Guides
If you are reading this and find yourself asking, "Who the fuck is Jerry Ziegler?" I can only recite the immortal words of Jeffrey Lebowski: "Obviously, you're not a golfer." If you don't know Ziegler, you don't know downtown. Ziegler is the absolute embodiment of the rock-and-roll lifestyle ethos that many purport to
Guides
In a town like Olympia that has a coffee shop or Asian food restaurant every 10 steps, a couple of the more highly contested awards handed out in this year's Best of Olympia Readers' Poll figured to be Best Barista and Best Thai Food. Apparently to our readership, however, there was
Columns
This election cycle has brought out some of the most low-down, dirty, despicable cases of shit-talking we've seen since iCON The Mic King knocked Copywrite's ass out cold in front of a hundred spectators at Scribble Jam following its world famous MC Battle. With that in mind, we felt it
Columns
Let's get this out in the open right now: I don't think either of the liquor privatization initiatives (I-1100, I-1105) are very good. Both of them are open-ended and loosely drafted (almost like rush jobs), but they do directly address a number of concerns - mainly Washington's budget woes and
Columns
Is not trusting the Washington State Legislature in the future enough reason to continue the legacy of suffering and tax inequality now? Proverbs 14:31 "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Despite what you may or may not have discerned
Columns
So, stop me if you've heard this one before: I have a friend who calls me crazy. For the past three years I've left Washington around the end of spring for the cooler confines of Western Alaska. In June and July, the Sockeye Salmon run wild and run big, and on
Greenville
Instead of meeting for a PBR like we usually do, we hop in the car and cruise up Olympia's Westside hill. We're food co-op bound. After narrowly avoiding a gaggle of protesters in black, we make it to our destination - sharing the parking lot with soccer-mom Subarus, band vans,
We Recommend
Oliver Doriss' Fulcrum Gallery has already distinctly set itself apart from other galleries in the Tac/Oly corridor. It has done so by doing what good art galleries do - take chances. Too many "art galleries" seem to be a front for Northwest landscape watercolor copycats whose only risk-taking involves staying
Columns
"What a fabulous day here in Thunderdome, Don!" "Boy, you are right about that, Ted." "Well, let's check back in on the action on the floor, Don. It's day 642 of the special session, with the Majority Democrats still unable to agree on a tax plan." "You can say that again, Ted. I've
We Recommend
Olympia is a rock town. Plain and simple. Sure, we've got all kinds of cross-genre music, from sexy electro laptop folk punk to AARP sponsored state worker blues rock bands, but quintessentially - downtown Olympia belongs to rock and roll. Enter Milk Music, quite possibly the closest thing to Boston's
Columns
Spring is here, my friends. Sprung, if you will. Teehehee ... Being the Pacific Northwest, April showers make way for May showers and flowers which then become June showers - and so on and so on. Sometimes, on days like today, golden rays peer out of the clouds, and we
We Recommend
Ross Cowman is a humble tour-de-force to say the least. He has been quietly spearheading a huge folk movement in the underground scene in Olympia. His upstart label, Bicycle Records, has been dropping phenomenal releases for the past five years, including such acts as Polka Dot Dot Dot, Eleanor Murray,
Columns
I've been thinking a lot about our future lately. Last night I even watched a movie about killer robots in the future. Oh, to believe in such a simple world of survival, not this over-complicated charade we've manufactured for ourselves called "Modern Civility." Needless to say, it's been very hard
Columns
Sometimes I think Driscoll just might be up to something. What? Well, it probably involves an armada of pushpins and a Jay Cutler voodoo doll, but who knows. Recently, however, there have been little twinges of my own self-realization that have come on the heels of his curious insights and editorial actions
Columns
OK. So I watched Zombieland this week. It's awesome. Haven't seen it? Watch it. I've also been reading some short stories about zombies that a surgical technician friend of mine let me borrow. A friend with medical knowledge, well-informed on zombie evading, is always welcome on my team. This fact,
Columns
Man, what a week here at Moral Void Headquarters in the Puritanical Olympia sunshine. What a great time to be alive. Where else can you watch it all go down the tubes so hilariously for everyone but Meth-Based Life Forms? This week, I want to give a big shout out to
Features
Recently, I called up my lovely ex, a legislative assistant and political insider who I remain on good terms with. She's a fiery, sassy mess, and we made for a good duo at one point, but now we saunter our separate paths through the same halls of power both just
Columns
EL VACIO MORAL: Owen Taylor's weekly legislative recap What a wonderful week to bear witness to the absolute clusterfuck that is the Washington State Legislature. All in all, this was a showcase of arrogance, starring a cavalcade of bumbling boobs and jokers - and all of it on our dime (we,
Columns
So there was a bit of newsworthy action up on the hill this week. Here at El Vacio Moral Headquarters, we've decided it best to give you a quick rundown on what happened in this political milieu we call a state government - and what's probably going to happen next
Special Report
There is a timeless myth synonymous with Trickster. Trickster goes by many names. The native peoples of America sometimes called him Raven or Coyote. Coyote was a wily drifter, a keen imitator. He was sometimes referred to as "the one without a way." There are many stories about his aimless
