MARK THOMAS DEMING:GARAGE GREATNESS >>>

This isn’t a story about how I talked my way into all-access passes for my brother-in-law (the camera man) and me at the Moore Theatre Friday night.  It’s not a story about how the press passes I was supposed to find at will call weren’t there.  It’s not a story about how no one I met at the Moore had heard of me.  I’m saving that story for my editor, Matt Driscoll, on Monday.

This is a story about two of the greatest bands in Tacoma history. In Northwest history. In United States history. In the history of rock and roll.


I’m standing backstage by the guitars. Wilson Bros., Ventures Model guitars. Guitars named after the band that will at any moment pick up them up and take the stage.  Meanwhile, the opening act, a group of 60-somethings dressed like mobsters, loosens up the crowd. 

Ever hear of a little band called the Fabulous Wailers?

Now, standing in the shadows watching the Wailers finish their set, I’m joined by a gentleman with a handlebar mustache and slicked-back hair.  He wears a black shirt with guitars embroidered on both lapels.  I put out my hand, introduce myself.

“Nokie Edwards,” the man replies. 

Nokie Edwards, who joined the Ventures in 1960, when they â€" along with the Wailers â€" were still jamming in South Sound garages. Nokie Edwards, who between sets watches the video screen behind the stage as members of Agent Orange, Mudhoney, The Presidents of the United States and Aerosmith (Aerosmith!) tell him how cool he is, how he changed their lives, how he’s their hero. Nokie Edwards, who puts his arm around me for a picture. Nokie Edwards!

Onstage he mostly sits, slouches, sandwiched between guitarist/bassist Bob Spalding and founding member and rhythm guitarist, Don Wilson. (While co-founder Bob Bogle still records with the band, he doesn’t perform much nowadays.) He looks like someone who’s been parked in front of a slot machine in Reno for 11 hours. Then you notice his hands. They glide effortlessly over the frets as he plays the riffs from “Hawaii Five-0,” “Secret Agent Man,” “Surf Rider” and “Walk Don’t Run.” Classic riffs. Riffs as recognizable as the Star Spangled Banner.

The song that stole the night, though, was “Apache.” (While best known for surf music, the Ventures’ oeuvre contains instrumentals of all kinds â€" even westerns.) While Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards coaxed war whoops and arrows from the strings, whoops of approval rose from the crowd.  Not just from fogies, either, but X-ers and Y-ers too â€" kids in full punk regalia.  

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen guested on sax, looking exactly how you would expect a lieutenant gov. playing a saxophone would look. Alan White, the drummer from Yes (Yes!), played timpani and snare on “Hawaii Five-O.” 

(When I ran into him in a basement corridor, he shook my hand and said, “Where’s the door?” Um, awesome!?)

The night ended with a grand revue, both bands rocking the Wailers’ “Louie, Louie,” before conceding the stage to some randomly appearing go-go girls, which â€" looking back â€" seems the only appropriate sendoff.

Photography:  Matt Regan

MARK THOMAS DEMING: GIVE IT A SHOT >>>

If it’s possible to like music you don’t like, then I like Noah Gundersen. I like him the way I like pizza with white sauce, and soccer. Know what I mean?

The young Centralia singer-songwriter, who lists Dave Matthews and Counting Crows as influences, is undeniably skillful and talented. His band is airtight, and they’re working their asses off playing huge numbers of shows; there’s nothing I can knock ’em for, but I can’t seem to climb up on the bandwagon, either. It’s my cynical side, I guess. I point and make fun as the hayride goes by, when really I’m just jealous. Hopefully you’re a better person than I. Hopefully you can judge the music by its many merits instead of by predisposition. Hopefully you can appreciate Gundersen’s warm, faithful, well-crafted tunes and ignore the grouch in the back.

[The New Frontier Lounge, with Paper Maché, Sunday, April 12, $2, 9 p.m., 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]

Ben Blood Photography

MICHAEL SWAN: HAPPY EASTER! >>>

1. Easter dinner jazz show with Rich Wetzel's GHJO at Jazzbones.

2. On Golden Pond is a great story.

3. Malkovich goes mental.

4. The spirit of Middle Class American at The New Frontier Lounge.

5. Lakewood Players provides great escapism theater.

MICHAEL SWAN: MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2009 >>>

1. Tacoma Cult Film Clubat The Acme.

2. Rockaraoke at Jazzbones

3. Malkovich goes mental.

4. Jerry Miller Band plays The Swiss.

5. J.W. Sparrow plays an all-ages show at Rhapsody in Bloom.

NEW STEAM: GOOD MORNING SOUTH SOUND >>>

Dead test walking

Looking Fife, and feeling Minnesota

Yo, ho, ho, a pirates life could be more difficult.

RAM: Microsoft to push IE8 through Automatic Update.

Fears of a GM bankruptcy send its stocks tumbling down.

Could we be smokin’ Cubans soon?

The Kevin Calabros of car chases

NEWS TEAM: WANKERS OF THE DAY >>>

Scumbag suspect in last week's downtown Tacoma homicide

Winter is still here.

Tight purses

Banks who raised interest rates and fees after taking bailout money.

JAKE DE PAUL: MONDAY FOOD LINKS >>>

Tons of ham leftovers? Make this.

American gin rules!

For relaxing times, make it Arabica time.

Today’s South Sound Specials

$5 Wine Mondays, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., $5 glass of wines, Rosewood Café, 3323 N. 26th St., Tacoma, 253.752.7999.

Half Price Wine Night, Budd Bay Café, 525 Columbia St. N.W., Olympia, 360.357.6963.

Future Things Are Coming

Bayview School of Cooking Director Nancy Hebb discusses and cooks with lemons, April 14 at 6 p.m. The cost is $40. The school is at 516 W. Fourth Ave. in Olympia. Reserve your spot at 360.754.1448.

LINK: South Sound happy hours