SUNDAY, JUNE12, 2011 >>>

1. Catch Saul Tannenbaum's Friends of Dorothy today as part of the Capital City Pride Festival in Olympia.

2. Celebrate the opening of the deck at Johnny's Dock with Trop Rock - an official Jimmy Buffett tribute band. Or, if that's not your musical cup of tea, check the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

3. Drop in on the Tacoma Cult Movie Club today at the Acme Grub Cage in Tacoma. Today's cinematic festivities go down under the handle, "The Doctor is In (and out of his mind!).

4. The South Sound Blues Association sponsored "Back to Beale Street" competition kicks off this afternoon at Jazzbones. The action is all ages, and should be tough to beat.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

KIDS LIKE FARM ANIMALS AND DANCING >>>

I don't feel at all guilty about the pun above. They're fun to write, puns, not to mention de rigueur in entertainment review titles. They're scattered throughout Riot to Follow's production of Honk! The Ugly Duckling Musical like chicken feed in a barnyard. Kids enjoy puns. They also like hummable songs about insecure farm animals. Kids like waddling and dancing, especially dancing with a cane. If you're a kid, you don't need this review; you're already stoked about Honk!

But you're not a kid, are you? Kids don't buy theater tickets. Kids don't read the Weekly Volcano, not even Cup Check. (The Weekly Volcano has no funny pages.) You're an adult. Very likely, you're a cast member in the show, someone closely related to a cast member in the show or a parent. Maybe your kids dug If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in the same space, and you're wondering whether it'd be worth the money to take them to a show with a homely underage waterfowl for a protagonist. Well, it is. As a matter of fact, Honk! holds its own with the best of Olympia Family Theater, and that's saying something.

To read the full review click here.

[The Washington Center Black Box, Honk! $6.50-$12.50, 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. through June 12, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia, olytix.org]

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 >>>

1. The Hilltop Artists Spring Glass Sale runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Jason Lee Middle School. It's a good opportunity to browse or add to your glass art collection. Or, if you're looking for something else, find the Volcano's comprehensive South Sound arts and entertainment calendar here.

2. Down by the water, catch the opening of "Wheels, Whistles and Wonder: the Extraordinary Maritime Collection of Bill Somers" at the Foss Waterway Seaport.

3. The Malcolm Clark Band celebrates 10 years at the Fuse Cafe in Ruston. Or, if that's not your musical cup of tea, peruse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4.Catch Billy Farmer for a open mic and acoustic jam at the Gig Harbor Farmers Market at Uptown.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE >>>

You'd be hard pressed to find a more wide-ranging roster of artists at any other Northwest music-related event than the one lined up for the 17th Annual Olympia Experimental Music Festival. This year, the fest welcomes over 20 artists, including the likes of Eurostache, Squim, Pavonine and Megabats, along with a handful of returning favorites (what OEMF booker Nathan Markiewicz calls "the festival's extended family"). Additionally, Eric Ostrowski (Noggin, WaMü) will be hosting a night of noise musicians accompanied by live projections, with user-submitted YouTube videos to be shown between acts (categories include "Most Weirdest," "Most Loudest" and "Most Tasteless").

This is Markiewicz's second year curating the Olympia Experimental Music Festival. L.A. Lungs, his band with wife Lori Peterson, first played the festival years ago and has since become a dependable participant. As a fan of intimate performance environs and outrageous musical diversity, Markiewicz is ideally suited to usher the festival into the new decade. It helps that he's experiencing a renewed appreciation for the region's sundry sounds.

"Between what goes on in Seattle and what goes on pretty much between Vancouver and Portland ... the Northwest is great for the arts in general," Markiewicz  muses.

To read the full column by Jason Baxter click here.

[Northern, 17th Annual Olympia Experimental Music Festival, with Megabats, L.A. Lungs, Dead Air Fresheners, Squim and more, 7 p.m. June 10 - 12, All Ages, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]

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

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Partly sunny, hi 68, lo 51

Saturday: Partly sunny, hi 66, lo 49

Sunday: Partly sunny, hi 69, lo 52

>>> SATURDAY, JUNE 11: 10 Years of the Malcolm Clark Band

The Malcolm Clark Band has been together 10 freakin' years! Doing anything for 10 years straight is tough ... we know firsthand, seeing as this is the 10th year of the Weekly Volcano. Saturday, Clark, Mike Couloues and crew celebrate 10 years - blues style, of course - at the FUSE Cafe in Ruston. Expect the blues-based groove Clark has come to be known for, and quite possibly a Hawaiian shirt.

• FUSE Cafe, 8 p.m., Point Defiance Casino, 5307 N. Pearl St., Ruston, 253.722.8712

>>> SUNDAY, JUNE 12: TACOMA CULT MOVIE CLUB

The Reverend Colin, along with Mary K. Johnson and Tobin Ropes of Mad Hat Tea Company fame, kicked off the first Tacoma Cult Movie Club gathering in April 2009. Inspired by a Seattle group that regularly ran grindhouse cinema, the three founders desired to bring their own love of trashy art into this eclectic community. The free meetings take place at 7 p.m. on the second Sunday and third Monday of every month at The Acme Grub Cage. New members should brace themselves for much more than staid discussions of obscure films. Sunday, drop in for the Cult Movie Club's "The Doctor Is In (and out of his mind!), which the entity's "creative grunt," Holland Hume, predicts will feature films akin to Dr. Giggles -- though he stresses Reverend Colin never divulges his plans prior to go time, so anything could happen.

• Acme Grub Cage, 7 p.m., 1310 Tacoma Ave. S, Tacoma, 253.272.1892

>>> SUNDAY, JUNE 12: JULIAN PENA'S CMYK

Celebrate the opening of Julian Pena's "CMYK" art exhibition at the Mix on Saint Helen's Avenue in Tacoma Sunday from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Along with a nifty event flyer depicting a hipster kid having life pumped into him by a hovering pink octopus (or something like that), the happening will feature wine tasting, food, beverage and music.

• The Mix, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m., 635 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.383.4327

>>> SUNDAY, JUNE 12: BACK TO BEALE STREET 2012 COMPETITION

It's become tradition in our area - a yearly blues-blowout local music fans look forward to for the quality it draws. And, like clockwork, it's back. Sunday at Jazzbones, the preliminary contest of this year's South Sound Blues Association sponsored Back To Beale Street 2012 Blues Competition goes down at Jazzbones, offering a chance for competitors to earn their way to the heralded International Blues Challenge in Memphis later this year. Three solo and duo acts will battle it out in front of a panel of judges, as will 10 bands. Included in the musical goodness will be the Rafael Tranquilino Band, the Michal Miller Band, the Al Earick Band, Doug Skoog and Joe Hendershot, the Cody Rentas Band and many more. The top four bands will advance to the finals, to be held during the 4th of July Freedom Fair and Air Show on the Duke's Chowder House Blues Stage.

• Jazzbones, $10, kicks off at 3 p.m., 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169
  

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
Considering graduation is this weekend, as well as the downtown Pride Celebration, I imagine my weekend will be a cycle of busting my ass to make drinks, drinking to heal the pain of bartender knees and back, then sleeping in and doing it all again. Sunday, a barbeque at the in-laws should be relaxing.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
I'm celebrating my 43rd birthday with two dozen of my closest friends by eating delicious Mekong Thai and seeing Super 8 in IMAX. Also, I'm told there will be some sort of alcoholic beverage, which I gather I'm now old enough to drink.

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: Writer
Saturday, my brother plans on dragging me to the Rishloo/Wide Eye Panic/Esitu show at Hell's Kitchen. Sunday, I plan on dragging a friend to the Deep Sea Diver/Slowwave/Makeup Monsters show at the New Frontier. If I end up getting a devil tattoo on Saturday, will I be ostracized on Sunday? Please show your work. No calculators.

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
While recouperating from my end-of-the-school-year cold, I will be washing mounds of laundry and chasing after my 10 month old. I may throw in some gardening before heading to a friend's beach house to enjoy the final Sunday before school is out.

ALEC CLAYTON Visual Arts Critic
Capital City Pride Saturday and Sunday!

.

JENNIFER JOHNSON Food and Lifestyles Writer 
Having a kick-ass yard sale at 1607 North Proctor in Tacoma both Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Yeah, I'm totally exploiting The Hustle. Come by and meet me in the flesh and buy some stuff. After the most awesome yard sale ever Friday I'll catch the free concert at TCC at 7 p.m. Saturday night I'm cooking (yes, I do that) for a friend followed by a stroll down to Jazzbones for the Bass Odyssey show. Sunday is South Tacoma Way farmers market followed by church services.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Photographer
It is my kiddo time, so I will likely be going to the Working Waterfront Museum's open house on Saturday to see how that effort is growing. There will likely be a trip to the Grand as well followed by some geocaching around town and planning my daughter's Murder Mystery birthday party.

JOE IZENMAN Theater and Music Writer
I am up to nothing less than rocking the hell out. Solo acoustic set at Amocat Cafe music night? Check. Deborah Page rock show in Renton, of all places? Check. Cerebral play about mathematics and insanity at TLT? Check. OK, that last one isn't rocking the hell out. But I'm doing it anyway.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

PART OF THIS WEEKEND'S OLY EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC FEST >>>

When I interviewed Olympia Experimental Music Festival booker Nathan Markiewicz and performer Sam Melancon (Megabats) for my piece on this year's OEMF, there was one artist on the festival's line-up both were particularly excited to see. As Squim, Portland's Chris Phillips has released a wealth of material (much of it undocumented online), including two on Melancon's own Debacle Records. Notably, 2007's Zephyrus (the first in a planned trilogy that's now 2/3rds complete), was put out by esteemed underground label Olde English Spelling Bee.

Part of Squim's appeal lies in the methodical, intuited approach he takes to produce his enveloping electronic drones.

"I usually start with an idea then break things down and reassemble them. When I like what's happening with a recording and I have enough material I stop. Sometimes I gather a lot of source material beforehand. Other times I severely limit my palate of sounds," Phillips says.

"The process is more sculptural than musical to me. Building up and breaking down sound over and over until I get a frame to build on.  I like to think about what it would be like for a cave man to find a computer or synthesizer left behind by some pre-existing civilization and what he would do with it- what sounds would he make?"

There's something expressly scenic and cinematic about Squim's eerie soundscapes-his caveman scenario quite readily calls to mind 2001: A Space Odyssey-and Phillips, fittingly, hopes his music gives people "an emotional impression, some sense of a weird landscape." He elaborates, "If it makes them think 'What's making that sound?'- that's great. If it makes them have an out of body experience or fall asleep that's good too."

Clearly, he's not picky. When Phillips isn't tinkering with software and keyboards, he's scoring independent films and post-apocalyptic video games. For someone who cites both Carl Sagan and H.P. Lovecraft as influences, that makes a weird kind of sense.

Squim performs at the Northern as part of the Olympia Experimental Music Festival on Saturday, June 11, at 7 p.m.

17th Annual Olympia Experimental Music Festival

with Megabats, L.A. Lungs, Dead Air Fresheners, Squim and others
Friday, June 10-Sunday, June 12, 7 p.m., all ages
Northern, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia
northernolympia.org

FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2011 >>>

1. The Olympia Experimental Music Festival kicks off today at Northern. In its 17^th year, it promises to be as strange and wonderful as ever. If you're looking for something a little more straightforward perhaps, find the Volcano's extensive South Sound live local music listings here.

2. Proof opens today at Tacoma Little Theatre, billed as a story about a woman named Catherine and her father, Robert, who is a "brilliant mathematician, who has misplaced both his brilliance and sanity in later years." Or, if you're looking for something else, browse the Volcano's South Sound arts and entertainment calendar here.

3. The Capital City Pride Festival  will be in full force today in downtown Olympia. Find more info on the weekend-long extravaganza here.

4. Flashback alert: Sea Jayne Trip will play Hell's Kitchen tonight!

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2011 >>>

1. Catch Mahnhammer, Hands of Toil and the Heroine tonight at the New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma. Or, if that's not your ticket, browse the Volcano's extensive South Sound live local music listings here.

2. Drop into the Grand Cinema today when Oscar-nominated writer-director Frederick Marx visits Tacoma with his 2010 documentary Journey from Zanskar, which is about Tibetan monk Geshe Lobsang Yonten, who seeks to help his small, impoverished community of Zanskar survive.

3. Mosey through either the Downtown Tacoma  Broadway Farmers Market, or down south the famous Olympia Farmers Market. Or, if neither option sounds quite right, mosey through the Volcano's comprehensive arts and entertainment calendar here.

4. On Thursdays Nate Jackson busts out his "Super Funny Comedy Show" at Varsity Grill. From what we understand, it's "super funny."

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

FATHER'S DAY GIFT IDEAS FROM OLY >>>

One of the most unsentimental people I know, my dad has for decades hung onto precisely one of the gifts that I've given him: a glass paperweight that holds a school picture of me as a grinning second-grader.

It's the photo he likes - although I also made it myself (if cutting the photo into a circle and inserting it in the bottom of the paperweight counts as a craft project).

For those a little more crafty than I, Olympia's (re)fabulous has an updated idea along these lines: The sewing studio and cafe offers a class on making Dad a padded cover for his laptop, iPad or electronic book, and decorating it with a favorite photo.

The class will be offered three times: Saturday, June 11; Sunday, June 12; and Saturday, June 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. at (re)fabulous, 1025 Black Lake Blvd. The cost is $35.

Sewers will need a yard of medium- or heavy-weight cotton fabric and a jpeg of their image - and the measurements of the gadget to be covered.

Call 360.489.1852 to reserve a spot in one of the classes. For more information, go to www.refabulousyou.com.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011 >>>

1. If you need something to shake the mid-week doldrums, check into Wednesday Sessions at Jazzbones, tonight with Air Stream Safari. Or, if that's not your musical cup of tea, find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

2. Tacoma's Classic Book Club meets on the second Wednesday of every month - which just so happens to be today. The action starts at 7 p.m. at King's Books, and this month's classic is Bound For Glory by Woody Guthrie.  Or, if you're looking for something else, browse the Volcano's comprehensive arts and entertainment calendar here.

3. It's Free Bingo Night at Applini's Clean and Sober Club in Puyallup. Who doesn't love free bingo?

4. Wednesday  night at Masa in Tacoma means College Night. According to the hype, "Your Girlfriend's Favorite DJ spins," and there's no cover for the ladies before 10 p.m.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.