Tacoma is awesome. Diverse, artsy and informed, there seems a symbiotic relationship between the livelihood of the people and the livelihood of the city.
Take for example The Get Involved Gala, aka The GIG, a fundraiser for the United Way of Pierce County that takes place Saturday, November 10 at the prestigious Tacoma Art Museum.
Fancy attire is requested at the gala that hosted 300 young civil-minded partiers last year and earned $14,000.
This year, GIG expects 500+ attendees and will provide food, fun, games, drinking, dancing, and photo booth and will provide guests exclusive access to the Andy Warhol Flowers exhibit premiering that weekend.
Tomorrow night, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., join Weekly Volcano staff at the Melting Pot with Project U and pre-purchase your tickets in person. Melting Pot is providing some delectable appetizers and happy hour drink prices. Project:U will raffle off some special prizes and the Weekly Volcano may even comp you a ticket to the GIG. Who knows? You might even score a date to the GIG while you're there.
Can't make it to the launch party? Purchase your tickets online now at www.getinvolvedgala.org., before prices go up October 16.
1. This event celebrates the return of salmon and highlights the hard work accomplished by multiple groups to help ensure a successful run. Enjoy fish painting, marine touch tanks, green boating, bird house building, yummy salmon burgers, a salmon obstacle course, and more. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., free, Skansie Brothers Park, 3207 Harborview Dr., Gig Harbor, (253) 845-2973
2. People familiar with the work of local artist and author Nikki McClure marvel at her intricate paper-cut designs, created with nothing more than a sheet of paper and a precision blade. How does she do it? McClure will demonstrate her process at the Lacey Timberland Library on Saturday, September 29 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. She will also read from her children's book "Apple," which will be available for purchase and signing. The program is for all ages. 10:30 a.m. - noon, free, Lacey Timberland Library, 500 College St. SE, Lacey,(360)491-3860.
3. Zombies are taking over T-Town - and no - not the bath salt eating kind, but the kind that in real life are fun-loving people who want to get gory for a good cause. Tacoma Zombpocalypse is also a preparedness expo for doomsday. Expect live music from the Hot Roddin Romeos and lots of contest and prizes. This is a benefit for the Wounded Warrior Project. 9 a.m. - 10 p.m., $5 - $12, Best Western Tacoma Dome Hotel, 2611 East E Street, Tacoma, www.tacomazombpocalypse.com
4. The Moon Festival is a popular Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness dating back over 3,000 years to China’s Zhou Dynasty. This family-friendly celebration will bring together businesses, residents, community groups and visitors from all areas of Pierce County and beyond for a safe, fun, cultural experience. This annual waterfront event will also highlight the progress of a collaborated project between the City of Tacoma and its citizens to build the commemorated Chinese Reconciliation Park. Mid-Autumn Festival ("Zhongqiu Jie" in Mandarin Chinese), is a traditional holiday widely celebrated in Aisa, that marks the end of summer and autumn’s equinox, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest (thus the nickname “moon festival”).2 - 9 p.m., free, 1741 N. Schuster Parkway, Tacoma,(253) 330-8828.
5. Want to meet a former Mariner? Brian Hunter will be in Olympia throwing down some batting moves. "I'm excited to meet someone that has played pro ball and see if I can get some pointers," says employee Joe Matt. Donations will be given to charity in support of Hunter's DH Foundation and the Vintage 9 Foundation. 1 - 4 p.m., donations, Airport Golf and Batting Center, 8080 Center Street Southwest, Tumwater,(360) 786-8626.
Rachel Corrie was a peace activist from Olympia who was killed in Israel in 2003. Musicians, trapeze, magic and community come together to support the Rachel Corrie Foundation.
It’s such a kind community gesture when musicians work with non-profits. The two are harmonious – with live music there are no worries about the future or the past, just the pulsing of the moment. With non-profits you can take solace in the fact that there are communities of support all around us.
Throw in the fall equinox, trapeze and a magician, and the circle of kindness and wonder keeps spreading.
I could go on and on about all the warm fuzzy feelings I get when thinking about the relationship between music and the greater good in life, but at the risk of sounding like a just smoked one in the Evergreen woods, I will stop now and let the event speak for itself.
This Friday night, from 12 – 7 p.m., the Olympia Ballroom will feature The Brown Edition, The True Spokes and Joe Doria and The Drunken Masters along with aerial performances by Sara Sparrow and some of the best magic you've ever experienced with Michael Budd. The event is a benefit for the Rachel Corrie Foundation.
Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old American peace activist from Olympia, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003, while undertaking nonviolent direct action to protect the home of a Palestinian family from demolition.
Corrie’s family recently lost their case against Israel and event promoter Lee Brooks felt compelled to make this a benefit for her foundation, which encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.
“I always try to include a non-profit entity in my productions – I’m not in it for me, I’m in it for the community,” said Brooks. “With Corrie, and the conclusion of the trial, I knew it was something I wanted to do – the bands all backed it up.”
Brooks manages the Brown Edition (who won the Best of Olympia two years in a row,) and describes the band’s sound as “sophisticated funk – they can get down and dirty – but they are high-end, they know their craft.”
Another highlight of the evening will be magician Michael Budd, who Brooks said he hired because “he levitated right in front of me.”
Budd said he has a couple tricks up his sleeve, including one he’s been working on involving a cell phone. “When people see it, they literally flip out. I remember one lady who was so freaked out, she ran out of the bar and off down the road. She didn't even take her car!”
So come for a night of excitement and community, all for a good cause.
$10 at the door + $5 Suggested donation for The Rachel Corrie Foundation, All Ages, 21+ beer garden and full bar, fresh local veggies and fruits. Feel free to bring something from your garden to share as well.
All day long you can help support Stonewall Youth by dining out in Olympia.
You can have coffee at Sizzis, lunch at Darby's and an evening cocktail at the Brotherhood Lounge, as they and nine other businesses are donating a portion of their sales to Stonewall Youth, whose vision is "a community in which all queer, gender variant, and gender non-conforming youth have a full spectrum of choices regarding their bodies, self-expression, and legal rights."
"I'm excited so many businesses signed up," says Emily Pieper, program director at Stonewall. "The whole event is about community showing up; it's that visual that people are here to support."
Dine Out for Stonewall Youth participating businesses are:
1. Traditionally, a wayzgoose was a party thrown by a master printer. Now that we are in the age of Kindles and Nooks, the term just means a party thrown by or for printers and literary sorts. Tacoma's Wayzgoose is headed up by King's Books owner sweet pea Flaherty and letterpress printer Jessica Spring. Local printing artists show off their wares and set up hands-on activities for all to try from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at King's Books. Be prepared to take home a sample of something you (or your kids) made right onsite! Read Kristen Kendle's full feature on Wayzgoose in the Arts section on at weeklyvolcano.com.
2. The Tacoma Glassblowing Studio knows how to step up when there are people in need. Members of the Studio are headed to Romania this summer to run a camp for orphaned kids. ... We'll let that sink in for a second. ... Today, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. TGS will host a glass sale AND bake sale to raise money for the camp. So forget your diet for one day. Heck, skip dinner and order a bag full of baked goods. Fundraising never tasted so sweet.
3. There is still time left to celebrate your inner poet as part of National Poetry Month. Tacoma Poet Laureate Josie Emmons Turner will be at the Museum of Glass from 1-2 p.m. to celebrate your poetry and to actually decorate it.
4. Years of doodling and daydreaming in class. Years of passing elaborately decorated notes. Even those years of junior-high band concerts and high-school musicals. This has been your child's (or your neighbor's kid or those little twerps down the street) artistic education. And now it's paying off. Well, maybe just for one 14-year-old Gig Harbor resident. Young wildlife artist Tova Beck has been painting pictures of birds since age 4 after the feathered ones at the Tacoma Nature Center blew her away. Over the years, she's drawn hundreds and won numerous honors and awards for her art. With the help of mom Mimmi, Tova published a book of her works title The Girl Who Loved to Paint Birds - which is available at Amazon.com - and will sign the awesome thing from 1-3 as part of the Earth Day Extravaganza at the Tacoma Nature Center.
5. Illumni Men's Chorale, Seattle's innovative new choral group, presents "Music of Russia," a program of all Russian music rarely heard in the United States featuring folk music, soldier songs and music of the Orthodox tradition at 8 p.m. inside Lagerquist Hall on the PLU Campus. Internationally-known bosso-profundo Glenn Miller will be in the house.
The Tacoma music and arts community turned out Sunday, April 1 to support longtime music scene supporter and friend Dave Graham, who is battling Stage 4 Melanoma. Hosted by The Swiss, the benefit featured sets James Hilborne and the Painkillers, Snak Pak, Bandolier, Mr. Blackwatch and China Davis. Interspersed amongst the day's activities were raffles of prizes from a huge assortment of Tacoma donors.
"Dave Graham has quite a background in music; he had a music store called Room 220 for a while, and he was around back in the '80s, he actually hung out with the guys in Nirvana and Courtney Love, and a lot of those people," says Randy Sparks, one of the organizers of the benefit. "He's always been an inspiration to me, especially when I started filming movies. He's just a great guy to talk to about art and music. He's out there. I think a lot of people could see a lot of really good things about him and how he's been involved in the community."
1. You can't help be jealous of letterpress artists. They both intelligence and creativity, and when they collaborate, you get a massive-shot of talent. A massive shot is exactly what will go down from 6-8 p.m. when King's Books hosts Wayz and Means: Letterpress Film Festival screening short films celebrating letterpress and book arts. Tickets are $20 and include popcorn, liquid refreshments, and - of course - cake. The event will raise funds for the Stadium District bookstore's annual Wayzgoose: Letterpress and Book Arts Festival. Apparently, filmgoers will also have the opportunity to purchase early Wayzgoose raffle tickets.
2. This morning we woke up in this house where we're dog-sitting, and the thought crossed our minds that if I were an O'Malley or an O'Reilly, we'd be an Irish sitter. Other random ideas raced around our brains like a dog chasing its tail before we could unleash ourselves from the warm covers of this foreign bed. You see, Ted must be walked by 10 a.m. (Hey, it's Sunday!) Anyway, we're going to kill two birds with one stone. Pet Connection Magazine's 5th Annual Dog-Gone Easter Egg Hunt runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Rainier Vista Park in Lacey. For $3, we can run the dog silly, and collect some food for an afternoon omelet. As a bonus, there's some sort of dog fashion show benefiting Old Dog Haven & Feline Friends.
3. Books are your friends. They are like theatric performances in your head. And the Bonney Lake branch of the Pierce County Library system is making it easier to see more mental plays, by holding book sale from 1-5 p.m. Expect crazy discounts on a great variety of materials for all ages and interests, including hardback and paperback fiction and nonfiction, children's books, cookbooks, reference books, audiobooks, music and movies.
4. Local fixture Dave Graham is at the center of a benefit show to aid in the cost of his cancer treatment beginning at 3 p.m. at The Swiss. Rev. Adam McKinney has the details here.
5. Some would argue that a dive bar like the China Clipper Club and Café is no place to party. But let us tell you something, friend: There's a little thing called class. Class is something you can't buy. Class is something inherited. Class is years and years of spilled drinks, double shots and drunken hookups. Class never goes away, no matter how dirty the carpet is or how dilapidated the karaoke stage becomes. Class makes drinking fun. And let us tell you, friends: the China Clipper oozes class. By the way, karaoke is nightly at 9 p.m.
TACOMA COMES OUT FOR VICCI, RALLIES FOR REED RILEY >>>
Tacoma's Vicci Martinez became a household name last year as she competed on NBC-TV's The Voice. She spent the next several months in Los Angeles prepping material for Vicci, her debut for Universal Republic (due in June). Along the way she found time to drop in on the Grammys and Leno.
But Sunday night she got back to her roots, taking the stage at Jazzbones for the first time since she unveiled her "Road Warrior" meets Pat Benatar stylo with Cee Lo.
The occasion: A benefit for Reed Riley, the man who got her on the path to stardom more than a decade ago. Riley - her manager of eight years and the subject of Martinez's signature ballad "Heart of Gold" - was on hand. But he recently suffered a heart attack and is scheduled for open-heart surgery.
"I have to sing tonight, so I'm going to try to not to cry," Martinez declared early on. "Reed has been a big rock in my life, and he's been one of my biggest supporters since I started, the first guy who had a little bit of pull in this town to really believe and support me."
The Vicci Martinez Army was out in full force, with fans wrapped around the block before doors opened shortly after 6 p.m. And a packed house witnessed a modified version of the band - Heart drummer Ben Smith filled in for the absent Darin Watkins - as it romped through fan favorites and few fresh, new cuts, including "Hold Me, Darlin',""Kiss" and "Let Go." A sample of Martinez and company in action below.
But before the show, Tacoma's rising star took a few minutes to tell us what she's been up to in the City of Angels.
What to expect from Vicci: Expect her to branch out by injecting synth, strings and even a little drum machine into her previously rootsy sound.
"I think most people when they hear it at first kind of go, ‘Oh, whoah. This has synthesizers. And this sounds like it could be at a dance club.' It's kind of crazy. And then there's some bluesy soul influenced stuff in there, too.
"I've been playing for years, and you just evolve. There's always gonna be people that critique and can be negative about things. But all I can say is I'm evolving and I want to continue to evolve. I'm never gonna put myself in any category. I'm just going to do what I love."
Superstar in training:
"People do recognize me. I didn't realize how many people actually do watch The Voice. It's so funny because I always get recognized when I'm in my sweats and I just worked out and look like I just woke up. But, whatever. I don't care. That's what I love about Tacoma. You get to wear your sweats wherever the hell you want."
Going Hollywood:
The old Vicci rocked rocked saggy jeans, over-sized t-shirts and bare feet on stage. The new Vicci rocks skinny jeans, makeup and - gasp - Florentini and Baker.
Say it ain't so, Vicci!
"I've been a tomboy my whole life - always wearing oversized stuff. I want to be comfortable, whatever. But (the makeover) kind of happened on the show. We started wearing our own clothes, and the stylists on the show just kind of took us to this other level.
"I'll admit, I've always been bad with style and makeup and whatever the hell. I don't care about it. But if somebody's going to help me out, cool, I'll do it."
1. The Tacoma Youth Symphony Association brings its 2011-2012 season to the Rialto Theater at 3 p.m. for a performance by the much-loved Tacoma Youth Symphony Orchestra. Titled Carnival, and thematically including Antonín Dvorák's "Carnival Overture," Robert Huchinson's violin-piece "Maria Sampen," and Witold Lutoslawski's "Concerto for Orchestra," this afternoon's concert should deliver in all facets of awesomeness.
2. Have you suffered through years of weird and thoughtless haircuts? Bowl cuts. Buzz cuts. Flat tops. Ambiguous messes. The caesar cut (before and after it was cool - not while Justin Timberlake had it). Today's the day to try something new. Baroque Salon hosts a Haircut-a-thon from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to raise money for stylist Novell Dewald who was shot in the leg while leaving Baroque last month. Money from haircuts will help Novell walk again. Pastiche A Wine Bar next door will donate proceeds from wine sales from 3-9 p.m.
3. The Tacoma Buddhist Temple hosts its 50th annual sukiyaki dinner fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You may enjoy a one-pot meal of thinly sliced beef, saifun noodles, tofu, green onions and other vegetables, all lightly sautéed in a flavorful broth - as well as teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef shish kabobs, mochi ice cream, rice and drinks - to raises money for the temple's programs and maintenance costs.
4. Power, Loma Prieta, Birds In Row, Dethrone and Earth Mother rock the all-ages Red Room beginning at 6:30 p.m.
I'm going to start St. Patrick's Day off right this year. Before heading out to drink gawd-awful green beer, I'm going to load up on delicious Irish-ish food at Babblin' Babs Bistro. As you know, the break and lunch spot in Tacoma's Proctor District periodically hosts a chef's dinner or themed dinner. Owners Chef William and Shannon Mueller open the door between their Secret café and the main dining room for guests to enjoy a prix-fixe dinner of gourmet dishes. it's a treat, to say th eleast.
The Weekly Volcano just received word that the Mueller's will serve an early St. Patrick's Day dinner. The dinner is a reservation only affair. All proceeds form the dinner will go toward sending their daughter, Savannah, to Ireland and Scotland for a major gymnastics competition.
Let's look at the menu:
Guinness Onion Soup - Slowly cooked sweet onions until dark carmel color, then deglazed with Guinness stout beer with sherry wine, thyme, and reduced to a rich thick stock. Topped with a crouton and torched Irish cheddar cheese.
Bacon Salad with Farmhouse Cheese - Thick stripes of pancetta crisped up with Northwest pears and cooked golden, then tossed in organic assorted greens with herbs. Then drizzled with a creamy cider and Cooleeney cheese dressing
Entrée Choice One: Duo of Lamb - Natural baby lamb chop crusted in a light bread and herb crumb of rosemary, garlic, mustard and parsley. Oven roasted to perfection, then served on a mound of harvest lamb stew with potatoes, carrots, celery, turnips, braised in red wine and herbs. Brittany style vegetables with a dill butter.
Entrée Choice Two: Dublin Shrimp Dingle Pie - Large succulent shrimpmarried with carrots, celery, mushrooms, and spices. Pulled all together in a white wine sauce and all put into a buttery crust baked to a bubbly golden brown.
Granny Smith Apple and NW Berries - Northwest blueberries, blackberries and raspberries tossed with Granny Smith apples. Topped with a crumble top of oatmeal, butter, brown sugar, baked and served piping hot!
[Babblin' Babs Bistro, Saturday, March 17, 4-7 p.m., $65 per person, 2724 N. Proctor, Tacoma, reservations at 253.761.9099]
Photo Credit: Steve Dunkelberger
Photo Credit: Steve Dunkelberger
Photo Credit: Steve Dunkelberger
Photo Credit: Pappi Swarner
Photo Credit: Pappi Swarner
Photo Credit: Pappi Swarner
Photo Credit: Pappi Swarner
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