WEEKLY VOLCANO: THE KING OF POP IS DEAD >>>

Sounds like there's going to be a tribute party to Michael Jackson tonight at the Brotherhood in Olympia. Check it out here.

My guess is other impromptu Jackson memorials will be going down tonight and throughout the weekend. Heard of any?

PAUL SCHRAG: BURT VISITS THE TASTE OF TACOMA >>>

Oh man. Burt’s Bees is coming to Tacoma, and it’s going to be all festival like. The Burt’s Bees Bee-Utify Your World Mobile Tour will be at Point Defiance Park today starting at 11 a.m. Apparently, Burt’s Bees is celebrating 25 years for The Greater Good as part of this year’s Bee-Ufity Your World Mobile Tour. The Greater Good is a grassroots, interactive experience that provides educational one-on-one activities and product experiences. Translation: they’re promoting hand creams and stuff.

No doubt after a veritable orgy of hand and foot massages, Burt’s Bees representatives will introduce a new marketing package that replaces the plural for bee â€" “bees” â€" with plain old “bee” â€"  like “I got attacked by 50 bee.” Marketing and promotional materials will cause slight confusion, but by the end of the day, most Taste of Tacoma goers will have accepted the meme, and will return home to annoy and confuse their families.

LINK: Taste of Tacoma 

MATT DRISCOLL: TONIGHT AT BOB'S JAVA JIVE >>>

Spindrift is more than a band. Crafted by leader, singer, guitarist and visionary Kirpatrick Thomas, Spindrift is an amalgamation of psychedelic sounds and spaghetti Western flicks â€" the result resonating and shape-shifting like nothing you’ve ever heard or seen before. Think Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone, spliced with Jim Morrison, the Velvet Underground, Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols.

To read the full story, click here.

NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

SHOCK AND GRIEF: Everywhere you turn, people are paying tribute to Michael Jackson.

SMOKING: The Tacoma City Council talks more about banning it in parks.

TESTIMONY: Girl who survived says Fort Lewis soldier didn't provide the drugs that killed her friend.

DOING THE RIGHT THING: Art Jarvis turns down pay increase.

IRAN: Iranian authorities are still delusional.

C STREET: Where disgraced politicians go to be spiritual.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: SONIC VIBRATIONS, FRIDAY STYLE ! >>>

THE KING OF POP: He's still dead. JT and Madonna chime in. Fans flood the streets.

BIG NAMES: Eminem, Janes Addiction and plenty of others to play the New Orleans' Voodoo Experience music festival.

HE'S NO SHEEPLE: But Billy Corgan is still bizarre.

BRUNO: Given the circumstances, Michael Jackson bit cut at last minute from new Bruno film.

AUTOPSY: Report expected today in Jackson death.

MICHAEL SWAN: FRIDAY, JUNE 26 >>>

1. The Moonspinners will be at The New Frontier Lounge tonight. Utilizing a 60s, swanky, swingy, Brill Building-esque sound, the Moonspinners are well dressed throwbacks to a simpler time- a time of Nancy Sinatra boots and smoke filled rooms. Though they're a band of today, they're also a band of yesterday. Tonight's show starts at 9 p.m.

2. Spindrift, a troupe of spaghetti western buffs - not to mention top rate musicians - will mosey on up to Bob's Java Jive tonight. Go Fever and Electric Sun are also on the bill. Learn about it here.

3. Who the hell is Hank, the band? Well, you can find out tonight at Jazzbones. Rumor has it that Hank is former Who Cares stalwarts Paul Wilkinson, Rod Rothin and Joshua Jackson, along with a couple of new guitarists. But while Hank the band is rumored to include three former members of Who Cares, don't expect joke songs about feminine hygiene and boffing Robert Conrad. No, it seems Hank the band is a fairly serious venture, with a sound- at least according to first hand accounts- that's nothing to scoff at. See for yourself tonight when Hank opens for Delhi 2 Dublin at Jazzbones.

4. Chris Blivens' latest show is called CHROMA because each piece is identifiable by color (Chroma defined in dictionary.com as "intensity of distinctive hue; saturation of a color". His pieces are fetishistic dolls or sculptures made of carved wood or cloth with twigs for arms and wooden dowels for legs and strange markings and ritualistic jewelry and other accoutrements added to or carved into the bodies. The show is on display currently at Two Vaults. Thursday through Saturday Two Vaults is open noon to 8 p.m.

5. Check out the Crystal Saloon in Enumclaw for '80s Prom Night with DJ Dirty White, a couples mechanical bull riding competition, Prom King & Queen prizes and backyard BBQ. The trashy action starts at 9 p.m.

MICHAEL SWAN: SATURDAY, JUNE 27 >>>

1. The Taste of Tacoma kicks in to full gear today. Try some food on a stick, check out plenty of good entertainment, and pee in a Honey Bucket. What more could you ask for? The Taste goes all day, and info can be found here.

2. Check out Chris Cantrell's Romeo and Juliet in Olympia at the Minnaert Center. Saturday's show starts at 2 p.m. and tickets are $12. Oh, and keep in mind - Romeo and Juliet are both dudes in this staging.

3. While you're in Oly, check out Grouper's all ages show at Northern. The ethereal melodies created by Grouper main force Liz Harris echo within the venues and throughout the albums, finding a thought-provoking path to your brainwaves. The music creates an almost suspenseful air and leaves a listener unsure of how to react to the contradictory combination of the spooky and the beautiful. Show starts at 9 p.m.

4. Dick Dale. Duh.

5. The Swellers, Living With Lions, To New Beginnings, Walk The Plank and Serious Black will be rocking the fuck out of the Viaduct in Taocma. Naturally, it's an all ages show - as every show at the Viaduct is. That's the point. This particular orgy of sonic brutality starts at 7 p.m. and costs $10.

NIKKI TALOTTA: TONIGHT AT BOB'S JAVA JIVE >>>

The Electrolytes don’t invite you to dance. They somehow program you to. The combined guitar, keyboards and vocals of this four-piece seep into your being, forcing you to move in rhythm. It works with your brain’s chemistry, compelling you to re-consider your musical existence as your body jerks and grinds in a welcome groove. Next thing you know, you’re fully rocking out and wondering how it all began. These guys deliver the musical equivalent of what their name implies â€" much needed nourishment to weary bones, cellular health and hydration to the desert of your soul. The Electrolytes addicting pop/rock style has not yet been approved by the F.D.A, so ingest at your own risk. And enjoy.

[Bob’s Java Jive, with Tim and The Time Machines, The Timbreines, The Hard To Get, 8 p.m., $5, 2102 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma. 253.475.9843.]

MATT DRISCOLL: KING OF SURF GUITAR BACK AT HELL'S KITCHEN >>>

There was calm before the storm, like a stack of amps charged with electricity waiting for the first guitar note to be struck or, I imagine, just like the feeling moments before a monster wave crashes down on an adrenaline high surfer.

Guitar god Dick Dale was gathering his thoughts. It didn’t take him long. After a moment or two of awkward silence, upon reaching him by phone in his hotel room â€" out on tour for the umpteen billionth time â€" the deluge came.

It was a deluge of stories, a deluge of anecdotes, a deluge of self-confidence, and â€" most importantly â€" a deluge of insight from the 72-year-old icon, the man who created surf guitar, reinvented the word loud, and stands alone in the realm of rock history â€" an original in a world of contemporaries.

To read the Weekly Volcano's interview with Dick Dale, who will play Hell's Kitchen tonight, click here.

LAUREN NAPIER: TONIGHT AT NORTHERN IN OLY >>>

Do you dream in reverb? Grouper certainly does. The ethereal melodies created by Liz Harris echo within the venues and throughout the albums, finding a thought-provoking path to your brainwaves. The music creates an almost suspenseful air and leaves a listener unsure of how to react to the contradictory combination of the spooky and the beautiful. Harris achieved recognition beyond the obscurity of a Xiu Xiu collaboration record when the solo musician toured with and opened for Animal Collective: just another notch in this bedpost of experimental tunage. Grouper promises an undeniably spiritual musical journey as Harris’ songs of pure beauty are found to possess a creepy underlying tone. Don’t we all like to be kept guessing?

[Northern, with Desolation Wilderness, Invisible River, 9 p.m., all ages, $7, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, www.olympiaallages.org]