We Recommend
You've got to give it to the folks over at The Warehouse. At this point a production company (of sorts) specializing in bringing intimate, artistic and artist-friendly shows to Tacoma, The Warehouse looks to have hit pay dirt again with Saturday's performance by Frank Fairfield, an old school (and I
Cup Check
Well gosh. After the doom and gloom fest that was last week's Cup Check column, full of end-of-the-world prophecies and rants against the mainstream media stoking the flames of idiocy in our public discourse, I had planned to take it easy this week. I figured it was high time I
Cup Check
I'm afraid I'm starting to sound like a broken record - like a sad schlep at the end of the bar, constantly dredging up the same old story of pessimism and doom while the happier drunks roll their eyes and call for another round. I'm afraid I'm becoming a relic -
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Unless I'm horribly mistaken, the promo photo utilized by the Portland psych/jam band White Orange on Facebook depicts the group's four members standing amidst a massive grow-op, budding marijuana in every direction. And I'm not horribly mistaken. While such an obvious move might reek (quite literally) of one destined to
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Rapper Mickey Avalon isn't the first musician to champion the motto, "Live fast, die young & look good in your grave" (as is printed proudly at the very top of Avalon's website). He's probably not even the most recent. But chances are Avalon is the only member of the esteemed,
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There's a reason Tacoma's C.F.A. (Cody Foster Army) is a T-Town music scene staple, and it's only partly due to the band's breakneck thrashing or topnotch facial hair. These dudes (guitarist Dave Takata, drummer Reno Dave Marseillan and Foster) have been there, done that in Tacoma, and they've got the
Cup Check
I tried. Oh sweet Jesus how I tried. I wanted nothing more than to find something else - anything else - to write about this week. But I couldn't. It was unavoidable. It's that goddamn Tebow Thing. Perhaps you noticed - the Broncos' polarizing lefty made his first start of the season last
We Recommend
Show up at Jazzbones Friday and you'll encounter a pulsing, breathing, three-pronged attack of art-meets-music. The gist of this gig won't be much different than the image the name conjures up, combining the mastery of the "violinistextremist" known as Kytami, billed as "perhaps Canada's most diverse and engaging fiddle player,"
Cup Check
America loves its football - the brown pigskin kind - almost to a point of absurdity. At this moment in our cultural evolution (or devolution) our appetite for the gridiron seems insatiable. TV contracts prove it. Year-round high school football programs prove it. Brett Favre's still-running Wranglers commercials prove it.
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He's been called damn near every superlative in the book - and for good reason. When you hear Charlie Musselwhite is a "harmonic master," as the promotional material for Friday's show at the Broadway Center in Tacoma suggests, it's no lie. Dude is that good. He's a blues legend. With
We Recommend
It's become tradition. Beautiful, lederhosen-centric, malt-liquor-fueled tradition. Every year, customarily at Bob's Java Jive, co-creator Craig Egan and his cast of dedicated, party-making cohorts put together one of the coolest and most unique nights of the year - mixing ghetto culture, all things German and large quantities of Old E
Cup Check
With as many bad headlines as it continues to make, one has to wonder: When will the NFL take a stronger stance on social media, specifically Twitter? No, I'm serious. Last Sunday, after a loss to the equally woeful Kansas City Chiefs dropped the Minnesota Vikings to 0-4 on the season, Vikings
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The urge for music freaks (including many employed at the Weekly Volcano) to combine the word "rock" with the month October whenever its referenced is almost too strong to deny. It's like Pavlov's dog shit. It just makes so much sense. It feels right in so many ways. The guys
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Dig on "vibey space rock" with a decidedly Christian bent? Of course you do. You read the Weekly Volcano right after bible study every Thursday night. You've got two posters above your bed, one of Rush and one of Jesus Christ. You're, like, our main demographic. This Friday in Olympia,
Cup Check
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Washington DC-based non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) recently paid for and placed what's described as an "anti-cheese" billboard near Lambeau Field, home to the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, and birthplace of the now iconic "cheesehead" sports fashion accessory worn
Scene It
Football is in the air. You can smell it. It smells like pork rinds and nacho cheese, perspiration and face paint. It smells like a great way to spend your weekends throughout the coming fall - from the first orange leaves to the bitter chill of January. Yes, it's a glorious
Cup Check
You may not have noticed, but I was gone last week - on vacation. Out of the office. Avoiding work, and avoiding alarm clocks, at all costs. It was a brief respite from my responsibilities here at the Volcano - including Cup Check - that allowed me to come back
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While some might peg the typical Jazzbones crowd as, shall we say, aging, in reality the hordes that routinely engulf the club run the gamut. It really just depends on what's booked on any given night. Sure, Randy Oxford, a Heart tribute band or the Sunday jazz jam session may
Arts
Now in its seventh year, the Tacoma Film Festival has come to be well known locally for providing South Sound film buffs with a bevy of film treasures every fall, some local, some national, some short, some long - and all artfully fantastic. This year will be no different ...
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The one-man-folk-band thing is getting a wee-bit played out. There's only so much banjo-plucking and foot-stomping - coming from a single person with an "Isn't it impressive how many things I can do at once?" look on their face - that a set of refined ears can appreciate. After a
