Sarah Vowell, the well-known author and radio voice, will speak at Spokane Community College's Presidential Speaker Series, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Vowell is the author of the bestselling books, "The Wordy Shipmates," "Assassination Vacation,' and "Unfamiliar Fishes." She was also a regular contributor to public…
Lisa Lampanelli, the self-proclaimed "Queen of Mean," has been booked into the INB Performing Arts Center for a show on Oct. 22, 7 p.m. She's gained fame for her insult comedy on various celebrity roasts.Tickets will be $37.75, on sale Aug. 19 at 10 a.m.…
Forrest B. Rodgers has been appointed the new executive director of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC). Rodgers was most recently the director of the Central Washington University Foundation in Ellensburg. From 2001 to 2007, he was the president and CEO of the…
You can pick up a $25 ticket to the k.d. lang concert, but you have to pounce right away. This afternoon, 100 balcony seats went on sale for $25 in a kind of early 'rush' ticket deal. These tickets are available through all TicketsWest outlets…
A really big band has been booked into the Northern Quest Resort and Casino's outdoor venue: The Spokane Symphony, Aug. 20, 7 p.m. They're calling this a "Sizzling Summer Concert With the Spokane Symphony" and it will feature Eckart Preu conducting the symphony in a…
Brandi Carlile has been booked into the Knitting Factory on Oct. 6 -- which will be just two months after her appearance at the Festival at Sandpoint. So, choose your preference: The lakeshore under the stars? Or the downtown Spokane nightclub? Or both? There are…
Two opposing musical forces play right next door to each other on Sprague Avenue tonight: Neko Case at the Bing Crosby Theater and Ted Nugent at the Knitting Factory. Could there be two shows with a more disparate fan base? Maybe Ted Nugent vs. the…
The Spokane Symphony announced a surprise subscription deal: Half-price subscriptions for new subscribers. Or even former subscribers, as long as they were not subscribers for the 2010-11 season. This offer, which expires on Labor Day, means that new subscribers can get the entire 10-concert Classics…
Beginning soon, the Spokane Public Library will offer you a legal way to download music for free. It's called Freegal, and in mid-July the library will be offering the entire Sony music catalog, which includes a half-million tracks, including songs by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan,…
Josh Ritter is a first-time novelist with a well-known name. Ritter is the singer-songwriter, originally from Moscow, Idaho, who has a great national following for his well-crafted, literate songs. So now Ritter the wordsmith has turned his hand to a new craft with his debut…
They Might Be Giants, the band beloved of alt-rock fans with a sense of humor, have just been booked into the Knitting Factory Concert House in Spokane for a Nov. 6 show. Tickets will be $22, on sale June 24, 10 a.m. through www.ticketfly.com.
Ben Mitchell, the senior curator of art at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC), was laid off this week. The museum had to make a five percent budget cut, after it barely escaped closure when the state budget was finalized. One other position,…
Thursday is the real Bloomsday (of the James Joyce variety), which means it's also the day of Spokane's annual Limerick Literary Pub Crawl and Traditional Irish Dinner. For $50, you can accompany a bagpiper, a bard or two and a band of like-minded revelers through…
The Spokane Interstate Fair concert lineup has just been announced: Neal McCoy, country, Sept. 12 The Osmond Brothers, pop, Sept. 13 Weird Al Yankovic, rock parody, Sept. 14 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, rock, Sept. 15 Switchfoot!, rock, Sept. 16 In addition, the Fair will…
John Carpenter's horror flick, "The Ward," which was filmed in Medical Lake and Spokane, became available through various cable on-demand services today. It stars Amber Heard as a woman in a mental institution. And guess what? This mental institution is not what it seems. This…
North by Northwest has just finished filming the Spike TV pilot "Thunderballs" in Spokane, and yes, it featured a few faces you might know. George Wendt (Norm of "Cheers") played the dad of one of the guys on the bowling team. The show is a…
The opening show at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, “The Wizard of Oz,” which runs June 9-19, has had a robust pre-sale – just 300 tickets behind the theater’s all-time biggest seller, last year’s “Cinderella,” at a comparable date. That’s a good harbinger going into…
Here we go again: Another Spokane-made movie, direct to DVD, complete with atrocious reviews. "The Big Bang," the Antonio Banderas movie shot here in fall 2009, came out on DVD last week and the critics have been merrily brutalizing it. Andrew Barker of Variety called…
The folks in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” are feverishly raising money to go to Rochester, N.Y., for AACT/Fest, which is the national community theater competition. They’ve already come up with $20,000. They have $10,000 more to go. This Spokane Civic Theatre production…
Let's take a moment to savor an exceptional moment in Spokane theater. Rarely, in my 22 years covering local theater, have I seen so much creative energy, at the same moment, enlivening our cultural scene: Raucous sellout crowds are whooping and hollering at "The Full…
Here's my unedited review of "Wicked." It will appear in Saturday morning's print edition, after more editing and refinement: “Wicked,” Thursday night, INB Performing Arts Center, continues through May 29, tickets available through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com) The first thing a newcomer to the “Wicked”…
Just got in from 'Wicked' and I will write a full review for Saturday's print edition. But here's my quick initial reaction: "Wicked" is a feast or the eyes, with exceptionally creative sets, costumes and lighting. And it works for the heart and the brain,…
Two new shows to report: The Robert Cray Band, an old favorite among Spokane blues aficionados, will play the Knitting Factory Concert House on July 2, 8:30 p.m. Cray was a fixture in Spokane clubs before he broke out and became an international star. Tickets…
Here are the "Wicked" performances in Spokane that have the best ticket availability: May 18, 7:30 p.m., May 19, 2 p.m., May 24, 7:30p.m., May 25, 7:30 p.m., and May 29,, 1 p.m.. Many of the other "Wicked" performances are already sold out and many…
Eric Greitens, the author of "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL," will do a reading and signing at Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main, on Saturday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Greitens has been in the…
