ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's Comment of the Day comes from Tacoma author Megan Bostic in response to the positive support she received after Weekly Volcano scribe Kristin Kendle wrote the feature story Close to home on the young author.

Megan writes,

I'm so thankful for living in such a supportive community. I hope I've done our fair city justice.

READ ALL ABOUT IT >>>

Book clubs are one of the last vestiges we have of formally engaging conversations for groups of strangers. You can discover a lot about a person by learning their opinions on any piece of art, but books prove to be especially revealing.

Take, for instance, King's Books' Banned Book Club in Tacoma - a monthly get-together in which people discuss, appropriately, books that have been previously banned in some capacity. Books covered in the past by the Banned Book Club include a wide variety of genres, ranging from young adult fiction (The Hunger Games), to humorous essays (Naked), to nostalgic relics of childhood (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) to classically controversial titles (Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple, etc.).

Exploring why some of these books have been banned - and what the reader thinks about the validity of the controversies surrounding these books - can be an eye-opening experience, and a quick way to get to know someone.

The Banned Book Club meets the third Tuesday of every month at the Tempest Lounge. This month's book will be Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

If you're into more non-traditional storytelling, King's Books also hosts a Graphic Novel Book Club, which meets the second Monday of every month at 1022 South on Hilltop Tacoma.

Unfortunately for minors, both meet-up spots are 21+.

If you're in Olympia, and in need of a good book club, a great place to start is Orca Books. While Orca hosts a number of makeshift book clubs, the store also has its own flagship reading group, Orcapod, which meets the second Sunday of every month.

Past titles discussed by Orcapod include The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Way We Never Were (by Evergreen College professor Stephanie Coontz, by the way).

Orcapod is quick to advertise the possibility that Orca housecat (every book store needs one), Henry, just might spend some time on your lap while you talk about that month's selection. Sounds like a cozy way to spend a Sunday to me.

If you're a voracious reader, you could hit all three book club meet-ups in Tacoma and Olympia - food for thought.

[King's Books, 218 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]

[Orca Books, 509 Fourth Ave. E, Olympia, 360.352.0123]

LINK: Upcoming South Sound literary events

ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>

It just fell. That lone, emancipated leaf twirled to the earth with the glorious abandon of a modern dancer. Or perhaps to you it fluttered, valiantly fighting its descent before plummeting to the ground like of a fallen opera hero. Simply watching the collision of nature with gravity can be as viscerally beautiful to behold as an introspective tour of an art gallery.

It's all in the perspective.

Winter is the time of year when temperatures drop like the last leaves, and the focus of audiences shifts to the more somber and serious exercises of the mind. The Weekly Volcano's know this. Each week we provide the best local arts coverage possible to our fantastic readers – always be on the lookout for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us ... even if it's a lone entity swaying back and worth in the wind.

Here's a look at the Volcano's arts coverage waiting for you this week in print and online. Enjoy.

FEATURE: TACOMA AUTHOR'S DEBUT NOVEL

Tacoma-native Megan Bostic's book, Never Eighteen, hits bookstores nationwide Jan. 17. Never Eighteen tells the story of 17-year-old Austin Parker, who lives in Tacoma and is dying of leukemia. The book falls into the young adult genre, but Austin is a wise and believable character who appeals to older readers as well. His heartbreaking situation resonates with anyone who has lost a loved one to a chronic illness or cancer. – Kristin Kendle's 

MOVIE BIZ BUZZ: A WAY WITH WORDS

Luke Smiraldo likes using the word "enamored" a lot, and why not? The man has plenty to love. One could start anywhere with this multi-talented artist, but his strong connections to the Tacoma community strike me right away. A resident since '91, Smiraldo realized only recently that he hasn't lived anywhere else for as long before. My own time here goes a little farther back (I arrived in '89), and he says something during our conversation that rushes right to the heart my experience. On seeing 20 years go in a flash he says, "It crept up on me, like Tacoma does for some of us." – Christopher Wood

VISUAL EDGE: NOSTALGIA AT TACOMA ART MUSEUM

At the risk of sounding snarky, I have a hard time imagining why anyone would want to see At Home Across America: Scenes from the 1930s to 1950s in Prints at Tacoma Art Museum. Unless they're writing an art history thesis. Or very nostalgic for the 1940s. On the other hand, people who are going to TAM for the Mexican folk art show or the Chihuly show or the Northwest Biennial (opening Jan. 21) should stop in anyway just to see what American art was like between the beginnings of modernism (which happened in Europe and kind of missed America) and the advent of Abstract Expressionism (which changed the whole world of art). – Alec Clayton

PLUS: A night-by-night round trip through Olympia's arts scene

PLUS: Free events this week

PLUS: Complete arts and entertainment calendar for the South Sound

PLUS: The Philosotoddler Meme

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11, 2012>>>

1. Join Charles Lambert tonight at the Timberland Regional Library in Olympia for a presentation on Martin Luther King Jr. that arrives just in time for the MLK holiday. According to hype, Lambert wil "bring Civil Rights history to life using images, lecture, and song. This presentation will cover the Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and the Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis along with music from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s." It starts at 7:30 p.m.

2. Play bingo with those not just killing time before the Grim Reaper calls their number. Every Wednesday at The New Frontier Lounge, players are treated to a rather boisterous evening of number-calling. The music rocks, the prizes are craptastic and there's something very satisfying about yelling "It's not a tumor!" when B-9 is pulled from the hopper (Schwarzenegger anyone?). Sessions are free with $2 margaritas and $4 Cuervo Gold shots during bingo. Every Wednesday night is also Taco Night with $1 beef, $1 black bean and $2 chicken in soft or crunchy shells.

3. Today South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia will unveil its Wish You Were Here postcard exhibit, the result of months of wading through submissions and the combined word of 75 local and regional artists who produced 250 works of art in a variety of mediums, from paintings, prints and drawings to photography, ceramics and sculpture. Running through March 2 in SPSCC's Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts Gallery, Wish You Were Here will celebrate an official opening reception Friday, Jan. 20 - kicking off a six-week silent auction, with all the works on display available for purchase.

4. Holy crap! Hump Day already? That must mean it's time again for Masa College Night. Expect flesh.

5. It's karaoke galore around the South Sound tonight. Check out the Volcano's live local music listings for the bevy of bars and clubs offering you a chance at the mic tonight. Hot spots include Backstage Bar & Grill, Club Silverstone, The Swiss and even Tillicum's Barbecue Inn.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

FREE EVENTS JAN. 9-15 IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Bobble Tiki suggests that you start ducking and covering now. That's because it's this week's Freeloaders column - Morbid Edition. What in the Tim Burton is that, you ask? This week's column starts weird, with dark, morbid funhousey opening credits a montage of images happening in the South Sound this week and ends weird, with Crispin Glover singing the column's love theme, the Jackson 5 hit "Ben." If you are not a rat-o-phobe and end up reading this whole column, Bobble Tiki hopes you stay for the closing credits to hear Glover's bizarre, almost pretty take on the song, but like many reading this column right now, you may pack up and leave before it's ove...

For those still here, rub Pond's cold cream on your face and enjoy the following free morbid-ish events this week in the South Sound.

MONDAY, JAN. 9: The geeky Graphic Novel Book Club will discuss Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 by Tim Hamilton at 7 p.m. inside Hilltop Tacoma's book-themed 1022 South lounge. Hamilton's consistently muted color palette of grays, blues and blacks sustains the overarching gloomy mood and renders the bright flashes of red and orange flames all the more startling in contrast.

TUESDAY, JAN. 10: Rev. Colin co-hosts the wacky Tacoma Cult Movie Club, screening mini-skirted astro-vamps to folks of questionable character at The Acme Grub Cage. When Rev. Colin isn't behind the projector, he's behind the microphone hosting karaoke Tuesday through Saturday. At 9 p.m. Tuesday night Rev. Colin sets up camp in Puget Sound Pizza's lower level. In keeping with the Morbid Edition, Bobble Tiki suggests you sing, "There Is a Light That never Goes Out," "Girlfriend In a Coma," "The Eternal" and "The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 11: The Tacoma Classics Book Club is a classic. It's been lurking around Tacoma since 1994. At 7 p.m. inside King's Books, the club will discuss the uplifting The Plague by Albert Camus, a carefully crafted political allegory about an epidemic of bubonic plague that takes place in the Algerian port city of Oran.

THURSDAY, JAN. 12: There's always one member of the family who takes it upon him- or herself to document every branch, twig, leaf and bud of the family tree. Sate this person's taste for amateur genealogy by dragging him or her to the Olympia Genealogical Society's monthly meeting at 7 p.m. in the Thurston County Courthouse, Building One, Room 152. The topic of this month's meeting will be obituaries. Awesome.

FRIDAY, JAN. 13: OK, this might be a stretch, but it's free and a lot of people are killed. Once Sold Tales Bookstore Outlet in Kent will screen Bourne Identity at 7 p.m., or what Bobble Tiki likes to call "Run, Damon, Run."

SATURDAY, JAN. 14: An informal discussion on family caregiving sounds depression to Bobble Tiki, but it's a fact of life. If you need resources, tools and skills to help care for a loved one, the Sumner Public Library offers a free class at 11:30 a.m.

SUNDAY, JAN. 15: Like Kenny Rogers says, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. So put on your poker face and test your holding and folding at the free Texas Hold'em Tournament at 2:30 p.m. inside Halftime Sports Saloon in Gig Harbor. And remember, there'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done. ...

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

SATURDAY, JAN. 7, 2012 >>>

1. The Auburn Performing Arts Center will be one giant party of bagpipes, whistle, fiddle and song when Celtic bands Mollys Revenge and The Town Pants go off at 7 p.m.

2. Today marks the first Saturday of the month, which means it's time again for the monthly Gig Harbor Art Walk from 1-5 p.m. For the uninitiated, the Gig Harbor Art Walk offers art lovers (or non art lovers, for that matter) a chance to take a free, self-guided tour of the many galleries along the Gig Harbor waterfront.

3. Seattle authors Dave O'Leary, Pam Summa and Destini Baxter will read their works from 2-5 p.m. at Mad Hat Tea Company in downtown Tacoma. "Dave O'Leary's debut novel, Horse Bite, offers a heartfelt and thoughtful meditation on love, sex (lots of it), and the ways in which we view the world - and ourselves - differently as we grow older," says Will Allison, author of the New York Times bestseller, Long Drive home.

4. Listen to traditional music from Mexico and learn about the cultural traditions from which it is derived. The group Trío Lucero del Norte, inspired by music from one of the largest and most diverse cultural areas of Mexico, will fill the Tacoma Art Museum with traditional Mexican music at 2 p.m.

5. DJs Broam, Bobby Galaxy and E.S. present "Future Bass" at 9:30 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: This week's freebies

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Mount Rainier Park: It will likely open Saturday to allow workers to grieve the death of ranger Margaret Anderson. (News Tribune)

Fife Police Lt. Doug Burrus: Messed up again. (News Tribune)

Anderson Island: Out with the Christians, in with the chum. (News Tribune)

Drama In Iowa: Narrow loss a big win for Santorum. (CNN)

Yahoo Stays Alive: Brings in PayPal president Scott Thompson to run it. (CNN)

Meisterjintao Jintaomeister: There will be no entertainment on the TV. (BBC)

Arcade Fire and Decemberists: Part of the Hunger Games soundtrack. (MTV)

Weird: Axe body spray is trying to create a graphic novel. (Adrants)

Science Fiction Movies: 70 of them are coming our way this year. (io9)

Comic Book Men Preview: AMC's new show about Kevin Smith's comic book store. (Television Blend)

Amy Winehouse: Patti Smith wrote a song about her. (NME)

Get Smarter: 31 ways. (The Daily Beast)

FREE EVENTS IN THE SOUTH SOUND JAN. 2-8, 2012 >>>

The folks in the Freeloaders-land R&D Department have been diligently working to find new ways to improve this column, and they think they've outdone themselves with their newest innovation. Just in time for the shorter days of winter, Bobble Tiki's column will soon glow in the dark! Are your children afraid to sleep at night? Just use Freeloaders as a comforting nightlight!  Read it in darkened rooms, use it to send signals across the Narrows - the options are nearly limitless! In celebration of this new development, Bobble Tiki will shed light on this week's free events that will help you see the light. So sit back, leave that lamp off for a few more minutes and enjoy!

MONDAY, JAN. 2: The Stevie Nicks landslide has brought Bobble Tiki to a life of corked, isolated displeasure.  Heartily aware of his divergence from productivity some 25 years ago, he nonetheless goes on, still picking at shag carpets for the cheap and banal and crying all the way to the bank. Not to be overly dramatic but Bobble Tiki has the feeling that the end is nigh.  He says this because he's starting to notice something extremely dire in his day-to-day swish through life, equal parts fabulous and scary, and therefore necessarily apocalyptic: His life is becoming just like the color of his hair. Bobble Tiki needs answers.  He needs them now! So he's stopping by the free Psychic Buffet that offers "a tasty treat for the soul" every first Monday of the month inside the Urban Onion Restaurant in downtown Olympia. Psychic Lisa Holm and crew offer energy healing with intuitive readings and numerology at 5 p.m.

TUESDAY, JAN. 3: As counterintuitive as it might initially seem, if you own a Nook or Kindle or a device with the Kindle app (iOS, Android, PC), you can learn how to download free e-books to your device from the folks at Pierce County Library.  Yes, students that includes Cliffs Notes, if you've managed to seriously drop the ball on homework.  As part of its "How To..." Month at the Summit Library, a librarian will teach you how to download for free at 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4: If you're anything like Bobble Tiki you need to work off all the holiday cookies. If you are truly like Bobble Tiki than you know that's difficult because you have a spring instead of legs. If you do have legs, then Bobble Tiki suggests you hit the Cushman Trail in Gig Harbor.  It's quite lovely. Even more lovely - Sound Vista Village, a retirement community close to the trail, will serve complimentary cocoa, tea or coffee fireside during January.

THURSDAY, JAN. 5: Isabel Wilkerson's mesmerizing book The Warmth of Other Suns shed slight on the mass movement of six million African Americans from the south to the north in the middle decades of the 20th century - told through the lives of three people who joined the exodus. The Fireside Bookstore Book Group will discuss the book at 7 p.m. inside the historic Hotel Olympian in downtown Olympia.

FRIDAY, JAN. 6: Do you know about the case of Leonard Peltier? In 1975, two FBI agents were shot in a gunfight on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Peltier, as a representative of the American Indian Movement, was convicted of their murders in spite of a government case dependent on coerced testimony and suppressed evidence.  Robert Redford produced and narrated a documentary shedding light on the incident with an original musical score by John Trudell and Jackson Browne. Redford made the film in the hopes that Peltier's story, when it became more widely known, would make people demand his freedom though he has exhausted his legal appeals. Catch the film for free at 6 p.m. inside King's Books in Tacoma.

SATURDAY, JAN. 7: Saturday is just an artsy kinda day, isn't it?  Which is good, if you're an artsy kinda person.  And artsy kinda people need good days, because their lives are difficult. Oh, you chortle, but the price of Ramen has gone through the roof lately. But Saturday is an artsy day because Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, which means the Gig Harbor Monthly Art Walk is on.  Take a free, self-guided tour of the galleries along the Gig Harbor waterfront from 1-5 p.m. See other people's work and become inspired.

SUNDAY, JAN. 8: For weeks the newspaper ads have been catching Bobble Tiki's eye: "Psychic Readers Network - Work at Home - No Experience Necessary." If no experience is necessary, then anyone could be a telephone psychic, Bobble Tiki figures - even Bobble Tiki. He's determined to try. He has seen the late-night television commercials that portray psychics gleaning the innermost secrets of amazed callers. But before he takes the plunge, Bobble Tiki will do a little homework. He'll check out the Intuitive and Healing Arts Fair noon to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Crystal Voyage in Tacoma.  Psychic readers in palm, face, tarot, angel card and past life promise to enlighten for free. Right now, the only thing Bobble Tiki can predict is last night's winning lottery numbers.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

TUESDAY, DEC. 20, 2011 >>>

1. Some nimrod in Witchita Falls, Texas claimed Zilpha Keatley Snyder's book The Egypt Game depicts Egyptian worship ceremonies that will turn children into cult worshippers, practitioners of the art of mummifying people and possibly make them walk like Egyptian for the rest of their lives. Tacoma's Banned Book Club will discuss the book, and maybe the band The Bangles, at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge. Bonus" Jessica Spring and her Christmas ornament making machines will be in the house.

2. There's something wonderfully odd and mysterious about the mind of the miniaturist; it takes a certain kind of person to spend so much time around small things. Whether it's a simple dollhouse or a magnificent painting, creating a good miniature is a matter of scale, a fastidious craft that requires patience, an artist's eye - and lots and lots of time. Obviously, the Weekly Volcano doesn't have the patience or skill to go small, but the artists showing at Gallery Row in Gig Harbor do. A variety of original miniature paintings in watercolor, oil, acrylic and sumi ink are on display. The gallery along Harborview Drive is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. The horn-driven 7 on 7 band will pump up the swing dancers at 7:30 p.m. inside the Eagles Ballroom in Olympia. If you need a refresher, Christine Corey will be teaching swing at 7 p.m.

4. Lakewood Playhouse's production of Oliver! is a big show. It doesn't require epic production values or huge dance numbers - just bigness. Big cast, big sound. It hits the stage at 7 p.m. with $15 rush tickets. Weekly Volcano theater critic Joe Izenman has the scoop on the show here.

5. Along with music, dancing and folklore, this year's edition of The Christmas Revels features a glimpse of Santa's dark side. The Revels - an interactive holiday performance with music at its heart - is set this year in 19th-century Bavaria, where holiday traditions range from the familiar to the surprising. It seems the Bavarian Santa, Sankt Nikolaus, has an alter ego, Knecht Rupprecht, and he's a bit different. The Christmas Revels consume the Rialto Theater at 7:30 p.m. To read Molly Gilmore's full feature on the show, click here.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: This week's freebies

LINK: Santa Says Blog

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's Comment of the Day comes from Boy Robin (Consensual Age) in response to Santa's suggestion of giving Tacoma author Savannah Aries's book Pleasure of a Higher Calling as a gift this holiday season.

Boy Robin writes,

Holy Orgasms, Batman! This isn't your grandma's romance novel! Genuine thought went into the characters, the situations, the relationships, and yes...the sex. Keep it going Savannah. We need something to read that's more than 140 characters and has actual emotional depth to it!