SUNDAY, JUNE12, 2011 >>>

1. Catch Saul Tannenbaum's Friends of Dorothy today as part of the Capital City Pride Festival in Olympia.

2. Celebrate the opening of the deck at Johnny's Dock with Trop Rock - an official Jimmy Buffett tribute band. Or, if that's not your musical cup of tea, check the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

3. Drop in on the Tacoma Cult Movie Club today at the Acme Grub Cage in Tacoma. Today's cinematic festivities go down under the handle, "The Doctor is In (and out of his mind!).

4. The South Sound Blues Association sponsored "Back to Beale Street" competition kicks off this afternoon at Jazzbones. The action is all ages, and should be tough to beat.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

The Reverend Colin, along with Mary K. Johnson and Tobin Ropes of Mad Hat Tea Company fame, kicked off the first Tacoma Cult Movie Club gathering in April 2009. Inspired by a Seattle group that regularly ran grindhouse cinema, the three founders desired to bring their own love of trashy art into this eclectic community. The free meetings take place at 7 p.m. on the second Sunday and third Monday of every month at The Acme Grub Cage. New members should brace themselves for much more than staid discussions of obscure films. Sunday, drop in for the Cult Movie Club's "The Doctor Is In (and out of his mind!), which the entity's "creative grunt," Holland Hume, predicts will feature films akin to Dr. Giggles -- though he stresses Reverend Colin never divulges his plans prior to go time, so anything could happen.

• Acme Grub Cage, 7 p.m., 1310 Tacoma Ave. S, Tacoma, 253.272.1892

FULL LINEUP OF BLUES >>>

It's become tradition in our area - a yearly blues-blowout local music fans look forward to for the quality it draws. And, like clockwork, it's back. Sunday at Jazzbones, the preliminary contest of this year's South Sound Blues Association sponsored Back To Beale Street 2012 Blues Competition goes down at Jazzbones, offering a chance for competitors to earn their way to the heralded International Blues Challenge in Memphis later this year. Three solo and duo acts will battle it out in front of a panel of judges, as will 10 bands. Included in the musical goodness will be the Rafael Tranquilino Band, the Michal Miller Band, the Al Earick Band, Doug Skoog and Joe Hendershot, the Cody Rentas Band and many more. The top four bands will advance to the finals, to be held during the 4th of July Freedom Fair and Air Show on the Duke's Chowder House Blues Stage.

• Jazzbones, $10, kicks off at 3 p.m., all ages, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169

DRINK OF THE WEEK >>>

Definitely an after dinner drink, the Lobster Shop on Ruston Way has captured lemon meringue pie in a martini glass. With Pinnacle Whipped Cream Flavored Vodka cutting the sour of their scratch lemonade, this drink is an absolutely delightful way to end the night. A bit of simple syrup, a touch of half and half, two lemon slices squeezed and a bar sugar rim - it tastes exactly like the damn pie.

Lobster Shop regulars are also part of the charm ... the other parts being the bartenders who always make you feel like they've been looking forward to seeing you all day, even if you haven't been able to stop by in a while.

The waterfront restaurant is open from 4:30-9 p.m. tonight. Go try the pie.

Lobster Shop

4015 Ruston Way, Tacoma
253.759.2165

MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2011 >>>

1. Things get graphic, let's discuss.  This month the Graphic Novel Book Club meets 7 p.m. inside Hilltop's 1022 South to discuss Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco.

2. Washington State Historical Society curator Maria Pasqualy shares her long-time interest in Northwest Coast imagery and how it has been used in museums, schools, and advertising at noon inside the State Capital Museum in Olympia.

3. Billy Roy Danger will perform roots-based originals and covers at 8 p.m. inside The Swiss.

4. Seven's Revenge duo hosts an open stage night at O'Malley's Irish Pub beginning at 9 p.m.

5. The poetic singer/songwriter Brandon Mayer & The Hidden Powers performs at 9 p.m. inside Le Voyeur in downtown Olympia.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

BREAKFASTS AND FLASHBACKS >>>

ANNOUNCER: The tiny retail strip at Regents Boulevard and Contra Costa Avenue in Fircrest has two dining options: old-school Italian delicatessen Viafore's and a casual café that has gone by a few names over the years. Remember Spring Lake Cafe, Poppy Seed Cafe or Alia's Sidewalk Café? All three occupied the space; Spring Lake first. Despite changes in ownership, the American menu of sandwiches, salads, soups, desserts, omelets and scrambles-not to mention the décor-remains about the same. The original owners recently reclaimed the business and renamed it Spring Lake Café. Hearing Chef Scott Clement had returned, the boys went to see if all the fuss they've been hearing is warranted.

To read this week's full review click here.

[Spring Lake Café, 616 Regents Blvd., Fircrest, 253.460.0919]

ON ADDICTION TO ACTING >>>

Can I tell you how busy I am? You are, too, of course, but please, bear with me a moment: I got married last month, so I'm trying to squeeze all my possessions into my new wife's Tumwater condo. Not that I'm complaining, mind you; I've become a homeowner with minimal effort. Still, all my stuff has to go somewhere, and it turns out my somewhere is a yard sale. We have a full reception to plan, plus an Orlando getaway.Meanwhile, I have this job, but I'm also teaching two online classes for a rural Kansas community college. Starting in less than a month, I'm teaching (and grading!) a math class at Olympic College in Shelton. And my "real" job, the one that's paying for our extravagant Florida vacation, is writing online assistance in support of a soon-to-be-published math textbook. That'll morph into a job doing online tutorials, probably sometime this month. It's a lot.

So when John Munn, usually at Lakewood Playhouse but currently guest directing for Theater Artists Olympia, called to ask if I'd play a role in his production of Oleanna, every logical neuron in my body screamed, "Tell him no way!"

I said yes. No one was more surprised than I that I assented, save possibly my new wife. We were on our honeymoon at the time.

Why do I do it?--not just to myself, but to my long-suffering stage widow and career responsibilities as well? Granted, John was willing to work around my review schedule, but that just made it possible (well, semi-possible...I don't know how I'll review A Midsummer Night's Dream from Animal Fire). It sure didn't make it a wonderful idea. Oleanna, a 1992 work by David Mamet, is what we in the trade call a two-hander, a term that never fails to make certain friends giggle. It means there are only two people in the play, and now one of those two people is me.

The other actor is Deya Ozburn, whom I've worked with before, and I just think she's aces. Not only is she a gifted and beautiful actor, she's also peaches and cream to work with and be around. She's the kind of actor who, no matter how much we have to scream abuse at each other within the play, begins and ends every rehearsal with a heartfelt hug. John's a brilliant guy with a consistent track record as a director, not to mention the fact that he remembered my birthday this weekend. So that's all lovely, and a strong incentive to do the show. It's just not why I agreed to do the show.

Is it because I love acting? I don't think I do anymore, frankly, at least not most of the time. It's an enormous amount of work, especially as my ability to memorize dissolves. The lines for this show will be, I can promise you now, a stone cold bitch. I love theater people, but they can be a handful. I suspect there exists no other craft so magnetic to people who teeter on the high wire between glaring narcissism and suicidal self-loathing. (Guilty as charged, Your Honor.) The drive to Lakewood, currently at $3.84 a gallon, is a drag. And I'm missing my wife, and besides, her family won't come to see the show because I have to say one of my least favorite words in it. (I have favorite and least favorite words. I'm a writer. So sue me.) There is no logical reason for me to accept a role in Oleanna this summer. To be honest, I'm not even crazy about the play. So when my rational mind dissects the situation, there can be only one, inescapable conclusion: I'm addicted. It's a fact. My new father-in-law named it out loud: "The bug," he said flatly, as if to say, "The clap."

He's a musician himself, a damn good one, so I'm sure he kind of gets it. I don't. I've tried a sufficient number of party pharmaceuticals to know I don't have an addictive personality; yet here we are. I'm chasing the dragon, always pulled to the next show, the next possible fix of whatever high I derived from it in my long-ago youth on the boards. Acting used to be my claim to distinction; now I'm surrounded by excellent actors. There's nothing special about my ability, whatever that is, in South Puget. Acting used to be how I got close, sometimes happily close, to bright, pretty girls. Now I'm married to a bright, pretty woman. Acting used to be how I said what I had to say to the world. Now I'm finding it all but impossible to keep up with this blog and my own (at ChristianCarvajal.com). I've owed that eponymous blog an entry for weeks; hell, I haven't even mentioned my wedding there. Not cool!

Do they make a Dr. Phil, or at least a Dr. Drew, for my addiction? Is there a theater patch?

THE HARMON BREWING COMPANY'S PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION >>>

"We are Tacoma's brewery and we are going to be in Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon," proclaims Pat Nagle, co-owner of the Harmon Brewing Company (HBC). "That's how we want to brand the Harmon. Everybody knows that Ninkasi is from Eugene, Deschutes is from Bend. And everyone is going to know that Harmon is from Tacoma."

To read Joshua Swainston's full article click here.

[Harmon Brewery & Eatery, 1938 Pacific Ave. S., Tacoma, 98402, 253.383.2739]

[The Hub, 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 98402, 253.683.4606]

[Harmon Tap Room, 204 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 98402, 253.212.2725]

THE UNEXPECTED >>>

Tacoma Art Museum tries to cater to every taste and every demographic by mounting exhibitions that range from the traditional and historic to today's most revolutionary and idiosyncratic art. It seems the museum tries very hard to balance a need for catering to popular taste-that is, bringing in work that will get folks to open their wallets-and simultaneously keeping up with the latest trends and movements and fulfilling a responsibility to educate the public. That's a tall order, and for the most part TAM succeeds.

Just when I think TAM is on the verge of selling out-oh, god, another Chihuly, and this right after the blockbuster Norman Rockwell show-they do something gutsy like bring in the highly controversial Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, which it was recently announced will make an appearance at the museum in March of 2012.

The new Chihuly show, Dale Chihuly's Northwest, opened on the day the rapture was supposed to happen and will run through September.

To read Alec Clayton's full column click here.

[Tacoma Art Museum, Dale Chihuly's Northwest, through Sept. 25, Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Third Thursdays 10 a.m. - 8 p.m., through May 30, $10, Student/Military/Senior (65+) $8, Family $25, children 5 and under free., Third Thursdays free, 1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma]

Hide/Seek, March 17 through June 10, 2012.

PHO FIX IN DOWNTOWN T-TOWN >>>

After months of being teased by pictures of Sriracha hot sauce -- and then a daily countdown on Facebook -- the wait is over. Pho 701 Bistro & Bar on Pacific Avenue passed Health Department inspections last week and opened quietly today at 10 a.m. As we approached the open sign was not lit, the overhead lights were dark and curtains remained closed; it was truly an incognito soft opening. Fellow pho-lover Melanie Manista-Rushforth and I settled in at the far end of the bistro for optimum people watching. We agreed the high ceiling has always lent a relaxing, airy vibe to the room, which looks much like it did during previous incarnations as Seven Oh One and Capers Downtown. Plenty of natural light filtered in through soaring windows and the air was heavy with delicious scents.

Darren, part of the sizeable bistro opening team, explains the abbreviated menu being offered until Friday features items for $5 or less: mango salad, chicken satay, egg rolls, chicken wings, skewered marinated beef, battered and fried calamari, grilled pork chop with rice, Vermicelli noodles, prawn fried rice and a Vietnamese sandwich.

The real attraction is the pho. Steaming bowls of Vietnamese noodle soup arrived with a saucer of vibrant, purple stemmed Thai basil, white mung bean sprouts, sliced jalapeno and lime wedges. Beef brisket, eye round steak, soft tendon and pressed meatballs are available in combination or separately. I dumped in a handful of sprouts, some shredded basil and torn jalapeno, squeezed lime and added sweet hoisin and spicy Sriracha to the light-colored, delicate flavored broth.  Each person makes their own bowl exactly as they want- be it super spicy, hoisin sweet, or kept simple like Melanie, who prefers noodles and broth only.

A sweet young woman waited on us in smiling fashion. Plenty of other staff roamed the floor delivering plates of colorful cuisine. Currently canned soda, black tea and bottled beer are the only beverages. We were told more items will be added to menu next week and more teas, cocktails and wine will be added within the month.

[Pho 701 Bistro & Bar, 701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, 253.627.9225]