REAL STORIES FROM REAL BARTENDERS >>>

I've been a bartender for a long time. I have met countless freaks, jerks, pervs, sweethearts, rockstars and crazies. Even though it's a physically and mentally exhausting job, these are the colorful people that make it all worthwhile. Well, that and the tips.

I'd like to share with you some of my personal experiences behind the bar, along with the stories from some of my fellow bartenders. Each week - under the clever heading of "Behind Bars" - I will dig into my memory bank - and the incident log books that all bars keep - to bring you some of my favorite stories.

Names of bars, bartenders and patrons have been changed or withheld to protect the innocent.

And the not so innocent.

Cheers!

This week...

The Backpack

So many things are found after hours on bar room floors.  Some may get claimed- ID's or wallets, for example. Other things go up for grabs, like a five-dollar bill or a pack of smokes, usually dispersed among the clean up crew. Other items are more personal, like clothing or sunglasses, which go in the lost and found box.

Then there are items where all you can say is, WTF??

Like this week's find ... the backpack.

Read more...

IT HAPPENED IN TACOMA THIS WEEK >>>

State Senator Debbie Regala has announced she won't be running for re-election, meaning the good people of the 27^th Legislative District (much of Tacoma, the City of Ruston and part of Fife) will be electing her replacement in 2012. Regala has held the seat for 17 years and has been widely popular amongst her constituency. Any guesses as to who will run to replace her?

To read the full "Tacoma Week in Review" by Zach Powers, including the Zina Linnik Amber Alert cover up, a Sustainability Report for Pierce County and Governor Gregoire being too scared to sign the medical marijuana bill, click here.

ONLINE CHATTER  >>>

Today's comment comes from Dick Walters in response to Ernest A Jasmin's recent article on the passing of Fabulous Wailers legend Kent Morrill and the memorial show coming up Wednesday, May 4 at the Temple Theater in Tacoma.

Walters writes,

Went to high school and college with many of the Fabulous Wailers, and remember the dances at the Tacoma Armory and Spanaway Lake Dance Hall in the mid-60's so very well ... Kent was a wonderful musician, and as I have seen many descriptions of his more personal life surface the past coulple weeks, so he was too a wonderful family man and one who also gave his life and time to his church.

THINGS YOU MIGHT SEE ON "THE OFFICE" >>>

Imagine if you will that your boss has decreed that the office is going to mount its own dragon boat racing team. You'll be expected to paddle in sync with 19 coworkers, staying in rhythm with the lead paddlers and a drummer while you propel the boat 250 meters.

For some of you reading this, that might be exactly what you'll be doing Saturday at Olympia's sixth annual Dragon Boat Festival.

"It's a great way to build community," says Phil Chang of the Washington Dragon Boat Association, which puts on the festival along with St. Martin's University. "If you're working at, say, an insurance company and your team was made up of employees from the insurance company, you build camaraderie in the group."

To read Molly Gilmore's full article on the Olympia Dragon Boat Festival click here.

Sixth Annual Dragon Boat Festival

Saturday, April 30, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; free

Port Plaza, Olympia

360-438-4598 or stmartin.edu

SEEKING SALVATION >>>

In no way do I mean this as a slight, but it doesn't take long before Everyman starts to feel just a bit silly. That's a good thing. I find silliness extremely underrated in modern art critique.

Indisputably the most famous English morality play of the late 15th century, Everyman relates the allegorical quest of its title character for salvation. Death has come for Everyman, and now, at the last minute - arguably, past it - Everyman is desperate for a path into Yahweh's good graces. One by one, Everyman's most cherished companions and idols desert him on the Road to Perdition. (Imagine a version of The Wizard of Oz in which the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Cowardly Lion abandon Dorothy to the Witch.) Forsaken by friends, family, filthy lucre and even his own faculties, Everyman finally falls back on confession and faith in his First Father. And if you thought that alliteration was thudding, friend, just wait till you hear some of the rhymes in this show.

To read Christian Carvajal's full review of Everyman at St. Martin's University, click here.

[Saint Martin's University, Everyman, $5, through April 30, 6:45 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, beginning outside O'Grady Library on the SMU campus, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey, 360.790.8308]

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE ACTING OLD  >>>

Sloth, a world premiere play produced by Gold From Straw a quarter century after its writing, is at its best a compelling commentary on grief, and at its worst a somewhat confused jumble of casting decisions and script weaknesses.

There's this voice that young people use when they play old people. I don't think they can help it. A subconscious attempt to sound wiser or more distinguished, perhaps. You'll know it if you've ever seen a high-school- or university-level play, where the age range of casting options is limited to a student body.

It is somewhat baffling, then, to see the same acting style on a professional-level stage during Gold From Straw's production of Sloth. ...

To read Joe Izenman's full review of Sloth, click here.

[Theater on the Square - Broadway Center, Sloth, through May 14, Friday-Saturday 8 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m., $23-$26, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890]

DANGERS OF THE TWEE DEATHTRAP >>>

"The road was uneven," says Kyle Hill. "It was eight in the morning and I was on my way to work. It was raining, and I was going southbound on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle. There was a seam in the road that I tried to cross on my scooter. But (the scooter) never crossed it."

On the scale of two-wheeled assaults, Hill came out about as unscathed as one could hope for. He broke his arm, trashed his scooter and skidded through one of the two layers of jeans he was wearing, But he retained his ever-valuable skull and its irreplaceable contents. A close call, to be sure.

Saturday will see a benefit show at The New Frontier, held in Hill's honor, and thrown by Lino Fernandez to help Hill out with medical bills and the repair of his scooter. Besides being involved in bands like the Dignitaries and Murder Party, Fernandez is also Hill's bandmate in the retro-pop outfit  Bandolier.

To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full article on Saturday's Kyle Hill benefit show at The New Frontier click here.

[The New Frontier Lounge, Bandolier, Goldie Wilson, Follow the Kites, Cardboard Clouds, Andy Glover, DJ Melodica, Saturday, April 30, 9 p.m., $5, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4062]

LINK: The New Frontier Lounge

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011 >>>

1. Tonight's bill at Hell's Kitchen - intended to celebrate nine years of the quintessential Tacoma rock venue - is one that also represents the musical DNA that has always been in Tacoma and is epitomized by what Hell's Kitchen is all about. Catch Zeke, the Lemons, Poppa Wheelie and Mahnhammer.

2. Tonight Tacoma Symphony Orchestra offers up its 2010-2011 season finale, featuring pianist Aviram Reichert and a Russian theme, including works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov.

3. Perry Acker, the recent winning band of Ford's "Give me the Gig" contest, will be at Jazzbones tonight - doing what they do best. If that doesn't float your musical boat, find the Volcano's extensive live local music listings here.

4. Like history? Like homes? Like Tacoma? Well, the, friends, the Historic Homes of Tacoma Tour may be just what you're looking for.

5. Vote for the South Sound's sexiest folks here. It's all part of the Volcano's 2011 Sexy Issue, coming in early June.

LIVE SATURDAY AT NORTHERN >>>

On Tuesday Olympia's legendary K Records released its first hip-hop album in over a decade.

Saturday, April 30, Olympians will get the chance to check out Eprhyme, the hip-hop artist Calvin Johnson and K decided would be a good fit for their popular indie record label. Eprhyme, now living in New York, will be touring the Northwest in support of his new album, Dopestylevsky. 

Eprhyme's name may sound familiar because he once played a major roll in the creation of the Olympia hip-hop scene. 

To read Nic Leonard's full article on Eprhyme click here.

[Northern, Epryhme with Smoke of Oldominion, Dionyso's Malaikat dan Singra, Br'er, Saturday, April 30, 9 p.m., All Ages, $5, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]

INTERVIEWS WITH AN ISLAND THEMED SOUVENIR >>>

Honestly, one interview is usually about all Bobble Tiki can handle in any given week. Working any more than that, he contends, would just be silly. He's paid for one column - containing three questions - and doing anything more than that would be like giving his services away for free. Bobble Tiki's not down with that.

Plus, he's a bit lazy.

That said, this week Bobble Tiki tracked down A Leaf prior to the band's show Saturday night at Club SOTA in Tacoma. Built heavily on the relationship of longtime collaborators Nate Daley and Shannon Donahue, A Leaf is a band that produces its often airy, harmonious, semi-psychedelic sound more honestly than most. It only seemed right for Bobble Tiki to speak with both Daley and Donahue (if for nothing more than the D&D references it makes possible).

To read Bobble Tiki's full interview with A Leaf click here.

[Club SOTA, A Leaf, Ben Union, MOONJUICE, Not From Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m., all ages, $7, $5 with student ID, 1117 Broadway, Tacoma]