RUNNING AROUND TACOMA >>>

Here are my field notes from last night:

7:10 p.m.: Dropped in on Tacoma artist Teddy Haggarty's birthday party at Stonegate pizza. The South Tacoma Way restaurant/music venue has an entire wall of Haggarty art and photos. Overheard: What, only two photos of Teddy with Alec Baldwin?

7:35 p.m.: Rand, the mayor of Hilltop Tacoma, dropped by sporting a jacket donning Haggarty' art.

8:10 p.m.: The Fabulous Wailers bassist Buck Ormsby, and manager for the Sonics, gave Haggarty a CD and record of the Sonics' new release, 8. According to Ormsby, the Sonics couldn't decide on an album title and decided to name it 8 on the fact that there's eight tracks - four in studio and four recorded live while in Europe.

9:30 p.m.: Fitz In The Morning, the 100.7FM "The Wolf" DJ, screens Tacoma county band Aces Up's new video for their song, "Pieces Of Heaven" to a capacity crowd upstairs at the Varsity Grill. The crowd goes nuts, either over the video loaded with friends of the band, or the ample cleavage on the screen. Afterward, Fitz tells the crowd this band has potential to go all way, and then calls them up on stage. Aces Up's new record, Backyard Superstars, is released on Exact Records.

11:45 p.m.: The Nightgowns take the stage at The New Frontier Lounge to perform before a capacity crowd in hopes that the door money will help purchase cheap hotels and gas money along the way to SXSW.

11:50 p.m.: Tacoma artist and daredevil Galen McCarty Turner hops up on the stage. There's a rubber chicken in the crowd.