Man, I love this job. While you got fat watching re-runs, I was running around checking out music. Got a wild hair? Need a ride? Call me.

FRONT-ROW REVIEW. Can I get a haircut with that song?

Satellite Coffee Grand Opening Party, March 21, Supernova Hair and Tattoo



Satellite Coffee — which opened in November 2007 — is owned by Pat Brown and Ron Heathman, who pull espresso shots by day and rock at night. They love coffee, they love music, and they are well loved as shown by the overflowing crowd Friday during Satellite’s grand opening party featuring Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies, and Eddie Spaghetti and Heathman of The Supersuckers.



I’m not sure how people tapped their feet — Supernova was packed like stretch pants on chocoholic conjoined twins — but everyone did as Seattle-based Bob Wayne and crew cranked their carnie country. People wore stupid grins, mimed Joe Buck’s upright bass, pumped fists, provided drunken backup vocals as Wayne ran from the Devil, started bar fights, ran around drunk, and even recovered through song.



Fans of Johnny Cash, Los Straitjackets and Hank Williams III should make plans to catch this country troubadour and his tattooed outlaws Friday night at Hell’s Kitchen.

Thankfully, Spaghetti and Heathman’s unique brand of wide-eyed cowpunk hedonism proved the perfect marriage to yours truly’s blurry-eyed surrealism as Friday night was coming to a close.



It was a celebration of many things — great coffee, great music and great friends — but I also believe it solidified that tiny Supernova is a worthy music space.

LOCAL VOCALS. I have Izenmania!

Out of Sight, Out of Mind



Joe Izenman produces a cocktail of calculation, sheer nerve, good timing, quick wit, as well as a cataclysm, daily. As one of Tacoma’s most active bloggers the bearded gentle giant posts frequently on his own blog, Izenmania, and is a constant figure on Tacoma blogs, giving a thumbs up or down in the comments section.



But if you ask him what’s his story, he’ll say he’s just a guy rocking Tacoma. He doesn’t mean shaking up the blogosphere, but rather rocking out. Izenman has contributed his guitar, hand drums, melodica, keyboard, and accordion talents to such bands as This Shirt is Pants, Mr. Fusion, and most recently his father’s band Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Dad, Tacoma folk/country mainstay Don Izenman, and his longtime collaborator, bassist Goodwin Trent, added Joe while Trent recovered from surgery. Although Trent is back, Joe still hangs with the folk/ country band that will perform tonight at Rhapsody in Bloom with special guest, and another Tacoma folk music mainstay, Sue Tjardes.



WEEKLY VOLCANO: What’s behind the band name? Is it related to the Edison Electric Institute’s July 2006 study on why overhead power lines should be buried?



JOE IZENMAN: Out of Sight, Out of Mind is part of a running joke about the fact that my dad, Don, lost most of his vision a couple years ago. Their previous group was called Second Sight. So Out of Sight, Out of Mind is really just descriptive: Don’s blind, and Goodwin’s crazy. (To be fair, though, we’re all a little bit nuts.)



VOLCANO: Out of Sight, Out of Mind has been known to cover a country tune or two. What subgenre of country?



IZENMAN: We cover a very specific sub-genre of country that I like to call “good country.” If you had a Venn diagram of country, bluegrass and folk, we’d be somewhere in the middle: Tim O’Brien, John Denver, Bob Dylan, even some Little Feat.

Tonight’s show will involve little to no cover work.



VOLCANO: Is this the first time you have collaborated with your dad?


IZENMAN: I first started playing regularly with my dad and brother back in 1999, putting together a few covers to open up for his band, Civil Servants, at Shakabrah Java. That was really the beginning of my experience as a performing local musician. We stopped playing together when I went off to college and my brother got a job, but we reunited last summer for a set at the Proctor Farmer’s Market.



VOLCANO: Tonight the band will tackle some of your material, too. What flows from your pen?


IZENMAN: I have songs about abusive relationships, walking away from love, suicide, and the unpleasantness of war. Oh, and happy things as well. I come back to the theme of self-discovery a lot, and the notion of independence from what other people want you to be. And I try to work the element of hope into even the most horribly depressing of topics.



Mixed in with Sue’s philanderer-rich material (with the occasional touching love song) and Goodwin’s tales of life in Alaska (with the occasional touching love song) and you’ve got fun for all ages.



[Rhapsody in Bloom Florist and Café Latte, Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover, $5 suggested donation, 3709 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.761.7673]



I can’t stop spinning Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies, nor can I spend more than 10 minutes home. I just got one of the best haircuts I’ve ever had and I gotta go out and show off my head. Dig.