Spew

5 Things To Do: Monday

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2009 >>>

1. A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing American love (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results in East Virtue playing at The Grand Cinema.  The early Noel Coward play is adapted with wit and style.

2. DJ Jason Diamond spins roots reggae during The New Frontier Lounge's Rebel Monday at 9 p.m.

3. DJ Doll Hands spins vintage lady country music at The Brotherhood Lounge around 9 p.m.

4. It's Monster Metal Mondays night at Hell's Kitchen featuring Unhailoed, Cry Of Sickness and Blackheart Blight at 8 p.m. without a cover charge.

5. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones starts at 9 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

Forecast: Sunny days

CHRISTOPHER WOOD: RANDY SPARKS' NEW FILM SEES LIGHT OF DAY >>>

The weather just hasn’t cooperated with Randy Sparks. Not surprising. When you call your film It Don’t Rain on Sunny Days, meteorological uncertainty seems destined to torment your production schedule.

Let’s rewind: My last meeting with Sparks involved watching his film’s hero, Jason Feldman (Joe Rosati), demolish a Honey Bucket one frigid morning in November. (In the story, Feldman has just won the lottery.) At the time, the crew looked well on their way to having a polished film by early 2009.

Then weather happened – or rather, the right weather didn’t happen. The film’s completion date crept further away. Finding a decent day to shoot outdoors seemed as unlikely as, well, correctly picking this week’s Lotto numbers.

Yet Sparks managed to see the silver lining throughout a drizzly springtime. The halt in production gave the writer-producer time to punch up his comedic script, and set up a Web site complete with teaser trailer and blog. Then something extraordinary happened: the rains reversed, the clouds cleared, and the sun began to shine. Seizing the opportunity, Sparks gathered several dozen crew members (all volunteers) and together they trouped to Steilacoom for one final day of filming. The town’s quaint, quiet streets provided an ideal backdrop for a chase sequence between a Corvette and two bumbling bike cops.

Tacoma Film Festival poster contest

MICHEAL SWAN: DEADLINE IS JULY 20 >>>

You may not think of yourself as an art collector, but if you’re one of those people who carefully pries the staples out of Beautiful Angle posters as soon as they hit the public spots, you just might be.

The same can be said about your collection of the Tacoma Film Festival posters. You have James Benders’ versions as well as last year’s poster by Laurie Davenport. You're an art collector.

Once again, The Grand Cinema will produce the Tacoma Film Festival bringing indie, foreign, arthouse and Northwest-produced films as well as many shorts to downtown Tacoma screens Oct. 1-8, 2009. And warm up your staple remover as The Grand is asking for official poster design entrees again.

Jump on The Grand’s Web site for the specifics and deadlines.

Photo: 2007 Tacoma Film Festival poster by Tacoma artist James Bender

Hey bartender! Have you heard? ...

MICHAEL SWAN: HAPPY HOUR TOPIC OF THE DAY >>>



LINK: South Sound happy hours

5 Things To Do: Monday

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2009 >>>

1. The Proposal is a movie about a couple who start out hating each other and end up liking each other. It’s a funny thing about that. Roger Ebert started out hating the movie and ended up liking it. Check showtimes here.

2. DJ Jason Diamond spins roots reggae during The New Frontier Lounge's Rebel Monday at 9 p.m.

3. DJ Doll Hands spins vintage lady country music at The Brotherhood Lounge around 9 p.m.

4, Jay Mabin and Hip Bone fill The Swiss with jazz beginning at 8 p.m.

5. Tonight is the Poor Man’s Club & Open Mic at Shakabrah Java beginning at 5 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events

5 Things To Do: Sunday

MICHAEL SWAN: SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 >>>

1. J-Fresh mixes and scratches ‘80s and old school tunes while industry folks get smashed on happy hour prices tonight at Jazzbones.

2. Punk Rock Baseball takes over Jefferson Park from noon to 6 p.m.

3. Tacoma Little Theatre use their revolving stage as a transition device as their production of The Buddy Holly Story flows from one scene to the next beginning at 2 p.m.

4. A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing American love (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results in the flick Easy Virtue on The Grand Cinema’s screen at 12:35, 2:30, 4:45, 7 and 9:10 p.m.

5. Rod Cook & Toast play a free show at The Spar in Old Town Tacoma at 7 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events

Hey bartender! Have you heard? ...

MICHAEL SWAN: TODAY'S HAPPY HOUR DISCUSSION TOPIC >>>



LINK: Oh yes, there are Saturday happy hours. Check them here.

Friday film openings

MICHAEL SWAN: ON THE BIG SCREEN TOMORROW >>>

EASY VIRTUE: A young Brit (Ben Barnes) brings his dashing American love (Jessica Biel) home to meet his parents (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) with unsettling results.  The early Noel Coward play is adapted with wit and style. Read full review here.

Also opening tomorrow: The Proposal, Shall We Kiss and Year One.

Discover what the hell these films are about and when they screen here.

5 Things To Do: Thursday

MICHAEL SWAN: THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2009 >>>

1. Tonight, homegrown filmmakers Margo Pelletier and Lisa Thomas will tell Silvia Baraldini’s story at the Capitol Theater. If you’re proud of how the United States government deals with dissidents, Freeing Silvia Baraldini is likely to make you think twice. Read the full story here.

2. It’s no cover Reggae Night at Doyle’s Public House featuring Zachary Lujan and friends beginning at 7 p.m.

3. Second City Chamber Series presents violinists Jennifer Caine and Brittany Boulding, violist Laura Renz and cellist Page Smith performing the impressionist string quartets of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel and more at 6:30 p.m. at Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood.

4. After dusting off their Ma Chihuly’s Floats and gently reinstalling them on Richard Rhodes’ Stone Wave art thingy, Tacoma Art Museum offer you the chance to make your own floats from found and recycled materials at 6 p.m. Then, they will hold our hands for the journey across the street toTollefson Plaza where we can float our new joys in the plaza’s fountain.

5. Harlequin Productions stages Sixties Chicks, a look at the founding mothers of rock and roll at 8 p.m.

LINK: Live music and DJs in the South Sound

LINK: Local movie starting times

LINK: South Sound Restaurant Guide

LINK: Wine and beer events

Hey bartender! Have you heard? ...

MICHAEL SWAN: TODAY'S HAPPY HOUR DISCUSSION TOPIC >>>



LINK: South Sound happy hours