MONDAY, FEB. 4 2013 >>>

1. For years, the Greta Jane Quartet played every Monday at the Royal Lounge. The quartet is back at The Royal tonight at 8 p.m. "Quartet of what?" you ask, as yet unhip to Ms. Greta Jane Pederson's jazz combo featuring Cary Black, Vince Brown, and Andrew Dorsett. In your world, jazz is the Pandora station your boss makes you listen to at work. Well, prepare to get schooled! In the Quartet's nimble hands, jazz was powerfully sexy, just the thing to settle a body down after another manic Monday. Imagine a snifter of Maker's Mark and pretty ladies in cocktail gloves. That's right, cocktail gloves! It'sour  fantasy, damnit! Anywho, happy days are here again - at least for tonight.

2. The latest show at the University of Puget Sound's Kittredge Gallery is a fascinating installation that may prove difficult to describe. It is called "Kukai," and it is a collaborative project between digital media artist Robert Campbell and ceramic sculptor Yuki Nakamura, who previously worked together for an installation called "Floating Plaster/City Motion," a multimedia installation comprising video, audio, and cast sculptures for the New Works Laboratory, a program between 911 Media Arts Center and the Henry Art Gallery at University of Washington in Seattle. The current installation is all about light and sound - mostly light. Check it out between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Read Alec Clayton's full review of "Kukai" in the Weekly Volcano Arts section.

3. If you've noticed we're pushing local breweries lately, you've caught us. We can't stay away from local beer. Plus, there's something about a local brewery that screams perfect date night. A couple pints of lager, a couple side salads, a doggy bag for the happy couple. ... Powerhouse Restaurant and Brewery in Puyallup offers a pasta and pint combination every Monday that's easy on the wallet. Buy pasta off the menu and get any one of Powerhouse's seven beers free of charge.

4. Wouldn't you love to know if your spouse was cheating? Or find out what Fido has been doing in Heaven all these years? Thank Goddess for psychics, and thank your lucky stars for the Psychic Buffet, 5-9 p.m. every first Monday at the Urban Onion Restaurant in downtown Olympia. See your future a little more clearly thanks to area clairvoyants and mediums, Tarot card readers and energy healers.

5. Jho Blenis and Shelly Ely will fill The Swiss with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: Monday, Feb. 4 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

SUNDAY, FEB. 3 2013 >>>

1. Unlike other parties, which regularly occur in gathering places of all shapes and sizes, Super Bowl parties happen almost exclusively in the home. The television as a necessary party apparatus partially explains this phenomenon, though there’s never enough couch space, and Aunt Mary's Mexican layer dip always makes you feel strange later. Plus, no one has a television large enough to see around Phil’s fat head. Therefore, we suggest you leave it up to the professionals and ante up to a bar where testosterone swirls in the air, hoots and hollers fill the room and someone else makes the barbecue ribs and cocktails. Here's a list of some South Sound digs serving up specials during the big game.

2. The exhibition Andy Warhol's Flowers for Tacoma at Tacoma Art Museum will end next Sunday. Have you seen it? You should. Weekly Volcano arts critic Alec Clayton says if you thought you knew Warhol you may be in for a big surprise. There are many pieces in this show that I had never before seen, not even in reproduction. Read Clayton's full review of Andy Warhol's Flowers for Tacoma in the Visual Arts section at weeklyvolcano.com.

3. America’s Largest Antique & Collectibles Show will cram the Puyallup Fair & Events Center with 300 booths featuring antiques and collectibles up to 1970 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

4. Willian Hellman's The Children's Hour's daring, few-holds-barred script was a Broadway sensation in 1934 - so much so, in fact, that New York state authorities were willing to forgo a ban on one of its key themes. Two headmistresses who own and operate a private boarding school are accused of having "unlawful sexual conduct," with, as you might expect, disastrous effects on their lives. The catch is they're accused by a student, Mary Tilford, known to have a shaky regard for the truth. There's every reason to believe Mary's lying, and her rich, influential grandmother overreacting, until another student, Rosalie Wells, corroborates her story. The Lakewood Playhouse stages the last production of this show today at 2 p.m. Read Christian Carvajal's review of The Children's Hour in the Weekly Volcano's Arts Section.

5. Steve Cooley & The Dangerfields will fill Johnny's Dock Restaurant and Marina with rockin' blues beginning at 5 p.m.

LINK: Sunday, Feb. 3 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

CONTEST BASED ON HIDDEN NUTS >>>

Tacoma City Ballet is in the midst of a yearlong scavenger hunt for Golden Krakatuk Nuts. You heard right. Nuts. The nuts tie into the company's highly anticipated Dec. 7, 2013 performance, Prequel to The Nutcracker.

The contest in a nutshell: TCB hides hand-painted Golden Krakatuk Nuts inside jewel boxes around Tacoma; inside the boxes is a scroll with prize details, such as gift certificates, merchandise or tickets to Tacoma City Ballet's World Premier of said Nutcracker in December. Each month through the year, Golden Krakatuk Nuts will be hidden at businesses throughout Tacoma. To find the nuts, decipher the poetic clues, which will be posted at Tacoma City Ballet's website, Facebook page, as well as this blog. You find the Golden Krakatuk Nuts and great riches will be heaped upon you! For complete on the contest and Nutcracker performance, click here.

Somehow, through all this nutty scavenher hunting, Tacoma City Ballet will host another free preview performance - this time for its upcoming event Mid-Winter Masquerade Ball Soirée - tonight at 7:30 p.m. inside the Tacoma City Ballet studio at the Merlino Building at Sixth and Fawcett.

The second Golden Krakatuk Nut clue dropped this morning. This clue will guide you to a restaurant, shop or other business at which the nuts may be in plain sight or may be behind the counter.

Here you go you nuts:

Searching for the Krakatuk Nut, you are?

Then like Drosselmeyer you must travel far.

Look for beautiful boxes containing the Golden Nut

and other delightful prizes - Who can imagine what?

Only one box is hidden this month in our fair city

And to figure out February's clue, you must be quite witty.

February's Krakatuk Clue

For some royal reading with two cats both friendly and furry

Come shop downtown where you won't have to hurry.

Do you know what that means? Are you off to find the golden nut? A limited number of prizes will be available at each location, so speed counts.

FRIDAY, JAN. 31 2013 >>>

1. Since its introduction in 1894, the motorcycle has spawned a variety of cultures and uses. As basic transportation, as leisure activity or as a die-hard lifestyle, millions of people have a love affair with Choppers, Crotch Rockets, Thumpers and all things two-wheeled. The action-packed exhibit "Let's Ride! Motocycling The Northwest at the Washington State History Museum is a celebration of the region's never-waning motorcycle culture - will include interactive exhibits, videos and impressive displays of machines from 1906 to the 21st century. At 3 p.m. WSHM curator Remond Barrett will host a walk and talk of the exhibit.

2. "Tacomapocalypse" is now in its third year, morphing just a tad with each incarnation. The first "Tacomapocalypse" focused on zombies and destruction. The second took a tongue-in-cheek look at the end of the world. "Tacomapocalypse III" in turn is centered on what has lived through the end of days and what that recovery might look like. So if you need a little boost getting over your end-of-the-world fretting from last year, think of "Tacomapocalypse" as a little bit of unconventional therapy. The show opens at Amocat Café today with a reception from 5-9 p.m. and will remain up through the month.

3. Stonegate Pizza hosts Art On A Mission, a benefit for The Rescue Mission featuring professional art, silent auction, raffle and live music by John Leonard from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

4. Australian Circus Oz is kicking off its new North American tour at 7:30 p.m. inside the Pantages Theater. Formed in 1978, Oz is a rock and roll, animal free circus of musicians, acrobats, contortionists and artsy clowns. However, because Oz doesn't have the financial backing of Cirque du Soleil, it only has a dozen or so performers doing all the acts. Whether you've been awaiting its show or have never heard of them before, read five reasons you should be Circus Oz's new biggest fan here.

5. DJs Broam, Bobby Galaxy and Mr. Melanin have created something that should be reviewed in a gourmet magazine: We swear to you, their Future Bass is so good you might want to eat it. The bass throbs. The sounds ebb. The crowd is hyped. The roof is definitely being raised. All under the hypnotic influence of the trio's tight grooves. Future Bass is back at The New Frontier Lounge at 10 p.m. with its night of electroclash, EDM, hip-hop, disco, exclusive remixes and throwbacks - as well as guest DJs Delicious Brown and Ninjamonik. It's smart. It's waaaay groovy. It's obviously the product of much thought and dedication – just where the future of bass should be headed. Tasty.

LINK: Friday, Jan. 31 arts and entertainment events in the greater TAcoma and Olympia area

THE WEEK OF JAN. 31-FEB. 6, 2013 >>>

In this week's issue of the Weekly Volcano ...

Here you go sweethearts. The Weekly Volcano presents our favorite restaurant seats in the South Sound. Love ya!

In the cold and blustery January 2010, three intrepid runners planned a three-mile run followed by celebratory beverages at the Parkway Tavern. These three runners - Mike Hahn, Derek Young and Rob McNair-Huff - announced their plans online. When they met up, rather than just the three of them, there were seven runners waiting to dash and drink. Tacoma Runners was born. Since that fateful day, the group has met up at different Tacoma bars every Thursday evening. Tonight, the Tacoma Runners celebrates its three-year anniversary. Read up on its history, and find out where you are running tonight (you know you want to join the party).

Originally known as the 11th Street Bridge - also the City Waterway Bridge - the Murray Morgan bridge has served as the gateway for the Thea Foss Waterway for one hundred years. The bridge we know today replaced an original single span bridge in 1913. The reason for the change was that a single span bridge does not move, so to allow for increased boat traffic the new bridge was built. With the bridge reopening Friday, the Weekly Volcano takes a look at the Murray Morgan Bridge's history and its coming-out parties.

Super Bowl is Sunday, and the Weekly Volcano has to confess to feeling a tad bipolar about the whole thing: glad to see the 49ers in it again, but also bored to distraction at the thought of subjecting ourselves to a four-hour advertising blitz interrupted by a few minutes of pro football. We could invest loads of man hours baking hot wings, making deviled eggs and concocting some clever pig skin themed cocktail OR we could leave it up to the professionals and ante up to a bar where testosterone swirls in the air, hoots and hollers fill the room and someone else makes the barbecue ribs and cocktails.

Weekly Volcano theater critic Christian Carvajal read Liz Duffy Adams' script Or, (the comma is part of the show title) a few months ago, when he admired rather than enjoyed it. He couldn't visualize all its chaotic comings and goings. As with any sex farce, it turns out Or, has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Read Carv's review of Harlequin Production's OR, in the Weekly Volcano's Arts section.

Australian Circus Oz is kicking off its new North American tour with three performances this weekend in Tacoma. Formed in 1978, Oz is a rock and roll, animal-free circus of musicians, acrobats, contortionists and artsy clowns. However, because Oz doesn't have the financial backing of Cirque du Soleil, it only has a dozen or so performers doing all the acts. Whether you've been awaiting its show or have never heard of them before, here are five reasons you should be Circus Oz's new biggest fan.

PLUS: Deep Sea Diver is blowing up

BRING IT TACOMA ART MUSEUM >>>

CBS Sunday Morning did a segment on the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. I had never before heard of him, although I had seen some of his work without realizing whose work it was. Among other things, he collaborated on the design of the 2008 Summer Olympics stadium in Beijing. He is a sculptor, architect, photographer, filmmaker and a political provocateur. He has been imprisoned for his criticism of the Chinese government, and he grew up in forced exile in a labor camp because of his father's politics. His father was the dissident poet Ai Qing.

The narrator of the Sunday Morning show said that Weiwei celebrates "the group" (read collectivism, Communism) and the individual. Politically those are antithetical stances, but in art (and in life, like it or not) it is a sound principle. In society individuals coalesce for the good of the family or team or country while allowing individuals the freedom grow, create and shine on their own. What better example than Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks.

In art, the principle of variety within unity is not an absolute necessity, but it's a damn good principle. I have often spoken of it in my art criticism. When the morning news show spoke of this principle in connection with Weiwei's art, the camera focused on a circular form on the floor of the Hirshhorn Museum and slowly zoomed in to reveal that the form comprised hundreds if not thousands of crabs. Then they showed other works by Weiwei including a large, circular cage-like sculpture made of stacked bicycles and a floating form like a giant spikey gumball made of old wooden chairs. What each of these works had in common was they were made of many similar but slightly different items that together created a single unified form. Each of the bikes was identical in that they each had two wheels of approximately the same size, handlebars and a saddle seat. But each was also unique. The same variety within unity can be seen in most good paintings or poems or musical scores. Not to mention people. Have you ever marveled at the fact that all humans look alike yet very few, if any, are identical?

Teachers in art schools often speak of contrast and harmony - same thing as variety within unity. Probably the most obvious examples are Andy Warhol's flowers and soup cans and celebrity portraits. A wall full of Marilyn Monroe portraits, each from the same photograph but no two identical.

The occasion of the Sunday Morning piece on Weiwei is his current show in the Hirshhorn in our nation's capital. The show is called According to What? It's a fascinating show, and Weiwei is a fascinating man. And by-the-way, if you look at his sculptural installations and look at photographs of the Olympics stadium you will surely notice unmistakable similarities in form.

Wouldn't it be cool if Seattle could get him to design the new home for the Sonics? Wouldn't it be cooler still if Tacoma Art Museum could do an Ai Weiwei show?

TAM did a Richard Long show a few years back, and it was hugely popular. Richard Long does essentially the same things with rocks that Weiwei does with industrial materials and found objects and crabs (among other materials), and Weiwei's work is far more profound and inventive.

LINK: "Azul: Contemporary Interpretations In Primary Blue Mood" in Tacoma

LET'S PARTY >>>

The Weekly Volcano's annual Best of Olympia party is one month away, which means you need to hit the "+" button on your electronic calendar and set Wednesday, Feb. 20 as the night you will be partying with the Olympia community. Type in "Capitol Theater" as the Location. Select 6 p.m. as the Start Time. Select 9 p.m. as the End Time. In the Notes field, type: "This is a free event featuring the Tush Burlesque Troupe, emcee Elizabeth Lord, bands Mosquito Hawk and Science!, films, beer and wine, raffle prizes, Best of Olympia winner announcements and more." 

There, you're set. You'll enjoy a cornucopia of Olympia culture packed into one early evening. Bonus: You'll know the 2013 Best of Olympia winners before the rest of the world. We'll announce the winners and distribute copies of the special issue the night before it hits the streets.

The 2013 Best of Olympia Readers' Poll will remain open until this coming Thursday night. The important thing to remember is the 2013 Best of Olympia Readers' Poll is your chance to give recognition to the people, places and things in Olympia and Thurston County that deserve it. Vote now!

LINKS: Scenes from the 2011 Best of Olympia Party and 2012 Best of Olympia Party

SHE'S AWESOME >>>

Nov. 11, 2011 Winter Teems drove into downtown Olympia on a crisp, sunny day. Weeks earlier, she sold her possessions in Florida and hit the road with visiting her sister in Olympia as her only solid plan.

After that bright, sunny day - it rained for three months. Teems wondered what the hell she got herself into.

She stayed. It was the creative music and arts scene that grabbed her and shook the sunny Florida weather away.

Today, she's a fitness guru at L.A. Fitness in Thurston County. At night, and during her free time, she's a professional photographer with aspirations to add video production to her skill set.

We bring up Teems not because she's shooting next week's Weekly Volcano cover, or that she's shooting our 2013 Best of Olympia issue, which hits the street Thursday, Feb. 21 (vote now!), but because she recently completed two projects worth your attention.

First, she just finished publicity shots for the Olympia band Elbow Coulee, a band Weekly Volcano music critic Rev. Adam McKinney says "flourishes of lite prog-rock guitar noodling, mixing with dips into '90s emo and tight, spiky, early '00s dance-punk."

Yes, the photo above is Teems' work. Nice, huh?

Second, she produced a video for Ethan Tucker, the Olympia singer-songwriter who will perform at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26 at Doyle's Public House in Tacoma.

When asked what local photographer inspires her, Teems named Weekly Volcano photographer Patrick Snapp. Nice.

Weclome aboard Winter.

LINK: Winter Teems also snapped this shot

WE ATTEND SECRET CEREMONIES >>>

Cartoonist's League of Absurd Washingtonians, or C.L.A.W., held its ultra secret "Great Yearly Ceremony" at the Knights of the Pythias Temple in downtown Tacoma Monday, Jan. 21. The purpose behind the ceremony was a departing of its Eyes (officers) and the installation of its new Eyes, as well as the "Remembrance of the Declawed." During the ceremony the members praised the robot Overlords through songs and rites.

Oh, there was booze and funny hats. And of course, cake. There is always room for cake.

To learn more about C.L.A.W., check out its website. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

LINK: More photos from the C.L.A.W. ceremony

ART ANALYSIS >>>

I met painter William Quinn at an art opening and we talked a lot about art. Quinn is 83 years old. He's been around the block a time or two and knows of what he speaks. It's nice to talk to a painter about painting - a painter who is knowledgeable and sensitive and perceptive. I've found that there are very few around. I can think of only one other of my acquaintances who can carry on a long and detailed discussion about what makes a particular painting work or not, and that is Olympia artist Ron Hinson. Two or three times a year we get together and converse over coffee, and I always learn something from Ron. Even through college and when I was teaching, I met very few fellow artists with whom I could have enlightening talks. One was Thornton Willis, a successful New York artist who was my mentor and studio mate back in the '60s. The other was Jim Meade, a fellow teacher at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The opening where Quinn and I met was for "Azul: Contemporary Interpretations In Primary Blue Mood" B2 Fine Art Gallery. We looked at some of the other art on display and discussed it in depth. I pointed out a painting by Judy Hintz Cox that I thought was one of her best. I particularly liked a dark shape at the bottom of her painting that had a triangle wedge cut out of it with a blue dot nestled in it like moon in the sky that by happenstance lined up perfectly. He agreed that he liked that too but pointed out a circle with a dot in it, the only other point of color on a white background, and called it an eye, saying it was a gimmick. I just saw it as a circle and a dot, but now I'll never be able to look at it again without seeing an eye, which really detracts from an otherwise excellent painting.

We looked at moody and atmospheric landscapes and seascapes by Susana Rodriguez that I kind of liked but felt not fully engaged with. He said they looked unfinished and too safe. They needed something audacious. And he was right.

I wondered as a critic how critical I should be. I talked to him about being perhaps overly careful when subjecting local artists to criticism. I said that sometimes I see an artist as outstanding in relation to others in local galleries, but if I compare them to a Rembrandt or a Titian they're pretty weak. He responded with a baseball analogy saying they can't all be Babe Ruth but maybe they can be pretty good in the minors. You have to take them where you find them.

When I mentioned the concept of painting intuitively he said underneath intuition must be a lifetime of studying and learning. This is so true.

He also expressed some disappointment in the current art scene and disdain for the art magazines, grousing that young artists and the hip scene seem to be all about photography and installations and that painting is not respected. My take on that is that art nowadays seems to be all about content, with little appreciation for the visual aspects. The critics all talk about what it means instead of what it looks like. He said that's because it's easier to write about what it means. Formal visual analysis ain't easy.

It was refreshing to talk to another painter who has reasoned and educated opinions.

Please note that I am paraphrasing his statements, not quoting, and I am relying on memory; I didn't take notes. I hope I didn't misinterpret any of his ideas.

LINK: Alec Clayton's Visual Edge Column