Tuesdays are game night at Meconi's, with the hostess with the mostest Renee Seamount calling the shots. While bingo is always an option, game nights can often venture into the back room for some air hockey bouts, pool sharking or dart chucking. Whatever the masses desire is up for debate in this democratic world of barstool game playing.
Oh the tales of being a bar owner. The night started out at the Tempest for a little live music in this charming little watering hole. But the legal-eagle owner canceled toe duo on deck after the under-age songstress of the group was spotted chugging down a beer after the band pulled up ... right outside the bar. In case any bands are wondering, that is a huge no-no. Huge. Like, Grand Canyon huge. These sorts of stories make it all too clear why the Tempest is up for sale.
So then it was off to O'Malley's to catch Source in Code to support my Lakes High School alum brothers. The band has sort of an experimental grunge meets progressive rock sound that involves a bit of yelling. The band was on the bottom of the lineup that also included Digital Chemistry, Bone Cave Ballet and Marching Mind.
The crowd was a mix of aging punk rockers and wanna-be rockers with their tattooed girlfriends downing PBR like it was a house party before prom night.
Trivia nights in waterholes around the 253 are fairly commonplace. Attendance levels are made and broken by what the host brings to the experience. Some game hosts spend hours on collecting the questions in efforts to stump the pint-chugging experts. Others mix it up a bit. Question-maker and Oddio Puget Sound founder Aaron Whitfeldt does a bit of both and adds his own twist by tossing in a bit of audience participation in the process. He holds court at the Trivia Nights at the Swiss Pub on Tuesday nights.
The losing team at the end of the night gets to pick one of the categories for one of the rounds the following week. Whitfeldt also has an identify the "celebrity" photo round that is a further twist on the trivia landscape.
Players pay $2 each and can form teams of up to seven people. The winning team splits the pot at the end of the night, while a handful of month-long "championship tournaments" dot the calendar as well just to keep thing interesting.
The New Frontier Lounge was the place to be Friday night if you were searching for all things indie rock that doesn't suck. Because, let's face it, it often does since 'independent' has become a euphemism for making 'music' while living in your parents garage alongside an Atari game system and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.
New on the scene was People under the Sun, with its keyboard duo, while Still Caves brought in an energetic drummer turned vocalist. I Like Science mixed up the scene with keyboard, drums, vocals and bass. Rounding out the night was the Nightgowns with just plain lyrical goodness as it always does.
What made the night particularly unique was not the crowd of sweaty bodies grooving to the tunes but the apparent glaucoma convention that made the New Frontier its bar of choice to take their medical marijuana doses in the restrooms. It was good to see so many patients out and about with their bags of medication at hand.
The third annual Downtown Block Party took over Opera Alley on Saturday for all things fun and family. Well, mostly, there was a beer garden after all. There was face painting and hop scotch and rock music and games of four square. There was chalk arting and mural painting. There was beer and there were laughs, all for free. And never underestimate the power of goofy hats and feather boas to get the party started. And of course, there was the Sonics Guy.
Gone are the days of rock bands with massive walls of hair thrashing around and their bass player stretches his tight spandex pants to mundane lyrics about lost love and fights.. Oh what, never mind. The Backstage Bar and Grill hosted Hairstorm, cover band that brings the standard 80s "hair band" music back to the stage. On this list were Guns and Roses, Poison and their brothers in arms. The band is part tribute, part spoof in a Spinal Tap sort of way, but the music was ... well, all things spandex rock.
Music and Art in Wright Park did not disappoint this Saturday, with its great weather and roster of mostly Tacoma talent on the stage. The day offered rock-n-roll and alternative pop music on the harder edge of the spectrum, but that didn't keep rockers young and old from doing their dancing thing. On deck was: Trashholes, Centre Cannot Hold, Rusty Cleavers, 13 Scars, Mos Generator, CFA, Girl Trouble, Jilly Rizzo, Humble Cub, Plastards, Walking Papers, Dignitaries, Big Wheel Stunt Show and Fun Police. What made it decidedly Tacoma was that there were no fights or arrests or pot vendors, and the place was spotlessly clean as the sun set over the trees.
Tacoma's own Heather Hostility, of Gritty City Sirens fame, won the Rebel Riot Queen pinup contest at the Rebel Riot car show at the New Frontier this weekend. The contest was brought to Tacoma by The Pinup Angels, the nonprofit gaggle of hotties with the mission of sending car packages to deployed soldiers.
The car show included a host of pre-1965 European hotrods and motorcycles.
A who's who of Tacoma's gritty city scene came to pay homage to the queen bee on her wedding. But to be clear, Dagmar Peterson and Damien Simard actually got secretly hitched May 1. It just took since then to plan the party. There was all things Tacoma at Weddingocalypse. The house party off Sixth Avenue had PBR on tap, Rainier in cans, a three-legged dog with its own Facebook page, a bouncy house, torn punk rock shirts, black leather jackets and multi-colored hair alongside grilled pork, princess dresses and boots. Lots and lots of boots.
It was a day-long affair that brought artists, musicians, film makers, groupies and closet punk rockers in ties. Ok, maybe that was just me. Good times Tacoma, good times.
Kry, recently named the best cover band in Tacoma, did their thing at Jazzbones Thursday, as they have since Noah finished his ark. The show never fails to deliver energy and swaying hips, which are often "covered" by snug mini skirts, or spray-on jeans. That fact makes Kry's time on stage almost like background music to the anthropological research opportunities people can have just by watching the mating rituals play out time and again.
The Grand Cinema had a grand weekend indeed, with back-to-back sold out shows of its inaugural Grindhouse Theater horror film series.
On tap for both nights was a screening of a 33 mm version of "Evil Dead," a cult classic horror movie that has all the makings of gory wonderfulness.
Ghouls and gals traveled from as far away as Portland, Aberdeen and Bellingham for the screenings as well as participate in the raffle.
The monthly series will continue Aug. 24-24, with a rare screening of a 35mm print version of Lamberto Bava's 1985 classic, "Demons," an Italian gore fest about demonic hell let loose on an unlucky audience in a old movie theater.
A special treat both nights will include a Skype conversation with actress Geretta Rosemary, who will talk about the movie and all things gross.
September's offering will be the zombie classic, "The Return of the Living Dead," just in time for the Tacoma Zombie Festerval and Preparedness Expo 2012.
The Grindhouse after party was held at Puget Sound Pizza, which dished up "Pizzanomicon," an evil smiley face plate of pizza awesomeness.
Louiefest 2012 kicked off Friday night at the Pantages Theater with an epic show of old-school rock and roll, courtesy of Tacoma's legendary band "The Sonics," with "Stars of Bombay" and "Dead Man" getting the mixed-ages crowd warmed up with some driving beats and wicked guitar licks.
The lesson learned at that concert was simple. Gray haired folks can rock harder than younger folks, although the young pups on the stage, Stars of Bombay, brought their A game much to the delight of the aging rockers in the cheap seats. This is a band to watch with is mix of classic rock jams and modern edge, albeit in straight-from-Liverpool attire.
Of course, the "Sonics Guy" was there waving his freak flag to get the area an NBA basketball team.
Booking a last minute weekday show can be a crap shoot when it comes audiences, or lack thereof. Tacoma's Halcion Halo came up short on that front at its gig Wednesday night at Jazzbones when it opened for Spokane-based Van Marter Project. The throngs of people, ok maybe a dozen rockers, came out for the free show, but that just means the rest of Tacoma missed out on a great show of hard-driving local rock, which played more like a jam among friends. Fans can expect another Halcion CD in a few months and a few gigs around Puget Sound through the summer.
This year's Art on the Ave provided a perfect mix of music and art and weather that neither rained or baked the asphalt. There were young bands and old bands, face painting and ice cream, beer gardens and wine tastings as well as henna and all things WTF at Poison Apple's booth. And of course, there was the Sonics Guy waving his flag and flashing is colors.
South Sound musicians held a proper wake for the Mandolin Cafe at the Tacoma music and sandwich shop's last open mic on Sunday.
A who's who of Tacoma's music scene was there to say fairwell to the place that gave most of them their first time at a live microphone that wasn't located in their garages.
In just the first hour of performances, more than 30 musicians has added their names to the play list, and the night grew from there as seats filled up and standing room was even at a premium.
Denny Foreman, the open mic emcee for the last year and a half, was nostalgic throughout the night.
"There have been a lot of really good musicians come through here," he said. "Hopefully, we can all stay connected."
The set list included the likes of KC. Brakes, Rafael Tranquilino, Gina Belliveau and Jeff Ross, who did a folk version of Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" that was surprisingly cool.
The eighth annual Urban Art Festival 2012 came and went last weekend, celebrating all things Tacoma June 30-July 1 along Thea Foss Waterway. On tap, along with brews at the beer garden, were art stands, mini storefronts and music. Lots and lots of music that included a hip hop stage, an arcade courtesy of Dorky's and a main stage that offered musical acts from Purdy Spit and the Foxhole Whores as well as a roster of other local bands playing along the waterway. Another attraction was the BMX ramp that rocketed bike riders well into the air as viewers awed.
