Travolta family to put on a show
HERE’S THE SKINNY on how to spend some quality time with John Travolta and the rest of the Travolta clan in Coeur d’Alene this summer:
Buy a ticket for $150 to the Garden Theatre Party Fund-raiser for the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre on Aug. 1.
We’ve already mentioned that John will be present at this event. But now we have more details, including this intriguing one: One of the raffle prizes will be a free dance lesson from Mr. Saturday Night Fever himself.
Also, John and the rest of his siblings — Ellen, Sam, Margaret, Ann, Joe and niece Molly Allen Ritter — will participate in a show as part of the evening, along with CdA Summer Theatre actors and musicians.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 1 on the Coeur d’Alene Resort docks. Everyone will board a boat and cruise to the lake home of Duane and Lola Hagadone, who will be hosting the event and donating all of the costs. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be provided, along with entertainment and prizes.
All proceeds will go to the Helen Burke Travolta Memorial Fund, a fund for the CdA Summer Theatre established in honor of the Travolta family matriarch. Ellen Travolta has been a longtime CdA Summer Theatre performer and supporter.
Why is John Travolta making time in his schedule to help out the theater? For one thing, it’s his birthday present to his big sister Ellen.
For tickets, call the theater’s box office at (208) 769-7780 or (800) 423-2849.
The ARt season
The Actor’s Repertory Theatre (ARt), a new professional theater company, has announced its first season, which will begin Aug. 27. Here’s the lineup:
• “How the Other Half Loves,” Aug. 27-Sept. 12 — An Alan Ayckbourn comedy about two wild dinner parties, both of which are played out onstage simultaneously.
• “Dirty Blonde,” Sept. 24-Oct. 10 – A Claudia Shear comedy which traces the bawdy and bodacious career of Mae West.
• “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol,” Nov. 26-Dec. 12 — The famous Dickens Christmas story, told from the point of view of Scrooge’s mean old business partner, adapted by Tom Mula.
• “The Drawer Boy,” Jan. 13-30 — Michael Healey’s new play from Canada about a young actor who shows up on the doorstep of two farmers and proceeds to disrupt their lives in surprising ways.
• “Blithe Spirit,” April 8-24 — Noel Coward’s effervescent story about a novelist who somehow conjures up the ghost of his dead wife. She’s invisible to everyone but him.
Longtime Spokane theatergoers might note the return of an Alan Ayckbourn play to Spokane stages. Interplayers staged “How the Other Half Loves” in 1992 and Ayckbourn was an Interplayers staple throughout the 1990s. Michael Weaver and Grant Smith, both formerly of Interplayers, are the forces behind ARt.
All of the above shows will be at ARt’s just-announced home at the Spartan Playhouse at Spokane Falls Community College.
For season tickets call 838-4013. Tickets to all five shows start as low as $55 as part of an early-bird package.
Meet the Preu
Eckart Preu, the Spokane Symphony’s new music director, will be doing a different kind of conducting in the lobby of the Davenport Hotel on Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m.
He’ll conduct a “Meet and Greet” session for anybody interested in stopping by and saying hello.
The orchestra’s new baton-wielder will be moving to Spokane this summer. His first concert will be the annual Labor Day concert at Comstock Park. In the meantime, he will be in town next week for what is described as a “whirlwind visit.”
One tip for those who want to meet and greet: Preu is pronounced Proy, to rhyme with joy.
Laura Ingraham switches stations
Laura Ingraham, the popular syndicated radio talk host, will move to KGA-AM (The Big Talker, 1510) on May 31.
The time slot for her show has yet to be determined.
Ingraham was previously heard on KXLY-AM (NewsTalk 920).
The conglomerate report
Here’s an intriguing follow-up from last week’s Arbitron radio rankings for the Spokane market. We added up the audience share won by the three big conglomerates that own most of the stations in town. Here are the results:
Clear Channel: 28.5 share.
Morgan Murphy (the KXLY Group): 27.3.
Citadel: 24.4.
So this is a close three-way race. But the more interesting number comes from adding all of those numbers together: 80.2.
That means those three companies control 80.2 percent of the radio audience in Spokane. Only 19.8 percent of the listenership is claimed by everyone else, which includes locally owned stations, smaller chains and public radio.
Riverfront Park lineup
The Riverfront Park summer concert lineup at the Lilac Bowl is filling up.
Here’s what it looks like so far:
• John Fogerty: The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman and roots-rock hero, July 2, 7:30 p.m.
• B.B. King Blues Festival: The king of blues himself, along with Dr. John, Shemekia Copeland, Elvin Bishop and special guests Magic Dick and J. Geils, July 30, 7 p.m.
• ZZ Top: The Texas boogie rock institution, Aug. 6, 8 p.m.
• Michael W. Smith: The Christian pop singer with his “Mercy Me” tour, Aug. 7, 5 p.m.
Tickets for the B.B. King show and Fogerty are already on sale through TicketsWest outlets (325-SEAT, 800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com). The other shows will go on sale Friday.
Hi ho, Silver Mountain
Meanwhile, another outdoor music venue a few thousand feet higher in elevation has announced its summer lineup
The Wells Fargo Silver Mountain Summer Concert Series, at the ski area’s beautiful mountaintop amphitheater, will feature:
• The Blues, Brews & Reggae Microbrew Festival, with Lloyd Jones and the Reggae Cowboys, July 31.
• REO Speedwagon, the ‘80s rockers, Aug. 7.
• Brad Paisley, country singer, Aug. 15.
• Doobie Brothers, classic rockers, Aug. 22.
Tickets are available through TicketsWest. As usual, tickets include a ride on the gondola to the amphitheater.