LOCAL HIP HOP FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS IT >>>

I highly suggest hitting the one-year anniversary of S.P.'s "We Out Here Showcase." This goes down Saturday, June 18, at Clover Park Technical College in the McGavick Center, building #23. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. with a $10 cover. S.P. is a Washington State hip-hop legend. I'm not going to break down his history in this article. He has been written about-deservedly-many times before.

So what's new for S.P.? He plans to expand his successful brand, "We Out Here Showcase" and his M.C. battles into Tacoma and Portland. If ya a hungry up-and-comer or if ya have some new material to bust out, hit up S.P. for a slot in one of his showcases. He can be found on Facebook.

To read Josh Rizeberg's full column click here.

[Clover Park Technical College McGavick Center, We Out Here Showcase One-Year Anniversary, Saturday, June 18, 8 p.m., $10, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. SW,  Lakewood]

ARTS + COMMUNITY = CULTURE >>>

Oliver Doriss is the last light on at the block of 13th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way on Hilltop. During his three years running the Fulcrum Gallery there, he's watched other storefronts on the block shut down and projects in the area stall out. But no one stops Doriss. This is largely why the Tacoma Arts Commission recently selected Doriss for the AMOCAT Arts Award for 2010 Community Outreach by an Artist.

"The ways I outreach to my community are a byproduct of what I do. Glass art is a kind of community thing, especially in this area," Doriss says. "There is no separation between arts and community; they are the same thing. Arts plus community equals culture."

If you haven't heard of Doriss, he is a major player in the local glass scene. His gallery is one of the coolest in town, featuring modern and contemporary glass art set right smack in the middle of Hilltop-providing what can only be described as a damn interesting contrast and a definite boost to a neighborhood that needs some love. Doriss has been a glassworker for 19 years, and is the mastermind behind those pleasantly creepy Baby Head Cups. Originally from New England, he has traveled far and wide honing his creativity. His projects include working with the Museum of Glass hot shop staff, and working as an instructor at the M-Space Glass Blowing Facility in Tacoma.

To read the full article by Kristin Kendle click here.

[Fulcrum Gallery, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, fulcrumtacoma.com]

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011 >>>

1. History takes center stage from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Meeker Days Festival in downtown Puyallup. Visitors will learn how the "hops king" managed to make his fortune selling beer-making grain while managing to be a teetotaler his entire life. Ezra Meeker's mansion is on display to show visitors how the rich and wealthy lived more than 100 years ago. However, if history isn't your thing, this largest street festival in Pierce County features four live entertainment stages, two food courts, almost 200 vendors, antique tractor displays, classic car shows, inflatable rides and more.

2. Harlequin Productions is celebrating summer with another original compilation of the greatest music of the sixties titled Summer in the Sixties. A live band, five fabulous singers, a psychedelic dose of video, hot tunes, cool drinks and "A Whole Lotta Love" hits the stage at 2 p.m.

3. Melvin Van Peebles's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) did for the black movement what Getting Straight did for the student movement: reduced it to escapist entertainment, cinematic stylishness, and near nonsense. The Brotherhood Lounge screens Peebles's single-minded paean to an L.A. whorehouse at 7 p.m. DJ James spins after.

4. The sextet Mojo Overload will fill The Spar in Old Town with blues from 7-10 p.m.

5. Mother's Day has the highest number of phone calls each year, but Father's Day has the highest number of collect phone calls. Dads win the most beloved parent competition as often as Tito wins most beloved Jackson.  Treat dear old dad to Kila's fusion of Irish and world music featuring strong percussive-like singing, gorgeous melodies, and daring harmonies - which are driven by a serious rhythmical undercurrent - at 7 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia. Olympia's Burren Boys open.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Movies!

LOCAL GOODNESS >>>

Currently, a dozen vendors and two hot food stands make up the South Tacoma Farmers Market, which is held in the Heritage Bank Parking Lot at South 56th Street and Washington Street on Sundays through Sept. 25. More vendors are expected as the season progresses. Still in its infancy, the market is a weekly oasis of local produce and handcrafted treats in an area not known for such things. At the 11 a.m. opening time on a recent visit, 20 or so people had already converged on the market and were perusing the booths. By noon activity had picked up, lines were forming and it looked like a fairly well attended Sunday, despite the shy sunshine.

To read Jennifer Johnson's full column on the South Tacoma Farmers Market click here.

South Tacoma Farmers Market

Sunday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., through Sept. 25
Heritage Bank Parking Lot, South 56th Street and Washington Street, South Tacoma

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011 >>>

1. Eliot Lipp makes yet another valiant return to Tacoma tonight -- playing the New Frontier. It's sure to be awesome. Find details here.

2. The Tacoma Cult Movie Club gathers at the Acme Grub Cage tonight for "Things that make you go Vroom" - a night of cinema-obsession, presumably with a car theme tonight. It starts at 7 p.m. and the popcorn is free.

3. It's "Toxic Karaoke" time at Lady Luck's Cowgirl Up Steakhouse and Saloon in Parkland. Or, if that's not your ticket, find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings for the South Sound right here.

4. What's the coolest thing you're going to hear today? Quite possibly, Drunken Poetry, a twice monthly event organized and operated by Last Word Books in Olympia. What makes it so cool? You can just trust us, or find all the details here.

5. Today would be an excellent day to get into pottery, wouldn't it? Or maybe tomorrow. Either way, find details on the Pottery Class at Throwing Mud Gallery that kicks off today and runs for the next six weeks. Find specifics here.

ONE LOVE >>>

Among the dense evergreens that surround the banks of Carr Inlet a rhythmic island beat thumps. From behind Peninsula High School, between the art department and the football field, emanates reggae, ska, dub, rock steady, mento and dance hall. Every Wednesday night, KGHP FM plays host to Mike Kelly and his radio program, Kelly's Heroes, a show that's been going strong for 20 years .

Before Kelly moved to Gig Harbor in 1990, he managed reggae bands in Chicago, Illinois, most notably Smokey and the Seventh Seal. But Kelly's love for the island sound was grown from a young age.

"My first reggae album was Desmond Dekker with the Israelites," Kelly says. "I bought that in 1970, at the time not knowing that it was called reggae. It was just a cool song and still is a cool song. I remember buying that for 45 cents at K-mart in Westminster, California. I was 11 at the time."

After the location shift from the Midwest to the Northwest, Kelly took a radio class taught by KGHP founder Don Hofmann. Shortly thereafter, he found himself spinning records at the high school station. Kelly's Heroes started in 1991. After two decades on the air, the show is now the longest-running Jamaican radio show in the United States.

 To read Josh Swainston's full story click here.

LET'S GO SURFING NOW >>>

Apparently it's Brian Wilson's birthday today. He's 69. That's Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys, not Brian Wilson who was in your third grade class, or Brian Wilson who plays for the San Francisco Giants and has that freaky-ass beard.

Unlike most birthdays, I was not clued into Wilson's via a Facebook reminder. Rather, it was a Tweet from Rolling Stone. Now that I know, and since I'm not actually friends with Brian Wilson, I'm in a predicament. I can't just post something sappy on Wilson's Facebook wall and call it good.

So, I'll just post this Saturday Night Live clip instead ... which to this day makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Happy birthday, Brian Wilson!

A CRITIC POSES AN INDELICATE QUESTION >>>

We theater folk are, for the most part, a tribe of earnest liberals. I'm sure there are a few Glenn Beck junkies running around on the boards, but they stay mostly in our GOP closet. We're all wonderful, kind, inclusive people who embraced color- and gender-blind thinking long before the nation at large caught up with it. I've seen black Galileos and male Juliets, female Prosperos and short Macbeths, gay apostles and deaf sopranos. And that's good. It really, truly is. It makes audience members, including critics, confront their own biases; so until such choices hobble the text, I'm all for it. But there's one aspect of wide-open casting that I'm still, I must confess, trying to wrap my head around. I'll admit my leanings here, then put it to you to decide how backward or unreasonable those opinions might be.

Be honest, though: Don't be hypocritical in your feedback, no matter how much you want to impress your fellow liberals. Tell the truth.

Is it possible for an actor to be too fat or unattractive for a role?

Now, just so you don't think I'm being willfully obtuse, I will tell you up front that I myself am a person of size, well past the 200-pound mark. I wear black for a reason. The last time I was cast as a romantic lead, it was years ago and purely by necessity, and I can't remember the time before that. I will warn you that anyone who casts me in a dancing role deserves what he or she gets. I'm not without sympathy for actors who are outside the culturally (and, let's face it, genetically) determined standard of physical perfection. I'm also well aware that overweight people can be attractive, which is why I put the word "or" between "fat" and "unattractive" above. But there's a reason why chorus girls tend to be thin, and it's not just the dreaded "male gaze."

"Oh, he's talking about me," someone out there is thinking, already feeling that visceral pain. But I'm not asking this admittedly unsavory question in response to the work of a single actor. Far from it; in fact, it's more than a few. In all candor, I'm asking partly because I've been thinking about my own fitness for various roles. Rumor has it certain companies prefer actors who fall within preferred physical standards. Is that OK? Do we hate that? Do we secretly get why they do it? Should we fight it? Are they right? The fact is, a director must cast the person who seems most effective in a role, and sometimes, plausibility is a definite factor.

I've seen way too many productions of musicals, for example, with dancers who would never be hired in the jobs they're portraying. I've seen fortysomething seniors at Rydell High, an entire baseball team of prancing flamers in Damn Yankees, and a Ziegfeld Follies kickline that resembled a Richard Simmons video. I know it's rude to make fat jokes, and I'm in no position to judge...except we do. We do see physical shapes and sizes, out here in the wilds of Audience Land. It interrupts the flow of the story by taking us out of that delicate web of ersatz reality.

Even opera companies no longer cast zaftig actors in the roles of Carmen or Mimi. Why? Because whether fat people can die of consumption or not, it looks and feels false to the average patron. Yes, I know there are mismatched couples in the real world, but despite that, a hot Juliet making out with a corpulent Romeo is a speed bump for most people's brains. We can't help it. It's how we evolved. And directors can try all they want to make audiences more liberal by being extra super liberal in front of them, but it's almost impossible to dazzle an audience member out of his or her biological biases. A sweaty, heaving ingenue is always a tough pill to swallow.

My wife introduced me to, and quite possibly invented, the phrase "body-blind casting." It's an appealing idea philosophically, but I wonder if it just might not work. I support color-blind casting whenever feasible, but what about a black Patsy Cline? I'm for gender-blind casting, but would Oleanna work with a female professor? How about a male student? I submit to you that these would be horrible ideas, no matter how well-intentioned. And by similar logic, is it possible that body-blind casting isn't always the optimal solution?

You tell me.

P.S.: I'm told by one reader that "fat" is now a politically incorrect term. That may be true...but if we say "fat" is a bad word, aren't we also saying "fat" is a bad condition? Are we willing to imply that? I don't know.

DRUNKEN COVERAGE OF MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FOR NO GOOD REASON >>>

Quick show of hands... How many Father's Days were ruined by the Tacoma Rainiers (33-38) yesterday, and that rough first inning?

Anyone? Anyone?

OK, good. Sure, Rainiers starting pitcher Seddon may have thrown six balls to start the game according to the News Tribune's account of yesterday's sold-out Father's Day action, but chances are he doesn't need the weight of having ruined any Father's Days added to his burden. (My old man's alcoholism always did the trick...).

As far as Seddon is concerned, after that one rough inning -- which included the pitcher being struck in the forearm by a comebacker off the bat of Alexi Amarista, not to mention all three of the runs the Salt Lake Bees would score in their eventual 3-2 victory- Seddon's performance was generally solid.  He finished the day with seven innings pitched, three earned runs allowed on six hits, and tallied five strikeouts and one walk. The Father's Day Debacle of 2011 at Cheney Stadium wasn't Seddon's fault as much as it was the fault of Tacoma's sleepy offense. Ryan Langerhans - auditioning as my new favorite Rainiers player since the departure of Mike Carp, mainly because #LangerhansTrampStamp seems almost as funny on Twitter as the original #MikeCarpTattoo -- poked a homer in the fifth, and Jose Yepez (who doesn't see a ton of action, but had a monster game last week against Fresno on Wednesday) scored a run in the seventh. But that was all Tacoma's boys of summer could muster. And it simply wasn't enough to notch the victory. The Rainiers are currently eight games back of Reno in the PCL Pacific North division.

Notes ...

- Luke French - or Lucas Stephen French to be specific --- is scheduled to get the start for the Rainiers when they close out a series with Salt Lake tonight at Cheney Stadium (7:05 p.m. start time). French is no stranger to Mariners fans, as he's done some time in the Bigs. He was also born in 1985, which totally makes me feel old. According to his Wikipedia page, French was a fan of the Mariners while growing up - citing players like Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez (booo!) and Jay Buhner (yay!) as his favorites. In the past he has been quoted as saying that when he was in the fifth grade he made a future timeline for his life that included him playing for the Mariners. Speaking of things that make me feel old, French was in fifth grade in 1995 or 96. That's just wrong.

- Did you hear about the Rainiers getting stuck in Fresno late last week - at the ass end of a grueling two-week road trip? By all accounts it was horrendous. Rainiers announcer Mike Curto even created a "whining" tag in his Mike ...Off-Mic blog specifically to describe the ridiculous ordeal.

- Finally, speaking of Mike Curto, since the publication of last week's article on the Rainiers announcer in the Weekly Volcano a couple unrelated yet strangely related things have happened. First of all, most of my hardcore baseball fan friends have had one question: Why didn't you ask Curto about the possibility of him joining the Mariners broadcast booth someday soon, especially since Dave Niehaus's monstrous roll is currently being filled by a string of notable personalities from the Mariners' past? It's so obvious!

Naturally, I try telling these friends, "The kids wanted a Lachey quote!" and "That would have squeezed out the Pavement!" and, more seriously, "I made the conscious decision to avoid that angle because I thought it would easily dominate, and wanted to do something different." But, unfortunately for me, we're talking about real baseball fans here -- and they remained curious even after these excuses. I have very persistent friends sometimes.

Then, Ryan Divish from the News Tribune went and published this fairly awesome and totally dead-on endorsement of Curto Sunday, calling for the Mariners to make their next call-up the Rainiers broadcasting stud. The opinion piece from Divish - a friend of Curto's, by his own admission -- naturally brings the topic of Mike Curto possibly joining the Mariners the forefront.

I emailed Curto Thursday night, basically following up on the Mariners angle in hopes of getting my hardcore baseball fan friends off my back. His reply hit my inbox Sunday morning ... I read it moments before reading Divish's piece on the very same topic.

Honestly, it was kind of weird and a little eerie.

But it also produced some good quotes from Curto, like the following ...

"It's always been my goal to reach the majors, but unlike, say, ten years ago, I no longer think or expect that it will happen. I have no idea what it takes to get an opportunity at the highest level, and I'm not sure anyone else knows, either," says Curto. "The chances are very, very slim. It's not just the Mariners - it's all 30 teams; I would move to any city for the opportunity." 

But, specifically, what about the Mariners, and what about the possibility of this happening sooner rather than later, given the perceived opening?

"There is no expectation that the Mariners would ever give me an opportunity just because I'm with Tacoma - I work for the Rainiers, not the Mariners, and the Mariners have no involvement in my employment," says Curto. "The one advantage with Seattle is that they are familiar with my work, they know I'm here, and they should know what they would get if they gave me an opportunity."

"But, if it doesn't happen, it's no big deal. I'm long past feeling that I have to reach the major leagues in order to have a successful life," he continues. "There's a whole world to have fun in out there, and most of it has nothing to do with baseball."

What would Curto miss about T-Town if he does someday leave?

"I don't know. MSM Deli, for sure. Cloverleaf. I'm supposed to say the Weekly Volcano, huh?"

No pressure, Mike. No pressure ...

LINK: The "Rainiers Minute" collection

NEW TACO-TRUCK-STYLE SITDOWN DINING BY TCC >>>

Tacoma's newest Mexican restaurant serving taco-truck style fare opened quietly in mid-May across from Tacoma Community College. In the building that formerly housed Labor Works and Taco Bell, owner Pedro Gusman opened Taqueria El Sabor. El Sabor is an order-at-the-counter operation with a drive-thru. What differentiates the restaurant from other casual dining establishments is that you sit down after ordering and food is delivered to you.  

A lunch visit Friday with artist James Allan Tucker yielded very affordable lunch specials, including a $5.99 tamale and burrito platter with flavorful Spanish rice and cooked down beans, and the Caldo de Res for $7.99, a hearty meaty soup served with a large scoop of Spanish rice. How could we resist made-with-real-sugar bottled Coke a Cola (dubbed "Mexian Coke") nestled alongside Jarritos fruit-flavored sodas packed in ice at the counter? We dined on the tamale/burrito platter and orders of mulitas, akin to the quesadilla but without the smothering cheese. Generous amounts of fresh avocado, chopped white onion, fragrant cilantro and just a touch of mozzarella cheese acted as a blanket for tender lengua and chicken (you choose the meat). A salsa bar provides picked veggies and an array of extras for your meal. El Sabor has you covered. They even have fries and a simple cheese quesadilla for kids.

A cool interior and padded chairs made me want to linger after we literally cleared our plates.

This isn't fancy South American food like what's available over at Sixth & Pine. El Sabor offers simple, tasty food made by smiling people (we got head-nods and grins from the open kitchen while ordering at the counter), served quickly by kind ladies.

"Would you like more?" Yes, please.

[Taqueria El Sabor, 1636 South Mildred, Tacoma, 253.565.0501]