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Friday night, I bar hopped around Tacoma with my camera. It was a full-meal deal of live music and audiences wackiness.

The first course of the night was a family set at C.I. Shenanigans along the Ruston Way waterfront. Gina Belliveau and Cottonwood Cutups were in the Fireplace Room, performing before date couples, families and old dudes snapping their fingers to the down beat. A kid or two played games on cell phones as the music blasted the room. Belliveau packed a lot of power into a spritely frame while Cottonwood did ... well, what Cottonwood does ... brought the thunder. See more photos from the Shenanigans show in the Weekly Volcano's Photo Hot Spot.

The next morsel came with The Front featuring RJ Medeiros playing at Rock the Dock Pub & Grill. The band brought out the power ballads for a mix of over 50 rockers and those who love them. The jam proved that age is just a number - some of those folks can cut a rug with the best of them. See more photos from the Rock the Dock show in the Weekly Volcano's Photo Hot Spot.

My main entrée was a delicious set by the Kim Archer Band at Jazzbones. The band brought its signature soul and energy to the stage with a tight set of classic R&B covers. See more photos of the Jazzbones show in the Weekly Volcano's Photo Hot Spot.

For dessert, I went for the weird. After the KAB show, the Jazzbones crowd was well lubricated for BZ Productions' Mardi Gras Costume Contest, complete with full-on bead craving hotties. With $100 for best Mardi Gras outfit on the line, and DJ Switch behind the deck, BZ asked the Jazzbones crowd to stay away from the trashy look. It got trashy. Fast. See more photos from the Mardi Gras Party in the Weekly Volcano's Photo Hot Spot.

LINK: Weekly Volcano Photo Hot Spot

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BZ Productions knows how to throw a party, if the definition of party includes booze, fist pumping, short skirts and low necklines. BZ hosted a "Naughty or Nerd" contest Friday, Jan. 25 at Jazzbones in Tacoma. One hundred dollars was the prize money. Victor Menegaux was behind the turntables.

Suffice it to say, the audience cheered loudest for one naughty nerd because ... well, the beauty had blouse issues.

LINK: More photos from Naughty or Nerd night at Jazzbones

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Saturday night Tacoma's Encore Boutique Nightclub celebrated two years of making customers feel like movie stars. The two-story club's dark leather seating, velvet ropes, plush bathrooms and upscale décor played host to yet another night of pressed suits and fashionable dresses - as well as shabby jeans - popping Grey Goose Bottles and admiring the degree of slope in some of the high heels.

When photographer Steve Dunkelberger wasn't following the hot Grey Goose Girls around the club, she snapped a few shots of the night.

Happy anniversary Encore!

LINK: More photos of the night in our Photo Hot Spot

TASTY! >>>

Simple beer math, courtesy of Tacoma Brewing Company: November is cold and alcohol makes you warm, so by way of booze logic, the TBC beer tapping Friday night was equivalent to the warmest snuggle-buddy in all the land!

Morgan Alexander tapped several of his brews in a tasting party environment at his St. Helens neighborhood cafe, Amocat Cafe.

If you're a fan of doppelbock, oak aged imperial stout, ginger ale, port and IPA, you might want to befriend Alexander.

Photographer Steve Dunkelberger snapped, and sipped, at the tasting party. Check out his work here.

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The Saturday before Halloween is when the parties go down. Seems every place is town boasts some kind of scary dance party or costume contest.

Well, how about an event where you can really let loose, stay the night if you want, and possibly win $1,000?

Enter the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia. Saturday the hotel hosted the Haunted Westwater on the Hill Halloween Bash. Westwater on the Hill was the name of the hotel back in the 80s, and the hotel found it fitting to resurrect the past on a night to celebrate the dead.

The whole hotel was decorated, and the entire downstairs was transformed into a Halloween haven. The ballroom, where most of the festivities went down, featured 8,000 square feet of ghoulish delight.

The staff really got into it. Red Lion Sales Manager Kyla Cavanagh dressed as a sexy nurse.

The Joker grabbed the $1,000 top prize.

My vote went to the Derby Girl/Boy.

Below are a few more pics I snapped during the party.

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Down at Olympia's Eastside Club, the party was in full swing. Zombies, pharaohs, kitty cats and more packed the dance floor as The Brown Edition played their hearts out at their Soulpocalypse CD release Halloween party.

The band members were also dressed up. My favorite was Animal on the drums. Voted Best of Olympia two years in a row, it's easy to see why when you catch The Brown Edition in action.

How do they pack all those instruments on one stage?

Hoots and hollers and serious booty shaking was how the crowd showed their appreciation for the all the soul, funk and good vibes the band dished out.

Did you make it to the show?

Its Old West saloon style facade and jutting awning are nothing that will ever land it onto some glossy magazine pages extolling the best in Tacoma design. If it weren't for the yellow lettering, you wouldn't notice it at all as your car sails on by.

Well, that place is Buffino's Golden West Restaurant and Lounge. There's nothing surprising or unexpected about the Golden West. It looks on the inside exactly as you would picture it upon viewing the outside. Interesting carpeting, funky smells, low lights, beer signage, pull-tabs and dart machines. It's the sort of neighborhood joint where people just walk in, saddle up to the bar and see what movie is playing on the DVR.

Gailene Donovan shows off the wall of names at Buffino's Golden West Restaurant and Lounge in Tacoma.

A rite of passage - from a casual patron to a "regular" - is the ritual of writing your name on the back of the bar. Yes, you have to ask for the Sharpie by the cash register, but you have to be bold enough to ask for it. Regulars have been writing then names there for decades.

Other draws to the South Tacoma Way watering hole are the $1.75 Rolling Rocks and tasty 100-year-old spaghetti recipe.

Barry Hall tossed down another whiskey at Buffino's Golden West Restaurant and Lounge in Tacoma.

Friday and Saturday nights bring the owner out with his band, the Back Porch Band, to play blues and jazz.

[Buffino's Golden West Restaurant and Lounge, 5228 S. Tacoma Way. Tacoma, 253.471.9892]

LINK: More photos from Buffino's Golden West Restaurant and Lounge

WAY BETTER THAN PHOTOS OF SNOW >>>

It's late Friday evening - actually 1 a.m. Saturday - and Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger snaps shots of the 30-something crowd lined up outside the Last Call Bar stretching down to the karate dojo in the Lakewood strip mall. Most of the ladies don slim dresses, which means their entry fee will be waived as part of "Freakin' Dress Fridays."

In the main area, everyone is chill with a martini.

Behind the wall that hides the dance floor. DJ C-Luv has replaces the soul and R&B that dominated the early evening with hip-hop and rap. Yes, there's booty shaking and dry humping, but many ladies really let it loose too on the packed dance floor. It's ear-bleeding loud with heavy bass lines, but there's still a huge chill in the room.

LINK: More photos from the Last Call Bar Friday night

LINK: We scene it

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Every week in the print version of the Weekly Volcano, right below our awesome crime column Ragnet, we predict the outcome of local events for the week ahead. Titled "Punching Up The Future," our predictions are compared with predictions by Zoltar, the mechanical fortuneteller. Zoltar always nails the outcomes of the events. We, on the other hand, suck at it – correctly predicting only 8 to 16 percent of what happens at the events.

In this week's issue, we tackled Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger's birthday bash at Jazzbones. We wrote,

It's the hottest party of the year, bitches!The one and only Steve Dunkelberger - photographer, journalist, Tacoma icon, geocaching nut - only has one birthday a year, and this Friday at Jazzbones he'll be celebrating 2011's rendition. Expect music from Deborah Page, the Dignitaries, Voxxy Vallejo and China Davis - with proceeds generated from the $7 cover benefiting AAUW, Emergency Food Lifeline, Tacoma Art Place and YWCA. Why? Because that's the kind of solid dude Steve Dunkelberger is.

PREDICTION: What happens at a Steve Dunkelberger birthday party, stays at a Steve Dunkelberger birthday party ... unless Steve Dunkelberger takes pictures and we post them on our website.

Again, our prediction sucked. Dunkelberger didn't take pictures, which also means he didn't post them to our website.

However, his friend, Abby Hooyer, did take photos.

What the hell, we'll post them below. We'll also stay true to keeping what happened at the bash a secret ... BUT we'll tell you the after party at Puget Sound Pizza was a karaoke-licious booze fest. Karaoke host Rev. Colin, sporting a Christmas sweater, kept the mic occupied throughout the night, which was impressive considering the amount of booze being downed. Singing highlights include Voxxy belting out Led Zeppelin, Doug Mackey nailing the Beatles and Cody Jones singing Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" as if he toured as an Diamond impersonator. Steve, although taking on the roll as designated driver, danced wildly before the singers.

We're happy to report, after the last drink was downed and the numbers were tallied, Dunkelberger raise $1,200 toward his designated charities.

Nice work Steve.

Emcees Doug Mackey and Pretty Boy Sean Culver

The Dignitaries

China Davis

Voxxy Vallejo

Fire dancers!

Deborah Page

LINK: Steve's photographic handiwork can be seen in our Photo Hot Spot

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Bobble Tiki dropped in on the Graceland Five show Saturday night at Hell's Kitchen. For those who haven't caught their show, think Elvis backed by a punk band. Graceland Five doesn't give concerts, they perform pageants that make the Macy Thanksgiving Parade seem like little more than a high school band marching through Ruston. It's the Way, the truth and the lighthearted answer to a big, fat, dead, White Trash icon. 

Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger was also in the house. Check it.

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound