KICKSTARTER KICKS THINGS OFF >>>

While the '70s and '80s are frequent touchstones among new artists, some look further into the past to evoke artists of the '30s and '40s. People like Jolie Holland and her dusty, yellowed croon aim to emulate the haunting sounds that used to float from the conical horn of a Victrola. But even with this fine imitation, it is still translated through the hindsight of some 70 years, and the not insignificant factor of original songwriting.

As Boy and Bean, Luke and Amber Short revere this time period in a way that remains strangely unconsidered in the indie scene: through cover songs. Yes, Boy and Bean are a cover band. Whatever images that phrase dredges up in your mind-of uninspired pretenders with cheekily outmoded costumes and affectations-should be summarily dismissed. The desire Boy and Bean have for covering these songs does not come from a place of aspiring to the thrones of these legendary singers, or of a desire to just wear their skin for the moments that they perform on stage, but out of a pure desire to simply sing these songs. It's the songs that they love.

Focusing on the Depression-era music of the '20s, '30s and '40s, the trio of Boy and Bean err on the faithful side of their cover songs, with Luke and Amber's voices joining in delicately harmonious duets. With the help of Kickstarter, the band recently released a self-titled debut record.

To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full article click here.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HER WORK WHILE HIGH-ROLLING IN VEGAS >>>

Daphne Nixon is a transplanted oil painter, originally from New York and California, just in the past two years drawn to the awesomeness that is the Tacoma area. Now based in Gig Harbor, Nixon currently has work hanging at both the Proctor Art Gallery and Gallery Row in Gig Harbor.

Nixon's extensive background in painting started in childhood. "I first learned to paint from my dad," she says. "He used to draw and paint and I really admired him for it. Dad's family painted too. If we went on a family picnic, everyone on his side of the family would bring a little box of paints and pastels and we'd eat and they'd break out everything and start drawing."

But it doesn't stop there. Nixon focused on art in high school and then went on to get a BA from the School of Fine Arts at Yale. She studied the masters in Florence, Italy, and in Holland. She attended the Arts Students League in New York City, and studied with a number of professional artists to hone her skills.

It's no wonder Nixon can capture the nuances of metal and my attempts look like gloppy leftovers at IHOP.

To read Kristin Kendle's full profile of painter Daphne Nixon click here.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Spending Memorial Day Weekend enjoying the sights, sounds, tastes and smells from our own backyard:

Harmon Brewery & Eatery might be known primarily for its beers, nachos and ski parties, but the downtown Tacoma joint also brings in the crowd every time blues acts set up in the corner. Yesterday, the South Sound Blues Association ran the blues portion of the Tacoma Jazz & Blues Festival at the Harmon - and once again the joint packed them in. Opening band Blues Buskers (pictured) set the tone with their award-winning talent.

The Swiss Pub is remodeling their gamerome to increase band-viewing floor space. Bench seating along the wall has replaced the tall tables. A pool table will be eliminated to make room by the far back wall for the video games.

Valhalla Coffee Roasters on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma have organized a row of trinkets to enjoy while pouring soy into your coffee.

Paratroopers are snagged in the ceiling fan at Puget Sound Pizza.

A little neighborhood has sprung up at the Woolworth Windows as part of Spaceworks Tacoma. Artist Gabriel Brown has created a town defined by Mountain Dew. Mr. Clean, Lipitor, Cheez-Its and many other items that have come to play a ventral role in American life.

Jazz should be performed in a darkly lit speakeasy, not at 2 p.m. in a huge, bright space dotted with rows of white plastic chairs. However, once again, the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival filled those chairs with those who dig big band. Roadside Attraction (pictured) blew the crowd away, as well as the tykes down the hall in the LEGO rooms.

Steph DeRosa and the girls hit the drag show at Jake's On 4th last night. They had to squeeze through the packed crowd to feel the feathers across their faces. The star of the night was Flirticia Fondue (apologize about the crappy iPhone photo).

LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>>

So enough about the Canadians at Sasquatch. There were some serious, non-Canuck-related decisions to make by the time day two of the Gorge Amphitheatre's four-day kickoff festival came to a close, like how to catch three must-see acts - Robyn, Sleigh Bells and Death Cab for Cutie - that were going on right around the same time on Saturday night. 

Robyn - a.k.a. the blondest person on planet earth - didn't make the task any easier by hitting the Bigfoot Stage half an hour late. It was a bit nipply by the time she went on at 9:30, so maybe had to send a roadie to fetch that shaggy yeti fur sweater she sported as she got started with "Bad Gal," a cut she recorded with Douster and Savage Skulls. 

"I'm the lonely at the top. I wish someone could clone me ‘cause I'm hot and you're not," the spritely Swedish pop star sang over the opening vocal track, impressively pausing to bust a move on dangerously high platforms shoes. 

Her early set also included "Cobra Style," from the self-titled album that broke her in the U.S. in 2005 and "The Girl and the Robot," the killer, cyber-disco track she recorded with Royksopp (you know, the "something here to remind me," Geico caveman guys) a couple of years back. Sadly, I missed "Konichiwa, Bitches," my favorite Robyn track, as I bounced to catch Sleigh Bells, the band I was most looking forward to catching at this year's festival.  

LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>>

I headed over to the Banana Shack for Sleigh Bells, easily the band I was most looking forward to at this year's Sasquatch festival.

The Brooklyn duo - singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist/beat programmer Derek Miller - also went on late. Not that fans seemed to mind with a pre-show mix of the monster rock hits of the '70s and '80s getting fans pumped up. A little "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "We Are the Champions," anyone?

Krauss and Miller hit the stage, guns blazing, with a seizure-inducing light show enhancing their trademark blend of block rockin' beats and distorted guitars. The duo had worked the crowd into pogo hopping frenzy by the time it wound down with "Infinity Guitars," "Rill Rill," "A/B Machines" and a newer cut (slowed down beat, monster bass) that I didn't recognize. 

MONDAY, MAY 30 , 2011 >>>

1. A down home American icon closes today at the Tacoma Art Museum. The exhibition American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, which made its only Northwest stop at TAM and features 44 paintings and 323 original Saturday Evening Post covers, will close today at 5 p.m.  The show consists of 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. Read the full review of the show here.

2. The Museum of Glass is also open today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A must see is Glimmering Gone, the three-part exhibition by Ingalena Klenell and Beth Lipman. Their "Landscape" part of the installation - inspired in part by the landscape paintings of former Tacoman Abby Williams Hill (1861-1943) - is a 12-foot-high by 25-foot-long by 18-foot-deep installation of sculpted, slumped and fused plate glass. It looks like a winter wonderland of shimmering ice. Read the full review of the show here.

3. Nell Robinson and the Jaybirds will fill the Mandolin Café with sexy vocals and whirling banjos when the bluegrass band kicks it at 6:30 p.m.

4. The Backstage Bar & Grill has the white trash market a home. Every Monday night, while DJ Lo spins Top 40, the Sixth Avenue rock club offers $5 40-ounce PBRs, $2 wells, $3 domestic pitchers, $1 Hamm's drafts, $2 mac and cheese and $5.95 steak dinners under the banner White Trash Mondays.

5. Let's tally up the score for Jazzbones' 9 p.m. Rockaraoke, shall we? A chance to sing onstage with a live band? Yes. Cheap Miller High Life? Yes. A valid excuse to drink on a Monday (repeat, Monday) night? Yes, yes and, oh God, yes.

PLUS: Memorial Day events

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the south sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hour!

On behalf of the Weekly Volcano and Swarner Communications, I'd like to extend special prayers and thanks for those who died serving our country, and those brave soldiers, and their families, who still serve.

For a list of local Memorial Day events, visit the Northwest Military website.

A GOOD ‘FRO AND THEN SOME >>>

Some of you will recognize Reggie Watts as the frontman for defunct Seattle rock n' soul outfit Maktub. And for having the most awesome fro in Northwest history. But these days Watts resides in Brooklyn, and he's tearing it up on the comedy circuit, having toured with Conan O'Brien and been featured on Comedy Central, among other feats.

Not that he's left the music behind. His act Sunday afternoon at the Sasquatch festival was a showcase of cerebral comedy and mad beat-boxing skills. Watts used a sampler to layer beats and hummed baselines on the fly, even showing off by "sound checking" his entire "drum kit" - kick, snare, cymbals, the whole shebang.

For live updates throughought this year's Sasquatch Music Festival follow Ernest Jasmin at @SavageErnests on Twitter.

LINK: SASQUATCH DAY TWO: Sleigh Bells ring and we listened

LINK: SASQUATCH DAY TWO: Robyn dresses the part

LINK: SASQUATCH DAY TWO: Liquor, Whores and Pure Genius (plus a bunch of Canadians)

LINK: SASQUATCH DAY ONE: Foo Fighters go retro and Canadians invade

(A WEDDING CEREMONY) >>>

When we hear the phrase traditional marriage, we have to ask, "Whose tradition do you mean?" Every culture has its own wedding day customs, and the nature of marriage itself changes from land to land and from year to year. In German villages, for example, the couple's friends kidnap the bride and make the groom go look for her. In Scotland, a bride-to-be is doused with eggs and garbage and paraded through town. At Swedish wedding receptions, if either the bride or groom steps out to the restroom, the guests line up quickly to kiss the remaining partner.

Even our most sacred wedding traditions have changed over the years. In the Hebrew Law of Moses, a man married a woman simply by buying her from her father. She had very little say in the matter. A man could marry as many women as he could afford. Solomon had 700 wives, plus 300 concubines. It got awkward. In Islam to this day, a man can have as many as four wives.

First-century Christians considered marriage a private matter and had no formal service to ordain it. In fact, Christian brides didn't take their husbands' names until the 12th century. There were times when China, Greece, and Rome all recognized same-sex marriages; and in India, the arranged marriage of children was common for centuries-and some kids were married before they were even born. But that doesn't hold a candle to a culture in India, the Manglik Dosh, where women prepare for their weddings by first marrying trees. The trees are then burned to dispel a supposed curse. What matters most on a couple's special day is not some cultural habit, but rather, what marriage means to that couple alone. Amanda and I have differing spiritual backgrounds. It'd be impossible to deliver a service that would fit every family member's hopes for our wedding ceremony. Yet a wedding demonstrates reverence for the abiding things in life. It is a moment of spiritual unison.

Love is the substance of spirit. Our better selves are made manifest in love, and in commitment and trust. Our differing faiths become reconciled through our faith in one another. Amanda and I are devotedly, deeply in love; we are committed. For us, the meaning of marriage is lifelong unity and joy.

GAINING STEAM IN OLYMPIA >>>

"I started rapping when I decided I wanted to make a rap album for my cat," Hollywood Kill Krew (HKK) frontman Doc Hollywood tells me. "I didn't know anybody that rapped, so I would just do it by myself for my cat, Mr. Cool."

Although Hollywood says he didn't know anybody who rapped, he did know plenty of musicians-many of whom he'd eventually team up with to form the hilariously stony Olympia rap group, Hollywood Kill Krew. About two years ago Hollywood started approaching friends he'd played music with in the past about starting a rap group-a Beastie Boys-style comedy rap endeavor. As Hollywood tells it, everyone was excited to take on the hip-hop scene and begin a journey towards Oly notoriety.

To read the full article click here.