MONDAY, JULY 22 2013 >>>

1. In the same way that sharks must keep swimming to keep breathing, it seems guitarist Rafael Tranquilino must fuse genres across various musical projects in order to stay afloat. His arrangements incorporate blues, funk, rock, funk, ska, metal, reggae, Latin and jazz-fusion. As accomplished as he is varied, Tranquilino can be seen every Monday night as host of Stonegate Pizza's rockin' blues, if not experimental, jam. He's one of the best guitarists in the South Sound.

2. If you've noticed we're pushing local breweries lately, you've caught us. We can't stay away from local beer. Plus, there's something about a local brewery that screams perfect date night. A couple pints of lager, a couple side salads, a doggy bag for the happy couple. ... Powerhouse Restaurant and Brewery in Puyallup offers a pasta and pint combination every Monday that's easy on the wallet. Buy pasta off the menu and get any one of Powerhouse's seven beers free of charge.

3. Tacoma Rainiers games are pretty exciting. At 7 p.m. the Rainiers battle the Tucson Padres at Cheney Stadium. Who wants to stick it to Tucson?

4. The Jho Blenis and Shelly Ely Band will fill The Swiss with blues at 8 p.m.

5. The 2013 Best of Olympia "Best Band" winner Erev Rav performs at 8 p.m. in The Royal Lounge. The Klezmer orchestra delivers a kaleidoscope of original compositions and traditional melodies infused with funk, reggae, bee bop, rock and Latin rhythms.

LINK: Monday, July 22 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

There's the old proverb, "The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry in golf, which, even if you play against a scratch mouse who should theoretically be an expert, you'll find its best to plan your post-game strategy before it goes hopelessly out of bounds, 'cause if the mouse loses he'll probably get frustrated and throw a club and a ball in the pond, and then you're unsure how to respond, like should you humor him or point out it's just a game, but the thing is, to him it isn't just a game, it's his life, so you have to sit there silently and wait for him to calm down."

What can we learn from this? You should most definitely sign up now for the America's Credit Union's Nov. 8 Charity Golf Tournament at Eagles Pride Golf Course. Here are the details:

Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), WA - America's Credit Union (ACU) is pleased to announce its 13^th Annual Charity Golf Tournament in support of the troops, also known as the Turkey Shoot, which will be held at Eagles Pride Golf Course on November 8th, 2013 with a 10 a.m. shotgun start.

Over 4,000 Soldiers and Airmen are returning from Afghanistan throughout this summer and fall. ACU is raising money for a much anticipated and challenging holiday season. With a perfect storm brewing between the sequestration, cut backs, and the struggling economy we at ACU and the community have an opportunity to support our troops on the most basic of levels; through the Food Basket Program on JBLM, The Madigan Foundation, and Santa's Castle.

Twelve years ago, ACU started the Turkey Shoot to raise additional funds for struggling families on JBLM. With the help of community partners, ACU has raised over $222,000 in donations over the last 12 years.

"We are very pleased with how this event has been able to positively impact the lives of military families," said Ken Leonard, ACU President/CEO. "It's a great venue for community partners to contribute to the JBLM community."

We are looking for sponsors and golfers to become involved. There are multiple advertising & sponsorship opportunities, and teams are welcome. Contact Amy Tiemeyer at 253.912.3214 or atiemeyer@youracu.org to get involved.

Bring your mouse friend.

It's often a highlight of the summer Olympic Games - a team of flexible, coordinated and impossibly strong young gymnasts who put aside pressure and leap, flip and swing their way into history and our hearts.

But they gotta start somewhere - and that somewhere is often the local Y.

Last week, more than 2,000 gymnasts from 107 YMCA gymnastics teams around the country - including 30 from the Lakewood Family YMCA - converged on Savannah, Ga., for the annual YMCA National Gymnastics Championship and Invitational.

Read more...

SUNDAY, JUNE 30 2013 >>>

1. Man, we don't ever get tired of slide guitar. Ex-Sheryl Crow guitar slinger Todd Wolfe plays classic rock with jam-band elements thrown in and a wicked blues slant. He and bandmates bassist Justine Gardner and drummer Roger Voss conjure up tones that are swampy, greasy and menacing. Wolfe's blues is the kind of sexy, slithering strain you'd expect to hear coming through a broke-down Delta joint's screen door. Great music for dancing slow, for dancing close. Catch the band at 7 p.m. in The Spar in Old Town Tacoma.

2. There is no such thing as a typical bicyclist, but there are certainly bicycle types.  You have your die-hard cyclists, who pour their sinewy bodies into neoprene suits, ride their bikes every day and regard automobiles with derision.  You also have your weekend riders, who aren't necessarily competitive like the die-hards, but might spend big bucks for a brightly colored off-road bike.  And then you have the newbies, the amateurs and the lazies - who may ride occasionally, rarely, or not al all since their parents sold their banana seat Huffys at neighborhood yard sales 20 years ago.  But if there' one issue that bicyclists around Pierce County can agree on, it's that the Tour de Pierce bike ride is flat out fun. And if flat is your speed, skip the 30- and 50-mile routes and enjoy the flat, easy 12-miler. The ride begins between 7:30-11:30 a.m. at the Gold parking lot of the Washington State Fair in Puyallup and winds through Puyallup, Sumner and adjacent farmlands.

3. A stalwart in the Tacoma community - as a musician, bartender and all-around good guy, Brian Redman was killed when he crashed his scooter in September 2009. In remembrance and to raise money for young musicians, the Brian Redman memorial Poker Tournament and Concert will be held Sunday, June 30 at Jazzbones. The poker tournament begins at 11 a.m. for a $50 donation. Music starts at 6 p.m. for a $5 donation. Raymond Hayden and The Monsters in the Dark, Champagne Sunday and Mahnhammer are on the bill. Raffle tickets will be on hand in $5 and $20 increments, with incentive for multiple purchases. Read Nikki McCoy's full feature on the Brian Redman Memorial Poker Tournament and Concert on our Walkie Talkie blog.

4. The final evening of the Olympia Experimental Music Festival will include a performance from Olympia native Derek M. Johnson. The cello-wielding and award-winning experimental musician will surely pack a number of tricks up his sleeve. His performance will allegedly feature music created with Kodak slide projectors, filtered through the extensive array of pedals he will have at his disposal. His "ektagraphtastic" set will undoubtedly be something to write home about. For a list of band performing tonight, click here.

5. We suppose it's fitting that the Mormon Trannys will be gracing Olympia with their presence on a Sunday. We also suppose there's no way for me to really know if they're actually scorned former members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, like they claim, but what is utterly apparent is that these guys are packed almost to the breaking point with the kind of sneering satire and politically incorrect social commentary that marked bands like the Frogs and other punk weirdos. The over-the-top show begins at 10 p.m. in Le Voyeur.

LINK: Sunday, June 30 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

There's no finer way to get to know a neighborhood than feverishly tearing your way through it, scouring the area, seeking landmarks you might otherwise walk by, racing against the clock on foot or on bike. This is the madness that is a street scramble. This is what to expect at the Tacoma Street Scramble - Sunday, June 23 - to get you, your team or your family out and about in a whole new way.

Tacoma Street Scramble will start at the Washington State History Museum. From there, participants will scurry off to explore downtown Tacoma, Ruston, Thea Foss Waterway, Old Town, the Tacoma Dome and other areas. The beauty of the street scramble is that it is not a race, at least not in the traditional sense. Teams and individuals can choose either a 90-minute or 3-hour time limit to hunt down any number of the 30 checkpoints.

For more details, click here.

Read Kristin Kendle's full feature on the race late Friday afternoon in the Spouse magazine.

TIDBITS TO CHEW ON TODAY >>>

The Tacoma Rainiers unveiled a P.O.W./M.I.A. seat during yesterday's Salute to Armed Forces Day.

Tacoma Link light rail will resume its normal nighttime operating schedule beginning today.

TNT Diner reports a group is raising money to reopen the Goldfish Tavern.

Flags are at half-staff today in honor of the passing of Sen. Mike Carrell.

RECAP: Game of Thrones season finale.

HANDWRITTEN MAKES IT MORE AWESOME: Kurt Cobain's top 50 albums list.

Everyone is talking about this....

Not many people are talking about this ...

SATURDAY, JUNE 8 2013 >>>

1. If Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa is a mouthful of a name, then his music does well to invade every other one of your senses. For years, de Dionyso has been making a name for himself as one of the premier practitioners of experimental music in the Northwest. Unlike other experimental artists, whose work consists of beauty in chaos, de Dionyso is conceptual and thought-through in the extreme. Catch Malaikat Dan Singa with MTNS, DJ Urine and the Nadines at 8 p.m. in 2nd Cycle on Tacoma's Hilltop. Read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature on Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa in Northwest Military's Music & Culture section.

2. Older homes are typically loaded with character, and some people love nothing better than to stroll through a neighborhood and check out the architecture. For them, there is the Steilacoom Historical Home Tour. The outing, which is hosted by the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association and hasn't happened in almost 40 years, features six privately owned historic homes dating from 1858 through 1895, including five built when Washington was still a territory. The tour runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If there's one thing we know, it's Tacoma like to run, and drink. The Tacoma Runners prove it every Thursday night. Metro Parks knows this fact too. At 6 p.m. in Wright Park it will host its Sneakers to Suds - the first of four 5k events in its Pub Run Series. Each 5k is open to ages 21 and older and includes post-race festivities, which means drinking in local watering holes. Participate in trivia contests and post-race fun at Parkway, Tap Room and Amocat Café.

4. Shyan Selah & The Republic of Sound will headline a night of live music featuring Northwest hip hop legend Xola Malik, aka Kid Sensation, rock and blues act Monica-Crystal & The Beat Bandits and local acoustic songstress Stephanie Anne Johnson at 8:30 p.m. in Stonegate Pizza.

5. Future Bass dance party brings a little dub, some Dirty South bounce, some mini-backpack drum 'n' bass, sassy house, badass soul, squiggly squeaks, breaky beats, distorted hip-hop samples and wobbling bass lines - like pathological gamblers through paychecks - at 9:30 p.m. in The New Frontier Lounge.

LINK: Saturday, June 8 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013 >>>

1. The first thing to catch the eye upon entering the gallery is a large, two-part print project created as a collaboration by printmaking students. A series of black and white prints - they look like etchings or woodcuts - fill two good-sized, unframed and unstretched canvases. The images range from Northwest coastal Indian masks to Beavis from the TV show Beavis and Butthead. It's a strong and impactful graphic image. The other drawings and prints in the Tacoma Community College Student Art Exhibition are inconsistent: some pretty good, some lame and everything in between. The photos, some of the sculpture, and the commercial graphic arts projects are much stronger. Ali Abedi's "Spring," wood, paper and plaster, is disturbing and impossible to ignore. It is a blood-splattered plaster hand with cut-off fingers. A powerful image. Check it out from noon to 5 p.m. Read Alec Clayton's full review of the Student Art Exhibition in Northwets Military's Music & Culture section.

2. The "World War II" exhibit at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum features the Japanese flag captured at the Battle of Okinawa and the navigator's flight log of the Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber at the time of its dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. See all the goods from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3. Want to increase your energy, lose weight, and decrease inflammation? Join health and wellness coach Laurie Larson to learn how juicing and smoothies can positively influence your health and wellness at 6 p.m. in the STAR Center.

4. Tacoma Rainiers games are pretty exciting. At 7 p.m. the Rainiers battle the Sacramento River Cats at Cheney Stadium. Who wants to stick it to Sacramento?

5. The Jho Blenis and Shelly Ely Band will fill The Swiss with blues at 8 p.m.

LINK: Monday, June 3 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

NASCAR lovers and car enthusiasts near and far, rev up your engines because there's a special event motoring into town that can't be missed. LeMay - America's Car Museum in downtown Tacoma is honored to play host to the "Legends of Motorsports: The NASCAR Story Exhibit." Be one of the first to get in on the action at the general public opening 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, on June 2.

In addition to the nine-acre museum campus that boasts four floors of museum space with thousands of vehicles and artifacts, LeMay is thrilled to bring the new exhibit into the fold.

"We are really looking forward to this," shares Scot Keller, chief of marketing and communications officer for the museum. "This is the largest and most ambitious exhibit that we've done at the museum so far."

And while the exhibit is sure to satisfy the most rabid NASCAR fan, it also provides interest, imagination and history to everyone.

The exhibit begins with NASCAR creator and visionary Bill France Sr. who formed the organization in 1948. After learning about NASCAR's roots, the exhibit highlights and pays homage to the early and modern NASCAR drivers, and other NASCAR history and details.

Read more...

Who says that the city to the north has all the baseball action? Right here in our own backyard, the Tacoma Rainiers AAA Baseball Club offers thrilling baseball and family fun at Tacoma's newly renovated Cheney Stadium.

With that in mind, it's not too late to get in on a special Tacoma Rainiers event for the military community. Sunday, June 9, 2013, the Tacoma Rainiers will pay tribute to servicemembers during their special "Salute to Armed Forces Day" game. All active duty, Guard and reserves, retired military, DoD, and their family members will have access to specially priced ticket packages for the 1:30 p.m. game. The $8 package includes a reserved seat and meal and the $14 package includes a reserved seat, meal and limited addition Tacoma Rainiers Camo cap. In addition, Rainier's players and coaches will be donning special military-themed uniforms when the club takes on the Las Vegas 51s. After the game there will be live post-game jersey auction benefiting the USO Northwest.

While this game is nearly sold out, the good news is that there are limited tickets still available, so don't delay. To purchase tickets and redeem the offer, visit www.tacomarainiers.com/armedforces and use the promo code MILITARY to qualify for the special discounted options made available exclusively to the military community on this game only.