STEPH DEROSA: SLOW BURN >>>

Spicy Chicken with salad and rice (S1)
Pho 38th
Price: $6.95
Burn Factor: Two Molotov cocktails

It’s sunny outside and where do I find myself? On my way to the mall. Ugh. I was hoping to make it a quick trip in and back out into the sun. I not only love warm food, but I love warm weather as well.

Before ducking into the corporate mall-o-sphere, Bandito Betty and I wanted a quick lunch near our destination, yet not a corporate-feeling restaurant. Because, as you know, the mall does nothing but bleed non-local dining when it is cut at the core. Thankfully there’s Pho 38th located behind Red Robin off 38th and Steele Street.

Knowing that at Pho 38th I could spice up any dish with a spice rating of either “S” for “spicy” or “SS” for “super spicy” made deciding on what dish to get incredibly difficult. In order to dumb down my decision-making process I opted for a dish that already had the word “spicy” in the title: Spicy Chicken with salad and rice. Forget the fancy names, Pho 38th labels their food like it is. Absolutely no guessing what this dish is made of, and boy do I like it simple like that.

The Spicy Chicken with salad and rice tasted exactly how I would imagine a regular, everyday teriyaki dish from the mall would taste, except this time loaded with red chili sauce. No surprise here. The red chili sauce tasted peppery, fiery, and danced slightly upon what little taste buds I have left after many years of pepper indulgence. The freshness and quality of this dish met itself way above par, but the spice factor simply was not there for me.

Next time I wonder if they’ll let me make it “SSS.” That’s “Super Steph Spicy,” in case you were wondering.

[Pho 38th, 3815 S Steele St # G, Tacoma, 253.475.3700]

JOE MALIK: GIVE IT UP >>>

As the economy declines, a growing number of people are being kicked out of their homes. Data released by real estate trackers RealtyTrac shows that one out of every 320 homes in Pierce County are in foreclosure proceedings. Pierce County had the third-highest foreclosure rate in Washington state as of March, which is an improvement. For the past several months, Pierce County faced more foreclosures than any other county. Still, based on current number of homes being reclaimed by lenders, foreclosures in Pierce County have more than doubled since the same time last year.

If ever there was a time to sink some time and energy into creative housing solutions, now is it. There’s just one problem â€" building affordable housing isn’t a priority round these parts. At least not the kind of priority it should be. For those who are unemployed or facing that dreadful prospect, this topic should be of particular interest.

In downtown Tacoma, we have an inventory of $300,000-plus condominiums that is simply grotesque in magnitude. Take a walk at night and look at how many lights are on. It’s depressing. The past few years have seen a frenzy of development, driven by developers who hoped to cash in on a sort of loosey-goosey finance market, low interest rates, and carefully cultivated buyer enthusiasm. That last part is important. This crisis can’t be laid solely at the feet of homebuyers. Banks that relaxed lending standards to an absurd degree; developers who ignored warning signs and built projects that even a healthy market wasn’t ready to absorb; real estate agents and lending partners that invested enormous amounts of time and energy convincing buyers that it was a great time to buy, even if they had to fudge a little bit on the loan application; agency organizations that stuck their heads in the sand and their promotional signs in the air when it became evident that it was all unraveling â€" all bear some responsibility for the growing number of people facing life without a home. So far, federal, state and local governments, along with a few well intentioned but under funded non-profit agencies, seem to be the only entities stepping up to patch holes in the safety net. Tacoma and Pierce County are set to receive a little more than $1 million each for “homelessness prevention,” which is a delightful concept. Unfortunately, even 10 times that amount would be a drop in the bucket when you consider the magnitude of need for affordable housing in Pierce County.

So that leads me to my next question. Where you at private sector? Want to get involved in solving the dilemma you helped create? For those not comfortable with slinking off into summer homes purchased with commissions drawn from shady home sales and lending contracts, there are plenty of ways to find absolution.

First, recognize that you’re going to have to give something up. Probably a lot. There’s a beautiful/terrible balance built into the free market, and no amount fiscal wizardry is going to allow you to keep your ill-gotten gains. You’re not on Wall Street, not most of you anyway. And most of you aren’t that clever, or despicable. Sorry. It really is that simple.

So, facing reality for a moment, let’s consider converting all those empty condos into affordable rental units. Few of you can afford to ride this out, and even fewer of you are going to find buyers for your units, or projects as a whole. Sure it will hurt like hell, and you may have to give up some of the cushy lifestyle this building and lending frenzy has afforded you. But hey … you probably won’t end up homeless.

LINK: Unemployed in Tacoma archives

MARK THOMAS DEMING: LOZEN'S CD RELEASE PARTY TONIGHT >>>

The cover art for Tacoma metal duo Lozen’s new 10-inch record, Oona, is a picture of epiphany â€" a Southwest desert sunset by Seattle painter “Bird.” Majestic sandstone formations dot the distance. Dark clouds brood. A giant brain floats in the sky launching thunderbolts down at the earth.

Any American wanderer worth his Kerouac can attest to some strange, near-religious desert experience. My own involved a peanut butter sandwich, a Richard Brautigan book and between 15 and 30 apparitions beating drums on a cliff high above me.

But I digress.

The word, perhaps, is enlightenment â€" a new understanding via place and space and (There’s a record inside, remember?) music. This, you see, is Lozen.

I met drummer Justine Valdez and guitarist/bassist Hozoji Matheson-Margullis at the Tempest for a drink last Friday. It looked as though the interview would fade meekly into inconsequence, and then something happened. Well, a couple of more rounds happened. I stopped interviewing and they stopped being interviewed. We started just talking, and the real, rambling Lozen was revealed.

When I say rambling, I mean these ladies love the road. Touring informs them personally and musically. And in a way, they’re named for the road: Lozen, an Apache woman-warrior and prophet, constantly traversed the desert helping her people survive the terrors of colonization.

“We both have wanderlust,” says Matheson-Margullis. “We love to experience other places and cultures, and it’s awesome to use music as a vehicle for that.”

A better word than vehicle is vessel: it both carries and contains. The six songs on Oona, released on local label Rural Wolf, are dark, rumbling, fierce and weirdly beautiful, much like the clouds on the cover. Oona was an Ojibwa woman who preserved her heritage through story, and the record seems a similar preservation â€" the preservation of Lozen’s own unique narrative. It’s a great one, by the way, but I’ve neither the space nor the authority to tell it. You’ll have to hear it and feel it for yourself.

[The New Frontier Lounge, CD release party tonight with Canon Canyon and Typewriters, Friday, April 24, 9 p.m., $5, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

LINK: Lozen on MySpace

WEEKLY VOLCANO: IT'S BACK! >>>

After much too long of a wait, the KUPS CD review is back. And it's Friday! Really, does life get any better?

This week KUPS's Caitlin Boersma reviewed John Vanderslice's Romanian Names.

Check it out by clicking here.

MICHAEL SWAN: SATURDAY, APRIL 25 2009 >>>

1. Give Peace A Dance, a community celebration to dance, listen or just be featuring New Monsoon from San Francisco will be held in The Evergreen State College’s Recreation Center at 7:30 p.m.

2. The Parkway Tavern will host its annual Barleywine Fest from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. featuring 34 aged barleywines, prime rib roasts, pig, goat and veggie dogs.

3. The Toughtimes mix blues and rock 'n' roll tonight at Doyle's Public House.

4. Goldfinch are a very likable band that radiate warmth and goodness with tightly-wrought, pitch-perfect harmonies. Catch them tonight at The New Frontier Lounge at 9 p.m.

5. MOVE! Underground mixes live music and dance â€" Vicci Martinez, John Walker and the Hitchhikers, Travis Barker, and dance with the MLKBallet Company â€" at 8 p.m. inside The Warehouse in downtown Tacoma.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound tonight

LAUREN NAPIER: CLUB IMPACT DITCHES 1.0 FOR 2.0 >>>

All good things must come to an end. So they say. It shouldn’t have to be true. Club Impact has been primarily managed, especially the booking, by Derek Smith and his wife for the last 10-plus years. As Smith leaves Club Impact to focus on “the home front and family and job …” Club Impact Version 1.0 comes to a close and Club Impact Version 2.0 emerges â€" a change I’ll explain later. To bid farewell to the Smith couple and send them out with a bang, there will be a Torch Passing Music Festival today, bringing the Club Impact we know and love to an end and beginning a new chapter in the South Sound all-ages scene.

To check out this week's Rockin' the Cradle column, which features interviews with MxPx and Derek Smith of Club Impact, click here.

BOBBLE TIKI: DR. KNOW IS AT HELL'S KITCHEN TONIGHT >>>

Of course Bobble Tiki knows Dr. Know is led by ex-childhood actor Brandon Cruz, who many similarly flat-bottomed folks of Bobble Tiki’s age no doubt remember from the TV show The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, or perhaps even the Bad News Bears movies with Walter Matthau. This goes without saying. When it comes to television trivia, Bobble Tiki is second to none. But even though Bobble Tiki is keenly aware of Cruz’s child acting credentials, the band he fronts â€" Dr. Know â€" is actually more important. Dr. Know’s place in the annals of punk rock are secure, having emerged from the legendary Oxnard, Calif., “Nardcore” scene in the early’80s and gone on to influence a whole generation of punk. The Nardcore scene and the bands that made it famous, like Stalag 13, Ill Repute, Agression, False Confession and RKL, continue to reverberate today, which is why band’s like Dr. Know continued to get booked at Hell’s Kitchen, and rowdy â€" if aging â€" punks continue to show up. And it’s not all old hat â€" Dr. Know is scheduled to release a new record, Killing For God, sometime this month.

[Hell’s Kitchen, Dr. Know with Broken Oars, South 11th, the Assassinators, Cyanide Destruct, 9 p.m., $7, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

MATT DRISCOLL: TRY A DOSE OF THE TOUGHTIMES >>>

You know how people sometimes say blues is for old folks? Yeah, well f*** that noise. The Toughtimes defy such thought. Created in 2000 by cousins Nick Santos-Carter and Anthony Estrada, The Toughtimes breathes life into a genre many believe has already seen its best days. Reaching a younger crowd with the blues isn’t always easy â€" unless, of course, you call it rock and roll, but The Toughtimes have found a way. “Young folks and grown folks alike dig the hell out of what we’re doing,” Estrada once told me (and by “once told me” I mean told me in an interview about a year ago). “It seems like people are shocked at first by the sound that our raggedy three-piece band is putting out, but after the initial shock, it seems like butts start moving and feet get to tappin’.” Check out The Toughtimes tonight in between Irish Car Bombs at Doyle’s.

[Doyle’s Public House, 9 p.m., no cover, 208 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma 253.272.7468]

PHOTO: Myspace/Paul Uhl

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Budget: Checking in with the Legislature.

The ants will be happy: Legislature passes $5 fee to pay for state parks.

Holy shit: Forget that water issue thing.

Letters: I hate kites.

Crap: Arod now not the biggest rod issue.

Oklahoma: No way potty mouths. Hey, who loves a musical?

Cuddle party: When the news team drops this ostrich feather, that means it's officially time to begin.

Hey, the news team loves this, too.

MARK THOMAS DEMING: ADMITS HE LIKES THIS BAND >>>

Goldfinch is a very likable band. Listen to their finely-crafted, self-produced, locally-grown, self-titled debut album, or watch them for 30 seconds onstage, and you’ll know right away what I mean. They just radiate warmth and goodness. And their folksy, earthy songs â€" especially the tightly-wrought, pitch-perfect harmonies â€" make you feel warm and good.

Tonight, Goldfinch will release its debut CD with a party at the New Frontier. To read the full article, click here.