THE WEEK IN GEEK IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

And we're back! Nerd Alert is the Spew blog's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete, and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak. As a matter of fact, this column took me hours to write because I kept getting distracted by the Scale of the Universe website.

Monday, April 23

Ken Jennings, you'll remember, was the Mormon mentat who won 74 straight games of Jeopardy! back in 2004. All in all, Jennings earned more than $3 million on the show, only to have his carbon-based heinie handed to him by Watson the IBM supercomputer. He then went on to win half a million bucks on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, author three books, and top the rookie division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in his first time competing. This personable, telegenic specimen from the next phase of human evolution will be at Powell's City of Books tonight, signing his national bestseller Maphead and generally reminding you what a moron you are by comparison.

[Powell's City of Books, Ken Jennings book signing, free, 7:00 p.m., 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Portland, 503.228.4651]

Wednesday, April 25

Olympia Satanists hold their monthly meeting in the Olympia Center. Personally, I have no interest in standing with the cloven-hooved Lord of Ordure - that South Park movie effectively declawed Old Scratch - but I advertise his conclave chiefly to counter the actions of a club of Evergreen fundamentalists who keep removing Satanists' flyers. (Not cool, Christians. A simple "get behind me" will do.) I was surprised to learn Olympia Satanists have a blog and a Facebook page; topics covered there include a hidden egg project, prayers of gratitude for fornication, and how to grow a silly "Satanic" Penn Jillette beard. Even more diabolical, they promise to lure you into their evil embrace through the strategic application of cookies. Not the Internet kind-just...cookies. Those fork-tailed bastards.

[The Olympia Center, Olympia Satanists gathering, free (unless you value your mortal soul), 7:30 p.m., 222 Columbus St. NW, Olympia, olympia.worshipsatan.org]

Friday, April 27

Furries unite - it's Procession of the Species weekend in Olympia! Yes, it's Oly's beloved 18th annual tribute to natural selection, human creativity, and the flora and fauna of planet Earth. Friday sundown brings the Luminary Procession, culminating in the release of glowing gossamer balloons over Sylvester Park Capital Lake. It's effing magical. Then, on Saturday afternoon, about 30,000 members of species H. sapiens will gather to watch a few more thousand hominids dress as gregarious wildlife. Ironically, the parade enforces a strict "no pets" policy, which seems more than a little anthropocentric for the occasion. Procession policy does, however, allow human spectators to join in the parade at any point along its route.

[The Procession of the Species, Friday, April 27 9:30 p.m., Saturday, April 28, 4:30 p.m., free, Cherry St. and Legion Way, Olympia, 360.705.1087]

Friday also marks the release date of The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a whimsical kiddie flick about, as you may well predict, a band of hapless buccaneers. We mention this movie only because it's the latest release from Aardman Animation, the quirky English outfit that gave us Chicken Run and the classic Wallace and Gromit shorts. It's been out for several weeks in the U.K., where it earned an impressive 92 percent score on the (Rotten) Tomatometer. In other words, you could do a lot worse ... like, say, The Raven, which enjoys a "freshness rating" of 23 percent as this column goes to press.

Until next week, may the odds be ever in your favor, the Force be with you, and your Darwin fish car magnet unmolested.

ADJUST YOUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT >>>

The synthesizer is a powerful tool that has suffered much abuse since its entrance into the pop world. Cheese-doodling, lipstick-wearing hairspray bands of the '80s are to blame for the synth's lowly place among "real" instruments like guitars and snare drums. But Stepkid, a.k.a Benjamin Tyler from Portland, Ore., has reclaimed the keyboard's unique ability to create otherworldly audio on his new release, Cosmonauts. The drummer has crafted his Stepkid from a strange musical universe that encompasses the paranormal, mythology and both outer and inner space. His output feels like a musical battle between good and evil, an electronic, synthesized dance night for Rod Serling.

We caught up with Tyler before his show Wednesday at Le Voyeur in downtown Olympia.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: What is the equipment of your choice?

BENJAMIN TYLER: I use soft synths in Ableton a lot. Sawer is my favorite because it has a lot of grit to it and isn't as shiny and pristine as a lot of other soft synths.  My favorite instrument however is an antique drum synthesizer called the Syndrum. It's the weird blips and boops of this machine that gives Cosmonaut its retro sci-fi sound. 

VOLCANO: Do you have visuals when you perform live?

TYLER: I've been talking to the guy who made a music video for machines recently about busting out the huge crazy robots we used for the video for a live show. We were thinking of making a rig so they could dance around weirdly. Hopefully this will come about, but as of right now, I try not to take too long to set up when I play live and since I'm a one-man band I can't make the visuals work yet. However, anyone who wants to add some cool visuals props or bring a fog machine is welcome to bust them out at a Stepkid show!

VOLCANO: Did you grow up with retro science fiction toys crammed in every nook and cranny in your bedroom?

Read more...

SAD >>>

The Weekly Volcano walked past the now closed O'Henry Sports Bar on River Road in Puyallup and the only item left inside – right inside the front window - has been captured in the above photograph.

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment of the day comes from our own Rev. Adam McKinney who became excited after seeing the 2012 Squeak and Squawk Music Festival video Kris Crews produced.

Rev. McKinney writes,

Please ignore the extremely tired, rambling guy at the beginning of the video. That montage at the end gets me so pumped. I just want to go back and experience it all again. Can't wait for SQSQ 2013.

TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012 >>>

1. The Diversity Film Festival continues at The Grand Cinema with each film a meditation on the theme of cultural diversity. The concept began a few miles (and years) away from The Grand, at Tacoma Community College. Dr. Scott Earle, a TCC English and Humanities instructor since 1999, along with fellow teachers and staff, has hosted on-campus film screenings of this sort for some time. A suggestion was made to Earle and his colleagues in late 2010 to graduate their young program - let it leave the classroom and test its wings in the community. Today at 2 and 6:30 p.m., the Grand will screen Scheherazade, Tell Me A Story, which playfully yet bitingly evokes the titular Arabian Nights fabulist in contemporary Egypt.

2. Tacoma Restaurant Week continues through Thursday offering diners a $25 three-course dinner menu and optional $15 three-course lunch at 25 participating area restaurants. For a list of participating restaurants, and their phone numbers for reservations, click here.

3. Taking cues from early hardcore, as well as perennial punk from the '80s, Portland's Autistic Youth make driving, anthemic stuff that'll clear up your sinuses. Songs rush by in delirious two-minute bursts of group cheering and insistent drumming. The band will be joined at 6 p.m. inside Tahoma Tea & Co. by a stupid good assembly of punk acts from all over: the frantic Youth Avoiders from France, Oakland's chunky and melodic Acid Fast, rising punk locals Snak Pak, and fellow Tacoman punks Criminal Code, who will be leaving on tour following the show. 

4. The Choir of the West returns from its tour to Oregon with 10 more ways to order coffee and a bunch of varied choral work, which it will present at 8 p.m. inside Lagerquist Concert Hall.

5. The guttural growl and the howling vox of Author & Punisher's post industrial robotic doom metal will fill The New Frontier Lounge at 9 p.m. Taurus and Helms alee will also join the fun.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: South Sound happy hours

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Sorry Eatonville Roughians: Your police force is still active. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Scores $7.2 million For Point Ruston: Gov. Chris Gregoire signed more than $1 billion in public works spending. (News Tribune)

Tacoma Drinks: More than 165 state liquor stores were auctioned off, with the highest single bid for a store on Tacoma's Pacific Avenue. (News Tribune)

Reality TV Taking Its Toll?: The number of immigrants coming from Mexico to the U.S. has steeply declined while the number of Mexicans leaving has increased sharply. (CNN)

Fashion Rules: 29 trends you need to try before you die. (Refinery 29)

Surprised There Wasn't More: FOX's 25 worst shows of the past 25 years. (Zap 2 It)

Ride The Snake: 5 memorable TV drug trips. (Hollywood Reporter)

ENCOURAGING YOUNG ARTISTS >>>

Arts presenters are not in it just to make a buck. Gallery owners and the people who run theaters and performance spaces are in it for the love or art, and they do what they do in order to promote art and culture in the community as for their own love of the arts.

Take Gary and Deborah Boone at B2 Gallery in Tacoma's Triangle District. Their previous show, "Beyond Crayons & Finger Painting 2.0," gave young artists from around here and around the world an opportunity to show their work to a wider audience and to let us see what wonderful talent there is among our young people. Their current show, "Sweet Freedom's Jubilee," is a celebration of Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad - a vital part of our nation's history. The show features fiber art by Mary Johnson, which tells stories of the escape from slavery, and sculptural figures by Mar'zil Davis that depict the lives of slaves. This show in commemoration of the 99th anniversary of Tubman's death has been extended through June 9.

In another effort to help promote the art of young people, B2 Gallery is hosting NETT (New Emergence of Tacoma Talent).  NETT was organized byRebekah Slusher, one of the local artists from "Beyond Crayons & Finger Painting 2.0." Their mission is to unite the artists of the greater Tacoma area. "Our aim is to have regular meetings, support each-other's endeavors, offer group critiques and constructive criticism, create a unified front and to grow the art community and offer a strategic method and workplace to build the local industry," Slusher said.

Read more...

Late in 2011, a French director, hardly known to American audiences, came to this country with his film The Artist and won the admiration of critics and five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Now we head back east, as select American moviemakers invade the shores of France for next month's swanky Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27).

Not impressed yet? Maybe this will do it for you: two such moviemakers happen to live right here in Pierce County. Yes indeedy, writer-directors Ronald Lagman and Kristi L. Simkins will soon have their respective works joining one of the most respected festivals in the world.

Like The Artist, Lagman's short Tapat Sa Pangako (Committed) carries viewers along using only imagery and music. A supposedly romantic evening for one married couple (played by local actors Rick Walters and Melinda Raebyne) reveals a dark truth about their relationship that words can't describe.

Besides an early 2012 solo screening at The Space in Tacoma, Committed has only played at Seattle's Post Alley Film Festival. Now it belongs to an international showcase at Cannes called Short Film Corner, where attendees can access Lagman's work on a digital library at any point during the festival.

The Filipino filmmaker received an acceptance email on March 10th, and couldn't believe what he saw. Actually, he first had to understand the message since it was partly in French. Luckily his wife Juliette helped translate. After the initial congratulations, a question arose: Could the couple afford to make the transatlantic voyage together?

"We need to go. We want to go," Lagman tells me. "It's an opportunity that we couldn't pass."

Read more...

BAKE OLYMPIA >>>

With the popularity of food blogs these days, local bloggers are using their reach to positively affect their community. Bake Olympia, a bake sale to fight hunger, will be doing just that at the Make Olympia Street Market this Friday, April 27 during Olympia's Spring Arts Walk. The proceeds from the sales of the baked goods and donated food items and produce will go to Thurston County Food Bank.

As a food blogger that focuses mainly on fresh produce, bake sale organizer Jenni Crain (of The Plum Palate) is well aware of the price of food and that not everyone can afford to eat what she's eating and blogging. "It makes sense to turn that around, even a little bit, by organizing people who are passionate about food to help alleviate hunger," Crain said. She hopes to raise $1,000 for the food bank, as well as collect food and raise awareness of the issue of hunger in the community.

Crain was inspired by Seattle bloggers' Will Bake for Food, an event that raised over $2,500 for the Emergency Feeding Program. "We don't have the star power Seattle does, but we do have a small group of committed food bloggers and the Thurston County Food Bank, which is working to eliminate hunger right here," she said.

Some of the anticipated treats include salted caramel brownies and s'mores bars (from Krista and Jess), chocolate cherry big cookies (from Fresh Scratch) and lavender meringues and macarons with mango (from OlyEats). Jenni Crain's blogging partner, Chie Okazaki, is working on a savory gluten-free scone.

You may purchase or exchange fresh produce and non-perishable food items for these baked goods and more on Friday, April 27 at the Make Olympia Street Market (100 block of Columbia Street, downtown Olympia) during the Arts Walk 5-10 p.m.

WEAK AND WEARY >>>

Great news, guys! It turns out that 2012 is the year of historical fan fiction! Later on in the year, we'll get to experience the origin story of Scientology in The Master, as well as the re-imagination of Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter (in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, natch), but first, let's see what it would have been like if Edgar Allen Poe had been a detective hot on the heels of a serial killer who culls inspiration for his dastardly deeds from the works of Poe. Awesome, I guess! I think it would have looked a little something like this. ...

In The Raven, the famously homely, potato-browed alcoholic is rather forgivingly portrayed by American Sweetheart John Cusack (Lloyd Dobler, lovably loquacious kickboxer). Poe's attention is called to a string of grisly (GRISLY!) murders, which draw inspiration from Poe's macabre stories. Detective Fields solemnly declares, "I believe the killer is taunting us." Don't you just hate it when that happens?

All of your favorite Poe stories are represented, here: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado" (probably), "The Case of I Know You Stole My Bottle of Absinthe, Poe, So Why Don't You Just Fess Up and Quit Ruining This Dinner Party" - all the classics.

I suppose the take-away from the bewildering existence of The Raven is that someone out there is looking out for what I can only presume is a very dedicated - though almost certainly troubled - collective of fans of From Hell ("A psychic Johnny Depp battling with Jack the Ripper? From Hell, where have you been all our lives?!" cries a desperate nation).

My idea for the next great historical fan fiction? Jack Ruby. Not only Lee Harvey Oswald's murderer, but a suave international jewel thief. It's called Jack's Rubies. Patent pending.