ONE WAY TO GET YOUR DRINK ON >>>

Remember five years ago when the media were predicting the rise of white trash culture? Well, that was before the real estate crash, which forced some of us to live in trailer parks, not joke about them. So perhaps the whole white trash chic just hits too close to home these days.

The Backstage Bar & Grill has given this market a home. Every Monday night, while DJ Lo spins Top 40, the Sixth Avenue rock club offers $5 40-ounce PBRs, $2 wells, $3 domestic pitchers, $1 Hamm's drafts, $2 mac and cheese and $5.95 steak dinners under the banner White Trash Mondays.

Backstage Bar & Grill

6409 Sixth Ave., Tacoma

LINK: Maybe you'll see these people there tonight

WE SCENE IT >>>

Weekly Volcano photographer Steve Dunkelberger grabbed some great pictures at Friday's wacky Artifakt show at Hell's Kitchen. Some of the pics are posted on this page. The rest are in our Photo Hot Spot here.

While there was a good mix of dudes and dudettes, we couldn't help but notice most of the guys stayed in the music room ... where the live body painting was going down. Sip, sip, sip off the Pabst can, quick glace toward the nudity, sip, sip, nod the head toward the band, sip, sip, glance at the nudity - it was almost an aerobic activity.

Ignoring the long gaps between acts, and the long line at the booze counter due to the body painting blocking the upper level bar, it was a fun, wacky night.

Body painting in the upper level

Stoned Evergreen Traveler

Friends

Elbow Coulee

Gritty City Sirens

Pioneers West

Cheers!

LINK: Photo Hot Spot for more pics

TUESDAY NIGHT TEAM TRIVIA >>>

At a typical trivia night one sits around drinking beer, occasionally feeling really smart, and mostly feeling pretty stupid. It's like your average night of drinking, but you can blame the game instead of your social skills. Every Tuesday night, Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue draws a mixed crowd to its trivia night, although the crowd generally has the same interests as Farrelli's posts the night's trivia topic on its Facebook. Last Tuesday's movie trivia session was hot with the younger set.

The cool thing about Farrelli's trivia night is they design it to be interactive and social with a team concept rather than a bury your head into a ballot sort of thing.

Trivia Night

9 p.m. Tuesdays, gift certificate awards
Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza
3518 Sixth Ave., Tacoma
253.759.1999

LINK: More photos in the Photo Hot Spot

WE SCENE IT >>>

By 1 a.m. last night, the rowdies and chit-chatters in Tacoma had begun to thin. My night began at before Martyr Machine inside Hell's Kitchen, then progressed to the Gruv Lounge for DJ1, AC/DC tribute band Soul Stripper at the Backstage Bar & Grill and ending with Kry at The Swiss. I came up short on the phone numbers, although I met a charming lass at the Backstage - until her roommate yanked her away for last call down the street. Oh well, enjoy the photos I snapped during my journey.

Martyr Machine at Hell's Kitchen
Gruv Lounge

Soul Stripper at Backstage Bar & Grill

Backstage Bar & Grill

Kry at The Swiss

LINK: More photos from last night

WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE UNICORN SPORTS BAR >>>

Bartenders can make or break a bar. The Unicorn Sports Bar sits in the former category. The folks who hang at the Ruston watering hole do so because of bartender Darrell. He seems to know all of his customers and what they drink. He is Johnny Hustle with those bottles and taps. Added to that, the DJ music, mixed age and race crowd and the way-too-good for-bar-food eats on the menu make this a hole in the wall worth navigating the neighborhood to find it.

[Unicorn Sports Bar, 5302 N. 49th St., Ruston, 253.752.5939]

Tahee Reece

Freddie Ravenell and Jimmy Oquist

DJ Tim Wallen

LINK: More photos of the night

TACOMA, APRIL 9, 2011 >>>

Can you hear it?

Chicka now chicka gna gnow.

Wait, that sounds like porn star opening scene.

Boom bap boom bap ...

Seeing live bands like the ones this post – in all their abstract beauty or brutal frankness – helped reintroduce me to why I dug music so much to begin with. For so many musicians (and some fans) music can be exhausting, all-consuming. But I've discovered music as a vital part of the larger equation, the equation of life, art, love, sex, death, and fancy footwear. Even if a lot of it is just rock 'n' roll, it's all part of something bigger. It depends, I suppose, on how you live your life. It depends on how you listen.

Big Wheel Stunt Show at The New Frontier Lounge

Dudley Taft at Jazzbones

Jeff Ferrel at O'Malley's Irish Pub

The Shivering Denizens at O'Malley's Irish Pub

The Plastards at The Acme Grub Cage

Twink The Wonder Kid at The Acme Grub Cage

LINK: Jump in the game

WE SCENE IT >>>

This isn't your typical Saturday night in The BullWheel Pub & Grill at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. The ski bum vibe has been transformed. Wind burns and bright ski jackets give way to the racier imagery of thongs and bras befitting the night's theme. The music is rocking. But the real difference goes beyond the watering hole's ambience. It's not often you see this much leather in one place. The crowd ranges from sexy to odd, but decidedly intriguing.

Some who pass through the bar's doors appear to have arrived by accident, figuring it to be an average, perhaps even quiet night to get a drink. Ironically, these otherwise nondescript would-be patrons are the ones who stand out for the moment, awkwardly camouflaged in their ski hat plainness against a landscape of decadence personified. The energy continues to build into a full-blown, raging party. And for those who  find thrill in the act of people watching, there's no better venue than this.

Welcome to Dirt Bag Ball. 

For some, it was about the fashion this past Saturday night; getting to wear something out of the ordinary;  enjoying the tactile sensation of dirty or racy clothing against the skin. Obviously, there's a certain mystique or thrill in wearing rock star or groupie attire. For others, it was about the music, as the theme for this 10^th annual event was Rockers and Rockettes. It was a de facto meeting place for those who like the sleazy '70s, '80s glam, and grungy '90s. The rock, New Wave and metal covers by band One-Eye Jack were as inseparable from the scene as the form-fitting corset.

For still others, like the dude who wore an empty Pabst half-rack box on his head, or the dude who dressed as Angus Young, or the chick dressed as Madonna who wouldn't stay off the band's stage, it was about partying to the extreme.

My wife, Kate, and I attended this year's Dirt Bag Ball sandwiched between two days of awesome powder. It was the best night of people watching I've experienced in a while. And the $25 ticket benefitted the Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol education fund.

We'll be back.

LINK: More photos from the night

AND THE AWARD GOES TO >>>

As we previously wrote here, last night was the inaugural Tacoma Metal Awards show, which consumed Hell's Kitchen in downtown Tacoma. Congratulations to Unhailoed who took home the title of Tacoma's hard rocking band. The metal band won by a 170 ballot spread over second place.

Here are a few shots of winning band Unhailoed.

LINK: More shots of the night

LINK: Unhailoed on Facebook

OPENING NIGHT >>>

O'Malley's Irish Pub's inaugural Open Stage Mondays night saw a stack of solid talent and a light crowd. Hosted by the female duo Sevens Revenge, the all-acoustic open mic night witnessed rappers, folk songsters, cover acts - and original artists trying out new stuff. Kyle Dufault just happen to stop by and heard the music. He came in and found himself on stage with a borrowed guitar, smacking it like it owned him money. Toss in the working-class crowd of PBR regulars and casual date-night couples and the scene was set.

Open Stage Mondays runs 8:30-11:30 p.m. every Monday with no cover charge. As an added bonus O'Malley's throws in $3 craft beers and $5 hot wings.

Kyle Dufault was strolling by and found himself on stage.

Robo Repp, Emily Strom and Robbie Wirth

Lisa Brown takes a shot on her birthday as Jesseka Bethke watches.

LINK: More photos of the night

O'Malley's Irish Pub

2403 Sixth Ave., Tacoma
253.383.3144

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE >>>

Do the early-workweek doldrums have you down? Feeling a little groove sensation rising in your blood? Sounds like dance-party time to us. Head over to Magoo's Annex right now for their new Micro Monday's with Dj Melodica aka John Hodgson. He'll be spinning out an ear- and an ass-ful of great punk, post punk, New Wave, early electronica, psychedelia, garage - basically everything but the kitchen sink. It's every Monday at 8 p.m. thing so hit it up tonight. Who really cares if you have poli sci at 8 a.m.?

Magoo's Annex

2710 N. 21st St., Tacoma
253.759.0467