MYTH AND CIRCUS TO MEET INSIDE THE TACOMA DOME >>>

Roughly translated from French to English, "Cirque du Soleil" means "party hard and live it up" (or something like that) - all the things most revelers are in search of after a summer with the kids. Alegria, which will be staged Sept. 15-19, 2010 inside the Tacoma Dome, is described thus on the Cirque press release:

Alegría is a Spanish word that means happiness, joy and jubilation and features an international cast of 55 performers and musicians from 15 countries and showcases breathtaking acrobatics. Acts include the Synchro Trapeze and the intense and high-energy Aerial High Bars in which daring aerialists fly to catchers swinging more than 40 feet above the stage. The vibrancy of youth is alive in Power Track, a brilliant display of synchronized choreography and tumbling on a trampoline system hidden under the stage floor. In Russian Bars, artists fly through the air and perform spectacular somersaults and mid-air turns, landing on bars perched on the sturdy shoulders of catchers.

Advanced discounted tickets for Alegría are available now online exclusively to Cirque Club members through June 20, 2010. Cirque Club membership is free and benefits include access to advance tickets, special offers and exclusive behind the scenes information. To join, go here.

Tickets - $28-$94 - will be available to the general public beginning June 21.

INSIDE TODAY'S WEEKLY VOLCANO >>>

Risky Business: The Harlequin Productions story should be an inspiration to nonprofit arts groups of all persuasions by Christian Carvajal

Neddy Time: Tacoma Art Museum's annual fellowship competition is upon us by Alec Clayton

Suite Nostalgia: It really is all about the relationships at Olympia Little Theatre by Christian Carvajal

Splice: What do you get when you cross genes from various assorted plants, animals, bugs and fish? by Rev. Adam McKinney

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Vote for your favorite arts group in our Best of Tacoma 2010 poll

THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010 >>>

1. The Tempest Lounge kicks off its Thursday night Acoustic Open Stage event at 7 p.m. with hosts Kim Archer and Nick sandy. If you play an acoustic instrument and sing - show them what you got. Acoustic groups are welcome.

2. Wild Waves Theme Park will host the world's largest swimming lesson at 7 a.m. Keep those elbows high people.

3. Washington artists Clarissa Callesen and Ruby Re-Usable (aka Diane Kurzyna) featured in the book Who's Your Dada? Redefining the Doll through Mixed Media will discuss their artistic process at 7:30 p.m. inside the Olympia Timberland Library.

4. The Pierce County Arts Commission celebrates its 25th anniversary with a party that includes a presentation of the President's Awards to Pierce County Councilwoman Barbara Gelman, Elida Kirk Lathrop, Arts Downtown Puyallup and others, beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside the Pierce County Community Development building at 3602 Pacific Ave.

5. The Lakewood Playhouse hosts the live radio play Hard-Boiled Detectives: From the Surreal to the Sublime! featuring Sam Danger, Dan Turner and Philip Marlowe, plus wine, beer and hors d'oeuvres, at 7 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010 >>>

1. The Secret in Their Eyes - screening today at noon, 2:45, 5:45 and 8:25 p.m. at The Grand Cinema -was the 2010 Oscar winner as best foreign film.  Moving between 1974 and 2000 in Buenos Aires, it completes the third acts of two stories, one involving a murder, the other a romance.  Writer-director Juan Jose Campanella brings extraordinary care to his lovingly crafted film, and his actors are well cast for why he needs them.  The kind of movie they literally don't make much anymore. Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars.

2. International chess sets and individual playing pieces from prominent collections are on display at the Washington State History Museum from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. Bernard Shaw's famous play Major Barbara dismantles a cherished idea: "Right is right; and wrong is wrong; and if a man cannot distinguish them properly, he is either a fool or a rascal." Anyone in tonight's Tacoma Little Theatre audience, who believes this, is, like the twit who speaks it, in for a good moral tweaking by this socialist-capitalist-diabolical play, which begins at 2 p.m.

4. With John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, newly founded Tacoma theater company Gold From Straw jumps directly into the deep end of the theatrical pool. Doubt - which will be stage at 2 p.m. inside the Mecca Building - is carefully designed to raise questions and avoid answers. The audience is permitted to come to their own conclusions, if they wish, but that is not the intent. We are meant simply to know that we do not know, to wallow in our lack of certainty and to understand that how things seem does not dictate how things are. The characters, in turn, embrace, hide, foster, force and ignore the pervasive uncertainty of their lives. Read the full review here.

5. This month the Jazz Live at Marine View features reunites the ever popular singer Stephanie Porter with her longtime musical sidekick trumpeter Lance Buller from 5-6:30 p.m. inside the Marine View Presbyterian Church at 8469 Eastside Dr. in Tacoma.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010 >>>

1. The drummer stands, legs rigid and splayed, mimicking the wide lines of the prone wooden drum. His left arm points to the heavens as his right arm traces an ever increasingly insistent tattoo across the taut drum's head with the straight wooden drum stick, or bachi. The group moves as one, weaving a story through percussive punctuations and bold, rolling rhythmic cadences. Then hip-hop, rock and electronica is weaved into the taiko drumming yeah boyeee! Welcome to On Ensemble, which will perform at 7:30 p.m. inside the Rialto Theater.

2. Stella Haioulani's Free Ya Mind open mic will include featured performer Charhys Bailey beginning at 7 p.m. inside Tully's Coffee at the Bostwick Building.

3. Showtime at the Dash Center: Citywide Talent Show is a talent competition where the audience response decides who stays and who's out, and a panel of expert judges decide the winner. It all goes down at 7:30 p.m. inside Lincoln High School.

4. With John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, newly founded Tacoma theater company Gold From Straw jumps directly into the deep end of the theatrical pool. Doubt is carefully designed to raise questions and avoid answers. The audience is permitted to come to their own conclusions, if they wish, but that is not the intent. Read our full review here. The show will be staged at 8 p.m. inside the Mecca Theater.

5. Floater, In Lunar Blue, and Rishloo perform at 9:30 p.m. inside Hell's Kitchen.

LINK: New movies open today

ONE OF THE BEST ANNUAL EVENTS IN TACOMA >>>

Tacoma came out in strong numbers Sunday to the Broadway Center's Star Chefs on Broadway Carnevale a Venezia gala inside the Pantages Theater. The evening began with shopping, noshing and sipping in a vibrant Italian market (otherwise known as the Pantages lobby), followed by a live auction, El Gaucho dinner, opera singers, and trapeze artists in a Venetian Opera House (this time, the Pantages main stage).

Over the last four days I've attended Third Thursday ArtWalk, Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club's pool opening, Harmon Tap Room's preview party, the opening of Morso wine bar, Gayl Bertagni's Culinary Arts Scholarship Benefit at The Swiss - and Star Chefs on Broadway 2010. I'm flat out tired. I want to write 2000 words on last night's Star Chefs - which benefited Broadway Center's vital arts education programs that touch the lives of 35,000 students and teachers annually - but I can barely keep my eyes open. I want to thank each chef for knocking my socks off with their creations. How El Gaucho nailed hundreds of Chateaubriand and Australian lobster dishes is beyond me. And Master of Ceremonies Kevin Joyce was pure genius again this year.

Also, I'm thrilled that I'll be joining other couples for the beach party at the awe-inspiring home of artist Doug Granum later this summer. It was one of 18 live auction items up for bid. Joyce and his partner Martha Enson ran the auction to perfection - the perfect length of time with top-notch humor and dramatic antics.

A big thanks to the O'Connors of Tacoma for purchasing The Melting Pot fondue dessert for the table my wife, Kate, and I were lucky to occupy. I'd also like to thank Chad and Jenny Mackay of El Gaucho, also at our table, for the wonderful conversation.

Most of all I'd like to thank David Fischer, Benjii Bittle and the rest of the Broadway Center staff for creating one of the most beautiful and fun events in Tacoma.

Below are a few photos I snapped with my crappy camera at last night's Star Chef's event. All of my photos are in our Photo Hot Spot section.

The Sanford and Son co-owner Cheryl Gorsuch raised a glass of McCrea Cellars 2007 Yakima Valley Syrah to Star Chefs.

Chef Thad Lyman with Brix 25 served American Kobe cornets featuring San Marzano marinara, garlic confit and mozzarella foam.

Tammi Barber of TLB Events did an amazing job decorating and transforming the Pantages Theater into a Venetian Opera House.

Broadway Center Education Manager Nyree Martinez thanked the crowd.

Kevin Joyce and Martha Enson of Enjoy Productions ran a flawless and fun live auction.

Broadway Center Deputy Executive Director Benjii Bittle (center) was thrilled when two people paid more than $3000 each to have him cook dinner for their parties of 12.

Duo Madrona, featuring Ben Wendel and Rachel Nehmer - who began performing with Teatro Zinzanni in February 2009 - amazed the crowd.

SEE A PERFORMANCE TODAY >>>

DOUBT: With John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, newly founded Tacoma theater company Gold From Straw jumps directly into the deep end of the theatrical pool. Doubt is carefully designed to raise questions and avoid answers. The audience is permitted to come to their own conclusions, if they wish, but that is not the intent We are meant simply to know that we do not know, to wallow in our lack of certainty and to understand that how things seem does not dictate how things are. The characters, in turn, embrace, hide, foster, force and ignore the pervasive uncertainty of their lives. Doubt is also a play for actors. Read the full review here. 8 p.m., $22-$25, Mecca Building, 755 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.301.8004 - Joe Izenman

SIX HOTELS: "What's your deal?" one wounded character asks another in Israel Horovitz's Six Hotels, currently making its West Coast premiere at Harlequin Productions in Olympia.  It's an apt tag line for Six Hotels, a disparate collection of one-act plays.  If this anthology has any single uniting theme, it's the exposure of clandestine desires, motivations and major malfunctions. Read the full review here. 8 p.m., $22-$33, Harlequin Productions, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.786.0151 - Christian Carvajal

CRAZY AND A HALF: Elizabeth Lord's most recent endeavor is playing two different therapists in D.R. Anderson's Crazy and a Half, a play comprised of six shorts that take a satirical look at patients and their relationships with therapists. From New York crazy to California crazy, the list of characters is amusing; there's crazy mafia wife with gun, crazy bunny suit girl who works for Phantazagrams, and even crazy rockstar guy prone to sleeping through his sessions. Read more on Elizabeth Lord here. 8 p.m., $12, The Midnight Sun, 113 N. Columbia St., Olympia, 360.250.2721 - Nikki Talotta

MIKO KURO'S MIDNIGHT TEA: Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea (MKMT) - a re-emergence of performance "art happenings" through a traditional Japanese tea ceremony  - will take participants and voyeurs from Saturday to Sunday inside the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative in downtown Tacoma. The 12 MKMT participants, slots that were filled many moons ago, will experience swirls to their senses - smells, visuals, tastes and sounds - often while blindfolded. The voyeurs - you - will have a chance to watch MKMT founders Natasha Marin and Lord Loxley, both of Vancouver, B.C., lead the 12 through various spiritual stages through dance, art and tastes. 11:45 p.m., $12, Speakeasy arts Cooperative, 746 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.426.5704 - Ron Swarner

LINK: More stage shows

TIME TO HOP TO IT >>>

First Night - Pierce County's New Year's Eve alternative to hordes of drunken idiots, overpriced tickets, and Dick Clark's mummified visage - is on again this year, providing a family-friendly celebration rooted in the visual and performing arts. This year's event focuses on "The Year of the Rabbit" with metal as the official element and green or aqua as the official colors.

First Night Executive Director Patrice O'Neill and her herd are asking musicians, dancers, artists and instructors who want to participate in this year's event to submit proposals by Aug. 1. 2010. Criteria for judging include: relevance to community, inclusion of the rabbit theme, cost, appropriateness of material, fun, quality of performance and uniqueness.

Those interested may submit their proposals to firstnighttacoma@gmail.com.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010 >>>

1. The rain has thrown a wrench in the spokes of Bike Month in Pierce County. For example, The Red Hot intended to host an outdoor screening of the bike flick American Flyer tonight at 8:30 p.m. Everyone was encouraged to ride their bikes to the Sixth Avenue tavern, and the New Belgium Ranger IPA and Blue Paddle Pilsner was to flow like wine. After studying weather charts, Red Hot owner Chris "Trashcan" Miller decided to fold up the outdoor chairs and bring the party indoors - same Hot venue, same Hot time. 

2. Maurice The Fish Records musicians perform at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge. Hopefully newly signed Maurice artist Kim Archer will perform, too.

3. The Tacoma Community College Chamber Orchestra performs Beethoven Symphony No. 7 and Bellini's Oboe Concerto in E-flat at 7:30 p.m. inside TCC Building 3.

4. The play Annie continues its run at the Capital Playhouse with a 7:30 p.m. staging. Read our review here.

5. Angela Reed performs an all-ages show at 7:30 p.m. inside A Rhapsody In Bloom Florist and Cafe Latte on Sixth Avenue.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Win a $200 dinner at El Gaucho Tacoma

LOOK WHAT WE FOUND IN OUR MAILBOX >>>

The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts will open its 2010-2011 season with the world premiere of Boom Town by Cirque Mechanics Friday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 2. From the creators of Birdhouse Factory, Boom Town will unite some of the world's best artistic circus stars, including many from Cirque du Soleil. Tickets range from $28 to $64.

A few of the other highlights include:

Blind Boys of Alabama with Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, Friday, Oct. 8, $29-$74

An Evening with Leo Kottke, Saturday, Oct. 16, $30-$50

Jo Dee Messina: The Music Room Series, Sunday, Oct. 24, $34-$64

David Sedaris, Oct. 30, $32-$78

The Color Purple, Friday, Nov. 12, $48-$84

The Sound Of Music Sing-Along, followed by the annual downtown Tacoma tree lighting, Sunday, Nov. 28, $9-$16

Seattle Men's Chorus Holiday Glee, Thursday, Dec. 2, $39-$52

Peking Acrobats, Sunday, Jan. 9, $19-$49

Nanci Griffith, Saturday, Jan. 29, $30-$69

Garrison Keillor, Thursday, Feb. 10, $44-$79

West Coast premiere My Name Is Asher Lev, Saturday, Feb. 19, $28

Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Friday, Feb. 25, $39

Twist And Shout: The Definitive Beatles Experience, Thursday, March 31, $22-$58

Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Trey McIntyre Project and Ma Maison, Friday, April 8, $39-$79

Yu Wei Chinese Dance Collection, Sunday, April 17, $19-$29

Jane Monheit, Saturday, April 23, $39-$49

Fiddler On The Roof, Tuesday, April 26, $34-$76

Johnny Clegg, Friday, April 29, $39-$49

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Friday, May 13, $28-$49

Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black's The Whiz, Saturday, May 21, $29-$59

The Broadway Center's new season isn't loaded on its Web site yet, although the Leo Kottke concert is on sale now. You may call the Broadway Center's box office at 253.591.5894 for information regarding their upcoming season.