DANIEL BLUE: MEET SHAWN MCMANUS >>>

Shawn McManus knows more than you do.  The son of NASA parents has explained more complex mechanical and theoretical concepts to me than I learned in all of high school. 

For a time he was a barista at the Black Water Café but more recently he has been repairing espresso machines and working as a master puller at Satellite Coffee, which makes his dad nostalgic.  Rocket science is an interesting metaphor for the construction of a latte or such magic.  Starbucks robot shot pullers can't touch Shawn's science.   

An original member of scooter club T.A.C.T (Tacoma Alternative Community Transport), Shawn owns a vintage Honda Passport that is as yellow as his afro and as pretty as his cappuccino foam art. 

Shawn's knowledge of the universe has come in extremely handy on multiple occasions, his enthusiasm for motor sports and coffee are unparalleled in the grand scheme of our cities destiny.  Ask him about anything. He knows.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET RYAN LOISELLE >>>

Ryan Loiselle moved to Tacoma in 1989 and quickly dug in his heels like a stubborn mountain goat. The kind of mountain goat that has a face shaped like a pentagram - yes that kind. I don't know if Ryan ever played Dungeons and Dragons, but if he did his character would be a black wizard. 

An artist and a scholar, Ryan works for the Tacoma Public School District and creates strange and wonderful artwork in many mediums, such as paint, graphics, music, beer and film. 

Ryan is friendly and honest. He loves the humanity of humanity, and the fragility of sanity.

Recently he was at the Urban Art Festival riding around on the tallest bicycle I have seen since Bellingham. I mean tall here, like if you fell you would die.

Thanks for all the danger, Ryan, in the words of Batman's for the Joker, "This town needs an enema."  I wish you were my sixth-grade teacher, but I was home schooled so that's kind of like saying I wish you were my mom.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET JASON FREET >>>

Jason Freet is a total slayer. But not a slayer of the demonic metal band type, J.F. is a slayer of a different kind. He took his shirt off after a performance with his band, The Drug Purse, at Bob's Java Jive, and his abs almost made me gay. Almost.

Older and wiser than I am, Jason's onstage banter is much less coherent than actual conversations I have had with him. Most of all I think he needs to do more drugs, straight-laced people like this guy bore the hell out of me. I need something wild, I need something tame.

Tall, handsome, athletic, funny, talented and legally disabled in six states, Jason Freet is the man of your mother's dreams.

When I listen to his music I sometimes think that I am actually in the year 1943, but other times it's all about the summer of 1967. 

Word on the street is that this man carries 4 pounds of meat, meat that you could knock out a bear with. 

Enough nonsense, Jason is a real man. He is very nice in person, and not pretentious in the slightest. The quality of his music gives him the right to be an elite ass, but he comes off like a warm and inclusive potential friend. His ex-band mate Cody tells me that Jason spends a lot of time in the woods, looking for fungus.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET WILLIAM DAVOC >>>

William Davoc was taken from a family of blue herons in Mississippi at the age of 13. He could speak only in garbled honking-croak language and knew nothing of the Internet or any of the major discoveries of the Western World that Al Gore invented. He learned quickly that in order to be included in our American dream he must adapt the behaviors of less avian life forms, and he set himself to the task of normalcy with fervor and resolve. 

Now William works at the Museum of Glass, where he should be kept on display for his beauty and fragility. He very nicely asks people in his timid and awkwardly birdlike posture, "Please don't touch the art, no pictures please."

His dream is to become a standup comedian. I have seen him perform at Jazzbones, and he is very very funny. My favorite joke was, "Do you want to know what separates the men from the boys? (dramatic pause) I do."

Yes William, you are forever pubescent and estranged, but for the love of all that is heroic and demure, you're place in our hearts is deftly secure.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET MARIA >>>

Maria Jost does not normally play with guns. To the best of my knowledge she has never killed anything but bugs, and with much reluctance and prayer for their buzzy little afterlives.

Having graduated from the University of Puget Sound, she spent a few years working as a scientist in Costa Rica, but the charm of her college town brought her back. She has lived in Tacoma since November 2006.

A world traveler and a strange hybrid of scientist and artist, Maria is employed by the School of the Arts in our progressive downtown metropolis.

She is the most intelligent person I know, but we agree that smarts aren't everything. 

Maria is an observer of nature and has the rare quality of humility in her theory and practice. She waits for the answer to reveal itself in relationship, and seeks partnership with all she studies. There is little that she cannot answer having to do with the subjects of botany and anatomy, ecology and conservation are her passions.

Rare it is to discover a human being as well rounded and powerful as this. Maria also enjoys soccer, jogging and most any competitive sporty activity.

DANIEL BLUE: ALEGRA THORNSBURG >>>

I have known Alegra Thornsburg for quite some time; she has, however, remained a mystery to me though I am not sure as to the reason.   

Having first met her at The Monsoon Room, where she was gainfully employed, I discovered a highly intelligent woman hidden behind her time bending almond eyes. Strict and sweet she was always in charge: of the bar, of the conversation, and of most young men's attention, should they wonder in like silly flies, thinking to take a rest on the spiders web.   

Currently employed by a local Viceroy, "Legs" as we so affectionately call her, is seeking grants and proposals of every sort in order to keep the Fulcrum Gallery securely in the balance. An encounter with this mischievously woman usually causes me to take a deep breath and digest the feeling of calm that she seems to bring with her to every context.  An artful nurture resounds from her every word, while charm and enchantment are her weapons on a weary and lonely blue-collar day's night. 

It is good to know we are so loved.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET RANDALL >>>

Randall is very handy. I was introduced to him as Handy Randy, "The hardest working man in Tacoma."  Randall refutes this, stating that the title belongs to George Reed Harmon.  I've never been to work with Randy, but most of the times that I see him he is covered in sawdust or some such aftermath of hard laborious muscle forming activity.   

Randy is a man of simple principals, often when I worked at urbanXchange, he would bring in two pieces of pizza, but only eat one. As I devoured the leftovers he would discuss the kinds of boots that were the best for different activities.  I looked down at his boots and decided that you could probably run over his foot with your truck without him noticing. 

Randall has all sorts of useful skills that I have never thought about needing to know, such as making it up into the top of a dangerous tree with a chainsaw. 

Always warm and unafraid, Randall sits with me whenever we see each other. Once he even pleasantly interrupted my date and I at the Harvester (high ticket women intrigue me).  Randal started the conversation by saying, "Wanna see some funny pictures of me?" 

Yes.

UPDATE

Handy Randy saved the day at Pappi Swarner's residence today. While Pappi was setting off fireworks in the City of Tacoma yesterday the rotting cherry tree in his backyard split in two and fell onto his fence. Today, Handy Randy rigged up a rope and tackle system and pulled the rest of that puppy down, saving the house and Pappi's precious China doll collection.

Yeah Handy Randy!

DANIEL BLUE: MEET TREVOR DICKSON >>>

Trevor Dickson is a maniac.  We attended the same high school; he was a year younger, but was always way cooler. 

I remember moving to Tacoma several years after graduation and being shocked when I saw his little car parked outside an apartment near Wright Park.  You couldn't miss his car in those days. It had a huge Bat Signal on the hood.   

Currently he's the front man of the increasingly popular musical sensation, The Elephants. This bizarre excuse for a humanoid is winning the hearts of our nation, one soul sucking hip gyration at a time.   

Between bouts of tennis and rounds of golf, Dickson can be found funking out in the practice space where many bands train downtown, or relaxing by a pile of LEGOs in his living room.   

Most of the time I am unaware of what Trevor is really trying to communicate, but we recently bonded on a midnight motorcycle ride through the waist high grass of an abandoned lot. 

"Were in a time machine!" Trevor shouted.   

Oh yes, my friend, a time machine back to where it all started - the class of 1999.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET ERIK BJORNSON >>>

Erik Bjornson is surprisingly not the son of Bjorn.

An avid community activist, this blogging kingpin has teemed up with comic genius R. R. Anderson and done the impossible. Using a careful alchemy of chalk and sunshine, they have brought the Tacoma blogosphere out into Frost Park from behind their desks and humble keys. According to Andrew Fry, "The chalk off wouldn't have happened without him."

Erik and I met like so many others at the (gasp) Black Water Café. By day Erik is a divorce attorney, and tells me that there are a lot of military divorces because people have been in Iraq. 

"I'm swamped. It's at the point where I'm just deleting messages. But it's like the paramedics, you show up on the scene and try to take a disaster and make it better the best you can."

I like Erik's passion for this town. He has sat on community panels, fought for events and speakers such as James Kunstler, and is often spotted walking to where he needs to go. 

Check out his blog Tacoma Urbanist, where he writes what he thinks and apologizes to none.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: KINGSBURY CALAMITY>>>

Capital Playhouse will present its annual Staff Cabaret on Saturday at 10 p.m.  The staff of Capital Playhouse, led by Jeff Kingsbury and Troy Fisher, will get funky fresh fun as they present a fun-filled evening of music and entertainment to benefit the Capital Playhouse Scholarship Fund.

All staff members perform â€" yes, even technical staff â€" and will amuse the audience with a runway fashion show, silly skits, belted musical theatre hits, and â€" Kingsbury’s famous one-man show.

[Tickets for the event are $30 for reserved seats and $40 for table seats. Tables of four are available for $150. Call the box office to purchase tickets: (360) 943-2744. The Staff Cabaret is held at Capital Playhouse, 612 E 4th Avenue, downtown Olympia.]