dinner table.

Danae Suprunowski will be keeping a seat warm at my dinner table this week.  Not only does she work at Stadium Thriftway, but she is also one of the brainiacs behind FA of T.  That’s the Fashion Association of Tacoma, folks.  She and Shoe Show owner Ondia Shapiro are beginning a local network group of fashion-minded individuals.  A website is currently being developed, and Tacoma should look forward to FA of T involvement in many community events.  I’m excited about this, for sure.

Lastly, our entertainment for this week’s Dinner with DeRosa will be Jean Pierre the dancing mobile ad.  It was on the corner of Valley and 70th in Fife that I found Jean Pierre and videoed him with his consent.  He made sitting through a light full of semi-trucks much more tolerable.  Any person that can dance like that, with that much enthusiasm, and on a corner in Fife no less â€" deserves a huge bowl of DeRosa Cioppino and my smiling respect.                   

Mangiamo!