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Seasoned musicians Nathan Weaver and Chris Beug recently opened Obsidian concert venue and cafe in downtown Olympia. They chose the name because of the healing and purifying properties associated with the black crystal formed from fast cooling volcanic lava. The aesthetic of Obsidian is an amalgamation of the building's existing
Stage
If you haven't seen Kellë McLaughlin's art, which I had not until this week, you really should. Her "Bestial Mirrors" at Fulcrum Gallery is a skillfully presented mythology or bestiary of imaginative and fierce imagery. In bold wood block prints and even bolder ceramic sculptures, McLaughlin creates hybrid creatures with
Stage
In my Stardust review, I cited a line from Ratatouille: "The new needs friends." That line, delivered by "Anton Ego," means the best thing a critic can do is focus attention on quality work that doesn't come with a built-in audience. Often, as in The Head! That Wouldn't Die!, it's
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"What's wrong with the same old thing? "I think that question answers itself." - actual dialogue from The Stardust Christmas Commotion Indeed it does. Coincidentally, my wife and I had just caught the end of Ratatouille on TV. The bloodthirsty critic voiced by Peter O'Toole in that film, Anton Ego, says of
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I recently celebrated my five-year anniversary as a theater critic. As befit this occasion, I noshed on humble pie, sour grapes and cold crow with a snifter of rattlesnake venom. I've already reviewed three different takes on Charles Dickens's beloved 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol. Is there anyone older than
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As the son of longtime Seattle DJ Bob Rivers, Andrew Rivers got accustomed early to the not-always-flattering spotlight. "I was the butt of so many jokes on the radio show," he says. Maybe that's why - despite his jokes about how he's not tough enough to walk those female friends to
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For Andrew Rivers, poking fun at himself just comes naturally. "I have a lot of female friends," the Seattle comedian jokes in an appearance on Fox TV's Laughs. "Because they put me there." Rivers is headlining Stand Up For A Cure, a benefit for research into childhood cancer, at the Capitol
Arts
For Andrew Rivers, poking fun at himself just comes naturally. "I have a lot of female friends," the Seattle comedian jokes in an appearance on Fox TV's Laughs. "Because they put me there." Rivers is headlining Stand Up for a Cure, a benefit for research into childhood cancer, at the Capitol Theater
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First, Albert Einstein suggests time gets a bit loopy out in the cosmos, crumpling like tissue paper within black holes. Then, we learn in quantum mechanics the motion of subatomic particles is impossible to measure and time tends to evaporate. Next, weird science's latest revolution, we‘re being served up "string
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It has been 12 years since The Brotherhood Lounge morphed from the dank, labor bar into one of Olympia's beloved hotspots; 12 years of soul nights, dance parties, aerial artists and more bands than you can ever want to count. By the time owner Pit Kwiecinski purchased The Brotherhood in
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We like Travis Champ for the same reason we like fried pickles, Schlitz in a bottle and all breeds of big dogs - they're all good things that come without an ounce of pretense or posing. Poet Champ came into some Oregon coastal notoriety with his poetry collection, Old Nehalem
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Did you know that Roald Dahl nearly lost his nose in a car accident? Or that he was once a chocolate candy tester for Cadbury's? Have you heard about his involvement in the Great Mouse Plot of 1924? Did you know he was a spy? Before beginning his literary career,
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The bronzed and scaly receptionist lady made me too scared to say no to her vacuum-saleswoman-like spiel, and that was that. I am now tanning, you pale freaks. I got a sunburn on my first visit, and though every time I go in there it feels like I'm buying drugs
Arts
Winter solstice is big news around these parts. Olympia Family Theater is halfway through its run of How the Slug Stole Solstice, a charming little musical about a gastropod who's scared of the dark. Now Puget Sound Revels and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts present their 22nd annual