MICHAEL SWAN: IN IPOD THEY TRUST >>>

In lower-tech, pre-CDR/iPod days, mix tapes were as convenient as High Fidelity Hallmark cards. The love was in the effort required for someone to sit down and record a tape of songs they think you had to hear or that, sigh, remind them of you. Then again, there was conceit in forcing friends to hear 90 minutes of your favorite songs. And don’t forget the inherent laziness of the lovelorn mixer’s borrowing, even thieving, of another person’s expression, not to mention their butchering or misinterpreting the intent of the song (ever had a song about a horse dedicated to you? Creepy).

I'm sure it's with a measure of all of these things â€" but with the emphasis on the mixer’s good intentions â€" that the Tempest Lounge launches iPod Tuesdays.

The hilltop lounge wants you to bring in your iPod or mp3 player every Tuesday. After you give them your playlist, they'll put your inner DJ on display.

It's a first plugin, first serve operation.

Tuesdays are also Industry Night at the Tempest. All Industry folks will receive happy hour pricing all night long, such as $5 tostados. Hey, maybe your first song on your iPod should be "Taco Flavoured Kisses" as sung by J Lo on South Park:

Maybe not.

[Tempest Lounge, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., 913 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.272.4904]

RON SWARNER:IT'S GONNA BE LIVE FRIDAY NIGHT >>>

Inspired by the lack of variety in dance music in Tacoma, Calvin Murphy and Omar Stokes founded Ocean Grooves Entertainment in January 1999. They started off strong that February with Monday night shows at the 6th & Proctor Bar & Grill (now Hell’s Kitchen) and dedicated it to underground dance music â€" showcasing various DJs from Seattle, plus Tacoma favorites such as Donald Glaude and DJ dAb.

Over the past 10 years Ocean Grooves has held regular nights in all the major Tacoma clubs, spinning underground techno and introducing the likes of DJ Cyphers, Mr. Clean, J. Fresh, Jason Diamond, Sonic MC, Charles Feelgood and DJ Flave to sweaty bodies working off frosty beverages.

Friday, Ocean Grooves throws 10 candles on the cake, and Glaude, Omar and dAb behind the turntables, for a party Tacoma hasn’t seen since, well, Ocean Grooves’ ninth anniversary.

Congrats Calvin and crew.

[The Swiss, Friday, Aug. 7, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., $10, 1904 S. Jefferson Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2821]

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, JULY 13, 2009 >>>

1. There really is nothing like watching acrobatic Mexican warriors in colorful masks beat the crap out of each other in the name of justice. Especially if you can drink beer, win prizes and feast on free popcorn while you're watching. This dream, if you dare, can be a reality for all of you as the Tacoma Cult Movie Club unleashes a barrage of bad movies under the banner of the Lucha Libre at 7 p.m. at the Acme Grub Cage in Tacoma.

2. DJ Jason Diamond spins roots reggae during The New Frontier Lounge's Rebel Monday at 9 p.m.

3. DJ Doll Hands spins vintage lady country music at The Brotherhood Lounge around 9 p.m.

4. Billy Farmer will lay down some blues at 10 p.m. at O'Malley's Irish Pub on Sixth Avenue.

5. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones. You know it. You love it.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 >>>

1. J-Fresh mixes and scratches -80s and old school tunes while industry folks get smashed on happy hour prices tonight at Jazzbones.

2. Punk Rock Baseball takes over Jefferson Park from noon to 6 p.m.

3. Tacoma Little Theatre use their revolving stage as a transition device as their production of The Buddy Holly Story flows from one scene to the next beginning at 2 p.m.

4. A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing American love (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results in the flick Easy Virtue on The Grand Cinema's screen at 12:35, 2:30, 4:45, 7 and 9:10 p.m.

5. Rod Cook & Toast play a free show at The Spar in Old Town Tacoma at 7 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events

MICHAEL SWAN: TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2009 >>>

1. Muckleshoot Casino hosts L80's Night (get it?) featuring That 80's Show Impersonator Variety Show beginning at 9:30 p.m.

2. Artist Jen Elek spends the day in the Museum of Glass' Hot Shop beginning at 10 a.m.

3. Nicholas Nyland's show at mineral consists of one ambitious three-dimensional work and about a dozen smaller and more modest wall hanging paintings and sculptures.

4. Rare documents and medical equipment help uncover a century's development of nursing in Washington as part of the Nurses at Your Service: A Century of Caring exhibit at the Washington State History Museum.

5. It's Ha Ha Tuesday night at Jazzbones and host Ralph Porter welcomes guest comic Dave Testero at 8 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

RON SWARNER: OUR HIP-HOP IS RIGHTEOUS >>>

Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. writes a South Sound hip-hop column on the Weekly Volcano's Web site every Thursday titled "Live From I-5: Hip-Hop in the 25360." The shit is way over my head. Gutierrez knows what's down, especially in Olympia where he hosts and produces Live From I-5 with Luvva J Fridays from 3-5 p.m. on KAOS. He's had that gig since 1989.

This year KAOS awarded Gutierrez with its Programmer’s Award as Overall Best Radio Show.

We're lucky to have him.

Check out his column this week. He goes off on Joe Budden, among other things.

As DJ Luvva J, he performs regularly in Olympia. Check out his schedule here.

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009 >>>

2. It's Monster Metal Mondays with Lenore, Immiserate, Boston Strangler at Hell's Kitchen beginning at 8 p.m.

3. Blues jam hosted by Borrowed Time- Neil Fallen, Doug Skoog, Curtis Smith, Paul Buck and Billy Barner â�" begins at 8:30 p.m. Maggie O'Toole's in Lakewood.

4. The documentary Earth, a feature-length spin-off of the BBC series Planet Earth, screens at The Grand Cinema.

5. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight in the South Sound

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2009 >>>

1. DJ Jason Diamond spins roots reggae at 9 p.m. as part of The New Frontier Lounge's free "Rebel Monday" night.

2. Chandler O'Leary's To The Letter show at the Collins Memorial Library on the UPS campus.

3. Centered around the book Tacoma is reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: "Around the Kitchen Table" is a community conversation about the food we eat beginning at 7 p.m. inside the Olympic Room at the Tacoma Public Library's downtown branch.

4. Brightwood, Sleep For Sleepers, Span The Circuit, Alpine Vista and Dewey Lybecker perform at an all-ages show at The Viaduct.

5. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight in the South Sound

MICHAEL SWAN: KEEP HAPPY, SUNSHINE THOUGHTS ALIVE TONIGHT >>>

When he’s not molding glass or hanging at his Fulcrum Gallery genreless DJ Broam, aka Oliver Doriss, is spinning somewhere in town. He drops beats, bleeps, and some unexpected treats to ensure that the groove gets on. Tonight, Broam’s groove won’t be blasting ears as he helps launch the Pacific Grill’s Lounge @ PG night. More of a mixer than a raging party, Lounge @ PG will offer free hors d'oeuvres, gift cards, a raffle and one free drink for a $10 cover.

[Pacific Grill, 7-11 p.m., $10, 1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, loungeatpg@gmail.com]

PAUL SCHRAG: FAB 5 BUILDS COMMUNITY THROUGH HIP-HOP >>>

Fab 5 â€" a local organization that aims to elevate the community through the mediums contained in hip-hop culture â€" is back to breathe some L.I.F.E. into the city as it kicks off another boot camp for kids who wanna know where to go. The L.I.F.E program, which kicked off last weekend and will run through 10 Saturdays, will take about 20-30 kids through a series of workshops designed to get them up to speed on three of the four heads of hip-hop culture: DJing, graffiti, and breakdancing, along with music production workshops led by producer extraordinaire Ohmega Watts (he’s not a bad MC either).

Each Saturday session will include three hours of education, followed by a group discussion. At the end of the 10-week session, Fab-5 staff will help students plan and execute their own jam, "Four for the Finish." All aspects of the event will be organized and planned by the students, featuring live mural painting, a student/instructor break dance battle and a student DJ showcase. Like the Zen masters, Fab-5 father Eddie Sumlin hopes to teach these kids, who average about 12 years old, more than the hip-hop skills curriculum.

“We’re bringing kids together from all over Tacoma,” says Sumlin, adding that classes are open to people of all ages. “We’ll have people from the eastside, northside, Hilltop and Stadium. We really want to make this about community organizing. We’ll be planning an entire event from start to finish.”

True to the art and culture they’re teaching, the goal of the L.I.F.E. program goes beyond the skills employed. All of the skills, once learned, will be channeled into a fund raiser of some sort, says Sumlin. He hopes that by working together, students of L.I.F.E. will learn that, to quote Dead Prez, it’s bigger than hip-hop.

“When they leave this class, we want them to know how to bring people together for a cause. Most of these kids will be like twelve. When they’re sixteen, we want to see what they can do with all of this,” says Sumlin. “We want them to know that they have a voice, and let them know that they can come together and make an impact. As instructors, that’s our favorite element. We want to make moves outside of just making art.”

Oh, but the moves are likely to be worth watching. Fab 5 crew has assembled a solid team to introduce these kids to the elements of the game. Ohmega Watts, who got started in New York and made a name with Lightheaded crew, is a master in the studio. Watts and the kiddies will have access to all the equipment they could ever want, including a full recording studio. DJ Save One, J Fresh and Reign will handle decks lessons. Would-be bboys and bgirls will have the fortune of being taught by members of Tacoma’s own Dancebroomz. Little street artists, and big ones, will get plenty of spray paint, and will receive instructions from some fine local writers. Graffiti students will also have a microchip implanted in their skulls that will inhibit them from using spray paint for any purpose that doesn’t involve commerce and proper permitting. Not really. But this isn’t just going to teach kids how to spray paint. Students will learn color theory, fundamentals of visual design, typography and more.

“We’re not one-dimensional with any of this,” says Sumlin.