SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2010 >>>

1. We're all too familiar with the "Is graffiti art?" debate. Every time we publish a graffiti story our Web site goes berserk at the hands of angry suburbanites with keyboards. They'd be well served to see the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop showing at The Grand Cinema. An acclaimed documentary resulting from a French shopkeeper tracking down world renowned, but highly guarded graffiti artist Banksy, this is a film being talked about for good reason. Luckily, today at 4:30 p.m. - after a 3 p.m. screening of the film -  there's an organized discussion about the film.

2. Score Safeco Field's beautiful planters and hanging baskets as part of the W.W. Seymour Conservatory Spring Plant Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Metro Parks greenhouses at Point Defiance Park.

3. Would you like to see why Jeremy Mangan won the 2009 Foundation of Art Award from The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation? A peek at his show at Fulcrum Gallery might provide a good clue. His work will be on display from noon to 6 p.m.

4. The West Coast Gospel Fest featuring Ami Rushes, Moses Tyson Jr., Angela "Missy" Billups, Bishop Sam Williams, Eric Carrington, Jimmy Hill, Terri McConnel, Elizabethtown Community Choir, Gail Fly, Shirley Bell, Chuck Anderson and others will rock the Rialto Theater beginning at 7:30 p.m.

5. James Hunnicutt, The Kings, Dead Hookers. James Hunnicutt will be headlining Malarkey's Pool and Brew show featuring The Kings, a punk rock tribute to Elvis Presley, and the Dead Hookers from Bellingham, beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC TODAY IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Jazz/Blues: In a year ripe with new Tacoma music festivals, let us not forget the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival, set to engulf T-town Saturday with a big band stage at Freighthouse Square, a blues stage at the Harmon Pub, and an after party at Stonegate Pizza. Organized by the crew-cut, horn-blowin' Rich Wetzel, and The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, the festival shows off Tacoma and supports music education in our schools. It's hard to go wrong. Saturday, May 29, starts at 12:30 p.m., Harmon and Freighthouse Square, no cover, then $5 after party at Stonegate Pizza, see full schedule: tacomajazzfestival.com - Michael Swan

Pop: Remember all those times you've taken cross-country road trips, discovered hidden truths about yourself, and - ultimately - come of age? Sure you do. You laid down in the back seat, feet hanging out the window, millions of miles of road ahead and behind you. Do you remember what was on the radio? It probably sounded something like The Donkeys. They make warm, open, AM pop; if you'd stayed home instead of hitting the road, you might have heard it while sitting on your front porch, barefoot and admiring the setting sun. There are moments throughout the songs of the Donkeys that sound so damn familiar - you'll swear you've been hearing them all your life. It's a deeply unpretentious throwback, which can be a rather uncommon occurrence. With Austin Cooper and guests, Saturday, May 29, 9 p.m., all ages, $6, Northern, 321 Fourth Ave. Olympia - Rev. Adam McKinney

Rock: Just think. Ten years of sound bouncing off sweaty, hip, vegan bodies and concrete walls. Ten years of smells. Ten years of Olympia's Le Voyeur - which night after night seems to provide this fine rag with something bizarre, brazen or brilliant (sometimes all of the above) in the form of eclectic musical offerings. Saturday, Le Voyeur celebrates Part II of its 10th anniversary bonanza with Chief. It'll be more awesome than the chicken fried tofu. Saturday, may 29, 10 p.m., no cover, Le Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710 - Michael Swan

Hardcore: One of the Viaduct's crowning achievements has been the annual Rain Fest, a massive hardcore music festival spanning three days.  Since its inception in 2007, Rain Fest has served as a magnet for big names in the hardcore scene from the past and present. This year, Rain Fest has seven bands flying in, for a grand total of 50 bands over three days.  Scheduled to perform today: Backtrack, Black SS, The Bonus Army, Broadway Calls, The Carrier, Crooks to Kings, Disembodied, The Fake Boys, Gravemaker, Indecision, Keep It Clear, Like Wolves, Losing Skin, Pressvre (last show), Putrid Brew, Sabertooth Zombie, Sixes, Truth And Rights, Vanguard (last show), and Withdrawal. Saturday, May 29, 6 p.m., all ages, $20-$25, The Viaduct, 5412 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, viaductvenue.com - Justin Miller

LINK: More live music today in the South Sound

SATURDAY A.M.  >>>

As was noted in this week's Volcano, I'll be in The Middle of Fucking Nowhere for the next three days - better known as the Gorge in George - for the annual indie music extravaganza that is the Sasquatch! Music Festival.

There might be some Crooked Rain, and things could even start to feel Slanted and Enchanted. The weekend will no doubt be wrought with references to Gideon and Charlemagne, townies, tattoos and, of course, parties.

And that's just The Hold Steady and the reunited Pavement - the tip of the Sasquatch! iceberg. Over the next three days, Shabazz Palaces, Vampire Weekend, MGMT (and their disappointing second record), Quasi, Freelance Whales, The Long Winters, Public Enemy, comedians Patton Oswalt and Rory Scovel, Dr. Dog, Temper Trap, Jaguar Love - and about a zillion other equally exciting bands will be battling the elements and taking in the beauty of the Gorge with the rest of us in the sold out crowd - naturally delivering rock-festival-primed sets when they're not relaxing backstage or taking in the majesty that is thousand and thousands of bearded Pitchfork readers.

Later today, at around 5 p.m., legendary Seattle (Bellingham) popsters The Posies will take the stage; they're no strangers to big crowds and massive events. Over a career that started way back in 1987, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer have done just about everything there is to do in rock ‘n roll. The last time I saw them, Auer and Stringfellow were in Austin for SXSW, where they were a part of one of the most memorable shows of the festival - the legitimately-touching tribute to Big Star frontman Alex Chilton, who passed away the day SXSW opened. Auer and Stringfellow, as you probably know, had performed with Chilton off-and-on for years as part of a reunited Big Star, and the band was scheduled to play the SXSW on March 20. Instead, Auer, Stringfellow and anyone else who was anybody at SXSW (basically) crammed into a sweaty Austin club on an unusually cold Austin night, and paid tribute to a true pioneer.  By all accounts, it was truly moving.

Today, in mere hours, Stringfellow and Auer, as the Posies, will play to a much bigger crowd - as part of what's quickly becoming and equally important yearly event in the music world. Planning on drawing heavily from new material, from a record the Posies are currently working on, Stringfellow is looking forward to Sasquatch! 2010 - which somewhat amazingly, will  be his first experience with the festival.

"When I moved away to France, Sasquatch was still all String Cheese Incident," says Stringfellow, who is married to French band manager, Dominique Sassi.

"Sasquatch is part of a network, if you will, of regional hipster festivals like Coachella, Pitchfork, Bonnaroo, etc. that pretty much let Generation Now congregate and revel together in their collective coolness and exquisite taste," he continues. "It's much needed, for sure-these are the kind of things that happen every six blocks in Europe during summer, but I have to give Sasquatch credit for sniffing the wind early and really building up a great lineup and a massive festival in just a few scant years here amongst the gringos."

As for the band's set this afternoon...

"I believe we will be focusing on the next record, which we're working on right now, the songs really show how far we've come over the last years," says Stringfellow. "I think our current material is very much in step with what's going on at Sasquatch, and I would be aghast if all we had to present was a collection of hits from the 90s. Barf."

So, who are you excited to see at Sasquatch! 2010. If you're not going, who are you bummed to be missing?

Follow the Sasquatch 2010! action right here and via Twitter - @weeklyvolcano. I'll be posting tasty tidbits, pictures and recaps throughout the weekend - or as much as the press tent Internet in The Middle of Fucking Nowhere will allow.

And stay connected. Hit me up through Twitter at either @weeklyvolcano or @mattsdriscoll to let me know what I should be checking out.

SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010 >>>

1. The Secret in Their Eyes - screening today at noon, 2:45, 5:45 and 8:25 p.m. at The Grand Cinema -was the 2010 Oscar winner as best foreign film.  Moving between 1974 and 2000 in Buenos Aires, it completes the third acts of two stories, one involving a murder, the other a romance.  Writer-director Juan Jose Campanella brings extraordinary care to his lovingly crafted film, and his actors are well cast for why he needs them.  The kind of movie they literally don't make much anymore. Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars.

2. International chess sets and individual playing pieces from prominent collections are on display at the Washington State History Museum from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. Bernard Shaw's famous play Major Barbara dismantles a cherished idea: "Right is right; and wrong is wrong; and if a man cannot distinguish them properly, he is either a fool or a rascal." Anyone in tonight's Tacoma Little Theatre audience, who believes this, is, like the twit who speaks it, in for a good moral tweaking by this socialist-capitalist-diabolical play, which begins at 2 p.m.

4. 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 - which will be stage at 2 p.m. inside the Mecca Building - 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. Read the full review here.

5. This month the Jazz Live at Marine View features reunites the ever popular singer Stephanie Porter with her longtime musical sidekick trumpeter Lance Buller from 5-6:30 p.m. inside the Marine View Presbyterian Church at 8469 Eastside Dr. in Tacoma.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC TODAY IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Rock: Isis will be in Olympia tonight with Christian Mistress and Brooklyn's Tombs, playing an all-ages show at the Capitol Theater - and you'll want to be there. The legendary, atmospheric and epic band's current jaunt marks Isis' last tour. Luckily, the amiable break-up is merely the result of the band feeling accomplished, like they did what they set out to do: rock heads. They're right. Isis has been doing just that for 13 years - producing exactly the kind of music you want to hear while drinking, driving, fucking, waking up, or feeling like a bad ass just for being smart enough to know this band, though not necessarily in that order. Isis will be joining the Melvins at Bonnaroo later this year and are releasing a 12" split with the quintessential sludgers later this summer. With Christian Mistress and Brooklyn's Tombs, Sunday, May 30, 8 p.m., all ages, $13, Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave., Olympia, 360.754.6670 - Nikki Talotta

Psychedelic Rock: Say you're in Oly tonight and you don't feel like getting your head bashed in by Isis (see above). Fair enough. Fortunately for you, San Francisco's Citay will also be in town, taking every de-tuned guitar bludgeoning that may be offered up a few blocks away at the Capitol Theater, and returning the favor with Citay songwriter Ezra Feinberg's huge, majestic, wondrous, all-encompassing sonic expanses - meticulously crafted and laden with musicianship so skillful that the intricacy consumes the listener. If you're looking for an endorsement, know that Tim Green of the Fucking Champs helped the band birth its latest record, the indulgent Dream Get Together. What more are you looking for? With La Corde and Mega bog, Sunday, May 30, 8 p.m., all ages, $6, Northern, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org - Matt Driscoll

Indie rock: Today, after Wheelies and Makeup Monsters finish wreaking havoc on The Den's stage - in a sonically awesome way - none other than Jaguar Love and Juiceboxx will hit the all-ages music venue, surely packing all the indie sheakness both acts carry with them. Comprised of former members of Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Blood Brothers, predominatly featuring Cody Votolato (yes, Rocky's bro) and Johnny Whitney - Jaguar Love wrecked SXSW this year, and the band's intense set should play nicely within the Den's open embrace. The band will then head east to the Gorge to play Sasquatch! Monday afternoon. Juiceboxxx, an acclaimed rap artist from Milwaukee, has also experienced SXSW success and should add nothing but sheer awesomeness to the bill. Sunday, May 30, 5 p.m., all ages, The Den, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280 - MD

Hardcore: One of the Viaduct's crowning achievements has been the annual Rain Fest, a massive hardcore music festival spanning three days.  Since its inception in 2007, Rain Fest has served as a magnet for big names in the hardcore scene from the past and present. This year, Rain Fest has seven bands flying in, for a grand total of 50 bands over three days.  Scheduled to perform today: Another Breath, Cowardice, Dangers, End of a Year, Expire, Hammer Bros, Harms Way, Ill Intent, Mindset, Not Sorry, Oblivion, Odd Rule, Owen Hart, Power, Punch, Sidetracked, Terror, Title Fight, White Wards, and Xibalba. Sunday, May 30, 6 p.m., all ages, $20-$25, The Viaduct, 5412 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, viaductvenue.com - Justin Miller

LINK: More live music today in the South Sound

FIRST DAY RECAP, DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS >>>

Mothers and fathers of America - these are your children.

They come from comfortable suburban cul-de-sacs, liberal arts schools and YouTube - Day-Glo hippies with short attention spans and a thing for Miike Snow. They wear fake neon Raybans, side ponytails and face paint - like the entire festival is an MGMT photo shoot: a generation as apathetic and distracted as its music. It's like the ‘60s fucked the ‘80s, and this is what we've been left with - these are tomorrow's leaders, and they know the score. The only way to cope is through irony. Please excuse them while they update their Facebook statuses and quickly move on to the next big "indie" thing.

Sasquatch! 2010 kicked off yesterday, in case you couldn't tell.

Now in its ninth year, Sasquatch! has become an indie rock institution, the Pacific Northwest's fair-trade-coffee drinking Coachella. After taking a year or two to establish its identity - and ditch String Cheese - creators of Sasquatch! have tapped into something real, undeniable and wealthy enough to buy $11 beers - a strain of culture unfit for mainstream music, though far more mainstream than it'd probably like to admit. A sect of young people and concert goers that just want to load up the hatchback, have a good time, and not worry about much other than crystal clear guitar lines and pop built for computer speakers.

In an atmosphere like this, a band like the Posies - who played yesterday - has an uphill climb. Based on the relatively small, milling crowd in front of the "Honda Bigfoot Solar Stage" for the band's set, this is not a crowd particularly familiar with the Posies' history, or place in it.

And if they are, they just don't really care.

Is this the stage Miike Snow is coming up on? Are you getting cell service?

"Rock and roll was this great music that swept the land," Ken Stringfellow joked with the crowd at one point, perhaps a little oblivious himself to how poignant the words were for this place and time.

After retreating from soundcheck to don identical black hipster jackets, Miike Snow - which for those playing at home is band from Sweden, not simply a dude with a strangely spelled name (it's pronounced Mee-Kay Snow) - emerged from backstage to the warm embrace of an overflowing crowd in front of the Honda Bigfoot Whatever-The-Fuck Stage. The crowd was easily seven times as large as it was for the Posies' set (that's just for comparison sake - I understand the Posies are old), and they were all very happy to see the electro, guitar cool and the bearded, emotional warriors of Miike Snow. The band broke into a building and swelling set - highlighted by the song "Silvia" - and the happiness only multiplied. It left me wondering what it is kids are looking for today in music - what they're searching for. If Miike Snow is any indication, it's soundtrack music, like you should be driving dark, slick, deserted city streets and sitting on leather seats  - and maybe that's OK.

Craig Finn of The Hold Steady - who came on after Miike Snow, to an amazingly smaller crowd - is the only man in the history of music, perhaps, with an ability to make air quotes rock 'n' roll. And god bless him for it.  In a festival so far filled with edgeless, computer rock - The Hold Steady held its own, even if the partying, townies and druggies references might be getting a little tired, and the attention of the kids may be moving on. Drawing heavily from a catalog comprised of similarly tempoed, literary party rock numbers - the band didn't disappoint those who knew what they were there to see - even if the numbers were not what you might have expected.

TODAY

Before Pavement, Public Enemy, or even The xx, Freelance Whales or Cymbals Eat Guitars can do their thing today, comedian Rory Scovel will hold court in the "Verizon Rumpus Room" - which is basically a big tent meant for comedians and fire-juggling (no joke).

Scovel says you're never quite sure what you'll get at a scene like Sasquatch!

"It can be scary to do a show semi-outdoors competing with the noise of the bands on the other stages simply because comedy can require so much attention to detail, but it can also be really fun.  It forces you to perform in a new way and find something different to connect with the audience," says Scovel. "It's a challenge that I think can be really fun to play with.  There is a bit of a battle, especially as someone people haven't heard of before.  People will simply be in the tent because they are curious, not because they know what they are getting."

Who is Scovel excited to see?

"I think Patton Oswalt is someone to learn quite a bit from, so I won't miss that set for any bands," says Scovel. "I've never seen Ween live, interested in hearing the new stuff from Band of Horses, Patrick Watson, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, The National, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, the xx, MGMT, Passion Pit to name a few that I'm excited about.  I love hearing new bands."

LINK: More Sasquatch! 2010 photos

LINK: Sasquatch! 2010 Day One

LINK: Matt Driscoll's Sasquatch! preview feature

MONDAY, MAY 31, 2010 >>>

1. The Mountain View Funeral Home & Memorial Park hosts a Veterans Memorial Day Service featuring keynote speaker Col. Mike Johnson, Washington National Guard, performances by a local veterans' group, bag pipers and JBLM bugler beginning at 2 p.m.

2. The Budgie Buddies are back from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop is not just the definitive portrait of street-art counterculture, but also a hilarious expose on the gullibility of the masses who embrace manufactured creative personas. This fascinating and funny film - that Roger Ebert gave three and a half out of four stars - screens at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9:05 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

4. O'Malley's Irish Pub's Rebel Monday/Industry Night features DJ Jason Diamond spinning roots reggae beginning at 9 p.m.

5. Sing karaoke with a live band at 9 p.m. inside Jazzbones.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

SUNDAY RECAP AND MONDAY PREVIEW >>>

There's nothing easy about the Sasquatch! Music Festival. They make you work for it.

First and foremost - don't believe anyone that tells you different; the Gorge is in The Middle of Fucking Nowhere. The view is spectacular, of course - and there's really nothing in the world like sitting on that hill watching an awe inspiring band dwarfed by the awe of Mother Nature. But come on. Facts are facts. People wouldn't spend much time here if it wasn't for the amphitheatre - and for good reason. It's not comfortable.  It's the Middle of Fucking Nowhere, and beer costs $11.

Sunday, however, was a good reminder that the Gorge isn't just hard on the drunken masses - it's hard on the drunken artists too. As a reunited, aged Pavement struggled through their set to what seemed like half the number of bodies that'd packed the main stage just moments earlier for LCD Soundsystem - the prevailing vibe of the festival so far being that of good times, getting-drunk, and-raving out in The Middle of Fucking Nowhere, not checking out bands known by people born prior to 1990 - you were reminded of this. Pedals malfunctioned. Stephen Malkmus - who was either a little drunk or more aloof AND COOLER THAN FUCKING EVER - stopped songs on at least two occasions, cussing and apologizing to the crowd in the process. A rare old man standing next to me - in the sea of youth that is Sasquatch! - got visibly frustrated, yelling "Come on!" the second time Malkmus halted. Most in the crowd, however, just felt sorry for Pavement. Something tells me that's not how they planned it.

On the Honda Bigfoot Solar Stage, Public Enemy met a similar, technically difficult, fate - though Chuck D and Flava Flav were far from aloof. Though it's difficult to call being in the presence of two of the most important bands of a generation, in The Middle of Fucking Nowhere of all places, a letdown - it's hard to classify yesterday's Pavement and Public Enemy sets as anything but - though both acts did have redeeming moments.

The weather cooled Sunday, not that it was incredibly hot on Saturday - but the drop in temperature and the clouds overhead seemed to have a calming effect on the youthful, half-naked, face painted youth. The overall vibe was less belligerent, and people had more clothes on. These were both positive developments.

Other highlights, you ask?

LCD Soundsystem doesn't blow my skirt up, but I've never seen the Gorge dance as one like it did when the band held down the main stage - and I once went to a Phish show (though only for the hallucinogens). It was an impressive sight.

Carrying on the electronically infatuated theme, The xx drew one of the bigger crowds of the day - droning and buzzing on the Bigfoot stage as afternoon worked its way into evening. On a day that included LCD Soundsystem and Massive Attack, you would assume The xx benefited to some extent - but it could just as easily be hypothesized that the massive swirl of hype around the band has thoroughly made its way to the masses.

Finally, tUnE-YarDs - which is basically just one talented woman, Merrill Garbus, working out her musical, tribal demons - laid down what was easily one of the most captivating sets of the festival. Tossing chanting, vocal loops on top of electric ukulele and a whole lot of low-fi, experimental - technology meets rock in a warm, real way - charisma, Garbus and tUnE-YarDs definitely made new fans Sunday. Halfway through the set, Garbus admitted it was her first Sasquatch! - and her first major festival.

She then admitted to having a shitload of fun - a fact already obvious to those smart enough to be paying attention her.

MONDAY

The Day-Glo facepaint and headbands should be out in force with MGMT in the house, but let us not forget Ween, The New Pornographers and Band of Horses - not to mention Jaguar Love (straight off their Tacoma show at The Den), Temper Trap, Quasi and Dr. Dog.

It's enough to make a guy wish he was 22 again, didn't have to work on Tuesday, and owned more neon clothing.

LINK: Photos from Sasquatch 2010

LINK: Sasquatch! Day One Preview

LINK: Sasquatch! Day One Recap

LINK: Sasquatch! Preview

RUNNING PROUD >>>

I snapped this photo just outside Steilacoom High School in Lakewood this morning.

On behalf of the Weekly Volcano and Swarner Communications, I'd like to extend special prayers and thanks for those who died serving our country, and those brave soldiers, and their families, who still serve.

LAUREATE LOVE >>>

Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker is also the secretary for the Puget Sound Poetry Connection. Robacker would like the world to know that PSPC has a new Web site and blog.

She writes, "The PSPC website is a great way to check out what is going on at PSPC, how to contact us, and to learn who the monthly featured poet is for our Distinguished Writers Series, which happens the 2nd Friday of every month at Kings Books, Tacoma. The PSPC blog is our way of posting and highlighting the hundreds of poetry and literary events, workshops, readings and poetry goings-on we hear about through emails, poets, friends, and listservs."

By the way, Robacker's next reading will be Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Public Library main branch.

LINK: Robacker receives some TNT love