I literally did a double take. Looking at the show poster for this Saturday night at Hell's Kitchen, one thing floored me more than anything else. It's especially impressive considering the bill - featuring Zeke, the Lemons (yes, THE the Lemons), Poppa Wheelie (yes, THE Poppa Wheelie) and Mahnhammer - had almost nothing to do with it.

The show marks the celebration of Hell's Kitchen's nine-year anniversary.

Nine fucking years.

I had to sit and ponder that one for a minute ... really recollect. Nine years of Hell's Kitchen. That's a long-ass time. It means I've been doing this for a long-ass time. It means we've all been doing this for a long-ass time. ...

"The best part has been bringing in my friends' bands and having a good place for them to play in Tacoma," Flash, the man behind Hell's Kitchen, told me in 2003, when the flames on the walls of the predominantly punk and metal venue were still fresh. Hell's Kitchen was celebrating its first anniversary at the time. The article ran in a paper that doesn't even exist anymore. Hell's Kitchen has since moved to Pacific Avenue.

"I'm proud we put Tacoma back on the map," the quote finishes.

In the time since that interview I've applauded and backslapped Hell's Kitchen too many times to count. For plenty of the club's nine years, I credited the Kitchen for Tacoma's musical resurgence any chance I got. I was just happy to have a place to write about that wasn't called Neeners and didn't feature mud wrestling. But the bulk of my gushing was true and genuine. Hell's Kitchen did help lift Tacoma out of a musical dry spell of sorts, and in the time since we haven't looked back. So much so that the club can sometimes be taken for granted, like it's always been here.

The things Hell's Kitchen represents have always been in Tacoma ... they just didn't always have a venue.

It's fitting, then, that this Saturday's bill - intended to celebrate nearly a decade of Hell's Kitchen - is one that also represents the musical DNA that has always been in Tacoma and is epitomized by what Hell's Kitchen is all about.

As far as Tacoma rock history goes it doesn't get much thicker than this. 

Gas-stained punk rockers Zeke headline the impressive old-school Northwest lineup. Donny Hales, the band's drummer, helped construct this bill and says the Tacoma history on display will date back to, "'80-something ... maybe '85, even." When reminiscing he references bands like Talk's Cheap, Tramp Alley and the Rhino Humpers. Zeke has played a number of the big events at Hell's Kitchen over the years so it's no surprise to see the band anchoring the nine-year celebration.

"We've kind of been promoting it and been getting a lot of awesome feedback," says Hales. "People I haven't seen in years are coming out."

The excitement about this show may be most palpable in regard to the return of the Lemons, a band long gone but obviously not forgotten. After resurrecting for a surprise show for the Descendents' Bill Stevenson in Colorado (Stevenson has worked with the Lemons as a producer and is said to be a big fan of the band), the original lineup - including Jimmy Paulson, Greg Lovell, Brent Saunders and Jeff Ramirez - have fired things back up for real, with Paulson telling the Volcano the band hopes to have a new record finished by the fall. When Hales reached out about the band's availability for the Hell's Kitchen nine-year anniversary show Paulson says it was a no-brainer.

"There was no hesitation," says Paulson. "I think these three bands are pretty representative" of Tacoma's recent musical history, dating back to the early '90s. "Back in the day we crossed paths constantly."

"I think it was a good call by Donny," says Paulson.

Poppa Wheelie's involvement with the show was more happenchance, though Cody Foster says the band is embracing it nonetheless. The band last played at Music in the Park in 2001, though fans will remember they actually quit playing nearly four years before that. Saturday the band will unleash its original lineup, which Foster says means, "both drummers Bryan Johnson and Bob Lurvey, Nick Gordon on guitar, Larry Potter on vocals, myself on bass and we added Dave Takata on second guitar."

"Donny and I were talking about old shit," says Foster of the show's genesis. "Donny mentioned we should do some sort of Zeke, Poppa Wheelie show like we used to. Well, Donny being Donny, (he) called me a couple of weeks later saying, ‘I think the Lemons will do it too.' Me, I'm trying to remember what he means. ... OH, yeah! So, I say, ‘Well shit, I'm in, let me ask everyone else.'"

And the rest, of course, is history - like the history on stage Saturday, and the history of the venue it's celebrating.

9-Year Anniversary Show

with Zeke, The Lemons, Poppa Wheelie, Mahnhammer
Saturday, April 30, 9 p.m., $9
Hell’s Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.759.6003