RON SWARNER: FOOD MATTERS >>>

Donations For Fallen Lakewood Police Officers: The Forza Coffee team of owners, employees, families and vendors wish to pass along deep compassion and loss for the four Lakewood Police officers who lost their lives yesterday.  Having impacted Forza at a corporate and local level, immediate action has be taken to establish a donation area at each coffee house.

Win A Pot Of Cheese: The Melting Pot is participating in MOViN 92.5’s “The Twelve Days of Christmas” where listeners can have the chance to win $75 gift certificates during days three through 12.

Winter Drinks: Crown Bar bartender Dino has created 13 new hot drinks to sip next to the Sixth Avenue lounge’s fireplace.

Plan Ahead: Doyle’s Public House celebrates Repeal Day Dec. 5.

Food For Thought: Epicurious lists the year's best cookbooks.

LINK: Weekly Volcano’s Eat & Drink section

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Wine and beer tastings

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, NOV. 30, 2009 >>>

1. Chris Rock hosts and narrates the warm, funny documentary Good Hair, which is about the hair of black women, screening at 4:15 and 8:50 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

2. With classical forms and an almost revolutionary approach to media, Jill Nordfors Clark has become synonymous with Northwest basketry. Her exhibit, which can be seen alongside drawings and prints by her daughter, Erica Nordfords Applewhite, closes today at The Sandpiper Gallery in Old Town.

3. The Stacy Jones Band plays at 8 p.m. inside The Swiss.

4. Rockaraoke, karaoke with a live band, hits Jazzbones’ stage at 9 p.m.

5. The Mix hosts Drag Bingo at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: THE GIVING SEASON >>>

We at the Weekly Volcano are unselfish, socially aware, philanthropic folk. We like to give back (the very definition of philanthropic, if you will). As such, around this time of year we all get together and sing “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in joyous unison. But we’re only one massive, symbiotic unit. There’s only so much we can do.

It’s time for you to give back.

4th Annual World AIDS Day Harmony Benefit Drag Show
Pacific Lutheran University students and alumni will be coming together in its Columbia Center Conference Room Friday, Dec. 4, 7-10 p.m., to benefit the Pierce County AIDS Foundation. On that night, ladies will be men and men will be ladies. Extra points should go to ladies pretending to be men pretending to be ladies. It’s not easy. As you probably know, the show will be comprised of drag queens and kings lip-synching absolutely fabulous songs. The cover is only $1, but donations will be accepted throughout the night. But if you take a shine to any of the performers, tips are also accepted and subsequently donated.

Steve Stefanowicz Plays Everything He Knows
Saturday, Dec. 5 you can catch Steve Stefanowicz at the Mandolin Café. Bring some non-perishable food along with you, as this performance will benefit the Food Connection. Stefanowicz, it seems, fancies himself a “Human Jukebox.” He claims to know more than a thousand songs, and the Mandolin aims to put him to the test. Starting at noon, he will play and play and play until he runs out of songs. Audience members are encouraged to make requests, taking this challenge up a notch or two. You know what I’d request? “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris. Even if he could play it, why would he want to? Tire him out early and often.

Saturday Night Feed!
It’s easy to forget, with all this Black Friday, gift-givin’, eggnog-drinkin’ mumbo jumbo that Christmas is supposed to be about Jesus. (Christ, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.) If that’s your bag, then you’d be hard-pressed to find a more suitable way to give back than to visit the Saturday Night Feed. True, this happens every Saturday, but the holiday season is the toughest time of year for the homeless, the beneficiaries of this charitable event. On Saturday nights, the homeless gather at the Tacoma Rescue Mission, where they are given clothes and food. Meanwhile, StreetLight performs for them and the volunteers. I’ve listened to StreetLight and, as far as Christian rock bands go, they’re actually pretty good.

Friends of the Holidays
The next day, Friends of the Holidays hosts a super-gigantic bash inside The Swiss. Sunday, Dec. 6, 1-10:30 p.m., nine (count ‘em nine!) bands will gather and rock the Christmas spirit into you. Your $10 donation gets you admission, and raffles and silent auctions round out the evening to ensure that just about everyone leaves with some goodies. In between beers and ear-shattering sets, you sit comfortably knowing that you’ve contributed to a cause that provides aid to underprivileged families.

Look, these times are tough for everyone, but if you can have a fun night out while also making someone else’s life a little better, I’d call that Yahtzee.

SUZY STUMP: SANKTA LUCIA CELEBRATION AT PLU FRIDAY >>>

The holidays are here. Oh, yes. The season of cards, yearly newsletters, family parties involving long-lost relatives.

How well can you sum up the past year in two minutes or less (the average attention span of one of your red state relatives)?

Trust us, it’s even more depressing if you can do it. 

So you need a story to make your life seem interesting, or at least strange, so they’ll back away slowly and leave you alone. Just to add some depth to your character, you should go to the Sankta Lucia Celebration Friday at Pacific Lutheran University. The Sankta Lucia ceremony, which marks the beginning of the Christmas season, includes Swedish entertainment such as dancing, children’s choirs, the telling of the Lucia legend and the crowning of Lucia.

A reception will follow inside the Scandinavian Cultural Center on the PLU campus.

SUZY STUMP: FOR THOSE ABOUT TO REVEL, WE SALUTE YOU >>>

What do you get when you cross an opera with a circus?  Puget Sound Revels' colorful, zany staged production and a great way for all ages to celebrate Christmas past and present. 

The Christmas Revels - 60 to 90 adults and children strong - will explore, um, you figure it out (from their Web site):

"This year's Christmas Revels in Tacoma plays with the enduring character of the fool. Culture to culture, community to community into the distant past, the Fool has played a part in people's understanding of the deep nature of things. This year three traveling fools from "the mysterious east" arrive in a European village - late medieval/early Renaissance. The mysterious strangers bring with them music, foolery and fable. Cosmic excitement ensues as they become unlikely guardians of the Sun, Moon and Stars. Their Moorish and Sephardic songs and stories reflect the rich cultural influences of the Ottoman Empire in the early years of Europe's blossoming Renaissance."

It sells out quick. Call now. Operators are standing by.

[Rialto Theater, Saturday, Dec. 12 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 13 1 and 5:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 15 and Wednesday, Dec. 16 7:30 p.m., $11-$26.50, 310 S. Ninth St., Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

MICHAEL SWAN: TWO OF THE FINEST >>>

Weekly Volcano Publisher Pappi Swarner shared some disturbing news with us - sometime this weekend (most likely Sunday night), his autographed Cheryl Ladd poster was pilfered from his private office restroom. No one seems to have seen the large framed poster make an exit out of the front door, which has led to some speculation that someone actually unscrewed it from the wall above his jetted tub, removed the screen in the bathroom window and lowered the thing onto our back parking lot, kinda like a dumb-ass Thomas Crown Affair.

Pappi claims he's hitting both The Grand Cinema's Annual Movie Poster Sale and the Beautiful Angle 2009 Holiday Party Benefit Sale Saturday in case the master poster thief tries to sell it.

[The Grand Cinema, Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to noon, 606 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

[King's Books, Beautiful Angle poster sale, Saturday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]