SATURDAY, AUG. 14, 2010 >>>

1. Mineral gallery (Suite A) celebrates the opening of its Access Denied: the Second Annual Exhibit of Chastity Belts by Artists from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Next door to Mineral at 301 Puyallup Avenue (Suite B) be sure to peek at Don't Look, a boudoir vignette by Madera Architectural Elements members. AND next to both in Suite C are watercolors by Val Persoon. We wrote something awkward on these shows here.

2. Meet South Tacoma book author Darlyne Reiter, Chat with railroad historian Jim Fredrickson about Northern Pacific Railway and the South Tacoma Shops, walk through the business district with architectural historian Gerald Eysaman, tour historic Oakwood Hill Cemetery and Columbarium with Bill Habermann, view a trove of stained glass and learn about South Park Historic District from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. beginning at Northwest Motor Scooters.

3. The Red Hot celebrates its third birthday with an outdoor beer garden, giveaways and good times from 1-11 p.m.

4. MovinN 92.5 FM invades SAX Restaurant's "Fuzion" dance party night giving the Fuzion Girls a little more to shake at beginning at 9 p.m.

5. Don't you miss the '90s? The local stars of that decade are now coming back with a vengence and The Speans are a prime example. The band joins C.F.A. and Basemint for a benefit show for Music and Art in Wright Park at 9 p.m. inside The New Frontier Lounge. Read up on the show here.

LINK: Concerts go on sale today

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 11, 2010 >>>

1. The Whateverly Brothers  - Chris Glannister, Matthew Moeller, Dan Roberts - will offer homemade three-layer harmonies with instrumental frosting at 7 p.m. inside A Rhapsody In Bloom Florist & Cafe Latte on Sixth Avenue. The question is, will they sing "All I Have to Do Is Whatever"?

2. The Tacoma Food Co-op presents a free screening of the film Food, Inc. at 6 p.m. inside Rausch Auditorium on the University of Puget Sound campus.

3. The Tacoma Concert Band continues on its two-county tour of parks with a stop at Olympia's Sylvester Park at 7 p.m. to pump out some J.S. Bach, Alfred Reed, Richard Wagner, John Philip Sousa and other great composers past and present for the Hackey Sackers.

4. Cotton Jones, Parson Red Head and Quiet Life play an all-ages show at 7 p.m. inside Northern.

5. Best of Tacoma 2010 DJ dAb joins DJ Sticky J for a night of house music beginning at 9 p.m. at the Surreal Ultra Lounge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

MONDAY, AUG. 2, 2010 >>>

1. Here's an event specifically designed to turn that frown upside down. We're talking, of course, about puppets! Puppeteers will stick their hands into it for tales of Moby Dick, Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid and a host of piratical puppet players from Robert L. Stevenson's Treasure Island at 11 a.m. inside Swan Creek Library. If you can't find anything to entertaining about puppets, well ... then ... there's always Blockbuster.

2. Singer Maia Santell hooks up with Gary Crooks on guitar and Steve Luceno on upright bass for an evening of jazz and blues at the Harmon Brewery and Eatery beginning at 7 p.m.

3. Designed for bartenders, waiters, waitresses, or anyone looking for a late weeknight of bowling, food, beer, socializing and fun, Chalet Bowl in the Proctor District hosts "Hip Night for Hospitality Professionals" under the glow lights from 9-11 p.m. Our guess is there will be some stepping over the line tonight!

4. Hot off the decks at the Best of Tacoma 2010 Premiere Party, DJ Darren Selector will spin Tacoma indie rock and underground hits at The New Frontier Lounge beginning at 9 p.m.

5. Jason Diamond and buds spin roots reggae during Rebel Monday/Industry Night inside O'Malley's Irish Pub beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010 >>>

1. The Weekly Volcano's Best of Tacoma 2010 issue – in amazing 3-D - hits the streets tomorrow. To celebrate, we'll be throwing a massive Best of Tacoma 2010 Premiere Party tonight at 6 p.m. inside Masa (on the deck, too!). The shindig includes $1,800 in door prizes, free Weekly Volcano T-shirts, DJ Darren Selector, emcees Doug Mackey and Kris "Save Our Sonics" Brennon, games, Steph DeRosa's 3 Drink Minimum live (!), plus your first chance to pick up the Best of Tacoma 2010 issue – a day before it's on the streets. Also, editor Matt Driscoll will probably have too many margaritas and say something embarrassing.

2. The Summer Business Expo loaded with opportunities to network will run from 5-8 p.m. inside the Soccer Center in Tacoma - without any opportunity to watch Steph DeRosa perform "3 Drink Minimum" live as she will at the Best of Tacoma 2010 Party at Masa.

3. The Food For Thought Book Club will meet at 6:30 p.m. inside the Garfield Book Company to discuss cookbooks, recipes, watch cooking demonstration and daydream about being at the Best of Tacoma 2010 Party at Masa where they could drink discounted Hurricane drinks.

4. Danny Vernon's Illusions Of Elvis show will be staged outdoors at 6:30 p.m. in Steilacoom's Pioneer Park. You will not hear music by South Sound bands as you will at the Best of Tacoma 2010 Party at Masa.

5. Hell's Kitchen hosts the Puget Sound Mixtape Vol. 1 Release party at 9 p.m. featuring live performances by Rockwell Powers, Josh Rizeberg, MC Gigahertz, J.Bre, Darxiide, $krilla, Greg Double, Whikid, The Realest, AKA, Adonis Delirious, Golden Brown Ent., Mac Wayne, Dru Filthy, Uncle Moo, AR Mastermind, Gamble and D.Rocc - but certainly no free Weekly Volcano T-shirts, which we'll be giving away at the Best of Tacoma 2010 Party at Masa.

LINK: Did you hear there's a party tonight?

MONDAY, JULY 26, 2010 >>>

1. The film The Girl who Played with Fire screens at 3:10, 6 and 8:40 inside The Grand Cinema.

2. The diverse, natural work of local artists Gail E. Kelley and William Mitchell can be seen in the Abstracts of Nature show from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. inside the Pierce College Fine Arts Gallery.

3. Artist Ethan Stern is in the Museum of Glass Hot Shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

4. The Doug Skoog Band fills The Swiss with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

5. DJ Darren Selector spins Tacoma indie rock and underground hits at 9 p.m. inside The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2010 >>>

1. Treypac, Sierra Rae, Horse Bodies and Pizza T's Z-Kamp play a 7 p.m. all-ages show at Northern in Olympia.

2. Vetri Glass and the Hilltop Artists in Residence have teamed up to provide Hilltop students an experience with the business side of the art world. Dylan Buffler and Chris Downing are the two dedicated artists selected for this season's exhibition. Check out their work from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Vetri Glass on Dock Street in Tacoma.

3. Joey Jewell performs a tribute to Frank & Dean beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Steilacoom's Pioneer Park.

4. Filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys trace the stories and evolution of five combat veterans of five different American wars in their film, The Good Soldier, screening at 7 p.m. inside King's Books.

5. Your Girlfriend's Favorite DJ spins during Masa Comida Mexicana's College Night at 10 p.m. while you sip rum and Cokes alone in the corner wishing you paid more attention in Communications 101 class.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

INVITATION TO FREELANCE WRITERS >>>

The Weekly Volcano is currently looking for freelance writers to cover the dating and nightlife scenes of the South Sound, for a new section soon to debut in the paper. Ideal candidates will posses exceptional writing skills, be extremely observant and posses the ability to transfer those observations successfully to paper, and be familiar with the nightlife/dance/DJ scene in the South Sound - from Federal Way to Tacoma to Gig Harbor to Olympia. Candidates will need to be able to regularly visit the clubs and singles' nightspots in the area, and capture the essence of these nights and events for our readers. The position is freelance, and it pays a per word rate plus expense reimbursement. Ideal candidates will also not mind writing for a section of the paper to be called "Meat Market," which along with useful information for those in the single scene, will regularly feature butcher profiles and steamy steak pics.

Finally, ideal candidates will immediately realize that all this "ideal candidate" corporate-speak makes us super-uncomfortable. Sorry about that. We were really drunk when we wrote it.

Send resumes, cover letters, and at least three writing samples to Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll at editor@weeklyvolcano.com

MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010 >>>

1. Heralded for its trippiness and cheesy special effects, Hausu, or House, has been restored, newly subtitled and re-released in the United States by Janus Films for for an 8:30 p.m. screening of feline-fearing, mirror-smashing, random plot detouring (look out for the ramen bear) wackiness inside The Grand Cinema. The goofy ghost story centers on "Gorgeous" and her group of giddy teenage girlfriends who summer vacation at Gorgeous' wheelchair-bound aunt's country house, only to encounter cackling severed heads, a man transformed into fruit, a killer piano, and the meanest house cat of all time.

2. Trinda Love's painting are rich textured images with a variety of subjects that are made with the palette knife rather than a brush. Check them out from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mary Boze Gallery inside the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Tacoma.

3. The Graphic Novel Book Club discuss Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud at 7 p.m. inside the book-themed 1022 South lounge in Tacoma.

4. The Jerry Miller Band will play The Swiss at 8 p.m.

5. Grit Rock Monday at The New Frontier Lounge features DJ Darren Selectors pinning Tacoma indie rock and underground hits beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LIVE MUSIC AND DJS TODAY IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

DJS: What makes us happiest about The Mix's Official Pride Block Party that kicks off at Tacoma's gayest gay bar at 2 p.m directly following Out in the Park? One phrase: "The banana hammocks are back." That's right, apparently the Jager boys will be in the house, in addition to DJ Shaggy, MRDJ and DJ Xade, not to mention hosts Taylor Couture, Empress 28 Jerrica, and Destiny. This is going to be so fabulous we might just explode. Saturday, July 10, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., $5, 635 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, themixtacoma.com

BLUES:The annual Tacoma Old Town Blues Festival will take over, well, Old Town today, filling stages throughout the picturesque area - from the Spar to the Slavonian Hall to Old Town Park - with the blues, as provided by the likes of Little Bill and the Bluenotes, Maia Santell, Mojo Overload, Dana Lupinacci Band, Jr. Hill Blues Band, The Hip Replacements, Eddie Gillan's Red Roosters, Champagne Sunday, Mark DuFresne, Annieville Blues, Blues Redemption, AEK Blues Band, The Careless Hunters, The New Blues Brothers, T-Town Aces and many more. Sure, it's supposed to be hot as hell this weekend, but nothing beats the heat like a heaping helping of America's true music. The day begins with the famous BluesBerry pancake breakfast featuring music by Mark DuFresne with Annieville Blues. Saturday, July 10, starts at 9:30 a.m., $20 all day pass, $5 single shows, Old Town park performances are free, North 30^th Street, Tacoma, tacomaoldtownbluesfest.net 

PUNK/HIP-HOP: Scott Hissem and his art collective Visualize Tacoma will gather artists James Hume, Glewcifer (Laurie Anne Glew), Mandy Vondeadly (Mandy Lundell), Elvis Christ, Elizabeth Labouve - and brutalpinktutu - toss in Seattle punk rockers The Triple Sixes, Tacoma's hip-hoppers the Revengers and DJ Machine_Logic, then add food, drinks and billiards for the "Some Things Don't Have To Make Sense" party inside Malarkey's. Saturday, July 10, 9 p.m., no cover, Malarkey's Pool and Brew, 445 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma. 

LINK: More live music and DJs in the South Sound

NEW DANCE CLUB TO OPEN ON SIXTH AVENUE >>>

The Weekly Volcano drools when we see paper-covered windows in vacant buildings and storefronts; it means something new for Tacoma. Case in point: the Sixth Avenue space that formerly housed Hell's Kitchen. Behind those papered windows the Gruv Lounge & Nightclub owner Jason Rim and crew are building Tacoma's new dance spot.

Long time DJ promoter and co-owner of Ocean Grooves Entertainment Calvin Murphy will be the general manager for the Gruv Lounge & Nightclub. Last week, he confirmed the nightclub would primarily be a DJ oriented electronica music venue with the occasional jazz and other live acts. Murphy was a bit hush-hush on specific acts, but did share electro-mash up, reggae, dubstep, break beats, house, salsa and more would be heard seven nights a week.

"Saturdays are always going to have house music," Murphy promised adamantly.

The building's previous lay-out has been gutted and tailored to the new Gruv featuring elevated DJ booth, raised main stage, hardwood dance floor, private rentable karaoke rooms and VIP suites with bottle service, coat check, and artwork by Jeremy Gregory and other local artists.

Read more...