MICHAEL SWAN: CONCERT ALERT! >>>

On sale this morning at 10 a.m.

• Bob Weir & Ratdog Seattle. Aug. 23 7 pm. $39.50 (Paramount Theatre, tickets.com).
• Endfest 18 with Blink 182, Weezer, Taking Back Sunday, Chester French and others Auburn. Sept. 10 4 pm. $20-$69 (White River Amphitheater, livenation.com).
• John Kay & Steppenwolf Tacoma. Sept. 11 8:30 pm. $25-$60 (Emerald Queen Casino, TM).
• Gov’t Mule Seattle. Sept. 11 7 pm. $25 (Showbox SoDo, TM).
• Miley Cyrus Tacoma. Sept. 16 7 pm. $39.50-$79.50 (Tacoma Dome, TM).
• Pet Shop Boys Seattle. Sept. 20 7:30 pm. $35-$65 (Moore Theatre, tickets.com).
• Nomeansno Seattle. Oct. 8 9 pm. $15 (Neumos, TW).

LINK: Concerts this week in Western Washington

SECRET TICKET CODE
TM = Ticketmaster, 253.627.TIXS, www.ticketmaster.com
TW = TicketsWest, 800.325.SEAT, www.ticketswest.com

JAKE DE PAUL: SATURDAY FOOD LINKS >>>

Proctor Farmers Market: Spend today checking out herbs, seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh fish and baked goods along with live entertainment, free crafts for the kids and gardening advice from Master Gardeners.

Easy Mixing: 5 cocktails for the lazy

Huge News: Taco Bell's Volcano Taco with Lava Sauce returns to menus nationwide.

Today’s South Sound Special

The Hotel Murano is now offering happy hour in its lobby bar Monday through Saturday 4-7 p.m. Grab a $3 beer, $5 martini and/or $5 glass of wine while you chow down on $4 hors d’ oeuvres. Drop by and be one with their happy hour at 1320 Broadway in downtown Tacoma.

Remember, we are giving away a King Suite at the Hotel Murano as a Best of Tacoma Readers’ Poll prize. Jump on the survey now, then jump on their bed later.

LINK: Bunch of wine tastings today

LAUREN NAPIER: OPEN FIRE! IS FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT >>>

Hardcore and the all-ages scene in the South Sound seem to go hand-in-hand: from the local bands that keep the energy alive to the touring bands that bring their own breed of brutality to the venues that keep their doors open so that music lovers of all ages are able to catch a show. Open Fire! has been around for many of the ups and downs of the all-ages scene and will hopefully be around for many more. With a couple of EPs in their repertoire and a new full length, I Am the Curse, in the works, Open Fire! continues to gain momentum and fans.

To read the full column, click here.

MATT DRISCOLL: SO NOT AN IRON MAIDEN TRIBUTE BAND >>>

I owe Taist of Iron an apology, or at the very least some accurate press. You see, a long time ago in a more drunken and/or intoxicated place, I covered a show with Taist of Iron on the bill. Like the idiot I am, all soft and trimmed and unleaded, and not a big fan of metal or dudes with manes, I made the mistake of referring to Taist of Iron as an Iron Maiden tribute band. Let it be known once and for all: TAIST OF IRON IS NOT AN IRON MAIDEN TRIBUTE BAND. They just look like one, and kind of sound like one â€" if Iron Maiden had a bunch of demos from ’83 recorded in Tacoma that got covered in spilled Pabst and forgotten. Or, to put it more succinctly â€" this band is brutal … and so not an Iron Maiden tribute band.

Tonight Taist of Iron will be at the Acme Grub Cage.

[The Acme Grub Cage, Taist of Iron with Girl Trouble, the Plastards, 9 p.m., $5, 1310 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.272.1892]

CHUCK DULA: THE TRUTH BEHIND LOVERS LOOKOUT >>>

It’s the time of day when the sun is getting ready to clock off and let the moon hang out for the night, and I’m sitting in a damply lit bar in Ballard across from Lincoln Barr, lead singer and brainchild of Red Jacket Mine. The loud rock music playing over the speakers makes my Sony hand recorder feel inadequate, and also annoyed â€" as it has to work double-hard to catch the voice of my interviewee. No matter. I have no empathy for the daunting tasks taken on by machines.

To read the full article, click here.

MARK THOMAS DEMING: THE OLD, THE WEIRD AND THE HAUNTED >>>

My wife drops me off at the curb, drives away. I stand on the sidewalk gazing across the street. I check the address in my hand.

This block at the edge of downtown is empty. No traffic, no people, no movement anywhere. Weeds devour vacant lots. Buildings look abandoned.

A flutter of worry. It’s the associations, I think, more than the actual moment. Quiet, taillights disappearing, hot sun, guy alone on the corner â€" it’s the classic drifter scene. Woody Guthrie, Tom Joad. Robert Johnson at the crossroads.

Earlier that morning I listened to Ghost Country, the new record by James Hilborne and The Painkillers. The strange, spectral tunes brought to mind the phrase Greil Marcus coined to describe the dark vein in American folk: “the old, weird America.”

“This is the old, weird America,’ I thought, grooving in my kitchen to The Painkillers. Now, standing alone on the street, I think, “If the old, weird America still exists, this is it.”

James Hilborne and the Painkillers will celebrate the release of their new record at Rocket Records today at 3 p.m.To read the full article click here.

MICHAEL SWAN: WEEKLY VOLCANO SITE DOWN FOR TWO HOURS >>>

The host service for weeklyvolcano.com experienced a hard drive crash. They are busy transferring data to a new hard drive. They don't' seem very happy. They expect weeklyvolcano.com to be back up around 6 p.m. Go outside for cripes sake.

RON SWANER: SITEWORKS ENDS TOMORROW >>>

What are people doing today?" I overheard a man who looked like he just sailed in from Monaco.

"I think it's part of something that's evolving â€" so everybody is putting in a little piece of this evolution," replied his wife FiFi (I assume).

On the Museum of Glass plazas, a woman walking her dog passes slowly by, circles, sits, watches, walks by again.

What? Oh, the dancers. Not part of the scene you expect under the hot sun outside the Museum of Glass?

It's day three of SiteWorks 2009 â€" a free, highly organized, grant-funded and professionally curated dance performance staged by The Barefoot Collective on three outdoor plazas at the Museum of Glass. It wrapped up at 4 p.m. today. The last performance hits MOG's concrete plazas tomorrow beginning at 2 p.m. featuring five performances ending at 4 p.m.

This year's SiteWorks production brings together 14 different performing groups from the greater Puget Sound, San Francisco, New York and Spain. The dance performances are inspired by and created for the architecture of the Museum of Glass overlooking the Thea Foss Waterway.

It's worth checking out.

[Museum of Glass, Sunday, June 14, 2 p.m., free. 1801 Dock St., Tacoma, 253.627.2273]

MICHAEL SWAN: SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2009 >>>

1. SiteWorks 2009 is a free, highly organized, grant-funded and professionally curated dance performance staged on three outdoor plazas at the Museum of Glass at 2 p.m.

2. Shira Goldstin, a recent graduate from UPS, is selling unique pottery to support the continuation of a collaborative effort to bring healthcare to western Ghana from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mandolin Café. Acoustic singer/songwriter Kenny Eng will perform from 1-3 p.m.

3. Tacoma Little Theatre use their revolving stage as a transition device as their production of The Buddy Holly Story flows from one scene to the next beginning at 2 p.m.

4. The comparisons to This Is Spinal Tap are obvious, but Sacha Gervasi's film Anvil! The Story of Anvil about aging Canadian metal isn't interested in laughing at the band but rather painting a tender portrait of the friendship between band members. See it at The Grand Cinema at 4:30 and 9:10 p.m.

5. Jazz guitarist Ed Taylor will hit Engine House No. 9's stage at 6 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events

LAUREN NAPIER: A SHOW AT HOT TOPIC? >>>

A Hot Topic tour? Sounds a little cliché doesn’t it? But Letters Burning is making their way up the coast from their home in Southern California by way of a series of shows in local Hot Topics â€" all booked independently to give the all-ages demographic a “band that they can be a part of and follow,” according to Letters Burning guitarist and lead singer Tal Mir. This desire is what brings Letters Burning to Steele Street and our beloved Tacoma Mall today: which Mir referred to as “the climax of (their) tour.” And it’s free. This looks to be the grassroots movement of pop-punk as the passionate duo, as Mir and his Letters Burning band mate Gabe Kubanda take to the road with some insanely catchy tunes that don’t mesh with the generic and oh-so-typical songs we hear coming from modern-day pop-punk bands. Care to catch fire?
[Hot Topic, 5 p.m., all ages, no cover, 4502 S. Steele St., Tacoma, 253.473.4469]