ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment comes from Jillian in response to Jennifer Johnson's dining story this week - a district-by-district guide to T-Town burgers.

Jillian writes,

while we're talkin' burgers, I'd just like to make sure the folks out there who enjoy peanut butter have had a change to try a peanut butter burger.
Peanut Butter Burgers originate at the Ram, but have not been on their menu for many years (though they can still make it for you). If you'd rather not head to the Ram, just ask your burger provider if they have peanut butter in their kitchen, and (if they have it) to put it on a bacon cheeseburger for you (with all the other toppings/sauces as normal).
SO tasty!

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

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Cloudy, hi 58, lo 42

Saturday: Chance of sun, hi 59, lo 42

Sunday: Partly cloudy, hi 57, lo 43

>>> OCT. 14-16: GIG HARBOR FILM FEST

Just can't get enough local film festival action? Neither can we. That's why we'll pony up the bridge tolls this weekend to venture to Gig Harbor, where the annual Gig Harbor Film Festival will run all weekend. An endearingly quaint endeavor, despite the cushy, stadium style seats of the festival's home (the Galaxy Theatre at Uptown), the Gig Harbor Film Festival shines a spotlight on independent film while simultaneously inviting the entire Gig Harbor community to come together and connect through the power of cinema.  This year's festival highlights are sure to include the screening of A Perfect Life including a Q&A with director Chad Ruin and actor Joe Rosati, the Kids Fest and Gig Harbor 72 Hour Film Competition awards ceremony on Sunday, and the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which will go to Blake Edwards and be accepted by his wife, Julie Andrews, on Saturday.

• Galaxy Theatre at Uptown Gig Harbor, three-day pass $40, individual tickets $6-$8, $6 Kids Fest, Julie Andrews event sold out, 4649 Point Fosdick Dr. NW, Gig Harbor, gigharborfilmfestival.org

>>> FRIDAY, OCT. 14: ROTATOR DEBUTS

ROTATOR, set to debut Friday with a kickoff event at Fulcrum Gallery, is at once a periodical and a piece of art. Headed up by Lance Kagey, Tom Llewellen and the collaborative efforts of plenty of other local talent, ROTATOR will cover topics relevant to the Pacific Northwest, largely focused on urban life. Its creators refer to it as a "quarterly portfolio of Pacific Northwest anti-suburban arts and industry." To Read Kristin Kendle's full feature, click here.

• Fulcrum Gallery, 7 p.m., free, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.250.0520

>>> FRIDAY, OCT. 14: THE LAMB LIES DOWN AT THE BROADWAY CENTER

Concept records and rock operas aren't what they used to be. Hell, records in general aren't what they used to be. But Friday, the Musical Box - a Quebec-based Genesis tribute act that bills itself as the only band in the entire world to cozy up to Genesis and Peter Gabriel enough to acquire the performing rights and access to archives, audio tracks and the original images for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - will perform the classic rock opera, in its entirety, in Tacoma, at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts.

• Pantages Theater,  7:30 p.m., $29-$75, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894

FRIDAY, OCT. 14: SYMPOSIUM ON CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Now in its fourth year, the annual UWT Symposium on Contemporary Native American Issues in Higher Education is designed to increase college enrollment among Native Americans and help open new education doors for tribal communities. The event invites native students, their families, teachers and advisors to "learn about what it takes to become a successful college student. Participants may participate in workshops, campus tours and discussions about the college experience." Well-known and respected filmmaker Sandra Sunrising Osawa will deliver the keynote address.

• UWT - Philip Hall, 8 a.m. - 2 p.m., 1900 Commerce St., Tacoma, tacoma.uw.edu

>>> FRIDAY, OCT. 14: SIDE SHOW SPOOK-TACULAR

A proper burlesque show - in the vaudevillian sense of the term, not the hipster reclaiming sense - is all about excess and spectacle. It's a variety show, featuring not just the burlesque dancers, but music, comedy and oddities. Tacoma's resident burlesque troupe, the Gritty City Sirens, will be throwing a Halloween-themed "Side Show Spook-tacular," which does well to reflect these different aspects of burlesque. In addition to the Sirens' always engaging performances, there will be appearances by Tacoma artist/juggler Jeremy Gregory, a fire dance display and magic. Thrown on top of all of this will be musical sets from DJ Buckets the Pony and the country/reggae/punk rockers, the Fun Police. It will be a night of sensory overload and, perhaps, just a little bit of spectacular chaos. 

• The New Frontier Lounge, with Dessi De Vine, Heather Hostility, Dean Jameson, DJ Buckets the Pony, the Fun Police, the Mesmerizing Magic Steve, Jeremy Gregory, Tacoma Eclectic Flame, 301 E. 25^th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020

SATURDAY, OCT. 15: NORTHWEST SINFONIETTA >>>

The Northwest Sinfonietta bills itself as an "orchestra of passion, vision, thrill, and creation - an orchestra that awakens the musical spirit in all of us, performing to sold-out crowds of youngsters, hipsters, and connoisseurs alike." You see that? They're talking to you, hipsters. Saturday, the Sinfonietta delves into Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Rialto Theater, inviting pianist John Novacek into the mix and letting the magic happen. The concert will also feature works from Wagner and Fauré.

• Rialto Theater, 7:30 p.m., $19-$49, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890

SATURDAY, OCT. 15: OCCUPY TACOMA DAY OF ACTION MARCH >>>

In solidarity with the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement and protests, and Occupy movements all across the country, T-Town is getting in on the action and letting its voice be heard. Occupy Tacoma has been growing stronger by the day, and Saturday - as part of the National Day of Action - Occupy Tacoma protestors, aiming their wrath at rampant corporate abuse of democracy, will march from People's Park to Tollefson Plaza to show support for "the 99-percent."  Find all the info you need right here.

• People's Park to Tollefson Plaza, 1 p.m., occupytacoma.org

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

ALEC CLAYTON Visual Arts Critic
I'm going to see Jekyll & Hyde at Tacoma Little Theatre. I hope it will be as good as it was at Harlequin. Sunday I just might Occupy Olympia's Sylvester Park.

NIKKI TALOTTA Features Writer
Going to Lattin's Cider Mill for apple slingshots, wagon rides and apple fritters. I wonder if they have any hard cider? If not, a stop by the liquor store is in my future, because, the other task on hand, is a mean jam session between my keyboard and I as I work on a variety of holiday article delights just for Volcano readers. To have a little lubrication always helps the motivation. Cheers!

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL: Theater Critic
We have absolutely zero plans, but the weather will be nice so I'll probably do some yard work. Also, we're in physical training for an upcoming week in Orlando.

REV. ADAM MCKINNEY: Music Writer
Friday, I'll be attending Basemint's first show in quite a while. But earlier that day, I'll be helping to make a ridiculous amount of pretzels for my Saturday activity, Maltoberfest.

JOANN VARNELL: Theater Critic
Wait, weekend? Already? Oh, um, I'm thinking of baking some cookies for the baby and finishing a baby blanket for a friend whose baby is now two. Most exciting is a trip to Renton to take one of my favorite people to get dim sum for her recent birthday. YUM!!!

JENNIFER JOHNSON: Food & Lifestyles Writer
Friends' 50th Wedding anniversary party Friday, Church conference Saturday, Church Sunday. And the never ending homework.

JOE IZENMAN: THeater Critic
Theater, theater, music. Friday night brings the opening of Tacoma Little Theatre's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, marking that rare occasion where I will be both reviewing the show and listed in the program as crew. Saturday night we truck out the ol' alma mater, PLU, to see their new theater space and opening production of The Fantasticks. And Sunday, anyone who knows what's good for them will get their asses to Neumo's in Seattle to catch English songwriting badass Frank Turner belting out tunes like there's no tomorrow.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER Meat Market Photographer
I have the kiddos, so we are doing whatever they want to do. That said, it might involve some walking, lounging, laughing and general dingo wrangling.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

NOT JUST FOR SNOBS >>>

What pairs best with salmon, a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot? And what is the best wine to serve with pork. Red or white?

As it turns out, questions like these aren't just for wine snobs. According to Nick Coughran, the owner of Tacoma's Cork Wine Bar, learning about wine can be a leisurely, fun-loving experience. Also an experience perfectly suited for singles.

"At wine tasting events, you get the opportunity not only to learn about the wine, but also to talk and interact with those around you," says Coughran.

Wine tasting events are offered in many places around the South Sound. From leisurely tableside events to more formal tasting rooms, wine tastings teach the basics of wine, such as the difference in grape varietals, understanding a wine label and to how to properly taste the wine. Most wine tastings are suitable for novice wine drinkers and foster a friendly, come-as-you-are atmosphere. 

"These are comfortable settings," says Coughran. "There are no bad questions."

Cork offers a tableside wine tasting event every Thursday night. Throughout the night, patrons are served three or four different types of wine. They are told about each wine and how it might pair with something on the menu. The wine tasting is free with the purchase of a meal, and full glasses of are available for a special price.

Throughout the night, Coughran encourages wine tasters to give feedback about the wine. 

"It becomes an opportunity for us to get feedback from our customers," says Coughran. "They get to tell us what they like and don't like about the wine."

Coughran believes Cork's Thursday night tastings make for a great first date. The friendly, interactive atmosphere can go a long way toward breaking the ice associated with first-time romantic meetings. Wine tastings automatically provide ready-made topics of conversation.

"By tasting wine with a date or a partner, you already have a shared topic of conversation," says Coughran.

For those interested in formal, sit down wine tasting classes, Coughran says Cork offers larger, private events for groups. He recommends Wildside Wine, Wine Bank and Pour at Four for weekly or monthly wine tasting classes. But for those just getting into tasting their wine, he said a tableside tasting is more than adequate. Plus, cork has recently started pairing wines with Dulce Cupcakes for Thursday night deserts. A treat, Coughran says, that's a can't miss.

And with Cork's food menu starting at just $8, it's also a fairly inexpensive way to dip a toe into the wine tasting world.

"I hope more and more singles get out here," says Coughran. "It's a nice casual time."

[Cork Wine Bar, wine tasting every Thursday night, 606 N. State St., Tacoma, 253.212.5593]

LINK: South Sound wine tastings, deals and events

IT'S TIME >>>

With the approaching holiday season, restaurants are knee deep in potatoes, pork loins and root vegetables, pumpkin and cinnamon and apples and winter stews. restaurant owners are frantically poring over their paperwork, trying to figure out how to keep the lights on until the first Thanksgiving and Christmas parties go on the books. The rookie chefs complain about the short nights. The veteran chefs know all too well that this is a time for resting, for pacing themselves and conserving energy for the push that will come as soon as the last trick-or-treater knock son the door.

Pacific Grill, with its veteran chefs and smart owner, churns along as if it was voted Best Restaurant in Tacoma. The downtown Tacoma fine-dining restaurant has been announcing new menus left and right, including a new dessert menu, and next week - new fall lunch, dinner and happy hour menus.

Here are a few of its newest creations. ...

Broken' Lasagne: braised lamb shank ragù alla Bolognese with san marzano tomatoes, red wine & ricotta salata

Chicken Breast: sautéed chicken breast with polenta, duck & bacon sausage, roasted mushrooms & red wine sauce

Grilled Salmon~ sweet chili-glazed fresh salmon with bamboo rice & spicy garlic chili green beans

Click here to download Pacific Grill's new menus.

[Pacific Grill, 1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.3535]

TUESDAY, OCT. 11, 2011 >>>

1. We have the Fourth of July, Mexico has Cinco de Mayo, and Ireland has St. Patrick's Day. When it came time for Germany to claim a holiday, they figured, why not just celebrate beer for a month? Touché, Germany. But since most of us can't make our way to Munich this year, bars and restaurants around the South Sound have been bringing Oktoberfest to us. Tonight, it's the Crown Bar's turn focusing all its beer energy on Tacoma's Burris Brewery. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., enjoy these local beers with currywurst and schnitzel sandwiches, raffle prizes and growlers to go. Prizes awarded for Lederhosen wearers!

2. This fall, Tacoma's favorite Victorian-style glass conservatory offers a botanical montage of madness, paralysis and death. The exhibit Wicked Plants: An Exhibit of the Deliciously Dark Side of the Plant Kingdom features deadly flora that would please a homicidal 19th-century botanist. The W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory exhibit is inspired by Amy Stewart's bestseller Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, a much-needed compendium of plants that rack up body counts. Go see it from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., if you dare.

3. Are you young? Are you professional? Yeah, neither are we, but that doesn't mean we can't tell you about a mixer hosted by the Young Professionals Network of Tacoma-Pierce County from 5:30-8 p.m. at The Hub Events Space. If you have a drive to succeed in business AND a passion for serving the community, this is your chance to meet your people.

4. In celebration of the new Chinese Reconciliation Park and Pavilion on the waterfront in Old Town Tacoma, the famous Classical Tuesdays series kicks off the season with the US China Music Ensemble. The night begins at 5:45 p.m. with a lion dance the Pavilion. Forty-five minutes later the dancers will escort the crowd to the Slavonian Hall where Warren Chang and the US China Music Ensemble will kick off the 7th season performing on traditional Chinese instruments including the pipa, erhu, dizi, and guzheng. 

5. The Washington Center hosts the National Geographic Live! speaker series featuring Kenny Broad discussing "Beyond the Invisible: Secrets of the Blue Holes" at 7:30 p.m.

PLUS: The Tacoma Science Café is tonight. Details in the Freeloaders.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

BEIR YO >>>

Saturday night's Maltoberfest was all things ghetto Bavarian at Bob's Java Jive with Tacoma's craziest people pounding Mickey's Ice and Old E Brass Monkeys (malt liquor and orange juice for those not in the know) to the musical stylings of DJ Melodica, Saucy Yoda and Crooked Smile.

It's a fine mash of ghetto culture spliced with lederhosen.

The annual Maltoberfest is ostensibly about drinking malt liquor, but everyone knows it's much more about eyeballing the party weirdoes at the party. Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger sojourned forth the crazy parade at the Jive to bring back these photos. It's fun to guess what's going on in them.

LINK: More photos from Maltoberfest 2011

MEET YOUR PEEPS >>>

Are you young? Are you professional? Yeah, neither are we, but that doesn't mean we can't tell you about a mixer hosted by the Young Professionals Network of Tacoma-Pierce County Tuesday. If you have a drive to succeed in business AND a passion for serving the community, this is your chance to meet your people.

If you're younger than 40.

The YPN is composed of entrepreneurs and business professionals younger who haven't celebrated their 41^st birthday yet. Through a variety of different programs, the group can help you build business networks and community, share resources and experiences, develop professionally through educational opportunities, combine goals for advocacy, contribute to economic development and leverage influence in the county's future.

If you'd like to hang with this cool, young, upwardly mobile set, drop by The Hub Events Space Tuesday night and meet those who have escaped the kids' table to become players in the community.

It's no secret the YPN loves the soccer.

YPN Prospective Members Mixer

Tuesday, Oct. 11, 5:30-8 p.m., free admission
The Hub Events Space, 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma
Website

EATING AT CHARLEY'S PUB >>>

Unapologetically a dive bar, there's no pretense that Charley's Pub is anything else. Pool tables, karaoke, poker, patio and darts: entertainment and drinking take precedence over the American and Asian food eats.

Michelle Lemon of NightOutTacoma.com says the secret to getting good Asian food at the bar is to go when Kay is cooking. "It's really good. You'll be surprised," Lemon tells me.

She was right about the surprise. I had forgotten what day-time drinkers were like; you know the guys that are completely ripped at 2:30 p.m. ... so drunk you'll get a contact-buzz just by standing near them long enough to order. Even at the lunch hour everything about Charley's screams, "You may get mugged while walking to your car."

However, said mugger would probably let you keep your to-go box of left-over beef yakisoba; never would it be imagined that the beef from Charley's is ultra tender and packs great flavor, or that generous portions of noodles encourage eating until uncomfortably full. Check out fried rice, wonton soup, egg rolls, gyoza, barbequed pork, Mongolian beef and General Tao's chicken (a milder version of the Tso dish).

Does Charley's Pub offer amazing, write-to-your-mother Asian food? No, but it's just as good as other strip-mall locations.

Was I amazed that what I was eating came from Charley's? Obviously.

[Charley's Pub, menu ranges from $3.95-$9.95, 6520 19th St. W., Tacoma, 253.564.9454]

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Happy hours

AND SO IT BEGINS >>>

Last night the Tacoma Film Festival officially entered its sixth year of existence, and this time around I aim to embrace it in a slightly different way than in the past. Obviously I'll soak in as much cinema as time allows before Closing Night Oct. 13. But this event is just a much a celebration of our humble town as a way to honor art from distant points on the globe. In other words, I see TFF 2011 as my own private excuse to explore and appreciate a community I usually ignore.

Let's start where the festival has its beginnings: The Grand Cinema. A few hours before the Opening Night Gala I made my way down the street from the theater and walked, for the first time, into STINK Cheese and Meat. Within seconds I was greeted by Kris Blondin, owner and, as I soon found out, no stranger to the Volcano's loose-knit family of writers. I casually ordered a turkey sandwich, naive to the are-you-kidding, belly-bursting deliciousness headed to my table.

No more food for awhile I decided ... except dessert. So I went to Corina Bakery, another Grand Cinema neighbor I had yet to take in. (You've probably realized by now I don't get out much.) I bought a fluffy cookie from the man behind the counter; obscured by his black apron I could just make out the words "TACOMA FILM FESTIVAL."

So, somewhat foolishly, I entered the gala at Annie Wright School with no appetite whatsoever for tray upon tray of hors d'oeuvres on display. I felt even more foolish when Warren Etheredge (host of a free filmmaker's workshop this weekend) urged me to hop on stage and introduce my own film playing later in the fest. Hiding behind guys larger than myself didn't work; once he goaded the audience into a slow clap, I had no choice.

The filmmakers who spoke before me tackled some pretty serious subjects - Mick Flaaen's Paint looks at graffiti in Tacoma, Kate Connor has POW camps in her Fort McCoy, and Dancing on the Edge by Alexander MacKenzie focuses on addiction. My movie can't compete with this. So I stood at the podium and said,

"It Came First is about an egg that comes to life and tries to kill two guys."

Before the laughter came, the crowd took one beautiful moment to look at me with quiet confusion.

Here's to a week of new experiences at TFF.

LINK: Opening Night photos

LINK: Three stories behind the stories

LINK: Big stars at the Tacoma Film Festival 2011

LINK: Our Tacoma Film Festival preview

LINK: TFF Director Emily Alm's picks

LINK: TFF on twitter 

LINK: TFF website

EAT A TON OF PIZZA ALL DAY AND NIGHT >>>

When it comes right down to it, just about everything rests in a name. Case in point - the fundraiser today being held for breast cancer research by pizzerias around the nation. What did its inspired organizers call it? SLICE FOR HOPE. Wow. If you don't feel like a bastard for not supporting, well, maybe you should. It's for hope, man, hope. Hope is all we have. Plus, while the hope in the title may be figurative, the slice is not.

Locally, Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza will donate 10 percent of its sales today to the Karen Mullen Breast Cancer Foundation, a national charity based in Seattle. It's estimated 40,000 women will die from the disease this year.

"There isn't a person in this country who hasn't felt the effects of breast cancer in some way," says Farrelli's owner John Farrell in a release. "Farrelli's wants to do something to help end this disease."

Farrell goers on to say that besides donating 10 percent today, he's also created a pizza called the "Tasty Cancer Fighter" for the month of October and will be donating $6 for every 12-inch and $10 for every 16-inch of that pizza sold to the Karen Mullen Foundation.

So eat pizza. Support hope.

For the nearest Farrelli's, click here.