Tollefson Plaza is a much talked about piece of Tacoma — only usually, it seems, the talk is less than complimentary.



“I can’t believe they put this huge piece of concrete s*** in the middle of Tacoma,” the conversations usually start.



“Look at that one miserable bastard sitting all by himself. He looks lonely.”



This weekend, however, the scene will be different. When the third annual Showcase Tacoma takes over downtown and turns Tollefson Plaza into the music and art Mecca of the weekend — with performances by the Elephants, Deborah Page, Kim Archer, Matt Coughlin, Speaker Speaker, Frisky, Freeze and Fur Coat, Banners, and many, many more — it will likely mark the coolest moment ever in  Tollefson Plaza’s unsightly, concrete history.



And that’s not even mentioning Showcase Tacoma’s headlining band, The Helio Sequence, who will travel from Portland for their first ever Tacoma performance on Friday, Aug 8. The band will take to Showcase Tacoma’s main stage around 7 p.m.



Of course, the idea behind Showcase Tacoma is to, well, showcase Tacoma, and inviting a band from Portland to headline the festivities may seem a little queer to some, but when that band is The Helio Sequence — quite possibly one of the most exciting and talented indie bands on the planet right now — it’s easy to look past such a discrepancy.



“It builds community,” Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson recently said of Showcase Tacoma, which the city has taken a large part in producing along with Metro Parks and Tacoma School of the Arts. “A lot of people come from outside the city. A lot of them say ‘Holy smokes, this place has changed.’”



No word on whether Anderson is a fan of The Helio Sequence, though if he has any sense at all he certainly is. The band has been dropping jaws for 10 years — believe it or not — and though it’s fairly easy to lump The Helio Sequence in with a bevy of übertalented, scarf wearing Portland indie bands at the moment, there’s something that sets them apart. Maybe it’s their moody meld of pop guitars, unexpected hooks, radio polishes, and evocative lyrics. Or maybe it’s just talent and charm. Either way, The Helio Sequence has a quality that makes the band impossible to dismiss. The tandem of Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel, who’ve been friends since childhood and make up the Helio Sequence, are at the top of their game.



“This show was really a total coincidence. People have been asking us to play Tacoma for ten years. It was the perfect opportunity and the perfect thing to do,” says guitarist and singer Brandon Summers of how their Showcase Tacoma gig came to be.



After agreeing to play KEXP’s Summer Barbecue, which happens on Saturday, Aug. 9, event organizers with Showcase Tacoma asked The Helio Sequence to headline Friday night on the Tollefson Plaza main stage. Without hesitation, the band agreed.



“I don’t have any personal expectations (for Tacoma),” says Summers. “A lot of times it doesn’t matter the size of the city. The amazing thing to me is every town we’ve gone to has had its own identity. It’s amazing. We’re both excited to finally play Tacoma.”



There are plenty of reasons Tacoma should be filled with equal excitement. After three impressive albums, The Helio Sequence dropped a gem on the world of indie rock in January with their fourth release, Keep Your Eyes Ahead. Released on Sub Pop — like the band’s ’04 record, Love and Distance — Keep Your Eyes Ahead is easily one of the best pop records I’ve heard in years. It’s also easily the best product The Helio Sequence has ever produced, lifting the Portland-based twosome to a level few have achieved. Sometimes a little Dylan like, sometimes Joshua Tree-ish, at times Paul Simon-y, The Helio Sequence — especially on their latest release — defies classification and inspires awe.



“I’m still very pleased with the record,” says Summers. “At the same time I feel like I’m done with those songs. Usually it takes longer than that. I’m ready to get on to new stuff. Maybe it goes hand in hand with completing something exactly the way you envisioned it and really getting to the core of what we were trying to do.



“We’ve been working for so long together that a lot of the way we create is unspoken,” says Summers of his relationship with bandmate Weikel, who has also filled in on drums for Modest Mouse at times over the years. “We have a very similar aesthetic, and we both have a huge vocabulary of music we love. We spend a lot of time talking about music. We’ll sit in there in the studio and just talk about music.”



As tight as Weikel and Summers’ bond is there was a time, not all that long ago, when the future of The Helio Sequence was in doubt — though it had nothing to do with the two musicians’ relationship. After a particularly grueling stretch of touring and recording, Summers’ voice mysteriously vanished near the end of 2004. And not only did it vanish, but it stayed gone for a particularly long and nerve-racking period of time. The experience not only led to a less fatiguing lifestyle for Summers but a refocusing of the band and a change of attitude during the creative process. As distressing as the situation was at the time, when Summers lost his voice — and then eventually regained form after months of worry — the process seems to have recharged the band and taken The Helio Sequence to a new level.



“I changed a lot of things in my life,” says Summers of his reaction to his vocal health scare. “I’ve done a lot of things, like starting to run. But it’s less about particulars. It all just amounts to focusing.”



That focus, if nothing else, will hopefully lead to a new record from The Helio Sequence by the end of 2009 — a pretty quick turnaround from a band that usually takes at least three years between recordings. It also will lead to more touring, just not as much as before.



“That’s a personal goal of ours,” says Summers of the band’s drive to have a new record out by the end of ’09. He says fans also can expect plenty of regional touring as well as The Helio Sequence possibly headlining for a bigger name on a larger scale tour sometime next year. Though Summers couldn’t go into anything more specific, he did assure me “it’s not U2.”

Whatever happens, Summers seems like a man who’s found his perfect spot in life and an artist and musician clicking on all cylinders.



“Personally, I look at being able to do what we do as a blessing, and it’s very gratifying,” says Summers.



For Tacoma, getting a chance to see and hear what The Helio Sequence is doing at Showcase Tacoma should also be seen as nothing short of a blessing. The band has been great for a decade, but Friday night will mark The Helio Sequence’s first trip to Grit City. Let’s make it one to remember, and leave them with the impression that Tollefson Plaza is this cool every weekend. Let’s showcase Tacoma to The Helio Sequence so they won’t wait 10 years before coming back.



Maybe it can even be one of those “holy smokes!” moments Eric Anderson speaks of. Who knows? 

Showcase Tacoma

Tollefson Plaza

17th and Pacific Avenue, Downtown Tacoma

Main Stage

FRIDAY, AUG. 8

• 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Matt Coughlin, rock


• 1-3 p.m.: Pearl Django, gypsy jazz


• 3-5 p.m.: Spotlight: Tacoma’s Talented Youth, solo instrumental, jazz Improvization, songwriters


• 5-6 p.m.: Speaker Speaker, rock


• 7-9 p.m.: The Helio Sequence, rock

 

SATURDAY, AUG. 9

• 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Deborah Page, melodic rock


• 1-1:30 p.m.: Speak Your Soul Poets: Zach Street    


• 1:30-3 p.m.: Washington Poet Laureate Sam Green and guest poets: Connie Walle, Tacoma Poet Laurate William Kupinse, Allen Braden and Tammy Robacker


• 3-5 p.m.: The Kareem Kandi Band, jazz


• 5-7 p.m.: Players Club, Motown, pop


• 7-9 p.m.: Kim Archer Band, heavy soul and groove jam

Club SOTA Stage

FRIDAY, AUG. 8

• 2-5:30 p.m.: Dear Records Showcase featuring Freeze and Fur Coat, Banners, Haircuts, and others plus Tacoma Fashion Explosion presented by urbanXchange, Embellish Salon, and ChipShot Photography

SATURDAY, AUG. 9

• 2-5:30 p.m.: Team Unicorn Records Showcase featuring the Elephants, Frisky, and Mama Loves Daddy plus Tacoma Fashion Explosion presented by urbanXchange, Embellish Salon, and ChipShot Photography


• 4- 4:55 p.m.: Free Ya Mind spoken word


• 7-9 p.m.: SOMA and The Tacoma School of the Arts present Tacoma Artists In the Round No. 3 with Pablo Trucker, Matt Coughlin, John Van Deusen, Josh Rizeberg and others.

PLUS: Metro Parks Performance Stage, poetry bonanza and performances and art across the street at the Tacoma Art Museum.



For more details on Showcase Tacoma, turn to page 27 in this fine rag and visit  www.showcasetacoma.org.