SUZY STUMP: CALENDAR GIRL >>>

The following events go down today in the South Sound. Check out the "Events of the Day" section on the Weekly Volcano's Web site for more details.

FESTIVAL OF TREES
You’ll get sick of Christmas. So much to do and it’s all basically the same stuff. This is why we love the Festival of Trees

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS
Normally, I would rather stay home and remove my pubic hair with a roll of masking tape than listen to an author go on and on about how his violent, alcoholic father and unstable, narcissistic mother split when he was 12 and he was unceremoniously handed over to his mother’s shrink and raised in a filthy, chaotic household.

CASH FLOW SHOW
The Cash Flow Show â€" no art more than 25 bucks â€" opens today with a reception featuring music, bellydancing and more at the Mad Hat Tea Company.

STARDUST FOR CHRISTMAS
Harlequin Productions is well into its holiday mode as it stages Stardust for Christmas, the latest installment of the theater’s original series of shows set in a New York nightclub during World War II. 

LINK: South Sound live music and DJs tonight

JAKE DE PAUL: NOSHING AND SIPPING IN TODAY'S WEEKLY VOLCANO >>>

This week we give suggestions on where to eat while you holiday shop.

SHOP TILL YOU STARVE
Where to dine after you’ve done the malls by Ken Swarner

SIPPING BEERS AT THE MALL
Grabbing comfort food during the holiday battle at BJ's by Jake and Jason de Paul

BAR EXAM: 2121 TAVERN
They do fried chicken right by Steph DeRosa

BLUE CHEESE BACON TREAT
Plus, I come clean by Sandee Glib

WINE TASTINGS
Plus: port and beer nights by Suzy Stump

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: STAND MY ME >>>

Simply a dose of reason and harmony to help get you through your day.

MICHAEL SWAN: IT'S ON THE STREETS AND INTERWEB TODAY >>>

Here are a few stories in today's Weekly Volcano. Enjoy!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Local food banks adjust to life in a recession by Matt Driscoll

SIXTH AVE SHUFFLE
Community connections, generosity and hard work are keys to help new businesses survive by Paul Schrag

EIGHT IS ENOUGH
But the Pierce County Council wants 12 by Matt Driscoll

SONGS OF THE SEASON
Tacoma Symphony, Tacoma Youth Chorus and guest vocalist James Cadell present holiday concert by Bill Timnick

SURREALIST IMPULSE
Two big little shows at the Tacoma Art Museum by Alec Clayton

AMES BROS VS. PEARL JAM
Thirteen years of Pearl Jam tour posters on display at the library by Matt Driscoll
[See photo above]

OVERCOMING THE ODDS
Curtis Salgado is a living legend â€" thankfully by Bobble Tiki

HOUSE BLEND THURSDAYS
Masa rocks with a heart by Natasha Gorbachev

SOMETHING FOR THE FELLAS
A jaunt out to Nicholson’s Men’s Clothiers by Jennifer Johnson

TROUBLE WITH DEROSA
Bugging the Muse Music Cafe owner by Steph DeRosa

BANDITO BETTY LOU WHO LEAP FOUR >>>

Can our little Bandito Betty Lou Who keep this up for 20 more days?

RON SWARNER: LET IT ROLL, BABY, ROLL >>>

Doyle’s Public House co-owner Russ Heaton just sent me a reminder that tomorrow is Repeal Day.  Last year, Heaton threw this statement my way:

In his reminder to me, Heaton stated, “This is not a plug for my bar, but for every bar. Tacoma is proud to support the constitution. I like the idea of buying strangers drinks in celebration.”

I love that idea, too.

Better yet, I think it would be cool to celebrate tomorrow in a roadhouse of years gone by. You know, the kind with an unpaved parking lot filled with roadsters. The tinny sounds of a honky-tonk piano come drifting through the night air, mixed with laughter and the tinkling of many glasses. Inside, card tables are packed with sharp-faced hoodlums in fedoras, flanked by their even tougher-looking molls. Ida Lupino, or maybe Lauren Bacall, is draped across a piano in some impossibly slinky, sequined evening dress, belting out a torch song as a skinny kid tickles the ivories. George Raft or maybe Humphrey Bogart is slouched at a corner table, bourbon in hand and cigarette on lip, squinting cynically through the smoky blue haze.

Does this exist in the South Sound? I’m drawing a blank.

Maybe I will just go to Doyle’s.

MATT DRISCOLL: DAMON CASTILLO BAND TONIGHT AT MASA >>>

If I was into dreamy Latin looking men who wear vintage leather jackets and play vintage Fender guitars with a jazz, funk, rock and soul styling rarely heard, I would sooooo be into Damon Castillo â€" leader of the aptly titled Damon Castillo Band. But I’m not gay. Really. No joke. I just know a good looking man when I see one â€" no harm in that. What I’m also keen enough to recognize is musical talent, and the Damon Castillo Band has more than enough to go around. A genre-less mesh of most things good and exciting about music, the Damon Castillo Band charts exciting and invigorating territory â€" at least on most expeditions. The band’s stop at Masa tonight during House Blend Thursdays, which will raise money to prevent childhood obesity, should be no different. I’m not gay, but I just might be in love with Damon Castillo. Seriously, though, I’m not gay.

[Masa, Thursday, Dec. 4, 9 p.m., no cover, $5 suggested donation, 2811 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.8080]

TONY ENGELHART: DON'T EVEN TRY TO PIGEONHOLE THIS BAND >>>

At first listen, one might be tempted to compare Lozen to the likes of Portishead because of their druggy sound. While the duo’s tunes have lo-fi â€" heroin chic timbre, they also have some White Stripe-ish grooves in their repertoire. In other words, do not even try to pigeonhole them into one genre â€" they’re all over the map. Hozoji Matheson-Margullis (guitar, vocals and lyrics) and Justin Valdez (drums) have been writing and performing for the better part of four years and have one disc to their credit. Enemies Against Power was released in spring of 2007 and since it hit the streets, Matheson-Margullis and Valdez have been on a non-stop tear up and down the West Coast. The twosome’s name must be derived from the Apache warrior and shaman from the 1840s who was said to have mystical powers. No proof to support my theory, but hey, it sounds cool.

Tonight, Lozen will play Le Voyeur in Olympia.

[Le Voyeur, Thursday, Dec. 4, 9:30 p.m., no cover, 404 E Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

RON SWARNER: LATTE AND THE DOW >>>

Annie Kim, owner of Vinum Coffee & Wine Lounge, understands Frank Russell’s need for great coffee and current information. Besides providing tasty coffee in a happening atmosphere next to the Frank Russell building in downtown Tacoma, she turns on CNBC on both flat screens

I kicked back with an Americano this morning watching the action. I was up. I was down. I was down. I was out.

Satellite Coffee 2
Oh, this past summer when I stopped by Satellite Coffee and saw artist Chris Sharp sketching out a few designs with Embellish Multispace Salon owner Patricia Lecy-Davis and Satellite co-owner Pat Brown, I learned Lecy-Davis and Brown were pondering opening a juice and coffee bar in her purple building next to the downtown YMCA. Apparently it’s still in motion. The Trib’s Biz Buzz has details.