JAKE DE PAUL: FOOD MATTERS >>>

New Kid In Town: Penuel Cafe

They Love Scotch. Scotch, Scotch, Scotch: The Varsity Grill hosts Glenfiddich ambassador Ray Pearson tonight and Thursday from 6:30-8 p.m. Pearson will pour tastes and fill your head with scotch facts. Only 12 spots are available both nights. Jump on it at 253.617.1229.

Plan Ahead: Stanley & Seafort’s will serve Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 8 p.m. They typically pack the house every Thanksgiving. Reserve your spot at 253.473.7300.

Food For Thought: Study claims the brain responds to junk food in the same way it responds to heroin.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: NEW HAPPY HOUR FOR FRANK RUSSELL EMPLOYEES? >>>

The News Tribune announced that Hell's Kitchen will move downtown Tacoma mid-December on its Tacoma Rock City blog. Reporter Ernest Jasmin stated the costs associated with upgrading the Sixth Avenue spot to code RCW 19.27.500 - Washington state's sprinkler code throwdown - as the main reason why the Sixth Avenue rock club will move into the space formerly occupied by Stephanie's Gospel and Jazz restaurant, which sits across from the Frank Russell building.

The Sixth Avenue location's last show will be Nov. 28 featuring Seattle's all-female AC/DC tribute band Hell's Belles as the headliner.

Many hardcore Hell's Kitchen fans cheer the move downtown.

"I think it's fantastic," says old school rocker and band booker for the Acme Grub Cage Denise Casson. "Hell's Kitchen will no longer have to worry about shutting down due to the sprinkler law, and Tacoma will keep it's main venue for larger acts with a larger capacity, possibly attracting more established bands. The move will create a 'downtown club district' for music."

The new location will be located near Cans, Matador and the soon to be reactivated Drake's, which is set to be reopened under a new name and draw.

"It'd be great if the clubs downtown collaborated on a festival like the Scion Garage Fest that just took place in Portland as an annual event, not only for local commerce, but to strengthen Tacoma's reputation as a place of music," Casson adds.

She is not alone in her thoughts of thinking bigger than the venue itself.

"I think it will be great for downtown and for Flash (Hell's Kitchen's booking agent)," says rocker and Tacoma Boys wine and beer goddess Donna Herren, who is also the founder and brainchild behind Tacoma's Balls Deep Kickball Team. "Hopefully, it jump starts some new business for both. I will however miss the Sixth Ave. location. It's close to home and all my other favorite bars. But, it's good to see growth in Tacoma."

JENNIFER JOHNSON: PROCTOR SLICE OF HEAVEN >>>

Cross my heart and hope to die. There wasn’t one thing there I wouldn’t try. 

Stepping through Sweet Things Cupcakes and Couture’s dreamy, high-ceiling I quickly discovered it’s more than a bakery. Cup of coffee in hand, I strolled past tables of hats, handbags, gads of jewelry, gemmed-up hoodies and more couture.

But the aroma yanked me back to the cupcakes.

Gorgeous cupcakes displayed at eye-level are mini mountains of delight topped with swirled ribbons of edible clouds.

Like someone yelling, “Boo!” I was surprised that a few were on the dry side â€" but that’s being nitpicky.

German chocolate was startlingly good, chai spice exceptionally light, moist and delicate while the ambrosia seemed more like walnut carrot cake topped with coconut creme, but was still mighty fine.

Co-owner Patti Frank promises croissants, bear claws and more will soon be available at breakfast.

Plus: Everything is made from scratch on premises with freshly baked batches every 20 minutes.

Minus: No indoor seating.

[Sweet Things Cupcakes and Couture, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 2510 N. Proctor, Tacoma, 253.508.0709]

RON SWARNER: THURSDAY, OCT. 29, 2009 >>>

1. Country band Telluride performs live at Varsity Grill from 5-7 p.m.

2. The Black Lake Haunted Asylum runs from 7-11 p.m. inside the Freighhouse Square.

3. Theatre Artists Olympia stage The Uninvited by Tim Kelly, a scary play set on an English sea cliff, at 8 p.m. inside the Washington Center.

4. Doyle’s Public House hosts “One Man Banned” Aaron Daniel’s free CD Release Party at 9 p.m.

5. Ladies Night Halloween Party featuring Kry, cash prize costume contest, appetizers, Lovers giveaways begins at 9:30 pm. inside Jazzbones.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

ART: THAT AIN'T WORKING >>>

As you learned Tuesday on this crap blog, my name is Art and I’m janitor at the Weekly Volcano World Headquarters. And for the entire month of November, the Weekly Volcano brainiacs asked me to review their office art as well as office art around Tacoma for this blog series that plays off Art at Work Month in Tacoma. It’s a crap idea, but as I said before, I could use the extra $7.50 a week.

Today, I review a piece hanging at the Morgan Family YMCA Branch.

THE ROAD TO THE HARBOR: While it certainly wasn’t my idea to review poster art in the men’s locker room at the Pearl Street YMCA, I do enjoy plein air impressionist painter John Cosby’s use of bold colors and his energetic brush strokes. I can feel his work.

On Cosby’s Web site he states, “When a person stands in front of one of my paintings, I want that person to feel the wind and the heat I felt when I painted it."

I’m sure there’s plenty of wind and heat passing by this poster daily.

Here’s something I think is more important:
 
Art at Work Month

November 2009 marks the eighth anniversary of Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month. There is something for everyone to enjoy throughout the month: lectures, music, dance performances, readings, workshops, theater performances, visual art exhibits and more.

Here are today’s highlights:

The whole kit and kaboodle kicks off tonight at 6 p.m. with an “Opening Celebration” at the Tacoma Art Museum. The event will include the AMOCAT award ceremony, live music by the Tacoma Youth Symphony, poetry readings by William Kupinse and Tammy Robacker, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and a no-host bar.

For a complete Art at Work schedule, click here.

LINK: Tacoma's Art at Work Month gets us to step outside our caves

LINK: It's Art at Work Month in Tacoma

RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Cheese Party: Enoteca Wine Bar (21 N. Tacoma Ave.) hosts the cheesemaker from Willapa Hills Farm for a little blue cheese/dessert wine love fest today at 6 p.m. The cost is $29 per person. Reserve your spot at 253.779.8358.

Plan Ahead: Primo Grill in Tacoma wants to teach you a thing or two with the following 2 p.m. classes for $65: The Cuisine of Northern Italy Nov. 7; and A Northwest Holiday Fest Nov. 21. Reserve your space at 253.383.7000.

Food For Thought: Man claims he subsists only on refined sugars and manages to maintain healthy weight, avoid diseases.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

ANNOUNCER:THAI MEKONG IS LIKE AN ISLAND BASTION OD TASTE AND FRESHNESS >>>

Opening in the summer of 2007, Thai Mekong has developed loyal clientele in the Graham area who make repeat visits part of their regular dinner plans. Family owned and operated, the medium-sized restaurant is located in a newer strip mall set back from Meridian Avenue. It appears as an island in a sea of fields, farming and undeveloped land. Focusing on freshness, Mekong is open for lunch and dinner serving traditional Thai as well as Vietnamese and Chinese dishes.

Read Jake and Jason de Paul's review of Thai Mekong on the Weekly Volcano Web site.

JOE IZENMAN: EXPECT AN EMAIL NEXT TIME THEY'RE IN TOWN >>>

See, I knew this was going to happen. When I started writing show reviews for Spew last month I sat down with editor Matt Driscoll and we worked out a schedule: second and fourth Thursday of the month, writing about shows from the preceding Friday or Saturday (mustn’t get stale, after all).

So of course it me took less than a month to find a show, a week and a half before my next piece, that I could not in good conscience avoid reviewing.

We went to the Mandolin Cafe Tuesday night on a whim. It was either that or take a nap, and Spew’s 5 Things description caught our eyes: “Bulgarian zydeco, klezmer and West African rhythms, wild bagpipes, trumpet and accordion.”

The brothers Rothschild have, in essence, my dream band. Which is to say, what I have always striven fore with my own band, Mr. Fusion. Not necessarily in genre, but in shape and principle. Two guys, surrounded by a dozen acoustic instruments, playing together, singing together, purely because they want to. So I was disposed to like them from the start.

Round Mountain hit Tacoma wielding: two guitars, an Irish bouzouki, an African harp, an assortment of percussion, an accordion, a trumpet, two different kinds of bagpipes, and a pair of excellent singing voices skilled in folk-style melodies from Africa to Appalachia. Their music is self-described as “world folk”, largely because there isn’t really another succinct description for their hodgepodge of ethnically diverse song-styles and instruments, synthesized into a single cohesive mass.

I wish I had a setlist in front of me to tell you what my favorite songs were, but rest assured that when Char starts wailing on the trumpet and accordion simultaneously, or busts out his gaida (Bulgarian bagpipes) mid-song, or Robby pulls up the African kora harp, you are in for an immense treat.

If there is anything good about a concert with only seven or eight non-staff attendees, it is that we few are at liberty to monopolize the post-show time of the musicians. Both men exude an absolute, unabashed love for music, both in performance and in conversation. They are genuinely interested when you mention that you play in this band, or once played that instrument. My friend Renee spent ten minutes playing Char’s trumpet while Robby and I discussed the merit of synthetic-head hand drums.

I look forward to the next time these guys come to town, because I am dragging as many friends as I can get my hands on. Maybe I’ll get lucky and convince them that they’ll get a bigger crowd if they let a local (me) book a show with them. Maybe not. Either way, you’ll find me there, enjoying the show and helping them put their gear in the truck afterward.

All that, and Char once played on a Kip Winger solo record. Yes, THAT Kip Winger. So that’s kind of neat.

So if you missed out Tuesday night (and I know you did, because I recognized about 90 percent of the audience â€" also known as five of the people there â€" and I’m pretty sure YOU weren’t one of them), scamper up to Ballard on Friday night to catch them at Egan’s Ballard Jam House with Kane Mathis and Ryan Francesconi. Failing that, well, I’ll let you know. Because I want you to see these guys. Yes, you.

RON SWARNER: YOU CAN THANK ME LATER >>>

Last night I saw Doug Mackey's ass. I saw it a lot. I even looked at it for several minutes today - trying to decide if I should post it on this blog.

I decided to pass on the ass. You can thank me later.

Last night the 100th Monkey party was held at the Fabulous Fifties Hall on St. Helens Avenue. The party was a typical Monkey affair  - with an added Halloween costume element.

Below are a few snapshots I took - including a "frontal" shot of Mackey.

LINK: Previously on Spew

WEEKLY VOLCANO: FRIGHT NIGHT GUIDE >>>

The weekend of frights is upon us once again, and there are, as always, plenty of ways to spend the Devil's holiday. Below we list the links - it's up to you to decide where you'll go, and, of course, what you'll wear. Boo, South Sound.

LINK: Halloween Events

LINK: Friday Night Halloween Parties

LINK: Saturday Halloween Parties