TUESDAY, JAN. 10, 2012 >>>

1. The Swiss Pub and science are synonymous. OK, so maybe they're not quite synonymous, but they do go together quite well -the monthly "Tacoma Science Café" at the Swiss proves it. Today, join the University of Puget Sound's Rand Worland, Ph.D. as he delves into "The Physics of Music: Using Light to Study Sound." As hype of the free event reminds us, music has vibration at its root. Worland will help attendees, "discover how he uses lasers to produce images of these vibrations and how differences in vibrations alter how we perceive sounds. The Tacoma Science Café kicks off at 6:30 p.m.

2. Get your Tuesday night on with the Joe Faker Band and Allen Alto at O'Callahan's Pub & Grill in Key Peninsula. If the music, which starts at 7 p.m., doesn't float your boat, just play pull-tabs. There's no cover.

3. Get your groove on tonight in Parkland. DJ Adam Ant spins during "Twisted Tuesday" at Lady Luck Cowgirl Up, offering Top 40 action and karaoke. The good times start at 9 p.m. Or, if you're looking for something more, peruse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. Tacoma's Backstage Bar & Grill has stormed onto the scene - quickly becoming this town's go-to location for nostalgic drunken fun and devil horns. Tonight witness the awesomeness of a "DJ & Drummer Duo Battle," featuring DJ Switch and Chris Dahl. Magic starts at 9:30 p.m.

5. The Royal Lounge in Olympia offers a Comedy Lounge night every Tuesday, featuring an open-mic from 9-9:30 p.m. and headlining comics from 9:30 - 11 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

HOW TONIGHT COULD ADD UP >>>

The Weekly Volcano scores the press release for the big DJ show tonight at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma:

A Major Tacoma Venue [major - like the Tacoma Dome or Pantages? -2] has given us the green light to host our party there!

Hell's Kitchen [a DJ night at Hell's Kitchen? +3]
928 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA, 98402

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000450153386&sk=wall

This event will be ALL AGES [+2]/21+ w/ ID in the bar section! [booze! +5]

8PM-9PM
aJaX : Electro House
Entropy Group//LSC
Straight out of the North end of Tacoma [breeding ground for awesome DJs +1], Dj aJaX's tougher style of Electro-House [read: mention electro-house promises an event that will be, at the very least, somewhat cosmopolitan: +3] has been heating up club floors in the downtown Seattle area as of late [boo Seattle -1].
http://www.facebook.com/alex.aubry
http://www.soundcloud.com/ajax-6

9PM-10PM
Basscraze: Progressive/Electro House [score another for electro-house +1]
Tap Tap Productions // Lonely Island // Seattle DJ Collective
Busting onto the Northwest like a bat out of hell [reminds us of Meatloaf -1], Joshua Schweigert aka DJ Basscraze has been making massive waves in the Emerald City EDM scene. Armed with exclusive floor-destroying bangers and mashups, his set is sure to leave you both breathless and wondering whether or not you should go out and buy a pregnancy test it's that sexy [indicates environment intimate enough that you might be able to hook up with someone in the bathroom: +3].
http://www.facebook.com/DJBassCraze
http://www.soundcloud.com/djbasscraze

10PM-11PM
The Sauce: Electro/Hard Dance
Lonely Island // Seattle DJ Collective
You ever shuffle so hard that your feet broke? [terrible phrase, inexcusable, the DJ-phrase equivalent of a Bill Cosby sweater: -1] If not, you probably weren't grooving to the right stuff- Michael Danger aka The Sauce has all the right chemistry to make you dance harder than you ever have under the Emerald empire. Hard-fused gritty ass electro shuffle to progressive and fresh dance are all to be expected and promised to be delivered! [exclamation point -1]
Energizing..Beautiful.. you wish your firstborn sounded like this! [-3]
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=40003645

11pm-12AM
Antarctica: Hardstyle [naming yourself after a continent -2]
Sending chills through your flippers and transcending your beating warm hearts into the arctic poles of penguin worshiping, the upcoming rare species of the North West's Penguin King of Hardstyle cannot be missed! [reminds us of the new Jim Carrey film -2] Bringing you his own unique technique & style of "Happy Hardstyle" [made us look it up -1], this DJ will rock the dance floor till you walk home with your grand momma's stroller! [not respecting your elders -1] 2 years in and out of the game with a fan base of over 1500, music indulging & bass loving bobble head fans, you never know who you'll meet when attending one of his shows. Don't let this Penguin King fool you, because behind his frigidly fresh styles, is a warm heart that will lay a pebble at your feet.[no explanation needed -5]
Travel over to the world of Deejay Antarctica - The Penguin King of Hardstyle to experience some fresh bass dropping mixes that will undoubtedly shake your tail feathers. ;-) [keystroke face for a progressive DJ show -1]
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000992837649

12AM-1AM
Jimni Cricket: Happy Hardcore [ha ha ha ha +2]
http://www.facebook.com/annika.anderson

1AM-2AM
Vault: Hands Up [really? Two DJs in a row without snappy description? -1]
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000760028120

Go Go Dancers by: Pro Go Go [now we're talkin' +10]
http://www.facebook.com/Pookiebear.Emilyjo
http://www.facebook.com/ProGoGo
http://www.facebook.com/Progogo1?ref=ts

TOTAL SCORE: 10 POINTS!

[Hell's Kitchen, Saturday, Jan. 7, 8 p.m. to close, all ages, bar with ID, $10, 928 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

SATURDAY, JAN. 7, 2012 >>>

1. The Auburn Performing Arts Center will be one giant party of bagpipes, whistle, fiddle and song when Celtic bands Mollys Revenge and The Town Pants go off at 7 p.m.

2. Today marks the first Saturday of the month, which means it's time again for the monthly Gig Harbor Art Walk from 1-5 p.m. For the uninitiated, the Gig Harbor Art Walk offers art lovers (or non art lovers, for that matter) a chance to take a free, self-guided tour of the many galleries along the Gig Harbor waterfront.

3. Seattle authors Dave O'Leary, Pam Summa and Destini Baxter will read their works from 2-5 p.m. at Mad Hat Tea Company in downtown Tacoma. "Dave O'Leary's debut novel, Horse Bite, offers a heartfelt and thoughtful meditation on love, sex (lots of it), and the ways in which we view the world - and ourselves - differently as we grow older," says Will Allison, author of the New York Times bestseller, Long Drive home.

4. Listen to traditional music from Mexico and learn about the cultural traditions from which it is derived. The group Trío Lucero del Norte, inspired by music from one of the largest and most diverse cultural areas of Mexico, will fill the Tacoma Art Museum with traditional Mexican music at 2 p.m.

5. DJs Broam, Bobby Galaxy and E.S. present "Future Bass" at 9:30 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: This week's freebies

PUCKER UP PEOPLE >>>

For days now, you've been waiting for your posse to come up with a plan for New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, they were waiting for your brilliant plan, and there you are, all gussied up with no place to go when the ball drops. Before you end up watching your mate fall asleep in front of The Twilight Zone marathon, check out the following South Sound events and ideas for this weekend.

5 Things To Do Today: Duh. It's your daily go to click.

Turn it up to a 12: New Year's Eve live music forecast for the South Sound

Get down on it: Dance to a DJ New Year's Eve

First Night Tacoma: The allure of fire

Bar hopping in Olympia: You won't be able to do it much longer

Last meals: Where to eat locally before the zombies arrive

Shocking New Year's Day: Take the plunge

Franciscan Polar Plaza: Skate your way into 2012

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

THURSDAY, DEC. 29, 2011 >>>

1. Looking at Allan Boothe and hearing him sing are two completely different things. To see him, he's a tall, handsome guy with a goofy laugh and an affable manner, but to see him perform is to see a bundle of nerves. As Humble Cub, Boothe is buoyed by a bed of choppy, layered sound, which serves to carry his nerviness through into something resembling indie pop. But when he performs, all of the tics and eccentricities stand front and center. Catch Boothe tonight at the New Frontier Lounge along with Oh Dear!, Belmont Whips and Not From Brooklyn. And tomorrow catch the full-on Humble Cub at the New Frontier with James Hilborne and the Painkillers.

2. You know where you wont find Tim Tebow tonight? The Tempest Lounge on Tacoma's Hilltop, where "Religious As Hell" will offer up a dance night of post punk, Goth, dark wave and shoegaze.

3. The always entertaining Billy Roy Danger & the Rectifiers will be at Stonegate Pizza tonight. Start your weekend a wee-bit early with a trip down to South Tacoma Way.

4. Unless you're some kind of stiff, you like to laugh. And people in Tacoma who like to laugh seem to enjoy Nate Jackson's Super Funny Comedy Show, which happens every Thursday at the Varsity Grill on Broadway.

5. In Olympia, DJ Drastic spins at Jezebels. In rough and tumble Lacey, gyrate to DJ Kewlaid at The Play Pen.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight

LINK: This week's freebies

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Weather Chat: It's going to get interesting. (News Tribune)

HOT Lanes: It's the ol' overhead costs distribution story. (News Tribune)

Depressing Shopping Experience: Sears Holding Corp. to close 100 to 120 Kmart, Sears stores. (USA Today)

Protests In Syria: Arab League monitors arrived in the battered Syrian city of Homs today amid reports of security force gunfire and massive anti-regime demonstrations. (CNN)

Russia Election: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dismisses calls for a review of disputed parliamentary election results, despite mass demonstrations. (BBC)

Too Much Free Time: Coffee poster. (Column Five Media)

Too Much Free Time II: Eighties film alphabet. (Flavorpill)

Could We See This At The Tempest Lounge?: DJ Robotarm. (Crackajack)

Too Much Holiday Spirits?: Swimmers take icy plunge around the world. (MSNBC)

End Of The Year Lists: Bands we lost this year. (Stereogum)

MONDAY, DEC. 26, 2011 >>>

1. The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation Award is a big deal. Being nominated is an honor bestowed by one's peers, and being chosen as the award recipient is an even greater honor. It's just about the biggest award granted to local artists. The nominees this year were: Jennifer Adams, Sean Alexander, Nick Butler, Lynn Di Nino, Oliver Dorris, Kristin Giordano, Ellen Ito, Matt Johnson, Rick Lawson, Nicholas Nyland, Elise Richman, Peter Serko and this year's winner, Jessica Spring. Spring is the founder of locally-based Springtide Press. Her piece for the Foundation Award, titled "Ingrained," is an art book created on handmade paper made from ancient Western red cedar logs and printed with poetry written by Spring. The pages hang from a display rack similar to those used by stores to display flooring. Today, check out Spring's works and others from the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation Award show at the Chamber of Commerce Building at 11^th and Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma. And for more insight, find Alec Clayton's full feature, click here.

2. One of the best names in Tacoma hip-hop, EvergreenOne, along with the Sandlot Hip-Hop Collective, will bust out the jams tonight at Hell's Kitchen.

3. Usually on Mondays you get wasted on Jager Bombs at Jazzbones then break into the rockaroake. Tonight, do what everything you usually do - only do it under the title of a "Night After Christmas Party." Awesome.

4. Chris Stevens & The Surf Monkeys will drop in on The Swiss in Tacoma for a free show starting at 8 p.m.

5. Get in on the party during Micro Monday with DJ Melodica at Magoo's Annex --  and expand your musical horizons and knowledge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight

SATURDAY, DEC. 24, 2011 >>>

1. It's Christmas Eve (finally, finally, finally).  Having exhausted all financial resources barring the sale of various vital organs or offspring, you drive the streets, dejected, unsure of what to do now.  You venture into Spanaway, and you see stars - white stars, red stars, blue stars, in fact all sorts of colored lights. It's Peace on Earth. Your mouth forms a wondrous "Oh." You reach out for your loved one's hand. He/she slaps it and tells you to stop being so sarcastic.   It seems to be coming from Spanaway Park.  Yes, you're sure of it.  Well, God bless us, everyone, it's Fantasy Lights.  From 5:30-9 p.m. the whole park is one big ol' jolly drive-through light display, animated mind you.  The windows fog up.  OK, we have to stop there.

2. Several local theater companies stage 2 p.m. holiday shows, including Tacoma Little Theatre's A Christmas Carol, Capital Playhouse's Scrooge: the Musical and Harlequin Poductions's Stardust Serenade.

3. The Tempest Lounge will be open 4-9 p.m. with favorite Christmas TV classics on the screens and plenty of free hot cocoa and cider to the kids.

4. Christmas Eve is typically reserved for plenty of things - baking cookies for Santa, wrapping last minute gifts, sitting alone drinking the pain away - but there's nothing that says seeing Myles Crew perform ‘70s classic pop rock and Jimmy Buffett-ish tunes at the Hub can't be on that list. Even better? Watching Crew while wearing an ugly-ass holiday sweater. Yup, the Hub has added an Ugly Sweater Contest with cash prizes to its annual Christmas Prefunk Party. Two dollar pints of Harmon brew add to the excitement. The party begins at 7 p.m.

5. Jazzbones on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue hosts a Drummer Vs. DJ battle featuring DJ Switch and Wiggles beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Santa Says Blog

ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS >>>

For a few of you, on the second day of Christmas your true love will give you two turtledoves.

Nice.

You can put them in the back bedroom with the awesome partridge and the pear tree you scored this morning.

The Weekly Volcano would never discount turtledoves, but tickets to catch DJ Donald Glaude spin at The Swiss tomorrow would be a much cooler gift

Lakewood's Donald Glaude(he now lives in Los Angeles) was playing gigs in the South Sound long before he became famous in Miami, New York and European clubs. The Lakes High School graduate cut his chops at underground warehouse raves during the late ‘80s in Lakewood, Tacoma and Seattle. Playing a highly infectious blend of house and breaks, Glaude is an all-around entertainer rather than a typical stoic spinner: He screams, he pumps his fists and invites the ladies to dance around his decks.

Such antics set Glaude's show apart from those of his peers.

Every late December, Glaude returns home to spin before friends and local fans. Tomorrow, he will spin at The Swiss with buddies DJs Flave, Omarvelous and Paul Wheeler.

A Glaude show is always a stone groove. We're sure this one will be, too.

[The Swiss, Thursday, Dec. 15, 9 p.m., $5 before 10:30 p.m., $10 after, 1904 Jefferson Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2821.

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

TUESDAY, NOV. 29, 2011 >>>

1.Hey! Guess what? The Rafael Tranquilino Band plays Stonegate Pizza every Tuesday night! Get in on the rockin' action tonight.

2. Billed as the region's biggest walk-through light show, ZooLights at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium includes animated light sculptures, live entertainment, snacks, animal encounters and the Paul Titus Carousel. ZooLights runs through Jan. 1, but there's no reason you can't cross it off your bucket list tonight. ZooLights runs from 5 - 9 p.m.

3. Get your groove on tonight in Parkland. DJ Adam Ant spins during "Twisted Tuesday" at Lady Luck Cowgirl Up, offering Top 40 action and karaoke. The good times start at 9 p.m. Or, if you're looking for something more, peruse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. Tacoma's Backstage Bar & Grill has stormed onto the scene - quickly becoming this town's go-to location for nostalgic drunken fun and devil horns. Tonight witness the awesomeness of a "DJ & Drummer Duo Battle," featuring DJ Switch and Chris Dahl. Magic starts at 9:30 p.m.

5. The Royal Lounge in Olympia offers a Comedy Lounge night every Tuesday, featuring an open-mic from 9-9:30 p.m. and headlining comics from 9:30 - 11 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight