South Sound Cinema
For as large an Asian-American population as the South Sound has, it's notable that there aren't more festivals that celebrate that heritage. Fortunately, the Lakewood Asian Film Festival, now entering its fourth year, is working to remedy that. This year, the festival will be screening five movies over the course
Music
On Jan. 30, 1969, the Beatles got together to perform publicly for the last time. At the time of the concert, it had already been several years since the band had performed in public, having long since devoted themselves to studio recording after the pressures for performing for an increasingly
Music
Music history is littered with talented artists that never quite broke through the noise to capture the public's attention - not quite has-beens, more should-have-beens. It can be incredibly difficult to distinguish yourself from the rabble, no matter how deserving you might be to have your voice heard. In the
Music
The saying goes that you have your entire life to write your first album (or book or movie or play or really any creative project) and only a year to write your second. It's through this somewhat unfair algorithm that the phenomenon of the "sophomore slump" emerges: yeah, you were
Stage
As an adult, I don't have much of an emotional connection to Mary Poppins. I had seen the film version once or twice as a child, but had largely forgotten the details, so color me pleasantly surprised at sitting down to watch Tacoma Musical Playhouse's production of Mary Poppins and
Music
Years ago, in the long-defunct Stereo Lounge (the space of which is now occupied by the Zodiac Supper Club), I saw Jeffrey Lewis perform. The tiny, intimate, boozy venue was the perfect place to see Lewis perform his offbeat anti-folk, accompanied by illustrations that he would flip through on an
Music
Drugs and music, in certain circles (and definitely among music journalists, myself included), are fairly inextricable. LSD and psychedelia will always be mentioned in the same sentence, as will whiskey and rock, and weed and reggae and pop-punk, and ecstasy and EDM. While it's perfectly fine to enjoy these forms
Music
Things are heating up in the South Sound, with summer officially kicking off and a bevy of outdoor events begins to loom on the horizon. For their part, Olympia is bringing back their annual Music in the Park series of concerts, lasting all summer long. Beginning in July, Music in
Music
When people think of Tom Waits, they generally conjure up a picture of the junkyard-instrument-wielding madman and, perhaps, rightfully so. After all, I was first introduced to Tom Waits through his 1988 concert film Big Time, when he was already almost a decade into his initial foray into experimental insanity.
Music
Boy, there sure was a time when musicians were totally obsessed with outer space, wasn't there? The obsession roughly began in the ‘60s with the advent of psychedelic music, giving us legit weirdos ? and the Mysterians and Sun Ra - two people who may or may not have actually
Music
As odd as it seems now, I somehow got through most of my formative years without having really heard the music of Prince. I suppose I knew from places like Saturday Night Live and other cultural pockets about his "Artist Formerly Known As" period, and from Chappelle's Show that he
Stage
There's always been plenty of room for blue humor and bawdiness in musical theater, even if it can sometimes feel like a more squeaky clean environment. Avenue Q is a musical that plays on misconceptions - pitching itself as a sort of children's puppet show crossed with a riff on
Features
Summer is fast approaching, as you can surely tell from the Washingtonians that spontaneously combusted over the past weekend. With these hot months comes more excuses to go outside, necessitating an influx of festivals and events to take advantage of people heroically deciding to leave their homes. Tacoma Musical Playhouse
Music
One of my favorite Christmas songs - and I like so very few - is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It's a lonely little number that reflects the quiet ambience of winter, while still largely sending a positive message. The most interesting part of the song, though, comes at
Stage
I confess to having gone into Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Smokey Joe's Cafe under the mistaken impression that I was about to see a jukebox musical, when it's actually a revue that assembles almost 40 tunes by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. With absolutely no
Music
Since indie recording became a thing, Olympia has always seemed to be on the forefront of propping up and supporting idiosyncratic solo artists. Whenever an album needs to be made by one person in a bedroom or tiny studio somewhere, musicians come out of the woodwork to provide backing vocals,
Music
I would never imply, dear reader, that you've never seen the seminal documentary The Last Waltz. But, if you haven't, here are the nuts and bolts of what is rightly considered one of the greatest concert movies ever made: The Band take the stage at the Winterland Ballroom for their
Music
I'm not going to pretend that I know every little in and out of the multitudes of metal's subgenres. Much like when I was read the riot act about subgenres by a commenter after writing an article about techno several years ago, my brother has also impatiently explained the subtle
Music
Almost six years ago, I wrote in these very pages about a group called Twig Palace. They were a duo, consisting of Evan Hashi and Colleen Johnson, and their music possessed a certain ramshackle charm. Twig Palace embraced a lo-fi aesthetic that put the duo's charm and eclectic tastes into
South Sound Cinema
It's been about eight years since I last competed in The Grand Cinema's annual test of filmmaking wills, and I still will occasionally wake up with cold sweats and delirious flashbacks to faulty editing equipment and quickly encroaching deadlines. Then called the 72-Hour Film Festival, it was renamed the 253