We Recommend
The Plastards have been a staple of the local bar scene, pounding out frantic sets of rowdiness, for around 13 years. Bill Schlanbusch, Rich Bundy and the boys churn out punk 'n' roll with doses of swirling fuzzy garage and a savage beat. Besides wildly grandiloquent stage antics and volume,
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You have one chance to see The Acting Company's production of Hamlet so err not. The national touring company presents the tale of a young man who finds his father has been murdered and must avenge the horrid deed. Power politics, a haunting, a love story, murder, revenge and great
Liquid
Everybody loves a comeback. We all cheered when Rocky returned to the ring (except that last time) and the world of funk was creaming its leather chinos when James Brown got out of jail. Well, one of Tacoma's coffee houses is on the verge of grabbing the comeback of the
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That big collective groan you may have heard or felt reverberating throughout Tacoma was for the loss of preeminent music promoter Ted Brown who passed away Sept. 25. He was 61. I can't remember the exact moment I met Ted because I feel like I've known him all my life.
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Tacoma's Head Bookworm Erik Hanberg is everywhere. If he's not helping old ladies across the street, or building little houses for squirrels at every park in Tacoma, or designing a marketing program with his wife, or ballroom dancing to raise money for charities, or giving local dignitaries a ride on
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Amid body odor intensified by the moist New York City night and swirling booze breath, I sat mesmerized, paralyzed into reverence by the loud, heavy, emotional music. It was November 2004, a few days after stuffing myself with turkey and watching giant pretty balloons pass down Central Park West, I
Liquid
Tanya Chapman is a fixture in the Tacoma bartending scene. I met Chapman at a Tacoma Beer Club gathering at the now defunct Stadium Bistro. She was pulling duty as TBC founder Steph DeRosa's sidekick, a position she held for years as documented in DeRosa's previous columns for this rag.
Features
Autumn. I love the onset of the season. I do all the usual autumn stuff: dodge geysers in the middle of Schuster Parkway; chase a flying Buick in Puyallup; drive all over town looking for a movie house not completely packed with government employees. But most of all, I look
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There are those among us who can make their trip to a hair stylist the most riveting story you've heard all week. People whose stories never trail off into "it was really cool. ..." Envy them. They are not like you. Not only do they have great success at parties,
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Tacoman Erik Hanberg loves parks and books. He's taken both passions to the next level. He's currently a commissioner with Metro Parks Tacoma. He's also penned The Saints Go Dying, The Marinara Murders and within days of releasing his first sci-fi novel, The Lead Cloak. Hanberg is campaigning to create
Food Matters
I love tasting menus, much the same way that I'm a proponent of communal tables and hanging my butt at the bar, which is where I prefer to eat. And if I can get a tasting menu at the bar, even better. Yes, I like extended, evening-long meals, and, frankly,
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At a time when the most common forms of entertainment come divided into discrete images, packaged in bursts of electrons, and squeezed between commercials, there is something very comforting about listening to a live human being, such as Elizabeth Lord. Her words can elicit the loudest laughter and swell an
Viva South Sound
It's a quiet autumn Monday in Tacoma, but inside The New Frontier Lounge, the night is cooking. Pianist Nate D., bassist Cameron and drummer Peter T. have launch the city's newest jazz jam inviting talent to sit in as the house trio explores straight ahead, funk and
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The Tacoma Cabana, nestled in Tacoma's hip lower Pacific Avenue, offers a waggish combination of strategic lighting, dangling blowfish, bamboo, Hawaiian textiles and dances with Polynesian decor, from tropical tackiness to authentic Hawaiian artifacts - including a bar rigged to resemble a hut, and sports a 600-pound stuffed marlin mounted
Features
As a long-time South Sounder who loves to dine out, I struggle with con?icting goals. I want to eat well, but can't afford to patronize luxury establishments every week. Fast food is cheap, but I hate the nausea and regret I feel half an hour later. One of my best
Viva South Sound
Every Thursday night at Puget Sound Pizza, the Volcano's music critic Rev. Adam McKinney hosts a karaoke session showcasing a Tarantino-like mix of downtown denizens seriously singing Bill Withers and glasses-wearing gals squawking out punk rawk, plus appearances by local rock stars. McKinney, always looking dapper in his sportcoat, has
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"So she spit in her own face." "Looks like slutty is the new black." "You wanna see her belly-dance?" Forget wishing you were a fly on the wall: the beauty of eavesdropping is that you get to be a barfly at the bar, picking up snippets of conversation that you
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Bryan Carroll, STINK Tank Welcome to Happy Hour Hug, a new weekly column in which I explore the South Sound's bar scene through the eyes of bartenders, brewers, winemakers, distillers and anyone else who makes their living in the boisterous world of alcohol. This week I present Bryan Carroll, bartender at
Listings
ACOUSTIC/FOLK/CELTIC Cascadia Grill Olympia - Downtown. Jeremy Serwer. All Ages. 6-9 pm. NC. Matrix Coffee House Lewis County. Open Mic Night. All Ages. 6:30 pm. NC. BLUES Dawson's Bar and Grill Tacoma - South. Billy Shew Band Open Jam Session. 8 pm. NC. The Junction Sports Bar and
Viva South Sound
Beer and food have always co-mingled, especially in European cultures such as Belgium, Germany and England. At points, beer was food. According to lore, European monks brewed ales and bock beers to provide sustenance during their Lenten fasts. Beer and grilled sausage: the two are a natural fit. The Red
