TUESDAY, FEB. 7, 2012 >>>

1. Bring your love of the bagpipes out of the closet and into full view today when Dick Hensold, billed as "one of America's finest traditional bagpipers," drops in on Tacoma for a performance brought to us by the Old Town Music Society and Puget Sound Revels. Dabbling in Northumbrian smallpipes, reel pipes, seljefloyte, sackpipa and piborn according to promotion - in traditional and historical styles including Cape Breton, early Scottish, Northumbrian, Scandinavian, Irish and medieval - Hensold seems certain to blow the roof off the joint.

2. Tonight at Varsity Grill join the United Way of Pierce County's Project:U for a fundraiser and food drive event. The Varsity Grill will donate 20-percent of all sales proceeds to the United Way of Pierce County cause, and canned food donations will be collected for area F.I.S.H. food banks.

3. Saint Martin's University in Lacey will celebrate the 200^th birthday of Charles Dickens today with what's described as "a marathon reading of the renowned author's works." According to hype, Saint Martin's English Department and the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta will host the event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Harned Hall. Expect excerpts from Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities and more.

4. Tuesday means it's time for another Ha Ha Tuesday at Jazzbones, a night of comedy hosted by the venerable Ralph Porter. After the comedy, stick around for Jazzbones' hot weeknight DJ action.

5. It's open mic night at Tugboat Annie's in Olympia. Bring your geetar or your best songs and show the world what you've got (and by "world" we mean the collection of Thurston County folks on hand at the favorite local watering hole).

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Today In Scumbags: Josh Powell set fire that killed him and his two sons at Graham-area home. (News Tribune)

Olympic Pharmacy and Healthcare Services: The Gig Harbor pharmacy is being sued for incorrect dosages. (News Tribune)

U.S. loses Embassy in Syria: Intense blasts echo through the Syrian city of Homs after a weekend bloodbath ended in hundreds of deaths, activists say. (CNN)

New York Will Go Nuts: Super Bowl champs New York Giants will receive a giant parade. (CNN)

US And Israel: Working together to prevent Iran from going nuclear. (BBC)

Super Bowl Ad Metter: Doritos wins. (USA Today)

Madonna's Half-time Show: See it again. (YouTube)

Shown Only In Nebraska: Will Ferrell's Super Bowl ad. (New York Magazine)

Love At The Bottom Of The Sea: The Magnetic Fields release new video. (Out)

Famous Authors Chime In: The greatest books of all time. (The Atlantic)

Soul Train Flash Mob Tribute To Don Cornelius

SATURDAY, FEB. 4, 2012 >>>

1. A wonderful therapeutic effect happens when people and horses connect. The same can be said when people connect with comedians. Although, sometimes the comedians make fun of your mother. Anyway, the folks at Changing Rein in Graham, where self-discovery and healing happens through working with and riding horses, hosts a fundraiser at 5 p.m. at the Grit City Comedy Club in Tacoma. Tacoma comedian and entertainer Mike Agostini headlines the benefit show.

2. Zumba officially began in 2001, combining hip-shaking Latin-inspired dance moves and aerobics. Now in more than 125 countries, it has a fan base that is almost cult-like in their devotion. If you want to see the phenomenon for yourself, Zumba big-wig Kass Martin will drop in on Tacoma's Studio 138 at 10 a.m. for two hours of craziness.

3. Tacoma author Marissa Meyer will discuss and sign her book Cinder at 2 p.m. inside the Wheelock Library. Come listen to what happens when a cyborg girl finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle.

4. Playwright August Wilson is best known for his Pittsburgh Cycle - a series of 10 plays each set in a different decade recalling the struggles and comedies of the African American experience in the 20th Century. That's what happens when you win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for something. At 3 p.m., the Broadway Center, Northwest Playwrights Alliance and hosting venue Washington State History Museum bring us Two Trains Running, part of Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle recalling Civil Rights Era Pittsburgh in 1969. Hype on the Broadway Center website describes the play, saying "In spite of the political and social change that sweeps through the nation, many of the characters are too cynical and down-trodden to experience hope for the future or even rage for the ongoing tragedies."

5. I Defy, CFA, Attitude Adjustment, Konkhra and Contrast The Water will rock Hell's Kitchen beginning at 9 p.m.

PLUS: Scrapartsmusic show details in our Weekend Hustle

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

LINK: Local happy hours

A WIN FOR PIERCE COUNTY FAMILIES >>>

Last November the Weekly Volcano announced Emergency Food Network Executive Director Helen McGovern was a finalist for a "Harlequin: More than Words" contest. If she beat the other "real-life heroines" across the nation, she could bring thousands of dollars to needy families of Pierce County.

Well, McGovern won.

After more than 111,000 online votes and 7,800 Facebook shares, McGovern is one of three winners. The other winers are Mindy Atwood of Hilliard, Ohio - who runs Patches of Light - and Sally Spencer of Toronto, Ontario - who manages a mentoring program that rescues at-risk children.  

According to a press release, "Each of the honorees will receive $15,000 for her charity, equaling a total contribution by Harlequin of $45,000. Three of Harlequin's authors also donate their time and talent to write short stories inspired by the life and work of the recipients.  The short stories will be available in 2013 in ebook format to download at no cost."

Congratulations Helen!

LINK: Emergency Food Network

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Have You Heard About The Weather?: People are still in the dark with more rain and wind coming. (News Tribune)

Tacoma's Pothole Program: There's a partial plan. (News Tribune)

Eye On Olympia: New traffic fine would fund crime victims' services. (Peninsula Daily News)

Gay Marriage Bills: Two public hearings on gay marriage bills are set for today in Olympia. (King 5)

Public Works: $1 billion public-works package that could potentially put 25,000 people to work, many starting in the summer construction season just months away. (The Olympian)

European Union Vs. Iran: EU foreign ministers impose new sanctions on Iran citing Iran's refusal to negotiate over its nuclear program. The sanctions include a ban on the import of Iranian oil. (CNN)

Blackberry: Co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down in a shake-up. (BBC)

Special Investigative Committee: Miranda July called before Congress to explain exactly what her whole thing is. (The Onion)

What Are They, Maniacs?: Get ready for Flashdance - The Musical. (EW)

Oh Hell Yes: J Mascis bobblehead. (Pitchfork)

Oh Hell Yes II: Dwight Schrute's 13 Best Moments. (BuzzFeed)

Hello Trivia Nights: The 10 most expensive books in the world. (Flavorpill)

A NOVEL GEM >>>

To the outsider, the South Sound can seem like a sea of trucker hats, strip malls, teriyaki restaurants and traffic jams. At first glance, we may be viewed as an over-caffeinated lot with seasonal affective disorder that loves a good cover band and burger while we try to claim a more liberal definition of the American Dream.

Three talented Tacomans have a different view of the South Sound. They see the nooks. They see the treasures. They see the back trails. And they see it through a creative eye.

Civic activist Ken Miller and artists Chris Sharp and Sean Alexander have assembled a team of writers and visual artists to produce the South Sound Users Guide - a guidebook to the region's more than 3,000 square miles and its 1.1 million inhabitants.

This will not be your typical, glossy travelogue. From what I can gather, it will carry an independent tone with sass completed with hand-drawn illustrations and an out-of-the-box design.

I traded a few questions with Miller as the team generates money for the project via Kickstarter.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: What sparked this project?

KEN MILLER: I've been convinced for a long time the South Sound is a distinct cultural and economic region, and then I saw some of Sean's drawings and talked with Chris and it just sort of tumbled together.

One of my motivations really is to help us see ourselves as a distinctive place. We don't have a Pottery Barn, for example; but by population we're bigger than eight states.

Plus with LeMay and the U.S. Open, we'll need a guide of our own, and I want it to be cool, rather than glossy photos of daffodil fields.

VOLCANO: What's your definition of the South Sound?

MILLER: We're concentrating on Pierce, Thurston and Mason counties – breaking them down by locations, much like Saul Wurman's Access series.

VOLCANO: Where will the guide be distributed?

MILLER: We're finalizing a distribution agreement with Partners West, to put the book into bookstores and gift shops across the western U.S. and Canada. We'll have an e-version, too. There won't be advertising in the text, but we have the ability to offer "customized" back covers in volume - over 100 copies - for $5 per book. The retail price will be $20.

VOLCANO: You already have 32 backers on your Kickstarter.

MILLER: We're using Kickstarter to finance the front-end costs - with rewards at various levels of donations. Among the rewards on Kickstarter are three opportunities to write up one's own "feature" - a business, for example. Those rewards are at the $500 level, and are the only paid content.

For more details, to provide support or to pre-order a copy of the book, go to kickstarter.com and enter "South Sound Users Guide" in the search box; or contact Miller at krm@harbornet.com.

SATURDAY, JAN. 21, 2012 >>>

1. At 10 a.m. The Grand Cinema will host a free screening of Astro Boy, a CGI-animated origin story for the legendary cartoon hero of the same name, who first appeared in Osamu Tezuka's 1951 futuro-Pinocchio manga comic. Westernized and sterilized, the still nipple-less, rocket-thrusting robo-kid now wears pants, flies without his classic theme song and name drops Asimov's law of robotics and Kant.

2. James Keeffe III will sign copies of his award-winning book, Two Gold Coins and a Prayer - The Epic Journey of a World War II Bomber Pilot, Evader and POW, which includes tales of his father's time in hiding in occupied Holland, from 1-3 p.m. at the Tacoma Costco.

3. Cindy Arnold from Live Paint will conduct free theater workshops Saturday afternoons from 1-3 p.m. in the Spaceworks Tacoma spot at 1314 Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the Hilltop, which Toy Boat Theatre once inhabited. The sessions are free and open to anyone who wants to read a script, perform an original piece, practice an audition monologue, or do improv and get friendly feedback.

4. If the names Ratched, McMurphy, or Bromden mean something to you, then get ready for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at Paradise Theatre in Gig Harbor. And, if those names are unfamiliar, then it's definitely time you experienced the play, which is based on the Ken Kesey novel. While many people are likely familiar with the Academy Award-winning 1975 film (starring Jack Nicholson), less have probably experienced the play adaptation, which is not only a bit different, but arguably more poignant. It hit sthe stage at 7:30 p.m.

5. Offering music of the world, Vagabond Opera dabbles in sounds spanning the globe - from European cabaret, to Balkan belly dance, to Old World Yiddish theater and beyond. The six-piece troupe of out Portland will perform at 8 p.m. with Erev Rav inside the Olympia Ballroom.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

LINK: This week's freebies

TUESDAY, JAN. 17, 2012 >>>

Weekly Volcano recommends you call ahead as Snowmageddon is wreaking havoc on our little neck of the woods.

1. Singer Jeff Angell and guitarist Kyong Kim anchored a tight quartet that fused rock, seedy lyrics and grease to form a fresh sound unlike anything you've ever heard. The band was named Post Stardom Depression. It was headed toward the big time. Along the way the wheel fell off causing the band to crash and burn. Fans will be happy to hear Angell and Kim will perform tonight for old time's sake during Doyle's St. Practice Day party at 8 p.m. No cover makes it even harder to believe - but it's all true.

2. New York writer, editor and journalist Eric Etheridge, who grew up in the South during the Civil Rights era, will discuss his 2008 book Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Freedom Riders at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center at Tacoma Community College. The book includes mug shots of the 328 black and white Freedom Riders who were arrested in Jackson, Miss. and charged with breach of peace for trying to desegregate transportation terminals in the city.

3. The musical drama Once ended with the guy and the girl going their separate ways. As much as this went against the grain of romantic expectations - and this rough-hewn indie was deeply romantic - that ending was perfect. The Swell Season arrives as a sequel of sorts. Shot in lush black and white, the documentary follows Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the stars of Once, on a two-year tour after the pair won the 2008 Oscar for best song: the lovely, heartbreaking "Falling Slowly." The Swell Season screens at 1:45 and 6:45 p.m. at The Grand Cinema.

4. Tacoma-native Megan Bostic's book, Never Eighteen, hits bookstores nationwide today. Never Eighteen tells the story of 17-year-old Austin Parker, who lives in Tacoma and is dying of leukemia. The book falls into the young adult genre, but Austin is a wise and believable character who appeals to older readers as well. His heartbreaking situation resonates with anyone who has lost a loved one to a chronic illness or cancer. A launch party and book signing will be held at 7 p.m. inside the Wheelock Library in Tacoma. To read Kristin Kendle's full feature on Bostic, click here.

5. Tuesdays seem to be the hottest night for the overeducated South Sound masses to prove their intellectual worth. And where do such brainiacs head? Glad you asked. The GEEKS head to Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub. The Tacoma watering hole is the site of John Dicker's Geeks Who Drink pub quiz night at 8 p.m. The quiz consists of eight rounds of eight questions and is played in teams of up to six people. Questions are read aloud by the quizmaster; teams write their answers on provided sheets and turn them in at the end of each round. The team with the most points after eight rounds is the winner.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Live music and DJs tonight

LINK: This week's freebies

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's Comment of the Day comes from Tacoma author Megan Bostic in response to the positive support she received after Weekly Volcano scribe Kristin Kendle wrote the feature story Close to home on the young author.

Megan writes,

I'm so thankful for living in such a supportive community. I hope I've done our fair city justice.

READ ALL ABOUT IT >>>

Book clubs are one of the last vestiges we have of formally engaging conversations for groups of strangers. You can discover a lot about a person by learning their opinions on any piece of art, but books prove to be especially revealing.

Take, for instance, King's Books' Banned Book Club in Tacoma - a monthly get-together in which people discuss, appropriately, books that have been previously banned in some capacity. Books covered in the past by the Banned Book Club include a wide variety of genres, ranging from young adult fiction (The Hunger Games), to humorous essays (Naked), to nostalgic relics of childhood (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) to classically controversial titles (Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple, etc.).

Exploring why some of these books have been banned - and what the reader thinks about the validity of the controversies surrounding these books - can be an eye-opening experience, and a quick way to get to know someone.

The Banned Book Club meets the third Tuesday of every month at the Tempest Lounge. This month's book will be Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

If you're into more non-traditional storytelling, King's Books also hosts a Graphic Novel Book Club, which meets the second Monday of every month at 1022 South on Hilltop Tacoma.

Unfortunately for minors, both meet-up spots are 21+.

If you're in Olympia, and in need of a good book club, a great place to start is Orca Books. While Orca hosts a number of makeshift book clubs, the store also has its own flagship reading group, Orcapod, which meets the second Sunday of every month.

Past titles discussed by Orcapod include The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Way We Never Were (by Evergreen College professor Stephanie Coontz, by the way).

Orcapod is quick to advertise the possibility that Orca housecat (every book store needs one), Henry, just might spend some time on your lap while you talk about that month's selection. Sounds like a cozy way to spend a Sunday to me.

If you're a voracious reader, you could hit all three book club meet-ups in Tacoma and Olympia - food for thought.

[King's Books, 218 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]

[Orca Books, 509 Fourth Ave. E, Olympia, 360.352.0123]

LINK: Upcoming South Sound literary events