Archives
If I were to compile a list of things liable to end a band, it would probably look a lot like the Jet City Fix’s life over the last five years. Official breakups? Check. Marriages and maturation? Check. Armed Services enlistment and a trip to boot camp for the lead
Archives
It’s a new week, which means it’s time for a new installment of Bobble Tiki’s South Sound music news and notes column. Let’s get rolling … While Bobble Tiki is typically a glass-half-full type (of boxed wine, that is) this week Bobble Tiki received a bummer of an email
Archives
It’s time to take a fresh look at art in Tacoma. As the economy continues its downward spiral, artists, gallery owners and other institutions dedicated to aesthetic engagement are falling apart. Not just here — everywhere. Well, except for India, for some reason, where art sales are skyrocketing.
Archives
While searching MySpace for local music — as I do from time to time — I stumbled across Roman Holiday and was promptly knocked for a loop. Theirs is a slick indie rock sound so pristine, so flawless, that it quite frankly made me upset. Making matters worse is the
Archives
I start to think, “I was the last generation to know it as it was. I rode the final wave.” But then it dawns on me: That’s probably how everyone from the “sleepy farm town close to Seattle and Tacoma” feels about Puyallup. Then it also dawns on
Music
Before we get ahead of ourselves with the New Year, there's some clean up I have to do. I need to mention a few things I missed in 2011. One of the biggest and coolest singles of last year came by way of a Gazmo the Great and Bruce Leroy collaboration
Archives
Hip-hop and community have always been tied together and Lacey’s Black Sam Entertainment in association with Du 4 Self Records continues the tradition with a benefit this Saturday to raise proceeds for the Thurston County Food Bank in Olympia. “I just wanted to do something to help people,” says
Archives
Best Mexican Coffee drinkWe’re all used to the “third-wave” coffeehouses by now, the post-Starbucks cafés where baristas command more machinery than some industrial chemists, and your morning cappuccino, drawn from a $12,000 coffee making contraption adorned with more chrome than a ‘58 Buick, is decorated with a heart, a leaf
Archives
Too often cheap pub grub means soggy nachos, cold fries, messy wings and other boring fried food. Not so at the Top of Tacoma — especially the nachos ($8.50). Served on a large baking sheet, it’s as if co-owner Jamie Kay Newton makes the ultimate nacho on each chip then
Advice Goddess
QUESTION: I just got dumped by a guy who swore he was ready to settle down (after years of serial monogamy). His relationship history reminded me of the man you wrote about recently who had been married and divorced five times and was on relationship number six. Woman number six
We Recommend
Dick Dale created the surf guitar sound. This is a statement that is irrefutable (a rare commodity in music). As it's been documented and retold, Dick Dale began by playing the drums and then transferred this percussive quality to the electric guitar - the result being the breakneck strumming and
Visual Edge
There are two art exhibits running in Tacoma that end this weekend, one very serious and high-minded and the other cute enough to make you want to puke. I’m talking kitsch cute that’s so bad it’s good. The shows are Flux at Gallery Madera and Rabbitual at Two Vaults. Both
We Recommend
A Leaf is one of the first bands I ever wrote about. Now, two and a half years later, I find myself returning to the band's music with fresh ears and a newfound admiration for the velvety smooth sounds they create. Drawing inspiration from the British folk-rock of the '60s
Archives
SUGAR BEATS Thursday, Sept. 10 Music on the “experimental” side isn’t always easy to listen to. Sometimes, you have to “really want it,” as my old junior high football coach used to say — and that’s more than many music listeners are willing to give. Understandable, really — that’s why people
We Recommend
The Volcano has sung the praises of Roman Holiday many times before (as recently as last September, in fact, when the band released its second full-length, Move Your Heart/Shake Your Bones). With a localized brand of seemingly arena-ready pop rock, the band - led by longtime friends Shane Lance (lead
Archives
Bobble Tiki thinks this band is frenetic, herky-jerky, and musically a little confusing. Sure, Coheed and Cambria are lyrically introspective, but when the hell did “poor me” replace “fuck you” in rock music? There’s no questioning this band’s talent — or motives for that matter — but Bobble Tiki thinks
We Recommend
The name Corin Tucker holds a lot of sway in Olympia. For the unfamiliar few, Corin Tucker is the shrieking voice that fronted the iconic, riot grrrl-defining Sleater-Kinney. Since the dissolution of the band, the members of Sleater-Kinney have gone on to form Wild Flag, while Tucker has struck out
Archives
Top nachos Too often cheap pub grub means soggy nachos, cold fries, messy wings and other boring fried food. Not so at the Top of Tacoma — especially the nachos ($8.50). Served on a large baking sheet, it’s as if co-owner Jamie Kay Newton makes the ultimate nacho on each chip
We Recommend
Olympia's Christian Mistress, purveyors of old school metal of the purest and most potent kind, will release their sophomore LP, Possession, on Relapse Records Feb. 28. Expect it to be scorching, and like a literal flashback to the glorious 1980s. Anchored by the darkly feminine vocals of Christine Davis, Christian
Food Matters
Opening in late November on Hilltop Tacoma near St. Joseph's Medical Center, "juicy and tender" seem like trite ways to describe the Southern-style fried chicken served at Ezell's Fried Chicken. Thighs, legs, chicken tenders and jumbo wings are meaty and tasty. Searching for authenticity? Those wanting old-school proteins can get down
