SIXTH AVENUE BEAT >>>

The time has almost arrived for Sumner to pass along the café torch, and for Tacoma's Sixth Avenue to finally acquire another fantastic independent business. Remember? When I announced THIS awesome news!

Well, Beyond the Bridge Café (BBC) is not only changing locations, but also changing a few customer favorites.  What was once known as "Live at the BBC" (a monthly musical performance by various, upcoming local artists) will be warped into a newly fashioned show renamed as "The Phoenix."  Characters referred to as "Bots" will perform a monthly theme set to music from local bands and musicians.

Prepare to be thoroughly entertained, as the BBC's opening "Phoenix" will include the infamous Kate Monthy performing as her alter ego "Nadia Dawn," and be set to live music by Vicci Martinez.  Mark your calendars for the Sept. 24and 25 performances.  Tickets go one sale July 1 through brownpapertickets.com and will be priced somewhere around $15 each.  As the case in Sumner, the new Tacoma BBC will be an all-ages venue.

A soft opening is projected to occur in unity with this year's Art on the Ave event July 11.

Inside the new BBC venue expect to see large couches, a staging area, friendly vibes, beer on tap, and walls showcasing art by students of Tacoma School of the Arts. 

The menu will consist of homemade soups, quiches, and the BBC's infamous and ever-popular bagel sandwiches.

During my visit yesterday, owners Ben and Trish Rubke introduced me to their very own resident coffee enthusiast, Melissa Harris, who plans to implement a barista competition, and a BYOV event.  After I slipped them a $5 bill to buy my way onto the judges' table, I asked what in the hell a "BYOV" event was.  "Bring your own vessel," Harris explains.  Apparently original, one-of-a-kind created vessel that can hold coffee will be displayed and sold for donations. 

I immediately began to wonder how I could transform my bra into an operating dual coffee vessel.  Hmmmmm.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Rebirth for Tacoma's Spanish Steps is near

Tacoma City Council had a first reading on street vendor rule changes.

Pres. Obama gave his first Oval Office speech last night. Everyone hated it.

FBI records show the Kennedy brothers participated in presidential orgies.

Scientists are studying Ozzy Osborne's blood to figure out how he is still alive.

A SHORT TIME AGO AT A RESTAURANT NOT SO FAR FAR AWAY ... >>>

On the drive in to the Weekly Volcano World Headquarters the sign at Captain Nemo's in University Place caught my eye.

Did Jango Fett have a mutant clone, too?

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...

Jessica Simpson

June 15: Jessica Simpson tells it how it is (?)

"True- went to the doctor yesterday False- plastic surgery" 10:47 a.m., via UberTwitter

March 5: Jessic Simpson dives into poetry

Just woke up after falling asleep reading this book "poemcrazy"! Poems that are crazy normally keep me awake!" 3:07 a.m., via UberTwitter

March 3: All Jessica Simpson does is clean out her closets

"Cleaning out my closets...20 boxes of NO's so far. Really? I bought this? My lord!! Hahaha" 8:24 p.m., via UberTwitter

Tune in tomorrow for more tweets from the life of Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson)

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010 >>>

1. "Basically, I'm ripping off SXSW," Q-Dot, lead man behind the first annual Grit City Fest, tells us.  And it's not a bad thing.  Q-Dot envisions a day when Grit City Fest encompasses more than just great shows, but full days of workshops, seminars and music industry goodness. The Grit City Fest kicks off tonight with shows at The Den and Hell's Kitchen, as well as a first-rate workshop at 6 p.m. inside The Den @ urbanXchange featuring Ben London of the Recording Academy, Shelli Martineau of Conversify and Q-Dot himself, the festival's music director and also a force behind Tre'dmarks.

2. The Giant Bicycle truck will roll into Tacoma Bike's parking lot with a truck load of information about women-specific bike frames, maintenance and riding during the first Tacoma Bike Women's Day from 2-8 p.m.

3. The Love Tacoma lovers will gather at 5:30 p.m. inside The Workz Café at the Tacoma Art Museum to discuss how much they love Tacoma while chowing down on sandwiches and burgers, hello, cupcake treats and sipping the Love Tacoma Signature drink. Love it.

4. Jeremy Mangan's paintings are inventive, thought provoking, humorous, technically marvelous and beautifully composed. What more can you ask of a painting? A painting can't feed the hungry of stop war or heal a broken heart, but it can remind us that the world we live in is not all humdrum and ugly. That's what Mangan's paintings do. With his exhibit of new paintings, Build To Suit, currently on display at Fulcrum Gallery, Mangan will deliver an artist talk from 6-9 p.m. at said MLK gallery.

5. St. Patrick's Day celebrations aren't easy. You must practice to prepare yourself for the zaniness that goes down every March 17. Doyle's Public House knows this. That's why the host monthly St. Practice Day parties, of which happens tonight at 9 p.m. featuring the rockin' Celtic band Shillelagh Jack.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

DINING NEWS, NIBBLES AND BITS >>>

Fresh Today: The Tacoma Farmers Market opens at 8:30 a.m. today and runs until 2 p.m. featuring multiple lunch options, kids activities, local produce, roots music by Tommy Dean and DJ Bobby Galaxy spinning classic soul and R&B.

Beer Dinner: Brix 25 hosts its Gig Harbor neighbor 7 Seas Brewing for a beer dinner tonight - 6 and 6:30 p.m. seating - featuring  7 Seas current releases paired with five courses prepared by Chef Thad Lyman.

You Can Dine On The Cliff Again: Speaking of Gig Harbor, Sue Glenn, owner of The Green Turtle restaurant, will reopen The Cliff House Restaurant and Lounge today. Established in 1925, this restaurant has one of the best dining views around.

Future Things Are Coming: El Gaucho Tacoma's wine captains' Scott Schultz and Mark Gaimster invite you to join them for a wine dinner - sipping and swirling - some of their favorite West Coast wineries Friday, June 18, 6-9 p.m. For $75, you can sip treats fromBaer Winery, Corvus Cellars, DeLILLE Cellars, Gifford Hirlinger Winery, Justin Vineyards, Owen Roe Winery, Pont 21, Seven Hills Winery, and Sokol Blosser Winery while enjoying the fruits of Executive Chef Kevin Daft's labor. To reserve your space, call 253.272.1510.

Food Matters: Burger King unveils solar panels, part of its BK Positive Steps. Still no grass-fed beef.

LINK: South Sound Happy Hours

LINK: Restaurant coupons

LINK: Join the Nosh League

DO THE ARTWALK >>>

If you find yourself inexplicably irritated and anxious lately, maybe you need a time-out. By "time-out, " I don't mean standing in the corner or sacking out on the couch like some little munchkin.  I'm talking about tonight's Third Thursday Artwalk in Tacoma, officially from 5-8 p.m. Step one: You can never experience too much art, and tonight businesses hang art in honor of the Artwalk, museums allow free admission, and the galleries haul out the nibbles and sips.  Step two: Screw walking - take the ART BUS!

Here are a few stops to make tonight:

BKB & COMPANY: The gallery of wearable art and contemporary craft on Pacific Avenue hosts Mukilteo artist Robin Larson's fused glass exhibit through July. Larson's tables, sculpture and tableware reflects her fascination with the art of kiln formed glass, a process that requires cutting the glass, layout design and slumping and firing the pieces - the stuff Fawn Lebowitz dreamed of before her horrible accident. Expect hand painting and metal recesses in her glass pieces. Also, just for Artwalk, BKB will sell two tokens for the Art*o*mat machine for $5. 5-8 p.m., 1734 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.6884

MAD HAT TEA COMPANY: The downtown Tacoma teashop will pull art gems out from the "Private Collection" for Artwalk night. However, owners Maureen and Tobin main focus will be on throwing artist/designer/musician Daniel Blue a birthday slash going away party featuring music by Andrew Sherbrooke. 7-9 p.m., 1130 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.441.2111

MINERAL: Mineral opens a new exhibit featuring small survey of works by Nicholas Nyland includes watercolor paintings and ceramic sculptures titled Nicholas Nyland: Ceramics and Works on Paper. An embrace of color characterizes all of the work, with paintings that resemble tangled webs of marks; and hand-built, glazed ceramics that range from loose, organic abstractions to small pyramids. 5-8 p.m., 301 Puyallup Ave., two doors down from Tacoma Bike, 253.250.7745

253 COLLECTIVE: Hot on the heels of her contributions to the Korean Art Exhibition at the Pierce College Fine Art Gallery in Lakewood, Tacoma artist Lorraine Toler continues paint the story of her mother Kim, Okchun, and her escape from North Korea as a young girl - leaving behind her entire family - with a show at the 253 Collective. Toler's art will be available for purchase by silent auction with 10 percent of all proceeds donated to Tacoma Art Place. 4-8:30 p.m., 1901 S. Jefferson, Suite 100, Tacoma, 253collective@gmail.com

LINK: More visual art viewing opportunities in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Rock: There are far too many people who would be ashamed to say they like something as fundamentally shallow and conventional as AC/DC, but I'm not one of them. I think this is part of why I've grown to love Big Wheel Stunt Show. They don't sound like AC/DC, per se. They have a little more energy than the Aussies' relentless groove and a little more of a punk rock, grungy tinge. But on some level they occupy the same headspace within the dark bowels of my musically eccentric brainpan. Thursday, June 17, Grit City fest with Paris Spleen, Destruction Island, and Fun Police, 9 p.m., VIP pass $40, weekend pass $25, $12 at door, Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003 - Joe Izenman

Roots Pop: Stop your goddamn giggling and get onboard with Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three. Yes, dagnabbit, his name IS Pokey LaFarge! Shilling a brilliant new record, Riverboat Soul, and coming the Mandolin Café in Tacoma Thursday and Olympia on Saturday with his band, The South City Three, guitarist LaFarge will bust out the old-time flavored American roots meshed with off-beat pop sensibilities, to the delight of all ears within hollerin' distance. Check it. Thursday, June 17, 9 p.m., Mandolin Café, 3923 S. 12th St., Tacoma, 253.761.3482 - Michael Swan

Rock: There's something to be said for keeping a foot or two on the ground. For as much as aspirations may urge them to rise into the sky, Destruction Island keeps their feet planted on Earth. Every arena ready element that invades their music is always tempered with a ground level, charming, analog element like a chord organ. It's confident rock music that rejects pretension in embrace of humanism and quirky humor. To become a band as well liked as Destruction Island without abandoning integrity in favor of jerky rockstarism is a very good thing. Thursday, June 17, Grit City Fest with Paris Spleen, Big Wheel Stunt Show, and Fun Police, 9 p.m., VIP pass $40, weekend $25, $12 at door, Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003 -The Rev. Adam McKinney

Folk Punk: The Fun Police are one of the most hardworking, unique and entertaining bands in the state. With their eclectic folk punk style and brilliantly executed pop sensibilities this multi-instrumental ensemble never fails to deliver. Their infectious energy and dynamic, well-crafted songwriting are undeniable. Comprising an array of talented players and seasoned vets of the local music scene, this is a band with a look and sound all their own. If you haven't seen this amazing group in action yet, you owe it to yourself to do so. This is what independent music is all about. Thursday, June 17, Grit City Fest with Paris Spleen, Big Wheel Stunt Show, and Destruction Island, 9 p.m., VIP pass $40, weekend $25, $12 at door, Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003 - Potter

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

WE WERE THERE >>>

This past April, The KAke and I forced our way in to one of Tacoma's reality TV milestones - appearing in a taping of Chefs vs. City, the Food Network's food-style race.  The foodie challenge stopped by The Red Hot, our favorite local hotdoggery, and with beers in hand we sat in for the long haul.  For two mornings in a row, The KAke and I took on the incredibly hard job of sitting our asses on The Red Hot's barstools and watching camera technicians dodge each other in cramped quarters.  The curtains were closed, and onlookers such as ourselves kept our lips zipped, as we were afraid to disturb any of the show's crew. 

So now the time has come, my friends, to witness the fruits of our hard, beer drinking labor and see what Chefs vs. City can do in our beautiful Seattle/Tacoma area (The Red Hot was the only Tacoma venue films). Friday, June 18, at 10 p.m., you can catch the infamous episode spotlighting The Red Hot's two Chris' (both Fuzzy and Miller) on the Food Network (Channel 48 for Click Network, Channel 35 for Comcast users).

Set you DVR, pop some popcorn, and crack open a tall cool one. It will almost be as though you were right there with us.

LINK: Our first report on the taping

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...

Jessica Simpson

June 16: Jessica Simpson tries new things

"I ate tofu for the first time last night! It was yummy! You know your from TX when you have to dip it in ketchup. Ha." 7:31 a.m., via UberTwitter

February 22: Jessica Simpson wrestles with the Big Questions

"I'm thinking about getting a pet pig. Does this mean I'll have to give up pork?" 12:10 p.m., via Twitter for Blackberry

February 20: Ahhh! Fuck! Make it stop!

"The Price Of Beauty :) Thanks La Mer for the upper and lower zone radiant mask." 10:54 a.m., via Twitter for Blackberry

Tune in next week for more tweets from the life of Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson)