Music
Spending a day with Josh Rizeberg is like a box of chocolates ... no. ... Spending a day with Josh Rizeberg is like watching two wolverines fight in a sleeping bag ... no. ... Spending a day with Josh Rizeberg is like peeing in the hot tub while the ghost
Music
It's late in the afternoon on a recent Sunday and Ra Scion (of Common Market fame) and I are finishing up a session with DJ Phinisey at his East Tacoma studio, Remedy Recordings. As he is putting his jacket on, Scion inquires about a song of mine, "I Know Better,"
Scene It
"This is the place to come to and get drunk when you're 21 and trying to get laid," says an attractive middle-aged woman waiting next to me at the bar. Yahtzee! Right when I think Tacoma's running out of proper meat markets, this is the first thing I overhear at Masa
Ragnet
In every issue of this fine rag the Volcano's hack team of wannabe journalists some of the most laughable criminal acts that have recently happened in our area. Then - if we're doing our job - we write about those crimes in a way that makes you chuckle, or at
We Recommend
The Grand Cinema's Oscar Party festivities begin at 4 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 27 - one hour before the televised red carpet coverage. Some among us will ogle the brands and fabrics enveloping the VIPs entering the Kodak Theatre. Others may want to satisfy an intellectual curiosity
Arts
An Oscar party hosted by The Grand Cinema. "A contradiction in terms!" you, Perceptive Reader, exclaim. "Our quaint and unassuming town's quaint and unassuming oasis for independent film raising a champagne flute to the Hollywood machine's 83rd annual love-in? Pure poppycock!" Oh pish to your overcritical airs and overindulgence in adjectives!
We Recommend
There's plenty of speculation, but who'll be left holding the Oscars in Hollywood on Sunday night is still a mystery. In Olympia, though, anyone who attends the Olympia Film Society's Oscar Party can lay hands on - and be photographed with - a real Oscar. Hosted by pianist-actor-director-composer Josh Anderson, the party
Attractions
Nothing quite warms up a chilly December evening like a Christmas light display. Stroll or drive through the lights, admire the setups, which usually include some animated displays (a surefire hit with the kiddies) and sip on some hot chocolate as you go. If the weather is clear, head for
Food Matters
HEAT AND EAT: Firemen are hot. Running through blazing infernos, saving babies while sweat drips off their rippling muscles. Nothing wrong with conjuring up that image at least a couple times a day. Engine House No. 9 (611 N. Pine St., Tacoma) can't guarantee you babe-tastic firemen, but they do
Sipping Out
Thursday, Feb. 24 Fess Parker Winery tasting, 5:30-8 p.m., complimentary, Pour at Four, 3814 N. 26th St., Tacoma, 253.761.8015. Half-price wine, all night, Harmon Tap Room, 204 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.212.2725. $3 Thursdays: $3 beer, $3 wells, $3 for two hot dogs, 4 p.m. to close, Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma,
Guides
>>> BEST DIVE ON FOURTH AVE. McCoy's Tavern There is no shortage of dive bars in our fair city. There's no shortage of dives on Fourth Avenue, either. The Clipper, the 4th Ave. Tav, the Eastside - plenty to pick from. But which dive is king? Friendly bartenders, stiff, stiff drinks and
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
Guides
I'd never set foot in Lacey's Tofu Hut until you selected it Best Restaurant of the Year. I'll be honest: it was the name. I've never been a huge fan of tofu, and I don't expect killer cuisine from a hut. Even numerous recommendations from colleagues, in print and in
Guides
Thank you to all who took the time to vote in our Best of Olympia 2011 Readers' Poll. You are the best. Best Restaurant: Tofu Hut Best Bartender: Janelle O’Leary, The Vault Best Happy Hour: The Brotherhood Best Pizza: Oldschool Pizzeria Best Burger: Eagan’s Big Tom Drive Inn Best Thai Food:
Stage
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Tacoma Musical Playhouse is cute and lighthearted musical comedy. Written by Jeremy Sams and Ray Roderick, with music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, it is based on the movie starring Dick Van Dyke as the eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts (played
Advice Goddess
QUESTION: One year ago, I was engaged to a wonderful man I'd been with for four years. I loved him deeply, he was everything I thought I wanted, and his family was my family. Two months before our wedding, a dear male friend of mine confessed his love for me.
Music
It seems like just yesterday that Tacoma was called upon to attend an overabundance of rock shows (oh, the burden!) for a good cause. Come to think of it, while I'll readily admit it was most certainly not yesterday, it really was not that long ago that we bandied around
Arts
Seattle-based artists Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace have been working collaboratively for almost 40 years, and in that time they have compiled a major body of work that can be seen for the first time in a career-spanning exhibition. Their collaboration started at Pilchuck Glass School in 1979. Their first
Music
I think it's safe to say that the majority of the films of John Hughes found their success and their long-lasting nostalgic value through their impeccable usage of music. Movies like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club are passably surface-examining studies of teenage life, more comfortable dealing
Features
This week ... Place: Alfred's Cafe and Bubble Room Originally named: Bill & Ted's Restaurant, Cafe and Tavern (1930s) Adopted current name: Late 1950s Daytime bartender: Scott Wright Evening bartender: Kali Happy hour: 4-7 p.m. Open for: Breakfast, lunch, dinner Bubbles seen: Only in our beer Beers consumed: Two each Parking lot: Resembles a pack of sardines Melanie Manista-Rushforth (of Rushforth