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PHOTO COURTESY OF BAND

TELL ME. Don’t Tell Sophie plays the main branch of Tacoma Public Library at 7 p. m. May 31.

Rock the books this summer

Don’t Tell Sophie, one of the more popular young bands in the South Sound, will launch “Rock the Books,” the Tacoma Public Library’s summer series of free all-ages concerts, when they perform at 7 p.m. May 31 in the main branch downtown.

The band, with a crisp, harmonic sound and catchy, lovelorn lyrics, performs well-crafted pop songs that echo Nada Surf and Pacific Northwest indie pop favorites The Long Winters. Opening the concert is Seattle’s The Globes.

The free concerts are part of Tacoma Public Library’s Metamorphosis summer reading club and are co-sponsored by I-91 KVTI, Clover Park Technical College’s popular radio station.

“These all-ages concerts provide a free, safe place where people (especially teens) can rock to good music, hang out with their friends, and dance,” said Sara Paschal, teen services librarian. “These concerts celebrate the musical creativity of young, local bands and may motivate some teens to get musical themselves. When that happens, the library is here to help with a massive compact disc and sheet music collection, as well as books about breaking into the music business.”

Don’t Tell Sophie has been playing together since 2005 and has recorded several EPs. The band also made it into the semi-finals of Experience Music Project’s annual Sound Off! competition in 2007.

The band members are Brandt Dettling on guitar and vocals, Orlando McCray on drums, Samuel Dettling on bass and Jay Randolph Clancy on guitar.

The summer concert series continues when Jinu Park holds a CD release party at 7 p.m. June 21. Park is a talented singer, songwriter and producer from Seattle. He brings the fresh and hot sounds of R&B as well as an upbeat mix of his own authentic music. Park began singing at 13. He learned how to play the cello starting at the age of 8. Throughout his middle and high school years he was in the orchestra and choir, where he was able to teach himself how to play the piano, guitar and bass. He has since performed on local Seattle television shows such as “Gimme The Mic Season 1” and “Seattle Stars Season 2.”

The Lonely Forest plays the third installment at 7 p.m. July 12. Winners of the 2006 Experience Music Project’s Sound Off! competition, The Lonely Forest combine passionate songwriting with memorable melodies. They have done multiple in-studios and regular radio airplay on KEXP and KNDD (The End), played to a sold-out crowd at Bumbershoot, worked with prestigious producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Hot Hot Heat) and done numerous West Coast tours, including a gig at the legendary Los Angeles club Troubadour. Their first album is “Nuclear Winter.” They are presently recording their sophomore effort, “We Sing The Body Electric!” Their show at the library will only add to the infectious buzz about The Lonely Forest building in the Pacific Northwest.

Truce closes the series with a show at 7 p.m. Aug. 9. Truce comes out of Federal Way, and it has rocked the Northwest music scene since 2003 by gathering fans at an exponential rate with their overwhelming instrumentals and powerful lyrical expression.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for all shows.

For more information about the concert series, call (253) 591-5666 or visit www.rockthebooks.com.

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