The building that was previously the unfortunately named Sar’s Oriental Cuisine has been sitting vacant near my house for awhile. 

Then improvements were made, paint was slapped on the walls, and rumors began circulating that an Indochine would be moving in.

Shortly after that, a sign went up, confirming that.

Just a few weeks ago, paper was taken off windows, hinting at the beautiful interior inside, as a banner was placed, promising  “coming soon, Indochine on Pearl.”

I just spoke to a representative from the University Place location, who will be running the new Thai restaurant, and he confirms that the restaurant is set to open Nov. 1.

But I’ll be getting the interior peek hook-up, soon.

Keep your eyes set right hear for more. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

ROCK
Bug Nasties, Fungus Riot
Despite the obvious differences between the two bands, the similarities will be overwhelming. Rock will be the binding theme, and based on that alone this show will be one of the best the week has to offer. The Bug Nasties lean toward Austin Powers’ fashion, mod sounds of the ’60s, and extreme R&B. Fungus Riot, on the other hand, list bands like NOFX, Rancid, and Iron Maiden as their influences, and aren’t afraid to go a little epic on your ass. On paper they seem like complete opposites, but this writer’s prediction is it won’t matter. The two bands share a love of rock and roll ideals, and that’s almost always enough for an entertaining show. â€" Matt Driscoll
[Le Voyeur, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.5710]

MUSIC: What’s happening tonight.

STAGE
“Sweeney Todd”
There was a crime committed in downtown Olympia last weekend. There were two empty seats at Capital Playhouse’s production of “Sweeney Todd,” a tasteful play about a mass murderer who sees a business opportunity in the otherwise useless stack of corpses he has created. I guess you could consider the empty seats a “capital crime,” but the real victims probably don’t know they missed an opportunity to see one of the best shows found in the South Sound in the last decade or so. It was brilliant. â€" Steve Dunkelberger
[Capital Playhouse, 7:30 p.m., $21 to $33, 612 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.2744]

STAGE
“The Wonder Bread Years”
Comedian Pat Hazell examines baby-boomer Americana â€" sugar-highs, milk money, the kid’s table, pop rocks, the ice cream truck, and those long distance trips in the wayback of the Country Squire Wagon â€" in his one-man show, “The Wonder Bread Years.” â€" Suzy Stump
[Washington Center, 7:30 p.m., $29.50-$31.50, 512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia, 360.753.8585]

STAGE: More stage shows tonight.

The Grand Cinema’s Executive Director Philip Cowan picked four out of the five winning films at the Tacoma Film Festival.  Before the festival opened, Cowan listed his “must see” picks, which include all winning films but "GPS: The Movie" announced last night at the closing ceremony.  Here are the winners:

Audience Choice Award: "My Left Hand"

Best Documentary: "Spitfire 944"

Best Local Film: "GPS: The Movie"

Best Short Film: "Full Disclosure"

Best Feature Film: "Rain in the Mountains"

Congratulations to the brain trust behind the festival.  We enjoyed many films, including bloody nose night at the Tacoma School of the Arts. â€" Brad Allen

YouTube just got sexier, courtesy of Tacoma’s Samsara Pilates and Pole’s Meli McCourek.  You won’t see full frontal, but you will see titillating fun, and some super hot shoes.  Then you can sign yourself up for classes and learn the fun, yourself. Contact  Samsara Pilates and Pole at 253.370.2452 with all your questions. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

Captain Kirk has a son, and his name is Tricky. 

No, really. 

Tricky’s Pop Culture Emporium is owned and run by Patrick Kirk, whose dad was a captain (get it? Captain Kirk) in the U.S. Army.  Yes, Daddy Kirk was a Trekkie, and yes, the family sat together and watched “Star Trek” when it was on television.

It would seem like natural progression, then, that Tricky the Trekkie would dream of a world beyond the elder care he’d been involved with since he was 13 years old.  Tricky saw Star Trek: the Experience as a way out of the daily diapering of the elderly. “It was before Depends,” he remembers. “They were cloth diapers.”

Star Trek: the Experience, a sort of Disney World for Trekkies in Las Vegas, lured Kirk with the lofty title wardrobe assistant.  What that amounted to was, in his words, “washing Starfleet uniforms and shining Klingon boots.” He recalls how the Klingons’ boots, with internal lifts, lifted further the Klingons’ impressions of themselves.

But all was not well with the Experience, and downsizing brought Captain Kirk’s son a pink slip.

That brought Kirk back to work as a nurse’s aide in a Las Vegas old folks home filled with New York characters “who would not die.”  He recalls one guy with a four-pack-a-day â€" “unfiltered!” he emphasizes â€" smoking habit who had a particularly nasty attitude at 100 years old.  A former barber, the man had many photos on his walls.  All featured a cigarette in the right hand and a drink in the left.  “He used to cut Regis Philbin’s hair,” Tricky tells me, and I’m certain he’s pulling my chain. “No, I believed him,” he says.  “If he was going to lie, he’d say Frank Sinatra or something, not Regis Philbin.”

Good point.

At about this time, Elvis entered Kirk’s life in the form of albums some of the residents had given him.  Kirk says of his ambitions, “I moved there (to Vegas) to clean Klingon boots, not to do Elvis impersonations.”  But sometimes, the inevitable grabs hold, and Kirk succumbed, moving to Seattle shortly thereafter, where he garnered rave reviews and a first place for his Elvis in a skirt â€" TransElvistite.  A picture in his shop shows him as his alter ego, and he has a great pair of legs to go with his miniskirt.

Now, here in Tacoma, where his brother lives, Kirk’s shop acts as a physical autobiography of his life’s phases and interests â€" all for sale for surprisingly cheap.

Go there; talk to him.  It’s fun. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

[Tricky’s Pop Culture Emporium, 817 Division Ave. Suite B, Tacoma, 253.272.5288]

The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts is our bestest friend ever.  They are extending a 10 percent discount to Weekly Volcano readers for their following productions:

“Four Slices of Wry,”

“Rush Limbaugh in Night School,” and

“Striking 12.”

Just mention you are a Weekly Volcano reader when purchasing your tickets and they will knock 10 percent of your purchase and think you are the smartest person in the whole world, maybe the universe. â€" Suzy Stump

I can’t wait to peek inside Tacoma’s swank condominiums during this weekend’s Tour of Urban Living, a self-guided tour set to take place Oct. 13 and 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In last year’s tour, I remember having a light bulb “Aha!” moment watching the occupants of the top floor of a million-dollar condo project.

Together, the couple entered the elevator with their two Scottish terriers, a carrier with six bottles of wine, and several bags of groceries.

Right then and there, I was sold on condo lifestyle. I could see myself as an empty nester with two lap dogs I’d bestow impossibly clever names upon, bringing up my gourmet fare to prepare and savor in my gourmet kitchen kitted out with Gaggenau and Viking appliances while sipping on an amazing vintage.

Check out the Tour of Urban Living details here. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler

THE DAILY WORD
Learn it, use it, spell it

Pleonasm \PLEE-uh-naz-uhm\, noun:
1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, "I saw it with my own eyes."
2. An instance or example of pleonasm.
3. A superfluous word or expression.

USAGE EXAMPLE: After much discussion, the Weekly Volcano has decided to issue a South Sound Advisory â€" be on the lookout for pleonasm. The Weekly Volcano isn’t sure, but we believe we picked up pleonasm after too many rum and cokes on South Tacoma Way. Unlike other things the Weekly Volcano has contracted on South Tacoma Way, there’s no rash or discharge with pleonasm, only excessive use of words. Beware the spread of pleonasm, and protect yourself.

THE MORNING NEWS

TACOMA: City delays Atlas explosion video.

PIERCE COUNTY: Transit plan.

KAHLOTUS: Washington state town has one old goat.

LONDON: Greetings.  You Are Fat.  Stop Eating.

HUSTLER OF CULTURE
You can stand atop the mountain and scream your naked desires to the universe or shed that synapse epilepsy and hug the South Sound today with your fellow man:

MUSIC: Tonight, on Sixth Avenue, Giant Panda will take control of Jazzbones. Bobble Tiki isn’t talking about the zoo variety here; he’s talking about Giant Panda the New York band making their West Coast debut at the Boneyard, and who are known for their “a unique blend of roots reggae, dub, and afrobeat, with just the right mix of dark and light to keep you on your toes.” Bobble Tiki is not a smart man, but he knows the sound of good show when he hears one.

MORE MUSIC: What's on tonight.

FILM: Tacoma Film Festival’s last day.

DISH: Grab some soup today.

BOBBLE TIKI’S THREATS AND PROMISES COLUMN
When Bobble Tiki saw that War with Saturn â€" who according to their MySpace page are in the metal/metal/metal genre â€" will be playing McCoy’s Saturday, Oct. 13, naturally he was mildly interested. If anywhere in Olympia seems fit for metal it’s McCoy’s, but still, Bobble Tiki had to wonder. When Bobble Tiki found out War with Saturn actually live in Olympia, and consider it the home of the band, he was downright intrigued.

Please be Bobble Tiki’s friend here.

Breakfast with Bobble Tiki runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  Deal with it.

“It’s my season,” confides Karen Luke Fildes. “When the gray days come, I come alive.”

Despite recent trips around Hawaii and other sunny, color-saturated spots, Luke Fildes speaks about the Northwest sky with reverence, using adjectives reserved for people. She explains how the cloud’s personality will take on whatever the wind is doing to it, as if the cloud were a bit like a passive partner in a relationship.

She talks about the immediate clouds outside Gallery Madera as though they were dancers, or actors, creating drama and tension in a day-long show.

Along with Carlos Taylor-Swanson, proprietor of Gallery Madera, Luke Fildes hopes to “create a movement to warm up moody, Washington days,” utilizing Taylor-Swanson’s space to run palette workshops for artists.

The first Northwest Color Awareness Demonstration workshop, runs Saturday from 11 to 2 p.m. at Gallery Madera, where Luke Fildes currently has work hanging along with artists Rae Belkin, as well as Milo and Christy Mirabelli.

The show, titled “Change,” fits well with the color workshop that Luke Fildes will run, where participants will learn to paint Northwest color.

But Luke Fildes, whose canvasses show unrelenting optimism that verges on the spiritual, says, “It’s not only educational but inspirational.”

In her own artistic world of pursuing nature, she invariably casts a positive light on the darkest situations. She says she’s looking to create a sort of Vespers for people, only not in a church, adding, “It’s not a secret that that’s what it’s all about ... it’s hope.”

More technically, Luke Fildes says, “It’s about color awareness, the temperature of light; becoming aware of the beauty rather than being trapped under the veil.”

The implication is that what you’re looking at as gray and depressing may actually be shades of purple, blue, gold, and silver; her workshop will demystify the actual colors and add some ideas to get participants outside looking up on days when they’d ordinarily closet themselves indoors with a blanket.

In past workshops, Luke Fildes has noted, “It seems to be a comfort to people. Fun, too.”

And along with Taylor-Swanson she’s hoping that Gallery Madera can be ground zero for that inspirational movement toward the appreciation of beauty in new ways.

“He’s doing really great things with this space and the community,” Luke Fildes enthuses about Taylor-Swanson, adding, “It’s just the best space.”

[Gallery Madera, Saturday, Oct. 13, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., free, 2210 Court A Tacoma, 253.572.1218 www.gallerymadera.com]

Alters are one way to celebrate one who has died.

Tacoma-based Latino youth and family support organization Centro Latino has joined forces with the Tacoma Art Museum for the third year running to celebrate The Day of the Dead. Local observance of the popular Latin American tradition began Oct. 9, and is set to culminate in a free public community celebration Nov. 4.   

Day of the Dead, a centuries-old tradition, traces its roots to the Aztec, Maya and other ancient Central American societies. In modern times, the tradition is observed in Mexico and other Latin American communities on Nov. 1 and 2 (All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day), when the lives of relatives and friends who have died are remembered and honored. Since traditional belief views death as a continuation rather than the end of life, the Day of the Dead is a time of joyful celebration, not of mourning.

A special weekend of live events kicks off Oct. 20 with artist Fulgencio Lazo’s creation of a “tapete” sand painting in the first floor lobby, followed by installation of family and community altars that will extend to Sunday, Oct. 21. The altars will feature a mix of food and drink offerings, flowers and candles, and figurines, as well as examples of Day of the Dead sugar skeletons.   

Visitors to TAM will also be able to view art work representing submissions by local students in grades six through 12 until the end of the celebration, which concludes Nov. 4, noon to 5 p.m., with the TAM-hosted Day of the Dead community festival. During the two-week celebration, museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Thursdays until 8 p.m.) and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for students/military/seniors. â€" Bill Timnick

[Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., 253.272.4258]