MAKE MONEY OFF YOUR JUNK >>>

Happy pigs and human heads carved from coconuts. T-shirts, coffee mugs, salt and pepper shakers, trays, bells and toothpick holders stenciled with Florida iconography. One person's tacky is another's kitsch at Lakewood's community garage sale Junk in the Trunk, where people stuff their automobiles with, er, stuff they want to sell. I'll list more items you might find at Junk in the Trunk: metal frames bordered with leaping dolphins, necklaces, nightlights made from mollusks' shiny homes.

Even if you don't buy any of the crap they're hawking, it's worth a visit for people-watching purposes alone. And if you happen to be looking for old lamps, cheap socks or worn-down appliances, all the better.

Junk in the Trunk

Saturday, Aug. 6, 9 a.m., free
8 a.m. for those wanting to sell, $10 fee
Lakewood City Hall, 6000 Main St. SW, Lakewood
253.983.7887

SATURDAY, AUG. 6, 2011 >>>

1. Now in its 15th year, the latest installment of the annual Proctor Arts Fest will feature sidewalk sales, an art show, more than 100 arts vendors, live music and family fun galore. Artwork and events will be featured up and down North Proctor and 26th Street. To read Kristin Kendle's full story, click here.

2. Last year we told you not to go to Woofstock with your kids. We said you'd leave with a puppy. Or a kitty. Or a rabbit. But did you listen? Of course not. You're a sucker - perhaps just the kind of person Woofstock is designed for. Every year the University of Puget Sound, along with the Dugan Foundation, puts on the free festival dedicated to solid pet ownership, outdoor music and, most importantly, getting animals adopted and into the arms of good owners.

3. Once dormant, the Legend of Bigfoot has charged back to life of late - doling out psych-heavy alt rock to a Tacoma fan base well-versed in (and appreciative of) such sonic explorations. The band's stormed back to prominence last month after a lengthy hiatus, and showing no signs of letting up; the Legend of Bigfoot - Mike Krushka, Jason Flom, Jimmy Hughs and Nate Rich - will be a part of today's NWCZ Radio Summer Crush, an all-ages South Sound rock throwdown also featuring the likes of Voxxy Vallejo, Afraid of Figs and the Dignitaries.

4. We're happy to hear Spaceworks Tacoma and the Tacoma Arts Commission's Tacoma Artists Initiative Program will once again facilitate the placement of hundreds of enlarged refrigerator-magnet-like letters in Tollefson Plaza this summer, making the drop today at 2 p.m. You'll have the entire month of August to enjoy the installation, known this year simply as Words. Spell out whatever tickles your fancy in the name of community creativity.

5. Hell's Belles returns to Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma tonight, bringing with them all the revved up AC/DC action you've come to expect.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight!

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

4th Ave Ale House Olympia - Downtown. Pirex, Rikk Beatty Band. 9 pm.

The Den at urbanXchange Tacoma - Downtown. Angelo Spencer Et Les Hauts Sommets, Carol Bui. All Ages. 7 pm. Donations accepted.

Jazzbones Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Doxology. 8:30 pm. $8-$10.

Hitchin' Post Saloon Federal Way. Loose Gravel & The Quarry. 9 pm.

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. Hell's Belles (all-female AC/DC tribute), High Noon Horizon, Plaster. 9 pm. $12-$15.

Little Creek Casino Shelton. George Thorogood & The Destroyers. 8 pm. $50-$60.

Le Voyeur Café and Lounge Olympia - Downtown. Gina C. Art Opening, with Engine, The Absent Light, The OCDJ. 9 pm. NC.

Louie G's Pizzeria Fife. The Legend of Bigfoot. All ages. 9 pm. $5.

• Once dormant, the Legend of Bigfoot has charged back to life of late - doling out psych-heavy alt rock to a Tacoma fan base well-versed in (and appreciative of) such sonic explorations. They stormed back to prominence last month after a lengthy hiatus, and showing no signs of letting up; the Legend of Bigfoot - Mike Krushka, Jason Flom, Jimmy Hughs and Nate Rich - will be a part of Saturday's NWCZ Radio Summer Crush, an all-ages South Sound rock throwdown also featuring the likes of Voxxy Vallejo, Afraid of Figs and the Dignitaries. If you're looking for a fine example of the musical talent our area has to offer, look no further. - Matt Driscoll

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. Jill Cohn. All Ages. 8 pm.

Morso Wine Bar Gig Harbor. Grant Peeples. 8 pm. $25.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. Hot Rod Rebel Riot. 9 pm.

Northern Olympia - Downtown. Your Heart Breaks, Olympia Free Choir, the Bob Schwenkler Experience, the Hive Dwellers, Hysterics. All Ages. 8 pm.

Rock the Dock Pub & Grill Tacoma - Downtown. Rock & Rally for the Troops: A fundraiser for Operation Ward 57. Bands include Fall From Grace, Anchor the Tide, Atomic Bride & Aces Up. Hells 10 am Motorcycle Dice Run, 4 pm beer garden opens, first band 5 pm. $10 suggested donation.

Salty's at Redondo Beach Des Moines. Rod Cook. 8 pm.

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

NEW ENTERTAINMENT VENTURE SETS SAIL >>>

Does Tacoma really need a new theater company? As Gold From Straw proved last year, new ventures add vitality to the live entertainment scene, along with fresh new voices and talents unlikely to be readily embraced by more traditional companies. I spoke to Jen Davis, the company's associate artistic director, about Toy Boat's aims and aspirations. Read the interview here.

[Toy Boat Theatre, Dakota's Belly, Wyoming, $10 at BrownPaperTickets.com, 8 p.m. Aug. 5-7 and 12-13, 1314 Martin Luther King Way, Tacoma, 253.879.3330]

MAKIN UR OWN WORDZ IZ VRY EASY >>>

During the month of August, think of Tollefson Plaza as one giant refrigerator door. Around 2 p.m. today Tacoma artist James Grayson Sinding dumped hundreds of hand-painted wooden words, refrigerator-magnet-style, onto the plaza in an installation he calls Words. The event organizers - Spaceworks Tacoma and the Tacoma Arts Commission's Tacoma Artists Initiative Program - hope that the addictive faux magnets will help break the ice among poets and non-poets, and open the community's eyes to public art in Tacoma.

Today's Words dump was in conjunction with the Tacoma Art Museum's "Free Summer Community Festival: Best of the Northwest" in which colorful chalk was also dropped on the Plaza. C.L.A.W. members and Frost Park Chalk Off participants were among the folks who chalked art.

In 2010, Sinding dumped Letters in Tollefson plaza, a public art project that was recognized by the Americans for the Arts 2011 Public Art Network Year in Review. 

The public is invited to piece together poetry and interact with the Words installation through the end of the month.

My guess is the word "Tacoma" will be the first to disappear.

LINK: More Words in our Photo Hot Spot

WAKE UP KIDS! >>>

We don't really have anything to say about this, other than we hope the smile they put on your face is as big as the one they put on ours.

CHECKING IN >>>

Marguerite Giguere - a sexy Realtor in Tacoma - recently posted a list of Tacoma gay bars on her blog, Get Real Tacoma.

If you are looking for gay bars in Tacoma you may be pleasantly surprised by the number of gay bars we have in the City of Destiny.  The up and coming St. Helens Neighborhood downtown is home to two gay bars in close proximity- The Mix and Club Silverstone.  Metro Gruv is about a mile away on 6th Avenue near Puget Sound University and the Hoppin' 6th Avenue Scene, and out on 56th and South Tacoma Way is The Airport Tavern.  All of these bars have a different vibe to them, so here are the details and my take on each one.

Back in early 2008, the Weekly Volcano wrote a story asking, "Does the South Sound gay community care if ‘their' bars are not as glamorous as the straight bars?"

Gay people from King County are just as capable of looking down on their gay brothers and sisters in the South Sound, just as straight people do. And complaints about Tacoma's and Olympia's gay scene are common. When they aren't in reference to the customers or their conduct, they are about the physical conditions. Specifically the worn carpeting, hand-me-down furniture, and fixtures, all of which seem to say whatever, you'll come anyway.  In some bars, the overlapping interior design themes of decades past combine to create an incoherent aesthetic only Frankenstein would appreciate. 

Absent from Tacoma's gay night life is any kind of gay establishment that is able to resemble the likes of 21 Commerce, the Matador or The Loft. In fact, Tacoma's straight night life is able to win the loyal patronage of queers who prefer to avoid gay clubs. One gay downtown nightclub patron I spoke with explains that seeing the same gay people at the same gay bar all the time is too depressing. Besides, he gets more phone numbers from straight guys at closing time than he would elsewhere. Hmmmmm.

How has the scene changed in the last three years?

SUNDAY, AUG. 7, 2011 >>>

1. Sometimes 5 Things To Do Today Guy's daughter brings home a sickness that takes down the entire family eliminating any chance of a morning post of 5 Things To Do Today.

2. Late postings of 5 Things To Do Today often eliminates morning events forcing the name to be changes to 3 Things To Do Today.

3. Christmas Island's hooks are warmly embraced, as are brightly jangly guitars and a firm upholding of the 2 1/2-to-3 1/2-minute time limit on songs. A gauzy layer hugs these songs, lending them even more of a sense of newly uncovered gems. Catch them tonight at 9 p.m. with Cryin' Wolf, Cowabunga Babes and Apache Chief inside The New Frontier Lounge.

4. There's plenty of reasons why local music fans still talk about early '80s splatter rockers The Accused, and most of them simply have to do with how fucking kick-ass the band is. The band performs with Sex & Violins, Under Sin, Ninth Sign and Zombie Messiah at the Backstage Bar & Grill, beginning around 8 p.m.

5. The Weekly Volcano digs The Mix's Sunday night 9 p.m. karaoke where you can sing it loud, sister. There's plenty of show tunes and after several $12 mimosa pitchers you know "I Dreamed a Dream" is coming out.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

WE SCENE IT >>>

While the pre-69 traditional hotrod and custom car show yesterday around The New Frontier Lounge was bitchin' cool it was the Rebel Riot Pinup Contest that drew many of the eyes. Hosted by The Pinup Angles and Miss Kitty Baby, ladies in swimsuits strutted around the warm summer day in vintage or vintage-inspired suits representing 1940s-1960s. Photographer Steve Dunkelberger was on the scene.

MONDAY, AUG. 8, 2011 >>>

1. Photographer and downtown Tacoma resident Peter Serko loves the Museum of Glass. Loves it. Well, at least loves to shoot it. He's been capturing the many moods of the MOG since 2006. And MOG has been aware. The Museum hosts Transformation: Art Changes a City in which Serko presents 18 photographs of both the Museum architecture and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass taken during different times of day throughout the seasons. In conjunction with the exhibition, Serko invites the community to submit their best MOG photographs via Give Us Your Best Shot Flickr group, which will be included in a video montage displayed alongside his prints. Drop by today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a looksy.

2. Blood drives make the Weekly Volcano uncomfortable as there are too many people in these parts who dig the Twilight films. We don't need a closet vampire near our blood. If you feel comfortable, the Sea Mar Community Health Center in Lacey will be drawing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during their Community Health Fair, which runs through Aug. 12.

3. Magoo's Annex's Micro Mondays with DJ Melodica has become a habit for many, specifically those who enjoy punk, post punk, New Wave, early electronica and garage tunes while waiting for that one damn pool table. Get in on the party beginning at 8:30 p.m.

4. We don't want to cause a panic but Sevens Revenge have scheduled a short break from their Monday Open Stage night at O'Malley's Irish Pub beginning Aug. 22. You've been holding out waiting for some nerve to kick in. Now is the time, Sport. It begins at 8:30 p.m. This could be the first day of the rest of your life.

5. All Mondays don't suck. Red Hex, TRMRS, Guantanamo Baywatch and Si Si Si will rock The New Frontier Lounge beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Let's go to the movies!