JAKE DE PAUL: WEDNESDAY FOOD LINKS >>>

Why we here at the Weekly Volcano/Spew are drunk all the time.

Why unfettered capitalism is bad for your diet.

Consider the Biscotti, if you will.

How to run a tab at a bar.

Today’s South Sound Specials

Wino Wednesday $3 pours and $5 Rainier Pitchers Night, The Red Hot, 2914 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.779.0229.

Half-price Wine Night, Merende Restaurant, 813 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.722.1993.

Half-price Wine Night, 4 p.m. to close, Brix 25, 7707 Pioneer Way, Gig Harbor, 253.858.6626.

Sample two beers for $1, 4-9 p.m., 99 Bottles, 35002 Pacific Hwy. S., Federal Way, 253.838.2558.

Half-price Wine Night, 4-9:30 p.m., Primo Grill, 601 S. Pine, Tacoma, 253.383.7000.

Half-price Wine Night with every bottle on regular wine list is half price, 5-9 p.m., Il Fiasco, 2717 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.6688.

Half-price Wine Night, 5-10 p.m., Woody’s On The Water, 1715 Dock St., Tacoma, 253.272.1433.

LINK: South Sound happy hours

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

He Was Sleepy: Disregard sleep-deprived Fort Lewis soldier's story on overdose, attorney asks.

Layoff Loud: Many Port of Tacoma employees at odds with executive director Tim Farrell.

Sexually Charged Dimwits: Two morons damage 14 cars traveling down Interstate 5 by throwing rocks at them off a railroad trestle while playing a sex game.

Casey: Troops could be in Iraq after 2012.

Must Have Been Lively Council Meetings: Mexico arrests 10 mayors with alleged connections to the drug trade.

Not Good: North Korea’s second underground nuclear test signals it’s close to building an atomic weapon.

Strange Bedfellows: Opposing lawyers in Bush v. Gore team up to overturn California’s same-sex marriage ban.

The Definition of Nationalizing: U.S. moves to take over 70 percent of General Motors.

MICHAEL SWAN: GET TO KNOW YOUR STEWARDS >>>

If you haven’t already heard the buzz, the next step toward a better Tacoma will be highlighted tomorrow night at The Hub. The Tacoma Community Stewards Network â€" a group of engaged citizens in Tacoma who are organizing to hold our hand through development that improves quality of life while maintaining the city’s sustainability game face â€" wants to show off its goals:

• Turn surplus city property into a community gardens and parks
• Link disconnected bike trails and walking paths into and through Tacoma
• Transform the Dome District into a vibrant, walkable and livable community.

Waste no time. Go to this opening night party. Maybe the planned food will include peanuts and Cracker Jack, depends on how The Hub plays it. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to help. This is a worthy movement.

[The Hub, Thursday, May 28, 6:30-8:30 p.m., free, 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 206.905.6891

RON SWARNER: INSIDE THE INDIE >>>

Movies always settle me. I have to sit still and listen, which seems to get harder and harder the older I get and the younger I act. Friday, local filmmakers will screen their imaginations as part of Pierce College’s Spring Film Festival.

The film that I will use only the edge of my seat to watch will be Inside the Indie, a full-length documentary on the singer-songwriter scene in Puget Sound. Kevin Defy, with collaborators Kurt Lindsay and Tabitha Neeley, peek inside the brains of such musicians as James Coates, Angela Jossy, Allan Boothe, Roy Douglas, Deborah Page, Voxxy Vallejo and many more.

The trailer hints to poignant, funny, and intimate sides of these real-life characters as they explain why they, night after night, play to crowds, often small, and many times loaded.

[Pierce College Fort Steilacoom, Friday, May 29, 7-9 p.m., free, 9401 Farwest Dr. S.W., Lakewood, 253.964.6659]

LINK: See a movie today

MICHAEL SWAN: HAPPY HOUR DISCUSSION TOPIC >>>

Major Lazer "Zumbie" ft. Andy Milonakis

LINK: South Sound happy hours

MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2009 >>>

1. Sam Esecson and the Colby Sander Trio play the downtown Tacoma Farmers Market beginning at 11 a.m.

2. Twenty poets who have works in the local poetry anthology In Tahoma's Shadow will read their work and sign the book beginning at 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Public Library’s Main Branch in downtown Tacoma.

3. Historic Tacoma organization presents several brainiacs lecturing on “Tacoma Historic Sacred Places: Their Past, Present and Future” at 7 p.m. inside the Urban Grace Church in downtown Tacoma.

4. Last Chance Romeos play free unplugged show at 7 p.m. as part of Doyle’s On the House music series. DJ Platelunch spins beginning at 9 p.m.

5. Hell’s Kitchen will be loud tonight when Dirty Change Up, Shrouded In Veils, resDeus and Sickeversince hit the stage at 9 p.m. for a no-cover show.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

PAUL SCHRAG: A GONZO ADVENTURE THROUGH ONE OF TACOMA'S MOST MISUNDERSTOOD SCHOOLS >>>

The first time I went to Lincoln High School I saw six people of color in an audience of about 200. Also in attendance were 10 cops, 15 city administrators and at least a dozen people who looked like they belonged in a late-era Old Navy commercial. You know, dancing in the sun on a grassy hill somewhere, all smiles and spinning.

The gathering was called to provide an update on efforts to clean up the neighborhood surrounding Lincoln High School, among others. One after another, caring citizens wandered up to the front of the Drost Auditorium, a triumph of English Gothic architecture and an ironically appropriate aesthetic for this particular audience. One after another, these caring citizens told stories of how they were cleaning up crime, getting rid of trash, expelling ne’er-do-wells, and generally making the neighborhoods surrounding Lincoln habitable. These particular inhabitants were full of frontier bluster â€" well-pressed pioneers taking on the ghetto, blazing a trail, making things right. Soon enough, they promised, the streets would be safe. The parks would be safe. The schools would be safe. One made a reference to “getting rid of the people we don’t want.” To whom she was referring is hard to imagine. They probably wouldn’t make it in an Old Navy commercial though. Everything would be safe one day, they ensured the audience, just like the suburbs. Just a few more community clean-ups, a few more block watch programs, a few more picketing rallies against panhandlers, gangs and drug dealers.

One group â€" cleverly named the Lincoln LAWGS â€" was represented by a recent transplant from a suburban community I don’t remember. I was too busy admiring his sweater and khakis to scratch that detail on my pad. He had all of the vitality of an old piece of organic broccoli, and he spoke with the authority of a bank teller. I don’t really remember much of what he said. But I remember the feeling I was left with and the feelings I wasn’t.

Disappointment? Check. Confusion about the absence of people of color? Check. Safe? Not really. Hope? Nope.

Read the rest of the story here.

ANNOUNCER: CERTIFIED ORGANIC: THE MARK >>>

Organic is a word that gets bandied about as a sales tool all too frequently. Just what does it take to legally claim to be organic? Lisa Owen, owner of and executive chef at The Mark restaurant in Olympia, isn’t new and hasn’t just jumped on the trend. She’s been serving organic products since 2001, has knowledge of what it takes to be a certified organic restaurant in Washington state and seems to take it very seriously.

The Mark achieved this enviable certification earlier this spring, adding one more item to the list of things that make it hard to remember the space the restaurant is housed in was once a tire shop. Dark, lustrous wood walls and tables, red curtains, soft lighting over black booths â€" the setting begs for a clandestine rendezvous and couples surreptitiously talking and enjoying handmade cocktails.

The Mark is a restaurant, an art gallery and an event space â€" all melding healthy food, thought-inspiring art and musical provocateurs into a joyous fete for the senses.

Read Jake and Jason de Paul's review of The Mark here.

Photo: J.M. Simpson

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Seeds Of Change: A gonzo adventure through one of Tacoma’s most misunderstood schools.

Ganging Up Again: Tacoma Police officials will Increase efforts to tackle gang problem.

Muri And Pabst: Important people said stuff this week.

Numbered Spaces: Weekly Volcano’s quality of life meter for Pierce County tips positive.

Teacher's Lounge Refrigerators To Have More Room: Tacoma school officials might cut 100 jobs.

Oh. My. Gawd.: Even fashion houses aren’t safe from the clutches of the recession.

Space Monkeys: Happy anniversary Able and Baker.

What the duck?