FAT TUESDAY >>>

Can't make it to the Big Easy for Mardi Gras? Relax. There's plenty of beads 'n' beer revelry to be had right here in Tacoma. One of the better ones will go down at the Ale House Sports Pub & Grille on the edge of University Place. The party starts when the joint opens at 11 a.m. with food specials such as chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, blackened catfish and jambalaya.

And the Hurricane cocktails will flow out of the box, too, as well as $4 rum drinks and $2.75 beers.

But the raffle prizes and beads will not hit you in the face until after 6 p.m.

While the Ale House can't promise all of the gratuitous nudity and open liquor laws of New Orleans, they can guarantee 64 beers on tap and a good time.

[Ale House Sports Pub & Grille, 2122 Mildred St., University Place, 253.565.9367]

Where will you party on Fat Tuesday?

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Our Freakin' Weather: Here comes the floods and avalanches. (Seattle Times)

Madigan Investigation: Did the Army hospital screw soldiers out of their full PTSD treatment? (News Tribune)

State Budget: Democrats give it a shot this morning. (News Tribune)

New Parking Rules: The Tacoma City Council wants to limited parking stalls in downtown core to make it easier to build while not encouraging more cars. (News Tribune)

Needs To Be Asked: Where do the Republican candidates stand on immigration laws? (The New York Times)

Affirmative Action: Supreme Court agrees to hear affirmative action in higher education case. (The New York Times)

Question: Where do you stand on Web piracy? (The New York Times)

Speaking of Mixtapes: If Harriet the Spy made a mixtape, what would be on it? (Flavorwire)

Remember The Band Blur?: Blur to headline Olympics closing show. (BBC)

Remember The Band Depeche Mode?: The band has started recording a new album. (NME)

Kick-Ass: The sequel to the critically acclaimed comic book drama will be shot this summer. (NME)

TUESDAY, FEB. 21, 2012 >>>

1. Every Tuesday, Jazzbones gets into the comedy fray, and this week the club's contribution is big time. Comedian Bret Ernst may spell his name with one "T", but don't give up on him just yet. Ernst has been all over Comedy Central, made a name for himself on Weeds and kicked it hardcore with Vince Vaughn in the documentary Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland (don't give up on Ernst for that either). Bottom line: Dude's pretty funny. And did we mention he was in the movie Beer League? Get your laugh on Tuesday at Jazzbones for what's billed as "Fat Tuesday Special Engagement."

2. Hey! Guess what? The Rafael Tranquilino Band plays Stonegate Pizza every Tuesday night! Get in on the rockin' action tonight.

3. 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. Or, if you're looking for something more, peruse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. Get your swing dance on tonight at the Eagles Club in Olympia. Every Tuesday night OlySwing holds a rollicking swing dance, and you're invited. Even better - there's a quick beginning swing class prior to the dance hosted by Christine Corey. The beginners class kicks off at 7 p.m., and the dance runs from 7:30 - 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5.

5. 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.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

IT'S PRESSURE, BUT NOT >>>

Community-wide book clubs are awesome. They get people reading and talking about literature.

The Pierce County Library System selected the New York Times Best Seller and award-winning Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by nationally known, prize-winning author Jamie Ford as the Pierce County READS book for 2012, which begins today and runs through April 13. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells a gripping account of the Japanese American internment during World War II, through the eyes and voice of a child as he matures through life.

Pierce County Library System has a packed menu full of 30 local events associated with the reading of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

VIVA LAS VEGAS-LIKE >>>

Breakfast is my favorite meal in Mexico, especially when I'm sitting on some beach, drinking cinnamon-laced hot chocolate while eating ripe papayas and platters of huevos rancheros - fried eggs with salsa on top of crisp corn tortillas.

Breakfast is also my favorite meal at the new Taqueria El Antojo in University Place – even with the blinking lights under the counter, animated video screen menus on the wall and the courteous staff and shouting orders into a microphone to the three cooks six feet behind the counter.

It's a thing of beauty.

Huevos rancheros are also a thing of beauty at Taqueria El Antojo in University Place: three eggs, Ranchero sauce and fresh homemade tortillas, accompanied by the peerless house refried beans and a pile of Mexican rice ($5.99).

I also fancy its four breakfast burritos ($2.99 each), torpedo-heavy and the perfect size for a large, hungry man. Really, though, these little models of engineering perfection - combining the ideal quantities of green chile, scallions, scrambled eggs, crispy hashbrowns, a mild hot sauce and optional ham, sausage, bacon or chorizo. The bacon burrito is the winner with a remarkable amount of chewy chunks. Yum.

Bonus: Taqueria El Antojo hung giant comic strips telling stories of great Mexican inventions on its walls.

[Taqueria El Antojo, 8-11 a.m. daily, ample seating, 5502 Orchard St. W., University Place, 253.212.0914]

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY >>>

Suck it Christina Aguilera! Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine can sing the shit out of a song without going all scale-climbing and runaway vibrato. She focuses her power only where it truly counts.

You may witness her talent first hand when Florence + the Machine hits the White River Amphitheatre Saturday, July 21. The Walkmen will open.

Tickets range in price from $29.50 and $49.50 and go on sale  at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24 via LiveNation.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone 1.800.745.3000.

Here is Live Nation's take on the show:      

Read more...

TACOMA FILMMAKER IS OFF AND RUNNING WITH PHOENIX RUN WEB SERIES >>>

I love some of the conversations I get into with filmmakers. Like one last week I had with Tacoma's TJ Walker - when I erroneously labeled his current project, Phoenix Run, a "zombie" Web series. He quickly reclaimed it as a work dealing with infected people. We then delved into theories on how the two groups differ.

While I went the overblown, cerebral route (as a writer I gots to), positing that zombies belong to the stuff of fantasy while infected peoples have their origins in science, I much prefer Walker's more elegant distinction: "Basically, zombies are the ones that walk; infected are the ones that run."

Now why didn't I think of that?

The man knows something about this subject. As a lifelong devourer of comics and graphic novels, for a long time Walker has wanted to make his own chronicle of the undead. But the jump from page to screen came when Walker's writing partner, Will Strode, transformed his idea into a potential screenplay. Strode's words, shall we say, infected Walker's brain with filmmaking visions.

"I was blown away," recalls Walker. "Once I started reading the script I just pictured scene after scene."

Run's first episode rolled off the post-production line only last week; from there it makes its way to the Seattle International Film Festival's review committee with hopes of a place at this year's show. Its creator sees acceptance into the prestigious SIFF as "a really big goal, especially for my first time directing and coming out with something."

No one likes playing the waiting game, but at least Walker has his mind on other matters. Besides getting the Phoenix Run website online, in March he'll direct Episodes 2 and 3 back-to-back alongside 1^st AD and co-producer Rick Walters. Oh, springtime - the season of rebirth, renewal, and reanimated corpses (un)dying for just a nibble of your intestines. Ready to Run?

Check out some creepy promotional posters on the Phoenix Run Facebook page.

EVERY FACE PUNCH IN ROAD HOUSE (YOU'RE WELCOME) >>>

(If you have Jeff Healey Band music handy, turn it up.)

Whenever anyone who was born at least 25 years ago hears the word "roadhouse," he immediately thinks of the cheesy '80s movie with Patrick Swayze and then almost as quickly questions his masculinity - unless he assumes Sam Elliott was the star of Road House, which he wasn't. Weekly Volcano columnist Bobble Tiki feels that Elliott's presence in the movie makes it much less sexually ambiguous. Because a real guy remembers that the true star of Road House was Kelly Lynch and her killer bod.

Anyhoo, we ran across this video on the Internets and seems appropriate to post on Fat Tuesday.

Be good tonight kids.

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

MultiCare And Franciscan Health Systems: Now taxed by the City of Tacoma. (News Tribune)

State House Democrats: Its proposed budget leaves the state's schools intact, avoids 24-day unpaid furlough for state workers and spares health care programs. (News Tribune)

Power To The People: Puyallup City Council paves the way for citizens to enact or repeal city ordinances. (News Tribune)

Two Western Journalists Killed In Syria: Marie Colvin of London's Sunday Times and French journalist Remi Olchik were killed Wednesday amid shelling from Syrian government forces in Homs. (CNN)

Corporate Tax Rate: President Obama will ask Congress to reduce top rate to 28 percent. (The New York Times)

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: A controversial anti-piracy agreement is to be referred to the European Union's highest court due to concerns surrounding Internet freedoms. (BBC)

Good Times: The 1990s in photos. (BuzzFeed)

Art: A condemned house explodes onto the streets of Austin. (This Is Colossal)

Ice To See You: Russian scientists resurrect a 30,000-year-old flower from the Ice Age. (Sky News)

During college, I studied in Denmark for a semester and then traveled through Europe with a ragtag group of ramblers from the university I'd attended. The trip included a lot of walking, train riding, museum/church exploring and experiencing the different cultures of Europe (e.g., drinking beer in bars). We kept a list of beers we pounded as if we'd earn a prize. Unfortunately, Europe wasn't united in the mid-'80s so no prize for us.

However, you can earn a prize for drinking a bunch of Washington beers in Tacoma. Today kicks off Tacoma Drinks Washington Beer Week, sponsored by The Red Hot and Parkway Tavern. Tacoma's two beloved taverns will be pushing Washington brews through Feb. 29, hosting specials events and offering a 20-beer punch card WITH A PRIZE - a commemorative growler.

The Washington Beer Blog has all the sweet details on Tacoma Drinks Washington Beer Week.

Have a nice trip.