People Rule
Those that don combat boots and head downrange are always classified as heroes, but there's a rare few who keep selflessly serving long after their uniforms have been hung up in the closet. By either measure, retired Maj. Gen. John A. Hemphill, a Steilacoom resident and noted community leader, is a
Military Life
And then there was Kiari Mhoon, the last singer standing. Mhoon, with his entertaining assortment of R&B love songs, won the Joint Base Lewis-McChord's ninth annual Operation Rising Star, a three-week talent competition that started with more than 40 singers. "He's very good," said Elizabeth Thunstedt, manager of the base's Warrior Zone.
Stage
Meghan Mitchell's drawings in the show "Hello" at Fulcrum Gallery are delightful. I could easily dismiss them as cute little drawings not really important as art, but I could just as easily dismiss the art of great graphic artists like Saul Steinberg and Jules Feiffer in the same way. I
Critics' Picks
[POST PUNK] + FRI, OCT. 4 I know next to nothing about Half Kingdom, beyond what I can hear in their two available songs online. What I can tell, just by listening to them, is that they embrace a moody post-punk that teems with energy even as it confounds expectations. Clattering
Music
Over the course of music history, there's been a strong contingent of bands making beautifully melodic pop music with a bit of an edge, but not enough of an edge to ever really get the attention they deserve. If guitars aren't being wrecked, people tend to take the music for
Arts
Seahawks fans, assemble! Now let's make sure we have everything: Tickets? Yep. Snacks? Check. Autograph book? (You never know) ... Got it. OK, good. Just one more question - Y'all ready for some film-ball? (confused silence) Come, come people ... this time of year stands for more than pigskins, touchdown wins and 12th
We Recommend
The Dockyard Derby Dames (DyDD) is gearing up for its 8th season of jams, slams and thank-you ma'ams, with a double-header opening-night bout Saturday, Oct. 5 at Pierce College in Lakewood. In anticipation of the new season, we caught up with Bridgette Walker, team captain of the Marauding Mollys and head
Archives
There is one simple rule that is almost ALWAYS true in Hollywood — a rule dictated by the basic principles of economics in our capitalistic society. No matter how bad a film is rated by critics, if it does well with moviegoers, there invariably will be a sequel — if
Liquid
Tanya Chapman is a fixture in the Tacoma bartending scene. I met Chapman at a Tacoma Beer Club gathering at the now defunct Stadium Bistro. She was pulling duty as TBC founder Steph DeRosa's sidekick, a position she held for years as documented in DeRosa's previous columns for this rag.
Archives
Becoming Jane Fictionalized speculation about a great romance in Jane Austen’s 20th year. The would-be author (Anne Hathaway) meets a handsome lawyer (James McAvoy) and wonders, if he loses his allowance from his spiteful uncle, could she support them by her writing (mostly still unwritten)? Engaging love story in charming Britlit
Features
Autumn. I love the onset of the season. I do all the usual autumn stuff: dodge geysers in the middle of Schuster Parkway; chase a flying Buick in Puyallup; drive all over town looking for a movie house not completely packed with government employees. But most of all, I look
Food Matters
TACOMA CHOCOLATE FEST The Proctor District (North 26th and Proctor, Tacoma) hosts its annual Chocolate Fest Oct. 4 and 5. Tickets are $5 and include chocolatier demonstrations and samples at participating businesses throughout the district. There will be a scavenger hunt with the chocolate challenge for fun prizes and a cupcake
Concert Alert
We list major concerts going on sale this weekend, as well as national touring acts performing in the Puget Sound this week and down the road. SECRET TICKET CODE TM = Ticketmaster, 253.627.TIXS, www.ticketmaster.com TW = TicketsWest, 800.325.SEAT, www.ticketswest.com TWEB = Ticketweb, 866.468.7623, www.ticketweb.com We
We Recommend
Big Star, and Alex Chilton in particular, was a band driven to madness by a nation turning a blind eye to some of the purest pop music around. In typical fashion, Big Star were ignored in their time, but later discovered by several generations of power pop acts that valued
We Recommend
I know next to nothing about Half Kingdom, beyond what I can hear in their two available songs online. What I can tell, just by listening to them, is that they embrace a moody post-punk that teems with energy even as it confounds expectations. Clattering drums and choppy guitars give
We Recommend
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Crooked Bangs is a band that is quite adept at building expectations and smashing them. Initially reveling in the sounds of '60s garage and '70s punk, Crooked Bangs slowly folds in elements of post-punk. It's compelling enough, but then you hear the vocals of Leda Ginestra
We Recommend
The merging of hip-hop with electro/techno occurred at the dawn of the '80s, and the flavor was so good with acts like Debbie Deb, Egyptian Lover, Kraftwerk and others that the relationship continues to grow. This weekend, award-winning hip-hop duo Never Sleep host and perform at downtown Olympia's quaint and
We Recommend
"I want to get Tacoma, the film community, and the Latino community educated," local actor Melinda Raebyne tells me. If you haven't yet seen her in a South Sound movie, she spends the rest of her time behind the scenes on multiple film events, like the upcoming Tacoma Film Festival,
News Front
Starting Oct. 1, the government is on a limited government shutdown. Below is a summary of how the shutdown will impact services at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It is recommended anyone doing business with a JBLM agency to call that agency first to ensure it is open prior to visiting the base. UNIT
Show And Tell
Biopics can be difficult even for an experienced filmmaker. The nature of the art form requires that a large part of the story, sometimes the subject's entire life, be severely truncated and other artistic liberties taken in order to create an interesting film with a sensible runtime. No matter how