THURSDAY, SEPT. 15, 2011 >>>

1. Do you like drag kings and queens? They've 'em, hanging low and taped up high. Do you like singing show tunes? Do you like disco? Do you like to shoot pool? There's a table in the lower level. But the Weekly Volcano digs The Mix's Thursday 9 p.m. karaoke where you can sing it loud, sister. DJ Rick has a big book and after a couple $5 Jagerbombs or $5 vodka Red Bulls (Thursday night specials), you know "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys is coming out.

2. In the nine years since its debut, the Juried Art Exhibit at The Gallery at Tacoma Community College has not only grown in scope, but it's also become a favorite for South Sound art lovers. Nearly 40 artists - a who's who of the South Sound arts scene - have works in the ninth annual show, which opens at 10 a.m. for a five-week run.

3. Earlier this week we assigned you the task of investigating artist Nola Tresslar's Zen Art© at flow Gallery & Studio in the Tacoma Dome District. The time has come. The reception for her "Full Spectrum" show runs 5-8 p.m. Please report your findings.

4. Paralysis, in legs or the government, is not a good thing. That's why it's important we have lecture series aimed at combating paralysis. Mostly about combating paralysis in the government, but who knows? These lecturers are smart people.  The first of three "conversations" in Tacoma's 2011 lecture series kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Washington Tacoma's Carwein Auditorium. The talk, featuring former Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and others, is titled "Policy, Politics & Paralysis: How to Turn Ideas into Action." Action, of course, being the opposite of paralysis.

5. The Third Thursday Art Bus tours art exhibits during Tacoma's Third Thursday Art Walk leaving the Tacoma Art Museum at 6 p.m. and ending around 9 p.m. at The Swiss. This month's guest tour guide will be renowned local author and Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. To reserve your spot on the bus, click here.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Thursday Nightlife It List

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

No School: The Tacoma School District called off school. (News Tribune)

Do We Really Have To Look At It?: Washington state revenue forecast will post this morning. (The Olympian)

WTF?: Swiss banking giant UBS discovered that unauthorized trading has cost it an estimated $2 billion. (CNN)

WTF?2: Nicolas Cage awoken by naked man with Fudgesicle. (Reuters)

WTF?3: Lady Gaga has designed the GL10 Instant Mobile Printer. (NME)

He's Honest Dammit: The man in the Gumby suit who tried to rob the 7-11 has turned himself in. (Best Week Ever)

Pearl Jam Twenty: Cameron Crowe discuss the documentary. (Rolling Stone)

Doh!: Could Homer Simpson get his own channel? (Los Angeles Times)

ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>

At this point it you are moving your lips before you read the next sentence. If you're looking for coverage of local arts in Tacoma, Olympia, and all points in between, the Weekly Volcano is THE place to find it. While others cut back or bow out, the Volcano pushes on, continually providing the best in local arts coverage to our fantastic readers and always looking for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us.

Here's a look at the arts coverage waiting for you in print and online.

THEATER: Brighton Beach Memoirs

CAPITAL PLAYHOUSE: Jackson Jones throws strikes in "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Photo credit: Capital Playhouse

There are stage veterans who scoff at Neil Simon, but I'm not among them. It'd be easier to dismiss his career if 21st century theaters boasted a humorist with even half the quality of his résumé. That said, Simon was always more gifted at writing jokes (a talent honed in 1950s TV) than crafting genuine pathos. His first major attempt at autobiography, Chapter Two, falls flat at each attempt at marital conflict. Brighton Beach Memoirs, penned six years later, is more ambitious than Chapter Two, but whiffs at as many pitches as it hits. What was probably his most heartfelt material seems, more often than not, manufactured instead of observed. — Christian Carvajal

FEATURE: Wanda Sykes to play the Pantages Theater

Wanda Sykes is one of those people that everyone knows. She's been doing standup comedy since 1987, but many just know her as some indefinable presence in comedy - having spent time as an actress on TV and in movies, as well as a writer for The Chris Rock Show. It's easy to take for granted what a brilliant comedian she is. Now, more than 20 years into her career as a standup, Sykes' comedy is becoming more personal and confessional. – Rev. Adam McKinney

VISUAL ARTS: New featured art at Matter gallery

"Knocking on Heaven's Door": Coco Edmunds' painting of a sock monkey is knocking on an actual door screen. Photo credit: Bob Snell

Olympia's Matter Gallery keeps it fresh by constantly bringing in new artists and new works by the gallery's regulars. Among some of the new work showing now I detect a theme. The theme is painting. Specifically expressionistic painting, mostly abstract or with stylized imagery and expressive handling of paint - or in many cases stuff that looks like paint. - Alec Clayton

MOVIE BIZ BUZZ: Couch Fest Films

Couch Fest Films founder Craig Downing (Icelandair shirt) and friends are coming to a couch near you. Photo credit: Couch Fest Films

I still haven't attended the Port Townsend Film Festival, but I can vouch for another fest held that same weekend worth taking in: the Seattle-based Couch Fest Films. For one day only - Sept. 24 - the concept takes films out of the traditional, formal theater setting and into a homier atmosphere - basically, folks' living rooms. Each participating home hosts its own batch of shorts, grouped into various genres (comedy, animation, etc.) that repeat every hour from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Couch Fest motto sums it up: "Awkwardly Awesome." – Christopher Wood

LINK: Fall Arts in the South Sound

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

MUSICAL GOODNESS IN STORE IN PRINT & ONLINE >>>

Amidst Tacoma School District children running around like maniacs, the U.S. poverty rate at a 52-year high, Michelle Bachmann claims HPV vaccine causes mental retardation (must resist joke), Season Nine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, and stupid shit like this, we still managed to come up with a Weekly Volcano music section  - conveniently packaged in the issue of the Weekly Volcano hitting streets today.

Here's a sneak peek at the musical goodness in store in print & online ...

HIP-HOP: Hoping on the John Crown train

To get to know John Crown the person and MC, the best thing to do is follow him on Twitter (@JOHNCROWN_NW). His hilarious, insightful, and sometimes slightly immature tweets are a window into the complex psyche of an artist, a nine-to-fiver and a family man. Crown's life has seen many of the same ups and downs with the law that affect many rappers. However, Crown has a hungriness to make it, and a dedication to staying a normal family guy that gives his aura a powerful juxtaposition. – Josh Rizeberg

MODERN ROCK: Roman Holiday readies for the release of a sophomore album and UK tour

Roman Holiday's music has always been this huge, arena-ready monster. It's the kind of sound that comes off as if it could never be contained in the local venues in which the band frequently performs. And somehow, they manage to capture this pristine quality in a live setting. Roman Holiday's live recordings sound better than most bands' studio albums. – Rev. Adam McKinney

HIP-HOP: The long march

Back in 2004, the unknown Seattle hip-hop duo DJ/producer Sabzi and MC Geologic - better known as Blue Scholars - had just released their self-titled debut. They had played their first show in Portland. And wanted to push the new project but couldn't find anyone willing to let them open in Seattle. A friend attending Evergreen State College, who went by the stage name of Macklemore, got them on a shared bill.

"Olympia was actually the very first city that we sold our first CD, then Seattle later that month," rapper Geologic says, on the phone from Los Angeles.

Selling CDs hasn't been a problem since. Either has finding a receptive venue. — Joe Gustav

PLUS: Better Living Through Music - Josh Rizeberg record release, Nappy Roots, Ghostwriter and Dorky's Anniversary Show 

PLUS: Concert Alert 

PLUS: Live local music listings

PLUS: Then there's ... we can't even explain it

THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Sunny to partly cloudy, hi 64, lo 44

Saturday: A couple of showers possible, hi 64, lo 51

Sunday: A couple of showers possible, hi 65, lo 52

>>> THURSDAY, SEPT. 15: PRINCESS BRIDE OUTDOORS

If there is one thing that binds people together in this tumultuous world, it's that everyone who has ever seen The Princess Bride has loved it. I'm sure you can dig up some nihilist psycho to disagree, or a three-toothed Andy Dick cousin who "plum don't get it." Nonetheless, you love it and are stoked Go Local, The Grand Cinema and Click! Network will screen the classic on a giant screen in the middle of Tollefson Plaza. And if you stand up suddenly in the Plaza and announce, "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die," with an exaggerated Castilian accent, they will not ask you to leave.

• Tollefson Plaza, dusk, free, 17th and Pacific Avenue, downtown Tacoma

>>> FRIDAY, SEPT. 16: (PARK)ING DAY

The Weekly Volcano will transform a street-level parking space along Pacific Avenue in Tacoma's Museum District into a mini Woodstock festival. Titled PARK(stock), our hippie happening is part of national PARK(ing) Day, the annual global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into "PARK(ing)" spaces: temporary public places. Drop by our park Friday with your tambourine, you dig?

• Downtown Tacoma, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free, 19th Street and Pacific Avenue

>>> SATURDAY, SEPT. 17: 2ND ANNUAL TACOMA THROWDOWN

The staff at the Weekly Volcano has a very strict exercise regime.  Find an old, beaten-up chair. Slouch in it for several hours. At around 3 p.m., begin to get stressed out about the 5 p.m. press deadline. Walk - slowly - to the honor candy box, and steal something bad for us. Complain a bit, then go back to slouching. Climbers might follow a different exercise regime. A bunch of climbers will descend upon the Vertical World Climbing Gym Saturday to compete in several categories, including beginners, for cash prizes. The public is encouraged to watch them climb walls. We'll be there ... with our beaten-up chairs.

• Vertical World Climbing Gym, 9 a.m., 102 S. 24th St., Tacoma, 253.683.4791 

>>> SUNDAY, SEPT. 18: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE EVENT

Bad-mouth peace? Who could? There is no solid argument against it. In our heart of hearts, we all want to work together, coexist quietly and get on with what's really important in life. And even in a world as cynical as this one we live in, peace is something worth working for. That's the fundamental base for Sunday's International Day of Peace Event in Olympia. Singing bowls, music, kite making, meditative walk around Capitol Lake, and more for individuals and families - all in the name of peace.

• Heritage Park, 2-5 p.m., free, Fifth and Water Street, Olympia, 360.701.5980 

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY Music/Film Critic
Friday, I'll be checking out The New Frontier, featuring a rare performance from John Walker (of the defunct Hitchhikers). Saturday, I'll be at Dorky's nerdtastic anniversary show.

ALEC CLAYTON Visual Arts Critic
It's going to be an awesome weekend indeed. Dinner with good friends Saturday night. Sunday night will be the first workshop of my play, The Backside of Nowhere, directed by the awesome Elliot Wiener with actors Scott C. Brown (the great homeless guy in A Perfect Life), Jennie Jenks, Jenifer Rifenberry, Alex Smith, Syra Beth Puett and Mark Peterson.

JENNIFER JOHNSON Food and Lifestyles Writer
I'm at the North Tacoma yard sale this weekend. Come buy some most awesome stuff: 45s of local bands from the '90s, never released demos, art. Contact me here.

BRETT CIHON Meat Market Correspondent/Features Writer
I'm checking out the all-new Big Whisky Saloon in Olympia on Friday
night. It's the grand opening, so I'm sure to be in for a yee-hawing
ruckus of a good time.

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
This weekend is the first rainy weekend in quite some time, therefore granting me the pass to be lazy, drunk and boring. Of course, I will still be an attentive parent, and I will still sling drinks with glory and vigor, just all the while knowing that bed covers, long books, and glasses of wine are really where it's at.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Photographer
Frankly, I have no idea what we will be doing other than geocaching around Fort Steilacoom or Chambers Bay. Maybe I'll head over to the Fair for a nose-to-nose discussion with a pig. Maybe I won't.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
This is a big weekend for Amanda and I, because we're celebrating our wedding! - three months after the fact, sure, but awesome all the same. And then we're going to the Sci Fi Musuem, Pike Place Market, and Dorky's Arcade! Plus there'll be ice cream.

JOE IZENMAN: Theater/Music Critic
Jam. So much jam. Farmers market junkies that we are, the wife and I have been stockpiling berries all season, and now the time has come to make ALL THE JAM. After going to the Proctor Farmers Market, of course. As long as it's all done in time to watch the Seahawks dominate the Steelers on NFL Sunday. So ... 2014 sometime?

JOANN VARNELL: Theater Critic
Saturday night, my husband and I will be helping a friend write a song. (Don't snicker; we're actually quite qualified.) Possibly, we'll take our little son to the Puyallup Fair to check out all the animals in the petting zoo. Other than that, not much is planned. We are that awesome.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound 

LINK: Happy hours!

STOP HERE DURING THIS THURSDAY ARTWALK >>>

Parkland is Burning! Oh no, call the fire department. Better yet, hightail it to Fulcrum Gallery for this sizzling hot show of posters by the great Art Chantry.  From the "Take my penis" condom posters to artwork for Hempfest, Chantry's works are wild, inventive, and in-your-face Tacoma icons. Parkland is Burning! Will be on exhibition from Sept. 15 to Nov. 17 at Fulcrum. Don't miss this one. There's an opening reception tonight from 6-9 p.m.

[Fulcrum Gallery, Parkland is Burning!, Sept. 15-Nov. 17, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, fulcrumetacoma.com]

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

4th Ave Ale House Olympia - Downtown. They're Heading West. 9 pm.

C.I. Shenanigans Tacoma - Northend. Thursday Night Jazz. All Ages. 6-9 pm. NC.

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. Black Hole Music's Neutron Star Girls, History of Thornes, Days Armor, Supernaughty (Black Sabbath tribute). 9 pm. $5.

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. Annemarie Russell. All Ages. 6 pm.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. White Orange Album Release Show, with Rooftop Warrior, Ancient Warlocks. 9 pm.

Puyallup Foursquare (601 Ninth Ave.) Puyallup. Roman Holiday. 8 pm. $10.

• Tonight, Roman Holiday will be locally releasing their second album, Move Your Heart/Shake Your Bones. Then, in early October, the band will be jumping across the pond for a U.K. tour. While Roman Holiday is there, the band will be doing some showcases for record labels. Maybe the mystery of why such a radio-ready band is not on a record label will finally come to a close. To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Roman Holiday, click here.

The Swiss Tacoma - Downtown. Word 3^rd Thurs featuring Josh rizeberg record release, DJ Iceman, Spaceman, Mr. Von and Violet. 10 pm. $5.

• The Volcano's voice on local hip-hop, Josh Rizeberg, is Tacoma bred, fed and lay him to dead. Writing about his shit creates a natural conflict of interest, but dude's such a huge a part of the local hip-hop scene that ignoring him would be criminal. Rizeberg raps. He wrote and won slams for spoken word poetry before it was trendy. He's likely to show up with a stuffed Swisher behind his ear (it's OK, he's got a prescription). His voice is soothing, but what he says isn't always nice. We once watched him rap about political corruption to a room full of local politicians. He referred to them as "lizard people," and the politicians in the room still applauded. He's one of the hardest working people we've ever met. He writes, records, performs and hustles ruthlessly. Tonight, Rizeberg helps launch the start of a monthly, third Thursday hip-hop night - Word 3^rd Thurs - at the Swiss with a record release throwdown show. He'll celebrate the release of Rize of the Boom with DJ Iceman, Spaceman, Mr. Von and Violet. Plus, everyone who walks through the door gets a copy of Boombox Massacre and Rizeberg's Rize of the Boom. Total score.
  

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment comes from claire in response to our story on the Tacoma Bike Project's first road race and the fine folks at Second Cycle.

claire writes,

i do not think that the writer of this article did justice to this shop! They built me a FULLY FUNCTIONAL bike from scratch that works great! They arent a bunch of half-***ed mechanics with low standards. It's low cost enables all of us to have a safe bike, and they are invaluable to the tacoma community.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 16, 2011 >>>

1. It is not too early to be planning your St. Patrick's Day celebration - March 17 is than six months away. To help you get in the mood - and sell a pot full of Jameson whiskey - Doyle's Public House will host its annual Halfway to St. Patrick's Day Party tonight and tomorrow.  Besides $3 dollar appetizers from 3-6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. both days, the Stadium District watering hole hosts Floater frontman Robert Wynia for an acoustioc with drums show at 9 p.m. Wynia is touring in support of his solo release, Iron By Water. Blvd Park hits the stages tomorrow at 9 p.m. Both shows are free.

2. At 4:30 p.m. at Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound Associate Professor Janet Marcavage will discuss her prints in conjunction with the exhibition, "Show and Tell: Art Department Faculty 2011," currently on view at the gallery.

3. These six little spelling champs are kids we've seen before - lonely outsiders and bratty overachievers, adolescents whose parents neglect them or push them too hard to succeed. The characters come close to stereotype without ever quite falling into it. As a result, we can laugh at them and empathize simultaneously. We, of course, are referring to Tacoma Little Theatre's 7:30 p.m. production of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which theater critic Joe Izenman reviewed here.

4. Tonight, the owners of Big Whisky Saloon in Tacoma are opening a second location in the former Vault Nightclub space in downtown Olympia. The new Big Whisky will feature all the hits of original Big Whisky, complete with more than 50 whiskeys from around the world. "I think people will be shocked and impressed with the feel," says part owner Todd Ruzicka. Nothing like a little shock and awe to get the ball rolling on a new club.

5. For those of us who retain cognitive memories of the ‘80s, Tempest Lounge brings down the house every third Friday at 9:30 p.m. with "Beat Boxxx" straight outta that decade. You can throw your hands in the air, and wave ‘em like you just don't care. DJs dAb, Suga Jones and rotating guests man the decks and cover all the bases - funk, pop, old school, club classics - throwing in the occasional '80s track you probably haven't heard in decades, depending on which decade you were born in.

PLUS: More events in our Weekend Hustle

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: New movies open!

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

The Strike Continues: Tacoma teachers union and school district prepare for a courtroom face-off today. (News Tribune)

Batshit Crazy Robert Hill Update: The Tacoma City Council candidate sent to jail after making uncool comments to a judge. (News Tribune)

Battle For Libya: Libyan fighters enter Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte as a delegation heads to neighboring Niger to demand it turn over one of the ousted leader's sons. (CNN)

Not Friends: Brad Pitt implied in an interview that his marriage to Jennifer Aniston was so boring it sent him running to the bong. (Radar)

Radiohead Radio: Thom Yorke has made a 25-minute DJ mix for XFM, and it includes a new solo track. (Stereogum)

Photos: Legion commanders are sexy. (Sexy People)

LINK: You need this