RARE SEATTLE REVIEW >>>

It is always a treat to see a premiere of an up-and-coming show because even when a show is bad, the troubled areas are generally fixed by the time the show comes around at another stage.

Vanities: A New Musical, directed by David Armstrong, opened at Seattle's ACT: A Contemporary Theatre last weekend and proved my point. But it already landed a solid showing based on the talent of its three, lone cast members. Any changes made by the next time it takes to a stage will be largely cosmetic.

The show spans decades as it follows the lives of three high school cheer leaders who then go off to college and seek their "perfect lives" in the waning years of the turbulent 1960s. Their bonds grow and strain as their lives take different paths and don't turn out as they first projected during cheer practice, but they come together as age and life passes to bring realism to their once idyllic fantasies. Think Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes set to music.

Based on the original play by Jack Heifner, it is not suitable for young children as it contains some adult language and sexual references. But it isn't gratuitous.

What made the show strong were not only the balance of talent but also the staging of the three actresses who never leave the stage during the intermission-free show. The passage of time comes through simple wig and costume changes, nuanced by tweaks to their gait and ever-growing vocabulary.

South Sounders will likely notice one of the actresses in the trio, Cayman Ilika, who plays the ever-organized Kathy, was in Patsy Cline, an ACT joint production with Centerstage Theatre in Federal Way. The cast is rounded out by Billie Wildrick as the rebellious Mary and Jennifer Sue Johnson as the straight-laced Joanne.

Vanities: A New Musical

Through May 1, click here for show dates
Tickets start at $65, $15 students
In The Falls Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle
206.292.7676

LINK: Local stage shows

MONDAY, FEB. 21, 2011 >>>

1. Dr. Michael Allen, author of A Patriot's History of the United States:  From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror, will lecture on "The Formative Years of Presidents Truman and Reagan" at 1 p.m. inside the Washington State Capital Museum.

2. When Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) rolls into the Capitol Theater at 3 p.m. to give a lecture on "The True Cost of War," he will arrive with antiwar bona fides unmatched in any recent Congress. Last March, he put a resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives that would have required all American troops out of Afghanistan by 2011. Though the resolution was soundly defeated, it did get 65 votes; public support for the war has dwindled. Read our full article, with an interview with Kucinich, here.

3. The Graphic Novel Book Club will discuss It Was the War of the Trenches by Jacques Tardi over craft cocktails insid3 the 1022 Lounge beginning at 7 p.m.

4. Water Island (Ashley & Eli of LAKE) join Motorbikes and Takhoma for an 8 p.m. all-ages show at Northern in Olympia.

5. Son Jack Jr. and Michael Wild will fill the Harmon Brewery and Eatery with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

TOMORROW IS THE DEADLINE >>>

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
Pinot noir or Merlot?
Cultivate your taste in vain;
It won't obscure your column strain.
Your-editor-told-you-to-pick-the-very-best-words-and-you-are-not-getting-the-Pulitzer.

This poem was taped to Bobble's Tiki's desk lava lamp this morning. Lovely.

Bobble Tiki is betting this person who wrote this will not follow in the footsteps of current Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker.

Will you? Better hurry.

Applications for Tacoma Poet Laureate are due this coming Tuesday, February 22.

The Tacoma Arts Commission is now accepting applications for the 4^th annual Tacoma Poet Laureate program.

The individual selected as Tacoma Poet Laureate will hold the position for two years, from May 2011 to April 2013, and will receive a $2,000 stipend for providing a minimum of two free poetry related workshops each year, reciting his/her original work at various public events, participating in Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month in November and helping produce the 2013 Tacoma Poet Laureate ceremony to announce the next Poet Laureate.

Applicants must reside in Tacoma, be a practicing poet who is dedicated to producing work on a regular basis and at least 18 years of age. Other eligibility requirements apply; please see the application for full details.

The Tacoma Poet Laureate program was founded in 2008 by Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma's literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events. The program transitioned to the City of Tacoma's Arts Program in 2011.

The application deadline is Feb. 22, 2011. Information about the Tacoma Poet Laureate program and the application are available on the Tacoma Arts Commission website at http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/PoetLaureate.asp. Requests for hard copy applications can be directed to Naomi Strom-Avila at nstrom-avila@cityoftacoma.org or (253) 591-5191.

YOUR HUMBLE REPORTER POPS THE QUESTION >>>

Thursday night was huge for the Weekly Volcano, as it celebrated the debut of our Best of Olympia edition. Far more important to me, however, was the impending arrival of a certain long-awaited piece of bling. My girlfriend Amanda and I planned to celebrate a postponed Valentine's Day the following night, Friday, with a steak dinner, home cooked by yours truly. Unbeknownst to Amanda but benknownst to just about everyone else in our lives including Rep. Dennis Kucinich, I meant to propose to her after dinner. I've been incredibly stressed this month, so much so that my face has broken out like that of a high school sophomore in dire need of Proactiv, but my most harrowing worry was that something would happen to the engagement ring in transit. I was cutting it down to the wire, and my luck this year has been atrocious.

Amanda and I left the Volcano party at The Brotherhood early, but we wound up getting into, well, not a fight - we seldom fight - but a rather intense conversation. The subject was marriage. After a conversation with her father earlier that day, a conversation prompted by his awareness of my imminent proposal, she was so freaked out she could barely focus. Her Spidey sense was tingling. Something was afoot! So why wouldn't I talk about it? She couldn't get anyone to tell her what was going on, and she assumed it was bad. In her anxiety, she warned me that I'd better not think of proposing anytime soon, because she wasn't prepared to pull the trigger.

Terrific.

So after a few angst-ridden emails and phone calls the next morning, I went to pick up her ring. Much to my surprise and relief, the ring had arrived and looked amazing. I decided to take my shot and risk the rejection she'd already warned me I'd receive. I cooked her the steak, drenched it in Roquefort butter, poured some wine and tried to get her to relax. It wasn't easy. She was still awfully tense.

I told her to dress up, as we were going out for dessert. She didn't know where and wasn't happy about that. What did I mean by dessert? Was it going to be messy? Would she need special shoes? What was going on?!

I surreptitiously texted her sister to say we were on our way. I drove Amanda to Cascadia Grill, the former Plenty, where she and I had our first date three years and a month ago. Amanda noticed immediately that her brother and sister were there. They tried to play it off as a coincidence, but Amanda wasn't buying it. I got down on one knee, withdrew the ring from my coat pocket, and asked Amanda Stevens to be my wife and partner for life.

I said on Facebook last week that my interview with Dennis Kucinich was my "get of the month." Of course, that wasn't even remotely true. He came in second and far behind, because my fiancee Amanda Stevens said yes.

FISH ON THE MOVE >>>

Tim Smith, the owner of the recently embattled arts space The Loft on Cherry, has released an open letter stating that on Feb. 28, The Loft will vacate its location in the Fish Brewing building to allow for expansion of the brewery.

In the letter, Smith writes that, "the growth Fish is experiencing is good for the brewery and good for Olympia." Smith explains that The Loft has always existed courtesy of Fish Brewing and has enjoyed a collaborative relationship with the brewery for many months. According to the letter, Smith is now working with Jenny Shaw, the owner of the Urban Onion, to continue to operate an arts space at the Olympia Ballroom.

Independent newspaper Olympia Power & Light is reporting that ballroom at the Olympian Hotel will open for Loft events starting March 1. A grand reopening event for the ballroom, complete with renovations to make the space more suitable for various arts and performances, will be held sometime in the spring. 

DOUBLE SHOT OF HAMMS >>>

We all know that just about every sports fan in America is controlled by brain waves transmitted via television commercials that feature the Coors Light Twins or the Miller Lite Incredibly Nubile Half-Naked Amateur Wrestlers or Bud Light's Cedric the Entertainer.  And there's no better spot to pound an American brew than the Loose Wheel Bar & Grill. The sports bar's décor screams America with its NASCAR jackets and wall of pull-tabs. And what better beer to drink in American that the one that comes "From the Land of Sky Blue Waters." Loose Wheel's Hammy Hour features $1 pints of Hamm's for an hour, twice a day. God bless America!

[Loose Wheel Bar & Grill, 3-4 p.m. and 11 p.m. to midnight, Monday-Friday, 6108 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.301.1647]

LINK: Eat this at the Loose Wheel

HEAT AND EAT >>>

Firemen are hot. Running through blazing infernos, saving babies while sweat drips off their rippling muscles. Nothing wrong with conjuring up that image at least a couple times a day.  Engine House No. 9 can't guarantee you babe-tastic firemen, but they do offer a good night of night of eating. Monday nights are all you can eat spaghetti nights. $4.95 for a tasty plate of bottomless spaghetti. 

Drink specials and Engine House No. 9 beers on tap. 

[Engine House No. 9, Open until midnight on weekdays, 611 N. Pine St., Tacoma, 253.272.3435]

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment of the day comes from Heidi, in regard to Joe Izenman's review of the Goldfinch show Feb. 5 at the Peabody Waldorf.

Heidi wrote today:

I was also at this show, and I'm so glad that I stayed through all of the sets (and painfully slow set changes) to see Goldfinch again. As a singer/songwriter myself, I have a huge amount of respect for the work it takes to make those harmonies work. And they DO work...beautifully so. The sound was a little off all night, and fitting 4 bands onto one bill may have been a little too ambitious, but overall this was a great show. Can't wait for Loch Lomond on the 25th (and many more great shows to come)!

LINK: Loch Lomond details

TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2011 >>>

1. We've all heard the sad news that Olympia's cool art space The Loft on Cherry will close. And some of you are even more sad as you never grabbed the chance to play inside the ginormous room. Well ... you have one last chance. The last Art Kitchen's Open Mic will begin at 8 p.m. inside The Loft on Cherry. Sign up is at 7:30 p.m. Crying on the street below will begin around 11 p.m.

2. Jared Abwawo is both a math teacher and an artist - a photographer, to be exact. There's a certain precision in his art that would suggest as much. "The creative essence of the image has no language but its own. It is a communication from one human being to others," Abwawo says in about his photography show at The Tacoma Community College Gig Harbor campus, on display from 8 am. to 9 p.m. Read what he's talking about here.

3. Whether you're into washboard abs or a long set of stems, a summertime beach typically doesn't disappoint in the eye candy department. One problem: the Northwest isn't overflowing with warm, beach-bod-scoping locations. Especially in February ... with snow threatening. Thankfully, The Beach Tavern fills us with enough alcohol to help us forget about those sunny days and beach bodies that are so far away. The Beach's Tipsy Tuesdays feature alternating drink specials - past favorites like shots of Jose Cuervo Gold for $3.25 and Three Olives Grape Vodka for $4.25 really rocked the house.

4. Vegans are a minority, but they make a lot of noise. That's one reason you've probably heard of the Vegan Book Club that meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at King's Books. At 7 p.m., the club will gather in the back of the store and discuss The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II. You haven't heard of the VBC? S.O.Y.

5. Tim Hall & The Band Real Times will fill the Summit Pub in Puyallup with blues beginning at 7:30 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

TAYLOR SWIFT COMING TO THE TACOMA DOME >>>

Hey, girls. The presale for Taylor Swift's Sept. 7 Tacoma Dome show goes down today. Check out the puzzle above, grab the clue and click here. Then race home and spin the Swift song about Taylor pleading over and over again for a boy to just go ahead and dump a girl (who apparently has goals in life outside of obsessively working to please this one dude), in favor of Taylor (who doesn't).

General Public sale of the show will be 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 25 through Ticketmaster outlets.

LINK: Our Concert Alert