Chef Duff (center, black hat) and the crew on 'Ace of Cakes.'

Chef Duff from the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes was in Anchorage recently as part of the statehood celebration, and helped prepare a cake to celebrate Alaska’s 50th birthday.

Here are local show times.

--Spencer Shroyer

Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News: Former Fire and Slice owner Wes Baker displays a Big Daddy's pizza.

Fire and Slice (6406 DeBarr Road / 334-3354) is now Palermo (pal-air-moe) Pizza. The new name came with the new owner, Spiros Synazinos. Synazinos is not new to the Anchorage dining scene – the Greek-American also owned La Scala on Dimond Boulevard, which specialized in pasta. The focus of the new restaurant will remain on classics such as pizza, wings, and Philly cheese steaks, but some Greek-style favorites such as pastas, calzones, and fresh baklava will be added.

Marginalia
James “Jimmy” Riordan, Anchorage-born artist, fell in love with books and book making. For the past year, he has been focused on one book in particular – the turn of the century novel “Le Roman Du Lievre” by Francis Jammes. The fascination combined with Riordan’s community spirit and he’s spreading his interest in the rabbit-centric tale. As fellow artists read a full translation of the text offered by Riordan, they are invited to create pieces that are interrelated with the process of reading the text or ideas sparked by the text.

24 hour comic-a-thon
Lock 10 students in a room overnight and ask for a comic book in the morning. The Student Union Gallery at UAA will be hosting a “24 hour comic-a-thon”where hopefully the unusual atmosphere will spark creativity and offer artists a chance for collaboration.
“The focus is on the 24 hour creative process and creating high quality art.” Sarah Olson, a Student Union Gallery employee said.
Materials will not be provided to the participants -they must bring their own supplies - and of the few limitations the biggest is that participants must be UAA students and remain locked in from 6 p.m. tonight, July 15 to 7:30 a.m. tomorrow, July 16. The result of the late night experience will be on display at the Student Union Gallery until Aug. 8 and will include documentation on the overnight stay.

The new Nike SB video, "Debacle" just dropped, and it's being advertised as "The first skate video shot entirely in high definition."

I haven't watched it all yet (hey - it's 24 minutes long and I'm at work), but what I've seen is very slick.

The best part is that you can stream it or download it for free until July 24 here.

-- Spencer Shroyer

ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News: Selloane Nkehla performs as "Rafiki"

Alaskans hoping to see "The Lion King" in Anchorage this fall can get a break on ticket prices if they act quickly.

Read more here.

SugarSpoon
The fortune cookie wrapper on the ground stated “eat dessert first.” There was no particular celebration or reason to, but I agreed and decided to treat my 3-year-old to a spontaneous indulgence.
We landed at Sugar Spoon. Perfectly suited to treat anyone’s sweet tooth, this café bakes up desserts exclusively and serves them with a hint of decadence. The menu made it tricky to decide what to have -- options are creatively put together and I longed to sample each piece just to see what it looks like. I ordered vanilla creme brulee ($6.50), a personal weakness. My daughter’s choice was easy -- she had caught sight of the marbled cupcakes, each with a cloud-swirl of sprinkled covered frosting ($2.50), and her decision was made.

Breaking Grounds
Alaska is a great place for snowboarding, but skateboarding? Just because we are frozen over three-fourths of the year, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy wheels. David Freswick II has combined a love for skating with his entrepreneur spirit and soon Anchorage may be celebrating the opening of a non-profit indoor skate park.

The park will feature American Ramp Company equipment and the design has already been completed. Freswick recently posted the design on Myspace and received a great deal of feedback. He said overall the Anchorage community has been excited about the project and volunteers have been coming forward to help.

Courtesy of zoekeating.com
Zoe Keating, of The Dresden Dolls, Rasputina and other ventures, recently tweeted her intent to visit Alaska. She plans on meeting up with family to explore Ketchikan - though no shows have been announced. Can a cello fit in the overhead bin?

Why R U

Former Play editor Josh Niva had a column called "Download This" he used to list songs he was feeling that week. I always thought it was a great idea and decided to ape it. View my last group of picks here.

This week’s picks are on the funk / soul tip.

Stone's Throw is a great label out of California that releases albums from underground rap legends like MF Doom and Madlib, great downtempo stuff from Koushik and R&B from Aloe Blacc.

The Whipsaws are gearing up to start playing live shows again and dropped the previously unrecorded, unreleased track to whet the appetites of their fans. Spoiler alert: it rocks.

You can download it on their official Web site TheWhipsaws.com

Since we reported on a sexed up sandwich commercial that Quiznos denied involvement with, Burger King has rolled out this official and racy print ad.

It drew attention around the Web [Note: these sites use graphic language which may be offensive to some readers] including posts from Copyranter and Gawker.

What’s may be more interesting is that, according to Advertising Age, the burger chain’s edgy campaigns have landed them accolades in recent months, but not more dollars.

What do you think of the ad? Post your comments below.

-- Spencer Shroyer

We have got some reader response about the Puddle of Mudd Solstice show and want to hear from more of you. Post your thoughts and read comments in our You Be the Critic pages.

Also, if you've got photos from the show post them in our Party Crashers gallery.

Play just received a press release stating that Lee Greenwood has canceled events in Alaska, both at the Dena’Ina Center on June 27 and the Carlson Center in Fairbanks June 26. This cancelation is said to be due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
Fans can obtain refunds for their tickets at original point of purchase. For tickets purchased with credit card, and have not yet been picked up, the refund will automatically be credited to the card used to purchase. For tickets purchased by check or cash at the Sullivan Arena Box Office, refunds will be available beginning Friday, June 19 at Noon.

beck.com
A group of musicians gather, select an artist/album/song and spend the day recording. No rehearsal or prearrangements, just an informal group getting together to interpret a song. The results are posted at beck.com.

The inaugural product of the first day of recordings is a version of "Sunday Morning" by The Velvet Underground & Nico. The initial participants were Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, Brian Lebarton, Bram Inscore, Yo, Giovanni Ribisi, Chris Holmes, Thorunn Magnusdottir, and Beck.

Photo courtesy of erinmckeown.com
Summertime and the sun is ripe for lounging around the cabin enjoying the greenery and watching the river flow. Erin McKeown will be taking time this season to enjoy her eclectic cabin in the woods while still touring. The ‘live’ performances will be Web-based, so while Erin is swatting mosquitoes in front of the camera, the audience can be doing just about anything as well.

July 7 Living room

July 16 Front Porch

July 22 River

For the next roughly 24 hours you too can bid to be on a bowling team with Bad Religion - among other bands from the Warped tour. The tour is stopping in Avondale, AZ, where winners of eBay auctions will be able to spend one night of bowling bliss with their favorite bands. Proceeds go to T.J. Martell Foundation for leukemia, cancer, and AIDS research.

Major Lazer is a Jamaican commando who fought in the “secret Zombie War of 1984” and lost both arms in combat. Then the U.S. military equipped him with experimental lasers that double as prosthetic limbs.

Diplo and Switch (the dudes behind MIA's Grammy-nominated "Paper Planes") produced the new Major Lazer album "Guns Don't Kill People . . . Lazers Do" and it bangs. Hard.

Here's the video for the first single "I'll Make Ya" (Originally "Hold the line.")

Photo courtesy Sucker Punch: I'm sure Cole's blowing up that car for the greater good.

Infamous starts with a bang.

No seriously, there's a big explosion and it gives our bike messenger/everyman protagonist known only as Cole the power to conduct and control electricity. As the sole survivor of this curious explosion, Cole's naturally accused of being the terrorist responsible for taking out several city blocks and dozens of people, not to mention plunging the entire city into a fit of anarchy, looting and poor hygiene. Cole must develop his powers and try to figure out the truth behind the shocking (I went there) explosion that's torn the city apart.