Despite the image Bobble Tiki has created for himself with his writing in the Weekly Volcano and despite the rather impressive number of friends Bobble Tiki has wracked up on Myspace, believe it or not Bobble Tiki isn’t always a social butterfly. Sometimes when Bobble Tiki’s weekend rolls around, all Bobble Tiki wants to do is roll around in his own filth, moving from the king size bed he shares with Mrs. Tiki, to the couch, and back again — all the while wearing the same pair of sweatpants.

Making matters worse, sometimes Bobble Tiki gets irritated with people. Sometimes it’s the cashier at Fred Meyer’s. Sometimes it’s the girl who made Bobble Tiki a crappy Americano. Sometimes it’s the guy his collar “popped.” Sometimes it’s the plastic, makeup coated, ex-sorority harlot driving a Land Rover.

Sometimes it’s someone else.

I guess you could say Bobble Tiki has a fair amount of pent-up anger and resentment. Feelings like these don’t exactly generate boatloads of friends.

Sometimes Bobble Tiki also gets depressed. Sometimes Bobble Tiki hates himself most of all. It’s not as much fun as hating other people, but that doesn’t seem to stop Bobble Tiki from doing it. Sometimes Bobble Tiki’s heart rate slows down, his eyes glaze over, and he feels like staring at the wall for a whole weekend. Bobble Tiki considers this a god given right, but admits it’s not the most social activity.

What Bobble Tiki often needs is something to pull him from a particular funk or rut — something to lure him out of his shell, into the world — something that makes him remember the good aspects of interacting with humanity.

Unfortunately, Bobble Tiki isn’t currently hiding from the world or full of hate and spite. If he was, this weekend at Jazzbones would almost certainly be enough to lift him out of it. Thursday, Sept. 13, Junkyard Jane will get all their original members together for a reunion show. Friday Bump Kitchen will drop the R&B and funk. On Saturday reggae semi-legend Winston Jarrett will turn Sixth Avenue into Trenchtown. And Sunday, Sept. 16 Lydia Pense and Cold Blood will give Bobble Tiki vague, hazy flashbacks of the ’70s and the smell of skunks in his dad’s record den.

There’s no need for a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, at least this weekend, when Jazzbones puts shows like this together.

Junkyard Jane is covered in this week’s Volcano on page 17. Bump Kitchen has been written about many times in these pages. Let’s talk Winston Jarrett and Lydia Pense.
Bobble Tiki has a love-hate relationship with reggae. Quite simply, sometimes he hates and sometimes he loves it. A few things that highly increase Bobble Tiki’s chances of being in the mood for reggae are warm weather, rum, those brownies that Matt Driscoll bakes for Weekly Volcano office parties, and legitimate reggae musicians. There’s something about a hack reggae guitarist with a trust fund that really rubs Bobble Tiki the wrong way.

When Winston Jarrett plays Jazzbones Saturday, the stars will be aligned for Bobble Tiki to be in the “right place” for reggae. Matt Driscoll isn’t baking brownies, but there’ll be plenty of rum, and Jarrett’s prowess in the world of reggae is undeniable. Jarrett currently resides in Seattle, making his Tacoma stop realistic, but his roots and four-decade career are steeped in authentic Jamaican tradition. Basically, Winston Jarrett (along with the The Righteous Flames, of course) has produced some of the best known and influential songs in the history of reggae. Jarrett Jazzbones is a ticket that should be hard to pass up.

Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, who are equally versed in the music business (having been in existence since 1969) will take a different tone with a different crowd Sunday evening at Jazzbones — but the result should be similar. Thanks to some jaw dropping vocal capabilities, Pense has been compared to singers like Janis Joplin and Teena Marie. If that’s not range, Bobble Tiki doesn’t know what is. Pense and Cold Blood, a Bay Area product almost literally born at the Fillmore, helped define the sound known as “East Bay Grease.” Along with groups like Tower of Power, Pense and Cold Blood were part of a movement that produced a new page in funk, soul, and R&B. The band broke up in the ’70s and Pense put her career on hiatus in the ’80s to raise her daughter, but they’ve been going strong again since the ’90s. The band’s stop at Jazzbones is part of a tour taking Pense and Cold Blood from Bellingham to California to Ohio. Roads they’ve no doubt traveled before.

Just like in the last issue of the Weekly Volcano, and the issue before that, Bobble Tiki doesn’t care what you do this week because he doesn’t even know you. Besides, Bobble Tiki is too busy right now trying to convince his real friends he was just screwing around with all that depression talk to make any new social acquaintances at the moment. You’ll have to settle for breakfast, served every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday here. It’s the most important meal of the day.

[Jazzbones, call for starting times and prices, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169, www.jazzbones.com]