South Sound Cinema
Given our unpredictable spring weather, sometimes the safest entertainment bet is a movie ticket. We're inundated with promos for rabidly anticipated May releases like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2. Disney's Tomorrowland is right around the corner. But where are the smaller, smarter,
Stage
Don McClean said the day Buddy Holly died was "the day the music died," but Buddy's music will never die. I first saw BUDDY at the Tacoma Little Theatre in 2009 and then at the Capital Playhouse in 2012. And now it's going to rock the big stage at the
Stage
The wartime love story Time Stands Still by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies, is now playing at Harlequin Productions in Olympia. It is an intense and intimate portrait of a pair of lovers - Sarah Goodwin (Jenny Vaughn Hall) and James Dodd (Matt Shimkus) - whose passionate devotion and equally
Music
Remaining stagnant as an artist is a fear that seemingly everyone besides Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay has. To come back, release after release, with the same sound and vision is death even to superstars like Katy Perry. Reinvention comes, part and parcel, with being a creative person. Even still,
Outdoors
Around here, summer means getting outdoors, enjoying and doing. And whether that means hiking up a steep, switch-back trail with a beautiful panoramic view waiting for you on the Olympics or the Cascades, or feeling the tug of a six-pound salmon hitting your bait while fishing on the Puget Sound, there's
Arts
That's the product of 123 years of Tacoma air," Sanford and Son Antiques & Auction, Jennifer Aarde tells me. Sanford and Son has been providing a unique shopping experience as the largest singly owned antique shop in the Pacific Northwest located in downtown Tacoma since 1985. The space is like
Outdoors
Dirt bag. Rock fiend. Send master. Also known as rock climbers. Around here they are dedicated, motivated and officially insane. They live for this stuff. Especially boulderers. Bouldering outside is its own adrenalin rush. You haul in crash pads (large portable mats that offer some protection for a hard landing)
Arts
Art Chantry is Tacoma's most famous graphic designer, known worldwide, or at least USA-wide, for his rock concert posters and album covers. He's done work for Nirvana and Hole, and his art has been shown in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum,
Stage
Centerstage's For All That is a phenomenal show. I left the theater wondering how I could possibly review it when it left me speechless. In many ways, this performance is the best thing I've seen on stage in years, and the marvel of it is that it was written by
Music
Limitations are part of what makes the greatest music so effective: pairing down what it's possible to do with the medium allows you to explore what's best to do. There's a reason why there are so few truly great double and triple albums. Bands like Queen and Joe Jackson have
Music
You might say that the release of Ethan Tucker's new album Misunderstood is a triumph, the overcoming of the Record Business' particularly harsh version of Murphy's Law. At first glance, it would seem that in the two years since he signed a contract with Capitol Records, everything that could have gone
Features
Nestled just minutes from downtown Tacoma, and on the edge of the historical Stadium District; The Hub restaurant and Harmon Taproom have become a Tacoma favorite. Though part of the Harmon Brewing Company, The Hub has its own unique atmosphere and neighborhood feel to it. Its bicycle-themed pub-style restaurant setting
South Sound Cinema
Over the past weekend, some 30 groups of ambitious filmmakers took to the streets to frantically craft short films for The Grand Cinema, all in service of the 253-Second Short Film Festival. Formerly known as the 72-Hour Film Festival, the event got rebranded this year to help further distinguish itself
Bars & Clubs
In the Northwest, beer and coffee are staples of the average diet. If you're looking for a well-sized, yet still approachable beer fest, look no further than the 4th Annual Gig Harbor Beer Festival. Each year, the Gig Harbor Beer Festival grows a bit. In its first year, only 11 brewers
Music
For as much as can be said about how loudly and resoundingly garage rock and grunge have dominated the music landscape of the Pacific Northwest, there's always been the existence of stringbands, plucking away on the edges. It's worth remembering, after all, that the official Washington state dance is the
Guides
Not many people know this, but barbecue is Haitian food. That is to say, the word barbecue comes to us from barabicu, a word in the Caribbean Taíno language, by way of the Spanish barbacoa. Haitians define a barabicu as a framework of sticks within or above which meat is
Guides
Parents both love and loathe summertime. Gone are the alarm clocks and tight schedules; in their place are bored kids and stressed out parents. What to do? If you live in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord area, take heed - there are plenty of opportunities to keep the kiddoes entertained this summer.
Guides
Summer's not a time for curmudgeons, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Those three precious months of sunshine are there to pack our pale population with as much vitamin D as necessary to sustain us through the long slog of low clouds. As such, talking smack about the season is generally
Guides
Earlier this year, Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom by an over-10% margin. This surprised many commentators, who remarked on the centuries-long history of British nobles treating the good people of Scotland like unwashed, uncultured barbarians. In 1747, for example, our shared nemesis King George III banned
Guides
The banner said, "History is not for wimps." Nothing has changed since officials at the Washington State History Museum took the signage down. The histories contained within the 106,000-square-foot edifice challenge and engage the interests and intellects of the young and old who enter. "The visitor experience is very important to us,