WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010 >>>

1. Coldnote plays smooth, sexy soul and funk that's more Marvin Gaye than Prince at 8 p.m. inside The Swiss.

2. William Hazzard, M.D., will speak on "Living Life to the Fullest ... to the Very End" at 7 p.m. inside Kilworth Memorial Chapel on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. Architect and City Councilperson David Boe, author and Pierce county Prosecutor Mark Lindquist, and Dr. Hans Ostrom from the University of Puget Sound are the panel for a community conversation concerning the Tacoma Reads Together book The Maltese Falcon at 7 p.m. inside the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Pubic Library Main Branch.

4. Learn easy gardening tips and tricks and how to start a raised bed garden from Master Gardener and TAGRO guru Gordy Behnke at 10:30 a.m. inside the City of Tacoma EnviroHouse.

5. Kareem Kandi Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. inside Pour At Four wine bar in the Proctor District.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

NOSH PIT >>>

The Scoop: Baskin & Robbins offers 31 cent scoops tonight from 5-10 p.m. to help honor America's firefighters. More details here.

Jager Power Hour: The Swiss offers $4 Jager Bombs every Wednesday and Thursday from 9-10 p.m.

Winemaker Dinner Tomorrow: Dockside Bistro and Wine Bar in Olympia hosts Erin Dobson of Long Shadows winery for a 90 point plus dinner April 29. Reserve your spot at 360.956.1928.

Future Things Are Coming: Ravenous Restaurant next to the Pantages Theater in downtown Tacoma hosts a four-course winetasting dinner every third Monday of the month. Next one is May 17 at 6:30 p.m. featuring Tamarack Wines. The cost is $50 per person. Reserve your spot at 253.572.6374.

Beer Matters: The world's worst beer

LINK: Wine and beer tastings, dinners and events

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Send us your restaurant and lounge news

The Weekly Volcano follows the people you're too embarrassed to >>>

Just like most good, new-age, social media applications, Twitter allows people to share and be privy to once personal, almost wholly pointless information about peoples' lives. It's seemingly endless. While Twitter is mostly full of everyday, ho-hum people - just like you and me, sharing info about what type of oatmeal we ate for breakfast and where we get our hair cut - Twitter is also a magnet for the moderately-famous.

Stars of yesterday, illiterate millionaire athletes, former cast members of Saved By the Bell - you can follow them all, intimately, on Twitter.

Even better, we'll do it for you, in a feature we like to call Weekly Volcano Twitter Stalker.

This week, checking in with...

New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight

April 22: Deep see adventures

"I'm on a SUB"!!! we went in that thing and doooove....." via Twitpic, 10:37 p.m.

April 22: Donny and Jordan watch the "Hangin' Tough" vidoe on YouTube (we assume)

"Something was funny..." via Twitpic, 10:37 p.m.

Tune in tomorrow for more tweets from the life of @jordanknight

POETRY ON THE RADIO >>>

Our new Soul of the City Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker announced to the crowd Saturday night - after being crowned - that she'll work hard to promote "the word" in Tacoma.

And she's already begun.

Robacker has announced through several mediums that local poet and Puget Sound Poetry Connection President Connie Walle, will be a featured reader on the PoetsWest program airing at 4:30 p.m. on KSER 90.1 FM. The topic will be "The Hot Blast of War: A reading of WAR Poems."

If you are out of range for this station, the broadcast is available worldwide via streaming here.

"Robacker" might rhyme with "slacker," but she's certainly not one.

WEEKLY VOLCANO REPRESENT >>>
 
Tacoma Art Place just announced the winners of its viral video contest. we're happy to report that Weekly Volcano film critic Christopher Wood and Ian Milatz wone the contest. Congrats gents!

The press release is posted after the break:

Read more...

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010 >>>

1. Guitarist/composer Pat Metheny has won 17 Grammy Awards and has been nominated 33 times in 12 different categories, more than any other performer in Grammy history. Aside from all the awards and fan accolades, Metheny's focus remains continually on the breaking down of barriers and the exploration of new musical ideas. Tonight's 7 p.m. show inside the Washington Center is no exception as he moves from solo guitar improvisations to the unveiling of a totally new technology for the presentation of an acoustically driven "solo ensemble" music he is dubbing "Orchestrionics." Gives you chills, doesn't it?

2. Tacoma School of the Arts' students present Writer's Bloc, a night of poetry and prose, beginning at 7 p.m. inside King's Books.

3. If Tyler Fortier is one thing, it's an up-and-coming, present-tense folk rocker - in a complimentary sense of the notion - based out of lush (read: stony) Eugene, Ore. Catch him tonight at 9 p.m. inside the 4th Ave Tavern in Olympia.

4. Deadwood Revival and Ravinwolf play a free 8 p.m. inside Doyle's Public House.

5. The Kari Ehli Band and Rush tribute band 2112 play a 9 p.m. show at The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: It's Dining Out For life day!

NOSH PIT >>>

Dining Out For Life: South Sound diners and restaurateurs are coming together today to help fight the spread of HIV and provide care for people who are living with HIV and AIDS in the South Sound region. On this day, participating restaurants donate up to 25 percent of sales to fight AIDS, and they're asking for your help.

The easiest way to help out is to get together some dining partners and make reservations to eat out at some of your favorite restaurants. A current list of participants with details as to whether they are serving breakfast, lunch and/or dinner and their percentage of contribution is available at the Dining Out For Life Web site. Don't worry; you don't have to pay for all your friends' meals. All you have to do is open up your Rolodex (does anybody still have one of those?) and invite your friends to join you at a particular restaurant. Twelve restaurants are also offering a bonus deal where you can receive a special discount yearlong.

You know you like to eat. Why not help out a good cause while you do.

Dining Out For Life After Party: The Mix will be hosting the official Dining Out For Life After Party tonight beginning at 9 p.m. DJ Shaggy along with MRDJ from C89.5 FM's "The Overdrive" will be spinning. Expect no cover and drink specials.

Europe On A Budget: Pour at Four wine bar in the Proctor District hosts a complimentary wine tasting featuring tasty $11 bottles of European wine today from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Bite This: Thursday nights are "Bite Night" at the Hotel Murano's Bite Restaurant. The swanky spot offers a  $5 happy hour with specialty cocktails and appetizers.

LINK: Wine and beer tastings, dinners and events

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Send us your restaurant and lounge news

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Five creative ways to open a bottle of wine that guarantee instant party-stardom.

Space balloon crashes in Australia.

Koreans gone bad

Life is hard for conservatives in Hollywood.

Scared of mice? Call your lesbian friend.

The Weekly Volcano follows the people you're too embarrassed to >>>

Just like most good, new-age, social media applications, Twitter allows people to share and be privy to once personal, almost wholly pointless information about peoples' lives. It's seemingly endless. While Twitter is mostly full of everyday, ho-hum people - just like you and me, sharing info about what type of oatmeal we ate for breakfast and where we get our hair cut - Twitter is also a magnet for the moderately-famous.

Stars of yesterday, illiterate millionaire athletes, former cast members of Saved By the Bell - you can follow them all, intimately, on Twitter.

But, you've got standards. We get that.

That's why we'll do it for you, in a feature we like to call Weekly Volcano Twitter Stalker.

This week, checking in with...

New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight

March 22: Random observation from Jordan Knight

"I saw another turkey today....no joke. Strutting across the street in front of me...straight pimpin." via Echofon, 7:55 p.m.

March 23: Injury on the block

"I just bit the shit out of my lip...OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" via Echofon, 11:28 a.m.

March 19: Travelin' tough

"headin back to the Bean....see you guys soon!!!" via Echofon, 11:33 p.m.

Tune in tomorrow for more tweets from the life of @jordanknight

INSIDE TODAY'S WEEKLY VOLCANO >>>

Retrogarde: Go backward with Saturn at the party of the year, which is a fundraiser for the Urban Art Festival by Heather Thomas Loepp

Reassurance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde's classical is theatrical comfort food by Christian Carvajal

True Grit: Outsider artist Tyrone Patkoski at Tacoma Art Supply by Alec Clayton

Slouching Toward Utopia: The state of art and usury in Tacoma by Joe Malik

LINK: South Sound arts and entertainment calendar