Stage
The story of a married couple dealing with deep waters of grief is one that's been explored a staggering number of times. Usually, this topic is dealt with in the somber way that you'd think of when contemplating how you'd react to loss. Sometimes, as is the case with Lars
Music
The idea of the chanteuse is one that has held its status in pop music, even if everything else about pop has been transformed by time. While the roles portrayed by strong women in music have evolved over time, the chanteuse remains a powerful figure, as comfortable in a smoky
South Sound Cinema
One of the last great horror movies I saw was at The Grand Cinema. The film was The House of the Devil, and it was a loving homage to the ‘80s satanic panic that ran through culture and really flourished in horror movies. There's a point close to the end
Arts
The beautiful practice of self-publishing has been providing a soapbox for maniacs and artists alike for many years. Without self-publishing, we would be bereft of scores of psychotic fan fiction, transgressive prose, loopy proposals for new religions, and furiously DIY examinations of local art and music - among countless other
Music
There's an art to creating music mixes for Halloween. First off, if you're going to include "Monster Mash," then you need to be able to back it up. Either commit to the idea of novelty songs soundtracking your Halloween season, or surround Bobby "Boris" Pickett's with truly terrifying fair. From
Music
Certain bands and artists come along that blow one's little, wannabe music-loving mind. Tom Waits did it for me when my dad showed me Big Time; St. Vincent threw me for a loop when I saw her video for "Marrow;" Prince challenged my sexuality the first time I heard "Darling
South Sound Cinema
This year marks the 10th anniversary of what has now become the definitive film event in Tacoma: the Tacoma Film Festival. Since its humble beginnings a decade ago, the Tacoma Film Festival has grown into a globetrotting roundup of the best and the brightest in film, as well as stubbornly
Music
There's a little-seen but eminently watchable movie from 2013 called Grand Piano. The film, framed as a sort of cross between Speed, Phone Booth, and the most stressful recital you've ever seen, stars Elijah Wood as a concert pianist who spent years in seclusion following a poor performance of a
Stage
When I was a child, my dad showed me a Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis vehicle called Boeing Boeing. The manic comedy was based on a well-liked play by Marc Camoletti, and it featured the very farce-friendly concept of a bachelor in France juggling three girlfriends, who are conveniently unaware
Music
Years ago, there was a house in University Place that was home to a very particular rabble of psych-rock enthusiasts and various layabouts. In my late teens, it was the place where I would go to chain-smoke, drink dangerous amounts of Carlo Rossi red wine, and listen to countless eye-opening
Stage
"If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college." This is a sentence that was stuck in comedian Lewis Black's head, and has thereafter been stuck in my head. What resonated so infuriatingly in Lewis Black's head, as a bit of overheard nonsense at an IHOP,
Music
When I was working as a volunteer at The Grand Cinema in 2005, I was given headphones by a girl and told to listen to this new band called Arcade Fire. I listened in, and what I heard was the sound of a scrappy group of Canadians making lo-fi versions
Music
For people who came of age in the ‘90s, the phrase, "five-finger discount," is instantly recognizable. Still, I doubt that people who are familiar with this idiom actually did much shoplifting. Most of us likely came to know the saying from an iconic episode of The Simpsons' first season, "The
South Sound Cinema
Opening Sept. 18: HellionsLook, there's surely no way that Hellions will be raking in the awards, but I will tell you this: judging by the trailer, this flick is bat-s--- insane. This is the kind of bonkers horror movie that will retroactively make The Conjuring try your patience. Demon children
Music
There was a time when, for fans of indie music, the genre of dance went underground. For the late ‘80s and into the ‘90s, dancing became persona non grata at most aboveground indie shows, due to the massive influx of irony and detachment. It's hard to pin down exactly when
Music
I've spoken before about the archetype in music known as the manic preacher. These are the wild people who command an audience with an avalanche of words and wide-eyed ideas. Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Jim Carroll, Isaac Brock, Patrick Stickles - these are people linked not quite by ideology or
South Sound Cinema
I was always a fan of movies. My dad, as I reminded him just recently, showed me The Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was just 12 (his response: "Shut up."), and while that isn't cinema at its finest, it did open my eyes to a whole world of the
Music
The practice of writing about music can get needlessly cerebral (at least when I'm doing it), so the aspect of the visceral gut-punch that music can provide tends to get lost in the mix. At its purest, music has a primal quality that is hard to find elsewhere. It's so
South Sound Cinema
Have you ever been said to have eyes like a doll's eye? Then you might be a Jaws. Has the star of All That Jazz ever told you to smile, you son of a bitch? You might be a Jaws. Has a crusty old shark hunter raked his fingernails across
Music
Sometimes I think about the two trips I made several years ago to New York City and regret the fact that I never made it to the mythical birthplace of punk known as CBGB. I was taken by the grittiness that still existed in the city, to some degree, and