THIRD THURSDAY ARTWALK ON A BUS >>>
Every Third Thursday ArtWalk participant has had that Moment. The Moment you know you will look back on six months (or a year, or 10 years) from now and laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh, just laugh hysterically that you couldn't find the Tollbooth Gallery, or that you got lost on one of the 14 floors inside Sanford and Son, or that you had to lie down on the sidewalk due to fatigue halfway up to the Fulcrum Gallery on Hilltop.
Or maybe you don't laugh. Maybe you're an ArtWalk hatter because of the Moment.
Angela Jossy of the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative wants to eliminate the Moment. She wants to make it easier for you to enjoy the Walk.
She has a bus.
WEEKLY VOLCANO: So you have an ArtWalk Bus.
ANGELA JOSSY: Yup, I'm organizing an ArtWalk tour via bus Thursday night beginning at 6 p.m. at the Speakeasy. The "Art Bus" will hit Embellish Multispace Salon, Tacoma Art Place, Fulcrum Gallery, 253 Collective and Mad Hat Tea Company before dropping everyone off at the Rialto Theater at 8 p.m. Next month we will add more stops, make two round trips and have it running three or four hours instead of two. I want to start with a more modest plan on this first attempt.
VOLCANO: Steph DeRosa isn't driving, is she?
JOSSY: Nope, First Student is providing the bus and driving. They are the company that provides school buses for big events like Tall Ships. They have several different sizes of buses. What we get will depend on the number of tickets we pre-sell.
VOLCANO: Will you lead tours through the galleries?
JOSSY: No, it's more of a self-guided tour at each stop.
VOLCANO: Will there be a keg in the back of the bus?
JOSSY: Oh no. In the future we might two buses: a family oriented, all-ages bus and a 21-plus bus so we can serve wine.
VOLCANO: Is there a particular reason why the bus ends at the Rialto?
JOSSY: Well ... yes. Honey Tongue singer Jen Ayers and her new band Dream On - an almost all-girl Aerosmith tribute band - are playing a free all-ages show at the Rialto Theater as a promotion for the Broadway Center's Live Large dream home raffle. I'm producing the show, which begins at 7 p.m. The bus will arrive in time for the second set.
Behind the band will be a silent film montage of past Tacoma events that I call "Living Large in Tacoma." As the band rocks out to "Same Old Song and Dance," scenes from Glassroots, First Night, Freedom Fair, Art on the Ave, FAT fashion shows, Lynn Di Nino's performance art pieces, art parties and other events will flash on a giant screen behind them. Ian Price of Sway Productions help put it together.
VOLCANO: Could this feature have been much shorter without the Q&A?
JOSSY: Without question.
The ART BUS costs $15. Tickets can be purchases online here.
[Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, Thursday, March 18, 6-8 p.m. bus ride, arrive by 5 p.m. for the prefunk, 746 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.426.5704]