In-Tacoma.net

Happy 4th of July enjoy this video

Today is a big deal, if you are a creative person living in Tacoma, or you like drinking beer and having pizza with creative people. You need to be at this event tonight:

The Hub
203 Tacoma Ave S
Tacoma, WA 98402 US

When: Thursday, June 4, 4:30PM to 6:30PM Add to my Outlook Calendar
Phone: 253.861.1056

We are inviting all of the local artist/designer/marketing community to a first ever happy hour. join us for a low key get together with some of the most influential people in our region. Take time to gripe about the economy, or network with those who might be able to give you a better job, or bask in the glory of your latest success. Whatever your deal, we’ll force you to enjoy our company. Bring your creative self to the Hub for drink and conversation.

Hope to see you there.

Someone sent me some video from the last creative meetup below, (Its going to be like that again for sure):

About two weeks ago the Tacoma Art Museum was holding an outdoor art show with live painting, chalk artists, full drum band, and break dancers. The break dancers involved were from the Dance Broomz crew. It was fun to see them try something new and perform with the Stadium High school drum band. Take a look at the video below:

If you are interested in having the Dane Broomz perform at one of your events talk to Fab-5.org

Starting *THIS* Saturday, April 4th Fab-5′s rolling out their 10 week urban art program, L.I.F.E.

They’ll be teaching breakdancing, legal graffiti artwork, and DJing and music production/recording.

What’s beautiful about the L.I.F.E. is they provide all the equipment/art supplies and can accommodate those JUST starting out/wanting to learn more, as well as those that want to advance existing skills. All ages/skill levels are welcome, plus, they hook students up with a free lunch after every class session.

To view the front/back of the the digital brochure, click (here) & (here).

L.I.F.E. happens *every* Saturday of April & May from 11am-3pm @ the Brick City Project in downtown Tacoma (754 Pacific Ave, Tacoma WA 98402)

The energy is real nice on these Saturdays. If participating isn’t your thing, feel free to pass this on to a neighbor, son/daughter, niece/nephew or brother/sister that would be interested.

For this program, Fab-5 employs over 15 professional artists from within the Tacoma community as instructors, so please support your community and get a student or two involved.

For more information or to register a student, please visit Fab-5.org or drop an e-mail to info@fab-5.org

Country music and Jason go together like oil and water…however, I think John Rich is on to something with his song “Shutting Detroit Down.” I think this guy really captured the sense of many of the people in our country. You really should take a listen to this song, and even check out the video (stars: Mickey Rourke and Kris Kristofferson). He captures the reality of what is taking place in our nation at this time. We’re going through massive unemployment in some of the cities of our nation that are upwards of 30-40%. While we are bailing companies out to fill their pocket books with their bonuses of hard work…Don’t tell me Chris Dodd didn’t know of these!  This politician received hunderds of thousands of those bailout dollars in campaign contributions.  Imagine that, politics and business intermixed.  Corruption in politics, of course not.  Corruption in these bail outs?  Of course not. 

America’s poorest neighborhoods and cities are crumbling, while we have people in the banking industry and government getting bailed out with BILLIONS. With the multiple bailouts, it’s in the TRILLIONS! We have a statelike Kentucky crumbling under the pressure of the economy, with thousands of people being laid off, while the University of Kentucky hires John Calipari for $4 million dollars a year…WOW…Are our values way out of wack?! Of course…

Now to our city.  Tacoma, we’re not far behind in the unemployment yet, but who is to say that we won’t reach those levels? As my friend Jermz mentioned on his twitter “200 people deep at Worksource.”  When I saw that…all I could think was WOAH!  I know our area is probably around a 10% unemployment rate, but I could see us at 15-20% by the end of the year.

If you take a drive through Hilltop, the city is starting to look like it was in the 1990s…same with parts of downtown.  The economic boom of our downtown core is no longer…you still see some projects in the works, but those new and amazing renovations are going to remain open and vacant…Pretty soon the lovely coverings of plywood will bless the buildings outer cores.

Back to John Rich….He’s a normal guy who I don’t think had any idea of the caliber of song he was writing.  Is it lyrical genious?  Far from it.  But it is mastery in it’s own sense because very few songs out there can capture a sense of millions of people in every facet of society.  Really take a listen to his song….Check the video out when it comes available…Country is not my music…but this song transcends my preferences.

http://www.johnrich.com

At night the machines rest.

When thinking of Tacoma, I don’t think of greatness, or prosperity, or beauty. What comes to my mind is potential, loss, failure, constant change, dirty….Why is that? May be it’s my mindset today because I just found out that I will be losing my job in two weeks due to budget and program cuts by those that fund my program. When driving through the city, I don’t feel that buzz any more. I don’t feel that excitement that was there 10 years ago. Are the realities of bubbles bursting setting in?

I just think that our city is filled with people that are just lost. Some because they have just lost their way on the map, some because they have taken a wrong turn and just haven’t left…others because they choose to be lost and Tacoma just found them.

Tacoma, I love you, I have grown to love you as a living, breathing entity, even though you are ugly.

Triple Crown Kings had a soft launch last Saturday, it was a a lot of fun, Sabzi didn’t really show up till like 10:30 though which was a bummer. The store is looking good though, bit more work is going to be done to the interior, going to bring in some art, etc. The store is officially open though, it was nice to see two clothing stores open at 6pm down on Pacific. I hope some other clothing stores work there way into that strip. Now all we need is that apple store moving in, come on steve

Here are a few photos:

Not going to lie, the air did start off really fresh then by the end of the night it was a bit musky. All was good though everyone was having a ton of fun, the drinks were pouring and only some of the artwork was stolen. Saw tons of familiar faces many of them the same from 100th monkey except this time there was awesome music so everyone was in a drunken dance trance.

The art was good like usual, many of the power players of the south sound were on showcase. Jeremy, Olson, Alice, Mary-Kate, etc. I hadn’t seen gryms work before thought it was pretty cool, the snacks were good too though I always get a little weirded out about big bowls of chips and such since most people don’t was their hands.

Oh yea, here are a few pics from the night. You might spot yourself.

This weekend Triple Crown Kings opens! To celebrate the grand opening there will be an in store reception with free drinks provided by Redbull and frank 151, while Sabzi is on the tables. Come out on Saturday, January 31st 7pm-11pm to help celebrate the opening of this new fixture to Tacoma. For those of you not familar with who triple crown is, check out thier site: http://www.triplecrownkings.com

This is definitely going to be partaaay! Role call!

View Larger Map

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If your not familiar with Sabzi checkout some of his videos:

So I guess last night the annual distribution of glassfloats were hidden around Tacoma. For the last 2 years I actively looked for a glass float to call my own, both years I failed. This Monday I was having a fairly crappy monday (A case of the mondays even). I was working hard and didn’t get a chance to take lunch until 3:30pm. While walking to frieghthouse square I glanced down in a bush and thought I saw a beerbottle shoved in it, giving it a closer look it was a float! I was so happy that I found one, especially since I wasn’t even looking! The find completely turned my day around and it was cool to see that there are actually still some floats hiding around. Reading a few of the other blogs, I couldn’t help but laugh at all the cry babies who were complaining about not finding one and calling people that found more then one names. Come on people chillout ~

Anyone else find one? This event is definitly yet another reason why I love Tacoma. I heard that over 600 floats were hidden around. Anyone else find one?

Tonight you get kultured in naked chicks, wine, underground art, and good people. Sneak you way to the alley of the warehouse located a block down from the downtown Tacoma library. Here around 8ish the drunk, the sober, the young and old enjoy art, dance to the dj and drink more wine. Role call who’s going!

KULTURE LAB is the brainchild of Tacoma’s Dead Artists: James Hume, Jim Price, Jeff Olson, Rob Anderson, and James Bender. Kulture Lab is an underground center for the arts, paintings,video,film, performance,sculpture and conceptual art.

Alice in Kulture lab
1114 Court E Tacoma, $5

http://www.myspace.com/culturelabart

Sorry peeps, I guess the Goldfish isn’t really In-Tacoma; it should not be on the best bar poll whatsoever, it should be kept a secret. Not too long from now my fear of the inevitable might come true and the goldfish will spoil with the new condos being built on Ruston way flooding the place with yuppies and fiendish bores. This tavern is at its best serving a regular maximum of 15 people on a Friday night which is why I love it.

Besides the small crowd, what else do I love about this place you ask? What makes it a worthwhile place to visit with a stale beer atmosphere and wait your turn bathrooms? The people. Red necks, old couples, blue collars, white collars and the average soul gather on a regular basis in this tavern to convene and shoot the sh&@. Notice I said regular, every time I set foot through the large green door I not only recognize the bartender but also the familiar faces I have had at least one intellectual, goofy and fascinating conversation with.

With the beer at an affordable price, I can warm my feet on a cold northwest day next to the crackling fireplace while listening to the scratchy sounds of Shane McGowan’s lyrics blaring just loud enough from the jukebox. Strike a match under a kindling conversation and be on my way to bliss. This kind of place is where beer is a social lubricant not a depressant and comfort is never an issue. The Goldfish is not a place to pick up chicks, go elsewhere to embarrass yourself. The last fight was almost 3 years ago so don’t bother picking a fight either, the old codgers will clown your face, shatter your ribs and pull a Kano (Mortal Kombat) on you before you know it. Did I mention the last fight was three years ago?

If you’re looking to network with all walks of Tacoma life, have a great time, drink beer and be yourself the goldfish is where it’s at because “sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.”

update: The goldfish is indeed on the tacoma side thanks to everyone that messaged us!

The Karpeles Manuscript Museum, 407 South G Street. Across the street from Wright Park this ominous and often overlooked building stands tall and sports classic architecture. The cannon in the front of the lot guards the door to a free admission and in my opinion a waste of time. History fascinates me especially priceless artifacts from all cycles of cultures and people both important and obscure. I’m not writing a negative piece about this museum, just an honest one.

Upon Entrance I was greeted by a gal freckled from candy abuse and vitamin D. she doesn’t ask for a donation because there is no donation box. She then yammers about the visiting exhibits “hieroglyphics Noah Webster, and more Hieroglyphics.”

The manuscripts, supposed delicate paper are held in frail wooden boxes lined with velvet and guarded by 50 cent locks. A confused curator interested only in the woes of her cell phone chattered away as I saw there were no security measures to protect any of these priceless pressed pieces of pulp. Everything locked in these wooden boxes looked fake, the crinkles and torn edges bare shadows not of the illumination from this musky hall. The bust of good ol’ Honest Abe held my attention longer than the dummies in shining armor. I was troubled by the prints, all but one looked like an original, the handwritten page out of Noah Webster’s first dictionary everything else looked like a laser copy almost pixilated. The laminated descriptions above each box held no information about where the artifact came from; its preservation from the erosion of time, just a translation of the tiny handwriting of history’s greatest.

The Hieroglyphics were encased in ½” Plexiglas locked in by a convenience lock used at stores like k-mart. The descriptions held only the meaning of the symbol and did not describe what tomb or Egyptian monument they were cut from. The sandstone looked manufactured by Quick-Crete and was in perfect condition making yet another artifact here look counterfeit.

All negatives aside, I did enjoy that the walls in one room were covered in what looked like paintings created for 80’s fantasy pulp novels. Two outrageous glass sculptures created by the local Evan Schaus (see Michaels post), and last but not least a limited edition of a limited edition Declaration of independence, the icing on the cake……

My questions and your mystery to solve for a reward of two beers from myself are: How do they pay taxes on this building if no donations are needed nor accepted? How come there seems to be no authenticity to the artifacts? Why were the levels of security so low when some of these priceless pages could be stolen so easily?

Overall, I was stumped by the time I left and felt a strange feeling of being ripped off even though I didn’t pay! What do you think?

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maybelline/342866156/

This is a scenario everyone’s been in. You have a few buddies coming in town and you really want to show off the Tacoma bar scene and expose them to the best bars our city of destiny has to offer. Depending on who your buddies are you may be headed straight to Mix or you might be getting your popped collar on at chopstix.. it really just depends…

So readers if you only had one bar you could take your crew to for the night what would it be and why? This what a really hard decision for me, how about you?

If I don’t have your favorite on the poll, just list it in the comments and I’ll add it. Show your support for your favorite bar and vote! The winning bar gets a big glass of google juice for when people search for “Best Bar in Tacoma”

Happy Drinking Tacoma

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