SATURDAY, OCT. 5 2013 >>>

1. The Dockyard Derby Dames is gearing up for its 8th season of jams, slams and thank-you ma'ams, with a double-header opening-night bout at 6 p.m. in Pierce College's Health Ed Building. Bridgette Walker, team captain of the Marauding Mollys and head of sponsorship and development, says this year brings switch-ups within the league, with players transferring teams and balancing strengths, a strategic move by organizers, and an interesting twist for spectators. Tonight, The Hellbound Homewreckers will face off against the Marauding Mollys while The Trampires will challenge Vancouver B.C.'s Terminal City Rollergirls Riot Cats. "People should expect an exciting bout," Walker said. "I think the Trampires will be easily matched with Terminal City, and Homewreckers are stepping up their game, so I expect that to be a pretty tough battle."

2. Maris Farms will serve up six of the finest REAL quack-aletes in Pierce County and the ducks cover a grand total of 200 feet at 1 and 3 p.m. during its Iron Duck World Championships. The ducks will start at one end of an old cow feeder by swimming 100 feet one way, then climbing a ramp and "running/fluttering" back to where they started. First one back is the winner. In all, there will be 16 races from Oct. 5-27. The duck with the most victories over that period will be crowned "Iron-Duck" World Champion. The month-long event will help raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project by allowing people to place bets on who they believe will win each race.

3. New Jersey's leonine rock stalwarts Bon Jovi ride their steel horses to the Tacoma Dome at 7:30 p.m. Jon Bon Jovi fired Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi. Yes. This is nearly as bad as Jon Bon Jovi firing Jon Bon Jovi from Bon Jovi. Maybe worse. There go all the feelings of camaraderie from those anthemic choruses. And there goes any joy reminiscing about their "talking box" guitar solos.

4. Big Star, and Alex Chilton in particular, was a band driven to madness by a nation turning a blind eye to some of the purest pop music around. In typical fashion, Big Star were ignored in their time, but later discovered by several generations of power pop acts that valued haunting harmonies and indelible hooks over chunky guitars and arena anthems. Blue Skies for Black Hearts is such a band. Formed 13 years ago, this Portland group began as a solo project for recording studio engineer Pat Kearns. Catch Blue skies for Black hearts with A Leaf, Brite Lines and The Stravinsky Riots at 8 p.m. in Bob's Java Jive. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Blue Skies for Black Hearts in the Music and Culture section.

5. It's day two of the Olympia Fall Arts Walk, and Le Voyeur has a hot hip-hop show at 9 p.m. Award-winning hip-hop duo Never Sleep host performs with Everybody Weekend's female-led electro hip-hop sound, the lyricism and microphone bravado of Ang P of The Real Life Click, and 25360 representative Heretic The Heathen (founder/promoter/emcee of For MCs By MCs).

LINK: Saturday, Oct. 5 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Some days we want to eat chicken feet. we want tripe and trotters, crispy fried intestine and all the assorted culinary weirdness that allows Anthony Bourdain to laugh all the way to the bank. We would be just as bored with cheeseburgers every day as someone living in, say, Mauritania would be with nothing but Thieboudiene and Mahfe.

As the South Sound has grown from a culinary backwater to a more cosmopolitan culinary forward region (Charlie McManus to the Mark to Marrow and the few in between) with a supporting cast of international cuisine refugees from all corners of the globe, we have noticed a slow but steady growth in ethnic fare since 1999.

The good folks at Tacoma Community House are well aware of the South Sound's melting pot. TCH provides programs and services to immigrants, refugees and others to help strengthen their lives and help them become a part of the community.

Of course, TCH's efforts take money.

No doubt it was a joyous moment when the idea to host a night of regional ethnic dining as a fundraiser hit the brainstorming chalkboard. It's brilliant.

FLAVOR, a night of dining at immigrant-owned and immigrant-supporting restaurants will be held Thursday, Oct. 24 with participating restaurants kicking back 25 percent of food sales to TCH. Participating restaurants include El Toro downtown, Indochine, Lele, Gateway to India, El Guadalajara, Adriatic Grill, Il Lucano, La Crème Brulee, La Fondita and others. See the full list of participating restaurants here. The list could go deeper, especially in the local Asian culinary field, but it's a worthy start.

To add excitement to the night, TCH will offer several prize packages, including a seven-day Mexico trip, Keurig B70 Platinum Brewing System, restaurant gift cards and cookbooks.

Mark Oct. 24 on your calendar as the night you stand up for immigrants while sitting down for a meal.

SUNDAY, OCT. 6 2013 >>>

1. Mural art doesn't seem like the kind of discipline that should be broken into seasons, like fashion or the performing arts - not least because so many murals, with their all-together-now imagery and perennial visibility, seem lodged in a permanent Sesame Street-like past. But the weather in the South Sound puts a damper on outdoor art. Mural artist Chelsea O'Sullivan, she of the Tacoma Murals Project, is taking her talents indoors, showing a batch of her new artwork from 6-8 p.m. at The Swiss. Get small with O'Sullivan.

2. Beer! Lederhosen! Beer! Bratwurst! Beer! Yodeling! Beer! Seahawks! Beer! Austrian Amazon! Beer! Oktoberfest Northwest has all of these fine things, but, most importantly, it has beer. The gates open at 9:45 a.m. so you can watch the Seahawks game in the Sports Haus. Other event highlights happening at the Washington State Fair & Event Center include German bands and entertainers, authentic German cuisine, the German Corner gift section, the Miss Oktoberfest Northwest Swing Girl and the running of the wiener dogs. And don't forget to wash all that German food down with ... well, you know, beer!

3. We love Tacoma's Annual St. Nicholas Greek Festival. We love the group dancing, the fine food; hell, we even love yelling "Opa!" for no apparent reason. But let's be real. For us, the entire festival is just a complicated set dressing for a baklava-delivery system. Oh, we'll hang out and listen to them ramble on about Socrates, the Olympics and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," but we'll be picking the flaky crumbs from our shirts and stuffing them into our hungry taste-holes while we do it. We'll dance beginning at 1 p.m. and eat the food - lamb, pork souvlaki, salata, loukomades, dolmades, tyropitakia -  not just because we like it, but in an attempt to bring the honey content in our blood down low enough so we can scarf down another slab of triangular goodness. In its 52nd year, the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. - will donate a portion of proceeds to the Fish Food Bank.

4. Harlequin's Henry V production revives the set and concept of a '98 run, for which director Scot Whitney pared Shakespeare's cast down to six men and two women. The actors play actors, who spill out of a roadside pageant wagon. (Like Henry himself, the pageant wagon approach was centuries dead when the Bard penned this history, but never mind.) Jason Marr plays Hank; it's a solid portrayal, especially in an underplayed St. Crispin's Day speech. The acting's quite strong throughout, in fact, offering treats like Maggie Lofquist's bilingual princess and Casey Brown as a dauphin who thinks he's a rock star. I tended to conflate Henry's soldiers, who hail from all over the present-day UK, and I'm not sure their accents are any less confused. Happily, though, the battle scenes are excitingly choreographed, and we're able to follow the story from beginning to end. Bruce Whitney's sound design works wonders here, along with his Princess Bride-style synthetic score, by clarifying transitions and adding depth and volume to onstage combat. Henry V hits the stage at 2 p.m. Read Christian Carvajal's full review of Henry V in the Music and Culture section.

5. With its birth in the grunge years in an alleyway at Pike Place Market, Seattle Theatresports combines quick wit with a theatrical and comedic flair. Teams of improvisers create scenes based entirely on audience suggestions and are scored by a panel of judges. The Seattle icon pays at visit to the Tacoma Comedy Club at 8 p.m.

LINK: Sunday, Oct. 6 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Today's Pampering Our Military Spouses is an afternoon of free hair care, spa services and, well, pampering for those who single-handedly juggle the demands of work and family while facing the additional anxiety of knowing that a loved one is constantly in harms way, with no guarantee they will make it home safely. Those are tough burdens to carry, and this is our way to show how much spouses sacrifice in the great mission of protecting the United States and defending freedom.

The event begins at 11 a.m. at St. Martin's University. Sponsored by Bruce Titus Automotive Group as well as Washington state's 529 prepaid college tuition program G.E.T., military spouses and girlfriends, active duty and reserve, will be treated to the services mentioned above, as well as enjoy at Macy's fashion show featuring military spouse models, a live game show with prizes, food, drinks, gifts and much more.

Let us make clear from the outset that you, Common Person, cannot attend. By name, The Ranger and Northwest Airlifter's "Pampering Our Military Spouses" is only for military spouses and girlfriends of servicemembers. Members of the hoi polloi, the riff raff and the masses best not show up. Unfortunately, registration for the event is closed. We reached our 1,300 capacity well before today.

That said, all may enjoy words and photos from today's Pampering Our Military Spouses as we'll be live blogging from the event. Stay tuned. It's on!

Read more...

MONDAY, OCT. 7 2013 >>>

1. The Tacoma Film Festival is on, celebrating current independent film from around the globe ... and in our backyard. The 253 represent at this year's TFF. A whole slew of local film shorts will be screened at The Grand Cinema from 4-5:30: Harbor Island (Mystery, 23 min, Scott Capestany); Light and Black (Drama, 10 min, Brian Parker); Look Up In the Sky (Drama, Thriller, Sci-Fi, 9 min, Arthur Rains-McNally); One For the Record Book (Comedy, 5 min, Emily Bjarke); Practical Things (Drama, 5 min, Lindy & Kris Boustedt); The Shootout (Western, 20 min, Craig Muller, Tonya Yorke); The Small Stuff (Drama, 3 min, Andrea Capere) and The Sweet Sorrow (Drama, 12 min, Jeff Barehand).

2. Toscanos Café & Wine Bar and Cline Cellars have teamed up to raise money for Good Samaritan Hospital's Cancer Care Fund. Beginning today, buy a glass of Cline Cellars Wine or special "Pink Cocktail" at Toscanos and receive a free hand-painted collectable cordial glass. Each week the Puyallup restaurant feature a different glass color. For every bottle of Cline wine poured at Toscanos this month, Cline will donate $1 to Good Samaritan. And, Toscanos will match that donation.

3. Meet authors Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones and learn about their latest addition to the Dreamspeaker Guides featuring Gig Harbor and other South Puget Sound boating destinations at 6:30 p.m. at the Tides Tavern. Puget Sound - A Boater's Guide is the seventh Dreamspeaker Guide and captures a fresh perspective to cruising our local waters. 

4. Pianist Nate D., bassist Cameron and drummer Peter T. have launch the city's newest jazz jam inviting talent to sit in as the house trio explores straight ahead, funk and space at 8 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge. Not all gigs qualify as a hang, but this one has the precise alchemy that could draw the area's best players: a high level of musicianship, a relaxed atmosphere and a sympathetic intergenerational crowd. Ask any working jazz musician, and the hang is what it's all about.

5. O'Malley's "Mondays For The Damned," is your typical above ground underground new wave, synth pop, goth, industrial and post-punk haven, and, if you're into it, it's one of the best places to find yourself in the company of the city's goth and industrial scene. Night Shift (Nicole and Aaron) and guest DJs will spin, while Rich Sumner screens videos and movies. Get dark over $3.25 micro brew pints and a pound of wings for $5.50.

LINK: Monday, Oct. 7 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Even though Olympia's Fall Arts Walk is usually deemed the lesser of the bi-annual festival, with spring bringing brighter days and the impressive Procession of the Species, this fall event, in its 47th incarnation, brought plenty of sunshine, creativity and people.

From the Make Olympia Market sporting local crafts and artisans to the 4th Ave Bridge, which was decorated with yarn, music and art filled the streets and businesses of downtown Olympia.

Along Capitol Way, the Artesian Rumble Arkestra brought their spiced-up marching band through The Brotherhood Lounge, their instruments decorated in neon tubes. A few doors over, a 16-year-old piano prodigy played in a door-stoop, his tip jar labeled "Car Fund."

Along Fourth Avenue, live music rotated in front of Capitol City Guitars, including Full Moon Radio, whose captive audience demanded an encore from the all-girl rawk band.

Friday night, fire dancers took over Fifth Avenue and the bars had live music, from Ethan Tucker at the 1230 Room, The Hardway at 4th Ave, and Spittin Cobras at McCoy's. There was truly something for everybody.

Saturday brought plenty more sunshine for families during the day, with lots of artwork on display from local schools, and an opportunity to view windows full of displays, such as ceramic superheroes at Danger Room Comics, and the works of talents like Christopher Ross and China Star.

Congratulations Olympia on another successful Arts Walk.

Houston in the blind, this is Nerd Alert, the Weekly Volcano'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 I write this, my head is still reeling from Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity - though that may be residual motion sickness. The more I reflect on it, the more I believe it's a true thinking man's sci-fi flick, conveying volumes of astrophysics with deceptive ease and slipping inside Sandra Bullock's helmet for unobtrusive first-person storytelling. I urge you to see it in IMAX 3-D, if only the LieMAX at Lacey's Regal cineplex. Finally, an action movie that doesn't reduce matters of galactic import to fistfights or devolve into "we have a situation"-level clichés. Kudos to Bullock, and to Framestore's ingenious zero-gravity FX.

FRIDAY, OCT. 11

If you've a geek of a certain age, it's highly likely that a chunk of your formative period was spent sitting around tables, rolling multicolored dice and battling imaginary troglodytes. Some of us may, in fact, still dabble in Gygax-style fictional worlds. These folks'll find much to enjoy, even cogitate upon, in the cinematic comedy Zero Charisma, opening Friday. It stars Sam Eidson as Scott, a dungeon master who finds his life upended when a popular hipster invades his circle of gamer friends. JoBlo's Movie Emporium referred to Zero Charisma as "Taxi Driver for fanboys." It played well to festival audiences, who probably spent a few hours around the D&D table themselves back in the day ... perhaps even yesterday. Far be it from us to pass judgment! Mighty Pelor the sun god would never forgive us.

SATURDAY, OCT. 12

Technically, Oct. 5 was Star Wars Reads Day, a celebration of youth lit highlighting the "Expanded Universe" of books and comics set in that galaxy far, far away. The Puyallup Public Library may be a tad late to the game, but they're chiming in hardcore with "astromech builder" and history buff Cole Horton. He's capping off a series of events by revealing how George Lucas's science-fantasy universe was influenced by the pop culture of his youth. It's a great way to introduce younglings and Padawan learners to the Light Side of both reading and 20th-century history. (And while we're on the topic of Star Wars tomes, check out J. W. Rinzler's massively comprehensive The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, which hit bookshelves Oct. 1.)

FROM GOLDEN AGE TO A GALAXY FAR WAY: A STAR WARS READS DAY EVENT, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Puyallup Public Library, 324 S. Meridian, Puyallup, no cover, 253.841.5454

OCTOBER

On a serious note, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and if there's one thing geeks of all genders, political stripes, and orientations can agree on, it's that breasts are the tits. Breast cancer currently affects one out of every eight women. That is simply unacceptable! Please give generously to protect these beautiful national resources. You could, for example, visit the Macy's corner of Tacoma Mall this Saturday the 12th, for a "Paint the Mall Pink" celebration that includes $1,000 worth of awesome giveaways. Coincidentally, the Gritty City Sirens perform their Spooktacular Soiree that same night at 502 Downtown. Check out other worthy events at KomenPugetSound.org.

Until next week, may the Force be with you, may the odds be ever in your favor, and may next weekend be sunny and bright for Seattle's epically distaff GeekGirlCon.

TUESDAY, OCT. 8 2013 >>>

1. Tacoman Erik Hanberg loves parks and books. He's taken both passions to the next level. He's currently a commissioner with Metro Parks Tacoma. He's also penned The Saints Go Dying, The Marinara Murders and within days of releasing his first sci-fi novel,The Lead Cloak. Hanberg is campaigning to create a park out of the waterfront property next to Point Ruston, naming it after the Tacoma author Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series. Hanberg will join Post Defiance, King's Books's Broad Horizons Book Club and Chris Keil, co-owner of Hilltop Kitchen cocktail lounge and Dune fan, toasting Herberttoday  - what would have been Herbert's 93rd birthday - with Keil's exclusive cocktail menu inspired by Herbert's classic six-book science fiction series from 7-10 p.m. Let's hope HK skips the Toto soundtrack from David Lynch's 1984 film version.

2. Commencement Bay Haiku will meet at 6 p.m. in King's Books to read haiku or one page of haibun (prose with haiku), as well as discuss various aspects of haiku, haibun, or haiga (a painting, sketch or photo with haiku). It's not easy to convert the innards of your soul into scrawled words on paper and then wax rhapsodic as judging eyes stare at you. You may use this haiku about King's Books cats: Wanna go outside. Oh, no! Help! I got outside! Let me back inside!

3. What are the current and future human impacts and implications of cell phones, social media, and the Internet? Documentary filmmaker, director, and Pacific Northwest native Dominic H. White asks this question and more in his new eye-opening documentary, DSKNECTD, which screens at 6:30 p.m. as part of the 2013 Tacoma Film Festival. The documentary delves into how mobile devices; virtual worlds, social media and the Internet are reshaping human interactions. Looking at the good, bad, and the ugly, White leaves the viewer in the end pondering their own personal connections to technology.

4. Conventional wisdom dictates that you'd rather spend Tuesday night watching TLC TV and sharing a big bowl of prune whip with your great aunt Martha than venturing out to hear harp music. But in this case, conventional wisdom would be wrong. Tacoma harpist Margaret Shelton explored traditional and contemporary harp music from Asia, Europe and South America while traveling on a grant in 2011. Through performing, interviewing harpists, digging through museum archives and even building a small harp, Shelton discovered the rich variety of this unique instrument around the globe. At 7 p.m., she's going to bring it all home in the Slovonian Hall as part of Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma.

5. Every Tuesday night at Stonegate Pizza on South Tacoma Way Leanne Trevalyan hosts an acoustic open mic at 8 p.m.

LINK: Tuesday, Oct. 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Tacoma has taken the definition of art to a whole new level over the years. This kind of creativity has given the city vibrancy and energy and it only continues to gain momentum. Now, thanks to new local television programming, Tacoma's artistic gifts are celebrated in a special way.

The city of Tacoma's Media and Communications Office, in partnership with the Community and Economic Development and Department's Arts Program, launches the innovative cultural documentary-style television series, artTown. The television initiative explores Tacoma's creative and artistic growth and how it has emerged as a major creative hub in the region. This quarterly series makes its debut Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 at 8 p.m. on the award-winning municipal government television channel, TV Tacoma.

The show's segments offer a rich and diverse look at a wide variety of creative endeavors. For Tacoma Arts Administrator Amy McBride, the show is a labor of love and a way to pay homage to the city and its people.

"There's so much talent in this city. The series is another medium to share that talent and to tell more stories because there are a lot of them," says McBride. "Being able to tell the many stories of Tacoma helps people shine and get the recognition they deserve.

Read more...

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 9 2013 >>>

1. No one knows for sure when the first Paleolithic cave-dweller stuck a mammoth tail in crushed-up berries and began painting stick figures on the wall of his rocky abode, but you can bet the market value of the neighboring caves instantly went up. Want to inject a little life into your urban blight? Bring in a bunch of artists. The Olympia Artspace Alliance wants to develop affordable new spaces to live, work, create, rehearse, perform or conduct business in downtown Olympia. Teamed with Artspace Projects, Inc. it has designed a market survey that will inform it about Olympians' specific studio and housing needs. OAA invites the public to a market survey launch party at 5 p.m. at the Washington Center.  Drop by for food, drink and information.

2. Holly Senn work is one of those rare creatures whose work is equally conceptual and visual. Her sculptures - usually small works made from pages out of old and discarded books and displayed on sculpture stands - and her room-size installations - generally made from the same materials, are all about ideas generated from the materials and their implications, meaning the pages of books and the trees they are made from and ideas surrounding the act of reading and the environment in which those trees grow. But there is much more to her work than the idea. Her work is also visually stunning. Senn's new exhibit, "Scavenged," showcases a body of new work: forms inspired by specimens from the collection of some 1,300 bird nests at Puget Sound's Slater Museum of Natural History. A reception for Senn, as well as Randy Bolton's "Have A Terrific Great Nice OK Day and Other Prints" is from 5-7 p.m. at Kittredge Gallery on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. It may be grayer than Bea Arthur's pixie cut outside, but not so inside King's Books at 6:30 p.m.  The Stadium District bookstore draws a crowd during the Scrabble Rabble sessions, where folks compete with similar skill level players and pounce with triple word scores.  The Weekly Volcano doesn't know about you but we always enjoyed hanging onto the "Q," where it hangs there on our rack like some ultimate weapon of destruction, waiting for that all-enabling "U" tile to unleash its point-mongering wrath upon our opponents.  Anyway, if your job sucks or you have a strange rash, join the Scrabble Rabble and those problems will, if only for a few hours, ease back into the recesses of your mind.

4. New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber has 170 million books in print; the newest, Rose Harbor in Bloom, will be front and center at 7 p.m. when Macomber visits the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch. The book is the sequel to The Inn at Rose Harbor, which was set in the Pacific Northwest town of Cedar Cove and follows the story of Jo Marie Rose, a young widow who purchases a local bed-and-breakfast as a way to cope with the death of her husband. In Rose Harbor in Bloom, Macomber returns to Cedar Cove, specifically Rose Harbor Inn, the bed and breakfast Jo Marie purchased, and focuses on the guests' stories. If you'd like to meet one of America's favorite storytellers, then head to downtown Tacoma tonight.

5.Hailing from Chicago but circling the planet in ever-widening orbits, CAVE are known for playing with rolling funk minimalism. The band's new album, Threace, finds them inhabiting their cut-up aesthetic with tremendous ease and fewer reference points than before. Catch them at 8 p.m. with Arrington De Dionyso and Judson Claiborne at Northern in Olympia.

LINK: Wednesday, Oct. 9 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area