Before a packed Jazzbones crowd Sunday the Crossroads Band, the Randy Oxford band, the Michal Miller Band and the Al Earick Band emerged victorious at the Back To Beale Street blues competition. The four bands will now square off during the Tacoma Freedom Fair and Air Show July 4 along Ruston Way. The winner from the July 4 competition will head to Memphis, Tenn. to compete in The Back To Beale Street Blues 2009 Challenge next February.
The Weekly Volcano braved the summer weather and attended this morning's BLID Groundbreaking Ceremony.
After years of hand wringing, businesses in and around Broadway will see construction begin for the Broadway Local Improvement District project. The project will include streetscape improvements along portions of Market Street and St. Helens Avenue between South 9th and South 7th Street, and portions of Broadway from South 9th Street to North 2nd Street.
Improvements will include utility upgrades, lighting upgrades, sidewalk repair and upgrades, and a number of other cosmetic improvements. If that sounds like a good deal, consider that some businesses will not survive construction and street closures long enough to enjoy the benefits of all that sprucing up. Rather than bemoan their fate, downtown business owners are advised to start planning now. A little strategy, say experts, will make the difference between survival and demise.
The City of Tacoma’s Small Business Construction Survival Guide is a good place to look if the whole thing has you feeling overwhelmed. Download a copy of Tacoma’s Small Business Construction Survival Guide here.
Zachary Marvic was born in Denver, Colo., and moved to Tacoma when he was 2. A magical love child of 1979, the Rocky Mountains had no hold, and the coast drew his family like the autumn wind draws the leaves from trees to the mushy muck that forms in the gutters and all over the sidewalks.
Zachary is an artist, was recently featured at the Helm Gallery downtown that earned him a write-up in City Arts Magazine. The scope of Zach's work is very interesting, marking three stages: Early Tacoma, Olympia, and post New York, which he has recently moved due to "doing everything and not being able to get anything done," he claims.
Tacoma-born magickian Geoff Kanick invites you to follow him down the rabbit hole this weekend. A master of many arts, Kanick’s talents will be offered this weekend as part of Hypothesis, a synthesis of illusion, comedy, sideshow feats, juggling and vaudeville variety. As he describes it, Tacoma should prepare to get its mind “blowed.â€
Kanick spells magick with a “k†to distinguish his art. Magick with a “k†is a linguistic signal pioneered by Victorian bad boy, mountain climber and legendary mystic Aleister Crowley, who used the word magick, with a “K,†to distinguish his explorations of consciousness and other psychonautic systems from the stage work of everyday magicians. Kanick, like Crowley, is no everyday magician, and says his goal is to take people out of their comfort zones to a place where magick is more than an act.
Pick up the Weekly Volcano Thursday for the full story on his magick.
[McAstocker Theater, June 13 7:30 p.m., June 14 7:30 p.m., and June 15 2 p.m., $10 available at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door, Bellarmine Preparatory School, 2300 S. Washington St., Tacoma]
Generally there is nothing I want to see less, but I went ahead and did it: I took a peek at the men's restroom in Tacoma's very own Corner Bar (formerly known as Hank's). I expected it to be the typical pee-stained, pubic hair-infested, urine-scented death space men's rooms usually are. Fortunately for me, and all of you viewing the picture, the fine folks at Corner Bar happened to recently repaint the room and clean it up a bit. I was admittedly kind of diggin this bathroom.
I'm not gonna lie, when bartender Red was giving me the grand tour, I got a little excited. I love seeing refurbished old buildings, and hearing what they used to look like. When the words came out of his mouth,You wanna see the men's bathroom?I was a little disgusted. No, actually wait, there's nothing inside me that wants to take a look at the men's holding cell for disease-infested toilet seats. But he insisted, and I was glad he did.
One of my biggest fears (I only have a few, so don't go thinkin I'm some sort of scaredy cat) is accidentally walking into the men's public restroom instead of the women's. I'm secure enough with myself to think that if I did it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But something about this fear that was instilled in me sometime back in my elementary school years still sticks with me to this day. It's like an OCD habit of mine to see the women's sign, walk into the bathroom, and then take frantic and reassuring look around making sure there are women in the room and not men. Sometimes, if I don't immediately see another woman, I run back outside to double check the women's restroom sign.
I get small anxiety attacks when themed restaurants use wacky names on their bathroom doors like Blokes and Sheilas.Yes, I know, it sounds easy enough, but I need to see the universal girl in a skirt picture's on the door as well.
Something needs to restore confidence in me that I'm definitely walking into a room full of humans with the ability to bleed for seven days and not die. Unlike those other wimpy human specimens called men.(I kid, I kid. Men are cool. I'll make up for that dig in a later TT.)
One of the most confusing doors I've ever run into was at a pet store. The signs read:Pointers and Setters. Oh good gravy, how the F am I supposed to not have a mental breakdown on that one?
And I'll go ahead and credit the one store that labeled their doors Innies and Outies.That was clever. High five to you, little tiny boutique I will never go back to.
I think if someone wanted to play the biggest prank in the entire universe on me, it would be to switch signs on a bar or restaurant I frequented. It would be such a Steph DeRosa headgame. The potential for my cerebrum exploding would be good for the betting.
Not that I want to give you any ideas. So go back to your mindless Web surfing and forget I said that. As a matter of fact, why don't you take a look at this.
ART No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Lynn Di Nino's latest show at Mineral is a departure from her usual. Known for concrete sculptures of very weird and comical animals, in this exhibition she tackles the theme of martyrdom with a series of jewelry that would be impossible to wear "great big hurkin concrete jewelry that hangs like a millstone around the wearer's neck". One of the pieces actually is a millstone, which is Di Nino's way of acknowledging the source of her metaphor, the Bible: "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble."
The name of the show is No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. It is a show that exhausts all the synonyms for heavy: ponderous, weighty, meaningful and- well, it's not really any of that, but rather a lighthearted poke at everything that is heavy, ponderous, weighty, meaningful and. You'll love it. -Alec Clayton [Mineral, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment, through June 17, 301 Puyallup Ave. Suite A, Tacoma, 253.250.7745]
FOLK James Coates Think early David Gray meets Ryan Adams with a little Neil Young thrown in and you can peg James Coates. Performing solo acoustic, he's a little West Coast country and a little Newport folk. It would seem Coates was born to play music as he started at the age of two with piano. By the time he was 16, he had mastered guitar, drums, bass mandolin, harmonica and ukulele. While he is an extremely talented musician, it's his songwriting that takes center stage and penning simple tunes about complex issues is what makes this local folkie so unique. He has been compared to Dylan but it's unclear to as to why. The only similarities are that he plays the acoustic six-string while blowing a harp. He's not as edgy or as overtly political as the Woody Guthrie inspired legend; He's kinder, gentler and sings better- no offense to you hard-core Bobby Zimmerman fans. -Tony Engelhart [Jazzbones, with the Pete Moss Band and Dane Wallace, 7 p.m., $3, all ages, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.396.9169]
BLUES Loose Gravel and the Quarry They call Steve Luhtala "King of the Tideflats," and nothing says gritty Tacoma like a night of blues with Loose Gravel and the Quarry. Luhtala comes across like a big and tough longshoreman with a heart of gold, and his deep, sexy baritone voice and songs about good ole T-town make Loose Gravel and the Quarry a must-see for local blues aficionados. -Angela Jossy [Seafarers Sports Bar, 8 p.m., 3878 S. Center St.. Tacoma, 253.572.8141]
Prink \PRINGK\, transitive verb:
1. To dress up; to deck for show.
intransitive verb:
1. To dress or arrange oneself for show; to primp.
USAGE EXAMPLE: After an episode or two of Tikis Gone Wild on DVD, Bobble Tiki often retires to his bathroom to prink himself â€" just to get ready for the evening. Sometimes, if you walk by the Tiki bathroom, you can hear it. Friends and family members sometimes call out to Bobble Tiki, asking what he’s doing in there, to which he replies “Nothing. I’m just prinking.†The only problem with this is Bobble Tiki just learned today what “prink†actually means.
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