THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Partly sunny, hi 46, lo 33

Saturday: Partly sunny, hi 43, lo 34

Sunday: Partly sunny, noticing a pattern here, hi 55, lo 38

>>> THURSDAY, DEC. 2-FRIDAY, DEC. 3: THE CASH FLOW SHOW III

This year marks Cash Flow Show III, but the package is as tight as ever. Local artists you know and love, slinging a bounty of artistic goodness priced at $25 or less, will set up shop and give you an even better-than-normal excuse to skip the malls: Help Grit City's creative types enjoy a holiday season that includes more than pocket lint and Top Ramen. Because, you know, you're supporting their work with actual money. It's a win-win.

• Mad Hat Tea Company, 1130 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.441.2111

>>> SATURDAY, DEC. 4: DOXOLOGY

The Revolution is coming. No, I'm not talking about when anarchy takes control, the roads devolve into some sort of Mad Max scenario and R.R. Anderson finally gets the recognition he deserves; rather, I'm talking about Doxology's new record, The Revolution, which the band will officially celebrate the release of Saturday at Jazzbones. Always, ALWAYS a crowd pleaser, there's simply no reason Doxology's brand of ear-friendly, modern, new school pop rock shouldn't steal the show and carry the night. Put simply, Doxology, led by frontman Luke McPherson, is the kind of band the ultra-cool may not have the balls to endorse, but there's no doubt the band has mastered its craft and has all the tools necessary to sweat up the dance floor. Expect a lot of bodies, and a lot of new tunes from a band Tacoma has shown definite affection for in the past. 

• Jazzbones, with Roman Holiday, 8 p.m., $10-$12, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169

>>> SATURDAY, DEC.4-SUNDAY, DEC. 5: SOUNDS OF THE SEASON

Fight as you may, it's officially "the season." Kids are already sitting on various Santa laps at malls across the country, and A Christmas Story is probably already re-running on TBS. The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will spend Saturday and Sunday at the Pantages Theater doling out "beloved" seasonal music, a few "familiar classics" and a maxed-out credit card full of sing-along enjoyment for the whole family. Here's one holiday favorite undeserving of a bah humbug.

• Pantages Theater, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, $24-$77, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.5890

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

MATT DRISCOLL Editor (aka - the guy to blame)
So much to do, so little time ... We've got a birthday party for a four year old to attend Saturday afternoon - which jibes nicely with the Apple Cup, let me tell you what. The parents at our fancy preschool just don't give football the respect it deserves. After that, we'll Christmas tree hunt, purchase pallets of stuff at Costco, run to Fife so I can buy cigarettes, write letters to Santa, avoid the malls, and generally lay low - in no particular order. Sunday evening I'll be stopping by the Northwest Convergence Zone Podcast to catch up with Darrell Fortune and the gang once again - my monthly appearance on the show to pimp the Cup Check column.

RON SWARNER Publisher
Friday night I'll hangout with tattoo types at the Blue Mouse Theatre getting loaded on rum punch and learning about the life of Sailor Jerry, the aesthetic vanguard who valued and embraced the mastery of Japanese tattooing. Saturday, after I wrestle with outdoor Christmas lights, the Lovely Kate and I will check out Kim Archer at Maxwell's Speakeasy, then head over to the Girl Trouble Christmas Show at the New Frontier to see how the holiday season is treating KP's physique. I hope the band will hurl Wig Out magazines into the crowd. Sunday, I'll drop by the Friends of the Holidays show at The Swiss.

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY Features Writer
Friday, I'll probably be seeing Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry at the Blue Mouse. It is advertised as being 21+, which I hope means that there will be lots of rum available. Afterward, I'll hustle (pun!) on down to the New Frontier for the Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside show. She was a definite highlight at Squeak & Squawk, so I'm excited to see her again. As for the rest of the weekend, I can assure you that booze will be involved.

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
This Saturday my baby boy is turning five! Lots of craziness going down at Chuck E Cheeses. Cake, pizza, creepy mechanical rock show, and the newest edition - a booth where the birthday kid can try and catch as many flying tickets as possible. If I survive the birthday bash, Sunday promises an adult shindig worth celebrating! My work X-mas party - where fancy clothes, family style Italian dinner, red wine and secret Santas all come together in a glorious gathering of love and mayhem. Cheers!

JOANN VARNELL Theater Critic
After my first 3 days of post maternity-leave work I'll be attending the Beautiful Angle holiday party/fundraiser at King's books on Friday night. Then I plan to sit with my son by the fire, drink cider and bask in the glow of Christmas tree lights. Also on the docket is a nap, shopping for our annual Christmas tree ornaments and pretending I'm just a wee more exciting.

JENNIFER JOHNSON: Lifestyle/Leisure Writer
A Christmas Carol at ACT Theatre in Seattle Friday. Saturday morning I'm taking advantage of free admission for Bank of America account holders day at Tacoma Art Museum followed by violin holiday concert and Festival of the Nativity that night. Sunday I'll go back to TAM for a little bit of Winterfest before heading to church.

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
Well, Weekly Volcano, I'm glad you asked.  I have two rehearsals for TLT's Frost/Nixon this week, as I'm playing Bob Zelnick.  Friday is my girlfriend's office Christmas party, so I plan to behave myself (at least more than her boss).  Saturday I'm seeing Blood Relations in the Midnight Sun, and Sunday afternoon it's off to OLT for Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Correspondent
I will be out and about with the kiddos with a possible trip to the Blue Mouse Theater Saturday to see "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole."

STEPH DEROSA Columnist
I am so busy this weekend that there is a possibility my head will explode.  Friday night Kate Swarner and I will be prepping gingerbread houses on Joint Base Lewis-McChord for the Children's Museum of Tacoma's annual Gingerbread Jamboree.  Saturday Kate and I will return bright and early with our friend Lindsey to JBLM for a day full of frosting, candy, and glorious gingerbread house decorating with families who have loved ones out of the country for the holidays.  Saturday evening we will attend yet another birthday party (I should buy stock in Barbies), and Sunday my family will be attending the original Gingerbread Jamboree at Hotel Murano without me because I will be workin' at my favorite beer store, 99 Bottles!  I'm hoping to annoy my new 99 Bottles co-workers by overusing the beer phrase "brew-ha-ha".  Let's see how long it takes.

ALEC CLAYTON: Columnist
Going to see "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at Lakewood Playhouse.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

THURSDAY, SEPT. 9, 2010 >>>

1. The Mad Hat Tea Company hosts An Arrogance of Continuity, an evening of art that reflects on how fragile and delicate the world around us actually is - from 7-10 p.m.

2. Blackbird Pie performs at 10:30 a.m. at the Tacoma Farmers Market in downtown Tacoma.

3. Fulcrum Gallery closes out Mathew M Johnson's Impersonal Portraits charcoal and watercolor show with a hosted chat by Johnson, music by Pete Magneson, poetry by Denise Jolly and more beginning at 6 p.m.

4. The Spittin' Cobras, Witchburn, Plaster and All Bets On Death rock Hell's Kitchen at 8 p.m.

5. Bingo at BJ's in Fife is usually for old folks. There isn't any appeal for younger audiences, except hoping to score some quick cash for those new bitchin' car speakers. BJ's wants to change this. Tonight at 11 p.m. they'll instigate Cosmic Bingo. Picture dance music from a bumpin' DJ, neon lights and fast-paced, low-risk gambling. Your grandma probably could't keep up with this bingo - unless she's cool and not prone to seizures.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

Dear City of Fife,

Your easy truck access to Port of Tacoma makes driving difficult and scary next to huge 18-wheelers as I leave my little hidden residential Fife hilltop every morning. 

You give me delicious sushi by means of Sapporo Sushi and Teriyaki off Pacific Highway, and true dive bar awesomeness in The Right Spot behind the Poodle Dog, but not much else when it comes to dining and entertainment.

I appreciate how you've alleviated traffic going to your grand Emerald Queen Casino, but I don't gamble, so that doesn't help me.

Thank you for FINALLY beginning road expansion on Valley Avenue, it was about damn time you did something with all that money you've been collecting from the businesses along 70th.  Now as for the traffic cameras, I'm not quite OK with that yet - but we can talk later.

Fife, I love your police officers, I really, really do.  They've helped me with my (2) tickets, always being professional and friendly.  There was even that one time my car was mauled by an 18-wheeler at a stoplight - the officer was beyond approachable.

It's a love/hate thing I have with you, Fife.  I love to love you, yet you give me reasons to hate you. Example? Oh, sure. How about RESTAURANT DEPOT? C'mon, Fife!  Opening up this famous and popular culinary delight on May 12, right here in Fife?  It's torture!  Only restaurants can shop there, and I don't own a restaurant. How am I supposed to sneak my way in?

Torture!

Guess I'll have to be crafty with this one.  But just watch, I'll find my way inside - you can count on it.

Can't ticket me for admiring a grocery store from afar.

Steph DeRosa

STEPH DEROSA: IT'S BASICALLY RAW FISH >>>

Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant
Poki Salad
Price: $16.99
Rating: Four out of four croutons
 

Is it a good thing or a bad thing when you can walk into a restaurant and they know you by name? As I place my to-go orders, pick up my meals, or simply sit belly up to the sushi bar, they remember me and treat me as family. I feel like a star! But just as my head begins to expand, and my ego creates its own zip code, I realize the gritty truth: They know everyone’s name, not just mine. Dammit. I think in the case of Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant on Pacific Highway in Fife, this treatment given to all guests reflects their strong family values, one of the many reasons they are still thriving after being open more than a decade.

Description: There’s no messing around and covering up the fact that you’re eating raw fish when it comes to Sapporo’s Poki Salad. They lay it all on the line with bite-sized, yet substantial chunks of tuna, white tuna, and salmon. The cold, fresh fish trifecta is tossed amongst iceberg lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, and radish sprouts. Lightly glazing it all is a citrus-based Ponzu sauce consisting of rice wine vinegar, lemon, and chili pepper. (Don’t worry; the chilies add no heat to this dish whatsoever, just flavor.) Sapporo’s Poki Salad is garnished with sushi rice that includes light rice vinegar and seaweed sprinkles, along with pickled ginger and wasabi as condiment garnishes.

Taste: Seeing as how Sapporo’s Poki Salad costs upwards of $17, I consider it a rare treat to be able to consume its fulfilling contents. A perfect balance of sweet and sour comes with the rice vinegar, while my own addition of wasabi into every bite adds that perfect kick I’ve conditioned myself into needing in order to survive. Every bite is clean, savory, and rewarding. Textures collide with soft fish and crispy lettuce while chewy rice subsides along the sidelines, existing in every couple of my bites. As for the fish-veggie ratio, it looks something like 80-20. Yep, tons of fish, and just enough veggies.

Conclusion: If you’re one of those yahoos who says they “eat sushi,” yet you order rolls consisting of that imitation crab bullshit, this salad is not for you. There’s no hiding behind tempura prawns rolled in rice and calling it “sushi” anymore. If you truly enjoy the texture and pureness that comes with the exquisite art of sashimi, without the rice-roll barrier, then point yourself toward a Poki Salad next time you order. Be aware that every restaurant has its own interpretation of what a Poki Salad should consist of, so don’t expect them all to be as grand and meaty as Sappporo’s.

Dressing on the Side
My clogged, allergy-stricken sinuses are blocking the blood vessels leading into my brain today. I can’t focus worth a shit. Yeah, yeah, I know, like my brain functions on a higher level than mediocre on any other day, I get it. You’re funny. But today is worse than normal. High doses of coffee and Sudafed (The real shit used for meth, yo) have not even scratched the surface of my incoherent, inner-cranium ramblings.

As I sit and try to formulate the ingredients within this week’s “Dressing on the Side,” only small blurbs of indecipherable images come to the forefront. Maybe you can make something of them? Here’s what they are:

Men’s shoes
Pink straws
Kleenex
Dog ears

[Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant, 4803 Pacific Hwy. E., Fife, 253.922.5656]

NEWS TEAM: WANKERS OF THE DAY >>>

Fake Assassination Game Dork

Seriously: booze and guns don’t mix.

Lazy ass celebs who use Twitter ghostwriters.

JAKE DE PAUL: SPRING SCHMRING â€" I STILL NEED COMFORT FOOD >>>

Red Robin
3901 S. Steele St., Tacoma, 253.473.7447

Hamburgers can be reduced to two schools of thought: “high and dry” or “hot and juicy.”  You can find the latter type at Red Robin, if the Chili Chili Cheeseburger is any indication. It starts with a lean plump patty that seems as big around as a small Frisbee. Gobs of chunky Red’s homemade chili chili, shredded cheddar, chipotle mayo and diced red onions piled on top, and the whole mess is open faced on what eventually becomes an extremely soggy sesame bun. Forget about picking this one up in one piece â€" it ain’t gonna happen.  A change of clothing, or at the very least a lobster bib, is highly recommended. This slightly spicy treat is yours for $9.79.

Pick Quick Drive-In
4306 Pacific Hwy., Fife, 253.922.5599

Eastern Pierce County, it goes without saying, is the world capital of stuff with chili on it: oozing chili dogs, stinking chili burgers and chili fries hot enough to melt a plastic spoon. The odiferous tidal wave of chili reigns king at the Puyallup Fair during the late summer, but my favorite is the Pick Quick Drive-In hangover-healing speedball consisting of two thin beef patties, mild creamy chili, cheese, raw onions and a sweet bun ($4.25). Their chili double meat cheeseburger is an ugly mess â€" adjusting to it is like changing a diaper. And there’s no way to devour it with dignity; I’m strictly an extra in a George A. Romero flick when I chow down at this famous drive-in erected in the’40s.

STEPH DEROSA: HELL YEAH! >>>

As I mentioned several weeks ago, Pick-Quick Drive In would reopen Feb. 1 after its annual winter cleaning.

It happened, bay-bee! 

I can smell the waft of fresh grilled burgers and homemade fries from right here at my Weekly Volcano World Headquarters makeshift desk.  The fact that they moved my desk outside on the patio, instead of in the office with everyone else, makes smelling this sweet re-opening all the more succulent.  Now if only Pappi and Driscoll would return my car, I might sneak up Pacific Highway to Fife for a late lunch. 

Does anyone else think it’s odd that they only borrow my car when they plan on having drinks at lunch? 

Jerks.

[Pick-Quick Drive In, 4306 Pacific Highway E., Fife, 253.922.5599]

LINK: Previously on Spew

STEPH DEROSA: PICK-QUICK WILL REOPEN FEB. 1 >>>

More than 20 years ago Greg Burgie’s dad, Joe Burgess, bought Pick-Quick Drive In on Pacific Highway East in Fife. He had purchased it with his sister, who later sold her half to Greg Burgess, his sister and her husband, Dan and Cindy Nelson. This was after it was “almost for sale for ten years,” Greg told me. Presently, Greg and Cindy’s families each own a quarter.

Every year, my favorite drive-in EVER, closes for a few months come wintertime. This happens so that the owners can tear down, take apart, and clean this family-owned burger joint.

“Why not the winter months? One-third of our business depends on the weather. People don’t want to come when it’s cold and rainy,” Greg Burgess told me.

I quickly disagreed, stating that many times the DeRosas have visited and just eaten in our cars. He gave me a sigh of relief and thanked me profusely for being “one of those customers who are loyal like that.”

Trust me, Mr. Burgess; it’s no problem at all.

For those who have never been to Pick-Quick Drive In, the Burgess/Nelson family owns that entire acre surrounding this famous joint which hosts long lines of lunchtime burger fanatics. There are huge, beautiful trees shading well-kept and clean wooden picnic tables, making dining outside in sunny weather a must. Come Feb. 1, these burger fanatics I speak of will be able to once again get their fix of family-owned quality food.

Oh, and for the record: Yes, all five full-time employees are receiving unemployment during this annual closure. So just in case you were concerned about the income of those smiling people who flip your meat, no need to fret. They’re all taken care of, and so will we be come Feb. 1.

LINK: Where to grab a burger now

STEPH DEROSA: BAR EXAM >>>

I freakin’ LOVE Johnny’s at Fife’s lounge. It reminds me of a bigger, nicer Diamond Jim’s. It's a throwback to the ’70s with no marks of wear and tear.

Is it a dive? See what grade I give it on the Weekly Volcano Web site.