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The new show at The Helm may be called “Don’t Be Absurd,” but it is all about absurdities such as shapeless cloths leaping into the air on city streets and cutely menacing creatures that are half whale and half swordfish. Works by nine artists cram the little gallery. Some of the
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The parade of princess shows continues in the South Sound. Tacoma Little Theatre, as you know, is finishing its run of “Sleeping Beauty” this weekend just as Federal Way’s Centerstage Theatre is staging “Cinderella.” This version of the show comes to the South Sound in the tradition of the English pantomime
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What makes a restaurant succeed? This is a question that has many complicated answers. If the answers were easy, people would be opening dining establishments right and left. Smart folk don’t open restaurants. Crazy people do. To put it more politely, people that like to live on the edge open
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Taste the Holiday Spirit The holidays. Love ’em or loathe ’em, they’re here, complete with fudge, stuffed mushrooms, plump guys in red suits and parties! Pot luck, probably. Bobble Tiki already juggles a stack of invites and might even volunteer (or, more likely, be volunteered) to throw a bash too. And
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ANNOUNCER: “Gimme a pig foot and a bottle of gin,” sang Bessie Smith in 1933. “Move me, ‘cause I’m in my sin.” Well, the boys weren’t gnawing on a pork stump, but they were sinning, all right, during the last visit to Cicada Restaurant & Lounge. Cicada’s long list of
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Friday, Nov. 30: Pasado’s Animal Safe Haven Fund Raiser and Wine Tasting, 6-8 p.m., $10, The Wine Basket, 2118 S. 314th St., Federal Way, 253.874. 3070. Saturdays: Wine tasting, 2-5 p.m., Wine Bank, 7017 27th St. W., University Place, 253.564.1101. Monday, Dec. 3: Psychic Shirlee Teabo, 4-8 p.m., $15, Vin Grotto Café
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I love cheese the way some people love coffee. I need it, want it and think about it at least once an hour. When eating, I’m considering what type of cheese would make whatever I’m munching on better. I love trying different cheeses, as I am on the never-ending search
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Thursday, Nov. 29 ROCK beautiful mothers I must admit I have no clue what’s going on with one of my favorite local bands, the Beautiful Mothers. Many indications seem to suggest the Mothers have disbanded, yet they’re most definitely scheduled to play Hell’s Kitchen tonight. The band’s MySpace page has a video
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Idaho isn’t known for much, but that seems to be changing. Bands like Hailey, Idaho’s Finn Riggins are reinventing the potato state. Of course, Idaho has had Built to Spill for some time now, but besides that, it’s mainly been starchy tubers, Mark Fuhrman, and Jake Plummer. That’s a pretty impressive list,
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When Pierced Arrows played the Brotherhood Lounge in October, it was hard not to take note. Considering both Fred and Toody Cole, from Dead Moon fame, play in Pierced Arrows, how could you not be intrigued by the couple’s new band? Oregon’s Dead Moon were the definition of seminal over
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Moving is never easy and more difficult for businesses, yet Tacoma’s Barefoot Studios has made the leap and settled in a new location. Many factors in 2006 made the move for Barefoot a necessity, not the least being a 50-percent rent increase. Owners Paul and Josephine Zmolek moved from their
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This week I became one of the luckiest girls in the world because I got something that’s going to help me with my personal finances, safety and general quality of life. I got a roommate! Hellooooo Ian! He’s been one of my best pals ever since I moved back to Seattle after
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Leave it to Natasha to launch a full-blown investigation to get to the bottom of a question that has been on the lips of so many Tacomans. Who in the heck is the Tacoma Gnome? In case your eyes have been closed in the City of Destiny, there’s this pint-sized gnome that
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Broadway, Tacoma, United States, the World. Walk down a street, notice empty store fronts with official looking signs ensuring they’ll remain empty for a while. Pass the Rainbow Center and Club Silverstone. Go too far and hit the Republican Party storefront. But what’s this? Yep, you’re seeing it with me. There,
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Back in the day, I was a diver on the high school diving team. In the water, we girls all pretty much looked the same, devoid of makeup and crazy-eighties big hair. The boys, slicked-down wet and wearing tight little skivvies, were unrecognizable in the halls by day, prompting me
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Ah, the power of an apron. It’s a nostalgic thing in my world: I remember reruns of “Leave it to Beaver,” “Ozzie and Harriet” and “The Donna Reed Show” where the perfect mom always had a smile and an apron. I remember making Hungarian baked goods with my mom during the
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We all know a successful holiday season requires one to excel at certain special skills: There’s the one-handed, come-from-behind sale-table grab; the ability to remain perfectly calm while trying to maneuver between two fat ladies, an ocean of package-laden strollers (where’s the baby?) and a Santa line backed up all
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Following the reality TV show trend, local designers and creative teams will be under pressure to craft wearable art within a 24-hour period. Former PBS producer Jamie Chase, now of the community art center Tacoma Art Place on Hilltop Tacoma, will film the process for broadcast during the live fashion
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I one-stop shop Commitment is a difficult thing to embrace in the world of cosmetics. A television ad for a sensational new mascara that promises to make my lashes look five times longer, plumper, thicker and natural recently invaded my senses. Of course, skepticism is present, but that doesn’t negate my
