TIDBITS TO CHEW ON TODAY >>>

Recently as Rev. Colin and his karaoke system were bring joy to the masses at engine House No. 9, a roughian brazenly snatched Colin's beloved Cthulhu fez and quickly staggered down the street. Because Colin is a true professional he wasn't about to leave Chad and Amber hostless as they tackled "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed. Needless to say, Colin is pissed. If you have seen his fez with the green tassel, please inform the authorities, or contact Colin through his Tacoma Cult Movie Club Facebook.

Red's Valley Pub down the street from the Tacoma Dome on Puyallup Avenue has closed. Owner Red says stay tuned for updates.

More than 500 supporters celebrated LeMay - America's Car Museum's (ACM) one-year anniversary gala Saturday, June 1. Through auctions, donations and more, the museum raised more than $300,000, which will go toward funding new exhibits and key programs. 

Pacific Brewing continues its taproom construction in the basement of Old City Hall Annex at 610 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma. Click here for an update.

Kevin Freitas has posted a lovely photo of Tacoma's Opera House, and reminds everyone that B Sharp Coffee House will soon grace the alleyway.

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED: Dunkin' Donuts is taking the doughnut bacon sandwich national.

WHAT DOES THE SPACE NEEDLE TASTE LIKE?: Ben & Jerry's to produce original flavors for New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland.

REPORT: Apple pushing to unveil Internet radio service.

GAME OF THRONES: Red wedding freak-outs caught on tape.

BLACK SABBATH: The band's new record is streaming on iTunes.

BONUS: 20 great albums you can download for free.

Fly! Be free!

Just the other day Bobble Tiki held court at Tacoma Cabana discussing "The Comeback Album" by musicians. Bobble Tiki thinks its like shooting squealing divas in a barrel when an out-of-grace superstar releases The Comeback Album, the one that's gonna put 'em back in Tha Game. Remember Christina Aguilera's napalm-skanky Stripped? Michael Jackson's ... anything? Bobble Tiki included Bon Jovi's ludicrous "career artist" stab Bounce. The first mistake with Bounce was allowing Bon Jovi to name their album after 1. a Juggies phenomenon and 2. a fabric-softener company. Their second was to support Bon Jovi in making one of the most ultra-crappy rock albums of 2002.

You don't care. Bon Jovi will play the Tacoma Dome Saturday, Oct. 5 and you're going to be there. You're thrilled tickets start at $19.50, but a little ticked other prices haven't been release. You're also pissed that you don't have an American Express Card (due to the high annual fees) because advanced tickets to the Tacoma concert will go on sale to American Express Cardmembers at 10 a.m. tomorrow through 10 a.m. Friday. So, you'll wait until 10 a.m. Monday, June 10 when the tickets are released at all Ticketmaster locations, through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 1.800.745.3000, Ticketmaster Express at 866.448-.7849 (automated only self service line) and Ticketmaster.com. And just to stick it to Bobble Tiki, you're going to stream Bounce for the next two hours.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5 2013 >>>

1. The Tallhouse Arts Consortium aerialists, whose Facebook profile states, "Farting rhinestones since... ah, we can't even remember," will delight audiences with its strong and sturdy flips, flying and artistic trapeze for the last time this season at 8 p.m. in The Brotherhood Lounge. The group brings in interesting songs, unique performances, flirty fun and guest trapeze artists - all for free. They do happily pass around a hat at the end of the show. Tipping is strongly encouraged. "I think what I love most is about the Tallhouse Arts Consortium is that it takes a good bar environment and turns it upside down. It's not a bar anymore; it's a circus," says Pit Kwiesinski, owner of The Brotherhood." Be on the lookout for a bearded lady.

2. The South Puget Sound Community College Concert Choir and the Puget Sound Community Choir will present their spring concert, A Salute to America, featuring songs celebrating America at 7 p.m. in the Minnaert Center. Selections will include choral arrangements of American folk songs, show tunes, and classics form the 1940s. Te concert is free.

3. Pub trivia nights can either ignite the party or stifle the mood. McNamara's Pub & Eatery in DuPont does everything possible to avoid being a major buzz kill. Every Wednesday McNamara's Pub starts team trivia at 7 p.m. Irish-inspired food helps trivia players stock up on brainpower before the trivia starts. Beer and drink specials happen at trivia intermission. Because everyone knows a good buzz makes trivia that much easier. What's the capital of Kazakhstan? Take a drink and think.

4. Jay Gandhi and Ravi Albright bust out some awesoem world beats at 7:30 p.m. in Traditions Cafe and World Folk Art in downtown Olympia.

5. The Crazy Texas Gypsies - one of the finalists in the Back to Beale Street blues competition - rock the blues at 8 p.m. in Dawson's Bar & Grill.

LINK: Wednesday, June 5 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TIDBITS TO CHEW ON TODAY >>>

Swing Wine Bar - voted "Best Wine Selection" by Weekly Volcano readers in the 2013 Best of Olympia issue - is opening a sandwich shop next to Olympia Coffee Roasters and Spud's Produce in the Wildwood building.

The New Moon Café, Olympia's breakfast and lunch spot, is turning into a worker-owned co-op café. Here is the indiegogo to prove it.

BECK: He's working on two new albums, and you can hear a new song.

MAY THE SAUCE BE WITH YOU: R2-D2 themed pizza box by Domino's Japan.

LIVE LIKE JAMES BOND: Cannon Security RadioVault

Today in Horrible Histories ...

Adam McKinney, or "The Rev," is no stranger to the Tacoma music scene. A writer for this fine rag, McKinney is known for making a fabulous Faux Loco, for always looking dapper and for summing up his music mission as "wanting to introduce Tacoma to the country and the country to Tacoma."

Squeak & Squawk (SQSQ) - a 5-day indie music festival in Tacoma that has had a sporadic, yet successful run - rocked Tacoma in 2008, 2010 and 2012 - the year McKinney and fellow music lover Jena Stedler took it over. The pair had a small budget and big hearts, accomplishing one of the best SQSQ yet.

This year, the festival is set for Sept. 12-16, and the two want to kick it up a notch. McKinney and Stedler have started a Kickstarter campaign and hope to earn $7,500 to help offset costs of paying bands, promotional demands, staffing and more.

With 11 days left, the Kickstarter has only reached a small portion of its goal. I chatted with Rev. Adam about the sometimes-rocky process of putting together a kick-ass festival, and why you should help make it happen.

Read more...

THURSDAY, MAY 6 2013 >>>

1. Professional storytelller Elizabeth Lord's original The Swimsuit Area stage play "explores reproduction in today's modern age.  What it means to be a parent, and more importantly what it means to choose not to be a parent." Apparently Lord will explore the hard issues such as deciding not to have a child - and what someone does about that - and the finality of hysterectomy surgery which results in never being able to conceive a child - all with her trademark humor lined glow. The show hits the Midnight Sun stage at 8 p.m. through June 9.

2. If you think the medium of artists' books are limiting, you'll undoubtedly be impressed with the array of work on display at the third annual membership show of the Puget Sound Book Artists. PSBA's book art show at Collins Memorial Library features a wide variety of handmade books by 30 artists demonstrating how these talented artists can interpret the book in exciting and original ways that push the boundaries of tradition. Check it out from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

3. Why drink alone when you can get your drink on with cool cats who care about environmental issues? On the first Thursday of each month, Green Drinks invites Tacoma and Pierce County residents to do just that - hang out and chat with other green-minded individuals over drinks and snacks. The next session of Green Drinks - which will be held at 6 p.m. inside The Swiss - will focus on the non-profit SustainableWorks ... and drinks, of course.

4. The Art House Café in Tacoma's Stadium District invites you to paint while you drink Washington wines. One glass of wine is provided, as well as all the supplies and instruction for your art piece. Hosted by neighboring Open Arts Studio, the "Pouring Picasso" event begins at 6:30 p.m., and costs $40.

5. UK playwright Pericles Snowdon's Bluebeard is a story about isolation, family, betrayal, apocalypse and parenthood. Under the direction of David Domkoski, Assemblage Theater brings to life the dark story of Blue, a woman who has been so hurt and disillusioned by her experiences in the outside world that she steals three little girls and locks them away in an abandoned church - our beloved Urban Grace Church in downtown Tacoma - for their whole lives in order to protect them, while a kind of apocalypse happens outside. Blue creates strict rules by which the girls must live and re-writes history, making the girls "perform" a different chapter of it each day. Creepy. Then, the mysterious Magnon steps into their melancholy blue world and turns it upside down. Watch it all go down at 8 p.m. inside the Urban Grace.

LINK: Thursday, June 6 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

TIDBITS TO CHEW ON TODAY >>>

Within the week Shake Shake Shake, the burger joint in Tacoma's Stadium District, will sport a grassy backyard with picnic tables and a fenced area for alcohol consumption.

Old Mliwaukee Cafe on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue has water heater issue and is closed until Friday at 6 a.m.

Tacoma City Councilman David Boe has found a Star Trek-like transporter on Tacoma's Pacific Avenue. Check out his Facebook post below:

THIS IS NOT COOL: Swiffer puts Rosie the Riveter back in the kitchen.

WHO NEEDS TO SEE MORE BLOOD SPITTING ANYWAY: Showtime cancels The Borgias.

NINE INCH NAILS: The band is back.

JOY DIVISION: It's now a creepy video game.

Bring it!

FUTURE THINGS ARE COMING >>>

Remember how excited you were when you learned the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival was moving to Cheney Stadium? TCBF co-organizer Bennett Thurmon has been so overwhelmed with joy he had to be forcibly removed from Cheney Stadium. Every day, for the last two months, he's hung out at the stadium, measuring fences, calculating sun angles and "becoming one with the stadium" he claimed.*

Anyway, here's more good Tacoma Craft Beer Festival news: Tickets for the Sept. 7 all-day beer festival go on sale Friday, June 7. Tomorrow, click here to journey to the TCBF website, click "Tickets available online" and you'll be whisked to Ticketmaster's fancy site, select the $30.50 ticket or $60.50 VIP ticket, then feel content knowing you'll be one of many hanging out on that glorious Saturday, tasting goods from 70 craft breweries and hugging the hell out of your friends, which happens every year.

*OK, Thurmon wasn't removed, but he has been living at Cheney and actually used a protractor to calculate the stadium's coaster capacity.

FRIDAY, JUNE 7 2013 >>>

1. What Tiny Tim was for Tin Pan Alley-era singers, Tommy Dean is for rambling folk of the '50s and '60s. Like Tiny Tim, Tommy Dean is a self-stylized revivalist, an encyclopedia of long-forgotten tunes. He's a jukebox - pop a quarter in him and he'll go. Armed with a six-string and a harmonica around his neck, Dean has traversed the entirety of the country, soaking in the dust and the highway hypnosis that defined the lives of those wandering folkies he so strives to emulate. Even when he's standing on a stage, Dean is unmistakably a busker, a man made to peddle his songs on the street, guitar case open and waiting for passersby to grace it with coins. Catch him with Tortilla Flat and RowHouse at 9 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.

2. The Mark Olympia will host a fine art opening within the gallery space for the work of Seattle digital photographer, Jesse Young. Inspired by the brilliance of Ansel Adams' black and white aesthetic, Young primarily photographs his subjects in the same way. His photographs explore light and shadow within contemporary cityscapes, though more recently some of his portfolios feature color photographs of the natural world. Young's work is exhibited in many venues in the Seattle area and is featured in several photography magazines including Shutterbug. The event will start at 5 p.m.

3. Jon Tartaglia knows nightclubs. He has held court at Tacoma hotspots The Loft, 21 Commerce, Big Whisky Saloon Tacoma, Varsity Grill and Encore Boutique Nightclub. All but Encore have been sold - most recently Big Whisky, which will soon be a martini bar called The 502 Downtown and Varsity Grill, which wasn't sold but converted into a 12,000-square-foot steakhouse and country-rock club called Steel Creek American Whiskey Co., which opens at 6 p.m.

4. Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction and Gabriel Teodros will put on one helluva hip-hop show at 8:30 p.m. in The Evergreen State College's Recreation Center.

5. Violinistextremist Kytami, billed as "perhaps Canada's most diverse and engaging fiddle player" will battle a DJ in what is billed as "Kytami: Violin vs. Vinyl" at 10:30 p.m. in Jazzbones.

LINK: Friday, June 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SATURDAY, JUNE 8 2013 >>>

1. If Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa is a mouthful of a name, then his music does well to invade every other one of your senses. For years, de Dionyso has been making a name for himself as one of the premier practitioners of experimental music in the Northwest. Unlike other experimental artists, whose work consists of beauty in chaos, de Dionyso is conceptual and thought-through in the extreme. Catch Malaikat Dan Singa with MTNS, DJ Urine and the Nadines at 8 p.m. in 2nd Cycle on Tacoma's Hilltop. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa in Northwest Military's Music & Culture section.

2. Older homes are typically loaded with character, and some people love nothing better than to stroll through a neighborhood and check out the architecture. For them, there is the Steilacoom Historical Home Tour. The outing, which is hosted by the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association and hasn't happened in almost 40 years, features six privately owned historic homes dating from 1858 through 1895, including five built when Washington was still a territory. The tour runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If there's one thing we know, it's Tacoma like to run, and drink. The Tacoma Runners prove it every Thursday night. Metro Parks knows this fact too. At 6 p.m. in Wright Park it will host its Sneakers to Suds - the first of four 5k events in its Pub Run Series. Each 5k is open to ages 21 and older and includes post-race festivities, which means drinking in local watering holes. Participate in trivia contests and post-race fun at Parkway, Tap Room and Amocat Café.

4. Shyan Selah & The Republic of Sound will headline a night of live music featuring Northwest hip hop legend Xola Malik, aka Kid Sensation, rock and blues act Monica-Crystal & The Beat Bandits and local acoustic songstress Stephanie Anne Johnson at 8:30 p.m. in Stonegate Pizza.

5. Future Bass dance party brings a little dub, some Dirty South bounce, some mini-backpack drum 'n' bass, sassy house, badass soul, squiggly squeaks, breaky beats, distorted hip-hop samples and wobbling bass lines - like pathological gamblers through paychecks - at 9:30 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: Saturday, June 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area