Music
It's easy for a city's music scene to fall into complacency, for bands to break up or slow down, for audiences to find themselves too busy to come out in support of artists, for everything to start a scene collectively melting into the couch for months at a time. As
Stage
As the program note in Tacoma Musical Playhouse's production of My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra warns you, do not come to this show seeing someone depict Sinatra's life. Unlike Buddy -- The Buddy Holly Story, which was previously put up at TMP, My Way is not a biography; instead of seeing big
South Sound Cinema
Hey! You! You're reading Three Easy Pieces, where I break down a pop culture trope from its birth to how it looks today. This month, you'll be boning up on breaking the fourth wall; what started as a theatrical term has come to be defined, in film, as tearing down
Music
There's an unusual phenomenon that can sometimes happen when it comes to compiling and distributing music. The act of putting a collection of unrelated songs on one release has the ability to retroactively link the songs forever, and in the process, create a new subgenre. While this is a rare
Music
When you hear terms like folk-rock, Americana, country, and roots music, the image that gets conjured in your mind is likely one of bearded, straight-laced, denim-clad ramblers. You might picture dusty roads that stretch off into the horizon, or dimly-lit saloons full of lost souls whiling away the hours with
Music
It's kind of hard to predict which instruments will fall into and out of style -- much more so than which genres will keep plugging along. The secret to why this is may be kind of a no-brainer: every instrument is good, when used in the proper context or, more
Stage
One thing that this country of ours has had a hard time wrapping its head around is the notion of post-traumatic stress disorder. It occurs in our everyday citizens' lives, making its home in the minds of our friends and family members in the days, months and years following harrowing
Music
Sometime last year, I had the opportunity to see and review a production of The Buddy Holly Story at Tacoma Musical Playhouse. While I have always enjoyed the music of Buddy Holly, and I knew the basic outline of his life -- boy from Texas makes it big in the music business,
Stage
There's a lot to like in American Idiot, the Tony-winning adaptation of Green Day's mega-hit concept album of the same name, even for people (like myself) who might charitably describe themselves as indifferent to the band. Still, this is a musical that succeeds only inasmuch as the songs and the performances
Music
I first heard the Pixies in much the same way that I imagine many people of a certain generation did: in the ending credits for Fight Club. As Project Mayhem's ultimate plan comes to fruition, and Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter stare helplessly as several financial buildings are demolished, the
South Sound Cinema
In Three Easy Pieces, I examine a specific subgenre of pop culture from its birth, through its development, and arriving at how it looks today. This month, as we march forward into a new year, I'm looking at coming-of-age movies. Growing up is never easy, but movies sometimes have a
Music
Last week, famed Genesis drummer and frontman Phil Collins took to Twitter with a suggestion of how to ring in the New Year. He said that, if you start listening to "In the Air Tonight" on New Year's Eve at 11:56:40 p.m., that iconic drum break will start at precisely
Music
The holidays can be a tough time for a lot of people, especially in the chilly, perpetual darkness of a Pacific Northwest winter. This article hits the streets Dec. 21, the winter solstice; frequently, the solstice is referred to as the shortest day of the year, but it might be
Stage
No use mincing words: Seussical, the latest show in Tacoma Little Theatre's 99th season, is a supremely open-hearted, deliriously goofy spectacle, and in its final two weeks of shows, it is not to be missed. This is a vivid, boisterous, and exhilaratingly staged production, a tornado of a show that somehow manages
Stage
Successfully executing holiday humor is, to me, an almost impossible feat. You're basically given two options of approach: deliver the sort of corny, gentle, observational comedy about the rigors of holiday shopping and family interactions, or, you commit to subverting deeply ingrained traditions aiming to get laughs from audiences breathing
Music
In Three Easy Pieces, I break down a specific type of pop culture in three steps -- starting at its birth, and arriving at today. This month: diss tracks, those songs where one artist takes aim at another, in the process airing pungently dirty laundry and giving the listener a
Music
I recall an interview with indie rock vet Andrew Bird where he was talking about St. Vincent -- specifically, about Annie Clark, the frontwoman and mastermind behind the project -- where he talked about how happy he was to see her moving away from her more clinical, mathematical composition of
Music
There is a hallowed hall in the hearts of sensitive, self-consciously intellectual music lovers that is dedicated to singer-songwriters who managed to craft their art in equal deference to the heart and mind. Pop music history is littered with people that wrote songs like novels, that wrote songs like slyly
Music
If you've never seen it before, I urge you to check out a Talking Heads video -- in general, but also this specific one of the band performing "Born Under Punches." The video, which is available on YouTube, captures the band at a very specific time in their career, at
Music
As we make our way through our lives, a little bit of anxiety works its way into the back of our minds, a question that goes something like, "Will we be missed when we're gone? Will we be remembered when we've left this mortal coil?" In most people's small orbit