The Spew (Weekly Vocano)
Blog posts from Spew Blog
Updated: 43 min 46 sec ago
Garage sale with an artistic twist
Nothing says garage sale season like seven sunny weekends in a row. This Saturday in Olympia, The Patrons of South Sound Cultural Arts (POSSCA), a non-profit supporting kids and culture, presents the Artists' Garage Sale, an art -lovers' extravaganza and fundraising event.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., over 70 participants will have goods for sale. From art supplies to finished pieces, the $1 admission will be well worth it. The event will be at the National Guard Armory at 515 Eastside St, SE, Olympia.
All money earned will support POSSCA's arts awareness mission, including their annual scholarship program, enabling talented high school seniors to pursue higher education in arts, and CAPS program, which provides musical instruments to students who would otherwise be unable to participate in school programs.
"We believe that a thriving arts scene is an excellent barometer for quality of life in our community," says the POSSCA website. "When the arts scene is alive and dynamic, we believe it has a profound and positive impact on education, business and private life."
What an excellent way to spend a sunny Saturday - supporting your local non-profit while sifting through tons of art-related treasures.
For more information, visit www.possca.org.
4 Things to do today, May 15
- Learn how to make a lei. The Asia Pacific Cultural Center, 4851 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, hosts a hands-on workshop from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight. The workshop will introduce you to making a simple crochet lei with eyelash yarn. Cost is $20 and includes all the materials to make a lei. Call (253) 383-3900 for more information or to register.
- Watch Drum Taps: Nine Poems on Themes of War at Pacific Lutheran University's Lagerquist Concert Hall tonight at 8 p.m. The show, by composer Gregory Youtz, is a 55-minute oratorio for four vocal soloists, mixed choir and orchestra. Four poems by Walt Whitman written during the United States' Civil War (1861-65) from his series Drum Taps, written during the Civil War, provide an evolving view of war from an American perspective: from excited anticipation of a quick and heroic experience, to a somber reflection on the human cost of war. Interspersed amongst these are five poems by writers from other lands and other times - perhaps not coincidentally places where the U.S. has been involved in wars: Vietnam, China, the Middle East and Europe. Tickets are $8 for general admission, and the event is free for those 18 and younger. Call (253) 535-7150 for more information.
- Learn how to make salad a dish for dinner from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Olympia. Instructor Leanne Willard prepares four main dish salads that you'll want to serve more than once during the summer months. Her selections include gruyere fondue salad, great on its own or with grilled meats; Thai shredded chicken and strawberry salad with rice noodles; salmon sesame salad with won ton and lemongrass-chile dressing; and Mediterranean barley with chickpeas, pistachios, feta and arugula. The class is held in the Bayview School of Cooking (BSC) demo kitchen on the second floor of Bayview Thriftway, 516 4th Ave W in downtown Olympia. For more information on this event or other classes call (360) 754-1448 or visit www.bayviewschoolofcooking.com.
4. Listen to pianist Angela Hewitt tonight at 8 p.m. at Meany Hall, 4001 University Way N.E., Seattle. Tickets start at $42. For more information, call (206) 543-4880 or visit uwworldse
Drum Taps - Nine Poems on Themes of War
A 55 minute work for four vocal soloists, mixed choir and orchestra. Excerpts from four poems by seminal American poet Walt Whitman from his series Drum Taps, written during the Civil War, provide a changing view of war from a 19th century American perspective: from excited anticipation of a quick and heroic experience, to a somber reflection on the human cost of war. Interspersed amongst these are five poems by writers from other lands and other times- perhaps not coincidentally places where the US has been involved in wars: Vietnam, China, the Middle East and Europe. The vocal soloists for the piece are well-known Puget Sound area singers: Janeanne Houston, soprano, Melissa Plagemann, mezzo soprano, Stephen Rumph, tenor and Barry Johnson, baritone. The Pacific Lutheran University Choir of the West and University Chorale will join the University Symphony Orchestra onstage, directed by Jeffrey Bell-Hanson. Gregory Youtz, Composer. PLU Choirs, Orchestra and Faculty Vocal Soloists. Mozart: Piano Concerto in C Minor, No. 24, Oksana Ezhokina, soloist. For a brief video on the premiere with comments by the composer and orchestra director, please visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9byvIsxJgqQ
- When
- Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
- Where
- Lagerquist Concert Hall
Pacific Lutheran University
12180 Park Street S.
Tacoma, WA 98447
(253) 535-7787 - Contact
- (253) 535-7601, www.plu.edu/soac/focus-series
- Event Hours
- 8 pm
- Event Price
- $3-$8, 18 years and younger Free
The Graphic Novel Book Club
This book club is perfect for people just starting to read graphic novels or confirmed geeks. May's book is Ghost World by Daniel Clowes. Books available for purchase at King's Bookstore. www.kingsbookstore.com. If you're on Facebook, like our Page: www.facebook.com/pages/Graphic-Novel-Capes-Cowls-Book-Club/167851566584786
- Where
- 1022 South lounge
1022 South J Street
Tacoma, WA 98405-4154
(253) 627-8588 - Event Hours
- 7 pm
- Event Price
- Free
All you can eat pancakes
Velkommen! Scrambled eggs, bacon, orange or apple juice, coffee and All you can eat Swedish Pancakes with lingonberry sauce optional. Seriously. Get up and get over to Tacoma's Normanna Hall before 1 p.m.
Sunday in the Park with Tom
On the second Sunday of every month, year-round, The Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma's Wright Park presents music intended to enhance your experience of the Conservatory and of Wright Park. The performers reflect a wide spectrum of musical tastes and the music is intended to appeal to audiences of all ages and sensibilities.Today: The Tom Brooks Trio.
W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory
316 South G Street
Tacoma, WA 98405-4733
(253) 591-5330
- Event Hours
- 1-2:30 pm
- Event Price
- Free, $5 suggested donation
Visit: www.Seymourconservatory.org for a list of performances.
For those that forgot what to do on a HOT day
We expect that some South Sound residents might have forgotten how to enjoy the heat in the area. Here are a few suggestions and places to get the most out of your day.
A plethora of farmer's markets on a lovely, sunny Saturday
Here are our top picks for sunshine and entertainment:
Who is hungry for lunch? Cheap Chinese
It's time to eat on the cheap ... but you'll be hungry an hour later.
HAPPY AT THE BAY TERIYAKI
While teriyaki is the mainstay, this restaurant devotes a fair portion of its menu to Chinese selections - more so than other teriyaki restaurants. The Mongolian beef was surprisingly fresh, sweet and scrumptious. Portion size was huge and the service friendly. 4040 S. Orchard, Fircrest, 253.564.4707.
EMPEROR'S PALACE
Emperor's Palace is everything you'd want a stereotypical Chinese restaurant to be. The Kung Pao chicken is tasty. 7321 Martin Way S.E., Lacey, 360.923.2323.
JADE PALACE
Skip the family meals and head straight for the authentic Mandarin/Szechwan dishes such as roast duck Cantonese and orange peel beef, order a powerful potion from the bar, and then work off the fine Chinese food in front of the karaoke machine. 3810 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253.564.7170.
SHANGHAI HOUSE
A downtown Tacoma Chinese restaurant that's under new management, the Shanghai House is known for specializing in large portions. Rich spices fill the air. The house specialty - steamed dumplings - are super soft, steamy goodness arriving in a metal bowl on shredded white cabbage. These hot little balls are filled with seasoned ground pork and minced veggies and then dunked in soy/vinegar sauce. We also recommend the The Sizzling Triple Delight - a sizzling dish of chicken, beef and prawns joined by mushrooms, red bell pepper, snow peas, and broccoli. 1126 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253.627.1859.
TACOMA SZECHAUN
Folks, this is as real as it gets around here. Chinese (Sichuan) with a huge menu, well over a hundred options, and the portions are big and the flavors fresh. Their idea of a starter soup is more trough-like than cup. Crispy pork & tofu with hot tomato sauce, hot pepper fried shredded potato, eggplant in hot garlic sauce - they excel in hot and spicy. 9601 South Tacoma Way, No. 102, Lakewood, 253.581.0102.
Scramble along the streets of Gig Harbor
Treasure! There's tresaure in there them streets.
The Sixth Annual Gig Harbor Street Scramble, a kind of treasure hunt,is May 26 with a 10 a.m. start. Typically done in teams, this is the largest street scramble in North America. It's also the only free street scramble in the Puget Sound.
The Gig Harbor Street Scramble involves either a 90-minute or 3-hour treasure hunt. You can choose whether to do the event on foot, by bike, unicycle, or other non-motorized method of propulsion. Cars or anything with a motor are not allowed. You can also sign up as part of a team or by yourself.
Between 30 and 50 stops are noted on a map, all are a secret until the morning of the event. The farthest is usually several miles from the starting point. The 90-minute and 3-hour time lengths feature the same number of stops.
"Street Scramble is so much fun and one of the reasons is you can do as many stops as you like, so it fits individual needs," says Laureen Lund, City of Gig Harbor Marketing Director. "For both the 90-minute and 3-hour you choose to hit as many as you like as long as you are back in the time allotted. The catch is that the stops that are the furthest away have a higher point value. So if you are very competitive and want to get lots of points you head straight for the furthest away point."
The event is free and starts off summer with good old fashioned family fun. Even though it's free, if you want to join in, you will need to register. Registering before the day of the event will get you a free t-shirt (first 200 pre-registrations), but registration will also be open the day of the event, too.
The starting point is at Skansie Brothers Park at 3207 Harborview Drive, right in downtown Gig Harbor.
Everybody's gotta...
Admit it. You loved the 80s. DayGlo. Trapper Keepers. High tops. Awesome 80s movies like "Footloose."
And now you can enjoy Footloose all over again in an entirely new way. The movie has been rehashed into a Broadway musical and is at Tacoma Little Theatre this weekend.
"Footloose" centers around Ren, your typical 80s teenager with a bad haircut and a dire need to cut a rug. But when his father takes off and his mom moves them to a Podunk town in Texas where dancing and rock-n-roll are forbidden, Ren finds himself a bit out of place. The students want a prom. Proms involve dancing and music. Ren starts a rock-n-roll revolution.
Whether you own every Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtrack or don't care much for musicals, the familiar songs in "Footloose" ensure a wide appeal for this one. Just try to stop your toes from tapping.
Tacoma Little Theatre is small, but puts on a great show. Even better, it's located across from the Parkway Tavern and nothing makes a musical more awesome like a couple of pints.
Show times for this weekend are Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices range from $16.50 to $26.50. The show is on again next weekend if you can't make it.
Morning Spew: The Voice/Against me!/Potluck Week
THE VOICE: Jermaine Paulwon The Voice last night, securing a contract with Universal Republic Records. So who does UPR represent? Lil Wayne, Vicci Martinez, Black Sabbath, Bow Wow, Jack Johnson and these others.
HE'S A SHE: Tom Gable of Against Me! plans is a transgender with plans to go girl.
POTLUCK: Potluck Week is coming to Tacoma and Olympia in 10 days. Yum.
KEVIN'S APPETITE: The Super Mario sandwich
Life should be a beach this weekend
We are going to have words with Steve Pool if he's wrong, but he says this weekend looks sunny and warm. If that's true, here's where to find us.
SOUTH SOUND BEACHES
Unlike most parts of the world, Pacific Northwest beaches aren't just for sunbathing and splashing in the water. Even in the summer, most of the water is too cold to venture more than ankle deep into. But beaches near Tacoma offer a unique brand of Northwest fun year round-ruggedly beautiful places to hike, sit by the water, kayak or even sunbathe on warm summer days.
Owen Beach
Owen Beach is tucked away in Point Defiance. In the summer, Owen Beach has kayak rentals, a snack shop, and sand to lounge on. A promenade leads from the beach to the Point Defiance marina and offers a level place to stroll if you're not much for beach walking. In cooler weather, the beach is often quiet and hiking along the sand (away from the promenade) will put you back in touch with everything that's right about the Northwest.
Titlow Beach
Titlow Beach has a small boardwalk and a park attached to it, but unlike Owen Beach there is no sand. Surf-tumbled rocks make up the shore, so it's not great for laying out. What's special about Titlow is the nature. When the tide is high, there's not much to do except walk on the board walk. When the tide goes out, however, strolling the beach yields interesting sealife in tide pools and views of the Narrows Bridge.
Lake Beaches
Both American Lake and Spanaway Lake have small beach areas. While these are largely covered with small children on warm days, they are also rare sandy spots with warmish water. Don't expect large expanses of beach at either place.
Other Beaches
Olympia has many miles of rugged coastline beaches mostly ideal for hiking or picnicking. Priest Point Park has a mile of rocky, unspoiled shore, while Tolmie State Park also touches the water for 1,800 feet.
Steilacoom is a small community close to Lakewood with two beaches that make excellent places to relax and watch the sunset. Sunnyside Beach Park is the more popular beach in town, but Saltar's Point is a lesser-known spot that is just as beautiful.
Go cheap for lunch
We were just thinking about lunch...
FRISKO FREEZE
A Tacoma icon with juicy burgers, fries, great onion rings, and shakes without a high priced bill and silly "welcome to such and such" sayings. 1201 Division, Tacoma, 253.272.6843.
ALFRED'S CAFÉ & BUBBLE ROOM
Alfred's Café & Bubble Room's menu is extensive. In fact, sometimes it's near impossible to decide what to chow on with more than 10 appetizers, five salads, 12 types of hand-thrown pizza, six entrees and 10 sandwiches. 402 Puyallup Ave. E., Tacoma by the Tacoma Dome, 253.627.5491.
INFINITE SOUPS
Infinite Soups serves 20 to 30 different kinds of soups daily off a rotating list of around 60 soups, by the quart, bowl or cup, all under $7. Owner Wendy Clapp offers soup and bread for take-out only, although Malarkey's will let you bring her soup inside their pool joint next door. 445 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.274.0232.
THE SPAR
A great local bar with a good reputation for exemplary beer, friendly patrons, and great food including fish 'n' chips. Early Sunday night blues is a Tacoma tradition. 2121 North 30th, Old Town Tacoma, 253.627.8215.
H Mart coming to Lakewood
Sources at the City of Lakewood tell us that the old Sears Building at Steilacoom Blvd and S Tacoma Way will be a new location for H Mart, the modern Asian supermarket. We don't have tons of details, but here is what we wrote about the H Mart in Federal Way.
STIFF 2012: Day 3 A Night of Clones, Quickies and Quirks
STIFF's evening show at Grand Illusion Cinema last Sunday brought a mixed bag of films to a nearly packed house. A Man, Buried (which I previewed in an earlier Movie Biz Buzz) started things off on the right note, with viewers enjoying this magical, darkly comic fable. While Tacoma's Rick Walters, who produced the short, didn't attend the screening, writer-director Jesse Watson, cinematographer Chris Taylor, and lead actor Tony Doupe all shared their experience during a brief Q&A.
Doupe in particular had the challenging task of playing two versions of the same character who, after a little editing abracadabra, appear and interact on screen simultaneously. When asked which "Kyle" he preferred exploring, he responded, "I usually get cast as cops and creeps, so to play a non-creep (the "good" Kyle), a straight-up kind of guy - I never get to play guys like that...So that was fun to play."
As a first-year STIFF volunteer, Tacoma's Ashley Cozine has got to witness first-hand not only her community's growing presence within festivals like this with works like A Man, Buried, but in the larger Seattle film scene.
"I'm excited about it," she says. "There's a big group of Tacoma filmmakers that I think are going to have a lot of potential to exceed everyone's expectations." She appears later this week in STIFF selections Till Death Do Us Part (May 9) and Dessert and Suicide (May 10).
After Buried came Knot., a cine-quickie which involved roughly 3 spoken words, 2 guys, one necktie, and zero story. The end. Bye. The audience lets out a collective "did we just get punk'd?" uncomfortable laugh during the credits. I still can't figure out how STIFF gave this anti-film the green light.
The feature QWERTY suffers from the opposite problem: plot overload. One story line follows QWIRKY heroine Zoe Rezillo's predictable path to the National Scrabble Championship in Chicago (gonna need a montage!), and her triumphant win. (Sorry to spoil the ending, but the film's first scene pretty much spells this out.)
QWERTY's other unconnected subplot, her QWERKY romance with suicidal Marty Huckhound, asks viewers to suspend everything they know about human relationships. Maybe these things just work differently in Chi-Town, because over there, ambitious, attractive, sock-puppet-knitting gals like Zoe (did I mention her QWURKINESS??) apparently fall head over heels for unemployed manic-depressives like Marty, who barely has time to wash his hair since he can only think of plunging into the nearest freezing river and drinking sweet, sweet oblivion.
Zoe's devotion to him spits at believability and plain reason. Within days after meeting she finds Marty a job and invites him to move in. What's that? The crazy vagrant from the train station wants to live here too? Pick him up! I'll make him a sandwich! To borrow one character's phrasing, "Oh my Three's Company."
QWORKEEE Zoe even made up her own ador-ugh-ble nickname for her charity case, I mean new disheveled boyfriend: Mucky! I think A.V. Club's "head writer-person" Nathan Rabin would label this type of movie character "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," a girl utterly convinced her dimpled smile and charm will chase all her boy's blues away.
Do I sound a teensy bit annoyed with QWERTY? Did the girl at the bar after the screening invite me to dinner this week when I made a total heinie of myself? But the film told me she would!
Another drink, barkeep. And make it a STIFF one.
Don't let my ranting stop you from catching a few festival flicks before the Closing Night Party on Saturday, May 12. For tickets and information visit http://trueindependent.org/.
To market, to market
The open-air market on 6th Avenue in Tacoma featuring fresh, seasonal produce, packaged foods, concessions, live music, beer garden (nice!), artisans and more is Tuesdays through September.
- Tacoma Farmers Market - 6th Ave.
6th Ave and Pine St
Tacoma, WA 98406
(253) 272-7077 - Contact
- tacomaframetsmarkets.com
- Event Hours
- 3-7 pm
- Event Price
- Free admission