BY EDDIE FUNK for WEEKLY VOLCANO 05/02/25:
In her pajamas after a really bad day, Sam Cori walked into the gigantic coffee pot. Every night, she knew, is karaoke night at Bob’s Java Jive. Wanting to blow off steam on the microphone, she wrote on her song slip a bona fide classic: Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”
When she stepped on stage and began to sing, something shifted. The swelling karaoke crowd tuned into her powerful performance and sang along. The back room of Bob’s transformed before Cori’s eyes into something more akin to a rock show, and she had the mic.
“I think I need to be here all the time,” Cori remembers thinking. And that was the beginning of her journey to becoming a rising star in the Pacific Northwest music scene, known for her own theatrical, soulful, and deeply funny original songs. That upward trajectory was cemented in April, when the Washington State Independent Music Awards recognized Cori as the best up-and-coming artist and the best hip-hop act of 2024.
A singer, songwriter, voice actor, and multi-instrumentalist, Cori’s music blends indie pop and musical theater with a dose of absurdism that can be at once disarmingly catchy and hilarious. Her hits “Douche Bag,” “Dad Bod,” and “Moby Dick” have earned her a following of dedicated fans.
Some of those fans first found her through her Alice Party performances, a psychedelic reimagining of Alice in Wonderland staged at Bob’s. What began as Cori dressing up as a mischievous, acid-laced Alice has evolved into a full-blown one-woman show—complete with costumes, trippy visuals, and props—drawn from the pop culture landscape of her youth. The Magic School Bus, The X-Files, Lord of the Rings, Titanic—they’ve all flavored the genre Cori is shaping in real time: something she calls “nostalgia-core.” Occasionally backed by guitarist TJ Cope, she uses her cast of characters to lead the audience down the rabbit hole of her set list.
“My songs mostly take place in an alternate universe where I’m the only woman,” Cori says, “and I’m objectifying, comedically, all of the men.”
And the men notice. Just not in the way you might think. After playing a bar show, she’ll inevitably encounter a guy—often carrying around a dad bod himself—who wants to know: “Is that really what women care about?” And Cori is pleased. She knows her songs are working.
Cori grew up in Scotts Valley, California, where her dad won an upright piano in a raffle—a prize that set her down a path that would eventually lead her to a career in the arts. As a girl, however, she was painfully shy—until her high school drama teacher convinced her to give theater a second chance. Cori had been thinking about quitting. Later cast as the Baker’s Wife in a production of Into the Woods, the performer within her bloomed. “Opening night was like a fairy tale,” she says. “That changed my life.”
She studied at The Evergreen State College and later carved out a place in San Francisco’s theater scene, starring in the satirical revue Tomfoolery and earning rave reviews. The work, however, didn’t pay. Surviving day-to-day became exhausting, and, eventually, she knew it was time to leave.
When she moved to Tacoma full-time in 2023, Cori quickly discovered a city that offered something more nurturing: space, community, and a mic at Bob’s Java Jive with her name on it. After fellow songwriter and legendary karaoke emcee Gabe Pancho—who has worked at Bob’s for more than a dozen years—pushed her to play one original song at open mic, a levee broke. Cori kept on writing.
Bob’s Java Jive has since become Cori’s creative laboratory—a place to test material, build confidence, and fine-tune her voice. Built in 1927 and shaped like a giant coffee pot, the Jive has lived many lives: a roadside diner, a tiki nightclub, a speakeasy, and now—something between a dive bar, the backstage of a theater, and a church. Its ceiling is layered with decades of Sharpie graffiti and dollar bills. The lore includes Nirvana sightings and million-dollar interest from Keanu Reeves. For Cori, it’s more than a quirky venue; it’s a workshop. She even hosts karaoke a couple of nights a week, a role that makes her proud.
“Everything I’ve had has started with Bob’s,” she says. “Every contact, every friendship, really every gig, has started in some way at Bob’s.” She uses the karaoke stage like a rehearsal space—refining her vocals, testing out movement, building stage presence. “There’s a crowd, there’s a real PA, there’s really good sound,” she says. “People get to step on stage and be a rock star.”
In February of this year, after over a year of building her repertoire, Cori had a breakthrough. She landed a gig opening for Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies at the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon. Unlike bar gigs, where the noise can often cut into and distract from her set, the packed theater—and the Crash Test Dummies watching in the wings—listened.
“You could hear a pin drop,” she says. “The second I stepped on stage, I felt like I was home again.”
Catch Sam Cori at Bob’s Java Jive: Cori’s next Alice Party is June 20 at 7 p.m.—a rooftop concert with giant mushrooms, alien heads, and a vibe straight out of Wonderland. 2102 S Tacoma Way, Tacoma, WA 98409
Washington State Independent Music Awards 2025 Winners
Up-and-Coming Artist: Sam Cori
Best Hip-Hop: Sam Cori
Best Blues: Bryan Bach & The Crossroads
Best Jazz: Lady A
Best Electronic: Nuda
Best R&B: Kim Archer
Best Reggae: Stay Grounded
Best Punk: Souls Worn Thin
Best Metal: Josh Kain
Best Country: Muse in Scorpio
Best Rock: Josh Kain
Best Pop: Meghanne Storey & Raymond Hayden
Best Industrial: Innocents Torn
Best Solo Artist: Meghanne Storey
Best Duo: Megan & Heidi Music
Best Live Show: Innocents Torn
Best Video: Josh Kain – “Wake Me Up”
Best Album: Innocents Torn – Ride or Die
Best Single Song: Innocents Torn – “Nailed to the Cross”
