Music
There's a number of iconic scenes in American Psycho where Patrick Bateman - the power broker/serial killer with an immaculately polished veneer, played by Christian Bale, who wisely modeled his performance after Tom Cruise - delivers impassioned monologues about middle-of-the-road pop stars. Bateman extolls the artistry of Huey Lewis, Whitney
Music
It seems a relative certainty that you'd be hard-pressed to find a single person who wouldn't join you in a rousing refrain of "f*&@# 2016!" Judging by any metric, this has been a notably lousy year, plagued with celebrity deaths, ugly politics, and Jared Leto. I've railed against New Year's
Music
Music is not always used to soothe or excite; some of the best bands and artists have chosen to allow the listener to wallow in sadness and heartache. Humans' capacity for commiseration is one of our greatest gifts, letting us come together and bond over pain. This can come in
Music
Decades of visual art have worked at finding a shorthand to depict inescapable temperatures, utterly brutal exertions of force on the part of our planet to get us hunching our shoulders and bending at the waist in a futile effort to shield ourselves from the elements. Our current frigid, soggy
Music
I've always been attracted to bands with big, full sounds. Maybe it's because I grew up listening to music from the ‘50s and ‘early ‘60s, which frequently reveled in lush productions and sweeping, romantic compositions. This was music that intended to use every inch and power of the recording studio
Stage
It's a Wonderful Life's continued, ubiquitous presence is one of the stranger things about the holiday season. Yes, winter is marked by a quiet, almost mournful energy, and it welcomes somber reflection as much as joyful celebration, but come on: It's a Wonderful Life is a movie that literally opens
Music
Of the trends and affectations that began to emerge in the indie rock scene of the past decade, the one that always inspired admiration and confusion in me was that bands suddenly started having two drummers. The sight of two drum kits on a stage tends to be a compelling
Stage
As staged by Tacoma Little Theatre, Miracle on 34th Street's success will largely rest on one's emotional attachment the audience has with Christmas in general and Santa Claus in particular. Issues in tone and some uneven performances get in the way of this classic story, having been adapted from the
Music
Rock and roll has its toehold firmly entrenched in artifice, in overblown personas and carefully constructed appearances. Yes, there are musicians that strive for honesty and the stripping away of affectations, or at the very least a perception of verisimilitude. Still, for the majority of people making pop music, the
Music
I've never been much into video games, but there was a period of a couple years when I found myself compelled toward the comfort of the Nintendo 64. Usually I only played in the context of family get-togethers - the adults would talk in one room while us kids would
Music
The Beatles were fond of saying that their favorite contemporary American musician was Harry Nilsson, and it's not hard to see why. With the voice of an angel, capable of operatic bravado ("Without You"), surging rock wails ("Jump Into the Fire"), and impish character work ("Coconut"), Nilsson was an almost
Stage
Since seeing Dukesbay Theater's production of A Piece of My Heart, I've struggled with sorting my feelings about what, I would argue, is a play with its roots firmly entrenched in emotional manipulation. From a purely objective standpoint, an emotionally manipulative piece of art isn't fundamentally a bad thing, depending
Music
Making the decision to change your name to 2 Chainz is a conundrum we've all surely encountered in our lives. As an up-and-coming rapper, Tauheed Epps always went by Tity Boi, but decided to switch things up in 2011, after (perhaps correctly) assuming that the 2 Chainz moniker would be
Music
Music serves different purposes at different times. For a large majority of people, music helps to calm the nerves and transport the listener out of the pummeling existence of everyday life. In a climate like the one we're currently inhabiting, this soothing effect becomes a necessity, lest we all simultaneously
Music
Culturally, America has nicked a lot of its favorite arts from around the globe. As a relatively new country, this isn't so much of a surprise; inventing and nurturing homegrown modes of expression is something that takes time and care. And, being a melting pot of a nation, the stewing
Music
As of this writing, Bob Dylan has yet to really acknowledge being recently awarded the Nobel prize for literature, with the exception of a brief mention of it on his website, which has since been taken down. With fans of literature and music - and the tenuous interplay between those
Music
In the ‘90s and early ‘00s, the prevailing wisdom about the indie rock scene was that both bands and audiences alike were petrified at the notion of dancing - a stereotype well-earned, based on the bookish, record-collecting image of the indie rock norm. Bands like LCD Soundsystem emerged to act
Music
One of my favorite songs by Ween is a shady little ditty called "Zoloft." Coming from a band that once claimed to have recorded an album under the influence of huffed Scotchgard - though they later fessed up to this being a lie, just the "most slime-bag thing" they could
Music
One would be hard-pressed to find a group of artists, at least in the modern era, who have been more intricately and consistently studied than the Beatles. Since emerging in 1963, the lives of John, Paul, George, and Ringo - individually and together - have been catalogued and documented to
Music
In a place like Tacoma, it can be easy to get a little cozy and start taking things for granted. There are certain businesses, people, bits of natural beauty, artists and bands that we all collectively assume will just be around forever. When it comes to bands, it's easy to