LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT N THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Dirty Blues-Pop: Talk about a friend of Tacoma - Drew Grow, and even his Pastors' Wives, feel like long-lost soul mates of Grit City. Originally won over by the warmth of the arts-slash-music scene emanating from The Warehouse (R.I.P.), and intrigued enough to come back even after the DIY venue's demise, the pop-sensible, hipster-spiritual Drew Grow and Pastors' Wives will be filling the Loft at Urban Grace this time around - more specifically, Friday. Since many of the same faces in charge of the Warehouse's final incarnation are helping get the Urban Grace Loft off the ground as a venue, Grow's return to their artist-first embrace only makes sense.  "All of you Tacomans (That can't be right - it looks like Taco-man) have been really kind to us," Grow wrote to me in email. "The Tacoma music world that we know is a stunning pocket of creative people." He's right about most of it. With Big Sur, Valerie Warren, Friday, May 21, 7:30 p.m., all ages, $10, The Loft at Urban Grace, 902 Market St., Tacoma, thewarehousetacoma@gmail.com - Matt Driscoll

Hip-Hop: The Bay Area's Mystik Journeymen (Sunspot Jonz and Luckyiam of Living Legends), A+ (Hieroglyphics), Bored Stiff, Z-Man and Equipto visit Olympia's Royal Lounge for an early show tonight.  Just added are Tac-Town's award-winning MC Wojack, and fresh off the release of his album, Words to The Wize, Josh Rizeberg. The tour features a dope lineup of some of hip-hop's finest underground MCs. Friday, May 21, 8 p.m., $12 advance, The Royal Lounge, 311 Capital Way N., Olympia, 360.705.0760 - Michael Swan

LINK: More live music tonight n the South Sound

ARE YOU READY TACOMA? >>>

"Wow, Natasha (Miko Kuro) will be here in a few hours and we will begin the final stages of preparing for the tea tomorrow night!" writes Jada-Moon Gridley on her Facebook page this morning. "I am so excited about to share and partake in this experience."

I'm excited, too.

To watch.

Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea (MKMT) - a re-emergence of performance "art happenings" through a traditional Japanese tea ceremony  - will take participants and voyeurs from Saturday to Sunday inside the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative in downtown Tacoma. The 12 MKMT participants, slots that were filled many moons ago, will experience swirls to their senses - smells, visuals, tastes and sounds - often while blindfolded. The voyeurs - you and me - will have a chance to watch MKMT founders Natasha Marin and Lord Loxley, both of Vancouver, B.C., lead the 12 through various spiritual stages through dance, art and tastes.

"Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea began in 2008 at my Vancouver studio space as an experimental arts 'happening' in the spirit of those which swept through art circles in the '60s and '70s," explains Marin via email - who, as is traditional, takes on the name Miko Kuro during MKMT ceremonies. A "miko" is a temple caretaker/shaman/priestess in the Shinto belief system and "kuro" means dark or black. 

"Think about Yayoi Kusama painting naked men and horses with polka dots. Definitely cozying up to the bizarre," she continues.

Marin and Loxley not only facilitate the MKMT experience, Marin will perform movement/poetry and Loxley multimedia offerings.

"The Tacoma Tea will include original works of art by local artists Mandy Greer and Jada-Moon Gridley," Marin adds. "Mandy has created a beautiful one-of-a-kind headdress for Miko to wear, woven out of my own hair. Yes. I said human hair headdress. Jada-Moon does many things, and will be showcasing her henna designs and creations."

Why have tea at midnight?

"Well, for generations and across cultures, midnight has been a magical time of transformation," explains Marin. "The Midnight Tea project is an attempt to co-create a space in which art becomes the sacred part of life and the reality you were part of disappears to make way for a new one."

Tickets will be on sale at the door for $12 each. People should plan to arrive at  between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. as the happening begins right at midnight.

Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea

Saturday, May 22, 11:45 p.m., $12
Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, 748 Broadway, Tacoma
mikokuro.com

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...

Mark Hoppus

May 22: Mark Hoppus takes a stand

"Nothing infuriates me more than cupcakes. There. I said it." via UberTwitter, 12:24 p.m.

April 21: Mark Hoppus fights for Mother Earth

"In honor of Earth Day tomorrow, I will continue my long-standing tradition of NOT clubbing baby seals." via TweetDeck, 5:11 p.m.

April 15: Mark Hoppus thinks about juggling hipsters at 1 a.m.

"Unicycles are the ultimate fixed-gear, which makes juggling clowns the ultimate hipsters. My unicycle'd have coaster brakes." via TweetDeck, 1:11 a.m.

Tune in next week for a new "celebrity", and a new round of Twitter Stalking, brought to you by the Weekly Volcano.

TIME TO HOP TO IT >>>

First Night - Pierce County's New Year's Eve alternative to hordes of drunken idiots, overpriced tickets, and Dick Clark's mummified visage - is on again this year, providing a family-friendly celebration rooted in the visual and performing arts. This year's event focuses on "The Year of the Rabbit" with metal as the official element and green or aqua as the official colors.

First Night Executive Director Patrice O'Neill and her herd are asking musicians, dancers, artists and instructors who want to participate in this year's event to submit proposals by Aug. 1. 2010. Criteria for judging include: relevance to community, inclusion of the rabbit theme, cost, appropriateness of material, fun, quality of performance and uniqueness.

Those interested may submit their proposals to firstnighttacoma@gmail.com.

Bring on the weekend >>>

Well, fuck. It's raining off and on and somewhat miserable outside. How am I supposed to start the weekly Prefunk - a preparatory weekend guide for you and your liver - if not by commenting on the lovely weather? I've employed that approach every week for the last month, at least - and I really didn't want to stop.

Oh, well. It is what it is. The Prefunk is coming your way, whether you like it or not.

Even better, we've got a NEW drunk pet photo this week!

For those who'd like to see their drunken pet forever immortalized on The Prefunk, send your best pictures to the Weekly Volcano for consideration. Remember, we're not encouraging you to force beer on your dog or cat, but if they already have a problem, well, what are you going to do?

DOCKYARD DERBY DAMES SEASON FOUR, BOUT THREE

Saturday, May 22

Last time around, it was Pierce College. This Saturday, Tacoma's infamous and awesome Dockyard Derby Dames will hijack the Foss Waterway Seaport for the third bout of the season - filling the typically mundane space with all sorts ferocious feminine C-blocks, J-blocks and checks. It's sure to be just as badass as you imagine.

PREFUNK: A "good friend of mine," back in my college youth, was a big fan of proclaiming the virtues of "mixing it up." To him, it was a lifestyle.  I vividly remember him trying to explain this theory on existence to a waitress at the Reef, as he tried fruitlessly to order a bourbon milkshake. She didn't get it.

Anyway, Saturday will be an interesting day at the Foss Waterway Seaport. Not only are the Derby Dames set to invade with a 6 p.m. bout, but earlier in the day the 2^nd Annual Clean, Green Boating Festival will be in full effect the same space. The Clean, Green Boating Festival will include Electric Duffy boat guided tours of the Thea Foss Waterway and Dragon boat rides.

Here's what you do: Smuggle a sixer in your jacket on to one of those Electric Duffy boat tours and take the edge off. When festival authorities inevitably confront you, noting that the reckless consumption of MGD while boating is EXACTLY THE KIND OF THOUGHTLESS BEHAVIOR the 2^nd Annual Clean, Green Boating Festival is intended to discourage, tell them to "suck it," then jump out and swim back. If you're out of shape ass happens to come across the right piece of drift wood, and luck is on your side, you should arrive back at the Foss Waterway Seaport just in time for the start of the Derby Dames bout.

Plus, there'll be a beer garden waiting for you. Awesome.

PIERCE COLLEGE JAZZ EXPO

Sunday, May 23

As you may have heard, "everything is jazz."

While that's a somewhat outdated sentiment - since the saying first surfaced research has shown only about 93% of things are jazz - still, there's something to it.

On Sunday, Pierce College is set to put on its annual Jazz Expo - now in its 37^th year. The Jeff Hamilton Trio, which includes drummer Hamilton (duh), Israeli-born piano badass Tamir Hendelman and bassist Cristoph Luty, will be the event's main draw, although the Fort Steilacoom Student Jazz Band will also have a (jazz) hand in the action.

It's a full day thing. From noon to 1 p.m., the Pierce College Jazz Expo will offer a "master class" at The Tacoma School of the Arts, 1118 Commerce St., Tacoma, and then the real fun will begin at 5 p.m. with the full blown Piece College Jazz Expo performance at the Stadium High School Auditorium.

PREFUNK: They say marijuana and jazz go hand-in-hand. Hell, even here at the Weekly Volcano we've long referred to our doobies in print as "herbal jazz cigarettes." Here's your chance to finally test out the longstanding companionship.

Burn one late Sunday morning then head out to the ‘master class" at noon. See what happens. Trust me. It'll be a good test. You'll be so jazz.

Or will you?

See you next week.

SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2010 >>>

1. The Grand Cinema will host a free screening of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, described in promotional materials as "a fun family film about bikes!" The - once again FREE - event starts at 10:30 a.m. and, well, will be a "fun family film about bikes" - kind of.

2. The Clean, Green Boating Fest runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Foss Waterway Seaport featuring "citizen science" boat tours of Commencement Bay, storm water education and more.

3. Musket volleys, bagpipes and cannons abounded when Hudson's Bay Company forts across North American celebrated Queen Victoria's birthday in the mid-1800s. Visitors to Fort Nisqually Living History Museum can relive the festivities from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, it's Bear Awareness Day over at Northwest Trek.

4. Tacoma's original roller derby league, the Dockyard Derby Dames, move to historic Foss Waterway Seaport for their third bout of season four. Three Chicks Catering, Inc. will be serving plates of barbecue grilled on-site. There is also a beer garden serving $3 wine and beer. All the action begins at 6 p.m.

5. The New York-based filmmaker Ana Joanes directed Fresh, which is being screened at 6 p.m. at the Carwein Auditorium on the UWT campus. Fresh is the result of two years of work, talking to advocates from the real food movement. Joanes said industrialized food production poses a threat to food safety and community health. The film is sponsored by the Tacoma Food Co-op.

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

SEE A PERFORMANCE TODAY >>>

DOUBT: With John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, newly founded Tacoma theater company Gold From Straw jumps directly into the deep end of the theatrical pool. Doubt is carefully designed to raise questions and avoid answers. The audience is permitted to come to their own conclusions, if they wish, but that is not the intent We are meant simply to know that we do not know, to wallow in our lack of certainty and to understand that how things seem does not dictate how things are. The characters, in turn, embrace, hide, foster, force and ignore the pervasive uncertainty of their lives. Doubt is also a play for actors. Read the full review here. 8 p.m., $22-$25, Mecca Building, 755 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.301.8004 - Joe Izenman

SIX HOTELS: "What's your deal?" one wounded character asks another in Israel Horovitz's Six Hotels, currently making its West Coast premiere at Harlequin Productions in Olympia.  It's an apt tag line for Six Hotels, a disparate collection of one-act plays.  If this anthology has any single uniting theme, it's the exposure of clandestine desires, motivations and major malfunctions. Read the full review here. 8 p.m., $22-$33, Harlequin Productions, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.786.0151 - Christian Carvajal

CRAZY AND A HALF: Elizabeth Lord's most recent endeavor is playing two different therapists in D.R. Anderson's Crazy and a Half, a play comprised of six shorts that take a satirical look at patients and their relationships with therapists. From New York crazy to California crazy, the list of characters is amusing; there's crazy mafia wife with gun, crazy bunny suit girl who works for Phantazagrams, and even crazy rockstar guy prone to sleeping through his sessions. Read more on Elizabeth Lord here. 8 p.m., $12, The Midnight Sun, 113 N. Columbia St., Olympia, 360.250.2721 - Nikki Talotta

MIKO KURO'S MIDNIGHT TEA: Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea (MKMT) - a re-emergence of performance "art happenings" through a traditional Japanese tea ceremony  - will take participants and voyeurs from Saturday to Sunday inside the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative in downtown Tacoma. The 12 MKMT participants, slots that were filled many moons ago, will experience swirls to their senses - smells, visuals, tastes and sounds - often while blindfolded. The voyeurs - you - will have a chance to watch MKMT founders Natasha Marin and Lord Loxley, both of Vancouver, B.C., lead the 12 through various spiritual stages through dance, art and tastes. 11:45 p.m., $12, Speakeasy arts Cooperative, 746 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.426.5704 - Ron Swarner

LINK: More stage shows

ONE BIG PARTY TODAY >>>

Greece Is The Word: Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church's annual Greek Taverna, which is a smaller sibling to its annual fall shindig, will be held today from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. St. Nicholas will serve gyros, manestra and keftedes, tsureki bread, salata, spanakopita, baklava, beer, wine and other beverages not as fun. There will also be Greek music and dancers. The church is at 1523 S. Yakima Ave. in Tacoma.

Wine To Beer: Water to Wine hosts a beer tasting today from 2-5 p.m. at 9014 Peacock Hill Ave. in Gig Harbor.

Birthday Party: Russ Heaton, co-owner of Doyle's Public House, celebrates his 40^th birthday at 8 p.m. inside his joint. Celtic rockers Ockham’s Razorwill be in the house, too.

Happy Hour: GoodFella's Italian Steakhouse in Lakewood hosts a Saturday happy hour from 4-7 p.m. They offer half-off all drinks as well as $5 appetizers. More happy hours can be found here.

Future Things Are Coming: The Varsity Grill has brought back its monthly Martini Club, which will be held Thursday, May 27 from 5-7 p.m. Your $5 allows you free appetizers and $5 martinis.

Food Matters: Do you really have to replace your cumin and sage every six months? Salon asks the experts.

LINK: Restaurant coupons

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Send us your restaurant and lounge news

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Garage Rock: Night Beats are a duo, originally from the Lone Star State, who've carved out a niche for themselves in Seattle's garage rock underbelly. And while the song titles on their Street EP may inspire a sense of menace, violence and devastation (with "H-Bomb" and "Stampede" complemented by the creepy, enigmatic pronoun of "They Came in Through the Window"), Night Beats' sound isn't all that fearsome - they trade in an appreciably familiar brand of fuzz-spangled, surfadelic rock. They sound like a band that's lost out of time, not so much because they recall early wail-hunting '60s pioneers, but more because if only they'd emerged during the post-millennial rock boom (alongside acts like The Strokes and The White Stripes), they'd be household names by now. I wouldn't worry too much about this band's prospects, though - they've got serious abilities. With Apache Chief, Red Hex, and Basemint, 8 p.m., Bob's Java Jive, 2102 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843 - Jason Baxter

Electro-Folk: Despite the band turning up their nose at the English language, Makeing Tents is deserving of attention. Creating music that they refer to as "electro-wilderness" - a term that denotes the mashing together of folk and electronics - the band frequently finds and presents arresting moments that result from the collision of musical viewpoints. Now, if only I could convince them to borrow my copy of A Writer's Reference. Meet me half-way, Makeing Tents. With Soft Paws and Thought Bandit, Saturday, May 22, 10 p.m., no cover, Le Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710 - Rev. Adam McKinney

All Ages: As popular music moves into the future and becomes drenched in drones, break beats, intrusive synthesizers and various other ephemera, there will always be a contingent of musicians who will push to bring it back to its roots - or closer to them, at any rate. The Marrying Type, Canon Canyon and Xylophones, all performing on the same bill at the Den, will represent three interpretations of this attitude. Canon Canyon recall the Americana of ‘70's singer-songwriters, all hope and love in the midst of youthful crisis. Xylophones bring it all back to guitar and drums with their plaintive, minimalist pop songs. Finally, The Marrying Type introduce haze to the mix, performing the kind of dream-folk you'd expect to hear as background noise to the majority of our family videos. Saturday, May 22, 8 p.m., The Den @ urbanXchange, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280 - Rev. AM

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2010 >>>

1. The Swiss hosts a Gayl Bertagni Culinary Arts Scholarship Benefit show from 3-11 p.m. featuring by Rosati and the Lonely Guy, The Lillie Bros. featuring the Stoned Evergreen Traveller, Heidi Vladyka, Deborah Page, Troy Hill, Last Chance Romeos, and China Davis. There will also be a large raffle. Bertagni was a former Swiss co-owner who died tragically in May 2009

2. Concise History of Northwest Art, the exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum that explores major movements, important figures, and pivotal moments in the art history of the Northwest closes today. Catch it for the last time from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. San Francisco Opera's Puccini's Madama Butterfly - the dramatic opera telling of colliding hearts and cultures set in nineteenth-century Japan - will be shown on the Washington Center's screen at 2 p.m.

4. Tacoma Community College Music Chair John Falskow leads Brass Unlimited, Sounds of Brass Players and trumpet soloist Tracy Hooker in Music from the Stage and Screen at 4 p.m. inside TCC Auditorium Building 3.

5. Holy Komodo and the Feelings pull off the impressive trick of feeling intrinsically Northwest while at the same time appealingly worldly. Their embrace of some of garage rock's tropes is cozy, while their subtle incorporation of things like Latin rhythms or zydeco flavor expands the music into something far more original. It's the kind of music you'd hope to hear at an all-night party by a bonfire, if anything that cool could ever happen around here. They perform with Palace of Buddies, Wisdom Teeth, and Girls From Mars at 10 p.m. inside Le Voyeur.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound