The Weekly Volcano found itself wandering aimlessly at the Olympia Art Walk Friday night, and in every aimless direction there was something new to see in a sort of Puyallup-Fair-meets-Pioneer-Square odd way.
The Melvins performed Monday, Sept. 27 inside Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma. Photographer Steve Dunkelberger snapped a few shots.
If your image of bingo is a sort of purgatory, a cafeteria filled with grannies clutching cigarettes with three-inch ashes as they listen to the numbers being called, you need to check out Rock & Roll Bingo Night at The New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma. Every Wednesday night sprightly bartender Brook Pawlicki emcees the games that offer the beer-chugging patrons chances to win campy prizes with every “Bingo†yell. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Matt Coughlin and the Growlers performed Wednesday, Sept. 22 at The Swiss in Tacoma. The large crowd was a happy lot - hugging and smiling while the band's soulful roots-rock sound filled the downtown Tacoma bar.
Magoo’s Annex & Eatery not only hosts Northend Tacoma regulars and University of Puget Sound student every Sunday night, but it’s also the unofficial information center and after-shift spot for those in the dining, entertainment and arts set. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Sanford and Son Antiques received a big slap of fabulous Saturday night for its adult prom. Gigantic red, pink, silver, gold and black flowers clung to ceiling and walls amid colorful lighting and shiny metallic streamers as the store's library was transformed into a Bollywood movie set, the theme for the annual fundraiser this year benefiting the Companion Animal Rescue Society.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Photographer Patrick Snapp tagged along as the Rev. Adam McKinney explored South Sound houses that hold regular underground live music shows.
Read the cover story here: www.weeklyvolcano.com/music/features/2010/09/house-shows-tacoma-olympia-reviews/
FRIDAY, SEPT. 10: After waiting in an obscenely long line to stand on a muddy dirt floor (no seats) of the Puyallup fair rodeo grounds, former Poison singer Bret Michaels - now turned reality star - graced us with his presence on stage opening with Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me." One old Poison hit after another kept Bandito Betty and I pumping fists and shakin' ass for the entire hour and a half performance, not missing those absent seats one damn bit. By Steph DeRosa
Wednesday, Sept. 8 I dropped in on Masa to witness the mating dance of the homo sapiens. The females of the species paradeD in their colorful plummage, while the males showED off their bravado. It was a sparce crowd for Masa's College Night Wednesday. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
Mondays means Rockaraoke at Jazzbones in Tacoma, karaoke with a live band back up. The usual regulars were there and some new faces. But, let's face it, most people weren't there for music and faces. The night didn't disappoint in that regard for the capacity crowd of more than 200 singles in search of a match. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
The Tacoma arts community gathered for another 100th Monkey Party Wednesday, Aug. 25 in the DTI Building on Puyallup Avenue. The Monkey hosts were Dani and Melissa. Gregory Fricker was the tile artist. While it was a bit warm inside, and the crowd was smaller than the typical Monkey Party, we did have fun, met the manditory three new people and saw some cool artwork. Photography by Steve Dunkelberger and Pappi Swarner
DJ Omar spins the discs after Tuesday night comedy at Jazzbones.
Saturday, Aug. 21, Lady Gaga rolled into Tacoma with her "Monster Ball" show. The best costumes at the show didn't come from the show's participants, but the fans, who in Gaga parlance are known as little monsters. Photographer Ariane Michelle of AMK Photography snapped shots of the stylish crowd filing into the Tacoma Dome for the show.
An hour before the Lady Gaga concert at the Tacoma Dome a Lady Gaga flashmob orchestrated by Vik Chopra, president of DNF Media & Management, danced in Tollefson Plaza. They performed to a mega mix of Lady Gaga's hits "Bad Romance," "Poker Face," "Telephone" and "Just Dance." The Weekly Volcano dispatched photographer Ariane Michelle of AMK Photography to capture the mob.
Yesterday from noon to 8 p.m., Music and Art in Wright Park 2010, which began in 1993 as Music in the Park, returned to Tacoma showcasing some of the best bands in the area, including Cities Without Anchors, Si Si Si, James Hunnicutt, Gold Teeth, Twink The Wonderkid, Girl Trouble, Lozen, Pioneers West, Good Gravy, C.F.A, The Dignitaries, Stone Axe, The Speans, I Defy and The Fucking Eagles. There was so much rock in Wright Park; it’d be hard to find any one person who could handle it all. Many did, including photographer Steve Dunkelberger who snapped 700 shots. We posted a good chunk of those below.
True, true: There's nothing more frightful than a Great Dane in a tutu. And we saw one at yesterday's Olympia Pet Parade, the 81st annual animal parade hosted by The Olympian. Pets of every size and description, dressed to the nines, were walked, wheeled and dragged through the streets of downtown Olympia with their sights on the finish line, Sylvester Park. This year's theme was fairy tales.
Galen McCarty Turner - a Tacoman, a bizarre artist, a bit of an eccentric, and a professor at Evergreen in the school's neon program - rode his bike over a death-defying multi-inch jump and through a wall of glowing neon tubing Saturday, Aug. 21 in the alley off Sixth and I Street, all for the benefit of Second Cycle, Hilltop's independent bike co-op. The atmosphere was that of a kegger. The cops arrived. And Turner successfully jumped through the wall of neon. Then everyone ran away.
After a month off, the Tacoma Third Thursday Artwalk ART BUS - proudly sponsored by the Weekly Volcano - was back for a motorized tour of downtown Tacoma galleries and spaces Aug. 19 beginning at 5 p.m. Angela Jossy of the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative stepped down as tour director swinging the yellow door open for worthy substitute Patricia Lecy-Davis. Lecy-Davis knows a thing or two about downtown Tacoma. The tour started at the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative then chugged around the corner to Brownie Morrison, followed by stops at the Brick House Gallery, Tacoma Art Place, 253 Collective, Flying Monkey Mercantile, Tacoma Art Supply, Viceroy Art Gallery, The Peabody Waldorf, Sanford & Son Middle Floor Merchants, Mavi (formerly Two Vaults), The Swiss, Tollefson Plaza and the 301 Puyallup Ave. Suite A-C (which includes Mineral Gallery).
It seems sort of odd to have a night of reggae music in an Irish pub in Tacoma and have the patrons complain about the heat. True, it was as hot as a Jamaican sugar cane field in July inside O'Malley's Irish Pub Monday, Aug. 15. But it was reggae music for crying out loud. It isn't authentic if you aren't sweating like a crockpot meatloaf.
Welcome to Rebel Monday brought to the pub by DJ Jason Diamond. While the music was loud and thumping, the dance floor was sparse since the heat inside the pressure cooker was dialed up. Breaking the trend was Latonya Bailey. She braved the dance floor after a friend finally convinced her to check out the scene.
Mixing with the crowd around the bar was Erica Crooks, who was marking her 21st birthday with friends at O'Malley's and Jazzbones since both bars were within walking distance of their pad.
Good call. - Steve Dunkelberger
The Seaside Opera, performed by A K Mimi Allin, is a combination of movement and poetry designed to illicit feelings one might feel while at the beach.
Allin engaged individuals in squirt gun fights, interpretative dance, playing in the water, and with the poetry readings.
In the background, music ranging from operas to carnival sounds animated the environment.
The performance is in the Tollefson Plaza and it will run Aug. 16-21 every half hour on the half-hour, 2-7 p.m.
Photography by J.M. Simpson
