Ladies. it's time to pull on your bell-shaped hats and matte stockings. Men, don your colorful suits and patterned socks because Friday and Saturday evenings, June 9 and 10, Tacoma from the 1920s with all its original community support and party enthusiasm is roaring back in style. It's going to be a double feature weekend, displaying local talent, negotiation skills and community support that will make Tacoma's modern community proud.
The first film will be a pre-release screening at the Rialto Theatre of the documentary that filmmaker and visual artist Mick Flaaen recorded for his company Mariposa Productions. “A Totem Tale” begins at 6 p.m. on Friday night. Then the venerable Tacoma-made film from 1927, “Eyes of the Totem,” begins at 8:30 p.m. The film will be turning 90, after all. And it looks as good as new, particularly for being thought lost to history for generations.
While the films will screen on Friday, a birthday party of sorts to mark the 90th anniversary – to the day – of the original movie will be held on Saturday at the Pythian Temple, at 926 Broadway. The day will also offer walking tours of the sights starting at 10 a.m. starting at Fireman’s Park, South 9th and A Streets. The Pythian Temple will also have talks, including local historian Michael Sullivan presenting selected film clips and commentary about 1920s Tacoma, “Seeing Tacoma Through the Eyes of the Totem.” Former City Councilmember and local architect David Boe will have a walking tour of Broadway. The donations-encouraged-but-not-required 90th celebration will be held at 6 p.m.
In 1924, the mastermind behind Tacoma silent films was H.C. Weaver. Just three miles south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, he built the largest U.S. film studio outside of Hollywood. The 105-feet by 180-feet silent movie indoor stage was built in less than two months, thanks to all of the community support from investors and the lumber community. Weaver Productions produced three silent films there: "Hearts and Fists," 1926; "Eyes of the Totem," 1927; and "The Heart of the Yukon," 1927. Only “Eyes of the Totem” is known to exist.
Flaaen marvels that the community support for making “Eyes of the Totem” was obvious by how many people bought $10 shares back in the 20s to support it. He said that very same kind of community support is also evident in the footage of his current documentary.
Soon after Weaver's silent film studio opened, the film industry began to add sound, and Tacoma's gem closed its doors. In 1932, the building was converted into a dance hall but it burned down that same year in August. The 5.5 acres that housed the studio is now part of a residential neighborhood on Titlow Beach.
Rialto Theater is where producers premiered the full-length, silent movie “Eyes of the Totem” in 1927, 90 years ago to the day. That film's old footage shows Tacoma's early streets as well as shots of historic buildings when they were still relatively new, such as the U.S. Courthouse at Union Station, built in 1883, and the Annie Wright Seminary, which opened in 1884. The film was found in 2015 and was restored for viewing last year but more work has been done since, all laid out in Flaaen’s documentary.
For “A Totem Tale,” Flaaen interviewed those who had some kind of legal or logistical part in securing “Eyes of The Totem” from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which had it in its archives. He also interviewed those who took the five dusty reels of once forgotten film and those who helped get the movie fully restored, with a new music score along with it, for public viewing. Then Flaaen also tracked down ancestors of the vintage film's original cast members. It's then, when he was conducting interviews of folks related to the original cast members, when he got the chills.
"There were a lot of eerie moments," Flaeen said.
In one instance, Flaaen was driving to Bonney Lake to meet Peggy Anne Sessoms, an actor who was only 3 years old when she starred as Baby Sessoms in “Eyes of The Totem.” Flaaen said he was driving to her home and thinking about all the people who were involved in building Tacoma's original silent film studio, Weaver Productions, and who made the only movie from there that survives today. Two really big players were W.S. Van Dyke, who directed “Eyes of The Totem,” and a lawyer named Gen. James M. Ashton, who helped finance it.  As Flaaen was thinking about them, he found it rather uncanny that the street just before Sessoms' house was Van Dyke Street and when he turned into the complex it was named Ashton Estates.
Another person that Flaaen interviewed was a descendent of Wanda Hawley. Hawley was “Eyes of the Totem's” main star and plays Mariam Hardy, a single mother who tries to find her husband's murderer. While Hawley is now deceased, her great-niece Meili Cady had also become an actress and, according to Flaaen, "she looks exactly like her great aunt!"
"She (Meili Cady) came up to Seattle and drove to Tacoma, and I interviewed her right in front of the totem pole, right where her great aunt had performed in front of the silent film," Flaaen said.
For scoring the film's music, Flaaen worked with Tacoma Musician Justin Tamminga, who is well known locally for being the dad who formed the band Pig Snout with his two children. Tamminga and Flaaen have worked on three other films together, “Paint,” “A Funeral Dance” and “Hearts and Fists” (a short film).
To buy tickets for this double feature at the Rialto Theater, see atotemtalefilm.com. That's where they cost $15.

In a little over three years of covering boxing and mixed martial arts, we have seen some pretty impressive crowds fill the showroom at the Emerald Queen Casino. They all would pale in comparison to the throng of fight fans and well-wishers in attendance for the special 20th anniversary edition of the Battle at the Boat boxing series. It was standing room only at the EQC and while the night of fights was a bit of a mixed bag, it was clear that the fight fans around the Tacoma area know and love them some good fights.

It was the 111th edition of Battle at the Boat, and when one really looks closely at that number, it means the total number of boxers that have entered the ring under a Brian Halquist promotion, is probably somewhere in the ball park of 1,500 fighters. That’s just an awesome number.

The night would usher into the ring some of the area’s most favored boxers, as well as a bevy of former pugilists who have graced the ring at a Battle at the Boat in the past. It was a festive night, filled with congratulations from the ring by boxing luminaries, as well as video tributes from quite a few celebrities.

While all of the smiling, back-slapping and hugging added some warmth to the night, it was the battles within the ring that drew the crowd out following a gorgeous Puget Sound day outside.

Opening the night would be a bout between relative newcomers. Jacob Ikaika Martin would be making his boxing debut against Eric “Kid Rush” Cronkhite, who entered the bout with an 0-1 record. Both fighters have previously put in work inside the cage as mixed martial artists, but luckily their boxing training has taken over and no kicks or knees accidentally slipped into the action.

Martin looks like he may have a bit of a future inside the ring. He delivered some heavy blows to a slippery Cronkhite, but was unable to put them together in bunches. It was clear though, that he stung his opponent several times in their four-round affair, and when the final bell rang, the crowd appreciated the work put in by the two fighters. Martin would win via unanimous decision.

From this writer’s standpoint, the second fight of the evening should have been stamped with an “incomplete” following some action that seemed to end in just a matter of moments. Jesse Barich (0-1) was facing Kevin Torres (1-0-1) in a 154-pound affair. Torres immediately looked sharp and ready to go, while Barich appeared a bit stiff. There would be no room to work through things though, as Barich was on the wrong end of a couple of low blows that landed on the opposite side of the referee. Folks in the crowd were calling foul on the business, and before anyone knew it, Torres landed a third shot, just a bit higher, and Barich went down in pain. After a short chat with the referee, the fight was stopped and Torres was named the winner. While the final blow was high enough to be legal, it was difficult seeing a fighter eat a couple of shots in such a short amount of time, that were sure to sap the strength and energy from his body.

The third bout would pit newcomer Shae Green and Niko McFarland (0-3) in a 140-pound bout. Both fighters were lightning fast, offensively and defensively. The result was a lot of punches thrown, but not a whole lot of damage done by either fighter. In the end, Green would earn the unanimous decision, although McFarland represented himself quite well against what looks to be one of the up and coming fighters in the area.

Up next would be a 177-pound bout between undefeated Richard Vansiclen (3-0) against Justin Milani (1-4). The bout had a slow start to it, as both fighters felt each other out for a bit. However, before the first round was over, Vansiclen had stunned Milani with a big shot and had was beginning to land some good blows. The second round saw Vansiclen come out ready to end the fight. Milani was game enough to keep on swinging, but he began to whither under a barrage of blows from Vansiclen. A clean left hook sent Milani to the deck and the referee mercifully stopped the bout. Vansiclen looks like he has enough tools to start making some serious noise in the Pacific Northwest.

The semi main event would pit Andres Reyes (6-2-1) against Will Hughes (5-5) in a 147-pound affair. While Reyes still looks like he could be around 16 years old, he’s shown himself to be quite the veteran around the Battle at the Boats. Hughes has also put in some serious work at the EQC, so it looked as though this could be a fun fight.

What turned out, was a first round knockout that was almost comical in appearance. After some great early action in the first, Reyes caught Hughes with a left hook high upon his head. It reminded this writer of when the doctor taps your knee with his little hammer. The knee pops up, without you having done a thing. Reyes nailed Hughes, his arms went out in a herky-jerky manner, and one of his legs suddenly launched backward, like a donkey kick. Meanwhile, Reyes saw the opening and needed just one punch to send his opponent to the mat. If there was a “lights out” button on Hughes, it appeared that Reyes had found it.

The main event would pit Hilltop’s own Mike Gavronski (22-2-1) against Quinton Rankin (12-3-2) in a light heavyweight affair. I wish I could polish this fight a little bit, but in truth, it was a difficult 10-rounder to watch. Rankin, a southpaw, was hell-bent on keeping Gavronski away from him, and was in reverse gear much of the night. When Rankin did land some shots, it was in ones and no more than twos. There were little combinations landed by either fighter and it looked as though the style of each man was like oil to their water. In the end, it would be Gavronski taking the unanimous decision, to the delight of the Tacoma faithful in the crowd.

Bonus coverage: Listen to Christopher Titus explain why he prefers a wireless mic online at www.tacomaweekly.com.

Comedian Christopher Titus doesn't normally dwell on politics, but as he was developing his latest standup routine, not even he could resist the cornucopia of comedic possibilities that is the Trump Administration.  
“It was called 'America … Really?'” Titus said, recently explaining his new set's theme. “Three months in, it's now called 'Amerigeddon,' because that seems like where we're going. We're at the beginning of a Stephen King novel right now.”
Titus will bring his new material to Tacoma Comedy Club for five big sets, from June 15 to 17, and here is some of what he had to say about his inspirations, upcoming projects and recent controversies involving peers Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher. 
Tacoma Weekly: I saw you talking to Jim Norton recently talking about doing your first overtly political set, which usually isn't your thing. What pushed you in that direction?
Titus: How can you turn away from the bright, orange carpet fire that's currently running the country? On a daily basis, there's two major f-ups that literally would have taken down any other president – on a daily basis! So how can you not turn toward it?
The reason I really got into it was I don't like when Americans hate each other, and this last election we really got bad. Families were breaking up over Thanksgiving Dinner.
“Screw you, Uncle Phil!”
“Hey, Uncle Phil gave you a kidney.”
“Yeah, well you can have your kidney back. Give me a box cutter and some bathtub bourbon. Let's go!” People got really weird because of this: Half of us wanted an arrogant, pants-suit-wearing robot. I call her She 3PO. And Hillary with those square jackets; I ask the women, “Was she running as Lego Hillary?”
So half of us wanted her, and half of us wanted this arrogant, delusional, orange, Alzheimer's ridden rodeo clown. And that's why we hate each other? I wanted to write a show that was gonna bring America back together; trying to really point out where we're at and what we're really angry about.
TW: People are really amped these days. Have you had crazy hecklers or people who have been angry after these shows?
Titus: I started breaking in little pieces of it in December – little tiny pieces of it. I was in New York, and one guy just stood up and he goes, “You f----- libtard!” He just started screaming at me, and I started singing “We Are the World” which was really funny to the audience. They threw the guy out while he screamed the whole way out. “Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!”
That was in December. Since then, that has stopped. As he did the Muslim ban, as he Tweeted out the stupidest stuff we've ever seen, even the Trump supporters are just keeping quiet. It's almost like they talked about your kid being an idiot, and their kid went to jail.
TW: You get to address all the topical stuff you're doing in your set now on your podcast now (“Titus Podcast.”) How is that as an outlet versus standup and some of the acting stuff that you've done?
Titus: What the podcast forces me to do is write. I do a thing called “The Armageddon Update.” Because I was writing those five minutes of topical (material about) whatever's going on in the world every week, some of the ideas ended up in (my special) “Neverlution.” Some of 'em ended up in “The Angry Pursuit of Happiness.” Some of 'em ended up in this one. Not only is it fun to do, it keeps me on my game.
The one thing that's been bugging me lately is this Kathy Griffin/ Bill Maher thing where comics are apologizing. Bill Maher is the least racist dude I know, and he just had Cornell West on and all these guys on the show. He clocks off a joke, in context, and people flip out because we've just become this knee-jerk, participation trophy, selfie, I'm-more-important-than-anyone-else society that thinks that they can get offended. Yet, no one's getting offended that (Trump) is trying to take away 23 million people's health care. We get offended over the dumbest crap right now.
And Kathy Griffin: I didn't realize the line below that picture was “he's bleeding from his eyes, he's bleeding from his whatever.” Oh, I get the joke now. Was it a little too gross? Yeah, it was a little hyped. It was a metaphor. Then you've got to explain to the dumb people what metaphor means. (He laughs.) I'm just irritated that we're getting mad at comedians. I think that any comedian that apologizes loses all credibility. Carlin never apologized.
TW: Since the last time I talked to you, you had the thing with your character Willie “Jello” Johnson. (Titus briefly retired the impression in 2015, fearing it came across as a racial caricature.) Though I guess that wasn't so much because of public outrage.
Titus: Here's the difference. I think Kathy Griffin and Bill got scared that they're going to lose their jobs. Willie is a character in the show that I did; and the reason that he came on is I would give an opinion about an issue, like people being racist towards Obama, and I needed another voice to come in and basically back up the black side of the issue.
One day, I had this moment where I thought, “Although I think I'm doing the right thing, I might not be.” It was me searching my own soul and going, “You know, dude; maybe that's not the best thing.”
Willie was never Stepin Fetchit. Willie was always kind of threatening (and) he was on the right side of the issue. I still do him sometimes now, but everybody knows it's me so it's OK. The scary thing about Willie is it went on so long without anyone knowing it was me. We had people showing up at shows wanting to meet Willie. “Where's Willie? Is Willie here?” I was like, “Wow, I'm a genius; and I better stop this.” (He laughs.)
TW: Totally switching gears, you've got Aziz, you've got Louie, you've got Maria Bamford and a million other comedians with sitcoms loosely based on their lives. After your experience with “Titus,” would you want to jump in and do another sitcom?
Titus: Yeah, I'm working on two ideas right now, but I already did my life. “Titus” to this day still holds up; the box set still goes for over a hundred bucks. Thank God it didn't end up in the Walmart discount bin. I wish I hadn't pissed of the network president, of course; but it's one of the proudest times of my life, and the show still holds up really well. So yeah, I would do another one. I'm working on something with Billy Gardell right now, and the movie's gonna be released on Oct. 11, “Special Unit.”
TW: When I last talked to you in 2013 you were talking about “Special Unit.” Back then, you were having trouble getting it made. Bring us up to speed.
Titus: We filmed it. Billy's in it, actually. He plays this police captain, and Billy Gardell is three seconds from aneurysm the whole movie. It's hilarious. Cynthia Watros is in it. Most of the disabled actors from the pilot we did in '06. It's really funny. We got Everlast to do music for it. (It was) a 10-year quest.
TW: What does it mean to finally get it done? And is it going to be a theatrical release or straight to video?
Titus: We're still going over that. As of right now, it'll be on iTunes, Amazon; but we're gonna do a major push. I have a plan. We did it without any network help. We did it without studio help. We had two investors and myself.
I promised these guys that I'd make this movie. There's a lot of disabled actors that never get a shot. They just don't get a shot; and if they do get a shot, they get to be the sage Yoda in a wheelchair. I wanted to do a movie where they got to be funny, like “Blazing Saddles” or something where they got to be ridiculous; and it works man. It really worked.
I will say this: everybody is afraid of it. (The premise is) due to the fairness and disabilities act, the LAPD has to hire four handicapped undercover detectives, and I play Nick Nolte's mug shot. (It has) everything from using the word retard (to) there's a scene where two of 'em are in bed together. I wrote a funny school shooting in the movie. So there's a lot of people that are like, “Holy crap, Titus. You can't release this.” No one dies in the school shooting (but) when you tell people you wrote a funny school shooting, everyone's butts tighten up.

8 p.m. June 15, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. June 16 and 17
Tacoma Comedy Club, 933 Market St.
Tickets are $22.50 to $37.50; www.tacomacomedyclub.com

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” is a classic Western. The 1962 film – based on a 1953 short story by Dorothy M. Johnson, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin – has aged well. It continues to be remarked on these days as one of the gems of the western movie genera. In 2014, playwright Jethro Compton adapted the story as a stage play.
Tacoma Little Theatre’s production of the play is a way for that venerable civic institution to end its 98th season, quite literally, with a bang. Directed by David Domkoski, the TLT show brings to stage some of the finest actors working in the South Sound.
The story explores the mythos of the Wild West and the taming thereof. Ransome Foster (Jacob Tice) comes to the podunk town of Twotrees. Injured, Ransome is carried by Burt Barricune (Chris James) to the Prairie Belle Saloon, which is run by Hallie Jackson (Jill Heinecke) and her foster brother Jim “The Reverend” Mosten (Nick Butler). Jim is an African-American orphan that the Jackson family took in when he was abandoned. Ransome was beaten and left for dead by Liberty Valance (Mason Quinn), an outlaw with a small bounty on his head.
Valance is a predatory creature in a realm where the strong are allowed to make their own rules because others don’t have enough force to check their power. Judging from his racial attitudes, Valance seems to be a sort of repugnant refugee that has been regurgitated out of the defeated Confederacy in the aftermath of the Civil War. He has gone west where he can live as he wishes, beyond reach of the United States government.
Foster is the antithesis of Valance. He has just come from the East, bringing the enlightenment of law and civic order in the form of a bag full of books that he uses to start a school. Foster teaches the townsfolk to read. His most gifted student is Jim, who is a genius with the ability to remember everything he hears word for word. He quickly absorbs Foster’s teachings and the world opens up before him. News of the school, however, arouses Valance’s ire and the dangerous predator enters the town.
Perhaps the most complex character, in this drama filled with complex characters, is Barricune. Like Valance, he is a creature of the West and is equal in strength to Valance. Barricune, however, embodies a kind of frontier chivalry in counterpoint to Valance’s more Darwinian “might makes right” mode of existence.
The cast of this poignant drama is flawless. From the very first, the audience is swept away by Tice’s stage charisma, James’ big presence and Heinecke’s fiery demeanor, all of which set the story in motion. Butler’s rosy portrayal of Jim’s delight in the discovery of new knowledge is so wonderful that everyone wishes that the story could end there at the zenith of his happiness.
Tall Ben Stahl plays the world-weary Marshal Johnson while Curtis Beech is his second-fiddle deputy. The ensemble cast of Margret Parobek, Joseph Butler, Lisa Kremer, Emma McCarthy and Nora McCarthy fleshes things out, playing the various townsfolk.
Most fascinating of all, however, is Quinn’s portrayal of Valance, the reptile-like villain. Here is a character that is self-aware and keenly tuned in to his situation, his strengths and his motives. He is a Dark Lord of the Sith (to borrow a science fiction analogy) dressed in a paisley vest and sporting a sidearm that he is all too good at using. Valance does not make his appearance until near the end of the first act. He leaves the audience in subdued despair as the story hits the intermission.
The high point of the story is the inevitable confrontation between Valance and Foster. Will good triumph over evil, or does the most ruthless man survive?
This is a story rich with philosophical implications that is brilliantly performed.  I had looked forward to this since TLT made the season announcement months ago. On a sad note, this is director Domkoski’s last show in Tacoma. After 43 years in the City of Destiny he is leaving for a life of retirement. He brought much to our city. As director of Handforth Gallery and as the force behind the Assemblage Theater, Domkoski brought much to the arts in Tacoma.
“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” runs through June 18. For further information visit tacomalittletheatre.com or call (253) 272-2281.

Tacoma Waldorf School is relocating to the educational building on the property formerly known as the Weyerhaeuser Estate in North Tacoma. The move enables the school to expand enrollment to more than double their current numbers, filling a long-awaited demand for this specialized education. Waldorf curriculum emphasizes the role of imagination in learning, striving to holistically integrate the intellectual, practical and artistic development of their students.
Tacoma Waldorf is one of nine in the State of Washington and the only one in Pierce County. They currently provide education for preschool through fifth grade and have plans to expand to eighth grade in the very near future. The new building and its’ beautiful landscape provide a perfect setting for a school that focuses on the use of natural resources and outdoor play.
For more information visit www.TacomaWaldorf.org or call (253) 383-8711.

Delphia Brewton is a personal chef who offers all sorts of catering. While she loves creating excellent cuisine, she is also expanding her brand and is working on a new cookbook. Customers can also buy gift baskets from her to deliver when someone is ill or a "welcome home" basket for that special new arrival.
According to Brewton, being a Christian-based company sets her business apart. "I think our service is hands-down bar-none and I say that confidently," she said. "When the customer is satisfied, we know we are doing a good job."
Brewton keeps many specialty items on her menu, which changes seasonally. For the summer she is focusing on serving seafood with fresh fruits and vegetables.
"The things we love to cook are gourmet Southern," Brewton said. "I love to put my own spin on Southern traditional dishes and make them my own."
Brewton said that to add her personal flair she might make wild seasoned salmon on a fried green tomato or add red-orange sauce on a grilled cod fillet. This seasons she is serving Cajun crab cakes topped with shrimp etouffée, fried trout and also lemon herb brown butter, shrimp and grits.
Immediately after graduating from high school in Seattle, Brewton entered college at the University of Washington. Then twists and turns happened in her life. After her first year as an undergraduate student, she married a man in the military and they had a baby who is now 12. Brewton left Seattle when her husband landed a job on the east coast. That's where she applied to Georgetown University and attended college there. Shortly after, the military sent her husband to South Korea and when he dutifully left, Brewton felt obligated to drop out of school to attend to their children full time.

After a year in South Korea, her husband returned home to his new station in Washington State at a time when Brewton was homeschooling their now three children. Once back in the Pacific Northwest, Brewton returned to her studies at the University of Washington to become a lawyer. Yet that is when she began to feel less and less interested in her studies and more certain she was really missing out on something.
"At that time I decided just to pray," Brewton said. She then took a big leap in faith and began pursuing her chef's training at Le Cordon Bleu of Culinary Arts. "I felt more validated when I prepared something and it was great," Brewton said.
After graduating from culinary school, she immediately launched her business, Blessings From The Heart. From the beginning, Brewton readily admits she was very scared at the time but she has felt very blessed since then and now knows, without any doubt, that being a chef is her calling.
"I got a call from a client who wanted me to prepare an American-theme-based menu," said Brewton when asked to give one example for when she felt especially blessed. She didn't know the whole scenario for the upcoming party but the client was high end. So she started putting together red, white and blue velvet mini-cakes, peach cobbler, smoked macaroni and cheese, baked beans, American hamburgers and peach cobbler. She prepared a demo for the client and they loved the setting so much she was chosen to work the event.
Until that day, Brewton said she had no idea that the event was going to be for wounded military personnel who had lost limbs due to buried landmines or other catastrophic events. "This event actually got telecast on the Bill O'Reilly news show," Brewton said.
Brewton's typical customer ranges from the average middle-class wage earner, including retired military personnel, to the high-end, very fortunate class, including A-list celebrities. "I have been very blessed to be around all kinds of people and serve them," Brewton said.
At this time, Brewton does not currently have a designated business kitchen. "Our business friend is trying to expand into a restaurant so we have started a go-fund-me account that we would love for people to donate to," Brewton said. That go fund me account is: www.gofundme.com/Blessingsfrommyhearttoyourtable.
To contact Brewton, call 1 (800) 329-3445 and visit www.blessingspersonalchef.com.

There are new rumors about the disappearance of Percival, our beloved Pothole Pig. While there is no solid evidence at this point, the rumors have rekindled the search.
Rumor has it that Percival was leading a double life from the unassuming, all-business pig that he presented to his friends and co-workers. Rumors are now swirling that Percival fancied himself a "Ladies’ Boar," living as a serious and consummate bachelor in the public eye while indulging his secret delight of accompanying some of the South Sound's most bountiful young ladies to events in the area under the pseudonym ”Big.”
The rumor details from “Jennifer E” are that despite his best efforts to keep up this secret, care-free lifestyle, he became a father because of it, fathering five piglets, three girls and two boys all born about 45 minutes apart. 
Though he had always provided for his family, he is particularly proud of his eldest son, Patterson, who seems to have taken a liking to snooting out potholes in the area surrounding their home, just like his father had taught him.
Percival come home! Your children miss you! Until then we have to assume that Percival has simply vanished by his own choice. However, there are still potholes in the city that need attention, so we simply – and sadly – must hire someone to handle his workload.
We decided to give the candidates a trial run to see how they do in the field.
This week Carter the Crater Gator gave it another shot by finding a crater that would make Percival proud. But frankly, Carter might just not have the celebrity power to take on such a high-profile role. What are your thoughts? We have other candidates in the works that we might try out: Charles the Chuckhole Chicken and Blighty the Blight-Seeking Beaver, but several people voiced their opinion that a permanent replacement should be one of Percival’s relatives, namely Peyton, who lives in Portland, and Perry, who lives in Parkland. And now a new candidate has entered the running with a resume from Ruddy the Road Rut Reindeer, who is a brother-in-law of Tacoma Rainiers mascot Rhubarb.
Send your thoughts to stevedunkel@tacomaweekly.com.

True to form, President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accord on climate change, joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only non-participating states. He got an earful from the Europeans at the just-concluded G-7 meeting in Italy, but the U.S. stood aside as the other six countries committed to fully carrying out the Paris agreement. Trump and most of his colleagues seem oblivious to the environmental and political costs their decision entails. The planet will suffer for their ignorance, as will initiatives in the US to move rapidly ahead on renewal energy-based technologies and accompanying employment.
The bad news on the environment continues to mount up. There is the coral reef die-off in the Great Barrier Reef, disintegration in the West Antarctic ice flow, sea-level rise, and resumption of major deforestation in the Amazon basin. 2016 was the hottest year on record, and extreme weather events that we are seeing everywhere are mainly the consequence of carbon buildup in the atmosphere, especially its impact on Arctic melting.
Another warning sign comes from the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, which is home to the Global Seed Vault. The vault, sunk in deep permafrost, holds about a million food crop seeds. Because of climate change, flooding threatened the vault, which previously had been considered impregnable. Fortunately, the vault itself did not yield; but we may not be so lucky the next time. I couldn’t help thinking of an apocalyptic scenario in which Earth’s survivors are reduced to foraging for seeds to stave off mass starvation.
Blame for Trump’s decision should mostly fall on the climate skeptics he has appointed. Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is an oil-and-gas man who has a long history of disparaging scientific findings on climate change and initiating law suits against the EPA. He also has a hard time with facts – saying, for instance, that China and India have no obligations under the Paris Accord until 2030, and that they are “polluting far more than we are.” If Pruitt’s wildest dream comes true, the EPA will be eliminated by Dec. 31, 2018 under H.R. 861. William Happer, the leading candidate for science adviser to the president, considers climate scientists (he’s a physicist) “like a cult. It’s like Hare Krishna or something like that. They’re glassy-eyed and they chant.” (On other occasions he has likened climate science to Nazism and ISIS.) And of course there’s the secretary of energy, Rick Perry. No explanation needed there. What these three have in common besides being climate-change deniers is their belief that government scientists need to be muzzled – their public talks, conference papers, and media appearances should be closely monitored and limited.
These appointments are prelude to a proposed 31 percent cut in the EPA budget that will gut U.S. science research and the environmental protection bureaucracy. Even though such an extraordinary cut is unlikely to get Congressional approval, some significant budget reduction is inevitable, and will have a more immediate effect on climate change than withdrawal from the Paris Accord. A quarter of EPA’s employees and 56 programs are to be eliminated. 
The most lasting ill effects of having an anti-science administration may be on the science education of children at the state level. Two states, and possibly a third (Florida), have laws on the books that enable parents to challenge teachers on how they teach evolution and climate change. Parents who believe in creationism and deny climate change may not be able to force local school boards and teachers to dispose of standard science texts, but they may compel teachers to introduce creationism and “alternative” explanations of climate change in order to “balance” the curriculum.
Standing against the three blind mice are virtually the entire climate science community and, most recently, three former administrators of the EPA. (Within the administration, only Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic adviser, reportedly has argued in favor of the Paris accord as well as against supporting the coal industry.) The former administrators served over three decades, and wrote an op-ed piece the other day to express concern over Trump’s decision on the Paris Accord. Saying that Trump “has chosen ignorance over knowledge,” the three took particular aim at Trump’s proposed budget cuts relevant to global warming – not just the EPA, but also “programs in the departments of Energy, State, Interior and Homeland Security, and at the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA… The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is zeroed out; air and energy research are cut by 66 percent.” The op-ed concludes: “With no seeming clue as to what’s going on, the president seems to have cast our lot with a small coterie of climate skeptics and their industry allies rather than trying to better understand the impact of increased greenhouse-gas emissions into the atmosphere.” Indeed.
Thus does the U.S. descend into global irresponsibility and surrender of opportunities to lead in the human interest. The U.S. withdrawal from Paris will not take full effect until 2020, but by then most of the world will have passed us by. And while our backs are turned, the EU’s climate commissioner, Miguel Arias Cañete, announced: “The EU and China are joining forces to forge ahead on the implementation of the Paris agreement and accelerate the global transition to clean energy.”
If there is a silver lining here, it is the planned formation of climate-change alliances. One is led by California and joined by progressive leaders in Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, and perhaps some other states. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading another emission-reduction effort involving coordination among cities, businesses, and universities. These initiatives are saying “no” to Washington’s failure of leadership and substituting for it with legislation that may go beyond the requirements of the Paris Accord. So we must now turn to our state and local governments for scientific advances, economic innovation, and political courage if we are to help save the planet.

Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University.

Beautiful backyard birds – the American Robin, the Spotted Towhee and the Red-breasted Nuthatch – were the artistic challenge for students in the 18th annual Youth Bird Drawing Contest of Tahoma Audubon Society (TAS).
This year 21 schools from across Pierce County submitted a total of 125 entries to be judged. Entries were due by April 30 and were judged May 4 by Helen Engle, who couldn’t believe it was the 18th contest. Other judges were Dona Townsend, a member of the committee and a watercolor artist, and Judy Best, a TAS member and retired elementary educator with many years of experience with various youth competitions.
Prizes were awarded May 25 in a ceremony at Tacoma Nature Center. Each winner received a gift bag of artist supplies from the Artist and Craftsman Supply Center, a new and very generous business in Tacoma.
Again this year, a free family membership to Tahoma Audubon was part of the prize package. Sally Larson donated the frames for the art work which will be given to the student artists in August.
Tacoma Nature Center displays the winning art all summer. Take time to look at the wonderful images at the Birdathon Celebration in July.
The Thelma Gilmur Education Committee managed the contest this year, and the Youth Bird Drawing Contest subcommittee included Dona Townsend, Judy Best, Ione Clagett, Sally Larson, and Marsha Williams. Margie Shea, our tireless Membership Chair, continued her work with this contest by providing guidance, information, and many hours of email contact with local districts and hands-on help with the judging session. Karen Gillis and Jen Vittitoe helped with framing the art and Karen provided prizes again this year.
The education committee appreciates this TAS team effort to produce another excellent activity that connects children with nature.

Student winners for 2017:
Grades 1-2
• 1st place Alex Kamala, 2nd grade Evergreen Primary
• 2nd place D’Lorah Brewer, 2nd grade Brouillet Elementary
• 3rd place Ryan Judge, 2nd grade Charles Wright
• Honorable Mention: Elijah Wellman,1st grade Point Defiance
Grades 3-4
• 1st place Lily Sarroza, 3rd grade Charles Wright
• 2nd place Resse Sabo, 4th grade Charles Wright
• 2nd place Mitchell Smith, 3rd grade Graham Elementary
• 3rd place Caroline Gicewicz, 4th grade Charles Wright
• Hon. Mention: Olivia Bowlden, 3rd grade Charles Wright
• Hon. Mention: Rachel Deoki, 4th grade Charles Wright
Grades 5-6
• 1st place Anneliese Anderson-Coffee, 5th grade Meeker Elem.
• 2nd place Avery Iverson, 6th grade Jason Lee
• 3rd place Inez McQuarrie, 6th grade Jason Lee
• 3rd place Sully Chipman, 6th grade Jason Lee
• Honorable Mention: Sophie Slaughter, 5th grade Charles Wright
• Honorable Mention: Kawil McHenry, 6th grade Jason Lee
• Honorable Mention: Andrea Luna, 6th grade Drum
Grades 7-8
• 1st place Noah Braun, 7th grade Homeschool
2nd place Elisabeth Buchanan, 7th grade Sumner Middle School

The growing troubles facing the future of the Tacoma Tideflats is one that could have been avoided so many times over the years if only agreements, pledges and promises has been upheld. But they weren’t. So here we are. And they so far aren’t going to be followed this time either.
The largest battle in the works on the waterfront pits the City of Tacoma against the Port of Tacoma over who will sit at the table during the creation of a sub area plan for the largely industrialized waterfront that not only is an economic engine of the region, but also a toxic sandbox caused by the industrialization of that very same land over the passing decades of unchecked capitalism and poor decision making in the name of “progress.”
Tacoma City Council wants the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to share equally in the planning and forecasting of the Tideflat’s future, not only because most of the land falls within the tribe’s reservation boundaries but because the tribe is a rising economic engine in its own right. The 1989-1990 land claim settlement between the city, the Port and the Puyallups requires that any discussion about developments or decisions regarding the Tideflats must include meaningful consultation with the tribe. It remains the second largest land claim settlement in U. S. history and was meant to formalize a way for resolving development and planning issues of the critical areas for commerce and international trade.
Port of Tacoma now wants to relegate that “meaningful consultation” with the tribe to simply putting them among the ranks of business owners and commerce boosters with interests in growing the Tideflats, looking past the fact that the Puyallups have lived and worked along the waters since before Puget Sound itself formed. But regardless of that fact, any sub area plan drafted without significant participation by the tribe puts the whole process in legal limbo.
“The Puyallup Tribe of Indians have and continue to be great stewards of this land. Removing the Tribe’s co-equal role in the leadership, scoping, development and future implementation of the plan does not reflect the legally binding agreement,” a gathering of more than a dozen environmental groups outlined in an open letter to the City and Port as the two governments negotiate dueling proposals. The city wants the tribe at the table. The port commission wants them out, but wants to include the Pierce County Council, effectively stacking the deck for the pro-development camp at the expense of future generations that will be tasked with paying for cleanups the same way current taxpayers are paying for the environmental sins of past generations.
Maybe someday, governments will hold up their part of agreements, but so far, negotiations about who drives the discussion about the future of the Tideflats isn’t shaping up to be one of those times.

What is a book? The question seems more relevant than ever at this time in which digitalization is overcoming traditional media. The trend allows for an increase in volume of information (even an overwhelming flood), yet it also threatens to open a dark gap in our civilization. Digital media depend on an energy infrastructure external to the would-be possessor of the information. Digital information is so dependent upon the maintaining of a gigantic network that any break in that network could relegate everything digital into oblivion.
Books as physical objects, on the other hand, are self-contained repositories of information. Creators of art books hew to the idea of the book as a tangible presence; a unique object of beauty that contains a variety of stuff. Artist-made books are mystical, magical things that can contain imagery and information while retaining the quality of being a work of art in and of themselves.
Puget Sound Book Artists is holding its seventh annual exhibition at University of Puget Sound’s Collins Memorial Library. The show is free and open to the public and will be on view through July 28.
PSBA is an organization comprised of professionals and amateurs from the book, paper and printing arts communities. There are bookbinders, papermakers, printers, book artists, archivists and conservators. The group puts on exhibitions, workshops, lectures and publications dealing with all aspects of the art of the book.
This year’s show is a themed exhibition called “Northwest Musings.” The artist-made books in the show all explore some idea of what the Pacific Northwest means to each participant. Many deal with the native flora and fauna, while others explore the topography and the culture, both ancient and modern, of the region. Some explore architecture, transportation, coffee house culture and environmental issues.
There is a great and inventive array of styles of making books. There are accordion books, flag books, books with woven, piano hinge spines. Double dos-a-dos with slip covers, Jacob’s ladder books, slab-bound books, codices with Coptic stitch binding, books with concertina binding and tomes with drum leaf binding.
There are books with driftwood covers and books made with all kinds of paper, much of it hand made. The artist books incorporate buttons, beads, denim, wood gnawed by pine beetles, clam shells, coffee bags, sticks, stones and the list goes on. Each book is a thing made from a great range of materials. The pages have everything from the written word, to fine drawings, prints, collage, embroidery and combinations thereof. Many of the books have textured boxes to contain them. Some even have elaborate containers, like Peter Newland’s miniature travel trailer made to contain his “Travel Musings.”
More elaborate still is Patricia Chupa’s “Thuja Plicata,” which has a container that is like a tree trunk topped with a Northwest native style hat woven from strips of cedar bark. Randi Parkhurst built a miniature tower to contain “InSpired.” Kathy Dickerson’s “Indianola Beach Field Guide” is a set of beautiful little pages in a cover made of driftwood that is set up on a small stand made of driftwood.
One of the masterpieces in the show is Chandler O’Leary’s “One Hundred Views of Mount Rainier, at least.” This book consists of a beautiful box with three drawers equipped with ribbon pulls. Inside are 120 “image flats,” scenes that can be assembled in a diminutive viewing stage so that they create a 3-D image of a particular view of Mount Rainier. This volume leaves one dumbstruck by the amount of work that went into it and the high level of fine craftsmanship required to make it. Each of little vignettes is utterly charming. O’Leary is certainly a living treasure that Tacoma is fortunate to have.
“Northwest Musings” is sure to inspire its viewers to rush home and begin to assemble their own books out of whatever is at hand. The only drawback of this show (an unfortunate necessity) is that all of the artist-made books are housed in glass cases. A book is made to be opened and held and looked thorough. One stands like a poor kid in a candy story, wishing for access to the sweet treasures behind glass. What a pleasure it would be to hold one of these gems, to spend time opening it, exploring all of its pages and meditating on its contents. The show is a tantalizing glimpse into private worlds contained within the leaves and pages of the works of art on display.
“Northwest Musings” runs through July 28. A PSBA artist conversation will take place June 22, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. A panel discussion is scheduled for July 19, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Both events take place in room 020 of the Collins Memorial Library. For further information visit www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/collins-memorial-library/about-collins/artwork-exhibits-in-the-library/psba-7th-annual-members-exhibition.

A convicted child predator is wanted in Pierce County. David Thomas is a level 3 sex offender – the worst of the worst and highest risk to re-offend. He’s failing to register as a sex offender, a crime that’s not new to him one bit.
“Our suspect has been convicted of not registering before, so he knows better,” said Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer. “In this particular case we have two different convictions. One where the victim was 11 and one where the victim was 14 years old, while he was an adult, so this is somebody who should not be around children, especially unsupervised, so we want to know where he’s at, what he’s doing and hold him accountable. He also failed to participate in sex offender treatment.”
He’s been busted for failing to register as a sex offender four times, this will be his fifth once he’s caught and convicted.
Thomas is Native American and goes by the nicknames “Boo Coo,” “Long Water” and “Two Moons.” He’s 44 years old, 5-feet, 9-inches tall and weighs 250 pounds. He’s inked with a ton of tattoos, including two horses on his neck with a woman’s eyes below them.
If you know where deputies can find this high-risk child predator, Call Crime Stoppers of Tacoma-Pierce County at 1 (800) -222-TIPS. ​ It is anonymous and there is a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to his arrest.

On Saturday, June 24, Dance Theatre Northwest will bring its newest production of “All That Dance” to the Mount Tahoma high school auditorium (4634 S. 74th St.) at 4 p.m. “All That Dance" features "42nd Street," "Almost Blue," "The Reef," Fascinating Rhythm," "African Spirit," excerpts from “Swan Lake,” and “Sleeping Beauty," with a fabulous all-cast finale.
The show features musical theatre style dance, ballet, jazz, contemporary and tap numbers combined to create a fabulous show that is fun for the whole family. Artistic Director and choreographer Melanie Kirk Stauffer has put together an energetic lineup along with instructor/choreographers, Katherine Neumann and Bonnie Calvert, who will be sharing fun, fanciful dance created for a varied cast that ranges from professional dancers, to students and dancers of all ages. 
Featured performers include Katherine Neumann, Oceana Thunder, Neil Alexander, Madeline Ewer, Philandra Eargle and Emma Young along with DTNW's Dance Ensemble Members, Jr Company, students and guest performers.
Mount Tahoma's venue offers free parking and is handicapped accessible. Tickets are available online at DTNW.org, and at the studio office at 2811 Bridgeport Way West in University Place, and will also be on sale day of show at the Mt Tahoma theatre box office from 3 p.m. Student, senior (0ver 60), and children tickets are $11-$13 and adults $22-$26 with discounts for groups and military.
Dance Theatre Northwest is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization is committed to making dance as an important art form accessible to individuals and groups and to assisting future dancers and artists. For more information visit www.DTNW.org or call (253) 778-6534.

Dear Editor,

(Re: “Trump’s reckless budget cannot be allowed to become law,” guest editorial by Sen. Maria Cantwell, TW June 2)
Thanks to Sen. Maria Cantwell for her guest editorial, bringing us up to date on the pitfalls for Washington in President Trump’s proposed budget. It is a very comprehensive expose of the many cuts affecting all areas of life in Washington, but I am especially concerned with the cuts to Medicaid.  
She made it very clear that so many people – 1.7 million people in Washington – get their health insurance through Medicaid, but also the cuts would endanger programs for children, people with disabilities and veterans. 
In addition to this attack on Medicaid is the attempt at this time in the Senate to do a work-over to the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which includes changes to Medicaid coverage. They are trying to pass this without adequate debate or hearings as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. 
Senator, please keep working for a budget that will keep not only Washington but the whole nation on a healthy, upward path.
Phyllis Bjorkman
Tacoma, WA

With the arrival of summer, it's time to head over to Point Defiance for some alligator on a stick. More than 225,000 noshers are expected to bring their appetites to the Emerald Queen's annual Taste of Tacoma celebration as it takes over the park from Friday to Sunday, June 23 to 25.
This year's festival will showcase dozens of local food vendors, breweries and musical performers from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Visit www.tasteoftacoma.com for a full menu and schedule of performers.
Meanwhile, here are five things you should see, hear, do and – of course – eat at this year's festival.
South Sound Bites: This new attraction will allow festival-goers to sample specialties from some of the area's most buzz-worthy restaurants – the likes of Stanley and Seaforts, Miyabi Sushi and Casco Antiguo – while also supporting a good cause. For $16, participants can load their plates with five mini entrees, everything from Hawaiian poke to chocolate-slathered Belgian waffles.
Proceeds will benefit Emergency Food Network which will also be on site collecting non-perishable food donations to feed local families in need. Tickets will be available from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Step up your kitchen game: TV Tacoma's Amanda Westbrooke will return for a fifth year to host cooking demos at the Taste Cooks stage. Among the chefs providing pointers this year are Derek Bray from The Table on Sixth Avenue, Abigail Bardwell from downtown's Happy Belly and Kelly Wilson from Stadium's popular, Bavarian-themed Rhein Haus.
Celebrity chefs will also engage in culinary combat during Taste Cook-Off challenges. They'll have 30 minutes to create a masterpiece using three mystery ingredients. Three lucky audience members get to chow down and choose the winner. Hours are noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Check out local buzz bands: Taste is one of the best places to sample the best in regional talent with nearly 100 musical acts performing on four stages. There will be something for just about every musical taste, from rock to reggae, blues to funk. Among this year's performers are Auburn “The Voice” alumnus Siahna Im, regional blues sensation The Stacy Jones Band and Tacoma soul act Sotaria & The Gravities.
Enjoy an adult beverage: The Point Defiance Rose Garden will again be the place to be for sampling some of the region's tastiest wines and craft beers. The Wine Bar will offer selections from Browne Family Vineyards, Chateau Ste Michelle Winery and more; and craft beer tasting packages will be available for $20, which includes five 5.5 ounce pours.
Take the Free Taste Express: Taste veterans know that parking can be a pain (though, on the bright side, you'll definitely meet your Fitbit steps goal as you walk a mile from the last parking space in Ruston.) Never fear, though, since Pierce Transit will operate free shuttles that will arrive every 15 to 30 minutes. Buses will run from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily between the festival and Tacoma Community College, 6501 S. 19th St.

Dear Editor,

(Re: “The state of health care in America…and what we can do about it,” guest opinion by Willie Dickerson, TW June 16)
I live in Connecticut, where Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy are great supporters of the Affordable Care Act. What changes are made will affect me greatly, as well as millions of others. The most vulnerable will be hurt the most. Children, the elderly and the disabled depend upon the protections provided by the ACA. There are changes that could be made to improve it. Replacing it with the proposed Republican Bill would do great harm!
Though not a constituent of the Senate Republicans, I have called, sent tweets, and written to newspapers in their states. Even so, comments for and against a bill or issues are counted. I let friends and relatives in states represented by Republicans to attend town meetings and speak to their members of Congress. Their voices will have more effect than mine. After all, I cannot vote them out of office. 

Leslie Weinberg

We now know the lineup for Tacoma's newest summer festival, Reggae on the Way, which will take over South Tacoma Way, near the Airport Tavern, starting at 3 p.m. on July 30. The event will feature performances by Common Kings, Ballyhoo, Tribal Theory, Stay Grounded, Positive Rising and Anuhea (shown.) The event is open to all ages, and tickets are available now for $35 plus service charges. See www.dannopresents.com for more info.
Visit www.ticketmaster.com to learn more about these other hot tickets, except for where otherwise noted.
• Tacoma Pride (formerly Out in the Park): noon to 5 p.m. July 8, Pacific Avenue, between 7th and 9th streets, free; www.tacomapride.org.
• Art on the Ave: 11 a.m. July 9, Sixth Avenue business district, free; www.on6thave.org/art-on-the-ave.
• Lynyrd Skynyrd: 8 p.m. July 20, Emerald Queen Casino, $75 to $350.
• Cheech & Chong: 8:30 p.m. July 22, Emerald Queen Casino, $35 to $80.
• Bruno Mars: 7:30 p.m. July 24, Tacoma Dome, $45 to $125.
• Brian Regan: 8 p.m. July 28, Pantages Theater, $62.50; www.broadwaycenter.org. .
• Ed Sheeran: 7:30 p.m. July 29, Tacoma Dome, $36.50 to $86.50.
• Kendrick Lamar with Travis Scott and DRAM: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1, Tacoma Dome, $35 to $96.
• Green Day: 7 p.m. Aug. 1, White River Amphitheatre, Auburn, $41.50 to $81.50.
• Lady Gaga: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5, Tacoma Dome, $46 to $251.
• Brew Five Three: 1 p.m. Aug. 5, Broadway, between 9th and 11th streets, $10 to $25.
• Metallica with Avenged Sevenfold and Gojira: 6 p.m. Aug. 9, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, $55.50 to $155.50.
• Terri Clark: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11, Pantages Theater, $29 to $69; www.broadwaycenter.org.
• Music and Art in Wright Park: noon Aug. 12, Wright Park, free; www.mawptacoma.com.
• George Thorogood & The Destroyers: 7 p.m. Aug. 13, Emerald Queen Casino, $35 to $80.
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with The Lumineers: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 19, Safeco Field, Seattle, $49 to $149.
• Hilltop Street Fair: 11 a.m. Aug. 26, Martin Luther King Way, between South Ninth and 13th streets, free
• Nickelback with Daughtry: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1, Washington State Fair, Puyallup, $80 to $100; www.thefair.com.
• Tom Arnold: 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Sept. 1 and 2, Tacoma Comedy Club, $25 to $33.
• Glass Animals: 8 p.m. Sept. 16, WaMu Theater, Seattle, $37.50. 
• Modest Mouse with Built to Spill: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21, Washington State Fair, $58 to $85; www.thefair.com.
• Coldplay with Tove Lo and Alina Baraz: 7 p.m. Sept. 23, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, $25 to $413.
• Scorpions with Megadeth: 8 p.m. Sept. 30, Tacoma Dome, $65 to $365.
• Imagine Dragons: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6, KeyArena, Seattle, $66.50 to $99.50.
• Lauryn Hill with Nas: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10, WaMu Theater, $78.50 to $524.
• Arcade Fire with Phantogram: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15, KeyArena, $24 to $208.
• “Tinder Live” with Lane Moore: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27, Pantages Theater, $19 to $39; www.broadwaycenter.org.
• Tegan and Sara: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 27, Moore Theatre, Seattle, $38 to $68.
• Andre Rieu: 8 p.m. Oct. 28, Tacoma Dome, $39 to $99.
• Katy Perry: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3, Tacoma Dome, $50.50 to $200.50.

MONDAY, JUNE 26 – BASEBALL
Las Vegas vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 6:05 p.m.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27 – BASEBALL
Las Vegas vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 6:05 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28 – BASEBALL
Las Vegas vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

THURSDAY, JUNE 29 – BASEBALL
Las Vegas vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

FRIDAY, JUNE 30 – BASEBALL
Albuquerque vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 1 – BASEBALL
Albuquerque vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 1 – BASEBALL
TSS FC Rovers vs. Sounders U23
Sunset Stadium, Sumner – 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, JULY 2 – BASEBALL
Albuquerque vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 1:35 p.m.

MONDAY, JULY 3 – BASEBALL
Albuquerque vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

FRIDAY, JULY 7 – SOCCER
OSA FC vs. Sounders Women
Sunset Stadium, Sumner – 5 p.m.

FRIDAY, JULY 7 – SOCCER
Victoria Highlanders vs. Sounders U23
Sunset Stadium, Sumner – 8 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 8 – SOCCER
Twin City Union vs. SSFC Women
Washington Premier Complex – 1 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 8 – SOCCER
Olympic Force vs. SSFC Men
Washington Premier Complex – 3:30 p.m.

MONDAY, JULY 10 – BASEBALL
Triple-A Home Run Derby
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12 – BASEBALL
Triple-A All-Star Game
Cheney Stadium – 6:05 p.m.

THURSDAY, JULY 13 – BASEBALL
Fresno vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

FRIDAY, JULY 14 – BASEBALL
Fresno vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 15 – MMA
CageSport MMA
Emerald Queen Casino – 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, JULY 15 – BASEBALL
Fresno vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 7:05 p.m.

SUNDAY, JULY 16 – BASEBALL
Fresno vs. Tacoma Rainiers
Cheney Stadium – 1:35 p.m.
 

When I look at a painting by local artist Tweed Meyer, I always see more than a little kinship with the great post-impressionist/proto-expressionist Vincent Van Gogh. The kinship goes deeper than just a stylistic affinity. I get the strong sense that, like Van Gogh, Meyer gets an emotional charge from places and people. Her gift is that she is effective in her ability to channel this emotional perception into a visual depiction through her paintings and drawings.
A small show of Meyer’s work is running at the Swiss Restaurant & Pub. Unfortunately, time is running out to view the show, which is scheduled to come down at the end of this month.
The exhibit, a handful of large, pastel drawings on the back wall of the main dining area, is a sampler of some of Meyer’s “live paintings.” They portray some of the local bands like Loose Gravel and the Quarry and the Twang Junkies.
For two decades, Meyer has been attending performances of local musicians and spoken word artists with her paint box in tow. She works live during the performance, seeking to depict the performers in a way that captures more than just a visual likeness. Her expressionistic, gestural way of working is evocative of the essence or tone of the music and the atmospherics of the experience. This vein of Meyer’s work is an outgrowth of the concept of plein-air painting, in which a landscape painter sits outside to paint straight from the subject. Here, the artist is trying to capture the look and feel of the musicians and their music.
A prime example of Meyer’s live music painting is a big pastel of the aforementioned Loose Gravel. The lines are easy and lucid. The figures of the musicians are made of blotches of fluid color. The central, bearded figure, Steve "Loose Gravel" Luhtala, is shown wearing his hat and wielding his guitar, which seems oversized in the picture, perhaps to emphasize the big role of the instrument in the performance. The group’s bass player is also at the front, while the other musicians are in the background, along with the Swiss Tavern’s emblem of a white cross on red ground (which indicates that this picture was made during a performance at the very venue where it now hangs on display). In the room with the stage is an oil painting that Meyer made of the ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.
In addition to Meyer’s portrayals of performances, she is also a great painter of local forests, shorelines and gardens. Viewing one of these, one gets a sense of what might have resulted had Van Gogh lived and worked in our neck of the woods instead of the French countryside. Meyer’s paintings have a folksy feel as well; a textured, vibrant presence unhindered by the fussiness of technique of an academically trained artist. Meyer is the real deal, a painter who0 paints not so much because she chose to, but because she did not have a choice in the matter. It seems more that she was driven to do so in order to express the great pulsing, living, breathing vitality that she felt all around her.
For further information on Meyer, visit her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/tweed.meyer. She is generous in posting a constant stream of her paintings and keeping fans informed of her upcoming shows.

It’s been a wild season so far for the Tacoma Rainiers and their faithful baseball fans. After two straight seasons of surprisingly solid weather early in the season, the Rainiers have stepped out onto the field for some chilly and wet contests at Cheney Stadium. Of course, if it was just the weather offering up a difficult road for the Rainiers, that wouldn’t be all too bad.

The real stinger this season has been the constant fallout from a Seattle Mariners club that can’t seem to roll out a consistent lineup from week to week. Sometimes it feels as though someone is coming up from the Rainiers, or being sent back down on a daily basis. One thing is for certain, the rapid influx and exit of players at Cheney Stadium has kept the Rainiers’ uniform staff on their toes the entire season.

As of this issue of the Tacoma Weekly, the Rainiers sit at a respectable 37-33. While that number isn’t quite as awe inspiring as last season’s march toward a Pacific Coast League Northern Division crown, it’s still very impressive, considering the constant upheaval to the roster.

Tacoma is nearing the midpoint of the season, and so far, the number of player transactions is staggering. In just 70 games, Tacoma has seen a totally of 180 player moves. A few weeks back we joked that the Rainiers were on their way to a 400-transaction season, and we were trying to be a little outrageous.

At the current rate, Tacoma may fall short of that 400 number, but they’re certainly making a pretty good run at it.

Whether a player is being called up to Seattle from Tacoma, or being sent down, that’s a single transaction. There are also trips to the disabled list, player claims off the waiver wires, trades and outright releases that factor into the mix. For fans bringing their support to Cheney Stadium, it can become quite the challenge to keep up with who is suited up.

The shocking injury situation for the Seattle Mariners looks like it may be finally easing up. Tacoma has recently welcomed Seattle’s Felix Hernandez for three starts and a start by the Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma. Out in the field, Rainiers’ fans have had the pleasure of seeing Seattle rookie sensation Mitch Haniger wear the baseball cap with the signature “R” on it, as well as superstar Jean Segura recently.

Speaking of Hernandez, the Mariners’ ace pitcher had a bumpy start to his rehab assignment. Hernandez was unable to get the amount of work in that Seattle was looking for, so they ran him out to the Cheney Stadium mound another two times before recalling him back to Seattle.

In his first outing on Tuesday, June 6, Hernandez lasted just two innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits and two walks to the Reno Aces. After hitting 50 pitches in the second inning, and a long Rainiers’ stanza in the bottom of the inning, Tacoma would go to the bullpen and Hernandez would have to wait for his next chance.

On Sunday, June 11, Hernandez took the mound against the Las Vegas 51s and “the King” looked quite a bit like his old self. Hernandez would take a no-hitter into the fifth inning before giving up a walk and a double, giving up a single run. Hernandez would finish with 64 pitches, while giving up just one hit, one earned run and one walk. Felix also had five strikeouts. The outing was good enough to earn Hernandez the victory, which would be his 11th in his brief Tacoma Rainier career.

On Saturday, June 17, Hernandez would make his final rehab appearance with the Rainiers, and he put on quite the show for the 6,968 in attendance at Cheney Stadium. The Mariners’ ace rolled up 87 pitches in his six innings of work, giving up just four hits, while striking out eight Salt Lake batters. The Bees would fail to score a run against Hernandez, and the King would earn his second Tacoma victory within a week, giving him 12 now for his career.

Hernandez is scheduled to take the Safeco Field mound for the Seattle Mariners on Friday, June 23, against the blazing Houston Astros.

Iwakuma didn’t fare as well in his first rehab start on Monday, June 19, against Salt Lake. The veteran gave up four earned runs on four hits and two walks in just two innings of work. If Hernandez’ first rehab outing is any indication or trend, fans should expect a solid performance from Iwakuma in his next start.

Tacoma currently sits seven games behind the Reno Aces (45-27), who look like they are trying to run away with the division title already. However, a seven-game deficit can be erased in a single week in the wild world of Triple-A baseball. If Seattle can solidify and get healthy for an extended run, expect an upswing in the performance from the Rainiers.

After an important four-game road trip against Reno, the Rainiers will return home for an eight-game home stand beginning on Monday, June 26, against Las Vegas for four games, followed by a four-game tilt against the Albuquerque Isotopes beginning on Friday, June 30. Of course, that game will be followed by a fireworks extravaganza, as will the July 3 series closer with the Isotopes.

The Triple-A All-Star Game will descend upon Cheney Stadium on Wednesday, July 12. The best young sluggers in the game will also take a crack at the center field wall at Cheney Stadium during the home run derby on Monday, July 10. Tickets are still available for both nights. For tickets and more information, visit tacomarainiers.com.