BRING ON THE WEEKEND >>>

It's that time again - TGIF. For regular nine-to-fivers, our two short days of freedom are right around the corner.

Friday also means it's time form The Prefunk - a weekly guide to priming you and your liver for two worthy events coming up this weekend... plus an obligatory picture of a household pet getting sauced.

This is what we do; it's why they pay us the big bucks.

Here we go.

THE MISSIONARY POSTION @ Doyle's Public House

Saturday, April 3

Admit it, geek - the name of Jeff Angell's band, The Missionary Position, makes you giggle. Sure, the dirty, modernized, maximum R&B is enough to momentarily take your mind out of its normal, jr. high residence - long enough to make you truly appreciate the originality of the band's slinking rock groove; but it always returns. At the end of the day, you're still the type of person that can't help but grin when the words "The Missionary Position" cross your mind. Tehehehe.

PREFUNK: Draw a warm bath. Light a few of those ultra-romantic candles from Bed, Bath and Bodyworks. Poor a tall class of the nicest $8 wine you have - and open yourself up to the secure and seductive embrace of the The Missionary Position.

Close your eyes, and just do whatever feels natural...

Just make sure to put some goddamned clothes on before heading out to Doyle's.

EASTER

Sunday, April 4

Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming! And he's getting super fit for his return. This Sunday marks the annual return of Big J - and you best be ready. He only does this once a year, sometime between March 22 and April 25 - depending on an equation relying heavily on the Paschal Full Moon. It's very complicated.

PREFUNK: While many would tell you to cleanse your soul of sins or at least put on clean underwear for Big J's annual return - I'm going to take a more hedonistic approach. The last time Big J swung by my pad, he emptied my ‘fridge of Dos Equis and really freaked out the cats. This time I'll be ready. You should be too.

See you next week.

YOUR CREATIVITY IS NEEDED >>>

Remember when you used to write on your dolls' shirts with Magic Markers? There they were all lined up on the bed, and Barbie had the words "I'm With Stupid" written on her shirt with an arrow pointing to the Cabbage Patch doll, with the other passive-aggressive little stuffed animal children hiding their eyes.

Yep, you've always been strange.

But the point of this is that there are better venues for your art.

Tacoma Art Place - the ultra-cool non-profit art center that provides access to equipment and training for all levels of creativity and budgets - is holding a T-shirt contest aimed at Tacoma's creative community. The Hilltop art center wants an ultra-cool Tacoma Art Place T-shirt.

If that appeals to you - and it should because you're creative and could use the $250 prize money - then read the rules that Tacoma Art Place provided after the break.

Read more...

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IT WAS A WINDY, WET ONE >>>

The Frost Park Chalk-Off Challenge season three opener has ended. The cold, wet artists have returned to their places of employment. The voting will begin on FeedTacoma soon. And we posted a few shots of the art.

LINK: Our Frost Park Chalk-Off Challenge story

LET'S GET A CONVERSATION GOING >>>

In case you missed it, I got at least seven irate voicemails yesterday about this April Fools' story - which centered on the fictional announcement that the Northwest Detention Center would be expanding into the Frank Russell building. Kudo to Paul Schrag for doing such an awesome job with it. As Schrag assessed early in the morning yesterday, when my voicemail count was at a more modest two or three, "Satire is a powerful weapon in the war on stupid."

The story - fictional or not - seemed to inspire a lot of conversation about the Northwest Detention Center, which is uniquivocaly a good thing. The NWDC - and more specifically what's going on there, in our backyard - is something we all should be much more aware of.

In that spirit, I thought I'd provide some links to previous coverage of the NWDC in the Weekly Volcano. Schrag, who so masterfully tackled yesterday's April Fools' story, along with a few other Volcano writers, have done plenty of work on the subject - and it's worth taking a look back on.

LOCKED AND LOADED: Geo Group will incarcerate more immigrants - by John Herbert, July '08

ICE ABUSE MAY EXIST: Report shows abuse at Northwest Detention Center - by Josh Norton, Aug. '08

TACOMA TAR PITS: Doing dirt - by Paul Schrag, Dec. '08

BELLY OF THE BEAST: A look inside the Northwest Detention Center - by Paul Schrag, Feb. '09

GOD FORBID?: Finding high ground on the tide flats - by Simon Moon, March '09

UN-AMERICAN: Plenty to say about NWDC, but most of it doesn't make sense - by Paul Schrag, '09

SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010 >>>

1. The Missionary Position performs inside Doyle's Public House at 9:30 p.m.

2. The Washington State History Museum presents With Our Hands: Folk Art Treasures featuring items pulled from the Washington Historical Society's collection of folk art from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. THE FOLLOWING HAPPENED YESTERDAY. WE APOLOGIZE: Olympia painter, Lisa Sweet, will be giving a gallery talk on her Kittredge Gallery exhibition devotion and demonstration at 3 p.m.  Her talk will take place in the gallery on the campus of the University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner.

3A. Harlequin Productions stages Rabbit Hole at 8 p.m. inside the State Theater.

4. The opening reception for the Under The Trees exhibit featuring drawings and mixed media by Portland artists Rachel C. Blumberg, Tara Jane ONeil, Trish Grantham, and @my Ruppel will be held from 7-10 p.m. inside northern in Olympia.

5. It's Punk Night at Malarkey's Pool and Brew featuring Bastard Child, Three Dead Whores, and The Them at 9 p.m.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

Favorites or underdogs, fancy restaurants or taco trucks, it's all the same. In the end, they all have one chance to put some meat on a tortilla that can take the prize. That's the nature of the Weekly Volcano's Tournament of Tacos.

Yesterday's Final Cuatro match-ups

GAME 1: Taqueria El Rinconsito vs. Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant

GAME 2: Taqueria Burrito Loco vs. Tijuana Taco

The Final Cuatro voting was a little puzzling. Blame it on Good Friday, the weather, or the announcement the American Idol Season 2 winner Ruben Studdardwill reunite with runner-upClay Aiken for a summer tour that will bring the joy the Snoqualmie Casino July 29 - whatever the reason, the voting crept along in the morning hours. Then, around happy hour, the voting exploded actually reversing the leads for both games.

With the second largest tally of votes in the tournament  - and, as we mentioned, a fairly close tally through two-thirds of the day - Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant and Tijuana Taco managed to knock Taqueria El Rinconsito and Taqueria Burrito Loco out of the Readers' Poll.

In the end, old school ruled.

In 1978 Arturo Garcia opened Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant in a hole-in-the wall establishment on South Tacoma Way. Slowly Moctezuma's built a loyal fanbase and in 1988 Garcia moved his restaurant to its present location at 4102 S. 56th St. in Tacoma. Garcia opened a second location at 4803 Point Fosdick Dr. NW in Gig Harbor.

Tijuana Taco "Fine Mexican Food" has been serving Lakewood tacos and other fast Mexican fare for 41 years from its tiny spot at 10005 Bristol Ave. SW. In 1969 Rocky Van Scyoc opened the restaurant next to the Villa Plaza (now Lakewood Towne Center) working in the kitchen, serving food and busing tables. His daughter, Kelli Van Scyoc-Gomez, now runs the restaurant.

Championship Game

Monday morning is the date to vote for the biggest match of all, the battle across Pierce County, the titanic taco throwdown finale, the 2010 Weekly Volcano Tournament of Tacos Readers' Poll Championship. We'll launch the voting platform in the wee hours Monday, April 5. At 5 p.m. we'll close the online poll and move the voting process to our taco party at 6 p.m. inside Station 56 at 56^th and South Tacoma Way. Load up the car with friends and head for the this restaurant housed in a large brick building in the Historic South Tacoma Neighborhood. Station 56 will be broadcasting the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game on all its screens while serving dollar tacos and $2 tequila shots. Nice. Throughout the first half of the game we'll be handing our taco voting ballots for a final push of voting. At half time of the hoop game, we'll announce the winner of the Tournament of Tacos.

Will it be massive Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant or tiny Tijuana Taco? That's your call.

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Ecletro-Pop: Reverse Dotty's music is a kind of melancholy electro-pop, driven by sandy female vocals. The synths sound '80s disco-ready, and the band's aloofness sometimes gives the air of electroclash or riot grrrl. Sometimes, though, like on "Off the Skoal," with its affected crooning, or on the breezy "Pool and a View," one gets a distinctly winking, B-52's vibe - like all of this is a set-up or possibly even a put-on. 8 p.m., The Den @ urbanXchange, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280 - Rev. AM

Bluesy Rock: While some songwriters may woo listeners with well-woven lyrics that slice straight to the heart and plumb the emotional depths, Ben Union is not that songwriter. His funk and rock hybrid is not a reinvention of the wheel, but it is a sight to hear, behold and just maybe get down to - as well as something that no one else in town is even approaching. That, in a nutshell, is the appeal of Ben Union: He takes things you already know and love, and serves them back at you with passion, spark and just enough originality to make it all stick. Read the full story here. Ben Union CD Release Party with Colonies and Benjamin Doerr, 8 p.m., $5, Jazzbones, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169 - Matt Driscoll

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

A SIGN >>>

All of Pierce County has taco fever. Remember to check back here Monday morning for the Tournament of Tacos final game between Moctezuma's and Tijuana Taco.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

How to Make Peepshi = Peeps Sushi

Tacoma Artifakt artists will be displaying artwork at Platinum Reign in Tacoma.

Malarkey's Pool and Brew hosts a T-town Gong Show today.

A new biography charts Joseph Pulitzer's path from immigrant cub reporter to newspaper magnate and boss from hell.

Hunting digital Easter eggs in mvies and programs

Download Zombie Jesus for free

Eight cruel but completely justified iPad wallpaper pranks

LATEST BAND TO JOIN OUR SITE >>>

Ed, Nate, Loren, and Tom of the band Dreams Jaded just joined the weekly Volcano Band Profiles section. The pop/rock quartet can now share their songs, post photos and videos, and list their upcoming shows alerting the Weekly Volcano community of their awesomeness.

Here is the biography they wrote on their band page:

No one really cares about how the people in your band met. All they really care about is how you SOUND. You know, the REALLY important things in life. Grunge. Feedback. Bangin' on drums. It's about live shows, good music, and having a good time. Oh, and lots and lots of rain. And did we mention feedback?

According to the calendar they posted Dreams Jaded will perform next at the Cedarwood Dome on April 7.

Meet Dreams Jaded here.

LINK: Hey bands! Join our community.