Friday, Sept. 23

Arriving fashionably late with Miss Rose, I met Armani suit-wearing Kansas at 21 Commerce's  front doors and proceeded to have a fabulous night.

21 Commerce should have chiggity-checked itself before it wriggity-wrecked itself by having a self-confessed beer-tender manning its martini bar in the Skyy Lounge for its two-year anniversary party. A dirty martini should be cloudy, not swamp murky and served with attitude. The froufrou fruity drinks, such as Mango A Go Go, were delicious. No surprise, but so was the buffet. The funniest moment was when we overheard a guy in Dockers and a bad polo shirt talking about fashion week in New York. Gag. Pappi Swarner and Lady S joined us for the caravan to Chopstix. I can't believe we stood in line in Tacoma to get into a glorified karaoke bar. The crowd was having a blast, obviously wasted and loving the sing-along piano versions of Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the "Time Warp." We split after one drink and headed to Magoo's, where Jaime, who I freakin' adore, made rounds of her yum-yum Manhattans. GG sat in for some conversation and looked marvelously elegant.

Saturday, Sept. 24

Doug "Hometown Celebrity" Mackey is taking his leave of us. As of this writing, he is on the road to Texas. His farewell get-together at E9 was cool. Doug's cowboy getup was awesome. Angie Jossy and her cute daughter, Jessie, were there. Pappi Swarner and I went to Alfred's for dinner afterward. It felt like a "Twilight Zone" episode. There was no one there on a Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. Weird.  They have inventive, killer drinks and plasma screens!  The food was great, which is available at 11 p.m.

Hot tipper Kristana tells me Vinny Vegas put on one hell of a show opening for The Plastards and the Fawking Eagles at the Jive.

Around town

n Nothing's set in stone yet, but Drake's Nightclub has changed hands. It will be a rock club opening in early 2006 and will undergo the usual remodeling, repainting and revamping of the sound system. Here's to hoping they put in air-conditioning.

n It doesn't look like the former Jillian's space will be having bands after all.

n Before Blue played their last show at Jazzbones Monday. Jeremy Hoag says the band members just want different things musically.

n Wide Eye Panic will play their first live show with their new guitar player Saturday, Oct. 8, at Hell's Kitchen.

n Maggie O'Toole's is stepping up in the rock arena announcing Alien Ant Farm will play there in November.

n Paris In Arms and Ruxton Towers Saturday show at The Manium has been cancelled. Thank you, city of Olympia, for not supporting live music. I guess I'll have to catch them at the Kitchen Oct. 14.

n David's on Broadway will have a Katrina Benefit Thursday, Oct. 6, with The Forgery and guests. Then it's back to hit-or-miss karaoke with Jevin on Fridays and Sundays. Call before you go, though, as last Friday we went to sing and nope, not open.

n KRS ONE and Eddie Spaghetti will be at Hell's Kitchen in October, and Jazzbones is seeing some bigger mainstream acts, such as The Posies, Martin Sexton and The Atomic Bombshells.

n Club Zoe is officially having shows every weekend. There's still no booze, so pre-funk if you must.

n The Bangkok Five, one of my favs, are coming back to the Catbox Lounge in November.

saturday

rishloo

Rishloo heads out on a West Coast tour right after headlining the Fourth Ave Tavern in Olympia. Hard-edged prog rock in the same vein as Tool and Perfect Circle, Rishloo blends intense vocals, intelligent lyrics and skillful instrument handling with a killer stage performance. Seattle's Turn To Fall and Portland's Redshift open.   9 p.m. $3, 21+, 210 East Fourth Ave., Olympia.