Musical luminaries from around the Northwest - Steve Peterson, Neil Andersson, Gail Harris, Jerry Miller, Jim Manolides, Freddie Dennis, Jumpin' Jim Wallace, Barry Curtis, Merrilee Rush, Jeff Kathan, George Barner, Gerry Roslie and on and on - joined Buck Ormsby and ALL the members of the Fabulous Wailers on the Temple Theatre stage before packed dance floor Wednesday, May 4 for a free tribute concert for Kent Morrill, lead singer and keyboard player for seminal Tacoma garage-rock band the Fabulous Wailers, died on April 15 after a long battle with colon cancer. Many of those dancing were the same faces who use to dance in front of the same musicians during the famous rock 'n' dance parties O'Day and others threw in the late '50s and early '60s.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
After a three-week respite courtesy of a PETA protest, Goldfish races are back at the Harmon Tap Room Tuesday nights. Owner Pat Nagle hopes the races are now humane enough to stop animal rights protesters from vandalizing the business. The Weekly Volcano dropped by last night to catch the action. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Magoo's Annex and Eatery in Tacoma's Northend neighborhood is taking back Monday nights with DJ Melodica working his vinyl collection loaded with New Wave, post punk, early electronica and garage. Magoo's slices its micro brew price to $2.75 a pint.
Last Monday, the University of Puget Sound hangout collided with Sean Alexander's farewell party. It was the perfect storm.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
April 23, 2011: Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger dropped in on the legendary musician performing in Tacoma's legendary venue.
The Dockyard Derby Dames Allstars mounted an impressive comeback to beat the Terminal City Rollergirls from Vancouver, B.C. 121 to 125 for their first WFTDA win last night at Pierce College in Lakewood. The Derby Dames' B team, The Tide Pool, beat the Rainy City Roller Dolls' Death Drops. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger grabbed some great pictures at Friday’s wacky Artifakt show at Hell’s Kitchen.
The Nosh League gathered inside Johnny's Dock private dining room for a fish discussion, filet demonstration and six fish tasting with Executive Chef Steve Ng Thursday, April 14. The Weekly Volcano's foodie group Nosh League meets every month. Join here: www.weeklyvolcano.com/community/groups/Nosh-League/
At a typical trivia night one sits around drinking beer, occasionally feeling really smart, and mostly feeling pretty stupid. It's like your average night of drinking, but you can blame the game instead of your social skills. Every Tuesday night, Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue draws a mixed crowd to its trivia night, although the crowd generally has the same interests as Farrelli's posts the night's trivia topic on its Facebook. Last Tuesday movie trivia session was hot with the younger set. The cool thing about Farrelli's trivia night is they design it to be interactive and social with a team concept rather than a bury your head into a ballot sort of thing. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
By 1 a.m. last night, the rowdies and chit-chatters in Tacoma had begun to thin. My night began at before Martyr Machine inside Hell's Kitchen, then progressed to the Gruv Lounge for DJ1, AC/DC tribute band Soul Stripper at the Backstage Bar & Grill and ending with Kry at The Swiss. I came up short on the phone numbers, although I met a charming lass at the Backstage - until her roommate yanked her away for last call down the street. Oh well, enjoy the photos I snapped during my journey. - Steve Dunkelberger
LINK: Steve Dunkelberger's Public Gallery: https://picasaweb.google.com/steve.dunkelberger
Teams of athletes put their agility and strength to test on the streets of north Tacoma Saturday, April 16 with the urban athletic event, (Elev8)tion Gain. Teams face obstacles such as army crawl, push-ups, squats, wall climb, hills, and running trails. The event is sponsored by Elev8 Fitness and a portion of its proceeds will benefit Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. Photography by Jennifer Walleman
Bartenders can make or break a bar. The Unicorn Sports Bar sits in the former category. The folks who hang at the Ruston watering hole do so because of bartender Darrell. He seems to know all of his customers and what they drink. He is Johnny Hustle with those bottles and taps. Added to that, the DJ music, mixed age and race crowd and the way-too-good for-bar-food eats on the menu make this a hole in the wall worth navigating the neighborhood to find it. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Originally created by the Tacoma-legendary Reverend Colin and Tobin Ropes, and now with the venerable poster design skill of Holland Hume on board, there’s no stopping the Tacoma Cult Movie Club. Sunday, April 10, they celebrated their second anniversary in style with a kickass raffle and a potluck at the Acme Grub Cage … not to mention the all time best TCMC flicks, which included "Zombie Strippers." Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
The annual Gray Sky Blues Music Festival kicked off directly after Saturday’s Tacoma Daffodil Grand Floral Parade filling The Swiss, the Harmon and Cutters Point Coffee with topnotch blues. Organized by the Tacoma Events Commission and folks involved with the South Sound Blues Association, the Gray Sky Blues Music Festival was destined to provide everything its name suggests ??" though those in attendance could likely do without the clouds. Photography by Pappi Swarner and Steve Dunkelberger
Hosted by TW and his Calendar Girls, this race of weirdos proved to be as crazy as it sounds. What began as a bunch of beers at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 8, ended up a wild tricycle race around 5 p.m. down Saint Helens Avenue to the finish line Dorky's Bar Arcade - and St. Joe's Hospital for Alan Gorsuch. Alan lost control of his antique tricycle by Puget Sound Pizza and the peddles ripped open his calf. He was rushed to St. Joe's for stitches. As you'd expect, Alan is in good spirits. Photos by Pappi Swarner
THURSDAY, APRIL 7: Hundreds gathered at the Pacific Grill to drink happy hour specials, nosh on free food, listen to rare funk and soul grooves spun by DJ dAb, and be the first to download the Weekly Volcano Happy Hour mobile app. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
DUELING PIANOS SING-ALONG: It all starts innocently. You sit down to dinner. A friendly blonde brings drinks. More drinks. Then people of many generations all sing along to the same Billy Joel song. Then another blond appears. More drinks. Suddenly Chopstix on Sixth Avenue transforms into a rowdy, raunchy room where the crowd washes, ocean wavelike, over the tops of their daytime inhibitions. It's true that cash-lubricated requests - for anything from the Beatles to Bob Seger - drive the dueling piano players. But as they pound and wail through the hits, it becomes clear that the piano men are in control.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
My wife, Kate, and I attended this year's Dirt Bag Ball sandwiched between two days of awesome powder this past weekend. It was the best night of people watching I've experienced in a while. This year's theme was Rocker and Rockettes - and they came out in full force. And the $25 ticket benefitted the Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol education fund. - Pappi Swarner
Saturday, March 26 was the inaugural Tacoma Metal Awards show, which consumed Hell's Kitchen in downtown Tacoma. Congratulations to Unhailoed who took home the title of Tacoma's hard rocking band. The metal band won by a 170 ballot spread over second place.
Here are a few shots of the awards show and winning band Unhailoed. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
O'Malley's Irish Pub's inaugural Open Stage Mondays night saw a stack of solid talent and a light crowd. Hosted by the female duo Sevens Revenge, the all-acoustic open mic night witnessed rappers, folk songsters, cover acts and original artists trying out new stuff. One dude just happen to stop by and heard the music. He came in and found himself on stage with a borrowed guitar, smacking it like it owned him money. Toss in the working-class crowd of PBR regulars and casual date-night couples and the scene was set.
Open Stage Mondays runs 8:30-11:30 p.m. every Monday with no cover charge. As an added bonus O’Malley’s throws in $3 craft beers and $5 hot wings.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Beyond the Bridge Cafe on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue is the extended living room for musicians and musicians-in-the-making every Friday night during its all-ages open mic. People - ranging from members of the silver haired set to tweenies - read, surf the Net, chat or kick back with a beer or a mug of joe and listen to music strum and holler from the stage. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Open Mic
Fridays, 7-10 p.m., no cover
Beyond the Bridge Cafe, 2717 Sixth Ave., Tacoma
253.572.9199
