WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4 2013 >>>

1. 1. Audiences from Bosnia to Columbia, from Maine to Puerto Rico, from China to Tacoma will grab a taste of independent film, as the Sundance Institute's Film Forward program rolls on for a fourth year. Film Forward will travel to eight locations - four in the United States, four overseas - from February to October 2013 - including a run in Tacoma, Sept. 3-7. The touring program doesn't focus on a traditional movie audience, but aims to "enhance greater cultural understanding, collaboration and dialogue around the globe by engaging audiences through the exhibition of films, workshops and conversations with filmmakers," according to its website. Today's free films are Valley of Saints and The Light in Her Eyes. Valley of Saints screens at 5 p.m. at the University of Puget Sound with a post film discussion moderated by Peter Wimberger, professor of biology and director of the Slater Museum of Natural History at UPS. The Light in Her Eyes screens at 9 p.m. in The Grand Cinema with a post film discussion with Julia Meltzer, director of the film; Dr. Therese Saliba, professor of Middle East Studies and international feminism at The Evergreen State College; moderated by Dr. David Coon, associate professor at University of Washington Tacoma.

2. Secretary of State Kim Wyman's Legacy Washington team created the "Grand Coulee to Grunge" exhibit, focusing on the eight stories from Washington state that changed the world. In one visit to the State Capitol, you and your family can learn how awesome the state is in terms of business, science, technology and music. Drop by the exhibits opening from 4-6 p.m.

3. Headed by Barry and Renee Watson, founders and previous owners of Tacoma staple the Rosewood Cafe, Pint Defiance is a must visit for any lover of the hops. Pint Defiance seamlessly marries the concept of craft beer retail space with a pub. The walls are lined with coolers neatly displaying a unique collection of canned and bottled brews by region. From 5-7 p.m. Pint Defiance hosts The Two Beers/Seattle Cider crews to talk shop and give away some schwag. Pint Defiance will have draft offerings from both on tap: Two Beers—Pumpkin Spice Ale, a fresh hop IPA, and a very rare keg of bourbon-barrel aged Heart of Darkness CDA.

4. After a 5.5 year-long relationship Kate Bergstrom ventured into the world of online dating. It hasn't always been pretty but she has had quite the entertaining time meeting more than 100 men. After realizing that her friends and family were living vicariously through her dating stories she thought she might share them with the world, one man at a time. She wrote a book, Dates With Kate: Tales and Tips From An Online Dating Veteran, which she'll discuss and hang out at 6:30 p.m. in The Swiss.

5. In 2011, readers of this fine rag voted the Top of Tacoma Bar and Cafe the best bar in Tacoma. This was due in no small part to their well drink Wednesdays. Two dollar well drinks after 7 p.m. Are you kidding? That's, like, riding the train to funkytown for only eight bucks. Yes, please. The kitchen stays open to midnight. Choo, choooo!

LINK: Wednesday, Sept. 4 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Oh, hello there. I didn't notice you peering over at me as I write my first Nerd Alert. What's that you say? You'd like to hear about some nerdy news and happenings for the near future? Well, I'm not Zoltar, so lower your expectations. And get out of that oversized suit, because I'm not going to magically make you a grown up. Quite the opposite.

Thinking about my nerdiest interests, my thoughts first turned to movies. So, I thought I'd get you up to speed on some movie-related business. A note: if you are in a large group of girls, please refrain from reading these events aloud.

Sept. 21: Sensory Overloads

OK, yes, there will be punk music. And yes, some of that music will be done by local favorites like Girl Trouble, Red Hex, and Trees and Timber. And yes, this is a function that will be held at a bar.

Read more...

TUESDAY, SEPT. 3 2013 >>>

1. Audiences from Bosnia to Columbia, from Maine to Puerto Rico, from China to Tacoma will grab a taste of independent film, as the Sundance Institute's Film Forward program rolls on for a fourth year. Film Forward will travel to eight locations - four in the United States, four overseas - from February to October 2013 - including a run in Tacoma, Sept. 3-7. The touring program doesn't focus on a traditional movie audience, but aims to "enhance greater cultural understanding, collaboration and dialogue around the globe by engaging audiences through the exhibition of films, workshops and conversations with filmmakers," according to its website. Today's opening free films are Chasing Ice and La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon). Chasing Ice screens at 6 p.m. in the Washington State History Museum with a post film discussion moderated by Dr. Harry Stern of the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington. La Misma Luna screens at 7 p.m. in the STAR Center with a post film discussion by lead by Pedro Gomez, director of Washington Latino Voters' Alliance and moderated by Laura Rodriguez of Metro Parks Tacoma.

2. The Attack is the latest film from Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri, adapted from the international best-selling novel of the same name by Algerian authorYasmina Khadra and, like many great films, the story behind the story sounds like the plot of a movie in its own right. Mohammed Moulessehoul, who writes under the pen nameYasmina Khadra, fled his native Algeria in 2000 during the waning days of the Algerian Civil War in order to escape government censorship of his work as well as the possibility of violent or fatal reprisals from outside extremist sources and the government itself. He currently lives as a political exile in France. Doueiri, on the other hand, came under fire from the Arab League due to his decision to film his movie on location in Tel Aviv, Israel and use Israeli actors to play some of the roles. As a result of this unsanctioned collaboration, The Attack is essentially blacklisted in every Palestinian country in the Middle East, includingDoueiri's home country of Lebanon. With so much opposition toward both author and director, you might assume their works tackle some very controversial and inflammatory subject matter. You'd be right. The film screens at 2:15 and 7:05 p.m. at The Grand Cinema. Read Jared Lovrak's full review of The Attack in the Music and Culture section.

3. Every Tuesday, Maxwell's serves two chef's choice appetizers and two house wines or draft beers for $15. Chef Hudson Slater tells us, "It's nothing over the top but keeps things fun and fresh." Chef Slater and server extraordinaire and wine pro Kent Bolden sample wines weeks in advance, mull them over, discuss possible pairings, sample more, then create a new Tuesday experience.

4. If hearing the sound of your own cackling voice echoing off the walls of your shower stall has you craving the sound of something a bit more harmonious, check out the local songbirds at Victory Music Open Mic at the Antique Sandwich Co. It's guaranteed to be jam-packed with gorgeous sounds and humbling verses, as the South Sound's greatest up-and-coming acoustic musicians bare their souls impromptu-style. Performances start at 7 p.m., and if you're thinking that your shower-time ballads are ready for public consumption, you can sign up for your own moment in the, er, sun at 6.

5. Every Tuesday night at Stonegate Pizza on South Tacoma Way Leanne Trevalyan hosts an acoustic open mic at 8 p.m.

LINK: Tuesday, Sept. 3 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

FRIDAY, AUG. 30 2013 >>>

1. If you're a geek of a certain age or, for that matter, anyone who loves cinematic comedy, you know exactly what happens when someone says the name "Frau Blücher." You know how to bring home the chorus of "Puttin' on the Ritz." You know who made a yummy sound, and you suspect Mel Brooks's 1974 masterpiece Young Frankenstein may be one of the greatest comedies in American cinema history. Whether you've seen it or not, we insist you follow your grentfadda's footshtops to the Washington State Capital Museum, at 9 p.m. where "Movies at the Mansion" presents an outdoor screening of the film. If it's brisk that night, some varm milk, perhaps?

2. The Weekly Volcano is synonymous with fun, so there's no way we would ever let Olympia Harbor Days festival pass without trumpeting it. Why? Because we love the hell out of some tugboats. And if there's one thing Oly Harbor Days is synonymous with, it's tugboats. And history. And fun. Is there another way we could use the word synonymous in this blurb? Probably. But why push our luck. The important thing is that you head down to Oly's waterfront 5-8 p.m. as well as Saturday and/or Sunday and get in on a late-summer rite of passage. Of particular interest are the annual tugboat races, which go down Sunday at noon.

3. The Odd Life is a Very Special Movie about a Very Special Boy who has Very Special Leaves growing out of his legs, and who helps a Very Special Town save its Very Special Pencil Factory. This Special Film screens at dusk - after a Special Performance by jazz guitarist Michael Powers, which begins at 5 p.m. at Point Defiance Park. Special.

4. "I'm on a boat!" Any bets if that's an artwork title at the 11th Annual Open Juried Art Show at the Harbor History Museum, which opens today? The museum nestles the water in downtown Gig Harbor. You can't walk the length of a plank without stumbling into a nautical reference. It seems like a safe bet for at least one of the 150 works by the 90 artists the Peninsula Art League curated would have a sense of humor. The show represents the second component of the 2013 Museum Art Series and follows the Maritime Art Exhibit which closed Aug. 25. An artists reception will go down 6-8 p.m. Why not be on a boat when you arrive?

5. No one ever accused the Night Beats of being a lazy band, and their most recent activity has been no different. With the release of their wild-eyed music video for their song, "The Seven Poison Wonders," off of their upcoming LP, Sonic Bloom, the psych-rockers have kept themselves very busy. Their show tonight at The New Frontier will be their last in these parts before the road warriors take off on yet another extended tour of the U.S. and Europe in support of their new album. Hang with MILK, Bath Party and the Night Beats beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: Friday, Aug. 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 28 2013 >>>

1. Blessed with a voice that made even his most obtuse musings to the press sound like gospel, Martin Luther King Jr. might have been taken for the Messiah. It's hard to know how Washington's or Lincoln's speeches might have carried to their contemporaries, but thanks to the magic of film, the good pastor will remain forever a man as well as a monument. King helped broadcast the conditions of the Jim Crow South by attracting film crews to the lawns where crosses were being burned or the lunch counters where protesters were being attacked. The Baptist preacher provided iconic imagery in front of the camera, delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and marching arm-in-arm across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Beginning with Harry Belafonte's somber introduction, the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis captures all the key moments of King's career - the Montgomery boycott, the Birmingham movement (including the church bombing that took the lives of four little girls), the March on Washington, King's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Selma march, the Northern campaign in Chicago, King's increasingly outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War, and on to Memphis. The Grand Cinema screens the film at 8 p.m. on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

2. A thought-provoking discussion about food justice issues and how these relate to race, class and sustainability will fill King's Book's at 7 p.m. when the Food Justice Book Club picks apart the book, Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability by Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman.

3. Singer-songwriter Alyse Black brings her sultry voice and indie pop melodies to Metronome Coffee at 8 p.m.

4. Rick Gonzalez and Ike Sutton will perform an unplugged two hour show with guitar and percussion playing a bunch of classic rock from the late '50s through the '80s at The Spar in Old Town Tacoma.

5. Dannica Lowery is a soul-singing, songwriting, story-telling songbird from the South. Americana runs hot in her veins. Her father came from a long line of bluegrass musicians, and her mother was a poet, so the universe had already dealt her the singer/songwriter cards. Lowery joins locals Jeanlizabeth and Travis Barker for the 8 p.m.  "Acoustic Sound Session Volume 1" show at Jazzbones. DJ Headline follows.

LINK: Wednesday, Aug. 28 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

All right, look: I realize that, by even saying anything about One Direction: This is Us, I'm creeping up on cranky old man territory. And yes, yes, old people be hatin', but can we just talk about that title?

One Direction: This is Us. This is us? In the pantheon of rock documentaries, we have The Last Waltz, Don't Look Back, Stop Making Sense, Gimme Shelter and, uh, This is Us? They've managed to come up with a title with even less personality than the actual, homogenous boy band itself.

But back to the trailer. ... We're treated to childhood photos of One Direction (read: photos taken 10 years ago), while identical narrators muse remembrances like, "In school, I was always the guy that made people laugh," and "I used to get kicked out of class for singing Irish traditional songs." Somehow this is all supposed to justify how they're now "number one in 37 countries."

And now, an exploration of fame and what it means to be in a boy band 15 years after the initial craze died out. How are One Direction working to separate themselves from the rabble? By not choreographing their dances, we're told. Then, it's a race to the bottom for each member to establish themselves as the "funny one," taking turns doing bland recreations of bits from A Hard Day's Night, if they even know what that is.

Finally, we're made to look at sad shots of middle-aged women crying with delight at the sight of these hairless boys.

It's worth pointing out two things about this trailer. First, very little of One Direction's music is featured, validly giving the impression that this is much more a cult of personality than an actual band. Oddly honest, I think.

Second, this movie is directed by former agit-doc director Morgan Spurlock - which is certainly a relief, as this seems to suggest that there is no more change to be made in the world if this guy's getting off Ronald McDonald's back long enough to follow some lithe British boys around for a while. Rejoice!

TUESDAY, AUG. 27 2013 >>>

1. Alain Resnais, 91, began his directorial career shortly after the Liberation of Paris from the Nazis, so to say he has played a bit of a role in French cinema over the years is putting it mildly. His film, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!, opens with the sudden death of (fictional) playwright Antoine d'Anthac, (Denis Podalydès).  A cavalcade of legendary French actors, (playing themselves), are summoned to d'Anthac's home for the reading of his will. Via a prerecorded statement, d'Anthac asks that this his colleagues evaluate an experimental theater company's taped performance of his play Eurydice, a play in which each actor in attendance performed a role at some point in their career. However, as the viewing progresses, the actors find themselves slipping back into the roles they played years earlier, reenacting scenes from the play as they unfold onscreen. In some cases, actors who played the same role in different productions of the play decades apart from one another reenact identical scenes, but their individual idiosyncrasies make both performances unique and equally valid. Things take a turn for the dreamlike when the viewing room gradually transforms into stage sets to fit the scenes being performed and the actors in the viewing room give pointers to the actors onscreen, and the onscreen actors answer them, but their performances are so captivating, you just don't question it. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet! screens at 2 and 7 p.m. in The Grand Cinema. Read Jared Lovrak's full review of You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet! in the Music and Culture section.

2. Look! Over by the cucumbers! It's Superman! Spider Man! Wonder Woman! A super-sized knitted Mr. Fantastic costume! And they're all dancing at the 6th Ave Farmers Market! Holy organics, Batman! That's right, Superfriends. The 6th Ave Farmers Market hosts a Homemade Superhero Costume Contest and dance party from 3-7 p.m. Superheroes will need to be prepared to answer two questions: What is your super power and what is your super name?

3. The Tacoma Rainiers kick off its final 7-game homestand, with its collective focus on the next three games, starting tonight at 7 p.m. against Salt Lake. The Bees - the Triple-A affiliate of the Angels - have a four-game lead on the Rainiers in the division. The only chance of making the playoffs is to take this series.

4. Speaking of superheroes, for many people around the South Sound, venturing into a comic book store for the first time can be a terrifying experience. Don't worry, the super hero-centric Capes & Cowls Book Club - billed as a "... book club adapted to mutants, aliens, technogeeks and puny humans who like to read superhero comics" - holds its monthly meeting at 8 p.m. in King's Books. This book club will ease you into the superhero comics genre with support and friendship. August's selection is Prophet Vol. 1: Remission by Brandon Graham where John Prophet is a genetically engineered super-clone sent by the Earth Empire on a mission to restore humanity. Boom! Biff! Biochemistry, beyotch!

5. On any night of the week, one can meander past the main bar in Olympia's China Clipper Club Cafe, to the back room where a disco ball, stage, stellar PA system, extensive song list, savvy DJ and lively, often tipsy, crowd scribbles on tiny, colorful paper then waits ... for Clipper Karaoke. There are number karaoke nights around the South Sound, but only one karaoke night that has been named Best Karaoke in Thurston County three years running in the Weekly Volcano's Best of Olympia issues. The China Clipper is the only lounge in Thurston County that hosts karaoke seven days a week. It's also the only lounge that uses state-of-the-art sound equipment rather than the typical karaoke set-up with a cordless mic that's passed from table to table. It goies down at 9 p.m. Read Nikki McCoy's full feature on Clipper Karaoke in the Weekly Volcano's Bars/Clubs section.

LINK: Tuesday, Aug. 27 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

The Garthim return! Did you miss us? Nerd Alert is the Weekly Volcano's recurring events calendar devoted to all things nerdy. I myself am a Star Wars fan, mathlete and spelling bee champion of long standing, so trust me: I grok whereof I speak.

The first few weeks of September are a quiet time of gentle reflection in the geek community, as one by one costumed heroes disappear from our multiplexes and we await the fall TV schedule. Out there, in the muggle world, jerseyed superfans are getting ready for some football; yet we remain unfazed. In fact, the closest we come to big-league sports fandom is Madden NFL 25, which hits the field this week. Also available as of Aug. 27 is the page-one rewrite Final Fantasy XIV:  A Realm Reborn. Listen, Square Enix: that "Final" thing sounded ill-conceived after the first adventure, let alone a baker's dozen.

Friday, Aug. 30

If you're a geek of a certain age or, for that matter, anyone who loves cinematic comedy, you know exactly what happens when someone says the name "Frau Blücher." You know how to bring home the chorus of "Puttin' on the Ritz." You know who made a yummy sound, and you suspect Mel Brooks's 1974 masterpiece Young Frankenstein may be one of the greatest comedies in American cinema history. Whether you've seen it or not, we insist you follow your grentfadda's footshtops to the Washington State Capital Museum, where "Movies at the Mansion" presents an outdoor screening of the film. If it's brisk that night, some varm milk, perhaps?

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 9 p.m., Washington State Capital Museum, 211 21st Ave. SW, Olympia, $2 suggested donation, 360.753.2580

Read more...

Weekly Volcano's email inbox fills with all kinds of notifications - ad inquiries, press releases, overdue library notices, etc. Every so often an email arrives that immediately receives lunchroom refrigerator placement. A recent email from Isaac Olsen hit the frig - even landing above the heavily marked vacation calendar. Seems this Tacoma creative is teaming up with friends to start a new label: Strapping Young Productions.

Here's the scoop from Olsen:

"In a broad overview: My friends and I started a new organization called Strapping Young Productions in order to distribute work by local artists (in any discipline). Its primary purpose is not to be yet another branding exercise, but to promote work that we are involved in under one banner and use the capital to fund further projects, thus reducing out-of-pocket spending of the individual artist. I see this as a self-perpetuating venture and a vehicle to simply make a lot of things happen in a timely manner.

Our first priority is distributing and showcasing work that already exists in our immediate circle, such as my two feature films, Quiet Shoes and Ich Hunger, two singles from Red Hex, an EP by Trees and Timber, the music of Dick Rossetti and his current band Jilly Rizzo, and some electronic music by Sam Olsen. I also plan to use this new platform to promote the Girl Trouble documentary (which I hope to premiere at SIFF this coming May) with a gallery show featuring 30 years of Girl Trouble art, fanzines and photographs. The film is currently on schedule!

We also plan to put on live shows; the first of which will be a company launch of sorts hosted by The New Frontier on Saturday, Sept 21. This show will feature Trees and Timber, Red Hex, The Jilly Rizzo, Girl Trouble, and a showing of my German art film, Ich Hunger.

Strapping Young Productions has recently been approved for a spot in the next round of Spaceworks, and we hope to use this location to host art shows, small musical performances, and film screenings."

Wow. It's DIY spirit like this that make us love Tacoma.

You're Next's first offense comes swift and unexpectedly, as Lou Reed's beautiful "Perfect Day" scores the opening moments of a truly lousy trailer to what will assuredly be an even lousier movie - creating an effect similar to a pig wearing makeup (more on that later, unfortunately), or a turd wearing a really nice hat.

Oof, and we're still only five seconds in.

A WASP-y family descends upon a ridiculous palatial estate in the woods for the weekend. What could go wrong?

Well, reader, not a moment after I start to suspect that this might be some sort Mike Nichols, Masterpiece Theatre, slamming-doors drama about the haves and the have-nots and what it really means to be an extended family in today's ever-changing - HOLY JESUS IS THAT A DUDE IN A CRAZY ANIMAL MASK LURKING OUTSIDE THE WINDOW?

Before you know it, arrows are being fired through the windows of the palatial estate, while interchangeable actors make intonations like, "This wasn't a random attack" and "They've been watching us for days," and various versions sounds you might make when someone suddenly shoots you in the head with a crossbow.

Guys, it's full-on dudes with animal masks and axes and other not-quite-ideal killing implements. And you know what else? "Perfect Day" is back on the soundtrack, and now I TOTALLY GET IT, man! It's, like, irony? Because this is not like any sort of perfect day that I would imagine if given an opportunity to imagine a perfect day!

I don't think animal masks would even enter into it, honestly.

I learn from every press release and commercial I've seen of You're Next that it's somehow a fresh take on the "home invasion genre." Well. Huh. While I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that that may be the case, I'll also say that - now that humans have apparently invented the home invasion genre - maybe it's time we just pack it in and call it a day as a species.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll just grab my bunny mask and mosey on out of h-ACK! (That's the sound of me getting shot with a crossbow.)

You're Next hits the local screens Friday, Aug. 23.