The Melon just got wind of a great new music video from Fice, a T-Loc hip hop artist. The video for the song “Two Five Three” features a some shots and props to a lot of great locations (hello MSM deli) and captures the proud spirit of Tacoma well. Look for Fice’s song to become Tacoma’s new unofficial anthem. Take a listen.

Just weeks after being announced Tacoma’s 3rd Poet Laureate at Poetry in the 253, Tammy Robacker joined Electric Elliot in the Melon studio to chat about her wonderful achievement, her plans as Poet Laureate and to learn more about Tammy Robacker the poet.

Completely unique from our previous Poet Laureates, Tammy’s work delicately develops clear moving pictures and presses the reader to make those images dance. The focus on craft and development is evident in the art of a focused and experienced poet. Take a listen to our interview to learn more and hear Tammy read a couple pieces from her book The Vicissitudes.

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Note: There are some unfortunate audio glitches towards the end of the recording…

Born on the campus of the University of Puget Sound, $2000 Puma has just released their freshman album “Last Night’s Kill”, streaming free on bandcamp. Sometimes loud and angry, but often solemn and ponderous, “LNK” presents a young band unabashed about what it is and the type of music it intends to play.

Having seen Puma live, “LNK” captures the same energies and careful releases of beautiful emotion that beam off the stage. Polished or not, Puma’s “LNK” is raw and real, just the type of release we’d expect from the creative-core of area 253.

Helmed by Greg Merrell on vocals, guitar and numerous other instruments, the band features other UPS talents in Jake Berenbeim, Mark Maples, Sean Bernfeld and Charlie Bevis.

In the band’s own words:

$2,000 Puma is homemade eclectic electric indie rock music that will leave your temples drenched in sweat.  Drawing from a variety of sounds, they have never stuck to a single genre.  However, there is one commonality between their songs- they all rock hard.  Their music is composed of spacey then rocking-effect-tripped-out-noisy guitar, groovy-jazzy-funky bass, explosively intricate jazzy and rocking drums, vocals with occasional vibrato application and the over-layering of synthesizer and simple guitar melodies.  It pulls elements from Jazz, Blues, Math-Rock, Dub, Glitchier Electronic, Folk, and just straight up rock and roll.  Like many talented artists $2,000 Puma doesn’t restrict their music to a particular meter.  Syncopated rhythms are a common thread in $2,000 Puma songs such as “The Seasons”, “Ultraviolet”, “Money/Love Problems”, and “Paladin-Drome”.

Although their album has just released, rumor has it that Puma is already no more. With band members no longer students at UPS, they are looking to go their separate ways. I had a quick Q & A exchange with Greg Merrell about the band, the album and the future:

1) On North 11th and Cedar there is a stop sign in front of a roundabout. A few blocks North on Cedar there is a second roundabout at a similar four-way intersection without a stop sign. This is ridiculous. This is unnecessary. And this is something the city shouldn’t have to trouble itself with. I propose we ask for permission to chop down said stop sign at North 10th and Cedar and recycle the contents.

2) Despite its relative wealth, Tacoma’s North End has long been blighted by slumlords, particularly around the University of Puget Sound. I have rented several apartments with hallways that stank of cat pee, lacked adequate ventilation, featured uncertain staircases and lacked locks on the doors. I have also stayed in mold-infested homes and even had a landlord who allowed a 40 year old roof to go untreated so that a 4 by 1 foot hole developed in the ceiling which allowed rainwater to leak in from October through January.

In my experience, the people who live in these North End homes/apartments are disproportionately single-parent families, immigrants, seniors and the disabled. They often lack the resources to investigate their rights (which, truth be told, are more limited than most people believe anyway) or are too poor to explore better options.

This issue is incredibly complex and requires multiple actions, but one small step the NENC could take is to allocate funds for a targeted informational pamphlet outlining the basic legal rights of tenants and whatever community/nonprofit resources are available to them when those rights are violated.

3) Tacoma needs a Burgerville. It’s a Northwest fast food chain with locations stretching North from Salem, OR to Centralia, WA. Burgerville uses only local organic ingredients to produce quality seasonal dishes and combo meals at prices that are only slightly higher than McDonalds. Burgerville restaurants are powered exclusively via wind power credits; the bulk of the cups, food wrappers and other non-edible products they produce are mostly recycled or used as compost; and all Burgerville employees are provided with healthcare.

Burgerville was exploring opportunities in the Puget Sound region prior to the crash of 2008.  The NENC could draft a formal endorsement of their business and its future intentions to invest in the region. Mark my words, if we don’t do this, Seattle will.

Here ye! Here ye! Announcing the biggest Poetry event to ever grace the City of Destiny. On Saturday, April 24th at 7pm, in celebration of National Poetry Month, 7 fantastic poets will take the stage at the Washington State History Museum to present poetry in a new light.

This event will take the art form to new heights as Tacoma poets enhance their timeless pieces using visual imagery, theater, dance, lighting and music. Mark your calendars for what is sure to be an historical event as the poetic torch is passed to the 2010 Urban Grace Soul of the City Tacoma Poet Laureate.

Included in this bunch are current Poet Laureate Antonio Edwards, and The Melon’s own Electric Elliot.

Tickets for the event are $7 a seat, but will be a slim price to pay for what is in store.

Word from the News Tribune is that two officers have been shot somewhere in Pierce County around 9pm. A suspect is reported shot and potentially decease and the officers are in critical condition. Officers are still reporting to the scene which started as a domestic violence call.

More info as it becomes available.

My first thought upon waking up this morning was Plasmodium protozoan Malaria.  Why?  Because I have been studying Microbiology and recently read a fantastic book entitled Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Disease by Jeanette Farrell.  The average person on the street shivers with fear when microbes are mentioned because the tiny microscopic bugs are associated with death and disease, despite scientific knowledge that disease-causing bacteria are a small fraction of the beneficial or non-harming microbes.

Without microbes, we would all be dead.  There might not even be any rain or snow since bacteria assist in their creation.  There definitely would be no plant or animal life, since scientists know that oxygen was originally produced by cyanobacteria.  Without beneficial bacteria hanging out on our skin and mucous membranes, we would have died long ago.  They help us digest our food, synthesize vitamins (E. coli synthesizes vitamin K, niacin, B12, etc.), and occupy niches otherwise empty for pathogenic microbes.  Probiotics, or good bacteria in our guts, help strengthen our immune system, reduce allergies, helps us digest food better, and in new research, probiotics may even be directly related to weight gain or weight loss, depending on one’s intestinal probiotic make-up.  Even more exciting is the new discovery that bacteria are passed on from mother to child and may be as much of a factor in obesity as genetics.

Our entire ecosystem depends on microbes — specifically, soil microbes that are responsible for decomposition of organic matter into reusable food sources.  Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa (all microbes) release enzymes that drive the life-giving carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles in soil that facilitates organic matter turnover into nutrient-rich soil for plants.  Microbes make or break healthy soil by affecting its structure or even soil’s ability to hold water for plants.

These microbes—bacteria, fungi, and protozoa—release enzymes that drive the important carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles in soil and facilitate turnover of organic matter, making nutrients available to plants.

 

Microbes affect soil structure by breaking down needed nutrients and retaining moisture for plants.  By monitoring microbes in the soil we can watch for early warning signs of nutrient and moisture depletion that affect plant growth.  Using pesticides and other chemicals to kill pathogenic microbes also kill beneficial microbes, causing a lose-lose situation for microbes, soil, and plants. Farming practices may disrupt the soil ecosystem and decrease the effectiveness of microbe communities, such as tilling the soil that disrupts their life cycle in soil.

 

Recently my soon-to-be-wedded-hubs smacked a bumper sticker on my car that stated “Admit it, Tacoma.  You are beautiful.”  This now sits above my “I Heart Tagro” bumper sticker.  Tagro, short for Tacoma Grow, has won three Environmental Protection Agency Awards and three sewage/biosolids awards since 1995.  We are nationally-known for our beautiful Tacoma sewage-turned-potting soil.  All-natural TAGRO products are made from pasteurized waste-water byproducts called biosolids, sawdust and other gardening elements.  Research at Washington State University and the University of Washington show that plants using TAGRO grow taller, greener, and produce more than plants grown in commercial or chemical products.  Since Pierce County has had septic waste issues in the not-so-distant past, TAGRO is a welcomed relief to unite friendly environment products with solid waste disposal.  Tacoma is on the forefront of the the recycling sewage movement into usable soil additives, and I can only hope that this venture spreads elsewhere in the country.

 

The cost of TAGRO is $8 per truckload (U-haul) if a Tacoma resident and $10 per truckload if a Pierce County resident.  Truly, those prices are unbeatable.  If you are looking for a small amount of potting soil, there is a free pile at the TAGRO facility or for a small fee, in individually-packed bags.

 

TAGRO builds up soil nutrients, fosters healthy microbial growth, and produces beautiful plants.  Soil microbes love good organic fertilizers.  Texas Scientists have discovered that microbes release nutrients from fertilizers at an impressive rate, unlocking those nutrients at the precise time strawberry plants need them the most.

 

When humans are long gone, microbes will still be around, accomplishing their important tasks.  We can be destroyed by them or choose to utilize them properly, replacing our foolish misconception that we are Nature’s Overlords to rather work in conjunction with the invisible world to unify humankind with our rightful place as a part (not the whole) of nature.