Cup Check
STRIKE ONE One of the unforeseen negative impacts of the NFL lockout is a noticeable up-tick in NFL players not knowing what to do with themselves. Usually, NFL'ers have a fairly simple and predictable existence. During the season they play football. During the off-season, they train to play football (taking the
Guides
Stop me if you've heard all this already: Portland, Ore. - just 130-some miles south of Tacoma, and 100 miles south of Olympia - is a mecca of cool. Everyone rides a bike in Portland. Literally. The city has no cars. What it lacks in automobiles is made up for
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If there's one thing Tim Reynolds (of the appropriately named Tim Reynolds Trio) can do, it's jam on it. Dude is like best buds from way back with Dave Matthews, after all, which means he's no fan of the two-and-a-half-minute pop song. Nope, this guitarist is all about the improvisation.
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Well, now we're really in the throes of it. The draft is over. The lockout has been (at least temporarily) reinstated. And it's about as officially the OFF-SEASON as it can get in the NFL. Usually the league limps us through the down periods with free agency, or mini-camps,
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Like most weeks here at Cup Check, there's no shortage of fodder. It seems like everywhere you look there's a new story to be had that's perfect for this space. Headlines like "Star receiver stabbed by wife, blames vase," "Haynesworth uses waitress' rack as credit card swiper," "NCAA says
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In the time since that interview I've applauded and backslapped Hell's Kitchen too many times to count. For plenty of the club's nine years, I credited the Kitchen for Tacoma's musical resurgence any chance I got. I was just happy to have a place to write about
Music
I literally did a double take. Looking at the show poster for this Saturday night at Hell's Kitchen, one thing floored me more than anything else. It's especially impressive considering the bill - featuring Zeke, the Lemons (yes, THE the Lemons), Poppa Wheelie (yes, THE Poppa Wheelie) and Mahnhammer -
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Usually here at Cup Check the recipe is fairly straightforward; you know what to expect. I spend about 45 minutes wading through sports stories (usually) written by real journalists, about dumb and/or funny things that have recently happened in the world of athletics. Then I highlight the dumbest and/or
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LA Guns will be around long after the rest of us are dead. The band is like a hair metal cockroach, somehow able to survive anything - nuclear Armageddon, plague, famine and, apparently, changing tastes. LA Guns made it big in the '80s, and has managed to live on despite
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE After taking a short, one-week hiatus so the Volcano's Brett Cihon could whore the Tacoma Rainiers coverage we have planned this year, Cup Check is back ... better than ever! Actually, that's not true. Not much has changed since the last Cup Check column. Sure, the woman at the wrong
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Weed really doesn't need a holiday. I don't mean to come off like a dick, but it just doesn't. People who are serious about weed celebrate all the time - sometimes in the shed while their wife thinks they're working on the lawnmower. How do I know such things? I
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Perhaps the most anti-climatic justified crucifixion of a disgraced athlete in the history of mankind is happening in a San Francisco courtroom as you read this. Do you care? Probably not. And why would you? It's also probably the most pointless spectacle since this year's NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Though
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When I lived in Olympia, my next door neighbor was a delightful woman named Diana, who like clockwork every morning (read: afternoon - I was in college) would gently strum a massive and beautiful harp in her living room. The calming and angelic sounds wafting into my bedroom and helping
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As I've mentioned before, Tacoma's Osama Bin Rockin did not win "Best Band Name" in the 2010 Weekly Volcano Best of Tacoma poll. That's unfortunate, because they probably should have. But there's always this year. Sure, there are some pretty sick-ass band names out there, some fairly memorable monikers, but
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE So, the time has come for another installment of Cup Check ... Timeout! Oh, wait! They're not giving it to me ... Crap. Seems the referee made it to five. Looks like I'll just have to lose possession of this column right off the bat and deal with it. Talk about
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The safe assumption would be punk and bluegrass don't mix. In fact, one might go as far as to suggest the two genres should avoid each other at all costs - with punk likely to kick bluegrass's ass if the two were to cross paths, or bluegrass likely to loose
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE The excitement you sense all around you isn't exclusively a result of the Weekly Volcano's Tournament of Pizza. Actually, there's a pretty big college basketball tournament kicking off ... a little something known as March Madness. Naturally, I jest. Even the deaf, dumb and blind (looking at you, Tommy!) have
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE If there's one thing an NFL off-season plotline needs, as we've learned from a certain penis-texting Wranglers model, it's the unique intrigue of an aging former great coming out of retirement. Seriously, what would we all do without it? Luckily, we won't have to find out until next year at
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As much as a non-mainstream, somewhat fledgling all-ages venue in Tacoma can, the Peabody Waldorf is killing it right now - booking show after show of pure awesomeness. And - perhaps more importantly - the venue is providing yet another place for fostering Tacoma's burgeoning arts and indie music scenes;
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Who said the post-football void would be desperate and lonely? Who said there'd be no action? Who said we'd starve from boredom? This week Cup Check had plenty to choose from, from doughboy cheerleaders to dead owls. But, to mix things up, let's start things off the same place as everyone
