ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment of the day comes from Nancy in response to Lynn Di Nino's guest blog post from the Art Basel Miami Beach art trade show. Di Nino's observations from the show have generated many comments.

Nancy writes,

Lynn, your comment at the end of the article said a lot about the nature of communication and how the culture of art may not affect direct communities but moves in degrees to the next place a community member may visit. Visual seeds sprout, we can get many messages.

Thanks, great observations.

GO LOCAL  >>>

After reading the Weekly Volcano's Holiday Guide Three: Geek Greetings Edition, you were inspired to shop the Internets hard. Uncle Jim will receive chocolate vitamins from a dude in Chicago. Cousin Willy will score a talking reindeer sold from a neighborhood in Orlando. Sister Sue will sure to be thrilled with a Hanson Singing Toothbrush sold from an attic in Wichita.

Not what we really had in mind.

Sure, sister Sue might be a bit bummed. You don't care. You completed your holiday shopping in one afternoon on your fat ass in front of the computer. And you saved money by avoiding retail sales taxes.

That's right. In a 1992 decision, Quill v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that retailers are exempt from collecting sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, such as a store, office, or warehouse. Businesses with a physical presence in a state are therefore put at a disadvantage by having to collect an additional 5 to 9 percent in taxes on purchases, depending on the state.

Sen. Debbie Regala (D-Tacoma) will have none of it. She's calling on Washington to create a level playing field by enforcing the collection of sales and use tax on remote or online sales.  

"By not collecting this tax, Washington retailers are put at a competitive disadvantage," says the state senator in a released statement. "This hurts our local businesses and it erodes the revenues that fund our public services."

Sen. Regala is sponsoring Senate Joint Memorial 8009, a resolution asking Congress to authorize enforcement of the collection of the retail sales tax by out-of-state sellers that have no physical presence in Washington.  In the released statement, Sen. Regala states, "As of now, the collection of that tax is only voluntary; without action by Congress, in state businesses are losing sales to online purchases through out-of-state merchants who do not collect state sales taxes."

Read the rest of Sen. Regala's press release after the jump:

Read more...

DO YOU KNOW YOUR TACOMA HISTORY ... AND LOVE FOOD? >>

Foodcaching is a new smart phone app alerting customers of awesome food deals at 16 restaurants in the greater Tacoma area. You may download the app for free on your iPhone and Android here.

The Weekly Volcano has teamed up with Foodcaching for the True Tacoman game. Every Tuesday and Friday right here on Spew, we post a Tacoma history trivia provided by the Washington State History Museum. If you know the answer, run to one of the 15 participating restaurants, come clean with answer and you'll receive points on your Foodcaching app, which you downloaded free here. We'll be running the True Tacoman trivia game through the end of the year.

The person will the most points on Dec. 31 will be crowned the True Tacoman and be flooded with various food prizes.

Friday's True Tacoman trivia answer

Friday we asked what was the claim to fame of the Tacoma Golf Club, which was formed in 1894. You spent the last four days telling the restaurants listed below the answer – Tacoma Golf Club had the first golf course west of the Mississippi River – and, thereby, you scored points on the Foodcaching app. It was an easy task – a lot easier, than playing the damn game.

Today is Tuesday, which means we post another trivia question as part of the True Tacoman contest.

Today's True Tacoman trivia question

Kaye Hall of Tacoma won Gold in what Olympics? 

• A) Mexico City in 1968
• B) London in 1948 
• C) Montreal in 1978

Answer the question correctly at one of the 15 participating restaurants below and score points - besides scoring awesome food deals from the restaurants. The correct answer will be revealed Friday, Dec. 16 on Spew. Also, keep an eye on this blog for bonus game points and a special invite to the True Tacoman Game Party in early 2012.

Oh, you can download the free app here.

Participating restaurants

• 1022 South, 1022 South J St., Tacoma, 253.627.8588, Facebook
• Capers Cafe & Take Home, 2602 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253.761.4444, Facebook
• Dirty Oscar's Annex, 2309 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.0588, Facebook
• Dorky's Arcade, 754 Pacfic Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.4156, Facebook
• Harmon Brewery & Eatery, 1938 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.2739, Facebook
• Harmon Tap Room, 204 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.212.2725, Facebook
• The Hub, 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.683.4606, Facebook
• Massimo Italian Bar & Grill, 4020 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.503.1902, Facebook
• Marrow Kitchen & Bar, 2717 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.267.5299, Facebook
• Over The Moon Cafe, 709 Court C/Opera Alley, Tacoma, 253.284.3722, Facebook
• Pacific Grill, 1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.3535, Facebook
• The Social Bar & Grill, 1715 Dock St., Tacoma, 253.301.3835, Facebook
• STINK Cheese & Meat, 628 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.426.1347, Facebook
• Top of Tacoma Bar & Cafe, 3529 McKinley Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.1502, Facebook
• TWOKOI Japanese Restaurant, 1552 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.274.8999, Facebook

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Helicopter Crash Last Night At JBLM: Four Army aviators were killed. (News Tribune)

Tacoma City Manager Survivor: One drops out. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Budget Check: Tacoma City Councilmembers Spiro Manthou, Ryan Mello and Victoria Woodards propose a resolution to delay 100 layoffs to the city's police and fire departments. (News Tribune)

Jerry Sandusky Situation: Waived his right to a preliminary hearing. (CNN)

South Sound Cities Didn't Make The List: Top 10 cities with the hottest people. (Time)

End Of Year List: Top 50 albums of 2011. (Spin)

Holiday Songs: Here are 11 that never really took off. (Mental Floss)

Here's Something: Best cover songs of 2011. (Cover Me)

It's Real: Motorhead Vodka. (Dangerous Minds)

Game of Thrones Season 2 Trailer!

NOT GOOD >>>

A new study from the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner gives a bleak picture of our state's population without health insurance. The number of Washingtonians with no health insurance has reached 1 million, according to a new report from state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. About 14.5 percent now have no coverage at all.

See the whole study at:
http://www.insurance.wa.gov/legislative/uninsured-washington.shtml

"This is a grim milestone for the state, and we believe the situation will remain bleak for two more years," said Kreidler. "But it's important for people to know that there is hope is on the horizon."

• Among the report's findings: From 2008 through 2010:
• The number of uninsured people in Washington grew by 180,000.
• Charity care by hospitals and health care providers rose a staggering 36 percent.
• And the percentage of residents without health coverage worsened in 31 of 39 counties.
• In several counties, more than 1 in 5 residents has no health coverage.

Counties with a particularly high percentage of uninsured residents include: Adams, Grant, Okanogan, Franklin and Yakima. But the problem also worsened in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties.

TUESDAY, DEC. 13, 2011 >>>

1. This year's Classical Tuesdays Wine & Song Benefit in Old Town Tacoma will feature "American Arias and songs from operas, musicals and movies," according to the press release. It will also - more importantly - feature soprano Christina Kowalski and tenor Gino Lucchetti accompanied by pianist Denes Van Parys - doling out tunes by Gian Carlo Menotti, Bernard Herman, Samuel Barber, Oscar Hammerstein and others. This annual event benefits the free Classical Tuesdays in Old Town chamber music series. Starts at 7 p.m. at Connelly Law Offices in Old Town.

2. It's not every day that you get a chance to cook with Linda Evans. Are we right, or are we right? But by the grace of God himself, today just happens to be one of those days when you DO have the chance to cook with Linda Evans - today from 6 - 8:30 p.m. at the Bayview School of Cooking. Pimping her book, Recipes for Life: My Memories (and signing it from 5-6 p.m.), Evans promises "food and conversation," as well as her "Famed Artichoke Dip, Ham Dani, Warm Butternut Squash Salad and Buche de Noel." Pre registration is required, and seating is limited. The cost is $75 per person, or $95 with a copy of Evans' book. Call 360.754.1448.

3. The Royal Lounge in Olympia offers a Comedy Lounge night every Tuesday, featuring an open-mic from 9-9:30 p.m. and headlining comics from 9:30 - 11 p.m.

4. Tribes, Sloths and Trey The Ruler will play an all-ages show tonight at the Red Room in Tacoma. It starts at 7 p.m. and will cost you $5 to get into.

5. Get your groove on tonight in Parkland. DJ Adam Ant spins during "Twisted Tuesday" at Lady Luck Cowgirl Up, offering Top 40 action and karaoke. The good times start at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight

CRITICAL MASS >>>

Spew sifts through the Internets for local arts stories so you don't have to.

Artist Marsha Glaziere spent three years sipping coffee around Puget Sound. She painted 12 of her favorite eclectic coffee spots, and then organized them into a 2012 calendar for sale. Included in the calendar are paintings of the Olympia Roasting Company in Olympia and Tully's Coffee in the historic Bostwick building in downtown Tacoma. Take a gander at her awesome work here.

Weekly Volcano scribes previewed the upcoming holiday productions Christmas Revels and Saul Tannenbaum's Claus for Celebration in our Holiday Guide Three here. Also, the Volcano theater critics reviewed five local holiday theater shows.

The UPS-based Toy Boat Theatre ends its Spaceworks Tacoma residency with a winter solstice-inspired original production combining music, theater and poetry. The News Tribune's Rosemary Ponnekanti previews the show here.

Speaking of Spaceworks Tacoma, the entity's blog reviewed the installation The Atlas of Here & There: Making This Day Out of Many created by artists Lauren McCleary and Mary Rothlisberger. The Spaceworks exhibit at 912 Broadway is, according to the review, "literally a window into the artists' internal landscape, a playful yet intricate vision of the things that make their world tick. This teeming work explores ideas of abiding friendship, memory, transience, place, shelter, and environmental sustainability." Read the full review here.

If you haven't read Tacoma artist Lynn Di Nino's review of the Art Basel Miami Beach art trade show, check it out here. It has garnered quite a few comments.

LINK: 2011 South Sound Holiday Happenings

MICK FLAAEN RETURNS WITH GRIT CITY PRODUCTIONS >>>

With 2012 imminent, I can't help but ponder what the future will bring while looking back at these past 12 months. It was just a few days before Christmas last year when I posted my first "Movie Biz Buzz" on this blog, and needless to say - so I'll say it anyway - its appearance rocked the film world ever after. (Back me up, Scorsese.)

My editor, Matt Driscoll, envisioned the column as more than another recap of big-release flicks each week. Besides, my two cents ain't worth a dime a dozen. (Don't try to do the math on that one.) Driscoll wanted me to dig deeper than that, and deeper meant closer to home. The "Buzz" would hopefully mean more to readers if it chronicled the stories and the visions of filmmakers honing their craft right here in the South Sound. But the parameters of my search begged a question: Would I find enough stories tucked away in this area to keep the column alive?

Fifty-two weeks later, and I can report with some pride that, contrary to popular belief, our community boasts a bounty of film artists that won't dry up any time soon. And as it turns out, I end year one at the beginning, with Tacoma's Mick Flaaen.

Last December Flaaen kicked "Buzz" off by talking about his directorial debut, the dramatic short Welcome to Parkland. After an enthusiastic turnout for its February premiere at The Grand Cinema, Flaaen hopes to release it for public viewing online by the end of this week - a digital present for all of us. (Just search "Mick Flaaen" on Vimeo.)

As the film's title suggests, its creator loves the local scene. Besides acting this year in two episodes of the ongoing theater series Java Tacoma, Flaaen made a short documentary about the city's graffiti artists called Paint. The project grew out of work he had done as a student at Clover Park Technical College. His instructor at the time, Austin Iverson, encouraged Flaaen to complete Paint. Its soundtrack includes music from Iverson's band Hands of Toil, infusing the piece with a lot of energy.

By showcasing two different mediums (graffiti and music) within a third (cinema), Paint epitomizes what Flaaen the artist sees as his responsibility. "The whole idea of being a Tacoma filmmaker," he says, "is trying to encapsulate some of the talent that we have in Tacoma, in all the art forms. So Paint is just a representation or documentation of that."

Already Paint has met the festival circuit with success, an entry at Tacoma and Gig Harbor in October as well as ONECLOUDFEST, done entirely on Facebook. Making OCF pleased Flaaen, since an online festival can potentially reach many more eyes than those who attend a theater.

"We got to share Tacoma with the rest of the world, so I'm really proud of that," he says.

That civic pride rolls right into his new filmmaking group Grit City Productions, formed by Bob Potasky and so far includes members Flaaen, Potasky, Kim Whalen, and Bernadette "Berni" Goulet. GCP currently has two works in the works: the short narrative Hearts and Fist has nearly wrapped shooting; meanwhile, Flaaen has returned to the land of documentary with the "tentatively titled" A Funeral Dance, which looks at another local subject - the MLK Ballet and dance group The MOVE!NG Company.

Afterward it may be right back into fiction with Goulet's new script. (IT HAS ZOMBIES!) Goulet met Flaaen and the gang as a fellow Clover Park student, and loves the collaboration process:

"It's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm just finally happy that I'm doing it, instead of always just thinking about it, dreaming about it."

Follow Paint on Facebook here.

I dragged Flaaen and Goulet into the studio this week; give a listen to my interview with them on Volcano Radio, which airs Thursday from 8-9 p.m. on www.nwczradio.com and is available as a podcast at weeklyvolcano.com and volcanoradio.com directly following.

CARVING A DELICIOUS BREAKFAST >>>

If you go rushing through life you're going to miss out on a lot of good things. Of course, the smell of roses is the classic example, but if you're always in a hurry you're also going to miss letting a piece of maple sugar candy dissolve slowly on your tongue, or the sight of the sun when it melts all the way into the ocean at sunset, or the great out-takes at the end of a Jackie Chan movie.

No, I haven't gone all maudlin and reflective like a movie on Lifetime. I just want to point out that if you're rushing around town, speeding up and down the main thoroughfares, you're missing out on some great little spots that deserve your attention.

One such spot is Babblin' Babs Bistro, wedged into a corner of an L-shaped building in Tacoma's Proctor District. It's a little place, with just eight to 10 tables, but serves the biggest, most complex flavors in town. I know, the Weekly Volcano has written about this treasure around 20 times or so, but I'm still shocked when I can walk in and grab a table without a wait.  Owners/chefs William and Shannon Mueller concoct gourmet delectable delights - the likes not found anywhere else in the area.

Saturday morning I discovered more Mueller magic - their "Pumpkin, Pumpkin Your Every Where" dish ($12.95). It's a freakin' pumpkin pie disguised as French toast. They baked French bread stuffed with mascarpone cheese with pumpkin purée and studded with rum soaked raisins. Then bathed it in a spiced egg custard with more pumpkin purée and grilled to a golden orange brown. Last, they drizzle with a dual syrup of pumpkin spice and hand spun apple jack brandy caramel and then top it with a big old heap of real whipped cream.

It's fabulous.

[Babblin' Babs Bistro, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, 2724 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253.761.9099]

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Tacoma Budget Ax: Police and firefighters set to be laid off get reprieve. (News Tribune)

Tacoma City Manager Hunt: Tacoma Interim City Manager Rey Arellano, San Antonio Assistant City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz have put their holiday end-of-the-year letters on hold. (News Tribune)

Pierce County Air Quality: It sucks even more. (News Tribune)

Freed: An Afghan woman whose plight gained international attention when she was imprisoned for adultery after a relative raped her has been freed. (CNN)

Music List: Pitchfork names its top 100 tracks of the year. (Pitchfork)

TV List: The 10 freakiest commercials of the year. (Warming Glow)

Why?: Hear 10 seconds from every hit song on the '80s. (WFMU)

Action Figures: MTV names the best of the year. (MTV)

Louis C.K.: Dude has feelings. (Fresh Air)

Mean!