Mar. 27, 2008 at 8:04am

Tunes in Bloom ... Music tonight: Out of Sight ... Out of Mind

Local musicians at Rhapsody in Bloom

A Rhapsody in Bloom is a lovely place to drink coffee, buy flowers, look at the work of local artists, and ....................

... listen to good music provided by local musicians. Denise Smith, owner of Rhapsody, is committed to supporting local artists and musicians, and we here at Out of Sight ... Out of Mind headquarters are thrilled to have been asked to perform this Thursday, March 27th from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. That's tonight!

Since the copyright police are committed to making sure that, when we do songs written by, say, John Prine, the proper royalties go to Michael Jackson, Metallica and Sony (you figure it out ... I can't), we're committed, as is Denise, to staying off that particular radar. So, like all the performers who play at Rhapsody, we're going to do a show that is made up of music written by the performers themselves, or else songs from the public domain.

Out of Sight ... Out of Mind has been, in its basic form, a duo comprised of Goodwin Trent, bass player and pun-meister extraordinaire, and me, Don Izenman. In recent times, we've been joined by Joe Izenman. This was initially a matter of necessity (Goodwin's back surgery), but proved to be so much fun that, when possible, we've been working as a trio. Since Joe writes more songs than anyone this side of Bob Dylan and Burt Bacharach, his presence plays nicely into our plan to avoid copyright issues. In this configuration, Joe and I trade guitar and mandolin back and forth. He will be thrilled to see his name linked with Burt Bacharach,  we're sure.

In order to add to the fun and creativity, we've asked our good buddy, Sue Tjardes, to make a guest appearance with us, showcasing a half-dozen of the songs she's written. In this configuration, I will pull out the old resophonic guitar (some call it a dobro ... some call it a guitar with a hubcap ... some call it my biggest blunder).

So, there you have the Out of Sight ... Out of Mind All Stars. You are invited to join us this evening, from 7 to 9. You're invited to buy tasty coffee drinks; you might consider buying flowers for your companion; you're welcome to throw money at the band (if you're going to take that literally, then no coins, please); you'll want to check out the art on the walls and tables; and, don't forget to pet the cat.

It's fun, it's local, it's musical, it's early enough to still get to bed at a reasonable hour. What else could you ask for? (Sorry, no liquor license).

You might want to be there.

Oh yeah ... A Rhapsody in Bloom is located at 3709 Sixth Avenue in Tacoma. It's a little bit east of Proctor St. (if you're coming from downtown and you get to Hell's Kitchen, escape, if you can, and come back a block east). Their phone number is 253-761-7673.