SATURDAY, SEPT. 3, 2011 >>>

1. You know today brings the third annual Tacoma Craft Beer Festival. Your mouth is already watering at the thought of it. But even better - this year you have an opportunity to do a little paddling before you pound the brews. In conjunction with Metro Parks, starting at 10 a.m. the Paddles & Pints event offers kayak and beer enthusiasts of all skill levels the chance to do a little outdoor recreating before settling in at the Craft Beer Fest for a day full of awesome suds. Taking off from the Thea Foss boat launch, according to hype the paddling will offer, "a view of the city skyline while kayaking past the glass Museum and the marinas. ... Afterward arrive at the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival to enjoy local craft beer, food and entertainment." Perfect pairing.

2. Ahhh yeah! It's that time of year! Time for getting it on! That's why Northwest Trek invites you to its "Get Out of the Rut Weekend," your chance to play peeping Tom on the breeding habits of moose, elk, deer and even sheep. You see, the "rut," refers to the breeding habits of hooved animals - and we all know hooved animals are the hottest of all! According to hype, "Watch and listen as they grunt, snort, bugle and spar. From wild romance to turbulent action, you won't want to miss this three-day kickoff to the most dramatic time of year at Northwest Trek." So hot.

3. Having had her poetry featured in the Spring 2010 issue of Pleiades, and with work appearing or forthcoming in Jubilat, The Massachusetts Review, Blackbird, and The Pinch, Collier Nogues will read from her debut collection of poetry, On the Other Side, Blue, today at Orca Books in Olympia.

4. The music of Oh Dear! can't be described as anything other than indie rock. It seems to take cues from the various touchstones of the genre, moving from the choppy guitars of Modest Mouse on through the beatific blandness of Minus the Bear, and even approaching the sprightly guitar work of Vampire Weekend. Tonight the band celebrates the release of its first full-length record at the New Frontier.

5. Go here for all the sweet details on today's Tacoma Craft Beer Festival.

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

MASSIVE MUSIC FEST KICKS OFF IN SEATTLE >>>

The usual disclaimer: I go to Bumbershoot for the bands I don't know, not the ones I do. So my daily previews are always a little thin on knowledge. But regardless, here are a few places where your trusty Weekly Volcano representative will be on day one of the fest:

12:00 PM - Campfire Ok (Fountain Lawn)
Me and banjo have really been getting along well lately. The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Son, Kimo Muraki. So starting off with a band promising "brass, piano, banjo and acoustic guitar" seemed like the way to go. Especially one coming to Tacoma for a Warehouse house show not long after their Bumbershoot appearance.

1:30 PM - Craft Spells (Fountain Lawn)
The number of acts this year that promise heavy use of a loop pedal is a little overwhelming, so we'll start with Craft Spells and see if we've had enough. If not convinced, we may move on to Brite Futures in the Key, or Kris Orlowski at the EMP.

2:45 PM - PUSA (Key Arena)
Go see this show. Seriously. They're too much fun not to. Chris Ballew and crew rock out like nobody's business, and you're not likely to see another act having more fun on the stage all weekend.

4:15 PM - Väsen (Mural Amphitheatre)
I went to PLU, so I knew a few Swedes, and one of them turned me onto a group called Garmarna. And if Väsen's brand of Swedish folk bears even a little resemblance to Garmarna's, then it's not something I am willing to miss, even a little.

5:30 PM - Twisted Fairy Tales (SIFF Cinema)
I wasn't able to catch any of the short films last year, and it made me a little sad. Since the only overlapping music that caught my eye had the word "loops" in the description, let's assume I'll be all looped out and ready for a short or two.

7:00 PM - Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis: Wildwood (Leo K. Theatre)
Time to spread the culture around a little bit. Whether you like the band or not, nobody who's taken more than a cursory listen to the Decemberists would be shocked to learn that Colin Meloy has a Master's degree in Creative Writing. Story songs are his business, and now he's made story books his business, too, with illustrator/wife Carson Ellis. Worth a gander.

9:15 PM - Minus the Bear (Fisher Green)
Is it wrong that the main reason I like these guys is for their song titles? Even if those titles have nothing to do with the songs? Maybe. But that's OK. A little wrong never hurt anyone. Neither did a little prog rock.

See you all on the grass. I'll be the guy who looks like me.

A DJ COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE TONIGHT >>>

DJs dAb and Chris Savenetti have helped shape the local DJ music scene since the days down at The Breeze — inspiring many house heads and fellow DJs. A walking encyclopedia of records, Tacoma club history and ’80s films, dAb and Savenetti are your favorite DJ’s favorite DJs. Not to mention they’ve been a driving force in keeping the Tempest Lounge dancing on weekends. Saturday, DJ Bilori — a tall heap of talent in his own right — joins dAb and Savenetti for “House Improvement,” a night of deep house, tech house, a little funk and a splash of electro. You can bet the dance floor will be bumping, especially with Tempest shelling out the $3.75 wells.

[Tempest Lounge, 9:30 p.m., no cover, 913 MLK Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.272.4904]

LINK: More DJ music tonight in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT IN THE SOUTH SOUND:

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. From Swords To Sunrise, Syhan Selah & The Republic Of Sound, Cold December, All Eyes Closed. 9 pm.

Jazzbones Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Missionary Position, Halcion Halo. 8:30 pm. $7.

JR's Hideaway Belfair. The Whistlin' Oysters. 9 pm.

Louie G's Pizzeria Fife. Digital Chemistry, Black Beat Blue. All Ages. 9 pm.

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. E. Pruitt. All Ages. 8 pm.

Massimo Italian Bar & Grill University Place. Maia Santell & House Blend. All Ages. 7 pm. NC.

McCoy's Tavern Olympia - Downtown. KOZO plus guests. 9 pm. $3.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. Oh Dear! CD Release Show with Wheelies and Colonies. 9 pm. $5. The full scoop on this show is right here.

The Spar Tacoma - Old Town. The Rockodiles. All Ages. 8-11 pm. NC.

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

BEER MAKES PEOPLE DO FUNNY THINGS >>>

After a slow start to the summer season, many South Sounders share a common fantasy: It's a sunny Saturday afternoon in Tacoma, and hundreds of your friends and neighbors are out to partake in more than 80 (yes, 80) different beers that have been lovingly chosen for your drinking pleasure. That dream is a reality RIGHT NOW at the 21^st Street Park as the Tacoma Craft Beer Fest has been going strong since noon.  The last beer will be poured at 9 p.m. so there's still plenty of time to join the masses.

The Weekly Volcano has been a part of the buzz since the gates opened. The vibe has been amazing. Part enthusiastic thirst for beer knowledge, part kickback chill on the green lawn, part loopy fun with props - oh yes, beer makes people do funny things. Check it out:

Like we said, the Tacoma Craft Beer Fest runs until 9 p.m. C'mon down!

LINK: Let's look at a map

SUNDAY, SEPT. 4, 2011 >>>

1. When it comes to finding live blues in Tacoma, there's rarely a better bet than Sunday night at the Spar in Old Town. This week, the Spar welcomes national touring blues act the Avey Brothers, best known near the Illinois-Iowa border but becoming a well known name in blues thanks to tireless touring and strong performances at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Doling out classics and originals, the Avey Brothers remind is the blues is anything but dead.

2. Josiah & Sam Bogle drop some music on today's South Tacoma Farmers Market, which kicks off at 11 a,m. and runs to 3 p.m. in the Heritage Bank parking lot at S. 56^th and Washington Street.

3. Jazzbones is all about the ‘90s. Earlier this week the club welcomed Marcy Playground. Tonight, check out the "Foam Fest II" featuring DJ J-Fresh.

4. Make today the day you check out the Woven Stories: Native American Basketry of the Pacific Northwestexhibit at the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor.

5. Drop in on the weekly all-ages community drum circle at Ted Brown Music in Tacoma today, from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Those interested can bring their own drum or borrow one at the event.

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

You know it's the most important meal of the day, but you just can't decide where to go. Let us help. The following breakfast meals were picked as the "best" by the Weekly Volcano staff in our Best of Tacoma issues dating back to 2008. Enjoy.

BEST OF TACOMA 2011: BEST GIANT PANCAKE

Old Milwaukee Cafe

Old Milwaukee Cafe on Sixth Ave is unassuming, tucked into a corner building just daring you to drive on by. But don't do it! Go inside and get the Wild Huckleberry Pancake; get two if you're feeling crazy. Each pancake takes up an entire plate and is just as much huckleberry as it is pancake, which just about made me bow down to worship this breakfast concoction. Each bite will make you swear increasing loyalty to all huckleberry kind. The pancake pairs nicely with a side of chicken sausage. One bite of pancake + one bite of sausage = breakfast bliss. - Kristin Kendle
[Old Milwaukee Cafe,  3102 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.761.2602]

BEST OF TACOMA 2011: BEST EXERCISE IN GLUTTONY

Sunday brunch buffet at C.I. Shenanigans

If you haven't attended this feast, you are denying yourself one of Tacoma's most extravagant ordeals. Expect a epicurean journey including oyster bar, shrimp cocktail shooters, hunks of meat, omelets, regular breakfast fare and crab legs. Plus they serve specialties that change weekly with a new geographic theme. And let us not forget the impressive dessert tower. Oh, what about alcohol? How about four glasses of a Champagne offering for $3? After this smorgasbord you will require sweatpants and a nap. Reservations are a must. Brunch runs Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. - Joshua Swainston
[C.I. Shenanigan's, 3017 Ruston Way, Tacoma, 253.752.8811]

BEST OF TACOMA 2010: BEST BRUNCH WITHOUT MEAT

Quickie Too

When I suggest people go to Quickie Too for brunch, they always whine: “But the service is slow-w-w-w-w.” Get over it. You’re not a king or a queen, and you haven’t earned the right to demand royal service. You probably haven’t earned the right to eat the best pancakes in the universe either. But you can get them at Quickie Too if you’re willing to slow down for a minute. You can get tempe and seitan that tastes 10 times better than any variety of fried pork. Bring a friend. Have a conversation. And eat the best damn brunch ever.— Paul Schrag
[Quickie Too, 1324 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.572.4549]

BEST OF TACOMA 2009: BEST EGGS IN 30 SECONDS

Renaissance Cafe

Screw the whole chicken and egg debate. Wittgenstein dismissed that long ago. I want to know where I can get the fluffiest, purest, most delicious scrambled egg in the world in less than 30 seconds. There’s one place. Renaissance Café on Pacific Avenue, near the University Bookstore. Owner Keith Flowers has a technique that must have been inspired by some demiurge that really likes scrambled eggs. He whips them with an espresso steamer, and they come out perfect every time. It’s an innovative masterpiece. You’ll never want pan-scrambled eggs again. Go down and try some. — Paul Schrag
[Renaissance Café, 1502 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, 253.722.1490]

BEST OF TACOMA 2009: BEST BREAKFAST

Babblin' Babs Bistro

This tiny Proctor District bistro owned by Chef William Mueller and wife, Shannon, is a perennial Best Of winner. Sure, you might have to wait for a table, but once inside, you’ll promise yourself to come back every Tuesday-Sunday for breakfast. Mueller incorporates intelligent portion control with nontraditional ingredients — no massive portions like Marcia’s Silver Spoon, but he’ll extract the juice out of a Chardonnay seed for a dish.  Enjoy chorizo sausage with a custard egg, cranberry walnut cream cheese stuffed French toast, strawberry banana waffle with an Amaretto glaze — even a true Paris bistro breakfast. Top it off with an organic Bistro Blend (Indonesian and Ethiopian) lavender latte. — Jake De Paul
[Babblin’ Babs Bistro, 2724 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253.761.9099]

BEST OF TACOMA 2009: BEST COFFEE

Satellite Coffee

This year’s Best of Tacoma issue is bittersweet – for, amidst the celebration of all the good things Tacoma has to offer, we can’t help but be forced to remember the good things Tacoma lost over the last year. The Helm. Little Holland. And, of course, Blackwater Café – which was pretty much thee place to get coffee for Tacoma’s emerging hip - and those just looking for a really satisfying cup of Joe. But don’t cry for me Argentinean coffee farmers getting raped by greedy, international coffee conglomerates, luckily in Tacoma there’s still Satellite Coffee. Whether above Supernova in its original, tiny, Stadium District outpost (that now has a deck, yo!), or now at Masa, Satellite’s shot pulling experts whip Portland’s Stumptown beans into pure coffee heaven. Seriously. If you haven’t experienced it yet you don’t know what you’re missing. – Matt Driscoll
[Satellite Coffee, 817 Division Ave, Tacoma, 206.953.7773]

BEST OF TACOMA 2008: BEST GREASY BREAKFAST

Marcia's Silver Spoon Cafe

Marcia’s Silver Spoon Cafe is the epitome of the term “greasy spoon.” As long as you know what you are getting into, these kinds of breakfasts can be the ultimate cure for a quickly developing hangover. “More orange juice, please!” — this is how my east coast “aunties” cook on the weekends. Smattered among the typical American eggs, meat and pancake combos, the predictable array of omelet options are exactly what you would expect to eat farm-side on your way to the Kentucky Derby. The portions demand you have some for lunch at home, and the server is your mother, your grandmother and your best friend all wrapped into one smiling package. This is not gourmet or healthy food, and neither are the prices, sometimes it’s better to just take it one bite at a time and let the fat make you all better. Go ahead, get cheddar and gravy on your hash browns, I dare you. — Daniel Blue
[Marcia’s Silver Spoon Café, 2601 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.472.0157]

LINK: Super Best of Tacoma 2011

NOTES FROM THE GRASS >>>

Day one of Bumbershoot 2011 has me thinking about scale in music.

As far as I can tell there are no small music stages at the festival this year. In the past the Northwest Court stage provided a quiet, out-of-the-way venue for acts that benefit from a lack of noise pollution. Jazz combos, solo folk singers and the like. No such luck this time around.

On some level it's nice that no band is relegated to "the little stage," but it also limits the groups that would benefit. Sitting on the fountain lawn listening to Campfire Ok open the day, I couldn't help feeling like I'd much rather see them at a smaller, intimate venue-such as a house show in Tacoma put on by the Warehouse on Sept 24, perhaps?-rather than a big stage pointing right at another, bigger, louder stage.

On the other side of the spectrum you get a band like Brite Futures. Formerly Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, these Seattle natives have achieved a decent amount of success over the years, but sometimes it takes an event like this to bring out a band's strengths. Without Bumbershoot, would they ever have had the chance to play in the KeyArena?

Hot damn, did they take that chance and run with it. Whether anybody knew it or not, this is a band born to kick it in an arena. The room to run around, the light show to match their bombastic synth-rock, and the crowd to rock the fuck out with them from start to finish. There's no logical reason why Brite Futures should not be huge. Listen to some MGMT, or some of the synthier Arcade Fire cuts, and then go see Brite Futures, and tell me they shouldn't be out there with the rest of them.

Sitting between the two, in an odd sort of way, are the Presidents of the United States of America. Here's a band that fits in anywhere. They can pack an arena-at least in Seattle-and they certainly know what to do with it. But you feel watching them like it would be a hell of a lot of fun to catch them in a club instead.

My point, if I have to have one, is this: I get that shying away from mega-huge-and mega-expensive-headliners gives the festival a chance to push all the acts to a great middle ground of treatment. And in some ways, it's cool. But there is such room for variety at any level of popularity, and I wish that Bumbershoot had the environment setup this year to allow excellent bands like Campfire Ok to thrive and impress as much as Brite Futures did.

OK, quick, a few predicted highlights for Sunday before my editor cuts off my word count ...

1:30 PM - The Lonely Forest (KeyArena)
In 2006 the Lonely Forest got their Bumbershoot start by winning SoundOff. 2009 saw them rock the pants off a capacity crowd in the Sky Church. 2011 finds them in the Brite Futures slot, an opportunity to show their arena-quality stuff. At this rate in 2013 these skyrocketing Anacortesians will just take over the entire festival from the top of the Space Needle.

6:45 PM - Manos: The Hands of Felt (Center House Theatre)
If you don't know what Manos: The Hands of Fate is, you're probably better for it. Suffice to say, it's widely regarded as one of the worst movies in the history of cinema, and even the MST3K episode is barely watchable. And now someone has turned it into a musical puppet show. What's left to be said?

8:00 PM - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (KeyArena)
They have conquered Washington hip-hop. And they rap about Dave Niehaus.

See you on the grass.

AN ALL-AGES PROJECT >>>

A month ago the prominent Olympia all-ages venue and gallery space Northern was forced to vacate its home in the Cunningham building due to its landlord's new vision. The Weekly Volcano wrote a piece on the displacement here.

Still homeless, Northern set up a Kickstarter campaign 30 days ago to raise funds for a new space. (If you're not famil­iar, fig­ure Kick­starter is on tar­get to be the new norm in financ­ing inde­pen­dent projects and, likely, beyond.) The campaign has less than 30 days remaining.

If you would like to donate to Northern's cause, click here for its Kickstarter page.

DANDY >>>

Tacoma artist/filmmaker/teacher Larry Huffines has been selected as one of 20 Americans to compete on season two of HGTV's All American Handyman show, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m. Huffines, a teacher at Annie Wright School, has proven he's worthy, and now will hammer on his fellow contestants before HGTV's celebrity judges Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes) and Scott McGillivray (Income Property), plus a secret weekly judge. Huffines does have an edge - in addition to his awesome toolbelt and handyman skills. He's comfortable with celebrities. For years Huffines has been a player behind the scenes at the Summer Concert Series at Chateau Ste. Michelle. He hung out with Jeff Bridges during his Aug. 28 show.

Anyway, turn on the tube tonight at 9 p.m. at watch Handyman Huffines drill his competition, or something.

LINK: Vote for Handyman Huffines

BONUS: Doyle's Public House in Tacoma is hosting a Handyman Huffines Viewing Party from 8-10 p.m.