Weekly Volcano Blogs: Walkie Talkie Blog

Posts made in: August, 2010 (140) Currently Viewing: 61 - 70 of 140

August 13, 2010 at 2:09pm

Nosh League beer and cheese tasting recap

WE'RE TALKING FULL BEER POURS >>>

Nosh Leaguers congregated in the tippy top of Engine House No. 9 last night for the second gathering of tasty liquid libations and yummy pairings. Surprising for a warm summer day, the highest room of the building held no heat. The lucky attendees arranged themselves at two long tables; some made instant friends while others said hello to familiar faces and hunkered down to get schooled on beer.

Many questions were answered rapid fire by host - and Volcano Grocery Stories columnist - Kris Blondin, who led the tasting along with former E9 brewmaster Doug Tiede, who along with Blondin work at Click Wholesale Distributing. Tiede started with a quick three-part beer lesson on hops, malts and yeast. Blondin brought out cheese on crackers with the first of six beers explaining how and why cheese and beer ("Beer is essentially liquid bread") make a great match.

We tasted Unibroue Ephimere, Duvel, Maredsous 8 and three E9 brews: IPA, Bourbon Barrel Scottish Ale and Chocolate Stout. The Canadian Unibroue paired with goat cheese - a slightly cloudy beer with green apple flavor at the finish. Interesting fizzy Duvel was a non-beer beer. At 8.5 percent alcohol it acted similar to champagne and was great with French triple crème. "Not to sound weird, but flavors just explode," was how Blondin prepped us for Belgian-style double Maredsous 8 and Swiss Gruyere cheese - both had a punchy flavor. We were treated to the brewer's barrel of E9's Bourbon Barrel Scottish Ale (before the blending process!) - nutty with raisin; it went beautifully with soft, deep orange Pave de Normandy cow cheese.

After the previous beers, amber-colored E9 IPA seemed really bitter though the white cheddar it was paired with was the big cheese hit of the night.

Beer for dessert? Noshers finished with Ecuadorian chocolate, bourbon and vanilla accented E9 Imperial Chocolate Stout and a mascarpone smeared cocoa-iced cookie. Ooohs and aaahs were heard over this 8.5 month-aged sneak peak liquid treat - which is being released to the public tomorrow at 4 p.m. We had direct access to current E9 brewmaster Shane Johns, too. Nice.

Chris Myers, who attended the first Nosh League event at Cork! in July, feels beer drinkers are just a more lively bunch. Smiling Nosh newbie and beer lover Aja Pound, who went with friends, agrees emphatically, "Beer is just more Tacoma anyway." And new Nosh Leaguer and beer enthusiast Kate from Michigan - who doesn't care for IPAs - gave a smiling nod to E9s version.

As for September's Nosh League event, there's talk of a sushi demonstration or tequila tasting.

LINK: More photos in our Photo Hot Spot

LINK: Join the Nosh League

Filed under: Food & Drink, Nosh League, Tacoma,

August 14, 2010 at 6:14am

5 Things To Do: Chastity belts art, peep show, know your South Tacoma Way, Fuzion ...

Mineral holds its second annual "Chastity Belt" show, with artist-created versions of the infamous garment.

SATURDAY, AUG. 14, 2010 >>>

1. Mineral gallery (Suite A) celebrates the opening of its Access Denied: the Second Annual Exhibit of Chastity Belts by Artists from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Next door to Mineral at 301 Puyallup Avenue (Suite B) be sure to peek at Don't Look, a boudoir vignette by Madera Architectural Elements members. AND next to both in Suite C are watercolors by Val Persoon. We wrote something awkward on these shows here.

2. Meet South Tacoma book author Darlyne Reiter, Chat with railroad historian Jim Fredrickson about Northern Pacific Railway and the South Tacoma Shops, walk through the business district with architectural historian Gerald Eysaman, tour historic Oakwood Hill Cemetery and Columbarium with Bill Habermann, view a trove of stained glass and learn about South Park Historic District from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. beginning at Northwest Motor Scooters.

3. The Red Hot celebrates its third birthday with an outdoor beer garden, giveaways and good times from 1-11 p.m.

4. MovinN 92.5 FM invades SAX Restaurant's "Fuzion" dance party night giving the Fuzion Girls a little more to shake at beginning at 9 p.m.

5. Don't you miss the '90s? The local stars of that decade are now coming back with a vengence and The Speans are a prime example. The band joins C.F.A. and Basemint for a benefit show for Music and Art in Wright Park at 9 p.m. inside The New Frontier Lounge. Read up on the show here.

LINK: Concerts go on sale today

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

August 14, 2010 at 12:34pm

NIGHT MOVES: Tons of good live music tonight

Roaming Soldiers play Uncle Sam's American Bar and Grill in Spanaway tonight.

COOL LIVE SHOWS AFTER A HOT DAY >>>

Big Whisky Saloon Tacoma - Downtown. Redneck Parking Lot Party Part II featuring The Nathan Ameson Band and Robbie Walden & The Gunslingers plus beer garden, barbecue, mechanical bull and more.  4 pm to 2 am. NC before 6 pm, $10 after.

  • The last time Tacoma's newest and most energized country bar, Big Whisky Saloon, held a 100.7 FM The Wolf-hosted "Redneck Parking Lot Party" over 800 people showed up to suck up live country music, dance on the outdoor dance floor, drink cold beer, eat barbecue and ride "Bubba the Mechanical Bull." That's redneck success, and exactly why this Saturday the Big Whisky is holding the "2nd Redneck Parking Lot Party Part II." Seems a bit redundant to us, but who are we to judge. – Michael Swan

Bob's Java Jive Tacoma - Central. Fine Slew, Hotter Than A Crotch. 21+. 9 pm.

Cedarwood Dome Milton. Daze Of Never, Eye In Time, A Sic End, Chelsea Speed Party, On Edge. 21+. 8 pm.

Doyle's Public House Tacoma - Stadium District. Hi Fi Reset. 21+. 9 pm. NC.

The Eastside Club Tavern Olympia - Downtown. Helltrout, The Noses, The Tide. 9 pm. $5.

  • It has been 18 years since legendary Oly punk metal band Helltrout has played. In a development that started as joking about how funny it would be to have a reunion show like all old rockers, Helltrout is officially back for one glorious night. Four-fifths of the original band will be rocking out at Olympia's Eastside Club Saturday. Mike Clam, along with bandmate Don Stewart play in Seattle's Mico De Noche, but are excited to come together with early Nirvana drummer Dave Foster and bass player Jason Morales to reunite Helltrout! Along with The Noses and The Tide, (both with members from the North Shore Club era) a flashback to 1992 will be in full effect Saturday. "Luckily we wrote all the songs in a way that was easy to play wasted, so it was fairly easy to come back to," chuckles Clam.  Don't miss this epic show! - Nikki Talotta

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. No Bullshit Battle Of The Bands Finals. 21+. 8 pm.

Jazzbones Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Northwest Sons. 21+. 8 pm. $6.

Johnny's Dock Restaurant and Marina Tacoma - Dome District. The Dana Lupinacci Band. 21+. 7 pm. NC.

Le Voyeur Café and Lounge Olympia - Downtown. Morgan & The Organ Donors, Ghost Mom, Cat Fancy, The Maxines. 21+. 9 pm.

  • Let's talk about some badass girl bands, shall we? Saturday at Le Voyeur you're going to see two of them: Morgan and the Organ Donors and Portland's Cat Fancy! (Exclamation point included.) About the latter: Cat Fancy! rides the art-punk line between pop songwriting and fuck-you dissonance. There are several signifiers that might be attached to the band, such as: riot grrrl (does that still exist?), electro-clash, and glam punk. What these made-up terms all try to express is that Cat Fancy! wear awesome outfits, blow out eardrums, and could probably kick my ass three ways from Sunday. To me, that sounds like a perfect way to spend a Saturday, and it comes to you live - without the aid of a drum. Put that in you pipe and smoke it. - Rev. Adam McKinney

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. Alyssa Chambo Benefit Concert featuring traditional music of Scotland and Ireland with Jamie Marshall and Annie Henry of Jug of Punch, Red McWilliamst, violinist Sunnie Larson and cellist Betsy Tinney and group jam. All Ages. 6 pm. Donations.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. Benefit For Music and Art In The Park, with The Speans, C.F.A. and Basemint with tons of raffle prizes. 21+. 9 pm.

  • If you're at all interested in seeing next weekend's Music and Art in Wright Park festival, it'd be best for you to come to The New Frontier Lounge on Saturday, where you'll get to preview several of the bands that will grace the Wright Park stage - including Basemint, Cody Foster Army, and the Speans. One of these things is not like the other. Read up on The Speans here.

Northern Olympia - Downtown. No Babies, Broken Water, Wisdom Teef, Magic Johnson, Tiger Shower Caps. All Ages. 7 pm.

O'Malley's Irish Pub Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Brotherhood of the Black Squirrel. 21+. 8 pm. NC.

People's Park Tacoma - Upper Tacoma. 3rd Annual Hip Hop In The Park, with live performances, spoken word, dancers, vendors. All Ages. 12 pm.

  • The third annual Hip-Hop In the Park Festival is set to go down in People's Park Saturday, filling the bowled grass and surrounding streets with all things hip-hop: dancing, rapping, poetry, singing, antique shopping. OK, so antique shopping isn't hip-hop unless you're Kanye West, but that's not the point. The point is Hip Hop in the Park - DIY and youth-led - is one of the best annual events Tacoma has going. Check it. – MS

Red Wind Casino Yelm. Jonathan Harris. 21+. 8:30 pm. NC.

The Spar Tacoma - Old Town. Ben Union. 21+. 8 pm.

Stonegate Pizza Tacoma - South. Michal Miller Band. 21+. 9 pm.

Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill Spanaway. Atomic Outlaws, Roaming Soldiers, Inverse, Silent Therapy, Torture Box, Death Valley Murder Squad, Undersin 7 pm.

LINK: More live music in the South Sound

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

August 14, 2010 at 1:54pm

My favorite days of the week

IN DECENDING ORDER >>>

1. Saturday

2. Friday

3. Sunday

4. Thursday

5. Wednesday

6. Monday

7. Tuesday

You?

Filed under: Lists,

August 15, 2010 at 8:39am

5 Things To Do: Jousting, Southern Skies, Art in the Park, Nicky Click ...

It's going to smell ripe in Buckley this afternoon.

SUNDAY, AUG. 15, 2010 >>>

1. Does it come as a shock that the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire  is held in Buckley? It shouldn't. From 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., hordes of renaissance faire enthusiasts (read: virgins) will gather for a bunch of make-believe jousting, jostling, wenching and facial-hair admiring. Much like at Woodstock, a lucky baby will be born amidst the craziness of the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire in Buckley. It will quickly be passed a kilt and a massive turkey leg. Later in life, a therapist will reap the financial benefits of this "miracle."

2. The South Tacoma Farmers Market goes down from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of 56th and South Washington Street. Southern Skies band performs at noon.

3. The Art in the Park open house from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at  Monarch Sculpture Park will open a retrospective exhibit of paintings, prints and sculptures by Valentine Welman, who had a long and somewhat well-known career at the University of Washington teaching painting, printmaking and sculpting.

4. Crescent Moon Gifts hosts Tasseomancy Tea Party & Chocolate Tasting from 3-5 p.m. Keep an eye on the kids during your tea leaf reading. You know what chocolate does to them. If they get a hold of some eye of newt and the right incantation, Sixth Avenue will never be the same.

5. Nicky Click and Nightfox play a 9 p.m. show at Le Voyeur in Olympia.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

August 15, 2010 at 9:53am

Big Wheel Stunt Show rocked the meat stage

Big Wheel Stunt Show ... now with more meat.

MEATY >>>

Good morning, Spew readers, and welcome to another installment of the Morning After. It's 75 degree right now with a projected high of 94. It's officially butt-sweat season. And with that physical discomfort comes discomfort of another kind: cranky neighbors.  After a couple beers at The Red Hot's third anniversary party, I popped in on the tail end of Steve Haverly's ode to meat and music - St. Meatentine's Day - at the Harmon Tap Room. What began as a lot of meat and beer bands at noon ended around 8:30 p.m. as a lot of meat and loud beer band Big Wheel Stunt Show rocking the meat stage. Volcano scribe Joe Izenman described this band best as "... a little more energy than the Aussies' (AC/DC) relentless groove, and a little more of a punk rock, grungy tinge. But on some level they occupy the same headspace within the dark bowels of my musically eccentric brainpan." 

So true.

BWSS singer/guitarist Evan Nagle ripped it ... until a cranky neighbor had enough. Then the Harmon Tap Room staff had to play good cop/bad cop with the band manager until Nagle finally gave in and dialed it down to 10. A shame. I was enjoying the 11 very much.

Big Wheel Stunt Show will perform Friday, Aug. 20 at The New Frontier Lounge, and the following day will rock the KGHP-FM studio at 6 p.m. before heading to a 7 p.m. outdoor show at Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill in Spanaway. Spanaway residents beware.

Filed under: Concert Review, Music, Tacoma,

August 15, 2010 at 5:40pm

Basemint is Spock approved

Live long and prosper Basemint!

THE ALARM CLOCKS ARE RINGING >>>

When God finally gets sick of all the molly-coddling New Testament crap and decides to once again go super-diluvian on our fornicating asses, which musical artist are you going to demand as the Ark's house band? Lady Gaga? Justin Bieber?

(I laughed so hard writing those two names that Pabst came spurting out of my nose.)

Me? I'm dragging Basemint out of their garage and onto the Ark's Lido deck. This local surf/garage-like rock quartet - with their pageboy mops - are purveyors of a kind of metropolitan cool unseen since the Rolling Stones of the early '60s. And by garage rock I don't mean three-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust, but rather Basemint is taking the catchall definition of garage and spinning it around to their own end.

"It's rock. It's art. It's attitude. It even tiptoes on the verge of an emerging lifestyle here in Tacoma," wrote Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll back in May.

And it's good.

I caught the band last night at the Music and Art in Wright Park benefit show at The New Frontier Lounge. Basemint chose to screen a classic Star Trek cartoon behind them during their set. As you can see above, Spock got lost in Basemint's bitchin' tunes.

Not to be outdone, C.F.A. screened Gentlemen Broncos as its film of choice last night at The New Frontier. I haven't caught this film yet, but judging what I saw, I'm not sure I want to ride it.

Anyway, keep an eye on Basemint's MySpace calendar and catch this band.

LINK: Music and Art in Wright Park is Saturday.

Filed under: Music, Tacoma,

August 16, 2010 at 6:38am

5 Things To Do: "Seaside Opera," Phil Berkowitz and The Dirty Cats, Karaoke Idol ...

Phil Berkowitz, a San Francisco Bay Area based blues harmonica player and vocalist, brings his band to The Swiss tonight.

MONDAY, AUG. 16, 2010 >>>

1. Phil Berkowitz and The Dirty Cats fill The Swiss with blues beginning at 8 p.m.

2. A.K. Mimi Allin's 15-minute Seaside Opera was actually inspired by Tollefson Plaza. No joke. As Allin says of her poetic opera - now set to be performed daily 2-7 p.m. every half hour through Aug. 21 in the place that inspired it - "I can smell the water from Tollefson and long for it. ... I wanted to capitalize on the water element of the park. How wonderful, I thought, to bring the beach right up into town!" Hell, the beach is better than nothing.

3. Amy Pennington - organic gardener, urban cook and food enthusiast - will share valuable tips for growing greens, aromatic herbs and edible flowers, including small batch preserving and canning tips, at 6 p.m. at the Bayview School of Cooking.

4. Cropsey is a documentary examining the concept of the bogeyman - as legend, as reality and as a combination of the two. On Staten Island in the '70s and '80s, a story was passed around by local children about a man who lived in the woods. This man was often known as Cropsey, and according to the story he roamed at night, snatching children. The legend of Cropsey became all too real with the 1987 disappearance of a young girl. Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio's film investigates at 6:30 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater.

5. Kamel Toe Bar and Grill's Karaoke Idol Qualifying Round begins at 9 p.m.

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

August 16, 2010 at 10:27am

MORNING SPEW: Tweet North Korea, Steven Slater TV ...

WHAT WE HAVE FOUND TODAY >>>

Bassist Joey Spampinato of NRBQ is 60.

News To Us

Accused Craigslist killer meets his maker.

Ex-JetBlue flight attendant and folk hero Steven Slater has been offered a reality TV show. He really is an inspiration.

Dinosaurs found alive in Papua New Guinea

Activists are urging France to pay back the €17 billion "independence debt" to Haiti that the Caribbean country was forced to pay nearly 200 years ago. Good one.

You can follow North Korea on Twitter. Hopefully we can "Like" them too some day.

Filed under: Morning Spew, News To Us,

August 16, 2010 at 11:00am

Weekly Volcano Twitter Stalker

The Weekly Volcano follows B & C-list celebrities so you don't have to >>>

Just like most good, new-age, social media applications, Twitter allows people to share and be privy to once personal, almost wholly pointless information about peoples' lives. It's seemingly endless. While Twitter is mostly full of everyday, ho-hum people - just like you and me, sharing info about what type of oatmeal we ate for breakfast and where we get our hair cut - Twitter is also a magnet for the moderately-famous.

Stars of yesterday, illiterate millionaire athletes, former cast members of Saved By the Bell - you can follow them all, intimately, on Twitter.

But, you've got standards. We get that.

That's why we'll do it for you, in a feature we like to call Weekly Volcano Twitter Stalker.

Today, checking in with...

Rivers Cuomo!

Aug 14: Rivers Cuomo is getting big

"Almost completely lost my voice so had 2 take steroids this morning. Might be xtra aggro tonight so watch out." via UberTwitter

July 17: Rivers Cuomo thinks about the big questions in life

"If you shave your dog, do you have to put sunscreen on it?" via UberTwitter

July 15: This probably has something to do with the steroids

"Did some sick bare-tummy bumping with some sweaty dudes tonight!" via UberTwitter

July 3: Rivers Cuomo keeps it real

"Got a hundred dollar check from my grandparents for my birthday." via UberTwitter

June 28: This has been obvious for a while

"Ravers Cuomo." via UberTwitter

June 5: Rivers Cuomo has everyday problems

"I hate it when my nipples get erect." via UberTwitter

May 14: Rivers Cuomo makes endorsements you can trust

"I would recommend the Colace brand to anyone looking for a good stool softener." via UberTwitter

Tune in next time for more hot Twitter Stalking action from the Weekly Volcano

BONUS RIVERS CUOMO PIC!

Filed under: Bad Habits, Comedy, Media, Music, Twitter,

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News and entertainment from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s most awesome weekly newspapers - The Ranger, Northwest Airlifter and Weekly Volcano.

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