Walkie Talkie Blog
Tacoma's loudest rock club will go silent after this weekend. On Tuesday, Hell's Kitchen owners announced they are closing the downtown nightclub - a pillar of the local hard rock scene for a decade - after Saturday night's show. June was the rock venue's best month all year, according to booking agent
Walkie Talkie Blog
TACOMA COMES OUT FOR VICCI, RALLIES FOR REED RILEY >>> Tacoma's Vicci Martinez became a household name last year as she competed on NBC-TV's The Voice. She spent the next several months in Los Angeles prepping material for Vicci, her debut for Universal Republic (due in June). Along the way she
Walkie Talkie Blog
A NIGHT OF HITS >>> His name is Prince, and he's still funky. Sure, His Purpleness has a bionic hip these days. (Hey, you try doing splits in high heels for three decades.) But the spritely, 53-year-old rocker still looked svelte, suave and more like 35 Monday night as he
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE AT GEORGE >>> The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse may have been the biggest deals on the main stage Sunday at Sasquatch. But over at the Yeti Stage it was all about the hipster-hop, starting with rowdy Seattle crew Mad Rad, whose backing band included Mt. St.
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE IN GEORGE >>> Most bands wait until the end to go to the giant balloons and confetti. But not psych-punkers the Flaming Lips, who flipped the script and made a big entrance on the main stage Sunday night at the Sasquatch Music Festival. Wayne Coyne and Co.
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE AT GEORGE >>> Old-school Texas rock n' soul outfit Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears took the party vibe at Sasquatch Festival's Yeti Stage to the next level on Sunday. Last time I caught the band, at Bumbershoot, one of the Honeybears rocked a Sonics t-shirt (as
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE AT GEORGE >>> The New York Times blurb on the back of the Antlers' CD Burst Apart that I bought at the Easy Street Records booth at Sasquatch Festival yesterday calls the Brooklyn-based band's music "measured and majestic." That sounds about right. Their music is trippy and
Walkie Talkie Blog
A GOOD ‘FRO AND THEN SOME >>> Some of you will recognize Reggie Watts as the frontman for defunct Seattle rock n' soul outfit Maktub. And for having the most awesome fro in Northwest history. But these days Watts resides in Brooklyn, and he's tearing it up on the comedy circuit,
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>> I headed over to the Banana Shack for Sleigh Bells, easily the band I was most looking forward to at this year's Sasquatch festival. The Brooklyn duo - singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist/beat programmer Derek Miller - also went on late. Not that fans seemed to mind
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>> So enough about the Canadians at Sasquatch. There were some serious, non-Canuck-related decisions to make by the time day two of the Gorge Amphitheatre's four-day kickoff festival came to a close, like how to catch three must-see acts - Robyn, Sleigh Bells and Death Cab for
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>> Not to beat this whole "Canadians are taking over" thing, but not only do a whole gang of today's acts - K-Os, Dan Mangan, "Trailer Park Boys" - hail from north of the border, but I've also witnessed no less than two mob
Walkie Talkie Blog
LIVE FROM THE GORGE >>> The amount of time that passed between entering the Gorge Amphitheatre and overhearing a debate about hockey: Approximately 40 seconds. Yes, the Canadians have crossed the 49th parallel and taken over Sasquatch, the Gorge's annual kickoff party, again. And this year, with Vancouver headed to the
Walkie Talkie Blog
This just in from Ernest Jasmin, currently making his way to the Gorge at George for the Memorial Day Weekend Sasquatch Festival. Headlining band Foo Fighters are scheduled to play tonight. According to EJ ... There's a nasty little backup headin' into the ol' Sasquatch Festival, at least a couple of miles.
Walkie Talkie Blog
LOTS OF FIRE, LOTS OF HEADBANGERS >>> Before Sunday night, the last time I'd checked out Rammstein was about a decade ago when the German goth-metal band dropped in on the Tacoma Dome with the Family Values tour. Lasting image: The sight of former Olympic swimmer turned creepy frontman Till Lindemann
Walkie Talkie Blog
Rammstein set list Tacoma Dome May 15, 2011 Rammlied Buckstabu Waidmanns heil Keine Lust Wesses Fleisch Feuer Frei! Wiener Blut Fruhling in Paris Ich Tu Dir Weh Du Riechst So Gut Benzin Links 2 3 4 Du Hast Pussy First encore: Sonne Haifisch Ich Will Second encore: Engel Opening act: Combichrist Ernest Jasmin provides a full review of last night's Rammstein show soon on SPEW.
Walkie Talkie Blog
NW MUSIC LEGENDS >>> Sadly, he'll wail no more. Wailer No. 1, Kent Morrill, lead singer and keyboard player for seminal Tacoma garage-rock band the Fabulous Wailers, died on April 15 after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 70. "We thought he was gonna pull out of it.