The Weekly Volcano has nothing against www.myspace.com/firstnighttacoma ">Tacoma's First Night fete â€" except that it's really the Last Night, but what do mere semantics have to do with it?

The New Year’s Eve celebration consuming Broadway in downtown Tacoma needs scads of volunteer rogues in a wide array of functions, such as venue greeters, ushers, festival rovers, parade organizers, and tech heads.

The lovely First Night brain trust will hold a volunteer orientation Sunday, Oct. 14 at King’s Books.  No pre-registration is needed for the 3 p.m. meeting.

For more details, contact sweet pea at King’s Books.  He knows stuff. â€" Suzy Stump

It has been said that if you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there. There are various subcategories, including those who can’t remember because they really weren’t there, those who think they may remember something but aren’t really sure what, and those who voted for Nixon â€" but basically, this statement opens up the decade of grooviness to either a lot of nostalgia or a lot of mocking. No one is quite sure what actually occurred. Well, comedian Pat Hazell does.

Hazell takes baby-boomer Americana that recalls the genuinely funny observations of our collective youth: sugar-highs, milk money, the kid's table, pop rocks, the ice cream truck, and those long distance trips in the wayback of the Country Squire Wagon in his one-man show, “The Wonder Bread Years.”  It will hit the stage Friday night in Olympia and Nov. 2-3 in Tacoma. â€" Suzy Stump

[Washington Center, Friday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m., $29.50-$31.50, 512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia, 360.753.8585]
[Theatre on the Square, Nov. 2 7:30 p.m., Nov. 3 3 and 7:30 p.m., $34, 915 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894]

Theatergoers can see top-notch drama play out in front of them without having to mortgage their houses to pay for tickets; at least for a week, anyway.

A handful of South Sound stages are offering free theater events Oct. 15-21 as part of a national effort to celebrate the dramatic arts.

Capital Playhouse will offer a free performance of "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17.

The theater's rival down the street, Harlequin Productions, is staging its masterful "Macbeth" at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18. And Olympia Little Theater will offer a discussion about theater as well as host a streamlined version of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," courtesy of Harlequin.

Federal Way's Centerstage Theater will offer a free reading Thursday, Oct. 18, of "Baby," at the Knutzen Family Theatre. This fast-paced play looks at the world through the eyes of a newborn until he turns 1 year old.

Lakewood Playhouse has a special presentation of "Holes" Oct. 18 lined up for the cause while theaters up and down the Sound have things planned.

More information about the events can be found here. â€" Steve Dunkelberger

This was slipped under the door at the Weekly Volcano World Headquarters this morning:

• Following a national search, the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra has named Andrew C. Buelow, of Travese City Michigan, as Executive Director.  Buelow steps into the post vacated in late March by Amy Wigstrom, who left the TSO to serve as Executive Director of the American Heart Association in Tacoma.  The post has been filled in the interim by Lisa Brown, the Tacoma Symphony’s Director of Marketing and Development.  It is expected that Buelow will officially begin his tenure in November.  He will be on hand for the Tacoma Symphony’s opening night concert on October 13.  “We are eager to introduce Andy to the community and look forward to the fresh perspective and creative ideas he will bring to our organization,” said Dr. Richard Bowe, President of the Tacoma Symphony’s Board of Directors.  “We are confident that he and Maestro Felder will work together to define an exciting future for our fine orchestra.”

How about something that’s always reminded me of the importance of simply enjoying life: the Arts. You know, poetry, theater, needle point.

Look around and you’ll see people who can serve as a source of inspiration in your quest to enjoy more of the arts.

There’s that gal you know who’s always learning a new instrument or tracing her hand for Thanksgiving invitations.

There’s that guy you know who transforms his laundry lint into works of art, manipulating every fiber to express his different moods, emotions and personal experiences.

Then there’s you.  You need help.  You need Art at Work Month.  Yes, you do.

Tacoma Art Commission’s sixth annual Art at Work Month â€" November 2007 mind you â€" is in stone with a brochure sitting right here. It contains a calendar of events, listing of art exhibits as well as classes and workshops, information about the two-day Arts Symposium, Art Slam at the Rialto Theater, index of exhibits, studio tours, and on and on. It’s 30 days chocked full of arts in Tacoma.

The brochure will also be scattered about smartly throughout Tacoma.

A nifty poster by Art Chantry sits inside the little treasure, too.

The world is filled with people who do interesting stuff. Why not check them out for inspiration. â€" Suzy Stump 

You chose lutefisk over Mountain Bars!?!

Hey Lisa Albers, watch our for those crazy old Scandinavian drivers! â€" Suzy Stump

I felt, last week, like Dorothy in reverse, coming back to a black and white Kansas after an amazing trip to Oz.  Maui was everything cliché about “tropical paradise” and after a week of that, to come home to grey skies and drizzle and a pesky post-flight malaise that seems to be a lingering low-grade viral headache funk, “home” seems anticlimactic.

I want to click my slippers and say, “there’s no place like Maui, there’s no place like Maui,” but it won’t do me any good; the wee one’s got school, the man has business trips, and I have a life to return to.

So it was with my state of mind last week; I was grouchy, grumpy, tired, and a whole lot of no fun to be around.

I forced myself out and about, though, and found some “only in T-Town” delights that helped bolster my mood:

Third Thursday Art Walk was fun.  I loved the energy and hyped vibe surrounding the very cool Helm Gallery, and I loved the family spirit that was Sanford and Son. James Hume’s pop-o-rama slices of Tacoma met up with five new works by Jeff Olson, just back from a summer of nature-lovin’ in Oregon.

Public parks rock.  On a bike ride through Point Defiance Park, I noted the “Ride for US” event, an eagle scout project, a Sierra Club trail works project, and three weddings.  Later in the day, as we went to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, I noted two more weddings and two octopi, the highlight of the wee one’s trip.

While construction underway for a new and improved, expanded Kid Zone made for an obstructed park, I really liked the improvements made to the aquarium recently, as well as the goat grooming in the Kid Zone. 

We also had fun at the new and improved Puget Park in Tacoma’s Proctor Business District, after which a painting play-date at Art and Soul warmed us up.

Wieners rule.  The significant one and I finally stopped by The Red Hot, on a date night out with two friends.  The names and descriptions of the dogs made me laugh, the Frito pie made me drool, the Roger’s pilsner made me happy, and the whole experience â€" the ambiance, the people, the music, the conversation â€"made me realize:  I love Tacoma. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

The Weekly Volcano would like to congratulate its fellow Tacoma Arts Commission 2007 AMOCAT Arts Award winners Victory Music and Beautiful Angle.

The Nov. 2 awards ceremony at the Museum of Glass will be off the hook. â€" Suzy Stump

The theatrical version of the 1970s “Gilligan’s Island” is playing at Puyallup Actors’ Theatre Group for a one-weekend run. The big question is will the opening theme song include the Professor and Mary Ann? â€" Suzy Stump

[Liberty Theater, Sept. 21-23, 12:30 and 6 p.m., $25-$35, 116 W. Main, Puyallup, 253.864.8116]

Ladies and gentlemen, can we please have your attention. We have just been handed an urgent and terrific news story. We need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen.

The Weekly Volcano won the 2007 AMOCAT Arts Patron award!

That’s right, we are very important. We also have many leather-bound books and our South Sound office smells of rich mahogany.

The Weekly Volcano would like to thank Tacoma Arts Commission  for the prestigious award.  After publishing 306 issues we have realized â€" You like us.  You really like us.

The official announcement will hit the universe soon.  We can’t wait to receive our major award Nov. 2 at the Museum of Glass. â€" Suzy Stump