MICHAEL SWAN: FRIDAY, OCT. 30 >>>

1. Arsenic and Old Lace - Joseph Kesselring's dark comedy about crazy aunts and poison starring Cary Grant - screens at 7:30 p.m. inside the Theatre on the Square.

2. Walk behind the scenes in an old ballet studio and see what kind of chills, thrills, and arabesques lurk as Tacoma City Ballet dancers are joined by the Bare Foot Collective - and maybe a couple of ghouls and goblins - in an interactive experience titled The Haunted Theatre: Backstage Tour and Eerie Dances at 5:30 and 7 p.m. at The Merlino Art Center.

3. Bring your kindergarten through sixth-grade kids out for Metro Parks Tacoma's Boo Bash, a safe night of trick-or-treating, from 6-8 p.m. at the South End Neighborhood Resource Center.

4. Vinum Coffee and Wine Lounge in downtown Tacoma throws a Halloween Party with games, prizes, costume contest and Brotherhood Of The Black Squirrel at 8 p.m.
 
5. Many Halloween parties in the clubs start tonight.

CONCERTS: On sale today

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

New Menu: Asado has introduced new menu items including bar items chorizo corndogs and roasted corn & poblano hummus; salads such as Asado Caesar and an Asado chop salad; and entrees such as piccata de pollo, pastas de la gamba, and vegetarian tomato relleno.

High-end Burgers: The TNT Diner has a question.

Plan Ahead: Satellite Coffee hosts a formal coffee tasting at its 2811 Sixth Ave. location the first Sunday of the month at noon.

Food For Thought: 100 things restaurant staffers should never do, such as "serve anything that looks creepy."

LINK: Weekly Volcano's Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

JENNIFER JOHNSON: BASS AT A SCARY PLACE >>>

More brains! More bass! Kip Hops, who has a twice-weekly radio program on KEXP, and veteran DJs dAb, D:FI, Suga Jones, Flat Black and Grym present Tacoma with a huge array of talent tonight.

Night of the Living Dub producer Matt Eklund of Pacific Fusion Productions shared via email that he’s super stoked for the DJ line up and also glad to be partnering with Lotus Inc. (Deron Suga Jones) to bring this full scale zombie party to Tacoma.

“All the music is strictly drum and bass, dubstep and raga,” says Jones, who sees Tacoma as “hungry” for a new sound.

Attending zombie partygoers will have plenty of musical “brains” to feed on. Non-stop chest and brain thumping bass, blazing visuals by DJ dAb, liquid potions, mingling with witches, vampires, ghouls, fiends, freaks defying description, and check it â€" Zombie Breakdancers.

It’s clear The Warehouse won’t be the scene of a typical house music party. 

[The Warehouse, Night of the Living Dub, Friday, Oct. 30, 9 p.m., $15 presale at brownpapertickets.com, $20 door, 1117 Court E, Tacoma]

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: $2000 PUMA AT THE NEW FRONTIER TONIGHT >>>

Progressive rock, like any other genre, has identifiers and giveaways that can allow one to legitimately describe a band as proggy.

Definition: Proggy is an adjective that denotes a band or song that utilizes complex time signatures; tricky tempo changes; long, frequently noodling solos; and the general divergence from the standard three-and-a-half minute rock format.

Used in a sentence: $2,000 Puma is proggy. Read why here.

[The New Frontier Lounge, $2000 Puma with Judson Claiborne, Wheelies, Friday, Oct. 30, 9 p.m., 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

MATT DRISCOLL: YUP,  JIMMY THACKERY AT JAZZBONES TONIGHT >>>

What exactly is Jazzbones these days? That is the million-dollar question. Is it a DJ spot? A rowdy karaoke bar? A sushi joint? A poor man's Masa? The next stop on the Girls Gone Wild world tour? Or an actual live music venue, you know," like it used to be?

Every once in a while a show comes along that reminds us all of the foundation Jazzbones was built on," and, oddly enough for a club called Jazzbones, that's the blues.

Tonight, Jimmy Thackery, who honed his blues-rock chops learning from greats like Muddy Waters and as a member of The Nighthawks, will plug in at Jazzbones in Tacoma and give us all just such a reminder.

If those who show up for the DJ scheduled to perform after Thackery could please refrain from vomiting, fist fighting or taking body shots until after Thackery finishes, I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated.

[Jazzbones, Friday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m., $12, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]

RON SWARNER: THAT'S NOT SEXY >>>

Live Nation reports -

Seattle, WA - The Elton John / Billy Joel Face 2 Face concerts originally scheduled for Wednesday, November 4 and Saturday November 7 have both been postponed.
 
Promoter Live Nation and the KeyArena were informed by management today that Elton John has been advised by his doctor to postpone these performances due to a serious case of e-coli bacterial infection and influenza.
 
Organizers of the event are working to establish a new date.  All patrons who have purchased tickets for the Face 2 Face concerts on Wednesday, November 4 and Saturday, November 7 at the Key Arena are being asked to hold on to their tickets until more information is available regarding the proposed rescheduled engagement.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: BE SCARY, BUT BE SAFE >>>

MICHAEL SWAN: SCARY DAY, OCT. 31, 2009 >>>

1. Erotica, If You Dare Halloween party will feature girls in cages, stripper poles, live painting, erotic art, music, fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling, 40 years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together ... mass hysteria beginning at 8 p.m. inside The Robert Daniel Gallery. To purchase tickets RSPV at my-rsvp@hotmail.com.

2. The 253 Collective hosts a Fall Fashion & Fine Art show â€" which includes a silent auction â€" from noon to 5 p.m.

3. Author B.L. Morgan will sign his newest released novels You Play, You Pay! and Night Knuckles from noon to 5 p.m. at Borders Books.

4. Goldfinch and Birds & Batteries will rock the Halloween party at The Warehouse (1114 Court E, downtown Tacoma) beginning at 8 p.m.

5. Maybe you don’t want to drink Flaming Dr Peppers and Irish Car Bombs all hallows’ eve. Maybe you want a little rock to go with your full moon. There’s plenty of musical frights tonight.

CONCERTS: On sale today

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Spooktacular Tasting: The Wine Bank pours Dracula’s Blood, Vampire Cabernet and more on Halloween. Give the University Place wine store a call at 253.564.1101 for details.

Proctor Treats: Proctor District businesses dole out treats for the kids Oct. 31 from 4-6 p.m. Scare up some candy at 26th and Proctor in Tacoma.

A First: The Red Hot is the first handle in Tacoma for Black Raven Brewing out of Redmond, Wash. 

Spooky Crown: The Crown Bar will host a costume contest tonight with the prizes awarded at 11 p.m. They’ll also have spooky cocktails.

Bring The Kids: Ram Restaurant & Brewery locations will be serving a $1 Kids Menu today for those 12 and younger.

Tonight’s Special: Primo Grill will be grilling duck breast with grape saba and root vegetable gratin, plus a bowl of linguine with chanterelle mushrooms, rosemary and Grana Parmesan.

Sad: The Seven Oh One restaurant in downtown Tacoma closed yesterday.

Food For Thought: Halloween drinks with good taste.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

MATT DRISCOLL: PARIS SPLEEN PLAYS ITS LAST SHOW TONIGHT >>>

Glossing over plenty of what Joshua Vega calls “bedroom jams” during Paris Spleen’s infancy, not to mention plenty of empty PBR cans along the way, what has followed is a nearly five year run for Paris Spleen as one of Tacoma’s most captivating and curious bands. Propped up with a funk-spliced, dance backbone and pimped out with all the psych rock and indie chic tricks, Paris Spleen has become one of a handful of bands responsible for Tacoma’s youthful rock and roll resurgence.

They’ve recorded some songs. They’ve played some amazing and notorious shows. They’ve engrained themselves in the scene. They’ve crashed on some couches. And in the process they’ve become a major part of this beast we call Tacoma.

So seeing Paris Spleen go â€" as will happen tonight at O’Malley’s when the band plays its final show â€" is in many ways sad.

Read the full story here.

[O’Malley’s Irish Pub, Saturday, Oct. 31, Paris Spleen’s final show, 9 p.m., free with costume, $5 without, 2403 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.3144]

Photo: Jason Ganwich