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: 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.

RON SWARNER: SHORE LEAVE >>>

I was stunned when eight people and I represented the Shore Leave crowd last night at 7 p.m. in Tollefson Plaza.

Daniel Blue snapped this shot in the same location at 9:30 p.m.

Where were you?

PIRATE BENJAMIN BILL: THEATER THURSDAY >>>

Grease
Grease will be making a slick stop at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, so stop by this port of call to learn all about th’ high school angst straight from Rydell High of 1959. There will be th’ hormonal and rebellious Danny and the closetly trampy Sandi. The show is going to shiver your timbers, if you get me meaning.
[Tacoma Musical Playhouse, through Aug. 3, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $16-$23, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6767]

The Rocky Horror Show
For those pirates with a bit more colorrr in their pantaloons, Harlequin Productions will be staging the last week of its super sexual run of The Rocky Horror Show. Dis live sex fest of all things buggery follows the tale of an rough and ready couple who stumble into a mansion of alien love monkeys on a darrrk and stormy night.
[State Theater, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.786.0151]

Barefoot Collective
Barefoot Studios be dead. Long live Barefoot Collective.

The new Barefoot Collective be working to incorporate as a not-forrr-profit dedicated to the practice and performance of movement and related arrrts in a way a studio could only imagine. The venue  will continue to teach and work in the beautiful space everyone in the arts world knows as Barefoot Studios. But there will be more, much morrre.

The effort will add more classes, more faculty and more events starting in August and running through the New Year.

BEER
Christmas in July
Chestnuts roasting outdoors in the sun,
Jack Frost nipping at the brew;
Yuletide carols being slurred by the crowd,
And folks dressed up like  J. Crew.
Me read in Mel Torme's autobiography how Mel and a buddy banged out "The Christmas Song" in 45 minutes one sweltering July afterrrnoon.  Ye have to admirrre that.  Ye also have to admire Parrrkway Tavern's Christmas in July celebration tonight. 

Dem be serving Hair of the Dog Barleywine, Full Sail's Cask Conditioned Wreck the Halls (Yo ho ho), and Deschutes Nitro Jubelale among many more grog.- Milt Grimm
[Parrrkway Tavern, 5 p.m., 313 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.383.8748]

VIDEO ART
The Tollbooth Gallery
No secret that ye Tollbooth Gallery met Davy Jones' Locker last yearrr when Artrod and Critical Line gallery made lily-livered getaways. I yearned for its return. It was far superior to me Salty Technical College video arrrt project. Yo-ho-ho th' video kiosk is back! Tacoma Contemporarrry grabbed ye kiosk at 11th and Broadway in Tacoma's T'eater District. Justin Colt Beckman put a video and mixed media show called Honky Tonkin' in it. Beckman plays a hillbilly music singer juxtapo-something with TVÃ' Hee Haw show. Me thinks its worthy of the Humanistic Order of Oceanic Knavery award. -" Pirate Diego the Pink
[Tollbooth Gallery, 24 hours, seven days a week, 11th and Broadway, Tacoma, www.tollboothgallery.org]

BLUES
Teddy Lee Hooker
Teddy Lee Hooker would likely have followed a different path had it ne'er been fer t' influence of John Lee Hooker. Teddy Lee Hooker has placed second in t'Southern California Blues Society's International Blues Talent Show, and he's been crowned "Best Blues Artist of the Year" by t' South Bay Music Awards. If things be different, those could be Bobble Blackbeard's accomplishments.

On t' other hook, Bobble Blackbeard's pillaged more booty than most bobble souvenirs see in der lifetime, and swilled more grog than Kelsey Grammar. If things be different, that could be Teddy Lee Hooker's resumé

Luckily fer both of thems, things be how de be. Bobble Blackbeard loves bein' a gentleman o' fortune, and something tells Bobble Blackbeard that Teddy Lee Hooker loves bein' a blues guitarist.

Judgin' by his tunes, anyway. See fer yerself.- Bobble Blackbeard
[Jazzbones, Randy Oxford's Blues Theater jam starring Teddy Lee Hooker, 7 p.m., no cover, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma 253.396.9169]

LINK: 206 Degrees & Rising Tour and more in the clubs tonight.
LINK: The new Hancock flick be in theaters.
LINK: Let's eat Italian today.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET KATE MONTHY >>>

Kate Monthy is a dancer. She looks like a dancer. She walks like a dancer. She speaks as if conversation were a carefully choreographed partnership in articulation.

"MLKBallet is an organization that produces and teaches dance," she says curtly, and then with a little bow of her head into a memorized eloquence, "a tuition free school for dance, offering affordable entertainment and exposing people to dance in Tacoma."

I cared little for dance before Kate conceived her way into giving back in the form of instructing young movement.

A product of Tacoma City Ballet, she has basically been training for this job since she was a very little girl.

"Dance is just MLKBallet's medium to bring kids and adults together to create and watch good art. I choose it because that's what I know how to teach and produce."

Kate's MOVE series is a way of showcasing the budding young talent while simultaneously inspiring and educating a growing audience with professional performances from the dance community.

"This is about new models," says Kate when I asked her about the goals the nonprofit ballet school, "new ways to run a dance school, run an organization, new ways to teach children, and new ways of creating an appetite and vocabulary for this kind of art."

Kate is beautiful.

DANIEL BLUE: MEET SHANNON EAKINS >>>

Shannon Eakins is an artist of many forms.  Pictured here at Fulcrum Gallery on Martin Luther King Jr. Way on Hilltop, Shannon's work is vast and often vaguely satirical. From glass to embroidery, her work is often animal themed and most often extremely approachable.   

I first met her and her husband wondering around the streets of Tacoma. They had purchased a condo downtown and were curious why they didn't see very many people on the streets.  I told them that we hid in the sewers until full moons.  I'm pretty sure that's why they decided to stay. 

Shannon says, "I'm more of a behind the scenes person," but she seems to shine brightly at most every event we encounter each other.  I always find myself in conversations with her about the psychology of animals; and how they may or may not be an allegory about mankind. She thinks on levels outside of anything you will find on television, unless you are up late and watching the public access channel.   

She works very hard to keep things even and natural, and works very hard at most everything she sets her hands to.   

Stop by M-Space and grab some lessons from her. Her patient demeanor will make you feel like Chahoolie himself.

FOOD
Taste of Tacoma
More than 30 vendors- including Asado, Masa, Southern Kitchen, Katie Downs and Federal Way-s Pac Island Grill- along with live entertainment will plant roots at Point Defiance Park this weekend. Full details here. - Suzy Stump
[Point Defiance Park, June 27-28 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., June 29 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., $7 and less an entré, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma]

ART
Naked Tacoma
In this show, photographer Paul Uhl focuses on extreme close-ups of the normally objectified parts of the body, mostly nipples and vaginas. It is the many nipple close-ups (most from the same model) that best illustrate what the photographer is up to in these works. Starting with images shot in such extreme close-up that they are almost abstract, he then manipulates the images, adjusting contrast, double printing, solarizing the images and so forth so that they become even more abstract. Many of them look like photographs we've seen of planets as taken from cameras in space. There is one image that looks like the surface of the moon and others that look like the halo effect of the sun rising over the crest of a moon or planet. Alec Clayton
[delight gallery, Thursday-Friday 1 to 6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m. through mid July, inside Sanford & Son, 743 Broadway, Tacoma]

EVENT
What You Got? Festival
D.I.Y. stands for Do-It-Yourself, and when so moved, that's exactly what the people of Olympia do. The fifth annual What You Got? Festival is a fine example. Over the course of two days, Numbskullz, DEK, The Cut Throats, Anna Bri, Logical Deer and others will do what they do best- all in the name of youth. Expect some youth-centric workshops, art and film, too. - Brad Allen
[Capitol Theater, June 27 3 p.m., June 28 noon, $5-$8, 206 Fifth Ave., Olympia, 360.754.5378]

JAM
Beyond the Bridge Cafe
The third Friday of every month Beyond the Bridge Cafe hosts local raw acoustic jam sessions that will melt your face off. Owners Ben and Trish Rubke take these performances very seriously, and have no trouble filling up the room. With tables removed and organized seating in place, only guests who have called and put their names on a special list are allowed in. And believe me, they've had to turn people away at the door.

Today, Trish and Ben will be introduce performances by The Travis Barker Band, Matt Coughlin, James Coates, and The Cloves (featured on 103.7 The Mountain's Music Lounge). - Steph DeRosa
[Beyond The Bridge Cafe, 7-10 p.m., $5, 13624 Valley Ave. E., Sumner, 253.863.0556]

POP PUNK
Smooch Knob
Smooch Knob, a Portland-based hybrid of pop punk and bare breasts with a sound surprisingly less suggestive than their name, will hit Hell's Kitchen tonight. Though the band (presumably) takes great pride in their combination of well written pop songs and onstage eye candy- another way of referring to the nearly naked "Smooch Girls" that accompany the band at every show - the funny thing about Smooch Knob is this: The tits and ass the Smooch Girls provide are nice, don't get me wrong (seriously, don't get me wrong), but the band doesn't really need them. Musically speaking, Smooch Knob's melodic and catchy, often Weezer-esque, sound is enough to carry them. This, as much as any boner-inspiring stage antic, is the key to Smooch Knob's appeal.
The Smooch Girls are really just icing on the scantly clad cake. - Matt Driscoll
[Hell's Kitchen, with Mumma Stoge, Sea Jayne Trip and Jonny Bobaluie & The Masters of Bation, 9 p.m., $5, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

LINK: Dead Brothers Band and others in the clubs tonight
LINK: Check out what movies open today
LINK: Let's eat at QB today

DANIEL BLUE: MEET MATT EKLUND >>>

Matt Eklund should have his own brand of sandals. There has never been a more chill person born on this earth, everything about this man is as laid back as a futon. Even with the stress of being the only masculine presence in the Urban Art Festival board of directors, Eklund demonstrates the patience of a monk and the demeanor of another monk sitting next to the first one in morning meditation time.

During the day, our beloved festival powerhouse works at the ever campy REI, but at night you may find him in a milieu of psychedelic situations from guitar playing to reggae dancing.

When I first met him at the old Rampart Antique's Third Thursday celebrations, I began to refer to him lovingly as "papa bear" because you could count on him for a large bear hug upon every greeting.

In every bustling enclave there must be a backbone like Matt and his wife, Laura, holding everything together and pinching nerves now and again when things need attention. Sometimes I am shocked at the amount of work that goes into planning and throwing events and happenings, if there ever was someone who could organize the kind of people power that is needed to get those balls rolling, it would be Papa Bear.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: THEATER THURSDAY >>>

The Tempest
Theater Artists Olympia goes sci-fi with its Shakespeare as it stages a version of The Tempest as if it was a Star Trek episode. A witch rules a desert realm with her lovely daughter, a fairy creature, a beast, and an odd assortment of nymphs and fanciful creatures. All is going relatively well until the folks out looking through the Final Frontier pay a visit because they are lost in the wilderness of space. Then the weird stuff happens.
[Minnaert Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $12, South Puget Sound Community College,  2011 Mottman Road S.W., Olympia, 360.357.3471]

Swinging on a Star
The songs of Johnny Burke take to the Paradise Theatre stage in a weave of scenes from a smoky 1920s Speakeasy, for "Dr. Rhythm" and "What's New" to the Bowery for "Pennies from Heaven." Then comes the ever-popular "Your Hit Parade" of the 1930s and the USO shows of World War II and then culminating with the Academy Award winning "Swinging on a Star."

The cast features: Carrie Nelson, Valerie Jolibois, Krista Curry, Stacee Cramer, Adam Randolph, George Ngo and K. James Koop.
[Paradise Theater, through July 6, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday, $10-$20, 9911 Burnham Dr. N.W., Gig Harbor, 253.851.PLAY]

The Rocky Horror Show
Harlequin Productions continues its run of the sex-charged romp following a dark and stormy night The Rocky Horror Show, with some added shows to extend the run.
[State Theater, through July 6, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.7860151]