NEWS TEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

These Old Buildings: Yay Elks; boo Luzon.

Hate These Guys: North Korea launches massive cyber-attack.

Evil Empire?: Google announces plans to launch an operating system to rival Microsoft.

Man turns into Michael Jackson when his car’s repossessed

WEEKLY VOLCANO: QUIET ONE TRIBUTE, SONIC YOUTH NOT SO QUIET >>>

Free MP3: My Morning Jacket's Jim James is focusing his tribute on George Harrison.

Talking Some Sense Into The RIAA: Record Industry and internet radio broadcasters reach deal, avoiding closure of such sites as Pandora.

And The Clicks Just Keep On Coming: R.E.M. released a new digital download this week titled Reckoning Songs from the Olympia. Available through iTunes and all other major digital outlets, the four-track EP is being sold as a teaser for the band’s two-disc mega live album (Live from the Olympia) due this fall.

Sonic Youth In Concert: The band showcased its 16th studio album, The Eternal, in a full concert, recorded live from Washington, D.C.

PAUL SCHRAG: TUESDAY IS A GOOD DAY TO SPELL >>>

King’s Books invites you to invoke your inner child and throw down on some triple word scores as it presents the next installment of Scrabble Rousers Tuesday. Unleash your desire with a game of Scrabble is the invitation â€" reclaim the innocence and power of shaping the word matrix. It’s like a spelling bee on shrooms. The Scrabble Rousers event is designed to be accessible to everyone. Before the fun begins, participants choose a skill level â€" beginner, intermediate or expert â€" and split off into pairs. That means Scrabble guppies don’t have to worry about getting picked off by Scrabble sharks. Yes, there is actually such a thing as a Scrabble shark â€" like a pool shark, only not quite as lame. 

“We aren’t interested in making people feel defeated by Scrabble sharks (although we love you too),” say organizers in an event description provided by Tacoma Community House, which will benefit from the event. “Then we start playing nontraditional, shorter word based games (not Scrabble) that get peoples brains going and thinking about words.”

MC sweet pea will lead the games, occasionally interrupting for quick bouts of word exploration, dancing and factoids.

[King’s Books, 6:30-9:30 p.m., $10 benefits Tacoma Community House, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]

BOBBLE TIKI: MUSIC IN THE PARK IS BACK WITH A DIFFERENT NAME >>>

Perhaps the most exciting news this week is related to Wright Park in Tacoma â€" and, no, it has nothing to do with the guy Bobble Tiki saw openly urinating last Saturday near the duck pond. Rather, the news has to do with the Music and Art in the Park festival headed to Wright Park Aug. 15.

Organized by Tacoma legend Bennett Thurmon, Music and Art in the Park will be a free all day festival featuring mounds of music, food and, well, art.

The musical lineup, announced this week, is freakin’ amazing. Expect Zeke, Guns & Rossetti, Broken Oars, C.F.A., The Coloffs, Mico De Noche, Girl Trouble, The Plastards and more to rock your face off during the festival. Then you can go back to peeing in the duck pond.

Keep an eye on the festival's MySpace site here.

MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009 >>>

1. It’s reggae vs. hip-hop with Northwest Sons, Nasty Left, Dat Fiya and Kalen battling it out at 9 p.m. on Hell’s Kitchen’s stage.

2. The Washington State History Museum and the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at The Evergreen State College present the fourth annual juried In the Spirit: Contemporary Northwest Native Arts Exhibit 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Washington State History Museum.

3. Dave Hannon will mount the Weekly Volcano music stage at the Tacoma Farmers Market from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

4. The Classics Book Club discusses O Pioneers by Willa Cather at 7 p.m. inside Borders Books.

5. The human jukebox Steve Stefanowicz performs at 8 p.m. at the Ale House in Tacoma.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MARK THOMAS DEMING: NINE WAYS TO FRITTER AWAY YOUR SUMMER DAYS >>>

Ah, summer in the South Sound.  A time for baseball, camping, riding bikes, climbing trees, cooking out.  Time for walking beaches and hiking mountains.  A time to eat bear stew in McCleary, race boats in Olympia and geek out to world music in Tacoma’s Wright Park.  That’s right, it’s festival season, when you can find all the fun, food and freakiness your gaunt, pale Northwest ass can handle â€" and more.  Because you can’t catch them all, we’ve chosen the shindigs you won’t want to miss. Check them out here.

JAKE DE PAUL: THURSDAY FOOD LINKS >>>

Ladies Night: Melting Pot Tacoma gives ladies half off all glass pours of wine on Thursdays.

New Farmers Market: Browns Point opens today from 3-7 p.m. in the Browns Point Town Center.

Opens Monday: Infinite Soups to unveil a second location.

Today's South Sound Special

Today at the venerable Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor 7 Seas Brewing's first keg of Cutt's NW style Amber Ale goes on tap. The event runs from 5-9 p.m. featuring discounted pints and 7 Seas merchandise giveaways.

LINK: Drink outside today

ANNOUNCER: NEW DOWNTOWN TACOMA CHINESE JOINT >>>

Cellars Under Broadway, Thad Martin’s Djembe Soul and now Shanghai House. These three restaurants span a decade of history on downtown Tacoma’s Commerce Street, all in the same spot. Shanghai House opened in April 2009. The Chinese restaurant is a good addition, joining plenty of other ethnic choices in the area.

Read Jake and Jason de Paul's review here.

STEPH DEROSA: MEET LISA TUPPER >>>

For those of you who have been living under the rocks located outside of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s front landscaping, there is such a thing as locally grown organic produce. And for those of you who have not clued in to the uber-hip culture that surrounds everything locally grown and organic â€" this Trouble’s for you.

I’ve been visiting Terry’s Berries on River Road for a few years. I thought it was about time I picked on their staff and uncovered their organic-loving roots.  As per the usual, owners Terry and Dick Carkner were too busy rustling through their fields to talk to me.  Well, at least that’s the excuse they gave. You can’t fool me; I know avoidance when I see it.

So I cornered Terry’s Berries manager Lisa Tupper for a chat. Read the interview here.