TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2010 >>>

1. The Lakewood Historical Society presents Steilacoom historian and author Joan Curtis, who will discuss "The Bad Boys of McNeil Island" - Robert Stroud, Roy Gardner, Alvin Karpis, Frederick Emerson Peters, Charles Manson, and others - at 7 p.m. inside the Lakewood Library.

2. The Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club hold their monthly meeting, which will include a presentation by the staff from Tacoma Bike about mandatory bike equipment, at 6 p.m. inside the Wild West VFW Post 91 at 2000 S. Union Ave. in Tacoma.

3. Does the idea of having a "Q" and no "U" give you the fantods? Do you know what it means to be greedy about triple-letter and double-word scores? Then the Scrabble Rousers have an event for you. Their "Schools Out" Scrabble competition pits adept, strategic descramblers of seven letters against each other, both competitively and socially, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. inside the Washington State History Museum. So put that Machiavellian plotting to capitalize on triple-word tiles to use for a great cause the $10 entrance fee goes directly top the Tacoma Community House Student Scholarship Fund, which assists students as they transfer from TCH to community college.

4. Banned Book Club - a book club reading books that have been banned or challenged - will discuss The Color Purple by Alice Walker over cocktails at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

5. Neutralboy, The Depths, Locke N Load, and Nothing You'd Like rock Hell's Kitchen beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

BIFF! POW! WOW! >>>

Word has been floating amid the circle of regulars for the past week, but today it is official: Comic Book Ink will no longer be Tacoma's largest comic retailer.

Proprietor John Munn this morning signed a fresh lease on a new storefront in the Lakewood Cinema Plaza (2510 84th St. S.), home of the 15 screen Regal movie theater, on Aug. 1, placing the shop just outside Tacoma's city limits for the first time in its eight-year history.

The new space will provide "500 more square feet of space, more interior space and more parking," according to Munn, for what is reportedly significantly less cost than their current location at 72nd Street's Johnsborough Station. The shop originally opened in the Proctor District in 2002, but was forced by construction to move to East Tacoma in 2005.

Comic Book Ink has also had a longstanding partnership with their new neighbor, manning a booth with giveaways at midnight premieres of comic-inspired films such as this Spring's Iron Man 2. Whether this will evolve into late-night openings and promotions for the shop itself remains to be seen.

MONDAY, JUNE 14, 2010 >>>

1. The Squeak and Squawk Music Festival wraps up tonight with Butts, The Drug Purse, and Wheelies rocking The New Frontier Lounge beginning at 9 p.m.

2. Erich Woll will be busy today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. exploring glass art in the Museum of Glass' Hot Shop as the featured artist of the day. Drop by and watch Woll work wonders.

3. Drumatic Innovation will be providing an introduction to facilitated drum circles at 7 p.m. at the Center in Tacoma - which happens to be at 6108 Mt. Tacoma Dr. in Lakewood

4. The Graphic Novel Book Club discusses The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire over craft cocktails at 7 p.m. inside the 1022 Lounge in Tacoma.

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

LINK: More arts and entertainment events today in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010 >>>

1. A Leaf, Zoo Animal, and The Reaching play at 9 p.m. inside Hell's Kitchen.

2. Meet with women-specific product vendors and community organizations, get tips from local experts on health, nutrition, fitness, and outdoor adventure during Diva Night from 6-8 p.m. at REI in Tacoma.

3. Tom Llewellyn, one half of the guerilla letterpress duo Beautiful Angle, celebrates the release of his debut young adult novel, The Tilting House, at 6:30 p.m. inside King's Books.

4. Sixties coffee house veteran (guitarist, not barista) J.W. McClure and jazz/blues guitarist Thaddeus Spae perform at 7 p.m. inside A Rhapsody in Bloom Florist and Café Latte on Sixth Avenue.

5. The Schooner Pub and Galley in Lakewood hosts a comedy night featuring seven comedians beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2010 >>>

1. What do you get when you cross genes from various assorted plants, animals, bugs and fish? Weekly Volcano film critic Rev. Adam McKinney tells you in his reviews of Splice, which screens today here.

2. The Olympia Community Arts Roundtable will discuss digital portfolios among other subjects beginning at 6 p.m. inside the Olympia Timberland Library.

3. Scandinavian Book Club meets at 6:30 p.m. inside the Garfield Book Company to discuss Silent Patriot by Astrid Karlsen Scott and how lutefisk tastes like phlegm.

4. The Lakewood Community Jazz Band will record their swinging performance tonight from 7-9 p.m. inside The Royal Lounge in Olympia.

5. Billy Roy Danger & The Rectifiers rock The Swiss at 8 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

After announcing his divorce CNN accidently publishes Al Gore's personal email address. Who would have thought the Clintons would be the ones to last?

President Obama has announced a criminal investigation into the oil spill to see whether BP committed any crimes. Totally not a PR move.

100 years after his death, Mark Twain's memoirs will soon be published.

How to live like a lunkhead Vulcan.

Ten inventors killed by their own inventions.

The best moments from Lady Gaga's Larry king Live appearance.

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010 >>>

1. The Tuesday night swing dance at the Olympia Eagle's Hall sponsored by local swing dance club OlySwing, with regular attendance reaching more than 100 dancers, will feature Jessica Blinn Quartet featuring Craig Cootsona on drums tonight from 7:30-10:30 p.m.

2. The film Bass Ackwards follows Linas (played by director Linas Phillips), who, at loose ends in his life after a crushing breakup with his lover, decides to drive a beat-up VW bus he finds across the country from Seattle to New York. The Hollywood Reporter calls it "the kind of introspective road film plenty of aspiring auteurs would probably like to make but few can pull off." The film screens at 6:30 p.m. with a post-film Q&A with Phillips, inside the Capitol Theater.

3. The Grand Cinema will screen the 35mm version of the film noir classic The Maltese Falcon at 2 and 7 p.m.

4. Julie Ciccarelli of the Tacoma Public Library, University Book Store's Mary Levesque and Seattle Times columnist and author Adam Woog share their favorite mysteries at 7 p.m. inside Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch.

5. The 4 Tissimos Saxophone Quartet performs at 7 p.m. inside the Mandolin Café.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

ON AND OFF THE WALL >>>

Free stuff is good stuff in my book, especially if you would normally have to shell out a kidney to buy a ticket. Tacoma's Third Thursday ArtWalk takes to the streets tonight, as it does on the third Thursday of every month, with galleries, museums and businesses swinging open their doors to the commoners.

Here are a few Third Thursday ArtWalk highlights:

If the sadness hasn't reached you, let it be known that the wonderful Two Vaults Gallery will shut its doors at the end of the month. Tonight, will be its last ArtWalk party. Weekly Volcano art critic Alec Clayton has the details. Guitarist Andrew Sherbrooke will try to keep the emotions cheerful.

A kinetic sculpture is a human-powered vehicle that also has an artistic theme.  Thanks to the City of Tacoma and the Tacoma Art Museum, kinetic sculptures are on the move at the annual Zeit-Bike event, "Movable Feats," which runs through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Museum. This year artists - Eric Holdener and Bill Fleming of Olympia and Tacoma artist Scott McGee - have designed bicycle-inspired functional sculptures in honor of National Bike Month. During tonight's Third Thursday ArtWalk from 5:30-7:30 p.m., the three artists will hop on their art and peddle them around Tollefson Plaza.

That's right, Tacoma. You no longer have to go to Paris to rent a goofy-looking bike and cruise from gallery to gallery. The Tacoma Art Ride pushes off tonight - at arts critic mass if you will - where riders do the Tacoma Third Thursday ArtWalk on bikes. The kickstand springs up at 6 p.m. in front of Tacoma Bike at 309 Puyallup Ave. by the Tacoma Dome. Then, for two hours, riders will visit venues along the Art Walk route including the Zeit-Bike exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum.

Viceroy Art Gallery is Tacoma's newest gallery housed inside the Office GO Architects at 711 Court A. The new gallery will focus on emerging artists, such as Scott Olson who will show his whimsical paintings tonight from 5-9 p.m. Also, you can make your mark on the first "Art Wall" installation - an interactive temporary installation made by you.

Fulcrum Gallery opens a new show tonight, which will be accompanied by DJ Bilori's ambient and chill spins. Artist Jeremy Mangan will show his new paintings - two-dimensional structures that serve to draw attention to the hubris, precariousness, and ridiculousness, of human ambition - under the titled Build to Suit. The reception for Mangan will run from 6-9 p.m.

As part of this month's Art Walk, Tacoma Art Supply is hosting a book signing of The Comic Critic Presents Seldom Seen Films by Mark Monlux from 5:30-8 p.m. For this evening only book will be discounted down to $10. Tyrone Patkoski's artwork still hangs inside, too.

And, of course, you can enjoy most of the highlights above on the ART BUS. It's a fun, dry way to see tonight's art.

LINK: Third Thursday ArtWalk Web site

TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010 >>>

1. A kinetic sculpture is a human-powered vehicle that also has an artistic theme.  Thanks to the City of Tacoma and the Tacoma Art Museum, kinetic sculptures are on the move at the annual Zeit-Bike 2010: "Movable Feats," which runs today through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Museum. This year artists - Eric Holdener and Bill Fleming of Olympia and Tacoma artist Scott McGee - have designed bicycle-inspired functional sculptures in honor of National Bike Month, During Third Thursday ArtWalk from 5:30-7:30 p.m., the three artists will hop on their art and peddle them around Tollefson Plaza. No doubt a Tacoma Postcard will be in the spokes.

2. Author Gordon Edgar will discuss his book, Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge while you munch on cheese provided by the Olympia Food Co-op beginning at 6 p.m. inside Orca Books in Olympia.

3. Seattle isn't all coffee and high-tech group hugs. No, there's a gritty side to it. Seattle Noir is an anthology of short stories by some of the region's leading authors. Meet the authors and hear their stories beginning at 7 p.m. inside the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch.

4. Traditions Café in Olympia will hosts a drum circle at 7 p.m.

5. The Banned Book Club will discuss the controversial novel Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Vote for your favorite burger in Pierce County

VOTE NOW >>>

The Pierce County Library System wants your help in selecting next year's Pierce County READS book. They are asking the public to vote for one of three choices through the end of May. You may vote in any of Pierce County Library System's 18 locations or online at www.piercecountylibrary.org search site: READS.

The book choices - with the Library's description of each - are listed after the jump:

Read more...