MICHAEL SWAN: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Looking for something to do today? Here are a few suggestions from your sister blog, Spew:

Five things to do today: All-ages show at Hell's Kitchen; Moon at The Grand Cinema; author Mary Guterson will read and sign her second novel in Garfield Book Company's Fireside Lounge; Mike Murray sings at A Rhapsody in Bloom; and the Tacoma Rainiers take on Sacramento. Check it out here.

Tap This: The Red Hot celebrates its 300th different brew with discounts.

Stand Up And Shout: Watch a live band audition tonight at the Jive.

MICHAEL SWAN: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Looking for something to do today? Here are a few suggestions from your sister blog, Spew:

Five things to do today: Aerial Troupe Ricochet presents Stitch, Strawberry and Capital Lakefair festivals, the film Cheri, and Guns & Rossetti and The Dirty Birds.

Huge Show: Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck bring their Minus 5 band to Hell's Kitchen tonight.

Farewell Show: Bacchus plays its last show at McCoy's tavern.

MICHAEL SWAN: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Looking for something to do today? Here are a few suggestions from our sister blog, Spew:

5 Things To Do: Scrabble Rousers, Mayhem Fest, Jug Of Punch, Kareem Kandi and salsa dancing.

Lazy Dogs And Rail-Riding Tramps: Tommy Dean at The Den tonight.

Smooth Criminal: Have you checked out Public Enemies yet?

MICHAEL SWAN: ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT IN THE SOUTH SOUND >>>

Looking for something to do today? Here are a few suggestions from our sister blog, Spew:

Five things to do today: Reggae vs. Hip-Hop, Tacoma Farmers Market, Classics Book Club and more.

Bluegrass Fix Tonight: Deadwood Revival at Doyle's.

Jazz Under The Stars: Kareem Kandi Band outside.

MICHAEL SWAN: SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2009 >>>

I posted five things to do today on our entertainment blog, Spew.

MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009 >>>

1. Former G-Unit member Young Buck, made infamous for stabbing a man in the chest during an award show in defense of Doctor Dre, will be performing live at The Royal Lounge at 9 p.m.

2. Starstruck and Vicci Martinez will be playing on the Weekly Volcano stage from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Tacoma Farmers Market on Broadway.

3. The grand opening of the Fort Lewis Outdoor Recreation Vehicle Park is today. It's located approximately two miles from the Outdoor Recreation Skeet Range on 2nd Division Range Road. For additional information, call 967-6263.

4. There's a Pre-4th Of July Show featuring Mr. Sho-Nuff and 
Anonymous, plus giveaways and a booty shaking contest at 9 p.m. at the Last Call in Lakewood.

5. Hell's Kitchen
will put away the black for the rainbow love of a Reggae Night
featuring Little Big Man, Mighty High, Puget Sound System and Urban
Evergreen beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2009 >>>

1. LaVon Hardison steps away from her role in Harlequin Productions' Sixties Chicks to fill The Cliff House with jazz vocals at 7 p.m.

2. The City Club of Tacoma hosts a Tacoma Mayoral Candidate Forum at 6 p.m. inside the Wheelock Student Center at the University of Puget Sound.

3. Garfield Book Company Book Club will discuss blogger Catherine Sanderson's book Petite Anglaise at 6:30 p.m.

4. Every Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m. Doyle's Public House
in Tacoma hosts Knowledge Night where individuals or teams answer two
pages of brain teasers, trivia and current events for shirts, tickets
and gift certificates.

5. Award winning blues trombonist Randy Oxford hosts a weekly Wednesday jam at Chopstix dubbed The Randy Oxford Blues Theatre beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009 >>>

1. Pretty Boy Sean's Ha Ha Tuesday Pre-Birthday Comedy Bash, hosted by
Ralph Porter, with guest comics James Inman and Dan Rock begins at 8
p.m. inside Jazzbones.

2.
Check out the work of nature shutterbug Keith Lazelle who snagged 14
beautiful shots of the Hoh River ecosystem in the Olympic National
Park. They're on display at the Washington State History Museum.

3.
Jewelry artist Nancy Worden incorporates non-traditional materials such
as seed pods and plastic hair curlers into her jewelry to tell a story.
That's right, she explores social and political issues in her exhibit, Loud Bones, which shows at the Tacoma Art Museum.

4. Country singer Hannah Weeks performs in Gig Harbor's Skansie Brothers Park at 6:30 p.m. as park of the city's free Summer Sounds at Skansie series.

5. Live jazz every Tuesday beginning at 9 p.m. at The New Frontier Lounge. Important things to know: $2 wells, $4 martinis and no cover. Righteous.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2009 >>>

1. A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing
American love (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott
Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results in East Virtue playing at The Grand Cinema.  The early Noel Coward
play is adapted with wit and style.

2. DJ Jason Diamond spins roots reggae during The New Frontier Lounge's Rebel Monday at 9 p.m.

3. DJ Doll Hands spins vintage lady country music at The Brotherhood Lounge around 9 p.m.

4. It's Monster Metal Mondays night at Hell's Kitchen featuring Unhailoed, Cry Of Sickness and Blackheart Blight at 8 p.m. without a cover charge.

5. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones starts at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2009 >>>

1. The 40-foot long Permibus Permaculture demonstration bus with solar
power, grey water systems, a composting toilet, two dogs, and several
chickens will park outside King's Books from 4:30- 7 p.m.

2. A Room Called Remember will rock the downtown Tacoma Farmers Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

3. Lynda Mapes will lecture from her book, Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village, at 6 p.m. inside Orca Books in Olympia.

4. Matt Coughlin performs a free show from 7-9 p.m. at Doyle's Public House.

5. Junior Reid, XP, Lebowski and Luvva J lay it down at The Royal in Olympia beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events