SNIPPET FROM OUR SUMMER GUIDE >>>

Like those now-scarce restaurants where roller-skating servers deliver food to your car, drive-in movies had their heyday in the '50s. These days, most movies watched in the car are on computer or smart-phone screens. But while drive-ins.com lists only six open drive-ins in the state, you don't have to travel back in time to enjoy the summer-night experience of watching (or, better yet, not watching) a big-screen film in the privacy of your own car. Skyline Drive-In, which opened in 1962, is still showing movies on weekends from March through October. You listen to the movie on an FM radio. The Skyline bans outside food and drink (there's a snack bar), alcohol and drugs.

• DETAILS: 182 SE Brewer Road, Shelton, $7, $1 for ages 6-11, free for 5 and younger, gates open at 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday, movies begin at dusk, 360.426.4707 or skylinedrive-in.com
• FILMS SCREENING TONIGHT: Horrible Bosses, Cowboys and Aliens and Rocky Horror Picture Show

LINK: Weekly Volcano 2011 Summer Guide

MOONLIGHT RHAPSODY >>>

Pacific Lutheran University, home to the stellar jazz and NPR station KPLU, takes the rhythms to the outside hosting Jazz Under The Stars - an outdoor concert series in the Mary Baker Russell Music Center Amphitheater. The shows are free, and so is the Pura Vida Forza coffee.

The fun starts tonight with New York and Seattle saxophonist/vocalist Brooks Giles. The rest of the series, always on Thursday evenings, features Seattle trumpeter/vocalist Jake Bergevin July 15, Seattle jazz pianist Randy Halberstadt July 22, Seattle jazz guitarist Scott Lindenmuth July 29, Tacoma jazz pianist/vocalist David Deacon-Joyner Aug. 6, and Seattle vocalist Gail Pettis Aug. 12.

Added bonus: W.M. Keck Observatory will provide complimentary star charts at the July 29, Aug. 5 and 12 performances On these dates, a tour of the W.M. Keck Observatory will follow, depending on weather conditions. Check out the PLU Physics Department Web site to learn more about the W.M. Keck Observatory

Jazz Under the Stars

7-9 p.m., Thursday nights through Aug. 12, no cover,
Mary Baker Russell Music Center Amphitheater, Pacific Lutheran University, 124th and 10th avenues, Parkland
253.535.7787

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound

GOING BOB ROSS ON THE BUDGIES >>>

Some people are just not "people" people. Some people are dog people, some are cat people and some are just plain animal people. If you are an animal person, at least 14 years old, and a desire to be an artist, here is the event for you. Artist Susan Massey will teach you the basic elements of art as you draw animals at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. No doubt Massey will prove that most animals share a remarkable amount of shapes and characteristics. Massey will also probably suggest you dress similar to the animal you'll be sketching for the best animal facial expressions.

The cost is $85 person, which includes zoo admission.

To register, contact Melisa Jennings at 253.312.4304 or MelisaJ@TacomaParks.com. Jennings will have the scoop on required art supplies

Sketching at the Zoo

Saturdays, July 10, 17, 24, 10 a.m. to noon, $85
Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, 5400 N. Pearl, Tacoma

THIS KIND OF FREAKS ME OUT >>>

Here are some facts about slugs:

1. Number of eggs one gray garden slug can lie in a year: 400
2. As hermaphrodites, slugs have both male and female sex organs which allow any two to mate.
3. Speed: 2 feet in 43 seconds. Man can run a 100 yard dash in less than 10 seconds; it would take a slug almost 2 hours.
4. Slugs are territorial and will attack caterpillars and other slug "intruders"  ... at very slow speeds.
5. Many predators-birds, squirrels, and mice stay away from slugs and snails because of their horrible taste.
6. When slugs' teeth wear out new rows move forward and replace them, conveyor-belt style.
7. Favorite foods include: strawberries, leafy plants, and some root vegetables.
8. Only 5 percent of the slug population appears above ground at any time.
9. In heavily infested fields there are approximately nine slugs per square foot. This means 392,040 slugs per acre. Slug cycle their feeding habits so that only 20 percent are feeding at any given time.
10. Slugs don't think it's funny when humans pretend to be slugs, especially when humans wiggle into leatherette sleeves with no armholes and race on a slimed tarp as spectators sing the slug anthem during SlugFest at Northwest Trek.

SlugFest

Saturday, June 26-Sunday, June 27, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., activities free with admission
Northwest Trek, 11610 Trek Dr. E., Eatonville
360.832.6117

BEING WILLIAM WALLACE >>>

We here at the Weekly Volcano think it takes a real man to wear a skirt and wear it proudly.  That's why we're piling into the Weekly Volcanomobile and heading to the 41st Annual Tacoma Highland Games to watch some manly men flash their legs and flip some fucking big logs in the Heavy Field Events and Caber Toss.  If all that testosterone gets to be too much, we'll head for the Parading of the Clans or dancing, piping and drumming competitions.

And don't forget the bagpipes. Lots and lots of bagpipes. Did I mention the bagpipes?

Tacoma Highland Games

Saturday, June 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., $8-$10
Frontier Park, 217^th and Meridian East, Graham

Hey, did I mention the bagpipes?

LINK: More Tacoma Highland Games details

HURRY! SUMMER'S HERE FOR A SECOND >>>

Apart from the word "sex," only "free" captures the human imagination with such force. "Win" isn't bad either. For the ultimate in attention grabbing, then, nothing does the trick quite like "win free sex." Watch them leap, see them run.

Alas, while the Weekly Volcano can't offer help in the sexual arena, summer offers a wealth of free activities including the four spraygrounds in Tacoma - South Park, McKinley Playfield, Wapato Hills Park and Jefferson Park.

As a result of the 2005 Park Improvement Bond, the old wading pools in Tacoma parks have been replaced with spraygrounds - wet playgrounds that shoot water in the air that doesn't accumulate for safety. 

Besides, the spraygrounds are an opportunity for us all to observe a micro-sized petri dish of American life as it pulses and spurts and knocks out our contact lens.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Sept. 6, weekends only Sept. 7-26

LINK: Metro Parks has the scoop