Sadly, in this world full of emails and instant messages, text messages and status updates, MySpace bulletins and Twitter tweets, it’s something I rarely do anymore.

Stop dead in my tracks to take note of a show flyer, whether it’s pasted to the inside of a club, stuck to the window of a coffee shop, or glued to a light post by some county regulation scofflaw. While show flyers were once a staple of local music self promotion, now they’re just one of many avenues an ambitious band, musician or show promoter must traverse in hopes of drawing out the masses.

But there I was last week, ducking out of Doyle’s, when I saw it. A simply drawn Flying V guitar and two outstretched hands, propping up the top of the Tacoma Dome. The words etched on the blue flyer were straight and to the point — Band Together Tacoma, Saturday, July 25 at The New Frontier Lounge, presented by Tacoma Social Justice. With Napoleon Dynamite style charm, and a list of local bands as impressive as any, I found myself momentarily back in time — stopped dead in my tracks by a show flyer.

First the bands — the main reason for my awe. The Joshua Cain Band, Destruction Island, Blanco Bronco and Paris Spleen. All will play the Band Together Tacoma show Saturday at The New Frontier, and as far as musical lineups go — from an uber-local perspective, at least — that’s about as good as it gets.

Perhaps more important, though, is who the show is presented by — Tacoma Social Justice. I couldn’t help but be left to wonder, with a name so valiant, just what the back-story was? 

As it turned out, I already knew. Remember that highly successful, much talked about Stand Up for Darfur event last year — which included a community discussion at King’s Books and a boatload of kick-ass rock at Doyle’s?

Well, while the official name Tacoma Social Justice may be new, having only been christened recently — the organization is not. The same fine folks that brought Tacoma Stand Up for Darfur, not to mention the Obstetric Fistula awareness event at the Swiss that preceded it, are behind Tacoma Social Justice, which aims to enlighten, enlist and engage Tacoma when it comes to promoting social justice — around the world and close to home.

Makes sense, right?

More specifically, University of Washington Tacoma alums Emily Adler, Jessica Gavre, Aurora Jewell, and Kendra Varadi are the driving forces behind Tacoma Social Justice. Since originally organizing while at UWT, the fearsome foursome has been tackling social injustice wherever they see it, and inspiring much needed dialogue throughout our fair city. Currently, Adler, Gavre, Jewell and Varadi are mounting opposition to Referendum 71, which — if it garners enough signatures and is placed on the ballot — aims to eliminate Washington’s Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009.  That possibility, for our state’s gay community and beyond, is the very definition of social INJUSTICE. It’s situations like these that Tacoma Social Justice was built for.

“We just started doing stuff and it lit a fire,” says Varadi. “We don’t want to tell people what they should do and what they should care about. We want to find a way to bring everyone together and bridge the gaps. We want to create a place where we can talk about real issues.”

By all accounts, it seems to be working.

“Tacoma Social Justice is important to this town for the mere reason that we always need to be raising our common humanity as a community,” says Blanco Bronco frontman Manjo Taliban, who also notes his band’s excitement about playing Saturday’s show at the New Frontier. “I take very seriously what they’re attempting to do and envy their zeal. So much needs to be done, but merely the need for informing people about issues is huge. Ignorance is the prime suspect perpetuating needless suffering.”

“The mission of our music is to help people realize and recapture a sense of place and to fight the powers that would tear it apart,” says Joshua Cain of the Joshua Cain Band, one of the most socially active bands Tacoma boasts.

“Our vision is that someday our town will be so interconnected that when a woman is abused, we will all feel it. When a person loses their home, we will all feel it. When there are acts of racism or violence, those acts have been committed on all of us. It’s organizations like Tacoma Social Justice that can start the ball rolling for a community to gain a sense of togetherness.”

For those playing at home, consider the ball rolling. See it firsthand, and maybe even give it a good ol’ fashioned shove yourself, Saturday at the Band Together Tacoma event sponsored by Tacoma Social Justice at the New Frontier.

For more information about Tacoma Social Justice check out tacomasocialjustice.org.

[The New Frontier Lounge, Saturday, July 25, The Joshua Cain Band with Blanco Bronco, Destruction Island, Paris Spleen, DJ Bobby Galaxy, 6:30 pm., $7, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020], Tacoma, 253.572.4020]