THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011 >>>

1. WaMu rocks the Northern in Olympia tonight. Find all the details you'll need here.

2. Murder and thriller writer J.A. Jance will be in University Place today at the library, slinging and signing books.

3. Tacoma Pride Week kicks off today with a flag raising. Pride info can be found here.

4. Join Billy Farmer open mic style today at the Tacoma Farmers Market.

5. Check out Not From Brooklyn tonight at the New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011 >>>

1. Tonight check out the kick-off concert of the summertime Music In The Park series at Sylvester Park in Olympia. The Music in the Park series is sponsored by the Olympia Downtown Association and scheduled every Wednesday night through August. This week the Afro-Cuban goodness of Ocho Pies graces the stage.

2. The Skurfs rock Le Voyeur in Olympia tonight. Or, if that doesn't tickle your musical fancy, find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

3. It's another Wildstyle Wednesday at Gruv Lounge on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue.

4. The Gig Harbor Green Farmers Market fills up Skanskie Brothers Park today with nearly immeasurable goodness.

5. Drop in on Applini's Two Clean and Sober Club in Puyallup tonight for some of the best bingo around.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

SEE LOCAL FILMS AT ART ON THE AVE >>>

Want to sample some of the best in Tacoma film, and for free? Art On The Ave hits Sixth this weekend, and a chilled summertime mix of local cinema will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 10.

Though now making its thirteenth annual appearance, Art on the Ave has finally decided to add a movie dimension to its art panorama. Festival Director Angela Jossy called on a former collaborator, Randy Sparks, to assemble a lineup. With all his connections inside the neighborhood indie scene, it didn't take long for Sparks and partner Dave Graham to wrangle 29 shorts by 17 filmmakers (as of this writing).

Music vids, documentaries, dramas and comedies. Stop by the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church for at least an hour on Sunday and you'll get a decent dose of unique film, Tacoma style. This offer comes with the Sparks Guarantee: "You're not going to see one bad film. They're all fantastic."

Speaking of "bad" film, check out the never-before-released Bad Idea by News Tribune scribe Craig Sailor, a jolly woods-romp featuring that equally elusive Sasquatch. Viewing and reviewing films for years is one thing, but Sailor describes "a huge learning curve" with his maiden voyage as writer-director-star of his own work. Bad's great visuals come from the hand of Hollywood cinematographer Patrick Neary - an "invaluable" contributor, Sailor states, both on set and throughout the editing process.

If you've frequented the Grand Cinema's 72-Hour film viewing parties these last years, you should recognize a few favorites this Sunday, like works from Isaac Olsen and Ryan Loiselle. The latter's first entry was 2007's Vinny Vegas. The clever premise brings to the screen a real persona, star Brandon Boote, a performer at weddings and events. Loiselle teaches computer graphics and digital photography at Lincoln High School, and besides Vegas will show three other shorts.

So does this mean film in our area earned status as serious "art"? Sparks definitely believes so: "When I look at this list of films, I believe Tacoma has taken a giant step forward. And it's only going to get better, because these guys aren't quitting. And I'm not quitting."

We viewers can join the effort and endorse this burgeoning art.

So this Sunday, let's go to church.

[Sixth Avenue, Art on the Ave., Sunday, July 10, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sixth Avenue between Cedar Street and Trafton Street, Tacoma, onsixthave.com]

[Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, Local Filmmakers Showcase, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., 2520 Sixth Ave., Tacoma]

THE VOLCANO'S VISUAL ARTS CRITIC CHIMES IN >>>

I went to a gallery tour Q&A with Dale Chihuly at Tacoma Art Museum Thursday morning, and while I enjoyed the Q&A with Tacoma's most famous artist, the things that really knocked me out were 1) Chihuly's collection of Edward S. Curtis photographs, 2) the two Willits canoes suspended from the ceiling (much more impressive than the silly cars hanging from the ceiling of the Seattle Art Museum, 3) the Virna Haffer exhibition in the adjacent gallery, and 4) a huge painting (untitled) by William Ivey in the Safeco collection exhibition.

I've got to get back to TAM. There was not enough time Thursday to see all the wonderful art on display. There are three new shows at TAM, and one of them - Chihuly's - takes up all of two large galleries. This is a mind-blowing amount of art all in one place.

Readers who have followed my columns over the years know I have mixed feelings about Chihuly. He's like the nursery rhyme girl. When he's good, he's very, very good.
And when he's bad he's horrid. There's a lot of both in this show. Among the best things are the surface decoration (essentially abstract expressionist paintings) on many of his blown glass baskets and cylinders. And did you know he is an avid collector of just about everything from Native American crafts to bottle caps? He shares large chunks of his collection in this show, including one huge wall of Pendleton blankets and another entire wall of Curtis photographs. And all of it is beautifully and tastefully displayed - kudos to curator Rock Hushka and his team for a great job.

If Chihuly is Tacoma's most famous artist, Virna Haffer is our least known. "Virna Haffer has been an all too well kept Tacoma secret," said museum director Stephanie A. Stebich. From the 1920s until her death in 1974 she was one of America's leading and most inventive modern photographers; yet she has somehow been lost to history. I for one am overjoyed that TAM has searched out a large sampling of her work for this show.

Haffer brings to mind the great Man Ray. She's that relentlessly innovative. Her surrealistic imagery and experimental distortions of figures and scenes are both daring and aesthetically pleasing. On display are works representing an amazing range of experimentation from overlapping images and strange viewpoints and even photos done without a camera in a process called the photogram (the same process Man Ray called a Rayogram). "Her artistic curiosity is palpable in her work, which in itself is staggering in its volume, diversity and range," said curator Margaret Bullock.

Finally, there is the exhibition from the Safeco collection featuring some 400 works by Northwest artists donated by Safeco Insurance. Included are works from established giants the likes of Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan and Morris Graves and more contemporary stars such as Michael Brophy and Michael Spafford. Is this the best collection anywhere of Northwest art? I don't know. If it's not it certainly runs a close second to anything else. The big painting by Ivey that I mentioned in the opening paragraph is one of the most impressive abstract paintings I've seen in a long time.

Dale Chihuly's Northwest

through Oct. 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. third Thursdays
$10 student/military/senior $8, family $25, children 5 and younger free
Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma

SLAP-HAPPY JOYS OF BACKSTAGE CHATTER >>>

Gene Siskel used to say the mark of a bad movie was when you'd rather watch its actors sitting around the craft services table chatting than the movie itself. I'm blogging to you almost-live today from Olympia Little Theater, where we'll be spending the bulk of our Fourth of July holiday tech-rehearsing Oleanna. This play is incredibly difficult for actors, and it's cost us considerable time away from our families, other friends and paying jobs. We're exhausted, one and all. You've heard theater companies form instant families, but it might be in large part because we have no other options remaining.

Think of this a Blu-ray extra feature for Theater Artists Olympia's production of David Mamet's Oleanna, the content of which inspires disrespectful badinage on a scale seldom heard in ordinary workplace conversation. We'll take you behind the scenes, where actors Deya Ozburn and Christian Carvajal, director John Munn, and stage manager Eric Mark have been bandying such vital world topics as:

*   how to establish one is doing a Sarah Palin impression with only a single word: "maverick"

*   whether Joe Johnston, the director of The Rocketeer, might've made a decent movie out of Captain America

*   pubic topiary

*   whether the purchase of a white iPhone 4 betokens unstated racism

*   the relative gayness of Ke$ha's "Blow" video, which is gayer than two naked barbershop quartets watching Richard Simmons videos in a Savannah bathhouse filled with lavender scented candles and organic potpourri

*   the vicissitudes of political correctness, and their sad, ongoing marginalization of the usefully dismissive adjective "gay"

*   whether Carv read J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which, for chrissake, he most certainly has

*   childhood euphemisms for "vulva"

*   where the hell to buy glow tape in Olympia (the answer, it seems, is Music 6000)

*   words we hoped we'd never say on stage, including my penultimate word in this production

*   religious safety brochures including "Help, I'm Developing Stigmata!" and "Ten Signs Your Child Might Be a Bodhisattva"

*   lucid dreaming vignettes including the plaintive line, "Look, Mummy, there's a fornicator up in the sky"

It's a measure of my confidence in our production of Oleanna that despite all that, we'd still give the late Mr. Siskel his money's worth.

SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2011 >>>

1. When we were kids we'd search trash piles for pieces of plywood, place them at the edge of the puddle, run full speed, jump with force onto the board, and leave the rest to physics. No tricks. No judging. No wetsuit with the brands of sponsors embossed. No TV. No money. Just fun. Alas, these days are long past. Today, there called skimboards - light, hard-foam boards with traction pads enable the best to take off at a sprint, skim over wet sand out to breaking waves, soar off them like ramps, and land with the grace of a settling leaf. While surfers wait a long time for the perfect wave, skimmers can ride 40 in an hour. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. skimboarders will gather at Dash Point State Park to skim it out for cash money for the pro division.

2. If you have to go inside, check out Parenthetically Speaking: It's Only a Figure of Speech - a new collection of work by San Francisco-based artist Mildred Howard comprising more than 40 glass punctuation marks, proofreading symbols and musical notes - opening today at the Museum of Glass from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Howard's inspiration for the work came from At the End, a poem by her friend and Peabody Award-winner Quincy Troupe.

3. The third annual Olympia Independent Music Festival goes down from noon to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow in Sylvester Park. Thirteen bands, two days and immeasurable amounts of good indie music are in store. The Hard Way, Romanteek, Glass Elevator, One Nation Undereducated and Hollywood Kill Krew are just a few of the bands performing at this free, all-ages event.

4. Some nights we like to stake out a place at a venue and hang out for a while, maybe have a meal, a few adult beverages, and listen to music that doesn't invite itself into our head with an axe handle. The Mandolin Café is likely to be such a place tonight, where singer-songwriter Gina Belliveau holds her CD release party with musician friends James Coates, Nick Sandy and Travis Barker opening.Coates kicks off the night at 6 p.m. Belliveau sings about birds and books, forests and fireflies beginning at 9 p.m. You'll receive a raffle ticket with every CD purchase. The winning ticket will receive the painting Stacia Weber works throughout the night. The Mandolin serves a tasty Cabernet.

5. The Spazmatics rock covers of '80s synth-heavy bands while dressed as if starring in a Revenge of the Nerds flick. Clap your hands everybody, and everybody clap your hands ... beginning at 9:30 p.m. inside Jazzbones.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Wine tastings!

THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Mostly sunny, possible showers hi 72, lo 50

Saturday: Sunny, hi 75, lo 55

Sunday: Showers, hi 66, lo 50

>>> FRIDAY, JULY 1: Tacoma Metal Prom

Tacoma has seen plenty of proms lately. And we're not even talking about the standard high school affairs. It seems like not long ago the "'80s Prom" was drawing folks by the half dozen to Hell's Kitchen, and that's just the start of the prom-themed events Tacoma has seen in its day. Friday, perhaps the most Tacoma-perfect prom of all, the Metal Prom, will shake Hell's Kitchen with bruising performances by C.F.A., Sleeper Cell, Yuck Fou and DJ Melodica. Warning: the punch is spiked.

• Hell's Kitchen, 9 p.m., $5, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003

>>> FRIDAY, JULY 1: The Fucking Eagles

Over the years, The Fucking Eagles have worked hard to make a name for themselves, not only in the supremely ubiquitous genre of garage rock, but in a city like Tacoma - where garage rock bands seem to fall from trees. While many bands in these parts skew toward the psychedelic side of the ‘60s, the Fucking Eagles make their home in the stomping, shuddering footsteps of the Sonics, our blistering rock forefathers. It's relentless, pounding rock ‘n‘ roll - the kind that kids with crew cuts and horn-rim glasses had to find in underground clubs, far from the prying eyes of grown-ups. Friday, the Fucking Eagles willl take the stage at the New Frontier along with the Night Beats, who will be celebrating the release of their debut self-titled LP. -- Rev. AM

• The New Frontier, with the Night Beats, Basemint, The Cigarette Burns, 9 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St, Tacoma, 253.572.4020

>>> SATURDAY, JULY 2: Proctor Farmers Market

You can find cut herbs, seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh fish and baked goods along with live entertainment, free crafts for the kids and gardening advice from master gardeners from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Proctor Farmers Market.

• Proctor District, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., North 27th and Proctor St., Tacoma

>>> SUNDAY, JULY 3: 45th Annual South Sound Center Independence Day Celebration

Really, is there a more appropriate locale to celebrate the birth of our nation, the greatest nation on earth, than in the parking lot of Lacey's South Sound Center - home to Target, Kohl's, Sears, Happy Nails, Hair Perfect and even an Applebee's? Hell no. That's exactly why they throw the South Sound Center Independence Day celebration every year. According to the Facebook hype page, this is the 45th year! That's just crazy. Did we metion the Funtastic carnies will be in the house? Do we even need to?

• South Sound Center, 6 -11 p.m., donations accepted, all ages, 711 Sleater Kinney Road SE, Lacey, 360.491.6850

>>> MONDAY, JULY 4: Freedom Fair (instead of blowing your fingers off)

Freedom Fair along the Ruston Way waterfront is a yearly tradition for many South Sound families. It's been running strong for over three decades now. This year, in addition to the usual festivities on the Fourth, the gusto behind Freedom Fair helps celebrate the Centennial of Naval Aviation by expanding things - with Military Aviation Appreciation night scheduled for Cheney Stadium on Friday and the Wings & Wheels car, plane and motorcycle show Sunday at the Tacoma Narrows airport. But the big night is still the fireworks on the Fourth.

• Ruston Way Waterfront, all day, Tacoma, freedomfair.com]

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
This weekend is all about garage sales, barbeques and music - a visit to Sylvester park for OIMF is in the plans. And maybe a few fireworks with the kiddos - perhaps some worms and mini-tanks and groundflowers - the driveway classics. But most importantly, I can do all of these things without the worry of work - no more bartending weekends for this mama! Hooray! 

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
I'll be rehearsing the crap out of Oleanna. You know: for America.

.

JOE IZENMAN: Theater Critic
BACHELOR PARTY OF DOOOOOOOOOM. No doubt after an epic poker game Friday night, you'll find me and my horde roaming the bars of Sixth Ave., conning free drinks wherever we can. Then down to Portland Saturday for additional beer. Then... probably just rest on Sunday. I suspect I'll need it.

STEPH DEROSA: Features Writer
I'm out to the beach all weekend so don't try to call, don't try to write, don't try to text, email or smoke signal me.  And if you want to rob my house while I'm gone you'll be greeted by an old southern lady who's packin' heat (hi mom!)- so I wouldn't try that either.

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
This weekend (much like every other day this week) will be spent comforting my teething baby while trying to teach him to say "Up" instead of screaming when he wants to be held.

ALEC CLAYTON Visual Arts Critic
I'm going to the opening of the Ron Hinson and Susan Christian art exhibit at Childhood's End.

.

BRETT CIHON Meat Market Correspondent
I'm back on the meat market express this weekend. Long lines for bathrooms and short skirts for the backrooms.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

BECAUSE NEW IDEAS ARE HARD >>>

This is the first week we've done this ... packaged the Volcano arts section into one of these handy-dandy hype blogs, that is. We've done it for a while, off and on at least, with the Volcano music section, but never with arts. I'm not sure why.

Quite honestly, at some point we just started to feel bad for leaving the back third of the paper out of the fun. From Christian Carvajal, Joe Izenman and Joann Varnell reviewing the action "on the boards" (I have no idea what that means), to the features of writers like Kristin Kendle,  Molly Gilmore, Joshua Swainston and Jackie Fender, to old reliable Alec Clayton and his long-running Visual Edge column, we've got more high-quality arts coverage on a weekly basis than is probably healthy in one sitting. Frankly, it might make you obese.

That said, here's a look at this week's Volcano arts section.

FEATURE - Pass it along: The Street Sign Project touches Tacoma

The Street Sign Project - a small, worldwide grassroots phenomenon started in Tacoma - takes the idea of public art a step further, to its evolutionary phase. Peppered throughout T-town, you may have noticed bits of non-defacing art that relay messages (of sorts), and perhaps unite the community at the same time.

It slaps me in the face when I least expect it:

"REALLY LOVE SOMETHING," one exclaims during my drive home from work.  - Jackie Fender

FEATURE - Origins of Fabitat: Fab-5 & Spaceworks Tacoma are at it again

Fabitat is the result of a partnership between Fab-5 and Spaceworks Tacoma - a venture that has set out to populate empty downtown storefronts with art and creativity. For three to six months, Fabitat will inhabit an old building in Hilltop. Previously a mobile program, this is the first time in Fab-5 history where teachers and students will have a central place to teach and create. Basically, Fabitat creates a home base for Fab-5's outreach. It's scheduled to open in July. - Kristin Kendle

VISUAL EDGE - Alec Clayton reviews Pink Skies at Mavi Contemporary Art

The name of the show is Under Pink Skies, but the skies above the lush and colorful foliage in the Nina Weiss landscapes at Mavi Contemporary Art are orange and lavender and a steely blue-gray - not just pink.

The colors and the sure and deliberate brushstrokes in these landscapes are like rich confections, lakes and streams and bright skies made of sugar and whipped cream.

I easily tire of landscape art. It's generally very boring and predictable. After all, who ever does anything truly original with landscape art these days? Nobody, that's who. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I really liked these paintings. - Alec Clayton

FEATURE - Free history: Venturing inside the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

On a sunny Thursday afternoon a group of inquisitive patrons enters an ornate park-side building. As they do so, they ask, "What is this place?" Thomas M. Jutilla, the museum's director, gladly tells them that they have stepped into the Karpeles Manuscript Library. The visitors' eyes light up as they realize they've found something genuinely special.- Joshua Swainston

PLUS: More local theater than you can handle!

PLUS: Transformers sucks and other things on local screens

PLUS: Viva South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar

DID YOU KNOW?: Today is your LAST DAY to vote in the Volcano's Super Best of Tacoma 2011!! There are arts categories, you know ...

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011 >>>

1. The written word - especially in ink and paper physical form - just doesn't draw like it once did. Facts are facts. Instead of hiding its head in the sand and pretending this isn't the case, the Tacoma Public Library has been taking matters into its own hands - scheduling a multitude of fun and multi-sensory entertainment options at libraries all over town. Thursday, comedian Bill Robison - known for his physical antics - makes an appearance at the Wheelock Library at 11 a.m.

2. The name of the show is Under Pink Skies, but the skies above the lush and colorful foliage in the Nina Weiss landscapes at Mavi Contemporary Art are orange and lavender and a steely blue-gray - not just pink. Check out the show from 2-7 p.m. Read Weekly Volcano art critic Alec Clayton's review of the show here.

3. Not so long ago, "women's bike" strictly referred to step-through frames. Times have changed. Bicycle manufacturer Giant will show women their latest road, mountain and cyclocross models from 2-8 p.m. at Tacoma Bike. To demo a bike, bring your helmet, shoes, pedals, driver's license and credit card.

4. Comedian Craig Gass is no stranger to the Northwest, so it's not terribly surprising to see him scheduled to throw down the laughs Thursday at The Royal Lounge in Olympia at 9 p.m. Well-known from Stern and countless TV appearances, not to mention an incredible knack for impersonations, Gass was raised by deaf parents and has a deaf sister, so he grew up imitating the voices he heard on television. Seems to have paid off. Dude's funny.

5. Tacoma's annual Out in the Park gay pride festival hits Wright Park is coming Saturday, July 9 to Ninth and Broadway downtown. That's too long of a wait for gay-friendly bar The Mix. They're hosting a pre-pride bash called Rainbows Over St. Helens at 9 p.m. featuring DJ Excellent, special performances and Bois in underwear - hosted by the fab Miss Gay Washington 2011-2012 Taylor London Couture.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011 >>>

1. Hell's Kitchen's Mid-Week Metal Mayhem show probably won't feature bands rockin' on an industrial plant stage set that shoots sparks into the air, or rubbing bare shoulders and admiring one another's immaculate hair and perfectly ripped jeans, but there's a good chance that DA 27, Thou Shall Kill, Doktor Klaw, Judas Wake and Pariahs Revolt will rock your face off beginning at 9 p.m.

2. For the sixth year in a row, the Washington State History Museum has selected a juried exhibit of contemporary Native American art for display in one of its featured galleries. This year's exhibit is called In the Spirit: Contemporary Northwest Native Arts, which runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Read our take on the show here.

3. Tucked away in a strip mall off South Tacoma Way is an unlikely oasis of sushi and other Japanese fare. Not only is the menu at Kyoto fantastic, but as soon as you enter the doors and cross the bridge over the indoor koi pond, you're transported to a little Japan. You can even opt for one of the tatami rooms to soak in the full experience. Sake? Check. Great selection of Asian brewskis? Check. The ambiance? Rocks. Go.

4. The magic formula for a successful date, it seems, is to simply give your date an abundance of what she likes. If said date happens to love great wine and damn good jazz, then the formula is even easier: Her + Pour at Four tonight = happiness. However, the formula goes Avogadro or something as vocalist Sommer Stockinger joins saxophonist Kareem Kandi and crew's regular last Wednesday gig, which runs 7:30-10:30 p.m.

5. We here at the Weekly Volcano love to call Wednesdays hump day.  There's something so titillating, so promising in the name. And since Jazzbones has free live music every Wednesday night starting at 9 p.m., there's even more reason to feel the grand promise of hump day.  Billy Roy Danger and the Rectifiers rock it tonight. Along with free entry, Jazzbones also offers specials on Sessions beer and $1 pizzas. Because nothing goes better with some hump than beer and pizza.  BONUS: Jazzbones will host a an 8 p.m. viewing party of the season finale of NBC's The Voice starring Tacoma's Vicci Martinez. Go Vicci!

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Half-price wine night!