AS SEEN ON ERNEST DOBBIN'S BUMPER >>>

"Studly seeks righteous babe 566-4137."

If this personal ad is a little low on details, that's because it's written - in black marker - on the bumper of Ernest Dobbins's old white Thunderbird.

Dobbins, of Olympia, resorted to the bumper method because newspaper personal ads are getting too pricey.

What about Craigslist? "I don't have a computer. I don't know how to run one," he says. "I'm old-fashioned and outdated and I'll die that way."

The woman he's looking for, he says, isn't "some fly-by-night woman."

"I don't mean religious," he says. "I mean righteous. If it's the right thing to do, you do it."

The ad has been on his bumper for a couple of months - rain won't wash it off, he says - and he's gotten a few calls, but no dates.

His hope, though, rolls on: Halfway through the interview, he asks: "So what about you? What's your shape and size?"

Once he understands I'm not looking for a date, Dobbins, 60, invites me to publish his phone number.

Asked what a righteous date might want to know about him, he says: "I don't go out drinking or anything like that. I do go to buffets."

PLONGEZ CECI >>>

Ready for a big night out in France? Yeah, me too. However, a leap over the Big Pond isn't in the cards. In Tacoma, The Melting Pot offers a rotating themed "Big Night Out" four-course dinner - and its dipping its forks in France right now. This gastro-excursion of appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert lets one experience the scents and tastes of France, if not the sights and sounds. 

Baby Brie, fontina, Gruyère and Raclette cheeses are blended in the appetizer Fondua a' la France. Nueske's bacon, fresh chives, onions and white-truffle cream complement the already rich combination of cheeses. Tangy shallot vinaigrette dresses the Melting Pot's version of the French salade nicoise with tomatoes, sliced hard-boiled egg, purplish-black nicoise olives and haricots verts (French green beans).

The big dance, or rather the entrée, consists of tender chicken Provencal, roasted garlic shrimp, filet mignon, peppercorn-crusted New York strip steak and duck a l'orange from Maple Leaf Farms. Goat cheese ravioli, ratatouille and fresh broccoli, mushrooms and potatoes round out the course.

To wrap it all up, The Melting Pot offers its own version of a classic French dessert, crème brûlée, for the grand finale. A pot of melted white chocolate sees tableside flambé service that creates a golden, caramelized sugar crust. Indulge your dunking pleasure with a variety of fresh fruits, brownie and cakes bites.

The cost is $88-$96 per couple, not including all the drink you'll toss back.

Bon appetit!

[The Melting Pot, 2121 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.535.3939]

POPULAR PARK FOR YOUTH TEMPORARILY CLOSES >>>

Tuesday afternoons I get off work at 3 p.m. If it's not raining, I buy a cup coffee, grab my skateboard and head over to the Yauger Skateboard Park on the Westside of Olympia for a little requisite shredding. Rolling into the snake run, olleing the top of the pyramid. Perfecting flat ground tricks until the sun goes down. No better way to spend a clear, winter afternoon. 

This Tuesday was no different. Well, that is until I got to the park. Instead of my normal smooth cruise across Cooper Point Road and onto the ramps, a metal fence stopped me. The park was closed. A sign on the fence read something like, "The skate park is closed due to excessive litter."

Excessive litter? Park closed? My reaction was simple: screw you, City of Olympia. You've ruined my afternoon.

Ready to write an angry editorial, I called the Olympia Parks Department this afternoon. I spoke to Lisa Hall, a parks department representative. She informed me that the park was scheduled to remain closed until Thursday. Hall argued that the amount of litter present at the park was too much for a skeleton winter parks crew to handle.  She said overflowing trashcans (backward logic perhaps) and trash in the bowl justified a park shutdown. She said closing the park every so often was a way for the city to say, "shape up" to the park's users. She hoped closing the park would cause the, "good kids to lean harder on the rowdy kids," in an effort to curb littering. She said though the park was technically closed, skaters could call the parks department and have it opened for a short period. She also said she was sorry to inconvenience skaters who pick up their trash.

"It's an imperfect solution to a problem," Hall said.

The city has never closed another area park due to excessive litter. 

Yauger Skate Park is popular. On any sunny afternoon, the park can see as many as 50 visitors: kids in helmets and pads shooting down the ramps; men with tattoos jumping down the stairs; high school teens grinding the boxes; skaters, bikers, and rollerbladers zipping in every direction. And since most of the park's users are youths, the occasional forgotten Burger King wrapper or empty Gatorade bottle is inevitable. Simply inevitable.

I never litter at the skateboard park. Ninety percent of the people that use the skateboard park don't litter. But some do.  This is true of any high-traffic, tightly contained area.

So the city closed the park. They didn't grin and bear it. They didn't reason that a sanctioned location for activities most likely to be performed by easily alienated youth is critical for the Olympia. Instead, they shut the park down.  But because the ever-dreaded "trick-style skateboarding" is illegal on almost all-private and public property, where else can the youths who use the park go? Who knows? Maybe home. Maybe to go grind some benches out in front of the capitol building. Maybe to find some trouble.

Yeah, I'm pissed. The city should take a look and see how popular the skateboard park is, how a few scraps of trash floating in the wind at a small concrete plaza are insignificant. The city's park's department should think about all the "good kids" they are negatively affecting. They should think that closing - even temporarily - a safe haven for area youth wouldn't increase respect for city property, just increase animosity. Letting any public park sit unused is a bummer, especially a park that was funded by city and community money.  The city should keep the park open, increase the amount of trashcans and say, "Roll on. Try to pick up your trash but roll on." That's what the city of Olympia should do.

After my conversation with Hall I dropped by the park to take some pictures of the fence and the closed sign. To my surprise, the park was open. One day ahead of schedule. Perhaps the park's department decided to open the park because the litter was cleaned earlier than expected. Or maybe they opened the park because they got a call from a writer asking some questions. Impossible to say.

The park was open. But it hardly mattered because there was snow on the ground and I couldn't skate.

THURSDAY, FEB. 24, 2011 >>>

1. Artists Ric Hall and Ron Schmitt are phenomenal. They do pastel paintings working in tandem - not taking turns working on the paintings but working side-by-side and simultaneously, and, from what I've heard, with hardly any planning or discussion but reacting to one another with what has been described as a collective subconscious. Weekly Volcano art critic Alec Clayton loved their Cubistic Embrace show at the B2 Fine Art Gallery, which shows from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check it here.

2. The Adriatic Grill Italian Cuisine and Wine Bar, besides being a lengthy name, serves kick ass Mediterranean food. Therefore, when we mention that the Tacoma restaurant will be hosting a fundraiser for their Clover Park Technical College culinary arts scholarship program at 6 p.m. at said school, you should be damn excited. The steep ticket price includes complimentary wine, beer, non-alocoholic beverages and specialty food stations, and a chance to win fabulous prizes. Call (253) 475-6000 to see if you're worthy.

3. The Tacoma Sister Cities International Film Festival rolls on focusing on Tacoma's sister city if Kiryat Motzkin, Israel, tonight. At 7 p.m. inside the Blue Mouse Theatre, the film O Jerusalem, written by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, offers a rich background to an explosive conflict that echoes the situation in the Middle East today. Differing from previous TSCIFF years, there will be no Jewish food. Oy vey!

4. Craig Romano, guidebook author, outdoors writer for Northwest Runner and Outdoors Northwest and co-creator of hikeoftheweek.com, will give a free presentation on snow-free winter hiking destinations for Western Washington at 7 p.m. inside Tacoma's REI. Little did Romano know when he agreed to this lecture that there wouldn't be a snow-free hike to REI's front door.

5. Rock the Dock Pub & Grill in Tacoma hosts an Open Mic/Musicians' Night with Big D of 9 Pound Hammer running the show, beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

>>> You might want to call head before hitting the road. ...

4th Ave Ale House Olympia - Downtown. Vantage. 9 pm.

Dawson's Bar and Grill Tacoma - South. Billy Shew Band Open Jam Session. 8 pm. NC.

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. Manntis, From Sword To Sunrise, Deathbed Confessions, Hide The Scarz, The Wounded Fall, Seize The Sun. 8 pm. $10.

Le Voyeur Café and Lounge Olympia - Downtown. Romanteek, Painted Face. 9 pm.

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. Nicole Mitchell. All Ages. 7 pm. NC.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. The Devil Whale, Emma Hill. 9 pm.

Northern Olympia - Downtown. Angelo Spencer Et Les Hauts Sommets, The Jettycats, Tiny Concept, Sean McArdel. All Ages. 8 pm. $5.

O'Callahan's Pub & Grill Key Peninsula. Tim Hall Band. 7 pm. NC.

Pastiche Wine Bar Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Al Gord. 6 pm.

Rock the Dock Pub & Grill Tacoma - Downtown. Open Mic/Musicians' Night. Hosted by Big D of 9 Pound Hammer. 9 pm. NC.

The Royal Lounge Olympia - Downtown. Macklemore, Ryan Lewis. 9 pm.

Stonegate Pizza Tacoma - South. Acoustic Open Mic, with Billy Roy Danger & the Rectifiers. 8 pm. NC.

The Swiss Tacoma - Downtown. Jr. Hill Band. 7 pm.

Tempest Lounge Tacoma - Upper Tacoma. Come Out And Play Open Mic. Hosted by Kim Archer and Nick Sandy. All Ages. 7-10 pm. NC.

Rock the Dock Pub & Grill Tacoma - Downtown. Open Mic/Musicians' Night. Hosted by Big D of 9 Pound Hammer. 9 pm. NC.

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

THEATER PREVIEW >>>

Border Songs, the novel that won Jim Lynch the 2010 Washington State Book Award (not to mention the coveted Best Writer status in our recent Best of Olympia edition!), has now been adapted into a stage play by local playwright Bryan Willis. This version was produced through Saint Martin's University Theatre Department but was commissioned by Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle, which will remount the play there in September. It's about a rookie border control agent, Brandon Vanderkool, who's more in love with birds than his job.

Throw on the chains at check it out beginning Friday.

Border Songs

Friday, Feb. 25, March 2-5 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 26-Sunday, Feb. 27, 2 p.m., $7-$12
State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
360.786.0151

THIS WEEK'S VOLCANO MUSIC SECTION >>>

The Weekly Volcano's annual Music Issue is on the snowy streets. As with all of our special issues, we'll humbly offer up a few servings of tasty tidbits that we hope will help broaden your tastes - in this case, your musical ones.

Here's a peek at the sonic goodness in print and online. ...

The Daniel Blue Interview

Ah, Daniel Blue. Where have you gone? How is a Tacoma-based alt-press paper's website supposed to achieve previously unfathomable hits and venom without your self-created name to drop?

The answer to one of these questions is simple and straightforward. Blue is living in Seattle, Capitol Hill to be exact, and his band, Motopony, recently OFFICIALLY announced their signing with new-on-the-scene indie label TinyOgre. Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll caught up with Blue. Read their interview here.

Riot Grrrl movement

In the Spring of 2010, when I was general manager of the University of Washington's student-run radio station, I collaborated with the campus' Committee Organizing Rape Education to host a "Riot Grrrl" concert featuring three local bands, with proceeds going to the Eastside Domestic Violence Program's women's shelter. I recall struggling to book the show; the bands we ultimately chose were hardly what you'd call Riot Grrrl, but they had the right kind of spark and spirit (Eel Eater was a grimy girl-girl-gay guy trio; NightraiN are an all-black all-female feminist rock group; and TacocaT are a cheeky Seattle punk band with a 9:1 ratio of X to Y chromosomes).

The difficulty I faced finding ideal groups for the gig boiled down to a combination of my own ignorance and the relative scarcity of contemporary local bands with that distinctively barbed Riot Grrrl sound. Almost a year later, I still wonder: are there any new Riot Grrrl bands out there? Who is carrying on the sonic and ideological legacy of Olympia's raucous punk feminist forebears, and how? Read the full story here. – Jason Baxter

Red Hex

The first time I saw Red Hex, it was at an underground venue on Halloween. One of the members was a filthy mummy, wrapped up in sheets. Their music was an unholy roar, bouncing aggressively off the concrete walls of the club, soaked in clouds of cigarette smoke and spilled Pabst Blue Ribbon. Their sound was growing - gaining power. I relinquished and put toilet paper in my ears.

Recently, at the Peabody Waldorf Gallery, I saw a new side of Red Hex. Read what I discovered here. – Rev. Adam McKinney

LINK: DJ Phinisey - Tacoma's best kept secret

LINK: A Day in the life of Josh Rizeberg

LINK: Nightly live music in the South Sound

AGAIN? >>>

After reading poster Scott Lindstrom's comments, and having a hard time deciding if he was joking or not, the Weekly Volcano has learned that favorite Olympia restaurant King Solomon's Reef did indeed catch fire. Again.

Komo 4 news has reported that the fire started around 5:45 a.m. this morning. Flames and smoke were seen coming from the building. The fire has since been put out, but officials are estimating the building will require around $100,000 in repairs before the restaurant can reopen.

This marks the second time in recent years that King Solomon's Reef has suffered severe fire damage.

The Reef was recently voted by Volcano readers as Olympia's "Best Bar Food."  It took the Reef over a year and a half to reopen after a fire in 2008 completely gutted the restaurant. We here at the Volcano sincerely hope the restaurant can again open its doors, and we can resume our passion of eating chicken wings and sipping PBR at 6 in the morning.

LINK: Our feature on the Reef's re-opening in July

THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Partly sunny and cold, hi 32, lo 19

Saturday: Mostly sunny and cold, hi 39, lo 33

Sunday: Rather cloudy, rain possible, hi 46, lo 37

>>> SATURDAY, FEB. 26: PIE FEST!

Karma is complicated.  Especially when you mix it with money. Tipping? Good karma.   Buying yourself stuff?  Maybe not-so-good karma.  Buying other people stuff?  Probably-pretty-good karma.  Using your wealth to destroy your enemies?  Bad karma.  Deciding instead to give a portion of said wealth to a worthy cause?  Excellent karma.  Funds raised from Saturday's Pie Fest live auction and raffle will support the Thurston County Food Bank and Senior Nutrition Program. Not only will you be justifying all the mean stuff you have yet to do, you'll get to eat pie (remember it's for a good cause). – Jake de Paul

• The Olympia Center, 1-3:30 p.m. $3, or three cans of food, 222 Columbia St. NW, Olympia, olybakers@gmail.com

>>> SATURDAY, FEB. 26: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELMO!

You've heard of the grandparent phenomenon - Kids are always 10 times cuter when you can send them home to mom after you've packed them full of sugar. Well, apparently now Borders Books wants to get in on this. In celebration of Elmo's birthday, the Tacoma bookstore will throw a party, complete with snacks and drinks. It's enough to make the most frazzled, suffering-from-snow-day-exhaustion parent smile.  So exhale, tired parents, right now the employees of Borders think your kids are way cuter than you do. And they'll continue to think so right on through to the point they return them to you. — Michael Swan

• Borders Books, 2 p.m., free, 2508 S. 38th St., Tacoma, 253.473.9111

>>> SATURDAY, FEB. 26: AMERICAN CHRONICLES

A down home American icon will visit Tacoma Art Museum in February. None other than Norman Rockwell, the guy who - I swear it must be so - invented Thanksgiving, watermelon, baseball and prayer. The exhibition American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell makes its only Northwest stop at TAM Feb. 26 to May 30 with 44 paintings and 323 original Saturday Evening Post covers.  There will be archival materials showing how Rockwell worked, from preliminary sketches, photographs, color studies and detailed drawings to the finished painting. There's more nostalgia, sentimentality and Americana here than at a lifetime of family reunions and Fourth of July picnics. "Rockwell's works are part of our popular consciousness," said Margaret Bullock, curator of Collections and Special Exhibitions at Tacoma Art Museum. — Alec Clayton

• Tacoma art Museum, Feb. 26-May 30, Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Third Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4258.

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
My weekend is heaven. Aloha Corona. Aloha cabana. All the flora and fauna and the road to Hana. Rental cars and late night bars. Maui Wowie. Naps and kisses. Whales and fishes. Aaah. Sweet honeymoon.

MATT DRISCOLL Editor
This weekend will likely be spent wiping strange colored poop from the teeny tiny bum of one August Henry Driscoll. There's also a Costco trip on tap, because we're running low on dog food and five foot sheetcakes.

BRETT CHIHON Meat Market Correspondent/Features Writer
Friday night I'm going to break down the meat market scene at Tumwater's South Pacific. If it's anything like the last couple times I've been there, I'm in for some middle-aged rocking. The rest of my weekend is wide open. That means drinking beer, sleeping in late and feeling like a sufficient pile come Sunday evening.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
Other than an Oscar party at a fellow actor's house in Tacoma, I'm pleased to say my new fiancee and I have absolutely no plans to do anything whatsoever. I might read a book. I might not. Winter weather, do your worst.

ALEC CLAYTON: Visual Arts Critic
Friday night I'm going to see My Name is Asher Lev at the Lakewood Playhouse. Saturday I'll be wishing I was at the Eric Clapton concert in Seattle.

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
This weekend will be spent recovering from my recent trip to Portland and gearing up for birthday festivities where I will have days off and a night out! So if I'm feeling industrious, I may do some sewing or baking. You know, woman things. (Plus, cuddling my cutie 6-month-old as he tries to get those two bottom teeth to push through.)

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Nightlife Correspondent
I will be teaching folk about photography on Saturday at Tacoma Art Place and then going to my daughter's Tacoma Youth Chorus concert.

JOE IZENMAN Theater and Music Writer
Because I am super-hip and cool and stuff, I am rocking out (folking out?) to Loch Lomond, Elk & Boar, Big Sur and Hail at the Peabody Waldorf on Friday. Because I am a big ol' nerd, I am spending most of Sunday playing Dungeons & Dragons. And because I love a good dose of Hollywood extravagance and silliness, I am watching the heck out of the Oscars with my fellow Grand Cinema supporters Sunday evening. Beat THAT with a stick.

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY Features Writer
This weekend, I'll be heading up to the KeyArena with my mother to see Eric Clapton, featuring Los Lobos. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

JENNIFER JOHNSON Food and Lifestyles Writer
I'll be snorkeling, sunning and swimming this weekend. Aloha!

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

BEST OF OLYMPIA >>>

When you are very, very tired, when you have worked so long at your computer(s, because of course you bring your work home with you) that your wrists ache and your neck makes a crunching noise and your eyes are red and puffy and then you finally make it home safely only to shoveling your driveway for an hour, then when you lie down to take a little a nap after shoveling, you dream that you are working - when this is how things stand, it is not the time to attempt to cook.

It's time to take it easy; it's time for really good food.

It's time for the best food in Olympia, according to our readers.

Below, are the results of our Best of Olympia 2011 Readers' Poll concerning food and drinks. You should give them a call to see if they're open right now.

You look tired.

Best Restaurant: Tofu Hut

Best Bartender: Janelle O'Leary, The Vault

Best Happy Hour: The Brotherhood

Best Pizza: Oldschool Pizzeria

Best Burger: Eastside Big Tom Drive Inn

Best Thai Food: Lemon Grass

Best Chinese Food: Emperor's Palace

Best Mexican: El Sarape

Best Buffet: Main Chinese Buffet

Best Italian Restaurant: Trinacria Ristorante Italiano

Best Beer: Fish Tale Brew Pub

Best Cocktails: The Mark

Best Wine: Swing Wine Bar

Best Seafood: Anthony's (Homeport and Hearthfire Grill)

Best BBQ: Southbay Dickerson's BBQ

Best Bar Food: King Solomon's Reef It burned today

Best Steak: Ramblin' Jacks

Best Coffee: Olympia Coffee Roasting Co.

Best Barista: Caffe Vita's Angie Dalton

Best Pastry: The Bread Peddler

Best Breakfast: Darby's Cafe

Best Dessert: Bearded Lady Food Co.

Best Late Night Food: The Reef It burned today

Best All Around Bar: The Brotherhood Lounge

Best Dive Bar: The Brotherhood

Best Vegan Menu: Le Voyeur

LINK: The whole Best of Olympia 2011 motherlode