Stage
I recently celebrated my five-year anniversary as a theater critic. As befit this occasion, I noshed on humble pie, sour grapes and cold crow with a snifter of rattlesnake venom. I've already reviewed three different takes on Charles Dickens's beloved 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol. Is there anyone older than
Arts
Winter solstice is big news around these parts. Olympia Family Theater is halfway through its run of How the Slug Stole Solstice, a charming little musical about a gastropod who's scared of the dark. Now Puget Sound Revels and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts present their 22nd annual
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"'Comfort ye, my people,' saith your God." And with that, one of humanity's crowning achievements in inspirational music gets underway. Who couldn't use some comfort as we approach the winter solstice? Maybe that's why Messiah, which was written for Easter and first performed in April, has become so inseparably associated
Stage
My sister and I once found ourselves pulling into Winslow after 11 p.m. We were shaky from hunger, and the only place open was Denny's. The menu and décor were inviting enough, but I'd rather eat airline food than Denny's. My sister's will prevailed nonetheless. When the food arrived it
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Did you know Seattle boasts one of the largest community choruses in America? Did you know that justly revered group is making its way south to Tacoma this week? Better recognize! The Seattle Men's Chorus is celebrating its 35th season, so all 300-plus members are dressed up
Arts
Did you know Seattle boasts one of the largest community choruses in America? Did you know that justly revered group is making its way south to Tacoma this week? Better recognize! The Seattle Men's Chorus is celebrating its 35th season, so all 300-plus members are dressed up with someplace to
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I have a confession to make. Yes, I am a cynical, skeptical agnostic who doesn't believe in any abdominally-insulated arctic elf. That's not my confession. The confession is I adore Christmas music. It isn't a holiday season without Handel's Messiah or Nat King Cole's rendition, the only proper rendition, of
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I imagine there was a time when my parents lamented the passing of doo-wop from their radio dial. Then Bruno Mars came along. So perhaps one day, when I'm old and decrepit, I'll be surprised and delighted by the return of wailing, distortion-crazed electric guitars to popular music. As it
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Then there's Alice Cooper, born Vincent Furnier, who pretty much invented live heavy metal spectacle. Long before Britney Spears draped a serpent awkwardly about her neck, Cooper was welcoming us to his nightmare by tossing a live chicken (not, as press reports claimed the next day, biting its head off),
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Jackie Fender, Weekly Volcano cohort and one of the Gritty City's art scene and literary superstars, is about to step things up a notch. She and fellow Volcano scribe Joshua Swainston are releasing the first print collection of stories and poems from their online literary destination, CreativeColloquy.com. I chose this
Stage
At intermission, one of the patrons at St. Martin's University's production of Uncle Vanya said, "I hope there's a happy ending." "Sweetheart, please," his companion replied, laughing. "This is Chekhov. Chekhov never ends happily." Even casual theatergoers are familiar with the name of turn-of the-20th-century Russian playwright Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Few, however,
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Warren Miller Entertainment's latest film, No Turning Back, was shot and produced by cinematographer Josh Haskins, working closely with ski racer Chris Anthony. It follows a cadre of elite snowboarders and skiers from Montana to Mount Olympus. (Yes, Greece has an actual Mount Olympus. It rises to 9570 feet. Opa!)
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It shouldn't be necessary for us to tell you why Fleetwood Mac is one of the greatest bands of the rock era, but we love our young readers so here goes: if the only album Fleetwood Mac ever released was 1977's Rumours, it would still have been plenty.
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Sure, you know actor Jeff Bridges from his performances in The Big Lebowski, Starman, the outstanding 2010 remake of True Grit, and so many other unforgettable films. You may also know he won an Oscar for playing country singer Otis "Bad" Blake in 2009's Crazy Heart. It may have slipped
Show And Tell
You may not recognize the name of retired filmmaker Warren Miller, but chances are high you've seen some of his work. Starting in 1950 with his debut documentary feature, Deep and Light, Miller shot a new nonfiction film about skiing and/or snowboarding every year for 54 years. He captured some
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Fresh from reincarnating Courtney Love and Hole for Night of the Living Tribute Bands 2014, Oly's all-grrl rock trio Full Moon Radio will blow the roof off the Midnight Sun Friday night. (That's a shame, as Theater Artists Olympia just repaired and repainted the joint.) Even better, the event is
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Here are a few things you almost certainly already know about Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong: their giggly brand of stoner comedy was all the rage on screen and stage in the '70s and ‘80s. Their 1978 film debut, Up in Smoke, earned more than $44 million on a
Stage
Yürei: "faint spirit." That's the Japanese term for ghosts, of which there are many in Velina Hasu Houston's 90-minute play Tea. It's about Japanese war brides in Junction City, Kansas, in 1968. In the 15 years after World War II, when U.S. troops occupied Japan, more than 100,000 American servicemen
Arts
Here are a few things you almost certainly already know about Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong: their giggly brand of stoner comedy was all the rage on screen and stage in the '70s and ‘80s. Their 1978 film debut, Up in Smoke, earned more than $44 million on a
Music
My first concert, reluctantly attended with my star-struck mother and grandmother, was Neil Diamond. Yes, that Neil Diamond, oft referred to lovingly as the Jewish Elvis - and I was blown the hell away. How could somebody so ancient take the stage with such charisma? (He was younger then than
