Weekly Volcano Blogs: Walkie Talkie Blog

Posts made in: April, 2010 (169) Currently Viewing: 1 - 10 of 169

April 1, 2010 at 12:08am

5 Things To Do: Oly Farmers Market opens, Philip Glass, dubstep ...

Eat your veggies ... from local farmers at the Olympia Farmers Market.

THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2010 (NO JOKE) >>>

1. The Olympia Farmers Market opens its season today with a regular run Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

2. Jessica Valenti, the celebrated advocate for women's rights and founder of the Web site Feministing.com, will give the keynote address for the 2010 Take Back the Night event at 6 p.m. inside the Wheelock Student Center's Rasmussen Rotunda at the University of Puget Sound.

3. Tacoma Little Theatre offers a "pay-what-you-can" performance of Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off at 7 p.m.

4. Legendary composer Philip Glass performs at 7:30 p.m. inside the Washington Center in Olympia.  Expect to be floored.

5. Sax Restaurant & Lounge launches its new Thursday techno/dubstep/dance night hosted by Black Ice and Vinyl Tribe beginning at 8 p.m.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

April 1, 2010 at 7:38am

Tournament of Tacos: Spicy 16 winners

Will Tijuana Taco go all ... the ... way?

HOW TACO VOTING WENT DOWN ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31 >>>

Over the past two weeks we've pitted 64 of the greater Tacoma area's best tacos against one another in the mother of all taco brackets. You've seen the carnage: No. 1 seeds fell, powerhouses butted heads, and surprise shells made a run at the prize.

The final round of the Spicy 16 was held yesterday - a day that saw the most votes cast to date. Here were the match-ups:

Taqueria El Rinconsito vs. Hidalgo Mexican Restaurant

Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant vs. Tacos Guaymas

La Huerta International Market #2 vs. Taqueria Burrito Loco

Tijuana Taco vs. Powerhouse Restaurant and Brewery

Who advances to the Elote Eight? Which tacos took the popular vote?

Find out after the break:

Read more...

April 1, 2010 at 8:06am

Tournament of Tacos Elote Eight: Vote now!

THURSDAY, APRIL 1 (NO JOKE) >>>

The Elote Eight is fully fleshed out: Vuelve a la Vida, Taqueria El Rinconsito, El Toro, Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant, Taqueria La Fondita, Taqueria Burrito Loco, Top of Tacoma Bar and Café, and Tijuana Taco. Eight establishments that - according to our readers' poll - serve the best tacos in the greater Tacoma area.

It's all come down to Elote Eight (elote is roasted corn on the cob served on the streets of Mexico City - seemed like a brilliant idea during the creation of this tournament). All the signs in the restaurants, the mass emailings to customers and friends, the taco phone trees have paid off for these eight taco slingers. It's now crunch (or crunchy shell) time for the taco royalty.

Let's break it down the games:

GAME 1: Vuelve a la Vida vs. Taqueria El Rinconsito

Only 14,482 Old El Paso Super Stuffer taco shells end-to-end separate Vuelve from El Rinconsito on Pacific Avenue. It's safe to say this battle is for taco bragging rights on Pacific Avenue - a street we all have discovered during this tournament houses hundreds of tacos. These are two of the best.

GAME 2: El Toro vs. Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant

Here we go. Both of these local chain restaurants serve big plates of food. Both have rallied their loyal fans to vote. Both have slaughtered their competitors every game. The both serve giant margaritas, which is nice.

GAME 3: Taqueria La Fondita vs. Taqueria Burrito Loco

Taco truck in a gravel parking lot that sports AstroTurf-ish carpeting takes on a strip mall joint hidden behind a gas station. But we know it's about the tacos, and both of these championships have the right stuffing.

GAME 4: Top of Tacoma Bar and Café vs. Tijuana Taco

OK, here we go. This bare-knuckled brawl will be similar to an open-topped car race, moving at speeds upwards of 120 mph on Interstate 5, ending on a giant-sized ramp that will hurl the vehicles over the Tacoma Dome, and splashing into Commencement Bay. The winner will be the one with the most life buoys tossed at it. Yes, just like that.

It's taco voting time folks. Click here and vote for your favorites.

>>> CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Confused? Read our Tournament of Tacos introduction here.

April 1, 2010 at 1:02pm

Urban Art Festival is underway

Voxxy Vallejo rocked Hell's Kitchen last night.

BENEFIT SHOW NUMBER ONE IS IN THE CAN >>>

Tacoma's Urban Art Festival - the free, all-ages event that showcases Tacoma musicians and artists - will be reaching new heights this year when it commences June 27.

This year the traditional downtown Tacoma festival will climb up South Ninth Street to Hilltop Tacoma and go nuts in Peoples Park.

Organizers Johanna Gardner, Lisa Fruishanti and MandiWebster-Martin are already busy lining up arts and bands. However, they presently have fundraising on their minds.

Their first benefit show for UAF was held last night at Hell's Kitchen. Voxxy Vallejo, Sugar Beats and Shotgun Kitchen rocked a small, but enthusiastic crowd. Highlights included: Voxxy Vallejo's cover of "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" and their new slow song, "Alone"; watching the Sugar Beats' friend eat nachos and text against the stage while his friends blasted Hell's Kitchen with their spacey rock; $2 Pabst drafts.

I only heard one Shotgun Kitchen song before I had to leave, but I enjoyed their blues-laced rock.

The UAF crew plan several more rocking benefits before the June festival. Stay tuned.

To volunteer or perform at the Urban Art Festival, click here.

To see more photos from last night's show, click here. 

Filed under: Benefits, Arts, Music, Tacoma,

April 1, 2010 at 4:40pm

UPDATE: Food Network visits The Red Hot (video)

The Red Hot in Tacoma will appear on the Food Network this summer.

CHEFS VS. CITY VS. THE RED HOT >>>

Publisher's note: We finally added the Youtube video of The Red Hot segment from the show at the bottom of this post. Weekly Volcano columnist Steph DeRosa, Calendar editor Kate Swarner and the rag received face time on the show.

I met up with The KAke today, and for once I didn't run into Trouble

Instead, we ran into celebrity chefs, a food eating competition, and a whole bunch of cameras. 

The Food Network's crew was at full attention inside The Red Hot the last two days during a Seattle/Tacoma production of their popular show Chefs Vs. City - in which two celebrity chefs compete against two local foodies.  The Red Hot will be one of five Puget Sound dining establishments featured in an upcoming episode due to air mid-summer on The Food Network. 

Know this: The Red Hot was the ONLY location to be chosen from the Tacoma area.  GO RED HOT!

The KAke and I were honored to be able to be a part of the film audience, and have the chance to witness one of our favorite Tacoma eateries finally get their chance to shine on national television.  Stay tuned for more specifics as to when to catch The Red Hot - and our lovely mugs - on television, along with four people shoving The Red Hot's tasty dog line-up into their mouths in record time. 

Filed under: Food & Drink, Contest, Screens, Tacoma,

April 2, 2010 at 7:15am

5 Things To Do: Telephone Room, Java Jive benefit, Chalk-Off ...

Staple, photograph, 2010. Photo courtesy the Telephone Room Gallery.

FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2010 >>>

1. Photos of refuse left behind by visitors in museum spaces examine ideas about territory, propriety, trespassing and adaptation in Jennifer Peters and Ellen Ito's exhibit Trace Evidence opening today at The Telephone Room Gallery. The opening reception is from 6-9 p.m.

2. Alex Stisser has been working in glass since 1993 and has been a lead gaffer on the Museum of Glass Hot Shop Team since 2002. Stisser will showcase his personal design series and mastery of traditional techniques infused with his unique contemporary voice from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside MOG's Hot Shop. It's Hot Lunch Friday so if you didn't put your lunch order in by Wednesday you're watching everyone else chow down on Gallucci's Catering.

3. Capital Playhouse will stage Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical Rent at 7:30 p.m.

4. The Fun Police, Big Wheel Stunt Show, The Brotherhood of the Black Squirrel and Ten Miles of Bad Road perform a benefit show for Bob's Java Jive at 8 p.m. Keep Bob and Lylabelle Radernich's little coffee pot of wackiness alive. The promoters As You Are entertainment asks for minimum donation of $3. 

5. Ludicra, Pierced Arrows, and Lullabye Arkestra play an all-ages show at 8:30 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia.

BONUS: The Frost Park Chalk-Off-Challenge begins today at noon.

April 2, 2010 at 8:13am

Tournament of Tacos Final Cuatro: Vote now!

VOTE BELOW >>>

Tacoma loves tacos - at least according to the thousands that have voted in our Tournament of Tacos. Yesterday's taco voting action doubled the previous highest vote count for a single day. And local favorites fell. They fell hard. Every winner yesterday won by capturing 60 to 65 percent of the votes.

What four taco-slinging joints will move onto the Final Cuatro?

The drum roll please ...

Thanks to your votes, we've narrowed down the Tournament of Tacos Readers' Poll to the Final Cuatro: Taqueria El Rinconsito, Moctezuma's, Taqueria Burrito Loco and Tijuana Taco.

Let's remember that every taco that made it into the tourney is worth a nosh. Still, someone's gotta win. We started with 64 of the greater Tacoma area's best shells. Now, these four titanic tacos face off for the ultimate glory - shell to shell battles to determine the best taco in the greater Tacoma area. Which Mexican restaurant has the moxie to nail down the championship? Whose taco will win it all?

Today's Final Cuatro match-ups are these:

GAME 1: Taqueria El Rinconsito vs. Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant

GAME 2: Taqueria Burrito Loco vs. Tijuana Taco

How do you vote? It's easy! Just click here. You may vote once. The poll is open to 11:45 p.m.

We'll post updates on our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the day. We'll announce the two winners tomorrow morning. The final championship games will take place Monday, April 5. We'll announce the winner at our Tournament of Tacos party that night inside Station 56 in Tacoma.

Who will reign supreme? As we have learned during this readers' poll — anything's possible. Prepare for the unexpected.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Address information for the Final Cuatro:

Moctezuma's Mexican Restaurant, 4102 S. 56th St., Tacoma, 253.474.5593

Taqueria El Rinconsito, 72nd and Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, 253.671.1876

Taqueria Burrito Loco, 5502 Orchard St., University Place, 253.474.1433

Tijuana Taco, 10005 Bristol Ave. SW, Lakewood, 253.588.4621.

Confused? Read our Tournament of Tacos introduction here.

Join the Weekly Volcano online community here.

April 2, 2010 at 8:49am

MORNING SPEW: Expect wet bunny, iPad, odd couples ...

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Expect wind to blow hard; Easter chill likely.

The Daily Show slams CNN for hiring Erick Erickson.

Renee Zellweger to star in Duets 2: The Squinty Eyed Female Crazy Heart.

Video of tea partiers freaking out

Stephen Colbert rips the Kindle, adds fuel to the iPad hype.

Odd couples

Filed under: Morning Spew, Media, Screens, Web/Tech,

April 2, 2010 at 11:20am

Brooks & Dunn coming to Tacoma

FUTURE THINGS ARE COMING >>>

Country duo Brooks & Dunn will bring their last tour ever (good one) - The Last Rodeo - to the Tacoma May 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $49.75 and $65.75 and go on sale Saturday, April 10 at 10 a.m. at LiveNation.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone 800.745.3000.

April 2, 2010 at 11:52am

NIGHT MOVES: Milk Music, World's Greatest Ghosts

World's Greatest Ghosts are great. Photo courtesy of MySpace

MUSIC IN THE SOUTH SOUND TONIGHT >>>

Party Rock: Milk Music is quite possibly the closest thing to Boston's feel good party rock Olympia will ever produce - albeit a very, VERY Olympia rendition, and not so vegan twin guitar Tom Scholz-y. At least that's what I thought last time I saw Milk Music play at Old School Pizzeria to a packed house of kids and hipster elites alike, all of whom were bobbing and jumping in unison to their riff-driven melodies like a giant flooding orgasm approaching its crest on the sandbagged shores of an outrageously rewarding night. With White Boss, 8 p.m., all ages, $4, Ghost Town Gallery, 416 Washington St. SE, # 207 (upstairs), Olympia - Owen Taylor

Synth-driven Indie Rock: World's Greatest Ghosts make music that makes me feel warm, tingly - and kind of uncomfortable. With a love of magick (emphasis on the "k"), monsters, and familial affection - as well as an exploitation of hyper-poppy synth-driven indie rock - it's pretty easy to fall in love with World's Greatest Ghosts. But be careful: lurking at the corners is a hidden darkness - an obsession with ideas like death and heartbreak that strengthens and deepens the music into something much more than the sum of its parts. With Tempo No Tempo and guests, 9 p.m., $5, The New Frontier Lounge, $5, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020 - Rev. Adam McKinney

LINK: More live music in the South Sound tonight

Filed under: Night Moves, Music, Olympia, Tacoma,

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