Weekly Volcano Blogs: Walkie Talkie Blog

Posts made in: February, 2009 (247) Currently Viewing: 71 - 80 of 247

February 9, 2009 at 2:07pm

Nightclub summit tonight

PAUL SCHRAG: PUT YOUR LOCS ON AND REPRESENT TACOMA CLUBS >>>

McCabe's It’s about time. After years of batting the idea around, dealing with troublesome nightclubs has risen to become a top priority for Tacoma officials, who will host a meeting tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at, ahem, Tacoma Police headquarters, 3701 S. Pine St. The meeting will vet issues surrounding the sometimes tense co-existence of downtown dwellers and late-night businesses. Currently in the brainstorming stage, new rules and regulations for clubs could include approval of mandatory security plans prior to receiving a business license, background checks and training for security personnel, and applying design standards aimed at maximizing security. If applied, most of the new provisions would be folded into the city’s existing cabaret license.

Local officials also are looking at creating an association of club owners, citizens and city officials â€" much like the Chamber’s Business Improvement Area â€" that would encourage businesses and others to work together to deal with this perennial issue. You know, as opposed to just when they’re feeling annoyed.

If you care about nightclubs, nightlife, and helping Tacoma become a 24-hour city, this is the meeting to attend.

See you there.

LINK: Previously in the Weekly Volcano

Photo: McCabe's American Music Cafe/Ron Swarner

February 9, 2009 at 5:25pm

Patchoulious inabundae

PROF. REEVES: DRINKOLOGY >>>

Professor- Eastside Club Tavern

A liberal, sometimes odorous animal, known for its extensive selection of microbrews and patrons with excess hair (be it facial, leg, armpit, whatever).

Drink Choice: Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  Seeing as the Eastside Club has something like 39 taps making a choice in this hippie hobble can be difficult.  A safe bet is the Deschutes Breweryâ��s Mirror Pond Pale Ale.  Named after Mirror Pond in Bend, Ore., within walking distance of the Deschutes Brewery, Mirror Pond Pale Ale uses Cascade hops to produce a beer people seem to like. 

[Eastside Club Tavern, 410 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.357.9985]

Filed under: Food & Drink, Olympia,

February 9, 2009 at 5:36pm

Flickr Post of the Day


Red Brick Wall, originally uploaded by theague.

February 10, 2009 at 12:16am

P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. Solution

PAUL SCHRAG: TACOMA COMES TOGETHER TO TALK NIGHTLIFE >>>

A whole mess of folks gathered this week at Tacoma Police headquarters to discuss a thorn that’s been stuck in Tacoma’s side for years. Club owners, bar owners, police, city officials, fire officials, restaurant owners, a few bar patrons, community organizers â€" all were there to try and figure out how to help nurture Tacoma’s nightlife without ruining the fun for everyone else. They were invited by City of Tacoma Safe and Clean team P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E., which hosted the three-hour brainstorming session. By the time they were done, everyone gathered had produced what will likely amount to about 10 or 20 pages of suggestions.

That’s good â€" because cracking this nut is going to be almost as difficult as typing P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. more than once.

“I’m glad the city is coming around,” says Bob Hill, who represented The Swiss with co-owner Jack McQuade. “I think this was very positive, having everyone communicating.”

Hill’s comments are predicated on some difficult past experiences, which he and other bar and club owners have dealt with for years. Those troubles include security, crime, a sometimes confusing morass of rules and regulations, associated costs, and a hefty cabaret tax on top of all it all. Several bar owners mentioned that in the past, city officials had simply dictated policy, and didn’t reach out to the business owners being affected by it. They noted that many of them pay thousands of dollars per month in city cabaret taxes, for example. The 5 percent tax was instituted after officials decided that Tacoma Police officers shouldn’t be allowed to work off-duty as security personnel at clubs and bars. The tax was supposed mitigate that by paying for increased police patrols downtown, and absorb some of the costs associated with bars and clubs, such as sending a dozen squad cars to handle an out-of-control bar fight. A year later, Tacoma PD reversed it policy, and again allowed officers to work at clubs off-duty. Many club owners who hire off-duty officers, frequently at the urging of police officials, feel like they’re being asked to pay twice. The cabaret tax, meanwhile, goes into the city’s general fund. Some bar owners suggest that if city officials are looking for way to pay for new P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E.-born programs and policies, money produced by the cabaret tax is a good place to start.

But bar owners aren’t the only ones griping. Citizens lodge complaints against some club owners, whose patrons sometimes stumble out into the street and ruin Nick at Nite by screaming, littering and/or shooting guns in the air, for example.

City officials, in turn, are caught in the middle, trying to balance the needs of everyone involved, while finding money to pay for police officers, code enforcement, street clean up, parking, and dozens of other costs associated with a roaring nightlife. If nothing else, bringing everyone together made it clear, perhaps for the first time, that bar owners, residents and city officials are in it together.

“At one point we just decided that we needed to come together to find some common ground,” says Tacoma Police Lieutenant Sean Gustason, who also works on the P.R.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. team.

Suggestions for dealing with issues ranging from transportation and parking to security and community outreach were flying everywhere. Notable suggestions included creating information-sharing networks between cars and clubs that would allow owners to stay up on which patrons are knuckleheads; requiring the creation of an approved security plan in order to receive a city business license; increasing transportation options such as taxi service, or extending operating hours for Link Light Rail; and focused enforcement of crowd capacity and over-serving laws to manage crowds and crowd behavior.

The rest of the list will be available soon. Stay tuned.

LINK: Previously in the Weekly Volcano

February 10, 2009 at 8:11am

Morning Spew

BOBBLE TIKI: BREAKFAST WITH BOBBLE TIKI >>>

Our intern was fooled by the midnight telephone call from Tacoma Power threatening to shut off electricity to the Weekly Volcano World Headquarters. The intern freaked out over the call because he knows the wrath of hell Publisher Pappi Swarner would inflict on him if his vacuum duties are not completed. Thankfully, for all parties involved, the telephone calls are a prank.

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in the United States are pissed that they can't dress up like Coldplay at the Grammys and serve fish sticks through a drive-through window.

President Obama's delivered the worst economic news Americans have heard in 70 years. He's already calling this "the lost decade." It's nothing we haven't seen before.

February 10, 2009 at 10:37am

The future of daily newspapers

MATT DRISCOLL: THESE ARE STRANGE TIMES WE LIVE IN >>>

The New York Times is running a real interesting opinion piece today about the future of daily newspapers, their survival strategies and how changes will affect readers.

Check it.

Filed under: Media, News To Us,

February 10, 2009 at 1:00pm

Tacoma photo of the day

Filed under: Photo of the Day, Tacoma,

February 10, 2009 at 3:00pm

Scared shitless yet?

MATT DRISCOLL: HAS A STOCKPILE OF CAMPBELL'S SOUP AND WATER >>>

Whether you listened to the man or have simply read the reviews - or took a glance at today's stock market action - Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appears to have scared the shit out of everyone with his plan to stabilize the financial sector.

And people are right to be scared by it. According to Geithner, if no action is taken we could soon be facing the complete collapse of our economic system. No on except my friend Sean the Communist wants to see something like that.

But is Geithner right about how bad things are? Daniel Gross of Slate says yes.

And while everyone seems to agree we're in the midst of a dire situation, not everyone is thrilled with the plan Geithner rolled out.

February 10, 2009 at 3:14pm

Brown, Pak and hamachi

RON SWARNER: TACOMA'S TRIBUTE TO TOKIDOKI >>>

Liza-Brown-art This is why you live here. This is one of those hidden gems of the South Sound. A sushi house with a conveyor belt, hanging local art because it adores local artists and helping charities and loving life and, of course, salmon roe. Artist, singer, actor Liza Brown will place her pop art at Sushi Revolution beginning Wednesday, Feb. 11, because Revolution owner Hannah Y. Pak wouldn’t have it any other way. Pak opens her walls to local artists. This is why there is hope for beauty and humankind in the face of CD gouging and Zoloft and printer cartridges and $3 bottled water.

I caught up with South Tacoma resident Brown â€" a painter for five years, a set designer, a bistro chalkboard artist, and moonlighter with the Led Zeppelin cover band Kashmir â€" who will cut the ribbon to her mural, Tacoma’s Tribute to Tokidoki, and many pop art pieces Wednesday at Pak’s Tacoma sushi joint. Read my interview with Brown on the Weekly Volcano Web Site (scroll to bottom).

LINK: Eat sushi

Filed under: Arts, Food & Drink, Tacoma,

February 10, 2009 at 3:43pm

25 pounds to freedom

CHUCK DULA: RACQUETBALL IS HARD WHEN YOU'RE FAT >>>

Chuck Dula Fat
Editor's note:
As you may recall, Weekly Volcano scribe Chuck Dula recently struck a deal with a bisexual female friend of his. If he can lose 25 pounds by May 1, then said friend - and another female to be determined later - will have a three-way with Mr. Dula. That's what I call inspiration. Chuck will be chronicling his weight loss efforts every Tuesday here on Spew. Below you'll find the latest installment in Chuck's quest to be less fat and have sex with two women at the same time. Enjoy.

Beginning Weight 190

This isn’t so bad. I joined a racquetball league. It turns out that if you spend countless hours playing Magic: The Gathering, Everquest or World of Warcraft all you need is some decent cardio and you can place unforgiving corner shots within the confines of a racquetball court.
Joe Sobek was credited with inventing Racquetball in 1950 when he added a stringed racquet to the game to increase velocity and control. Old Man Winters was credited with wiping all six of the racquetball court’s walls with my ass in about 3 minutes whilst having me run about 3 miles in little 10 foot circles. I am flabbergasted at this sport. It seems to be the only sport where amateurs get better with age like a fine red wine. If, of course, that fine red wine smelled like an outdoor Slayer concert. Also, I don't care who you are, you don't look good in racquetball goggles! Jessica Alba wearing nothing but Mickey Mouse undies and completely covered in whipped cream and diamonds would look completely unattractive wearing these ridiculous spectacles. However, she would look a lot less ridiculous if she had another female with her who was willing to have a threesome with me.



Ending Weight: 187

Filed under: Chuck Dula, Health, Sex, Sports ,

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