WEEKLY VOLCANO: SONIC VIBRATIONS, MONDAY STYLE >>>

JANET: Talks about her dead brother.

SLAYER: No MJ here, just new record talk.

NEW MUSIC: Fleet Foxes has a new song up, and you can find it here.

PEAS IN A POD: MGMT to open for Sir Paul McCartney.

UNDER THE COVERS AGAIN: Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs are back at it.

STEVE DUNKELBERGER: BUDGETTRAVEL.COM BLUNDER >>>

BudgetTravel.com posted The Most Beautiful Ferry Rides in the U.S., which included the Seattle to Bainbridge Island run. The Web site describes the trip that leaves Seattle Main Terminal, Pier 52:

The Alaska Marine Highway System, Staten Island Ferry, San Francisco to Sausalito, and others are included in the list.

What is noticeably left off the list is the Steilacoom to McNeil Island run. I present the following description for BudgetTravel.com for use in its next ferry ride story.

Steilacoom to McNeil Island
Leaves from: Steilacoom Ferry dock
Passengers on this no-frills ferry to the rock not only get to walk through metal detectors and have the potential added treat of getting a pat-down from Department of Corrections on-deck stewards, but they also get to dine in a five-bar tan hotel for 10 to 20 years. The resort is lush with flora and fauna and completely protected from the harsh world outside with a series of barbed wire fences and men with guns ... all to keep the resort guests safe and sound.

MATT DRISCOLL: A LOOK AT THE WEEK THAT WAS >>>

It's Saturday morning, once again, meaning it's time for another installment of the Weekly Volcano's Week in Review.

By now you probably understand the format: I wake up, grab a cup of coffee, smoke a cigarette or two, then sit in my robe in front of the computer and offer an almost entirely flippant review of the week that was.

Let's let Elton take us in, and then get going:

Monday, March 30

Oh, Mondays. It seems like everyone hates Mondays, and for good reasons. Sitting here on a Saturday, with the whole weekend in front of me, there's really nothing about Monday I can think of that's good. Basically, it's a shitty day.

Last Monday was, perhaps, especially shitty for former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, who was forced to resign because, basically, it turns out he was really shitty at his job.

Then again, maybe Wagoner is getting out while the getting's good. If we didn't think dudes like him were the scum of the earth, we'd wish him good luck in future endeavors.

Instead, we'll just offer him this.

Tuesday, March 31

Sure, Qannik the beloved Point Defiance beluga died over the weekend, but I didn't actually hear about it until Monday because I was out of town. Then, reports of a beluga necropsy came out Tuesday, showing no clear cause of death for the Qannik- who was 8-years-old, which, unless I'm mistaken, is 8-years-old in beluga years.

I've got to admit that I feel pretty bad about this situation. Obviously, Qannik died, which is no good, but I can't help but wonder if my fateful typo in last week's Week in Review column didn't play into it. As you may recall, I offered an inspiration video to Qannik in last week's piece, but did so after saying: "Here's a video we hope will inspire Qannik to never get up".

Oops. Obviously I meant "give up."

By the time I was back in Tacoma and realized what had happened, the beluga was dead. I can't help but feel a little responsible. * Fans of Qannik can feel free to send hate mail my way, but know I feel horrible about the fateful typo.

Rest in peace, Qannik 

Wednesday, April 1

April Fools Day, bitches!

While I've stayed mostly quiet on the subject, because, let'¢s be honest, you probably don't care, thereÃ's finally been a conclusion to the saga, so it seems safe to break my silence.

On Thursday, the Denver Broncos shipped Baby Jay to Chicago for a bunch of draft picks and a quarterback in Kyle Orton that reminds me a little too much of Sean Culver at Jazzbones.

While Cutler's attitude often stunk, as a Bronco fan I can't help but be truly disappointed that it came to this. That disappointment is perhaps only matched by the fact that it now seems nearly certain I'll be forced to stomach at least a season of watching Kyle Orton quarterback the Broncos.

Ugh.

At least it looks like the dude can drink. 

Friday, April 3

Speaking of sports, Sounders fans have to be more than a little worried about the travails of Fredy Montero, who is facing allegations of sexual assault and overall sexual weirdness. If the allegations are true, then it sounds like the goal scoring soccer whiz sexually assaulted a woman in Bellevue on March 22. About a week later, Montero was spotted in a car a few blocks from the same woman's home, though at this point that seems to be a coincidence. On Friday, the investigation was sent to the King County Prosecutor's Office for review.

Needless to say, this is not good news for the Sounders or their budding star- who was named the MLS Player of the Month after scoring three goals in the Sounders' first two games.

Until this clears up, the likelihood of seeing anymore of this seems uncertain.

MICHAEL SWAN: STEPHEN COLBERT INTERVIEWS NEWSPAPER ASSOC. OF AMERICA PREZ >>>

MATT DRISCOLL: NOT AS POPULAR AS IT SHOULD BE? >>>

David Brooks is one of the few conservatives I can stomach. In fact, thanks in no small part to his cameos on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, I've actually come to really like the guy. I could imagine kicking back beers with the dude, and maybe he could explain what folks saw in Sarah Palin.

Anyway, Brooksy (that's what those in his unofficial fan club call him) has a fairly interesting piece in today's New York Times regarding that long held hope among many progressive dreamers that economic realizations, environmental concerns and perhaps even the evolution of the American culture will soon lead to the death of sprawl and the suburbs.

Brooksy doesn't shit on that hope, he just points out it's not necessarily in line with what most Americans want.

It's worth a read.

MATT DRISCOLL: THESE ARE STRANGE TIMES WE LIVE IN >>>

The New York Times is running a real interesting opinion piece today about the future of daily newspapers, their survival strategies and how changes will affect readers.

Check it.

MICHAEL SWAN: I BET THEY ALL HAVE THE LATEST AL FRANKEN BOOK PAGE-MARKED WITH A PHISH CONCERT STUB >>>

They’re sensitive, they care, they smell a little like broccoli â€" They’re “The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media."

LINK: Forbes