THE STUFF RR ANDERSON BELIEVES IN >>>

RR Anderson will officially release his new book, 100 Tacomics: The Secular & Apolitical Cartoon Life of Tacoma and her Moral People(s), tonight at King's Books. As if that wasn't enough, there'll be free ice cream.

Here's a video of RR Anderson stumping in front of the Tacoma City Council to get you pumped.

SUNDAY, NOV. 14, 2010 >>>

1. There sure are a lot of film festivals out there, all pompous and bloated, stretching out through days or even weeks with "a bunch of great films." Well, The Swiss Film Festival - packing itself into three short hours tonight beginning at 7 p.m. inside The Swiss - is having none of it. What kind of film festival can you have in only three freakin' hours, you ask? Well, one featuring two films.  In this case, the homemade It Don't Rain on Sunny Days and A Glitch in the System. As if that wasn't enough, Doug Mackey will host the event, which also includes special guest Buddy Budman. If nothing else, there'll be a lot of booze on hand.

2. Vince Guaraldi's iconic jazz score will fill The Grand Cinema beginning at 10 a.m. when the Dugan Foundation presents A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas. The movie is free with one can of pet food or supplies. The Weekly Volcano will be there dancing like Chuck's classmates in the aisles.

3. Eight-time Olympic medalist and former Dancing with the Stars champion Apolo Ohno will sign his book, Zero Regrets, at 1 p.m. inside the Costco in Federal Way.

4. The Tacoma Youth Symphony leaves the gray, wet South Sound for "A Night in Madrid" at 3 p.m. inside the Rialto Theater. The concert will feature music by Manuel de Falla, Isaac Albeniz and guitarist Michael Partington in Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. 

5. Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Orchestra will drop in on Stonegate Pizza jazz-rock to rock and jazz dinner show from 5-8pm.

LINK: Tacoma Art at Work events

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

SATURDAY, NOV. 13, 2010 >>>

1. When we walked into a department store last week and saw faux pine swags dotted with ornaments suspending from the ceiling we almost heaved. Even for a retailer trying to prime the holiday pump it seemed a tad early. There's no escaping the onslaught of seasonal festivities and buying opportunities. Should you want to dive right into the fray (and, in so doing, be able to avoid the mall entirely for the next two months) head over to the Holiday Craft Fair, a weekend-long crafts extravaganza, at Spanaway Lake High School. Today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. you will be able to wallow in stinky potpourri, scoop up armfuls of sparkly things you don't really need, and buy several jars of exotic holiday jams that no one will eat. But, hey, it's the thought that counts.

2. Walking back into history is an ongoing act of the local historical groups as they try to bring history alive by re-enacting life as it was when the area was raw and untamed.  From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. walk back into history with the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association inside the Pioneer Orr Home in downtown Steilacoom. Walk into the world of 1857, with the Indian Wars over and the rising tide of settlers flooding into the area. Joe Lawson and his team from Hamilton Auction will appraise general items from 12:30-2:30 p.m. And the Bair Bistro at the corner of Wilkes and Lafayette will be accepting reservations for afternoon tea

3. OK, you are now officially entering the month of November. No more waffling around. It's time to resign yourself - The holidays are on their way. All those people you talk to once every three months are now expecting to see you for an extended period of time. Maybe even multiple days. And they'll want to talk to you, make conversation.  They'll want to know how your life is going.  Uh-oh.  Better prepare yourself now. You need conversation topics. Sixteen local authors will be hanging out at Freighthouse Square from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Go, listen to them read, buy their books, have them sign them. Soak up their insights. Then go home and refuse to speak to any blood relations until it's time to open the presents. 

4. The Northwest Sinfonietta will go Gypsy jazz on your ass tonight and tomorrow. They'll performs a new Django Reinhardt-inspired composition by director Christophe Chagnard for three jazz guitars and orchestra at 7:30 p;m. tonight at the Rialto Theater and 2 p.m. at the Pioneer Park Pavilion in Puyallup. They'll also go old school with Shostakovich's Piano Concerto no. 1 with Mark Salman and Mahler's 5th Symphony Adagietto.

5. Jazz vocalist Dennis Hastings will join master pianist Joe Baque and basses Steve Luceno at Cicada Restaurant for a memorable evening of Jazz and popular tunes beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: Empty Bowls is in our Prefunk

LINK: Rocket Races, Tellabration and Furniture Series dance in our Weekend Hustle

LINK: Concerts go on sale today

LINK: A bunch of wine tastings

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

ART AT WORK MONTH >>>

Last weekend several dozen Tacoma artists opened their studio doors to the public as a part of Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month. I called upon my "artistic" friends to get some recommendations and out of the dozen or so studios I visited – two artists stood out.  Here's a quick glimpse into their work.

R.R. Anderson - Comic Artist Extraordinaire

Walking into Anderson's studio is like walking into a person's mind ... an insane person's mind.

It's a floor to ceiling organized hodgepodge of framed comics, news clippings, antique tools, stacks of finished artwork and books.  Among his collection: a full-on geological display, a batman figurine drowning in a jar of rice, and a typewriter labeled "This typewriter is haunted".

Anderson's affinity for the bizarre isn't solely expressed through studio décor; it's also ever-present in his comic creations.  

Anderson's response to the legislative candidate who recently said, "The Girl Scouts of America are training little girls to be a bunch of lesbians and abortionists." Note the penis-shaped cookie monster.

Like the one above, most of Anderson's comic strips on display in his studio (and available for view at Feedtacoma.com) scrutinize Pierce County politics.  All politics aside, however, Anderson says, "I'm not trying to save the world. I'm doing what I can to stay connected to how the world really is. Ultimately my work is about friendship, need, and other timeless values."

Anderson's work can also be seen in a zine produced by C.L.A.W. (The Cartoonist's League of Absurdist Washingtonians) - a secret society of fez-wearing comic writers. The free zine can be found at several downtown coffee shops including Amocat.

Also upcoming for Anderson is the release of his book, 100 Tacomics: The Secular & Apolitical Cartoon Life of Tacoma and her Moral People(s) which chronicles the last few years of Tacoma through comics.

A celebration of Anderson's book release will be held at King's Books on Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Anderson will be there to sign books and Jeff the Ice-cream Man will provide free Mexican ice-cream.

MICHAELA EAVES - The woman of many mediums

Judging totally on first appearances, Michaela Eaves encompasses the emerging Tacoma artist: she's young, a little quirky, a little hipster, and I'm betting she has a way better record collection than I do.

First off, the studio she shares with several other artists is - simply put - badass. It features high loft ceilings, old brick interior, and huge paned windows that wrap around half of the room, perfectly framing UWT and Tacoma's awe-inspiring smoke stacks.

She's been there for the past two years and has truly found a home in the Tacoma art scene.  "I love how nice Tacoma is to its artists," she said. "Seattle? Not so great."

Michaela's works range from pen-scratched Tim Burton-esque drawings to mystical children's watercolors.

"I used to really want to do illustrations for children's books, but they don't like boobs," she said pointing to the watercolor of a topless nymph.

Me? I think it's pretty damn good (does that make me a nympho?).

Moving on in the tour, Eaves shows me some stained glass-like acrylic paintings, a half-painted door in the works for an upcoming food-bank charity event, and a dozen or so sinister Santa's carved out of driftwood. "I showed these to my mom who asked, ‘Why does everything you make have to be so creepy?'" she tells me.

My favorite of Eaves' pieces are black-ink-drawings stained with coffee. She had these and several other drawings available as prints.

You can check out more of Michaela on her website. For prints and commissioned work you can email her here. 

LINK: Tacoma Art at Work events

THURSDAY, NOV. 11, 2010 >>>

1. If you can't say it in 6 minutes and 40 seconds, don't say it at all. That's the theory behind Pecha Kucha, a sort of mini lecture series that started in 2003 when Tokyo architects invented it to make their PowerPoint presentations less dreadful. Tacoma's version of Pecha Kucha Night - volume 8 - hits the Harmon Taproom at 5:30 p.m. featuring some of PK's favorite past presenters. Michael Sullivan, Derek Lunde, Michael Stoddard, Antonio Edwards, Jeremy Gregory, Kris Crews, Patricia Lecy-Davis and Geoff Weeg.

2. The Tacoma Freedom Fair Patriotic Pizza Party to raise funds for the Fourth of July celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Round Table Pizza locations in Tacoma and University Place. The Round Table franchises are a big supporter and has committed a large percent of today's sales to support next year's Freedom Fair.

3. As in conjunction with their Street Botany show, Maria Jost and Bobby Smith will discuss their art and ecology in reference to, and possibly inside, their recently installed geodesic dome interpretive center at 6 p.m. inside Fulcrum Gallery.

4. Chandler O'Leary is kind of infatuated with Mt. Rainier - and this is a good thing. For one, it resulted in Local Conditions, O'Leary's interactive book. With 120 image flats and a viewing box, Local Conditions allows readers to literally create millions of Rainier-related scenes. From 7-9 p.m. O'Leary will chat about her work and love of the mountain in Room 020 in the Collins Memorial Library's basement.

5. DJ Toner spins vintage rock and soul beginning at 8 p.m. inside The Brotherhood Lounge in Olympia.

LINK: It's Art at Work month!

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

WEDENSDAY, NOV. 10, 2010 >>>

1. Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza in Lacey wants wishes the South Sound would turn into a giant snow globe, sealed off and insulated from the rest of the world - but with a whole lotta beer drinking and pizza eating going on. To help prepare for such an event, they'll host a Prepare For Winter Party at 7 p.m. featuring a bunch of Fish Tale Ales, Leavenworth Biers and Alpine Experience, plus ski and snowboard flicks and raffle prizes. We like how they think.

2. While the suits put the final touches on their morning presentations, the kids will head for a mini-wacky-wiki-Waikiki inside The Den at urbanXchange in downtown Tacoma. The Tropical Trio will lay down some kitschy-koo Hawaiian fusion for some mongrel carefree vacation sensation from 4-6 p.m. Humahumunookienookie bitches!

3. The Tacoma Food Co-op and University of Puget Sound Sustainability Advisory Committee presents a special viewing of the documentary King Corn at 6 p.m. in the Rausch Auditorium inside McIntyre Hall on the University of Puget Sound campus in Tacoma. The event is free, however any donations to the Tacoma Food Co-op would be cool.

4. Botanical busybody David Douglas was attacked by millions of stinging nettles as he explored the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century. He didn't care. He discovered hundreds of western plants, most notably the iconic Douglas Fir. Author Jack Nisbet documents his journeys through forests and marshes, up mountains and across rivers in his book The Collector: David Douglas and the Natural History of the Northwest. At 7 p.m. inside Wheelock Library in the Proctor District, Nisbet will discuss and sign the book.

5. Rock the Dock Pub & Grill's Old School College Wednesdays features DJ Contagious spinning '80s dance tunes. It sometimes gets nutty at Old School College Wednesdays. See what we mean here.

LINK: Lots of Art at Work events today

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 >>>

1. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of the Legislative Building on the State Capital Campus in Olympia a Day of Jubilation: Suffrage Centennial Commemoration will, er, commemorate the day, one hundred years ago, when the vote to amend the Washington constitution for women's right to vote in the state was passed.  A full day of events, exhibits, performances, sing-along, activities and celebrations will go down in addition to a 4 p.m. formal program in the Rotunda.

2. Art at Work Tacoma: The Proctor Art Walk brings together a whole bunch of artists and a whole bunch of Proctor businesses, all within a three-block area from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Work by the award-winning artists of the Juried Proctor Art Show will be front and center today.

3. Tacoma Artist Mark Hoppmann will sign his latest illustrated handmade book, Twelve Days, from 4-8 p.m. inside Watermark Gifts in downtown Tacoma.

4. Art at Work Tacoma: The dorky Graphic Novel Book Club will discuss Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli over craft cocktails from 7-8:30 p.m. inside the 1022 South lounge.

5. Loose Gravel & The quarry will fill The Swiss with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: It's Art at Work month!

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010>>>

1. If you don't like eating you're a communist. There's no need to beat around the bush. If you do like eating, and even cooking, chances are you might get a kick out of the Food For Thought Book Club, which meets on the last Wednesday of every month at Garfield Book Company. Recipes. Good times. Cooking demonstrations. And even some actual eating. What more could you ask for. The action starts at 6:30 p.m. and it's free. For more info check out the blog.

2. Have you ever seen a grown man draw? It's not always pretty. Sometimes, it's beautiful. Tacoma's CLAW - or Cartoonists League of Absurd Washingtonians - meets every fourth Wednesday of the month at the Mandolin Café. While the CLAW meets often and mysteriously, this one is "open to the public" - when "non members can be brought and introduced to the group." Sound intriguing? Show up at 7:30 p.m. and see it live. Here's a website.

3. Tacoma Art Museum and Centro Latino partner again for the sixth time to offer a celebration of Dia de los Muertos. According to hype, "(t)here will be a traditional tapete (sand painting) by artist Fulgencio Lazio and his team that fills the lobby and more than a dozen altars crafted by a variety of local community members, schools, and organizations." The exhibit/celebration at TAM continues through Nov. 7.

4. Who needs to bring sexy back when you've got group knitting? Every Wednesday a group of dedicated knitters, led by "master knitter" Megan Peters, meets at Tacoma Art Place from 1-4 p.m. There is a membership fee, but first timers can check out the hot group knitting action for free with a day pass. Get your knit on.

5. REI on South Steele Street will host a GPS Basics course, so if you're SUV ever careens off the road and the OnStar stops working and all you have is your tech vest and Nalgene water bottle, you'll be able to get back home in time of Desperate Housewives. Awesome.

SUNDAY, OCT. 24, 2010 >>>

1. Billed as an "interactive celebration and creative exercise in commemoration of Tacoma Art Museum's 75th Anniversary," the Mighty Tacoma show features digital portraits by Tacoma-based artists that will be projected in the gallery and posted on the museum website. The show will includes a photographic survey of the city's neighborhoods, families at the museum, community groups and businesses. Drop by and see this mighty show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

2. It's the final day of the Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more details, and how to prepare for this final day, check The Prefunk.

3. King's Books hosts the fourth annual Anarchist Bookfair -  billed as a "revolutionary gathering for anyone interested in or curious about anarchy" - from noon to 7 p.m. Want to know how to live in harmony without the oppressive weight of the state bearing down on you? Here's your starting point.

4. Ikebana Society presents the Northwest Sakura chapter's "Annual Flower Exhibit" from noon to 4 p.m. inside the Washington Floral Service at 2701 S. 35th St. in Tacoma.

5. Now, you listen here, hombre. You and me, we done rode through all that "talk like a pirate" bosh, but all that balled-up palaver didn't hold a candle to talkin' like a cowboy. And you might think such frontier lingo wouldn't rightly fit into the flannel-mouthed Elizabethan purty-talk of one Wm. Shakespeare, but that just goes to show you ain't no feller to ride down the river with, so you just hobble your lip. Harlequin Productions buckaroo Scot Whitney at 2 p.m. done nailed that to the counter. His production of The Taming of the Shrew cuts a swell, and that's the real Simon Pure.

LINK: Pearl Django, Jo Dee Messina, Top of Tacoma's third anniversary party, Billy Farmer's open mic and more live shows in our Night Moves

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

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

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Rain and drizzle, hi 60, lo 43

Saturday: Cloudy with a little rain, hi 59, lo 49

Sunday: Strong front moves in and all hell will break loose, hi 54, lo 46

>>> FRIDAY, OCT. 22-SATURDAY, OCT. 23: HOOT 'N' HOWL

Your Halloween costume (Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut) is ready to go. The pumpkin is carved. The candy is, er, well, you ate it, but you're definitely going to pick up another bag of tiny Snickers bars in the next couple of days. The problem is you're so excited by the prospect of the witchy day that you cannot wait until next week. Lucky for you, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park hosts its HOOT ‘N' HOWL this weekend. There'll be games, tram rides, crafts, spooky stories and the usual animals.  Best of all, you can load up on more candy. 

• Northwest Trek, 6-10 p.m., $4.50-$12.50, 11610 Trek Dr. E., Eatonville, 360.832.6117

>>> SATURDAY, OCT. 23: BLACK CAT FIVE-MILE FUN RUN

For some, running can be an excruciating experience. To many others, it's what they live for. But however you feel about running, there's no doubt the experience can be improved by the donning of a ghoulish costume or vampire teeth and a cape. Enter the Black Cat Five-Mile Fun Run, a family-friendly jaunt through Point Defiance Park set to go down at dusk this Saturday. Organized by Metro Parks Tacoma, the event caters to runners and walkers of all levels, and the registration fee gets you free glow sticks, black fleece running gloves and hot cocoa, tea or coffee at the finish line ... or water if you're, like, a really hardcore runner and stuff.

• Point Defiance Park Five Mile Drive, 5:30 p.m., check in 4:30 p.m., $25 until midnight tonight, $35 day of race, 5400 N. Pearl, Tacoma
  

>>> FRIDAY OCT. 22-SATURDAY, OCT. 23: FRIENDS BOOK SALE

Used books reign supreme over new books because there's something to be said for encountering a chocolate stain, a teardrop or a snot smear on random pages, reminding you that you're holding something someone enjoyed before you. Used books are things with histories. At the Lakewood Library's Freinds' Book Sale you can unleash your fetish for used books with wild abandon. Tens of thousands of books will be on sale, not to mention CDs, cassettes and DVDs. Knowledge has become ridiculously cheap and accessible. Take advantage.

• Lakewood Library, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 6300 Wildaire Road SW, Lakewood, 253.582.6040
  

>>> SATURDAY, OCT. 23: SALSA DANCE

This Anglo never could get his hips to salsa. I tried. My college girlfriend - Angela de Sosa - was from El Salvador. She wore size-3 Jordache jeans when we hit the disco scene (the early ‘80s thing to do). The music would play, and de Sosa's hips would sway. She tried to show me how.  De Sosa left me for a better dancer. I took up writing. Every Saturday night at the Abbey Ballroom in downtown Tacoma there's a Latin dance featuring salsa, bachata, cha cha, merengue, and the occasional rumba. I will not be there.

• The Abby Ballroom, 9 p.m., all ages, $5, 1901 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.5424

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

MATT DRISCOLL Editor and String Cheese Addict (not the band!)
Again, the South Sound has quite a weekend in store. There's a whole crapload (maybe two) of things to choose from, and making decisions wont be easy. The best thing to do is simply be decisive, and turn whatever choice you make into the right one by going all-out and not looking back.

While I have yet to follow that advice, and my weekend is still up in the air, I would really like to make it to The Grand for part of the Race & Pedagogy Film Series, which is a precursor to next week's Race & Pedagogy National Conference at the University of Puget Sound.

That, and I've really been craving a BBC from MSM Deli the last couple days, so I'll probably have one of those this weekend too.

So, to summarize my weekend will include: race, pedagogy, beef, cheese and bacon.

PAUL SCHRAG Senior Contributor
I'll be tearing around Olympia with Eprhyme, who will release his second album on K Records sometime next year, shooting photos to accompany a video celebrating Olympia's unique culture. I'll probably end up in a garage with E and Smoke of Oldominion, and hopefully get a chance to molest fellow Volcano scribe Owen Taylor. 

REV. ADAM MCKINNERY Features Writer
This weekend is all leading up to Saturday, when I will be attending a show at my friend's venue, Hilltop Hollows. Until then, I will be helping with doing some renovating of the venue to get it goo and ready. Boy, I hope the cops don't show up.

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
After my usual two days of mix mastering at the bar, I'm going on a date with my husband. We have some fun things on the menu, but due to discretionary promises, I am not allowed to disclose to readers exactly what we are up to. But, go ahead, use your imagination.

JOE IZENMAN Music/Theater Critic
Either having a poker night, playing a show at Cork! Wine Bar, getting engagement photos at Wright Park, catching It's Kind Of A Funny Story at The Grand, and learning to cook Indian food; or continuing to be ill and staying inside feeling gross all weekend. Both are viable options.

KRIS BLONDIN Food/Wine Writer
I'm boring. We WERE going to Westport, but husband has to work. At
least I have a new furnace, heat and really big bottle of vodka. Call
me?

JENNIFER JOHNSON: Lifestyle/Leisure Writer
Friday I will be going to 1022 Fall and Winter Menu Debut Party at 6 p.m. Saturday I will be running 5 miles and then catching a session at Hot Yoga Tacoma. That night I will bid farewell to the Robert Daniel Gallery at "Out With A Bang" at 9 pm. Sunday hopefully will bring a relaxing day and a walk through gorgeous fall leaves (no rain!). 

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
I'll be heading to the Tacoma Little Theatre to review eleemosynary, lamenting the absence of dairy from my diet and preparing for a week in Mexico with the infant, husband and in-laws.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
After a full day at Olympia High School for an upcoming feature, I'll be free to enjoy Harvey at OLT and The Art of Dining at my new alma mater.  Better and boobier yet, I'll be venturing Through the Looking Glass, aka Burlesque Alice in Wonderland, at the Capitol Theater.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Correspondent
I’m going to be all about music this weekend when Tacoma Youth Chorus hosts a free parent appreciation concert at Charles Wright Academy at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Later that night brings Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s season opener, Gershwin and Guitar, featuring Ana Vidovic. She is featured in "Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez." The show also will include Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid" and George Gershwin's "An American in Paris."

ALEC CLAYTON: Visual Arts Critic
 The play's the thing. Going to see Harvey at Olympia Little Theater and eleemosynary at Tacoma Little Theatre.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound