Yesterday, local big band leader Rich Wetzel sent me details on a new jazz series set to kick off this weekend at South Tacoma Way’s newest hot spot, the Stonegate.

“Tacoma Just Got Hipper – Jazz at the Stonegate” will go on from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sunday (Jan. 10). The kickoff event will feature Rich Wetzel’s Groovin’ Higher Orchestra playing jazz and funk tunes, ranging from Maynard Ferguson to James Brown.

For more info on the Stonegate, check here.

The Stonegate, South Tacoma Way’s newest nightclub-slash-pizzeria, is the subject of Friday’s GO cover story. And I thought I’d post some video of owner Jeff Call taking me on a tour for those of you who are curious but haven’t checked the place out yet. Enjoy!

The web site for new South Tacoma Way rock club and pizza joint, the Stonegate, isn’t quite up to speed yet. But owner Jeff Call tells me he’s got New York singer-songwriter Julia Ilowiecki headlining Friday night (Nov. 20) with support from locals Andrew Vait and Olivia de la Cruz. Check out Ilowiecki’s “Anchors” video below. Then try to say “Ilowiecki” three times, fast.

Q: When is it actually good to have the police crash your party?

A: When they’re Tacoma’s Fun Police. They’ll get the festivities all regulated, yo!

These videos come from the band’s CD release party last Friday at the new South Tacoma Way nightclub, the Stonegate. Apologies since my normally reliable camera loses a lot of the vocals in the mix. But hey, who needs to understand lyrics? It’s fun just watchin’ people jump around and act crazy. My personal favorite: The dude in the red shirt in the “Dumpster Diving” clip.

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Stonegate owner Jeff Call sounded a lot more calm, cool and coherent when I called him yesterday.

That’s understandable since when I last ran into him he was in the midst of a truly snake-bitten grand opening for his new rock club/pizza joint, located at 5419 South Tacoma Way.

Learning that a technicality will keep you from getting your liquor license on time, just hours before the Fabulous Wailers are scheduled to play, can frazzle a guy. Realizing that the sound guy’s expertise has been greatly exaggerated, much to the chagrin of said Wailers, makes it worse. That’s not to mention function on just a few hours of sleep, while working feverishly next to piping, hot pizza ovens.
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Last week, the monsters of Northwest rock loomed everywhere, from Pearl Jam’s two-night stand at KeyArena to Heart’s rockin’ Puyallup Fair performance and Alice in Chains’ triumphant comeback set at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.

Tacoma’s Fabulous Wailers set the stage for all of the above way back in the early ‘60s with early hits “Tall Cool One” and “Louie Louie.” And while their set last Saturday at new South Tacoma Way rock club, the Stonegate, didn’t generate the same fanfare as, say, Pearl Jam, it was definitely noteworthy in that the Wailers, too, were unleashing new material on their fans.
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You could say there were a few snags at the Stonegate’s grand opening last night over on South Tacoma Way; for starters, no booze and an inexperienced sound guy annoying the bejeezus out of the Fabulous Wailers as they unveiled their new album “Rooster Rock” (more on that in the next day or two.)
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