TACOMA THIRD THURSDAY ARTWALK ACTIVATOR >>>

After a month off, the Tacoma Third Thursday Artwalk ART BUS - proudly sponsored by the Weekly Volcano - is back for a motorized tour of downtown Tacoma galleries and spaces beginning at 5 p.m. Angela Jossy of the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative will step down as tour director this month swinging the yellow door open for worthy substitute Patricia Lecy-Davis. Lecy-Davis knows a thing or two about downtown Tacoma. She owns Embellish Multispace Salon, joined others in creating Go Local Tacoma where she remains a board member, and is former president of the Downtown Merchants Group. She holds 23 other downtown positions that escape me right now.

This month, the tour will, as always, start at the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative then chug around the corner to Brownie Morrison, followed by stops at the Brick House Gallery, Tacoma Art Place, 253 Collective, Flying Monkey Mercantile, Tacoma Art Supply, Viceroy Art Gallery, The Peabody Waldorf, Sanford & Son Middle Floor Merchants, Mavi (formerly Two Vaults), The Swiss, Tollefson Plaza and the 301 Puyallup Ave. Suite A-C (which includes Mineral Gallery).

I threw a few quick questions at Lecy-Davis regarding her new bitchin' position.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: How did you land this gig as the ART BUS tour director?

PATRICIA LECY-DAVIS: Angie roped me into it. Apparently she thinks I'm cool.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Were you a good kid on the school bus?

LECY-DAVIS: I always sat in the back of the bus throwing stuff, laughing, and occasionally "making out."

VOLCANO: Nice. Will you be secretly judging each passenger's hair?

LECY-DAVIS: I like to think of it more as intrigue. A person's hair says a lot about them. However, sometimes I make up stories.

VOLCANO:  What excites you most happening in downtown Tacoma right now?

LECY-DAVIS: A second graffiti mural down the street at Ninth and Broadway. I like that the (Embellish Multispace Salon) wall has helped bring awareness to the art form. Also, I'm excited about Thursday night's screening of O Brother Where Art Thou at Tollefson Plaza. If it goes well, we may do one or two more before the summer season is over. Stay tuned for Raising Arizona and Napoleon Dynamite.

To board this magic bus, you'll need a rider button, which can be purchased at Speakeasy Arts Cooperative (746 Broadway) for $10 any time after 11 a.m. on Thursday. Local artist and member of Speakeasy Arts Cooperative Scott McGee designed this month's rider button. The tour runs from 5-8 p.m.

LINK: The Volcano was on June's ART BUS