This week ...

Thing: Meat

Place: Blue Max Sausage Co.

Person: Evan Greco

Who is: One of my favorite butchers

And works in: An everything meat shop

In which: Protein reigns

In the form of: Dead animal

I'm OK with this: As long as I don't know the cow's name

And: It is grilled perfectly

Served with: An ice-cold Bud Light

By: A partially tattooed Italian boy

Wearing: No shirt

Can I get an: Amen

To read this week's full column click here.

SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2011 >>>

1. Guitarist Anna Popovic is fucking hot. Sure, that's kind of a low-brow observation to bestow upon a musician of Popovic's skill, but then again, she's the one who decided to wear nothing but a guitar on that album cover. Really, we're just playing along. And Popovic, who other publications have dubbed the "Serbian Beauty" (she was born in the former Yugoslavia), gives us plenty to play along with. She also gives us jaw-dropping blues. Check he rout with Noaln Garret at 7 p.m. inside Jazzbones.

2. Like cherries, handmade knickknacks, ice sculptures and free parking for your SUV? Then you'll love the Puyallup Farmers Market, a valley institution for nearly as long as cows have been tipped. Engulfing historic downtown P-town every weekend from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and drawing impressive crowds on a regular basis, there's no doubt Ezra Meeker would be proud of what the Puyallup Farmers Market has blossomed into.

3. Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza has more than one location. But does that mean it's a chain restaurant, catering to the lowest common denominator of food consumers? Hell no. Farrelli's may have more than one location, but its quality is far superior to any of those competing pizza makers - if you can call them that. Whether it's the tasty everyday menu or the all-day Sunday happy hour offering $3 domestic pints and $6 specialty pizzas, Farrelli's has our vote over the likes of other chains. So put that in your conventional oven and smoke it, Domino's.

4. You don't need to attend the annual Ethnic Fest to see Tacoma is a melting pot, but it certainly doesn't hurt to help you appreciate it. That's the power of more than 15 food booths representing a multitude of delicious tastes from cultures around the world, not to mention more arts, crafts and music than you can shake a culturally diverse stick at. In its 25th year, Tacoma's Ethnic Fest is easily one of the shining moments of each summer for this city. See why from noon to 7 p.m. in Wright Park. Read Jennifer Johnson's tak eon yesterday's ethnic fest action here.

5. The New Frontier Lounge hosts an acoustic showcase featuring Keith Cook, Keith Sturgis, Purple Perry, Paradign, KT Hoops, Nitai, Terhanin, Russian Shai, Looking for Lizards and Gone beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011 >>>

1. Real-deal bike racing is pretty exciting all by itself. Bike racing at night, with a beer garden for spectators, in downtown Tacoma, is just plain crazy awesome. Saturday, Tacoma's second annual Twilight Criterium will offer all of the above, plus an art bike parade (weird bikes, fuzzy bikes, cool bikes, strange bikes, two-person bikes, colorful bikes, sparkly bikes, bikes with balloons, bags, and streamers), live music, a kids race and ... and did we mention the beer garden? Expect lots of spandex (for aerodynamics), and lots of good times from 3-10 p.m.

2. Rule number one about yard sales: If you want the good stuff, you've got to show up early. Pierce County Parks and Recreation's annual community yard sale - Junk In Your Trunk Sale - runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sprinker Recreation Center Parking Lot. If you don't get there early, all that will remain will be an endless stream of spice racks, Buddha statues, TV trays and Pogo Balls.

3. You don't need to attend the annual Ethnic Fest to see Tacoma is a melting pot, but it certainly doesn't hurt to help you appreciate it. That's the power of more than 15 food booths representing a multitude of delicious tastes from cultures around the world, not to mention more arts, crafts and music than you can shake a culturally diverse stick at. In its 25th year, Tacoma's Ethnic Fest is easily one of the shining moments of each summer for this city. See why from noon to 7 p.m. in Wright Park.

4. We thought artists just lie around the pool sipping lemonade all summer long. We were wrong. Today from 5-7:30 p.m. 13 www.gallerythree.org/" target="_blank">Gallery Three artists will wash off the suntan lotion and demonstrate their art outside on the plaza at 333 S. Meridian in Puyallup. Besides the art, expect music, wine and chocolates, cookies and something called "paint and win."

5. If you like your dance with a trace of the exotic, head for the Tacoma Buddhist Temple, where traditional Bon Odori dancing and taiko drum performances take over Fawcett Street as part of the Bon Odori Japanese Folk Dance Festival from 5-9 p.m. The highlight is always when paper lanterns are strung across Fawcett for the bon odori, a traditional summer street dance honoring the dead. Hundreds are expected to attend, decked out in elaborate kimonos and hapi coats to dance to traditional Japanese folk songs. Think Japanese line dancing where the older people teach the younger generation the moves. Bonus: There's now a sake garden! (screaming really loud).

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Wine tastings!

THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011 >>>

1. It's the third Thursday of the month in Tacoma and you know what that means! It's Art Walk time! There's a ton of stuff going on, including the growingly famous Art Bus. Find more info about all of it here.

2. The Musicianers from El Paso, Tex. play tonight at The New Frontier Lounge. You can find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

3. Get Your Hands on Some Clay!

4. In Puyallup it's time for Open Social Knit & Crochet at Yellow House Yarns. Find info here.

5. In Fife, Jared Blake (dude from NBC's The Voice), along with Rane Stone, Jason Kertson and Dudley Taft will unleash the tunes at Louie G's. As the pizza joint/venue prides itself on, the action will be all ages.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 >>>

1. Lakewood Pub and Grill has taken the bar term "meat market" literally with a meat raffle every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., when patrons drop $10 for 15 tickets to win premium cuts courtesy of Stewart's Meat Market ... or a $25 gas card. Choice wins include stacks of deli cut bacon and steaks, although the jerky packs are bonus. To see who likes this meat raffle, click here.

2. Looks like a good day to check out Parenthetically Speaking: It's Only a Figure of Speech - a new collection of work by San Francisco-based artist Mildred Howard comprising more than 40 glass punctuation marks, proofreading symbols and musical notes at the Museum of Glass from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Howard's inspiration for the work came from At the End, a poem by her friend and Peabody Award-winner Quincy Troupe.

3. Arch rival schoolmates discover they had great-great-great grandfathers at the same Civil War battle - on opposite sides - and that link leads them to finally resolve their own "uncivil war" in local author and storyteller Nick Adams's book, The Uncivil War. Adams will discus his book and his great-great-grandfather's life as a soldier and how it relates to his book at 3 p.m. inside the Puyallup Public Library.

4. Wildside Wine in Tacoma will pour South African wines from 4-7 p.m. for $5.

5. We here at the Weekly Volcano love to call Wednesdays hump day.  There's something so titillating, so promising in the name. And since Jazzbones has free live music every Wednesday night starting at 9 p.m., there's even more reason to feel the grand promise of hump day.  Tonight Zero Gravity Circus will entertain you. Along with free entry, Jazzbones also offers specials on Sessions beer and $1 pizzas. Because nothing goes better with some hump than beer and pizza.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Half-priced wine bottles night

DINING IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

ANNOUNCER: Located near Pioneer Park in Puyallup, Comfort Food Cafe puts a healthy twist on old-school American dishes. Handy symbols and a key guide mark menu items to help patrons know what food is vegan, organic, gluten-free and dairy-free. Not fussy or pretentious, this small, kid-friendly café focuses on breakfast and lunch only. Order at the counter, grab a seat and plates of healthy fare arrive.

To read Jake and Jason De Paul's full review click here.

[Comfort Food Cafe, 210 West Pioneer, Puyallup, 253.770.6147]

MONDAY, JULY 11, 2011 >>>

1. The national traveling exhibit In a Nutshell: The Worlds of Maurice Sendak explores the imaginative worlds of award-winning author/illustrator Maurice Sendak from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the South Hill Library. Learn how his cultural heritage, childhood in Brooklyn, family history and Jewish identity have inspired him as an artist.

2. Tacoma Community College's Gig Harbor Campus art exhibition features local human form photographer Alice Di Certo and backcountry photographer Chris Berryman. The exhibition opens with a reception from 5:30-8 p.m. It runs through Aug. 10.

3. Early in If a Tree Falls, we see footage of a protester sitting high in a tree the City of Eugene intends to cut down. In response to this peaceful protest, police approach via a cherry picker, cut open the man's pants and spray his thighs and genitals with pepper spray. Moments like these that make it easier to understand how a group like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) came to be. This documentary - screening at 6:30 p.m. at the Capitol Theater in Olympia - follows ELF's Daniel McGowan as he sits under house arrest, awaiting a verdict on eco-terrorism charges.

4. The Graphic Novel Book Club will gather at the 1022 South lounge to discuss The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar over crafted cocktails beginning at 7 p.m.

5. Maia Santell will sing jazz and blues from 8-10 p.m. at the Harmon Brewery and Eatery.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Happy hours!

SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 >>>

1. It's a yearly tradition. Check out the Tacoma Old Town Blues Festival today. The BluesBerry Pancake breakfast kicks things off in mere moments.

2. Get Out in the Park, part of Tacoma's epic ten days of Pride events. Find info here.

3. DB & the Struggle and Si Si Si will be all up in O'Malley's today.

4.Holy moly! There's an all-male stripper revue tonight at Uncle Sam's Bar & Grill in Spanaway. That's hot!

5. Go old school at Tiffany's Skate Inn in Puyallup for Retro Skate Night.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2011 >>>

1. The annual Taste of Tacoma kicks off today. Get your loose pants, perhaps a bib, and dig in!

2. There's a 100^th Monkey event tonight - kicking off the Urban Arts Festival. Find info here.

3. Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards of The Ventures join the Northwest Rock Revisited show tonight at the Liberty Theater in Puyallup. Or, if that doesn't tickle your musical fancy, browse the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. Writer and Pacific Lutheran University prof Jason Skipper will celebrate the release of his debut novel, Hustle, tonight at King's Books.

5. Vote for Tacoma's best baristas, politicians, bloggers, bartenders and local businesses in the only 253 "Best Of" issue that matters. The Volcano's annual Best of Tacoma issue publishes July 28, and this year's readers' poll launched last week. Let your vote be heard now! Find all the details here.

LINK: South Sound Live Local Music Listings

LINK: Viva South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011 >>>

1. History takes center stage from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Meeker Days Festival in downtown Puyallup. Visitors will learn how the "hops king" managed to make his fortune selling beer-making grain while managing to be a teetotaler his entire life. Ezra Meeker's mansion is on display to show visitors how the rich and wealthy lived more than 100 years ago. However, if history isn't your thing, this largest street festival in Pierce County features four live entertainment stages, two food courts, almost 200 vendors, antique tractor displays, classic car shows, inflatable rides and more.

2. Harlequin Productions is celebrating summer with another original compilation of the greatest music of the sixties titled Summer in the Sixties. A live band, five fabulous singers, a psychedelic dose of video, hot tunes, cool drinks and "A Whole Lotta Love" hits the stage at 2 p.m.

3. Melvin Van Peebles's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) did for the black movement what Getting Straight did for the student movement: reduced it to escapist entertainment, cinematic stylishness, and near nonsense. The Brotherhood Lounge screens Peebles's single-minded paean to an L.A. whorehouse at 7 p.m. DJ James spins after.

4. The sextet Mojo Overload will fill The Spar in Old Town with blues from 7-10 p.m.

5. Mother's Day has the highest number of phone calls each year, but Father's Day has the highest number of collect phone calls. Dads win the most beloved parent competition as often as Tito wins most beloved Jackson.  Treat dear old dad to Kila's fusion of Irish and world music featuring strong percussive-like singing, gorgeous melodies, and daring harmonies - which are driven by a serious rhythmical undercurrent - at 7 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia. Olympia's Burren Boys open.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Movies!