Stage
Half a century ago this week, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was launching his "Poor People's Campaign" for economic equality. "The issue is injustice," he told the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968. After recounting past struggles, he predicted, "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really
Stage
It takes a special kind of year to make us nostalgic for 2016. So how do we bid 2017 a proper adieu, given it's impossible to set a trash fire on fire? On calendar milestones like these, it's vital to cut loose and greet the future with optimism and, face
Stage
Comic talents come and go -- some more deservedly than others -- but no performer in our time has earned more enduring success than the legendary Lily Tomlin. Born in Detroit, Mary Jean Tomlin spent her 20s acting and doing standup off-Broadway. She performed under a variation on her mother's
Online Newspapers
The current map of Europe is a relatively recent development in that continent's rich history. Spain, for example, wasn't united until 1833. Before that, the region was a collection of kingdoms, counties and dependencies. Andalusia, for example, spanned the southern coast, while kingdoms to the north included (from east to
Stage
Comic multi-talent Jay Chandrasekhar is a man of three divine names. His last name, pronounced "Chan-drah-SAY-kahr," is Sanskrit for "Moon Crown" and was an incarnation of Shiva the destroyer. His first name is an abbreviation for Jayanth, Tamil for "victorious." But the real standout is his middle name, Jambulingam, Tamil
Music
He didn't know it yet, but young Kenneth Gorelick was destined for greatness and international fame. He was born in 1956 in Seward Park, a largely Jewish community in Seattle. As a child, he took up golf and the alto saxophone but seemed more gifted at the former than the
Online Newspapers
Few literary works from 1985 can be justifiably dubbed modern classics, but The Polar Express may be an exception to that principle. We know parents who read it to their families every Christmas Eve, reminding them that even kids who've begun to doubt the existence and demi-divine powers of jolly
Stage
One would be hard-pressed to name a guy who looks more like what he is than Brian Posehn. If you live in the Venn-diagram intersection space where folks who love both standup comedy and genre-geek culture reside, then you know the stereotypical appearance of your tribe. Balding on top but
Music
Inspired by American blues and rock of the 1950s, British musicians of the early 1960s developed hybrid styles called skiffle (an amateur form of jazz personified by singer Lonnie Donegan) and Merseybeat (a Liverpool movement that hit all four beats of common time on the snare drum equally). The first
Music
Halloween is a time of putting on costumes that represent wilder, more striking versions of ourselves, so it makes sense it'd also be a time for cover bands to shine. Each year since 2003, Olympia Film Society has devoted its Capitol Theater to a late-October program of local musicians donning
Arts
Olympia, with just shy of 50,000 citizens, will spend this weekend enjoying its biannual, downtown celebration, Arts Walk. With over four times as many residents, Tacoma needs more. That's why October is Tacoma Arts Month -- but even that's not enough. The 16th annual festival stretches over six weeks, from
Music
The band Great White all but invented the word "supergroup," which is remarkable given the fact that it only charted once in the U.S. That single, of course, was "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," baby, which hit #5 on Billboard and dominated the airwaves in 1989. Even that song was a
Stage
There's just too much to do in the South Sound, and it's annoying. We try to cover everything, but sometimes that means cramming a world of entertainment into a scant few column inches. Consider, for example, fall-2017 offerings at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, where autumn gets underway with
Outdoors
The Washington State Fair, at first called simply the Valley Fair, began in June 1900 when Puyallup River-valley businessmen and farmers united to form the Valley Fair Association. Their goal was to highlight local agribusiness. When the fair opened in early October of that year, it went up west of
Features
The Weekly Volcano did a poor job of hiding the fact that Marrow, a vegetarian- and carnivore-friendly restaurant on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue, was a staff favorite. When it closed last year, we were gutted, then anxious to see who'd move in to that plum real estate. The answer arrived last
Outdoors
This weekend, for the 44th time, Washington's capital city hosts Olympia Harbor Days, a celebration of tugboats in particular and of maritime heritage in general. Classic tugs will moor at Percival Landing all weekend. On Sunday, they'll charge into Budd Bay for what festival executive director Carol Riley believes to
Stage
Do you love movies? Do you love trivia? Do you love perma-stoned standup comedians? Then do we have a comedy extravaganza for you. Doug Benson might just be the hardest-working slacker in modern entertainment. Born in San Diego, Benson is 55 but looks a decade younger, two if his audience members'
Music
"Our 50th-anniversary season -- That's amazing!" crows Noel Karan, general director of Tacoma Opera. "It's very unusual for an opera company to last this long. I think we've done a pretty good job." Not only was Tacoma Opera incorporated half a century ago, it's presented a full season each year
Features
Almost all pizza is at least pretty good, so it takes a special breed of pie to rise above the norm and earn the adoration of our discriminating readers. The first bite makes it clear how The Cloverleaf's distinctively crunchy crust launched this Gritty City institution into the party-food stratosphere. This
Music
Photo: James Blunt gained international stardom as the singer and songwriter of "You're Beautiful," which scaled the charts in 2004. "Goodbye My Lover," the fourth single from his debut album Back to Bedlam, was a top-10 hit in the UK. He's touring in support of his recent album The Afterlove and as