JAKE DE PAUL: I WOULD LIKE SOME PLEASE >>>

It’s that time of year again. Beaujolais Nouveau, the celebratory wine traditionally released the week before Thanksgiving, has been released. What is now a firmly ingrained tradition began decades ago as a way of celebrating the end of the harvest. The vineyard workers would be treated to a post-harvest party, the focus of which was young, frothy wine barely over its fermentation, served directly from vats. Today, nearly 50 percent of grapes harvested in Beaujolais go into the production of Beaujolais Nouveau. Some may argue that this is a waste of good fruit, but to producers and retailers alike, this hyped-up release of liquid bubblegum provides a much needed shot in the arm just before the holiday season.

Beaujolais Nouveau chatter in the South Sound has been nil. The only BN celebration I know is tonight at Minoela when the Tacoma French Club gather to hug, speak Paris talk and taste the wine.

Does anyone know of any other South Sound Beaujolais Nouveau events?

WEEKLY VOLCANO: VERY COOL SHOW TOMORROW >>>

"This show rules because ... it's at The New Frontier - and cause Dark Party + Mux Mool + LOZEN + The New Frontier = Baddassness," claims Tacoma musician, artist and promoter Matt Eklund.

We're in.

MICHAEL SWAN: SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 2009 >>>

1.The free family Dickens Festival will consume Tacoma’s Stadium District from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

2. Tacoma Art Place, a Tacoma Hilltop facility that provides access to art equipment and studio space, celebrates its second anniversary with a party featuring free classes, refreshments and raffle prizes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.


3. The Grand Cinema’s Free Family Movie series screens Oliver! at 10:30 a.m. for free. Get there early for a seat.
 
4. Actors will stage Ghosts of the Great Hall: Disaster! Natural Catastrophes in the Pacific Northwest from 1-3 p.m. at the Washington State History Museum.

5. Seven Deadly Sins: The Musical â€" the singing, dancing musical extravaganza â€" hits Pierce College Fort Steilacoom’s new theater at 7 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Great Squash Give-Away: Terra Organics will give away free organic produce today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the St. Leo Food Connection at 1323 S. Yakima Ave.

Stout Tasting: The Harmon Brewery and Restaurant will pair food with stouts today at 4 p.m. The reservation-only event costs $25. Reserve your spot at 253.383.2739.

Truffles Release Party: The queen of South Sound truffles Gay Landry has created three new truffles in her Affairs Chocolate & Desserts (2811 Bridgeport Way W., University Place) laboratory in University Place: Bourbon Spice, Cabernet and Tiramisu. Landry will unveil the new truffles in a party setting today from 3:30-5 p.m.

Thanksgiving Strike!: Bayview Thriftway in Olympia hosts its first Frozen Turkey Bowl today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the store’s frozen food aisle. A strike wins a free turkey with a one turkey limit per family, of course.

Food For Thought: NBC greenlights series about finding ideas for chain restaurants. Name? United Plates of America.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

LINK: South Sound coupons

MICHAEL SWAN: ONE CITY. 30 DAYS. WHAT WILL YOU DO? >>>
 
Art at Work Month: Saturday, Nov. 21

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:

Tacoma contemporary dance event MOVE! 15 continues its run at the SOTA Theatre with a 2 and 7 p.m. performance.

The Tacoma Young Artists Orchestra opens its season at 7:30 p.m. inside the Rialto Theater.

Nick Stokes continues to pump out "The Greatest Plays Ever Written" with a performance at 8 p.m. inside Old City Hall. How does he freakin' do it?

There are many more events today. For a complete Art at Work schedule, click here.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: MUSIC IN THE SOUTH SOUND TONIGHT >>>

Don’t know what to do tonight? Don’t worry, we have you covered.

Revengers are not pop. They’re also not rap, really. I’d call it beat poetry dirges. Depending on what song you hear, the dominant influence may be as varied as heavy metal, avant-classical or country. What remains a constant, besides the rapped vocals, is the dark haze that hangs over the band’s first full-length album, Scraps on the Badlands, which will be officially released tonight at Hell’s Kitchen at 5 p.m. Every song on the disc sounds transmitted from wind-blown plains and abandoned barns that lay under an orange sky. Read the full story here.

After the Revengers show at Hell’s Kitchen, My Life in Black and White, Neutral Boy, The Hollowpoints and Cody Foster’s Army rev it up to benefit Ike Shanaman (pictured) â€" the tatted up frontman of Tacoma stalwarts Broken Oars.Cody Foster will auction off his sideburns, too.

Most bands would kill to have a lead singer like Marian Ladenberg of the Tacoma indie-pop five-piece You Yell You Kick, who will release their debut EP tonight at The Den.  She can sing.  She can write.  She’s charismatic.  And she looks the part too.  So how did guitarist Derrick Robinson find her? Discover the truth here.

Chart-topping Seattle MC D. Black and the Olympia party boys, Junkyard Gang, take the stage tonight at the China Clipper in Downtown Olympia.

Dark Party, Mux Mool and Lozen play the New Frontier Lounge at 9 p.m.

LINK: More shows in the South Sound tonight

LINK: Concert Alert

MICHAEL SWAN: SUNDAY, NOV. 22, 2009 >>>

1. As part of Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month 2009, King’s Books will play host to the annual Tacoma is For Lovers Artist Craft Fair from noon to 5 p.m.

2. The Northern Pacific Coffee Company hosts geriatric jazz at 11 a.m.

3. At noon Gallery Madera becomes Madera Architectural Elements with a gala soireé to christen their new showroom. MAE is now a collective of 13 Pacific Northwest artisans â€" Mindy Barker, Lynn Di Nino, Jennevieve Schlemmer, Ixia Tile Tacoma, Steve Lawler to name a few â€" all designing and fabricating building components for commercial, residential and public spaces. The party ends at 5 p.m.

4. The Greatest Plays Ever Written by Nick Stokes will begin at 2 p.m. inside Tacoma’s Old City Hall.

5. The Spar’s Sunday Night Blues welcomes Mark Dudresne at 7 p.m.

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, NOV. 23 , 2009 >>>

1. Author Nick Hornby turns from novels to screenplays with the talent-driven drama An Education, the story a young woman full of promise and intent to study at Oxford until she meets an older man with other ideas, which screens at 2:30, 4:45, 7:05 and 9:15 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

2. A Rhapsody In Bloom Florist & Cafe Latte hosts a holiday boutique featuring local artists work and handmade products 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3. Saint Martin University hosts a lecture on “Harry Truman and the Korean War” at noon in Room 110 at Harned Hall.

4. The 3rd Annual Anti-Sweatshop Film Fest presents Where Do You Stand: Stories From An American Mill at 7 p.m. inside Traditions Café.

5. Rockaraoke â€" karaoke with live band â€" hits Jazzbones’ stage at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

JOE IZENMAN: CAUGHT SQUIRT REUNION LAST THURSDAY AT HELL'S KITCHEN >>>

Here is something that makes me happy: a guitarist, on his knees in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the crowd, wailing his heart out.

Here is something that makes me sad: that thing I just said, when the "crowd" is approximately … 10 people.

I know Big Wheel Stunt Show were the opener. And I know the show was on a Thursday night. But I wish more people could have been around to enjoy that set. It just blistered. I think I've used up my annual quota of the phrase "balls-out rock" in my last few reviews, but Big Wheel Stunt Show lands in that category.

The Dignitaries enjoyed a bit larger and more enthusiastic crowd, although there still weren't any takers to their call of "We're the Dignitaries / We're the Dignitaries / Go ahead and dance / We're not that scary" (at least I think that's what they were saying).

While they lack the melodic construction of their member-sharing cousins Bandolier, they play like they love to play, which is always good to see. The Dignitaries have that sound that fits right into that era in the ‘80s and ‘90s in Seattle/Tacoma, which spawned bands like Girl Trouble (who, coincidentally, have a show with them on Dec. 5 at The New Frontier Lounge) and Squirt.

Squirt, of course, was the story of the night, whether you like it or not. And they are definitely a "whether you like it or not" kind of band. They are a product of the era and the scene that produced things like Mudhoney and the U-Men. Could any other scene generate sentimentality for a band best remembered for the song “Pizza, Chicken, Burger” (most of the lyrics, as seen here on the Spud Goodman Show are, in fact, "Pizza, chicken, burger."
That was the essence of the "grunge" scene. It wasn't angsty kids singing about childhood trauma or playing metal songs a little dirtier and crunchier than usual. It was people singing "Touch Me I'm Sick" and "Pizza, Chicken, Burger" while they pounded on their guitars for a while.

So that's what kind of show it was. The kind of show where the most excited (drunk) fan is drinking Corona w/lime and Jack Daniels (partly because what he actually ordered was "You know, that Mexican beer"), and where the lead singer frequently utters some variant on, "This is a great one, I wrote it."

So the music wasn't exactly what you would call "great." It was more like, well, exactly what it was: a bunch of guys, 14 years on, probably all better musicians than they used to be, not caring and playing the same old stuff because they can. Not because their reunion will draw a huge nostalgia crowd and make them feel important, but because they damn well feel like hanging out and playing music again.

I have no problem with that. It makes me want to bust out the trenchcoat and some face paint, call up the guys and reunite Blarg! (Blarg! played one show, for four songs, and were really, really bad. But awesome.) Not because the world is crying out for a Blarg! reunion so they can all sing along to “Fire With Horns And Spikes,” but because playing music is fun, sometimes even more so when it is ridiculous.

So kudos to Squirt. Way to keep it ridiculous, guys.

SUZY STUMP: INTERVIEW WITH AN INTERN >>>

“Basically, her music is so powerful it will get you pregnant.”

That’s how Andrew Reeder describes the music of San Diego musician Gayle Skidmore, who performs tonight at the Mandolin Café and tomorrow at KJ’s Garage in Olympia.

Who the hell is Andrew Reeder?

He’s a 24-year-old intern at Skidmore’s record label, Raincoat Records.

Reeder’s promotional e-mail morphed into a Q&A with the intern. Enjoy.

ANDREW REEDER: Hello, I have a show for your calendar... Tue Nov 24, Gayle Skidmore (indie/folk, multi instrumentalist) @ KJ's Garage, Olympia. 7pm, all ages. Thank you and take care.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Thanks Andrew. Is Gayle a solo artist? Are you her agent?

REEDER: She is a solo artist and yes I am her agent. I run a high profile agency here in San Diego. I am basically a big deal you know whatever no big deal. LOL. No I am just joking. I am actually her intern. She started a label a couple years ago and I am helping her out with promotions right now. But she really needs to hire a promoter or an agent.

VOLCANO: How would you describe her music?

REEDER: I would have to say straightforward indie singer songwriter first. But of course she puts her own quirky twist on things by bringing different instruments into the mix. I really love her song "the muse" cause I like that classical plucking dramatic acoustic style, but if you like more folky stuff you’ll love "crazy". You can hear them at Reverb Nation.

VOLCANO: Is Gayle touring behind an album?

REEDER: Does touring behind the album mean touring after the album has already been released? I mean that makes the most sense but she just finished recording, literally a couple days before she left. She will at least have a few eps to sell on the road. She is doing that sell a band website to try to get enough money to release the full length properly.

VOLCANO: Does she have support on the tour?

REEDER: The artist that was scheduled (Travis Oberg) for the whole tour just backed out of the first week. So she might be playing by herself at the Mandolin and KJ’s Garage.
 
VOLCANO: What do you enjoy most about working at Gayle's label? Does she make you get coffee?

REEDER: You know to be honest she hasn’t asked me to get her coffee yet, but she was considering asking me to help pack her clothes. I said if I have to pack your clothes I'm going to have to ask for a raise. She thought that was funny.  That’s the thing a good intern needs to know how to set some boundaries. Even if they don’t exist but serve to just make yourself feel better. For example coffee â€" of course I wouldn't mind bringing her coffee; everyone should bring everyone coffee whenever they need it, it’s just a decent thing to do. Now I need to draw the line with cocaine. I would not bring that for her.

VOLCANO: Why must people see her shows up here?

REEDER: Oh my goodness where to start. The positive rewards of seeing a Gayle Skidmore show are infinite. Looking at the big picture, I would have to say you should see her show because you are a student of life, and you love music and you love people. She will channel the sonic energy of the earth to wash your mind and body with nurturing sound waves that will bring unity to your soul and connect you to your fellow brothers and sisters. It’s just simply physics really.

VOLCANO: Do you have a photo of you I can post with a preview?

REEDER: Here is a picture of Gayle. I swear every picture I have of myself I’m making some really weird face.

[Mandolin Café, Monday, Nov. 23, 7 p.m., no cover, 3923 S. 12th St., Tacoma, 253.761.3482]
[KJ’s Garage, house concert, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 7 p.m., Olympia]