QUICK LINKS
EVENTS
BLOGS
PHOTO GALLERY
A&E VIDEO
AP VIDEO
Singer-songwriter Ben Union has made waves on Tacoma’s music scene for the past several months with a style he calls “progressive funk-rock,” a blend of fiery guitar licks, infectious pop hooks and rump-shaking grooves that first caught my attention at this year’s Art on the Ave festival.
Vancouver, B.C.’s 3 Inches of Blood was in New Orleans when band members learned their former bass player, Tacoma musician Brian Redman, had died.
A year ago Saturday, The Sonics delivered their first local performance since the Nixon administration, a fierce set at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre that showed the Tacoma garage-rock legends still had it, despite four decades spent AWOL.
Around this time last year, Tacoma rock-o-philes celebrated the opening of the New Frontier Lounge in the Dome District, and it has since become a prime location for catching the best in regional indie and experimental rock, from Tacoma’s Lozen and the Nightgowns to Seattle nouveaux wavers the Hotels.
Last week, the monsters of Northwest rock lurked everywhere, from Pearl Jam’s two-night stand at KeyArena to Heart’s rockin’ Puyallup Fair performance and Alice in Chains’ triumphant comeback set at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.
Not since I took over this here pop music beat a few years back has there been a bigger month for Northwest rock.
An open heart inspires There were high points for country star Keith Urban in 2006. He married the love of his life, actress Nicole Kidman, and seemed on pace to take his career to the next level with a new disc, “Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing.”
Day two of Bumbershoot 2009 kicks off at 11 a.m. today at Seattle Center, with Cold War Kids, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Michael Franti & Spearhead and today’s headliner, Jason Mraz, scheduled for the main stage at Memorial Stadium.
Australian rock legends AC/DC are known for lots of things: guitarist Angus Young’s schoolboy outfits (increasingly ironic as he plunges further into geezerdom), songs that pack enough party-hearty gusto and ham-fisted double entendres to keep your inner 15-year-old happy, and Brian Johnson howling with an intensity that says, “Yes, I am passing a golf ball-sized kidney stone. Thanks for asking.”
Scott McCaughey has been smitten with pedal steel guitar since the early ’70s, having been wooed to the sound by classic country pickers like Wesley “Speedy” West and Red Rhodes and country-rockers, like the Flying Burrito Brothers’ “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow.
Local blues fans make the trek to Old Town year round, if for no other reason than to catch the Sunday night blues jam at the Spar Tavern, 2121 N. 30th St. (The Spar’s got Blues to Burn this weekend, in case you were wondering.)
Two years removed from his last album “Where Concrete Don’t Grow,” Jonathan Harris is on a creative roll.
Forget that “papa” guy. Neko Case is the real rolling stone, having traded in cities like an Army brat on fast forward in the decade and a half since she left our “dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound.”
Within the context of Tacoma roots-rock outfit Junkyard Jane, Leanne Trevalyan is the yin to songwriting partner Billy Stoops’ yang.
Pigskin Picks
Win Seahawks Tickets
GET THE E-EDITION
View every news page every day with the digital edition of The News Tribune.
Have The News Tribune delivered to your home daily and save up to 30% off the newsstand price!
Subscribe Today!
Subscribe Today!
Terms of Service |
Privacy Policy |
About Our Ads |
Advertising Partners |
Contact Us |
About Us |
Site Map |
Jobs
|
RSS
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2009 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2009 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company