If you're anything like Bobble Tiki, then you're about halfway done healing after having been on the wrong end of a dangerous, though admittedly riotous, prank involving a bratwurst bun and three-dozen bottle rockets. Sometimes patriotism hurts.

While resting in the burn ward of the secret smart-person hospital that Bobble Tiki prefers, his iPod never stopped. There was the Replacements for bed-pan changes, Motörhead to amplify doctor visits, The Ramones for throwing crap at the guy next to Bobble Tiki, Tom Waits when things got weird, the Police to get all weepy and nostalgic over high school with, and more often than not, rock ‘n' roll singing-songwriting genius John Hiatt.

Bobble Tiki has always been able to identify with rock lyrics whether or not he agrees with their stance. But Hiatt's music Bobble Tiki can physically feel. They're true.  They sting.

Since he has all the time in the world, Bobble Tiki thought he'd mention a few musical notes from the South Sound. ...

Tacoma's Fire Department Station 12 has paired up with local filmmakers to create a music video for Good Morning America's 5-Alarm Firefighters Challenge. Your vote today by noon can help them win $10,000 to be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Operation Warm Coats for Kids.

Watch the video here and vote by clicking on the poll Tacoma button on the right side of the page.

Tacoma saxophonist Paul Sawtelle is using the crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter to raise funds for his first solo CD, Virtual Insanity. Notable names include guitarist Eric Tingstad, keyboardist Brooke Lizotte and vocalist Jessica Lynne.

All proceeds go to Ted Brown Music (TBM) Outreach, a 501c3 nonprofit that works to put instruments in the hands of kids who can't afford to play in school band.

Visit Paul Sawtelle's Kickstarter page here.

Guitarist Nolan Garrett will release the first of six singles at 4 p.m. Sunday July 13 at the Jazzbones Stage during the Art on the Avenue Tacoma community festival on Sixth Avenue. The single, "I Don't Know," is part of a summer campaign of singles, which he calls the Single Scavenger Hunt. The singles will come out on download cards only and will complete a map that will lead to the grand prize when the final single is released at the end of the summer.  

"I Don't Know" is basically a song about the uncertainties of death and not knowing what happens when you die. I wrote this as kind of a letter to my family members that have died ... most likely, one of my grandmas," states Garrett in a news release. "The song is saying that the older I've gotten, the more uncertain I am about death, and I'm asking my passed on family members for some kind of answer."

Grab a download card Sunday at Art on the Ave.

There's probably more local music news, but Bobble Tiki doesn't really care because he doesn't even know you, and unless you want to give Bobble Tiki a post-blog-post rubdown, he's sure he doesn't want to meet you. Besides, it's time for him to close this laptop 'cause there's a telemarketer on his Blackberry he'd like to get to know better.