Recently in Arts Category
The Melon Sponsors Frost Park Chalk Offs
Join us noon tomorrow at Frost Park as The Melon sponsors the Chalk Offs. Not only are the Chalk Offs an awesome place to express yourself creatively and meet some great Tacomans, but (and most importantly) we'll be giving away free watermelon to all who stop by.
By Ink Alone: The Christian Boogeyman is Coming
Conspiracy still happening, but this time its not international economics, but Fundamentalist American Jesus-Love
Jeff Sharlet writes a scary and extremely interesting book detailing the powerful Christian organization1 The Family and their ties to American men and women of power. Sharlet also uses his book to detail the history of fundamentalism and the rise of in the past 50 years. Sharlet is also a writer for Harpers, Rolling Stone, and created The Reveler.
ARTS UPDATE - 8/31/08
The following are the 2008 nominations for the Pierce County Arts Commission's Margaret K. Williams Awards.
EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTS AWARD
WayOut Records
The commission has received a surprising number of nominations for Tacoma-Based hip-hop label WayOut Records. Working in partnership with such groups as The Boys and Girls Club and the Russell Family Foundation, WayOut spearheaded Rodney the Raccoon “a fun loving children’s character, invigorates children through fun and educational songs that also inspire.”
...more.Electric Elliot Loses Chalk Offs!!!
Melonites,
For those of you that have been following the Frost Park Chalk Offs (which take place every Friday at noon), you'll know that this past Friday sported an unprecedented prize for the loser as opposed to the victor. That's correct, to the loser goes the spoils.
The thought of losing to win, however, didn't stop the Chalkies from producing a myriad of stunning pieces.
...more.The Rebecca V Gallery’s Black and White Bombshells
The Rebecca V Gallery is a bit off the beaten path for the Tacoma arts community. Located on Sixth Avenue, it presents work by local artists in a variety of media. Its current exhibition features black and white photographs of partially nude, buxom pin-up models from the 1950’s. Most of the models and photographers are unknown.The (mostly) amateur photographs vary in quality, but all contain elements of eroticism and playfulness. What was smut in the 1950’s now perfectly resembles an artistic (read: professional and only sexy as an afterthought, IF you are so dastardly as to tear yourself away from creative contemplation) exploration of the female body in 2008, but the erotic efforts of the models are timeless. Within this show, the pin-up conventions of the time may be summarized as follows:
Tacoma Tribute Poem
Melonites,
Zach Street over at Speak Your Soul, is putting together a poem in tribute to our fair city of Tacoma. But Zach needs our help.
We are collecting words and phrases about Tacoma to build into a single Spoken Word poem that celebrates Tacoma.
That right, you have the opportunity to add a line or a word a "Community Composed Tacoma Tribute Poem." You can add your portion here: http://www.speakyoursoul.org/tacomatribute.
Additionally, Speak Your Soul has a great website filled with audio of a lot of fine spoken word performances. They also hold open mics every Friday night at 8pm in the One Heart Cafe.
Truth to Power
The following email was sent yesterday from the office of Pierce County Councilman (and Democratic candidate for County Executive) Calvin Goings. It was drafted in response to an email that more or less reflected the most recent Arts Update.
...more.ARTS UPDATE
Last Saturday – August 9 – I had the opportunity to speak at Tacoma's Museum of Glass during the second of two free recitals Dance Theatre Northwest's (DTN) preformed that day. As many of you may know, DTN is a county-assisted dance troop dedicated to making the world of dance accessible to those traditionally marginalized by the fine arts. Specifically DTN seeks to inspire "low income and at-risk youth as well as schools, retirement/nursing homes and senior centers." The Pierce County Arts Commission has been supporting DTN for well over a decade now through a series of modest community grants, and in 1998 we awarded them the Commission's Margaret K Williams Arts Award for taking the initiative in being a leader in the community's artistic development.
...more.Irreplaceable Wildlife in Seattle
Last night I visited the Burke Museum at the University of Washington for the second time to see the same exhibit- The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World. It's definitely worth seeing at least once, especially on Free Thursdays (no admission fees on the first Thursday of the month). But I was in for an unexpected treat.
Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World is another photography exhibit on display at Burke, which opened July 11. I'm glad I caught it when I did because it will only be on display through Sunday, August 10.
...more.By Yeast Alone: Hell of a Wheat, errr, Pale Lager
You know, like the Germans do so fantastically
So I sometimes go into the beer store right after a payday, and in a bad mood and thus search out a beer that I’ve never tried, never heard of, never even put the name on the bottle and the image displayed on the label could be put together. I stumbled upon Aktienbrauerei’s Hell. Yes, indeed, a beer called Hell.