There's a party from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the Tacoma Art Museum's fifth birthday in its new building.

Word is there'll be one cake made of tin, one made from bubble wrap, and one knitted cake.

That sounds like some kind of Tacoma allegory, but I'm not sure what it means.

Here's the official proclamation from the deputy mayor (so THAT'S what a deputy mayor does) ...

=> Read more!

We've got this story today about a renegade sea lion, removed from its salmon-eating perch on the Columbia, that died under anesthesia at Point Defiance Zoo during an exam.

A wildlife biologist said the critter's weight might've led to its demise.

“It was extremely obese. Very, very large. Its sheer size and mass may have contributed to its death,” he said.

The sea lion weighed in at 1,454 pounds. That's a lot of chinook. It's sad that we live in a world in which a sea lion gets in trouble for being too good at being a sea lion.

Besides, salmon are delicious.

We'll miss you, B-198.

That's the question that someone called to ask today.

He was thinking it was either the second of March or the fifth of March.

The editor responded with a straight face: "That would be the fifth of May."

Cinco. De Mayo.

Kelly's post on Monday started an interesting discussion about how everyone ended up living in Tacoma. (Apparently, we all moved here from from the Midwest via Syracuse, N.Y.)

Now that we've solved that, I have a slightly different question: I want to know how you ended up here at GritCity the blog.

Because a look at the terms people Googled that led them to this site reveals many of you are probably quite disappointed once you get here. I realized something was up when a post from a year ago titled "If you like men dressed as women as much as I do" kept turning up in our Top 10 posts for each week.

If you want some insight into your fellow readers, take a look at how Web surfers washed ashore at GritCity this month ...

Top 11 most frequent terms being sought this month that led to a past GritCity post:
• men dressed as women
• emoticon kitty
• fuzzy wuzzy puppies
• let me hear you say hey oh!
• Miss Washington
• numb fingers
• DB Cooper
• dave's meat and produce
• black nail polish
• Hot Chick-a-Latte
• derrieres

=> Read more!

Is there such a thing as candy gentrification?

After five years of research and development, Tacoma's own Brown & Haley recently unveiled its Roca Buttercrunch Thins, as Dan Voelpel writes today.

The latest evolution of the candy seems even classier than its foil-wrapped predecessor. It has a thinner, sleeker look (5 millimeters thick vs. the traditional 12 millimeters, as Voelpel points out). The buttery flavor is smoother and has less of a crystallized crunch. It's definitely easier on teeth fillings.

While the original Roca seems like something you'd see in a grandmother's candy dish at her immaculate North End home, the new Roca is something a trendy aunt might slip out to enjoy with an espresso at her new Stadium District condo.

It's the latest polish for Tacoma's gritty, almond-coated edges.

Roca goodness by Brown & Haley, photo by Janet Jensen

Yesterday marked the 25th birthday of the Tacoma Dome's grand opening, and I can't believe nobody threw a celebration with big domed party hats.

Just think of all the RV shows, monster truck rallies, prayer breakfasts, concerts, SuperSonics games, indoor-soccer rug burns and high school state championship games we've had under that big roof.

Here's what we did 25 years ago ...

From the April 22, 1983, edition of the Tacoma News Tribune:
Crowd estimates ranged from 25,000 to 30,000 for the grand opening celebration of the new $44 million Tacoma Dome. Mayor Doug Sutherland, Gov. John Spellman, former Mayor Mike Parker and City Council members were on hand to cut the ribbon opening the complex. Crowds flooded into the Dome at the rate of more than 6,000 an hour for the first four hours of the celebration. The 3,000 parking spots soon clogged, and harried traffic officials began rerouting vehicles toward downtown, the Tideflats and Portland Avenue areas. A popular vocal trio, The Letterman, roused the crowd into applause with sparkling renditions of old and new hits. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. sold specially made Tacoma Dome commemorative Coke bottles from its booth.

Read on for some more Dome facts ...

=> Read more!

I saw this little mention on my favorite national home design (read: sofa porn) blog, apartmenttherapy.com, about Tacoma's Posh Home on Sixth Avenue. I always drive by and ogle the windows – in French, they call that lecher les vitrines (literally: licking the shop windows) – but I've never been inside.

Anywho, the blog writes:

We're filing this one away as a "must visit" next time we find ourselves in Tacoma, a city holding its own in terms of culture and style despite its proximity to Seattle.

Which, a propos of not much, got me thinking: How did all y'all "find yourselves" in Tacoma? And I'm not talking about in that Neko Case "passion for life" way. I mean, how'd you guys end up here?

I graduated college, interned in Cleveland, and then got the gig at the TNT.

So tell me your stories, T-town.

If you don't have enough rainy-day work to do in your own yard, there's Parks Appreciation Day going on until noon today at area parks.

After that, if you want to get a jump on spending your Economic Stimulus Check (can people get a payday loan for that?), there's the Sixth Avenue Shop Hop from 10 a.m. until 6 tonight. Sounds fun. There will be prizes. And pink cookies.

I get a lot of strange spam sent to my e-mail here at work, but I'm really not sure what this one is all about. Any ideas?

"ДЭИР" - Школа Дальнейшего
ЭнергоИнформационного Развития

I'm thinking some Cosmonauts brought back an odd substance from space, and now they're marketing it as Silly Putty, at a good price for you my friend.

"Steve Craig left one of the city’s more unusual collections when he died in his sleep in one of Tacoma’s more unusual homes."

That's what C.R. Roberts writes in a story about the upcoming auction of Craig's stuff. And he had a lot of stuff.

Alan Gorsuch of Sanford & Son has been organizing the collection, which includes:

• An embalming table
• A dentist’s station featuring chair with spit bowl, drill and tools
• An arm and a leg (from a human skeleton)
• Life-size “birthing doll” used by medical students
• Badges, plates, tickets, photo books
• Pinball machines
• Shuffleboard game
• Juke boxes
• Complete soda fountain
• Tiki bar
• Pornography of a sort not spoken of in family newspapers

So if you want a piece of that, here are the details:

Where: 715 Court C, Opera Alley, downtown Tacoma
When: Monday and April 28; preview 9 to 10 a.m. both days; auction begins at 10 a.m. Auctioneers say a third auction will likely be needed; time, date and location to be determined.
Information: Sanford & Son Antiques & Auctions, 253-272-0334

If you’re waiting until the last minute to mail your tax return, the post office at 4001 S. Pine St. in Tacoma will be open until midnight.

That is all.

Oh wait, one more nugget of wisdom: If you get a refund, spend it locally. What will you be buying?

My Friday unfolded just as promised: Hub pizza** (after a long but tolerable wait in an elbow-to-elbow dining room), followed by the Tree Roots in the Basement show at the Helm. I flirted briefly with King's Books, but did not linger.

I snapped a few shoddy pics from the show to upload. Look out for those later. But it made my heart happy to see all the young'uns of Tacoma out in their best skinny jeans and thrift-store dresses to support the artistic pursuits of their friends. God knows I didn't have my act together at 19. I was probably still wearing something made out of hemp.

** Loyal reader Dave L. says he, too, had pizza this weekend, at home, but burned it. The Hub did not burn my pizza, so that's an option to consider in the future, Dave. I'm sorry for your loss.

In other news of a Washington sort, a boy from Whatcom County beat all of us in terms of weekend ambition.

BLAINE, Wash. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy in Blaine is claiming the world record for blowing balloons with his nose.
Using one nostril at a time, Andrew Dahl inflated 213 balloons within an hour Friday in the town’s public library. His feat has been submitted for review by Guinness World Records.
His father, Doug Dahl, measured the balloons to make sure each was at least 20 centimeters, about 8 inches, the minimum diameter, and his mother, Wendy Dahl, kept the tally.
At one point he asked, “Does this count as practicing my trumpet?” His mother replied, “Only if you can play that with your nose.”

Ah, to be young again.

Instant human, just add espresso!

(beat)

The fact that I just wrote that unironically is evidence of the overdose of vitamin D I'm enjoying via my office windows.

No, I'm not out cart-wheeling down Sixth Avenue. Yet.

But I'm rather excited at the happenings around town tonight.

My evening is shaping up thusly:

• Pizza at the Harmon Hub (?!). This just occurred to me, but seems meant to be.
• Open mike at Kings Books, featuring this nice poet fellow from Spokane.

OR:

• CD release party at the Helm for Tree Roots in the Basement, starring my Blackwater regular coffee pal, Colin. When last we spoke about music over coffee, he said he was very excited about his new full-length album. I believe that may be a direct quote.

Both of these shindigs start at 7. The first is free, the second only 5 meagerly exchange-rated USD.

The world is at our feet, and fingertips. Go forth and conquer.

If you need some entertainment during your lunch break, FOX is replaying an episode of COPS from Pierce County at 12:30 p.m. today.

The synopsis says: "In Pierce County, Wash., a multiple shooting involving a family. Also: a domestic dispute."

Look for your friends and relatives!

Man, I bet they wish they wouldn't have replaced all those hops with daffodils.

Personally, if I were a Puyallup Valley farmer in the mid-1920s, I would have planted opium poppies. Who wouldn't love a Poppy Parade?

Among other things, it would probably include tasty muffins.

"Sit down, you're blocking the beverage cart."

Today's civic lesson: Don't ever let people tell you they're flying into Seattle.

For example, this Associated Press caption says: "In this photo released by Virgin America, musician Avir Mitra of the band Bamboo Shoots entertains passengers Tuesday en route to Seattle, onboard Virgin America's 'First Flight' from Los Angeles."

It's called Sea-Tac for a reason. And unless you're parachuting into Safeco Field to deliver the game ball, chances are you're not landing in Seattle.

Here's a quick history lesson from Wikipedia:

After the death of U.S. Senator "Scoop" Jackson in 1983, the Seattle Port Commission voted to change the name of the airport to Henry M. Jackson International Airport, ostensibly to honor the late Senator. However, denizens of Tacoma interpreted the name change as an insult to their community — the second time in the airport's history that the port authorities had attempted to "erase" Tacoma from the map. But the $100,000 that Tacoma had provided for the airport's construction during World War II had come with an explicit promise that the city would be included in the airport's name. The City of Tacoma eventually prevailed in their attempt to return the long-standing moniker, and the name reverted to Sea-Tac early in 1984.

Score one for the Gritizens.

(cue the Lee Greenwood music: "... And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the T-A-C-O-M-A")

Well this is a sad way to start the day: Stadium Bistro just sent out an e-mail to everyone on its mailing list announcing that it's closing after today. Here's the e-mail:

Our Last Day is Today...
Come on down to the Bistro one last time!

Today, Saturday, April 5, is our last day … what a wonderful time we have had meeting, and cooking, for so many fabulous friends.
This was a difficult decision because we have many, many friends who believe in what we're doing, and so enjoy Chef Peter's scratch cooking. Many of our customers and friends want to invest in Stadium Bistro, however, with the economy slowing, and so many restaurants struggling, as we have, as folks curtail their spending, we've decided to close rather than put our friends' money at an unreasonable risk.

If you get this e-mail and have a chance, please stop by, we would love to see you all one last time!


Thanks for a great ride!
Pete, Cathryn and Chef Peter

Check our food and restaurant blog Ed's Diner for any updates and details.

Technically, it's a siamang jumping on a lowland anoa, but why let the facts get in the way of a good headline?

Update: Mike Harrnacker, who shot the video, tells me: "I was just having a day out with my girls (Mabelle and Helen). We make it there 2 or 3 times a year. I've never seen anything like this before. We entered the indoor viewing area of the bamboo forest display and the "rodeo" had already started. I just grabbed what I could through the window."

There's also a sequel ...

=> Read more!

They mowed the grass in front of my building today for the first time this year.

Ah, spring.

Anyone doing anything especially seasonal this weekend? There's an arts walk Saturday down Alder Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. Here's the schedule:

6:30 open mic
806 N. Alder

8 p.m. acoustic set
3114 N. 12th St.
featuring: Ellen Wondra, Molly Hamilton, Allan Boothe, Eleanor

10 p.m. electric set
3120 N. 8th St.
featuring: Flock, Kusickia, Happy Birthday Secret Weapon, Nextdoor Neighbors, Banners

See art! See music! Dip your toes in the grass!

Commenter goddesslunacy says...

...I was on my way to work and it was then that I noticed a note had been slipped onto my windshield at some point last night or this morning. I wanted to reach out and grab it as I was traveling at high speed on the freeway, but I knew my arm was not long enough. Sadly it lost grip and slipped away to a gusty asphalt graveyard. Now I am left to wonder who the left the note and what did it say?

What do you think it said?

Perhaps this or this?

Also, what if it was a parking ticket? Can you be arrested for not paying a parking ticket that you never knew existed?

We're on Facebook! Won't you be our fan? So far we only have nine. Well, five, not counting us.

Also, if you still refuse to give up on MySpace, we're on there too.