NEAR PERFECTION >>>

Let me list for you the things that were wrong with last Saturday night's Warehouse show at the Peabody Waldorf:

1) The pedal steel guitar for Goldfinch was a little loud to begin with
2) The changeovers between bands felt extraordinarily long, pushing the show late and appearing to cut short the final set

And... that was it. Seriously. It's been quite some time since I've been fortunate enough to see a show as consistently enjoyable, especially over the course of four bands.

After dinner and dorkiness at, well, Dorky's, we arrived part way through Kimo Muraki's opening set. Which was quite unfortunate, because dang the guy-and his band-was good. There has been a wave of popular folk bands doing their best to simultaneously rock out and sweeten the banjo from its bluegrass roots-Mumford & Sons and The Avett Bros. spring immediately to mind-and Muraki succeeds as well as any of them.

It feels odd to call Birds & Batteries the "lowlight" of the evening, because, frankly, they were pretty damn good. All I can really say ill of the band is they didn't really dig their fingers into my musical soul quite the way the other three bands managed to. That and they took forever setting up their array of keyboards. But they were worth the cost of admission just for their highly customized rendition of The Who's "Squeeze Box."

Grand Hallway, featuring two members I had seen before-leader Tomo Nakayama and pianist Shenandoah Davis shared the stage with Goldfinch at the Bumbershoot Seattle Round-possess a degree of energy and spirited rockin'-ness that is belied by the mellow sound you'll find on the band's MySpace recordings.

And then, of course, Goldfinch. For as much time as I spend listening to and talking about this band, I've seen remarkably little of them live. They do not disappoint. The harmonies and interplay between guitar and keyboard that forms their core, while occasionally (as mentioned) overpowered by the pedal steel, pierces the room as well as on any recording.

Aaron Stevens and Grace Sullivan have crafted a thing of beauty with this band, and gathered the musicians around them to carry out its promise. At the risk of sounding pretentiously complex in my choice of words... they're pretty effin' awesome.

Now... can we have a few more shows like that one, please, Tacoma? Thanks.

FEB. 7 >>>

A whole slew of writers (maybe that should be "cover" or, perhaps, "Whiny passel") were born on Feb. 7: Sinclair Lewis (1885), Charles Dickens (1812), Frederick Douglass (1818) and Gay Talese (1932).

Knowing what he knows about writers, Bobble Tiki wasn't terribly surprised to learn that today is also National Hangover Awareness Day; although one assumes that the harmonious celebration, if any, will be muted.

Seems fitting that Last word Books in Olympia hosts its Drunken Poetry tonight at 7:30 p.m. Here's how they describe their event:

Readings operate on a first-come first-serve sign-up basis. Our time is limited so we're looking for something in the ballpark of three poems of moderate length or one long poem and one short from each reader. You must however submit a piece to be read by the Designated Drunk, who will be chosen at the end of each reading or shortly after and will be informed well before the next reading. We encourage the buying of drinks for the Designated Drunk. Make it good because submissions will be considered for publication on the blogs and anthologized in a chapbook published quarterly by Last Word Press. Hours may vary without meaning or purpose.

• No nature poetry. It's been done and there are a thousand other outlets for it in Olympia.
• No Slam. You're not Saul Williams. That's okay.
• Drunken Poetry is not a public therapy session; don't try to turn it in to one.
• Unless it's extremely well written we don't care about that time you tried to kill yourself when you were sixteen. Try again.

Drink, write, edit, submit, read, drink, repeat. And, conveniently enough, the poetry reading will stagger off stage just in time for everyone to stumble over to Jazz Night at the Royal to tie a few more on, moron!

Drunken Poetry

7:30-9 p.m. first and third Monday
Last Word Books
211 4th Ave. E., Olympia
360.786.9673

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

TODAY IN ONLINE TALK >>>

Today's comment comes from Tornado in regard to today's Spew update on the Tacoma Food Co-op.

Tornado writes,

Thanks for the update on the Food Co-op. I hope Tacoma steps up and supports this effort -- we need more places to buy local, healthy food. And the 6th Ave. location would be great.

TUESDAY, FEB. 8, 2011 >>>

1. It's "Musician's Industry Night" at the new D.O.A. on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma (Dirty Oscar's Annex in the old Sax on Sixth location). It's hosted by Steve Perez and starts at 8:30 p.m.

2. Dude!!! Shaun White is, like, totally in Tacoma today. Sideslip on over to the Tacoma Convention Center.

3. The open mic at Tugboat Annie's in Olympia faired pretty well in our recent Best of Olympia 2011 Readers' Poll. See what the hype is about tonight.

4. Tim Hall & Real Times will be at the Summit Pub in Puyallup tonight. Nothing says the blues like Tuesday night in P-Town ...

5. One of Tuesday's highlights will surely be the screening of O'er The Land, at Northern in Olympia with director Deborah Stratman. Read about it here.

DON'T BELIEVE EVERY MORMON TALE YOU HEAR FROM A STRANGER ON THE BUS>>>

My last Google search? "Mormon wedding penis hole." Before you judge, let me defend myself by saying that I heard once from some guy on a bus that the Mormon wedding ceremony involves the groom's penis being inserted through the hole of a white sheet and being grasped (for the first time) by his bride.

I am thoroughly disappointed to report that this is not true. Although, many websites (produced by ex-mormons) claim that the "endowment ceremony", which is often done before a wedding, involves a genital cleansing. Just thought you might want to know.

CIAO, RICARDO! >>>

Rick Dupea has called the Tacoma-Parkland area home since 1964, but you won't find many of his clients in this neighborhood. As owner of CRE8TV Media Group (you can pronounce it "creative" or "create TV"), Rick over the years has, like many of us, commuted north for work, producing video in Seattle for independent studios and broadcast stations.

Now Dupea gears up for possibly his farthest assignment from home. Destination: Naples! No, not Florida, but good guess.

Go East. That's West, come back! MY East. Go over the Atlantic...further...I know it's far, so shut up and keep flyin'! You want me to turn this imaginary globetrot around?

Okay, we've arrived - Naples, Italy. BAH-DAH-da-DAAAAAH! (James Bond theme)...

So anyway, while poking around this exotic locale three years ago, Dupea ran into a Protestant congregation trying to erect their church, a not-so-simple task in Catholic Country. "[In Italy] there's still a big divide between the two styles of worship," Dupea notes.

This self-labelled "generic evangelical" decided to volunteer his artistic talents, and in a few weeks, under the non-profit banner Arts Renaissance, he will commence work on a fundraising film for the group. Throughout the hectic shooting schedule he will also offer to train several Italian artists in production technique.

And did I mention Dupea won't get a single Euro out of this gig?

"You don't do something like this because you're going to make money," Dupea tells me. "But you do it because it's a rare opportunity to do something really powerful with the skills...God has provided, and you want to put them back into service somewhere else."

Giving so much in an economy like ours is damn near miraculous. Ciao, Ricardo!

To follow Rick's journey visit www.cre8tvmg.com and click on the "Italy2011" or "Arts Renaissance" links on the home page.

TINY BEASTS RECEPTION TOMORROW AT THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE >>>

When I think of "pet portraits," I can't help but remember an ugly oil painting of my aunt's beloved Clancy, an ottoman-shaped dog who ate like the spoiled child of wealthy parents. (He had a favorite cookie: Nabisco Brown Edge Wafers.) But the portraits of Tiny Beasts Live Among Us, a show of photographs by Portland's Carli Davidson, have a wild and outlandish charm.  "Animals are my people," says Davidson, who graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2006. "They're honest, loving and food-motivated and do totally gross things on a regular basis."

My aunt would not approve.

Tiny Beasts Live Among Us

Reception 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9
Exhibit through Monday, Feb. 28, free
The Evergreen State College Gallery Photoland Library Building
2700 Evergreen Pkwy. N.W., Olympia

EDIBLES PROJECT TINGED WITH HUMOR >>>

Prolific Portland guitarist Dewey Mahood plays in the psych-rock group Eternal Tapestry, as well as a number of other acts, including solo projects Plankton Wat and Edibles. Being a fan of Edibles' split tape with Duck Dive for Stunned Records, I've wondered before about the intentions behind his drippy, riddim-y track "Chill Wave." Was it a bit of pique on his part, jibing at the oft-maligned, vaguely-defined and controversial subgenre? When I called him up to interview him in anticipation of Eternal Tapestry's Feb. 23 show at the Northern, I finally had the chance to find out for sure.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Your Edibles song, "Chill Wave"-to what degree is that title satirical? I could see another blogger taking the name at face value and mis-labeling it chillwave.

DEWEY MAHOOD: I didn't even know what chillwave was when I recorded that song, and it kind of became this huge deal this past summer. I'd heard the term, and my [Eternal Tapestry] bandmate Jed and I, we thought it was a funny term and we were kind of applying it to everything on a tour about a year ago. We'd go out for food and say, "Oh, yeah this is really chillwave."  We just thought it was a funny expression. I take everything I do seriously, and I'm proud of everything I do-being a musician is my life-but at the same time, especially with Edibles, there's a lot of humor there. When you're a white person doing somewhat dub-esque stuff or at least [are] influenced by it, you can't take yourself too seriously. I feel like the whole project is tinged with humor.

TODAY IN ONLINE TALK >>>

Today's comment comes from Barbara Wright in regard to our recent series on Tacoma and Olympia love stories. Specifically, Wright was taken by Julie Holt's depiction of T-Town's Jason McKibbin and his extreme love of comics.

Barbara writes,

Julie,

You bring Tacoma to life! I enjoy your style of writing, e.g. "...I'm pretty sure a Klingon gets its wings!" I think I can officially describe myself as a "Julie groupie" now and look forward to your next piece.

To all VOLCANO writers: Thank you for creating stories that are entertaining and informative--for giving personality to issues and making us want to know the stories of the people we busily pass in our "journey through stress!"

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9, 2011 >>>

1. Every Wednesday night at the Royal Lounge in Olympia is Funk and Soul night with The Brown Edition. And let us tell you - Olympia loves it some Brown Edition. How do we know? Could it have something to do with the recently-concluded Best of Olympia 2011 voting? You'll have to wait and see ... First, check out Funk and Soul night at the Royal. Or, just go here for our entire live local music calendar for the day.

2. You've got another chance to catch O'er The Land today.

3. Check out the opening reception for Tiny Beasts Live Among Us today at the Evergreen State College.

4. Every Wednesday the Firwood Rock Lounge goes hip-hop for "Revival Wednesdays." In addition to the jams, look for 1$ Wells and 1$ Drafts until 10:30 p.m.

5.If you're in Bremerton (and, god, we feel for you if that's the case) check out Romeo's Bar and Grill for "Laugh Until You're Red In The Face Comedy Night."