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March 17, 2010 at 8:12am

Thinking green in Tacoma

MAKE A DAY OF IT >>>

St. Patrick's Day is my favorite holiday. First, because green is my favorite color - and incidentally, with my coloring, I look pretty damn good in it. Second, because I fear snakes, and St. Patrick is famous for ridding Ireland of the scaly critters.

You can probably come up with better reasons to celebrate St. Patrick's Day; one of them should be the food and drink that go along with the holiday.

The downtown Tacoma Cutters Point coffee joint have drawn shamrocks on many of their 12-ounce coffee lids. If you order a 12-ounce drink, and you see the green thing on the lid, the drink is free.

Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub in downtown Tacoma will host dancers from the Comeford School of Irish Dance for a little Irish stepdancing, as well as a bunch ol' Irish live music. They'll swing open the doors at 9 a.m.

His name is Charlie McManus. And he knows Irish food. The chef/co-owner of Primo Grill and the Crown Bar has Irish stew with house-made soda bread, colcannon, champ and Guinness-braised lamb shanks on both menus today, among many other tasty items. He also has Red Breast 12 Year whiskey sitting on his bar shelves.

The Old House Café in the Proctor District has lamb stew, corned beef and cabbage on its menu today.

Doyle's Public House will open at 6 a.m. for those who want to get a jump on the day. Live music will start at 3 p.m. and run nonstop until midnight. Ockham's Razor doing most the work, but Pierce County Firefighter's Pipes & Drums will be helping out.

In regards to music, The McKassons are at the Mandolin Café at 7 p.m.; Mooncoyne at The Spar in Old Town at 7 p.m., The Fun Police and Ten Miles of Bad Road will play Irish sets at O'Malley's Irish Pub starting at 8 p.m.; and the rest are listed in our music calendar.

LINK: Or you could just escape it all and go to the movies

Filed under: Food & Drink, Music, Holidays, Tacoma,

March 17, 2010 at 8:09am

5 Things To Do: St. Patrick's Day, progressive dinner, climbing ...

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010 >>>

1. It's St. Patrick's Day. Time to party.

2. The Pierce County Arts and Cultural Planning Community Forum will gather opinions at 4:30 p.m. inside the Soundview Building. Go help plan the arts.

3. Screw green beer; let's climb a wall at 5:30 p.m. inside the Centre at Norpoint.

4. The Sixth Avenue Progressive Dinner visits 6 Olives, Origin 23 and Studio 6 Ballroom at 5:30, 6:15 and 7 p.m. Dance to jazz and blues by Maia Santell & House Blend from 7:30-10:30 p.m. at Studio 6. Reserve your spot here. 

5. The Fort Steilacoom Choir and Olympic College Chamber Choir joins the Pierce College Concert Band in Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms" and Smith's "Don Quixote Symphony #3" at 7:30 p.m. inside the Lagerquist Concert Hall at PLU.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

March 16, 2010 at 7:38pm

Free music for your thoughts

THEIR INVENTION >>>

GreySlade Music's Chad Hagedorn (The Happy Vanishing) and John Walker (John Walker and the Hitchhikers) wrote and produced the art rock/sci-fi folk album The Measurement Problem as a force known as My Own Invention.

And they want feedback.

Download The Measurement Problem here. Listen to the "musical journey down a rabbit hole which will assuredly entertain and stimulate" as they describe it. Then send them your thoughts on the album.

Some early reviews are in:

"The album is simply wonderful - I haven't heard it yet, but I know it's simply wonderful!" - John's Mom

"They're such nice boys!" - Chad's Mom

Filed under: Music, Tacoma, Tightwad,

March 16, 2010 at 3:39pm

Memorial show for Robbie Jordan

Robbie Jordan, left, is seen here playing in the Lloyd Jones Struggle.Photo courtesy of robbiejordan.com

ROBBIE JORDAN RIP >>>

This past Saturday sax man Robbie Jordan was found dead in his car.  While the cause is still a mystery, it is still a big blow to blues fans in the Northwest and beyond.

I first met Jordan in the early 1980s. At the time he was blowing sax with the Dick Powell Band alongside the late Rich Dangle of The Fabulous Wailers. It was through my connection to Jordan that piqued the interest of my father, guitarist Little Bill. Only a few weeks after they met, the duo - along with drummer Tommy Morgan, B3 virtuoso Buck England, Dangle and newcomer trombonist Randy Oxford — were in the studio recording a demo. Jordan's arrangements, coupled with my dad's songwriting, helped give the band - the Bluenotes - instant success. It still remains my father's favorite version of the band.

The band took home countless Washington Blues Society BB Awards, and played an average of 150 gigs a year.

Read more...

Filed under: Music,

March 16, 2010 at 10:32am

Art Bus: I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it

THIRD THURSDAY ARTWALK ON A BUS >>>

Every Third Thursday ArtWalk participant has had that Moment. The Moment you know you will look back on six months (or a year, or 10 years) from now and laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh, just laugh hysterically that you couldn't find the Tollbooth Gallery, or that you got lost on one of the 14 floors inside Sanford and Son, or that you had to lie down on the sidewalk due to fatigue halfway up to the Fulcrum Gallery on Hilltop.

Or maybe you don't laugh. Maybe you're an ArtWalk hatter because of the Moment.

Angela Jossy of the Speakeasy Arts Cooperative wants to eliminate the Moment. She wants to make it easier for you to enjoy the Walk.

She has a bus.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: So you have an ArtWalk Bus.

ANGELA JOSSY: Yup, I'm organizing an ArtWalk tour via bus Thursday night beginning at 6 p.m. at the Speakeasy. The "Art Bus" will hit Embellish Multispace Salon, Tacoma Art Place, Fulcrum Gallery, 253 Collective and Mad Hat Tea Company before dropping everyone off at the Rialto Theater at 8 p.m. Next month we will add more stops, make two round trips and have it running three or four hours instead of two. I want to start with a more modest plan on this first attempt.

VOLCANO: Steph DeRosa isn't driving, is she?

Read more...

Filed under: Arts, Music, Tacoma,

March 16, 2010 at 7:26am

5 Things To Do: "Bestsellers," book discussions, jazz jam ...

"Bestsellers"

TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010 >>>

1. Bestsellers - the independent film that was written, shot, edited and produced entirely in Tacoma - will screen at 6:45 p.m. inside The Grand Cinema. A Q&A session with writer and editor Rick Gratzer about the film and production process will follow the screening.

2. Author Matt Hern will discuss his book, Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban Future, at 6 p.m. inside Orca Books. It's an engaging look at the future of urban life.

3. The Banned Book Club will discuss Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott and cocktails at 7 p.m. inside the Tempest Lounge.

4. The Urban Onion in Olympia hosts Tough Guys Tuesdays film night at 7 p.m. The action double feature will include drink specials.

5. Kareem Kandi hosts an open jazz jam at 9 p.m. inside SAX Restaurant.

LINK: Music showtimes in the South Sound

March 15, 2010 at 9:54am

MORNING SPEW: The Runaways, Foursquare, national broadband ...

The Runaways, circa 1977

WHAT WE'VE FOUND TODAY >>>

There's a new movie about rockin' '70s teen girl group, The Runaways called The Runaways.

Cellphone app Foursquare, which allows users to broadcast their location and let their friends (or creepy perverts) track their location, attracts at least 1.6 million check-ins per week.

The Weekly Volcano's Music Issue 2010 is now online.

MIT nerds discover new, nano energy source.

Will the national broadband plan come up short?

The battle over internet access.

March 15, 2010 at 7:26am

5 Things To Do: Dana Lupinacci, Lakewood Big Band, "Fresh" ...

Dana Lupinacci

MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 >>>

1. The Dana Lupinacci Band performs blues at 8 p.m. inside The Swiss.

2. Carolyn Burt's Boogie, Blues and all that Jazz paintings are on display at the Proctor Art Gallery from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

3. The Lakewood Big Band will perform music to dance to from 7-9 p.m. inside The Royale Lounge in Olympia. Jazz singer LaVon Hardison will perform after.

4. The movie FRESH - which celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system - will screen for free at 7 p.m. inside the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch.

5. DJ Jason Diamond now spins roots reggae every Monday at 9 p.m. inside O'Malley's Irish Pub.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

March 13, 2010 at 8:42am

5 Things To Do: bicycle booze cruz, MOVE! #16, Donald Glaude ...

SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 2010 >>>

1. The Mob Ride presents "The Great Leprechaun Hunt" - its fourth bicycle booze cruz - pushing off from The Acme Grub Cage at 7:30 p.m. If the past three rides have been any indication you can expect 30-plus riders on a wide variety of bike models visiting four pubs/bars with a traveling distance of 1.5 miles between drinks.

2. The non-profit Tacoma Art Place invites the community in for free art classes from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. During their Community Free Day you may learn about pottery wheels, photography, sewing, making ripped paper collage paintings and much more.  A list of the free art classes can be found here.

3. MOVE! #16 features dancers from Seattle's Spectrum Dance Company, MLKBallet company, Tacoma City Ballet members, and guests Josephine's Echopraxia and the Maureen White Dance Company at 2 and 7 p.m. inside the SOTA Theater. Local musicians Goldfinch, Olivia de la Cruz and Travis Barker and the Black Sails will perform live to several pieces for MLKBallet.

4. Jazzbones presents "A Night With DJ Donald Glaude" with DJs dAb and Haaps beginning at 9 p.m.

5. The Revengers and The Fucking Eagles perform at 9 p.m. inside Doyle's Public House.

LINK: Movie showtimes in the South Sound

Filed under: 5 Things To Do, Arts, Music, Tacoma,

March 12, 2010 at 3:46pm

THE PREFUNK: Doyles and Cult Movie Club

There's nothing Satanic about cats drinking beer.

BRING ON THE WEEKEND >>>

OK, there's something that's been on my mind for a few weeks now, and although I'm not entirely sure The Prefunk is the best place to address it, I'm going to do it anyway.

Surely this revelation will come as no shock to all the Andersons, Smiths, Joneses and Buttafuocos out there - but it really sucks when some douchebag goes out and seriously shits on the credibility of your last name.

Case in point, Mark Driscoll, he of Seattle's Mars Hill Church.


Check out that video and tell me you're not impressed.

Recently, Driscoll made headlines by calling Avatar the "most demonic, satanic film I've ever seen."

That's funny, of course - and Avatar (from what I understand) is basically two hours and 42 minutes of bright blue alien fecal matter thrown onto a giant Megaplex screen - but motherfucker! Not only does Mark Driscoll make people associate my last name with a zany, Jesus-high religo-freak that seriously believes the devil himself has a hand in major Hollywood motion pictures - but his first name starts with M! Just like mine!

This, after all the fine work I've done for the M. Driscolls of the world!

(Refer to Feb. 5's The Prefunk, where I recommended drinking antifreeze for the buzz.)

Anyway, this Mark Driscoll character has really chapped my hide - and surely the hides of other M. Driscolls out there. I'd like to take a moment, before offering my usual, questionable recommendations for you and your liver this weekend, to point out a few differences between Mark Driscoll and myself.

Mark Driscoll: Went to Highline High School in Burien and was student body president and editor of the school newspaper.

Matt Driscoll: Smoked weed at lunch in high school.

Mark Driscoll: Believes the Bible tells us that woman should submit to the leadership of their husbands.

Matt Driscoll: Does whatever his wife tells him to do, and smoked weed at lunch in high school.

Mark Driscoll: Has characterized himself as a "Charismatic Calvinist."

Matt Driscoll: Likes it when Calvin pees on stuff.

Mark Driscoll: Was quoted in Relevant magazine as saying, "In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up."

Matt Driscoll: Once got the shit kicked out of him by Jesus - just wanted to play hacky sack.

Mark Driscoll: Was featured on an ABC debate with Deepak Chopra called "Does Satan Exist?"

Matt Driscoll: Once pretended his name was Deepak Chopra... while smoking weed in high school.

This week's Prefunk:

ZOOK, THE REVENGERS, THE FUCKING EAGLES at DOYLE'S

Saturday, March 13

One of the best bills of the weekend, and also a Prefunk in itself - for St. Paddy's Day. The show Saturday night at Doyle's is the first of many leading up to the most "blacked out on Jameson" day of the year. You can't go wrong with that.

PREFUNK: This is a tricky one, since - technically - you'll be Prefunking for St. Paddy's Day just by attending - making the act of Prefunking for tonight's event the Prefunk for a Prefunk.

Got it?

Anyway, take it easy since the show is sure to be spectacular and you've only got one liver - and St. Paddy's Day is still four days off. Have a bowl of Lucky Charms before heading out and call it good.

TACOMA CULT MOVIE CLUB: HOSTAGES at ACME GRUB CAGE

Sunday, March 14

If you have yet to venture inside the Acme Grub Cage, you're really missing out. If you have yet to check out the Tacoma Cult Movie Club, the same can be said.

Currently focusing on hostage flicks (presumably, films including hostage situations), this week's installment (as always) will start Sunday at 7 p.m. - and is totally free. Come out, have a few beers - and watch cult movies with a group of people just as dorky/and or lonely as you.

PREFUNK: Why not get Sunday evening off to a good start with a little self-grooming? I know, usually when you watch your favorite cult films you're all alone, in your sweats, with a ring of Orville Redenbacher fake butter around your wrist from digging straight into the bag. While this very approach would surely be welcomed at the Acme Grub Cage, why not clean up your act - if only for one night. Slip into your "nice" sweats and hit the town.

See you next week.

Filed under: Tacoma, Music,

About this blog

Spew is a daily blog about the strange South Puget Sound as seen through the eyes and ears of the Weekly Volcano scribes.

Recent Comments

Tony Engelhart said:

MJ, I meant no disrespect to Robbie's education and perhaps "schooled" was the wrong word. My...

about Memorial show for Robbie Jordan

Carol Jensen said:

Our son Jamie studied with Robbie for almost 8 years - from grade school in Marysville through...

about Memorial show for Robbie Jordan

Mick Watson said:

Thank you for this story. I am a 53 year old student and friend of Robbie's. This is a...

about Memorial show for Robbie Jordan

Bob Strickland said:

I met Robbie about 5 years ago, He and Zane Rudolph were playing a casual at the Horseshoe in...

about Memorial show for Robbie Jordan

MJ Gahagan said:

I was privileged to have met Robbie Jordan at a 2009 private holiday jam a few months ago. My...

about Memorial show for Robbie Jordan