THURSDAY, JUNE 16 2016: South Sound events + craft beer …
Storm Large + 3-Way IPA = bawdy banter
Bloomsday + Melvin = freakouts
Iggy Pop film + Lagunitas = Maximus
Kareem Kandi + Crux = Proctor represent
Post rock + Silver City Brewery = sweet, candied sugar
STORM LARGE
Storm Large is all about the performance. After years of performing in Portland clubs and theaters with her band, The Balls, and game changer appearances on Rock Star: Supernova in 2006, Storm Large has developed a keen sense for the dynamics of the live setting. Her brand of music — nominally jazz, theatrical rock, cabaret and sultry folk-pop — is uniquely suited to captivating a live audience. Her voice is able to nimbly navigate the belting solos and the plaintive refrains. As a collaborator with Pink Martini, she further honed her already impressive stage presence. She engages with the crowds in a way that harkens back to entertainers of old, filling in breaks with bawdy banter and stories. The lovely Large will wow Washington Center patrons at 7:30 p.m.
PREFUNK: It’s time for Fort George Brewery’s annual dalliance partnering with another pair of regional brewers who excel at IPAs. The fourth in their annual series is called 3-Way IPA, and the new batch is making the rounds in the South Sound, including from 6-9 p.m. at the Oly Taproom in downtown Olympia. The co-conspirators this time ‘round are Melvin Brewing (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) and Barley Brown’s Beer (Baker City, Oregon). Oly Taproom will have this highly anticipated beer on draft plus, special draft selections from each of the collaborators. They also have some swag for giveaways and a grand prize of a growler fill of 3-Way IPA and a framed commemorative poster of the event.
BLOOMSDAY
Every June 16, literary buffs unbury their noses from dusty books and come out of the woodwork (aka the library) to participate in Bloomsday, a worldwide celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses. King’s Books in Tacoma’s Stadium District celebrates James Joyce’s seminal work with Molly Bloom, as portrayed by Marilyn Bennett, with musical accompaniment by Peter Pendras at 7 p.m.
PREFUNK: People freaked out when The Red Hot scored a keg of Melvin 2×4 IIPA. Then they freaked out when The Red Hot scored a keg of Melvin IPA. People even freaked out when The Red Hot put on a keg of Melvin Hubert Pale. At 5 p.m., The Red Hot will tap all three, plus a keg of Melvin Hop Shocker IIPA, just to see a mass freakout. It should be mass hysteria by time Melvin Brewing rep Ben yanks out the Melvin swag at 7 p.m.
IGGY POP ON THE BIG SCREEN
Punk icon Iggy Pop performed at the Basel Session Festival in Switzerland last year, where he also received a lifetime achievement award. The set was captured for posterity, and Iggy Pop: Live in Basel 2015 will be screened across the United States today, including at 9 p.m. in the Capitol Theater. It’s a no-nonsense document of his concert. There are no frills, like interviews or testimonials or snippets of Iggy Pop driving around town or going into a convenience store. Rather, the film shows the Godfather of Punk ripping through 18 of his songs.
PREFUNK: Named after the small, unincorporated Marin County town in which it was founded, Lagunitas Brewing Company is now one of California’s biggest names in beer. Founded in 1993 by Tony Magee, the brewery quickly outgrew its small rural location, aka Magee’s garage, in under a year and moved north to its current home in the industrial outskirts of Petaluma. Rhythm & Rye in downtown Olympia hosts the brewery and its beers from 7-9 p.m. before the amazing Royal Jelly Jive combines elements of soul, rock, swing and hip-hop grooves harder than your typical rock n’ roll band dares to go.
JAZZ AND WINE
Jazz saxophonist Kareem Kandi has been playing around the Pacific Northwest for a while, but his sound has gotten increasingly more aggressive and funky in recent years, thanks to organist Delvon Lamarr. Kandi’s big Dexter Gordon-style sound is a comfortable fit in an organ trio reflecting tradition while adding new songs to keep it fresh. Catch the Kareem Kandi Band from 8-11 p.m. at G. Donnalson’s wine bar in Tacoma’s Proctor neighborhood.
PREFUNK: Brand-conscious brewery Crux Fermentation Project wins fans with its large line of intensely farmy IPAs and pale ales, often sold in pricey wax-dipped bottles. If you’re into that, check out North End Social Club at 6 p.m. as the Bend, Oregon brewery takes over four taps. Bonus: You’ll have to squeeze by Proctor neighborhood’s Europa Bistro slinging pizzas out of their wood fired oven.
POST ROCK
Despite the thinning out of post-rock torchbearers in recent years, a few pockets of passionate devotees have kept fires burning, including Seattle’s You May Die In The Desert and San Francisco’s Commissure. Three-piece instrumental band You May Die In the Desert are a tight machine with solid piano and concussive bursts of guitar that create chaotic, cinematic and progressive music. Six-piece Commissure owns the long, cinematic buildups saturated with delayed arpeggios and crashing drums style. Catch both bands with Grenades and Curse League at 8 p.m. in The Valley.
PREFUNK: This year’s Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Liquid Sunshine Tripel launches at noon in the Silver City Brewery’s taproom. A barrel-aged interpretation of a Trappist monk’s dream beer, the sweet, candied sugar and spicy Belgian yeast characteristics of this ale mix magnificently with the vanilla and pear-like qualities inherited from the Chardonnay barrel in which it resided.
