NW MUSIC LEGENDS >>>

Sadly, he'll wail no more. 

Wailer No. 1, Kent Morrill, lead singer and keyboard player for seminal Tacoma garage-rock band the Fabulous Wailers, died on April 15 after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 70.

"We thought he was gonna pull out of it. We really did," says Buck Ormsby, Morrill's longtime friend and Wailers' bandmate since 1960. "It just became too much for him, you know. He just went through a lot of hell in the last two years."

But Morrill's musical legacy lives on. And it's sure to be standing room only Wednesday night, May 4, when a who's who of classic Northwest rockers pays tribute to their fallen peer with a free show set for 7 p.m. at Tacoma's Temple Theatre.

To read Ernest A Jasmin's full piece on the passing of Kent Morrill and the memorial show this Wednesdsay at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, click here.

The Fabulous Wailers Concert for Kent Morrill

Wednesday, May 4, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover
Temple Theatre, 47 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.2042

PLACES TO EAT POTATO CRISPS IN PUYALLUP >>>

This week ...

Place: Crockett's Public House

Located: Behind Trackside Pizza

City: Downtown Puyallup

Opened: Last month

Full bar: Yes

I drank: Beer, duh

Server: Chris

He took: Forever to bring me my beer

So: I got it for free!

Did you hear that: Free beer!

Correct, my beer was: Free!

You're jealous of my: Free beer!

To read this week's full "Person, Place or Thing" column by Steph DeRosa, including a gruesome story about her bitch step mom making her eat a pimento cheese sandwich, click here.

[Crockett's Public House, 118 E. Stewart Ave., Puyallup, 253.466.3075]

ERIC MOSELEY KEEPS HIS EYE (AND CAMERA) ON HOMELESSNESS >>>

Let's begin with a seemingly out-of-the-blue stereotype about the homeless: They don't have their own websites. Another: They lack both the means and drive to engage in artistic pursuits.

Well, Eric "Protein" Moseley has set out to trump all the naysayers.

Crisscrossing the country for close to 17 years without a home hasn't deterred this man from updating his online calling card, www.provistafilms.org. There you'll find, among other things, trailers for documentary projects either completed or in the works, all made under Moseley's Skid Row Journey Productions.

Currently residing at the St. Martin de Porres shelter in Seattle, Moseley visited Tacoma a few weeks back, camera in hand. An engaging onscreen host, he invites those he interviews to speak their minds on homelessness in our city and local government's response. Moseley is using filmed testimonials to support and promote his newest piece, A 24-Hour Challenge to Mayor Mike McGinn. His cinéma vérité shoot around the Emerald City commences next Saturday, May 7.

Moseley looks back on years he spent wandering, in the throws of drug abuse, saying, "Basically I was running from my problems...thinking that if I move to another city, everything would be all right. But every city I went to, I was there. I can't get away from myself."

Now with cleaner sight he stands and faces himself, his situation and the situations of millions like him - doing it all with the camera's steady and fearless gaze. 

JULIA HAACK IS EVERYWHERE >>>

Julia Haack. That's a name to file away in an easy-to-access part of your brain. The next time the name shows up in an art exhibit in the area, go see it.

As well as I can remember I first saw Julia Haack's work in the Environmental Art Show at Tacoma Community College in 2009. I briefly mentioned her in my review of the show. I was impressed with her sculpture but not impressed enough to write a lot. Or maybe at the time I was not so sure. But since then her work has grown on me.

In the Volcano's 2010 Best of Tacoma issue I mentioned Haack under the rubric "Best Seattle artists who sometimes go slumming in Tacoma." I also mentioned Troy Gua and Chauney Peck in that article - two other excellent artists to file away in the same part of your brain. Peck's art and Haack's actually share a lot of common elements. Gua is the guy who did all those portraits of famous people where each image is simultaneously two different people. You probably saw his work at Fulcrum.

Yet again I mentioned Haack in my "Ten to watch" column. (She's becoming as ubiquitous in my reviews as Ron Hinson and David N. Goldberg.) In the "10 to watch" column I said, "Haack's wood sculptures are mostly flat and work more like paintings with interlocking patterns within self-contained forms. They're really beautiful. See examples at juliahaack.blogspot.com..."

Haack has been lauded for her creative use of recycled materials. I appreciate art from recycled stuff.  I honor artists who display environmental consciousness in their work. But it's the quality of the work more than the material that captures my admiration. What I like about Haack's sculptures is they expand upon what Frank Stella did with his paintings in the early years - after the black stripe paintings and before the elaborate and more organic shapes he's been working on over the past couple of decades. (There's a great Stella painting from that era at SeaTac Airport if you want to see what I'm talking about.)

This past week Haack posted on Facebook a link to an online blog that featured one of her latest works. The blog is called Peek, and it is the blog of New York artist Lee Gainer. On her blog Gainer posts a work from a different featured artist each weekday, leaving each for about 10 days so visitors can scroll through and get to know new artists. Each has one featured piece and a link to the artists' websites.

Haack's piece on Peek is a sculpture called Red Bend. It consists of many adjacent and overlapping circular forms with, inside of each, overlapping and adjacent bands of red, yellow, green, blue, white and black stripes in a jangle of directions. All of these shapes and colors walk a delicate balance between clashing and harmonizing.

Other works featured on Peek include, among others, Adolescent, a strange sculpture of a man with a melted body looking way too old for the title - by Danielle Durchslag and intolerance (soft jungle gym for placating mothers), a floating sculpture by Kazumi Shiho.

This is a fun site for art lovers. Check it out. And remember those names I told you to file away. They will be showing again in Tacoma.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT, MATT? >>>

From time to time, you may have recently noticed (like, earlier today) a post will mysteriously disappear from SPEW without much explanation.  This might happen for any number of reasons, though it's never a move we feel good about making. When it does happen, know it's a last resort.

You see, sometimes the blog post that mysteriously disappears from SPEW is about a band playing the Gorge. Sometimes it's about a major band playing the Gorge and a local band playing the Gorge on the very same night(s) (call it "opening" if you will). Sometimes this major band playing the Gorge strictly forbids the smaller, local band playing the Gorge on the same day(s) from officially announcing the show. Sometimes the local band tells us anyway, and we get so excited we forget to ask if they've been tasked with any rules or regulations about what they can or cannot say about the show. We're not really sure why any of this is true. But it is. Just trust us.

Anyway, sometimes all of this happens. It's a rare occasion, to say the least. When it does happen - in the interest of hoping to keep said local band out of trouble with said major band - we just take the post down. Sure, we could argue in our comment section with said major band's fanbase (who've proven far more proficient with the F-bomb than I pictured) about the validity of the since-removed post, or put said local band at risk of losing the gig all together by keeping it online, but where's the fun in that? We'd rather just cruise around on our Segways.

Bottom line: I apologize for the confusion. And I take it all back.

Except for the that one part - which I totally meant.

THE MEATBALLS WERE DELICIOUS >>>

Last Wednesday, April 27, a crowd gathered at the Varsity Grill in downtown Tacoma for the kick-off of Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy's campaign for re-election.

I know what you're you thinking, and yes, you're correct - McCarthy isn't up for re-election until 2012. However, her campaign appeared to be fully operational (Star Wars voice) as staff paced around the event greeting and planning with guests and kicking off what will be a 17-month campaign. 

Although no candidate has yet filed to challenge McCarthy, the event may have been held early as a display of strength and community support to intimidate potential challengers. County Councilman Dick Muri, coming off an "L" in 2010 at the hands of Congressman Adam Smith, is rumored to be considering a run.

Click here to read Zach Powers's full review of the Pat McCarthy campaign kick-off party.

ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment comes from Unintentional Housewife in response to an article by Kris Blondin from way back in 2010, about appropriate grocery store attire.

Unintentional Housewife writes,

I feel your pain. I have a tendency to run into exactly the people that I don't want to see whenever I go into a grocery store in anything potentially embarrassing. So it's possible that I would have gone back home & just been late to Glee. My one exception: if I've actually been WORKING OUT, I'm proud to enter the grocery store a sweaty mess, in my sweat-soaked clothes. Gross for other shoppers? Maybe. Grosser than my pink grandma slippers? Probably. Badge of accomplishment for actually making a workout happen? Definitely. Score one in the "win" column.

HUGE SHOWS >>>

It's true. Word broke today that Nappy Roots will play Hell's Kitchen on Sept. 16, to be exact. The show will start at 9 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance or $15 on the day of the show.

Here are all the available details, courtesy of the Hell's Kitchen Facebook page.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2011 >>>

1. Those moody bunch of post-punkers The Celestials bring their Billy Corgan-esque screeds, shoegaze blurriness and spacey ruminations to Le Voyeur at 10 p.m. with Tadoma opening.

2. When we hear "Pops on the Lawn," most of us think about our dads standing in the middle of the lawn in their ratty bathrobe with a hose in one hand and a coffee cup in the other - with an occasional wardrobe malfunction causing neighbor Gladys Kravtiz to call the cops. At 4 p.m. on the Karlan Quad at the University of Puget Sound, "Pops on the Lawn" means a performance by the  UPS Wind Ensemble led by student conductors. Watch out for that errant Frisbee.

3. Real to Reel - the youth led film and photography initiative that helps give vision to youth voice - will feature three short documentaries on violence created by youth from the community beginning at 6 p.m. inside The Grand Cinema. Come hear their story on violence and how it affects them. There will be a chance to talk with the members of each group following the showing.

4. Wailer No. 1, Kent Morrill, lead singer and keyboard player for seminal Tacoma garage-rock band the Fabulous Wailers, died on April 15 after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 70. But Morrill's musical legacy lives on when a who's who of classic Northwest rockers pays tribute to their fallen peer with a free show set for 7 p.m. at Tacoma's Temple Theatre. To read Ernest A Jasmin's full piece on the passing of Kent Morrill and the memorial show tonight at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, click here.

5. Chopstix on Sixth Avenue has brought back its Wednesday dueling piano show beginning at 9 p.m.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Dive bars!

THE TROJAN WOMAN AND LYSISTRATA STILL TO COME >>>

Evergreen is going Greek.

Surely you weren't gullible enough to think even for a moment that The Evergreen State College, of all colleges, could have gone Greek in the conventional Animal House sense. And as for what else you might have been thinking, I'll leave you to it.

What is happening at Evergreen beginning Thursday, May 5, is the Greek Theatre Festival. The college will present Eurydice (previewed by the Volcano's Christian Carvajal here), a modern adaptation of the classic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice, at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 5 through Saturday, May 7 in the recital hall at the college. Camp Wisdom will play beginning at 7:30 p.m. each night. And it's free.

The festival continues Thursday, June 2 through Sunday, June 5 with productions of The Trojan Woman and Lysistrata in the college's Experimental Theater.

For more info check here.