MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009 >>>

1. If you love the churning, sludgy warmth of the ’90s, grunge-built music scene and a fondness for wearing thermal undershirts, then catch The Vile Red Falcons at The New Frontier Lounge

2. Marilyn Frasca’s show at Childhood’s End Gallery is one of the better shows they’ve had in a long time. Her drawings are wonderful.

3. The Proctor Business District hosts Puttin' On The Pink, a night of Shopping, eating, drinking to benefit the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Tacoma. The festivities run 5-9 p.m. Admission is $10-$15.

4. Doyle’s Public House’s “On The House” series features acoustic roots reggae with Zachary Lujan and Zachary Taimanglo from 7-9 p.m. with no cover.

5. For six weeks 11 students from The Academy of Burlesque have studied. Their graduation performances will be held tonight at 7 and 9 p.m. at Jake’s on 4th.

LINK: Live music and DJ in the South Sound

PAUL SCHRAG: FIVE IDEAS THAT WILL CHANGE OUR WORLD >>>

There’s a lot of talk about hope and change these days. And let’s be honest, things are changing faster than most of us can follow. Alvin Toffler called it future shock â€" the inability to cope with the pace of change that’s emerged in response to technological and social evolution. Too much information, too much awareness, too fast. Now we’re left with a limp, increasingly undifferentiated mental landscape where the only defense against the flood becomes cheap distraction, frivolous extremes, ruthless consumption, and willful ignorance.

There are five million theories and concepts that try to explain the change we’re experiencing. But we have room to explore only five. If you’re not into futurism, feminism, pluralism, humanism, globalism or localism, you best not click here. That's were it gets real thick.

MATT DRISCOLL: HAD TOO MUCH TO THINK LAST NIGHT >>>

Situated in the middle of my face, directly below my bottom lip, there’s a longstanding friend of mine simply hanging out. Been there since 2000.

My soul patch.

Over the last nine years, my soul patch and I have become inseparable. We go everywhere together, and are never pictured without one another. It’s a beautiful relationship.

So you can imagine my panic when I got word from Michael Swan â€" the Weekly Volcano’s staff writer â€" that I wasn’t the only person in love with the soul patch. Apparently, Billy Ray Cyrus feels the same way.

Quite naturally, this revelation led me down a path of self-examination. After careful consideration, I realized my soul patch and poll voting in Pierce County have quite a bit in common.

Skeptical? Click here to read this week’s Volcano editorial.

PAUL SCHRAG: TACOMA'S NEW HOMELESS NEED HELP >>>

The gulf between middle class American life and life on the streets is closing. Tacomans who have taken comforts for granted are losing their jobs, their homes, their medical care and their carefully cultivated security. Many of them are ending up on the streets, says Diane Powers, Homeless and Housing First coordinator for the city of Tacoma’s Human Rights and Human Services division.

There aren’t any numbers yet.

Pierce County hasn’t collected data on homeless populations recently enough to provide a clear picture. But the anecdotal evidence is profound, says Powers. One woman arrived in her office desperate for help. She had recently been the proud owner of a home; she had a job and medical care. But she had lost her job and couldn’t keep up with house payments, and was living on the streets.

These are the new homeless. They’re harder to ignore because they probably look just like you. Many of them recently lived like you, or better. They’re confused. They don’t know how to be homeless, and they’re frantic and afraid.

Read what I discovered here.

ANNOUNCER: WILD ABOUT ORIENTAL NOODLE & GRILL >>>

From the folks who brought Tacoma Wild Orchid, Oriental Noodle & Grill has been open just over eight months in the James Center shopping plaza across from Tacoma Community College. Same as Wild Orchid, this new location serves tasty Asian cuisine served in a beautifully decorated setting. Given the rich, deep brown wooden walls graced attractively with hand-painted folk art acquired in Thailand; live orchids in vases; soft, white cloth napkins on every table alongside custom embroidered menus; elegant lighting; and chairs and booth benches made from more gleaming wood, one would expect higher prices to go along with the lush setting. But that’s not the case here; prices are kept exceedingly reasonable without shrinking portion size, taste or quality.

JASON: All right, mouth breather, do your thing. You know, that thing you do when we walk in and you stand there with your mouth open trying to taste the air. Get it out of the way now, so we can go on with dinner like regular people.

JAKE: My gawd, man, let me enjoy this thing we call life! I’ll do my thing, and you do yours. Er, wait. I mean, I’ll breath nose only, and you refrain from leering at the waitress who, as it just so happens, also waited on us at Wild Orchid that time you suggested not so subtly that she should be a take-home item. Great.

ANNOUNCER: Read the rest of this riveting dialogue here.

JENNIFER JOHNSON: PAPA EDDIE'S OPENS ON SIXTH AVENUE >>>

Papa Eddie’s offers more than standard barbecue fare, as does the catering service. Making available steaks and pastas, salads, chicken and seafood dishes that fall outside the expected barbecue realm definitely broadens appeal for diners since not everyone loves licking tangy hot barbecue sauce from their fingers at dinner.

Where is it located? On that infamous corner on Sixth Avenue. Find out which corner here.

JAKE DE PAUL: THURSDAY FOOD LINKS >>>

Best bars in the world

American Craft Beer Week starts next week.

U.S. drops tariffs on fancy French cheese, Spanish hams and Italian mineral water.

Today's South Sound Specials

Centered around the book Tacoma is reading â€" Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

1. Cynthia Lair, nutritionist, author and educator, lectures on "Raising Healthy Eaters Through Awesome Meals Despite Life's Interruptions," at 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch in downtown Tacoma.

2. The Ravenous Readers Book Club discusses Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile-Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon at 7 p.m. at King's Books in Tacoma's Stadium District.

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Lakewood Domestic Violence: Ends with death

Don't Do Drugs: Manny Ramirez should have listened.

WTF: Motorcycles are deadlier than war. At least for Marines.

Sexting: It’s the latest threat to parental delusions.

MATT DRISCOLL: THE VILE RED FALCONS ROCK TONIGHT >>>

Do you have a goatee, or perhaps a pair of those hybrid muttonchop sideburns shaved into sharp points heading toward your mouth?

Are you the guy that drove past me the other day in that Honda Civic with a busted-out back window blasting STP’s “Plush” through the stereo worth more than the car?

If so, consider introducing yourself to The Vile Red Falcons. You’ll probably find you have things in common, like a love for the churning, sludgy warmth of the ’90s, grunge-built music scene and a fondness for wearing thermal undershirts. Really, you and The Vile Red Falcons are probably perfect for each other.

The band has been busy building a name for itself since doing a detuned cannonball into the scene late last year, and you â€" you’ve just been doing your thing all hardcore since 1991. It’s a match made in heaven â€" which, yes, probably does have beer bottles strewn all around it like Eddie Vedder’s backdrop in Hype.

[The New Frontier Lounge, with the Dirty Change Up, the Fuzz, Thursday, May 7, 9 p.m., $3, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]