MICHAEL SWAN: IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY >>>

I know at least one person who is enjoying the beautiful weather today.

MICHAEL SWAN: ANOTHER THING TO GAZE AT >>>

When I’m not staring out the window wishing I was kayaking, I’m reading Twitter. Federal Way artist Jesse Munoz posted a link to this video a few moments ago on Twitter. Now I’m looping and staring at this. Crap.

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

STEPH DEROSA: PERFECTION, AND A CAR CRASH >>>

The Spar
Mediterranean Plate
Price: $8.95
Rating: Three out of four croutons
 

Maybe I cheated on this one, maybe I didn't. A good hummus plate, to me, is ranked right up there with fresh sushi, a cold beer in the summertime, and having Griffey back with the Ms. So what'¢s better is that The Spar serves up a well-endowed Greek salad right alongside their hummus. Perfection on a plate. Perfection on The Spar's Mediterranean Plate, to be exact.

Description: Let's assume right now that there is a scoop of hummus on the plate and that it is accompanied by the standard warm pita wedges, cucumbers, etc. Yes it is good, yes it is fresh, and yes I ate the whole damn thing.

Next to said hummus and its veggie friends lies a quite substantial Greek salad, which includes romaine tossed in Greek salad dressing, feta, kalamata olives, salami pieces, and grape tomatoes.

Taste: The Spar's Greek dressing holds a pungent flavor I've come to expect from a well-made Greek salad. The best part is the fact that their culinary Spar Chip making experts don't skimp on kalamata olives and feta in a salad. That right there sends my taste buds into an uncontrolled state of bliss. And the salami slices? The salad would be fantastic even without these pieces of meat, but they certainly are a welcome bonus to this menagerie of Greek zest.

Conclusion: The Spar's Mediterranean Plate and the Greek salad it hosts is nothing to judge lightly. It is a hearty lunch, yet light enough to not make you slide into a mid-afternoon food coma. The variety included in this salad/hummus plate combo satisfies every texture and taste my sweet little mouth could ever crave.

What? Fine. Maybe it satisfies my big loud mouth as well. Happy now?

Dressing on the Side
An 18-wheeler hit my car. I'm fine, everyone's fine, the trucking company is paying the $14K in damages and paying for my rental car replacement for a month. I am thankful for this. REALLY thankful.

Sucky part: My rental car is a mini-van. A silver Dodge Caravan. Help me.

I now see why most mini-van owners drive so aggressively. Yeah, I'd want to get the hell to my destination and out of that piece of shit as fast as I could. I, too, would be pissed off that I wasted money on a crappy vehicle like that instead of something more pleasing - like an un-medicated root canal. The overwhelming feeling of having no identity amongst the other robot soccer moms would send me over the driving edge.

This sucks, it really does. I all of the sudden have the urge to eat McDonald's drive-thru instead of making lunch at home, and those white stick-figure family decals for the back window seem to be screaming my name! The voices in my head telling me to subscribe to Oprah-ology get stronger everyday, while my conversations with other moms have been dumbed down to subjects like diet fads and (gasp!) RE-DECORATING MY LIVING ROOM.

Someone, quick, I need a dive bar. Give me some of Maureen's spiked tea from Mad Hat Tea Company and a Beautiful Angle letterpress poster, STAT. That's it; I'm calling Katie for a new tattoo right now. I might just be able to come out of this experience unscathed.

[The Spar, 2121 N. 30th St., Tacoma, 253.272.2122]

MICHAEL SWAN: HOW DID I MISS THIS? >>>

Somehow I left this off this morning’s 5 Things To Do list: Smokin Hot Espresso’s Customer Appreciation Day featuring a bikini car wash, dunk tank, barbecue, beer garden and more. It runs until 7 p.m. Check it out at 3114 River Road in Tacoma.

MICHAEL SWAN: PULLED THIS OUT OF THE RAG >>>

Our news team predicts the future every week in the print version of the Weekly Volcano. And every year Editor Matt Driscoll predicts what will happen on April 20 in said rag. Here's his prediction of what will happen tonight during James Carville's lecture in Tacoma.

What do you think will happen?

PAUL SCRHAG: TACOMA ARTS COMMUNITY HAS DISSOLVED >>>

It started out as such a nice idea. Build an organization dedicated to supporting local, independent artists, promoting their work and helping them thrive. Tacoma Arts Community was supposed to be that organization. For several years, in fits and starts, the members of the organization did what they could. I’m going to leave out some names here, but credit belongs to people such as Theresa Owens, Houston S. Wimberly, Jennifer Schaal, Patricia Lecy-Davis, Marty Cambell, Angela Jossy and whole slew of others. But despite best efforts, the Tacoma Arts Community has dissolved.

The idea for Tacoma Arts Community, which is probably best known for producing the Glass Roots Arts Festival, grew from a string of conversations that began on the Tacoma Arts Listserve. Local independent artists were feeling neglected, and sensing that support from the community was being directed disproportionately to larger arts institutions.

From those electronic conversations came a gathering at the Tacoma Landmark Convention Center, which happened in 2005, and drew a couple hundred local and independent artists. After a whirlwind of ideas was whittled down from nearly 200 to five core goals, various volunteer factions went to work, and Tacoma Arts Community was officially a force to be reckoned with. Goals included an arts incubation program, the Glass Roots Arts Festival, a Web site dedicated to promoting local artists, general marketing assistance. Some, like the Glass Roots Festival, manifested strongly. But others failed to emerge, or were taken on by other organizations in the community. That, more than anything, precipitated the decision to fold the organization, says Tacoma Arts Community’s most recent and final president Jennifer Schaal.

“Most of our goals have been met in one way or another,” she says.

She notes Showcase Tacoma, for example, as filling and/or duplicating the role of the Glass Roots Arts Festival, while emphasizing that she still supports the idea of Glass Roots.

Beyond wanting to avoid duplicating roles, many of the founding members are simply feeling burnt out. As an all-volunteer organization, Tacoma Arts Community was supported by people with busy lives. Those people are now choosing to repurpose that energy, and save a little energy for themselves.

“Most of us who were in leadership positions in the Tacoma Arts Community are older folks who have other lives,” says Schaal. “We did a lot. It’s had its life span.”

Lack of volunteer and community support has helped hasten the demise of the organization, says Schaal. Former board member Patricia Lecy-Davis agrees, saying that organizations such as Tacoma Arts Community are powered by people. Unfortunately, she adds, the fervor to build community often just leads people down a series of parallel paths, dissipating all the people-power, instead of collecting and directing it toward a single purpose.

“Tacoma suffers from a lot of fragmentation,” she says. “Everybody wants to do their own thing, and they either don’t want to share, or they don’t want to converge or cross over. We tend to cannibalize our own audience because everyone is operating independently at the same time. Nobody really seems to want to work together to make things happen. I mean, I don’t think we should put everything in the same pot and make cultural goulash. But we need to learn to work together.”

MICHAEL SWAN: TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009 >>>

1. A benefit for the Olympia-Rafah Mural Project will be held at 7 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater featuring Palestinian hip-hop artist DAM.

2. Art Show featuring 25 works opens today at the City Hall in Puyallup. The artists reception is 5:30-7 p.m.

3. The film Earth (1998) will be screened at 6:45 p.m. as part of the 5th Annual Faith and Film Series: Blinded by Faith held at The Grand Cinema.

4. Banned Book Club discusses Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko at the Tempest Lounge beginning at 7 p.m.

5. The Universal and Glass Elevator head into Le Voyeur’s back room around 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight in the South Sound

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

They'll need a giant garage to hold the crowd tonight: LeMay Automobile Museum seeking $7 million in aid.

For the kids: State House passes a blueprint for how the state should improve basic education.

Export: The Port of Tacoma plans layoffs due to declining cargo volume.

The King of Methlehem: Krist Novoselic discusses Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s 2007 novel.

Alien invasion: Keep a close eye on Wainwright residents.

Who’s up for a good probing?: Investigations into misuse of funds from the $700 billion corporate bailout are underway.

Burn her! Burn her!: The timeless allure of witch hunting.

Joke of the Day: