Money in college sports used to only go to the schools and coaches. Now local student athletes are getting in the game
BY SETH SOMMERFELD
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Itaught journalism for a few years at a couple of local universities. I always had a student-athlete or two in each course. Golfers. Soccer players. Basketball players. A bunch of intramural and club players. Most of them were great students. To a tee, they all informed me of the dates they’d be away to compete and many of them focused their reporting on sports, which lends itself to great writing. The agony of defeat and joy of victory. Rivalries. The visceral descriptions of physical competition. March came one year and a student told me he’d be gone the entire month, for the Big Dance. I wasn’t worried. He was a smart student, and said he’d keep up with the assignments and Zoom in as much as he could. Then he fell behind. Then he dropped my course.
All of this is to say that college is difficult enough, even when you’re not playing before a national audience. Add on the extra stress of having to keep up grades and chase what for many is an impossible dream, and it’s probably too much to ask people who have just moved out of their parents’ house. But as Seth Sommerfeld reports for this week’s cover — BANK SHOT — new rules governing how student-athletes can profit from their talents are a long time coming. After doing school work and taking part in team practices and games, making money off of their name, image and likeness is essentially a part-time freelancing job for many of them. A good way to pay for college and put some money away for the real game: life itself.
— NICHOLAS DESHAIS,
editor
PHONE: 509-325-0634
Ted S. McGregor Jr. (tedm@inlander.com) PUBLISHER
Jer
EDITORIAL
Nicholas
Chey Scott (x225) ARTS
Kristi
I do. They’re being filmed just like any other team, on TV, so somebody’s making money off of ’em playing. So the players might as well make some money, too.
I’d buy from anybody going to ASU. I’d do the same thing for the Cougs if individual players were selling their merch.
Yeah, absolutely. When you think of March Madness, that’s like a billion-dollar industry and players don’t see any of that, and I think that’s kind of messed up. I think it’s a very antiquated system that’s designed to protect the interests of the NCAA’s money and not necessarily the athletes that they’re making money off of.
Somebody’s making a lot of money off of it, right? So yeah, I think that they should be getting compensated for that because if anybody’s gonna get it, they’re the ones that deserve it.
Tracy
Kristin
Yes, I do think that they should be paid. I think there should be a lot more structure to what’s going on because it just kind of feels like the wild, wild west right now.
Yeah, just locally like Gonzaga, Drew Timme, he’s a hometown legend now. I’d totally buy something to support him.
I don’t think they should be paid, as long as they’re getting scholarships. And I also question how much they’re actually studying because they’re away playing during the season.
So you think it’s enough to pay their tuition? Yeah their scholarship should take care of it.
BY BILL BRYANT
At the end of every year, I revisit the books I read the previous months. As I narrowed my 2022 favorites to five books, a Grand Teton-sized theme towered. Each dealt with the West.
For those who share my passion for the West and who want to address the challenges threatening it, I recommend reading these five books in 2023, if you haven’t already.
My first selection might seem an odd choice for someone who never identified with the monkey-wrenchers who camped in the conifer canopy preventing trees from being felled. I grew up around logging. My grandpa repaired both the trucks that transported the harvests of clear-cuts and the cats that cleaved roads from
By Richard Powers, 2018 THE MEADOW By James Galvin, 1992 THE RIVER YOU TOUCH
By Chris Dombrowski, 2022
By Abe Streep, 2021 INDIAN HORSE By Richard Wagamese, 2012
My great uncle was a freelance or contract logger, what today we might call a gig-logger.
Dad’s cousin left for work in the woods one sunrise, and it fell upon his aunt, my grandma, to tell his widow he wasn’t coming home. I kept his kids busy chasing chickens while grandma took her inside to talk. I saw her start crying as soon as grandma got out of the car. Loggers’ wives know.
Dad set chokers and was a powder monkey the summer after his freshman year at Eastern. He gladly returned to Cheney to finish school. I’m unsure whether it was despite or because of my background or because I read it while hiking in California’s redwoods, but Richard Powers’ novel THE OVERSTORY was one of my favorite reads of 2022.
It will be remembered as one of the best books of the early 21st century. Read it and you won’t look at trees or forests — or our relationship with them — in the same way. I’ll still never side with a tree-spiker, but in an age of climate change, destructive forest fires and the collapse of too many species, The Overstory reminds us we live in a tower of sticks more interrelated than we appreciate. We can only pull out so many sticks before our tower crashes.
Two books I will reread, maybe more than once, are rooted in a sense of Western space and tell the story of people who are shaped by the landscape more than they shape it.
James Galvin’s THE MEADOW is a lyrical journey a handful of characters take as they carve out lives in a Colorado meadow. Sometimes they harness its power, sometimes that power humbles them. Sometimes their morning view out a frosty pane whittles them to silent awe. Their lives, which cannot be extricated from the life of the meadow, drive this dreamy narrative, but the enduring meadow is the central character.
Moving through life in awe and with humility is the foundation of Chris Dombrowski’s THE RIVER YOU TOUCH. This treasure of a memoir is a poignant exploration of fatherhood and friendship, fly fishing and hunting, and how to mindfully make one’s way in a noisy, sometimes messy world, navigating births and deaths, almost always within a shady walk of a refreshing river pool or the solace grasped on a stretch of trout water.
Making one’s way in a messy world is also the heart of my other two favorite books I read in 2022. One made me cheer and keep glancing at the clock as if I were courtside watching the basketball game, and the other made me ache for a guy who’d known too much confusion and betrayal far too young.
Abe Streep’s BROTHERS ON THREE is the true story of the Flathead Reservation’s Arlee Warriors’ rise to Montana’s state basketball championship tournament. (Hoopfest makes an appearance.) It’s the story of kids struggling to become more than they are without losing who they are, but even more than that, it’s the story of community — a community shaped by the West and its history. You will scream and chant them through every jump and stumble, every layup and foul. I did not want this book to end.
Richard Wagamese’s novel INDIAN HORSE follows Saul Indian Horse from a boney existence with his grandmother to his kidnapping to a Canadian Indian “residential school,” his prowess on the ice where legacies of the West could not remain buried. And it’s about an enduring, embracing community.
The arrogance and ignorance of biodiversity destruction, the wonder of those who are awed by the West and their evolving place in it, the legacy of racism, brutality and communities that endure despite all that, these themes are all captured in these five books. And they’re a great way to start your 2023 reading list. n
Bill Bryant, who served on the Seattle Port Commission from 2008-16, ran against Jay Inslee as the Republican nominee in the 2016 governor’s race. He is chairman emeritus of the company BCI, is a founding board member of the Nisqually River Foundation and was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to serve on the Puget Sound Partnership’s Eco-Systems Board. He lives in Winthrop, Washington.
THOM FOOTE: All hat and no cattle.
FABIAN MCMILLAN: Seemed like a good man. Enjoy your family, sir!
NORMA MCCARTHY: The sun can’t set soon ’nuff and don’t let the door, well, you know…
ROY HOBBS: Already miss his refreshing ability to do his job in the way he thought was best, without worrying about re-election. I didn’t always agree with his positions but he never compromised himself to get re-elected.
BRANDON HOLLEE: Good riddance. I will not miss his political theatrics.
JERRY GOERTZ: He was the Constitutional Sheriff as it should be.
NEAL SCHINDLER: Who plays him in the movie?
NANETTE CLOUD: What a waste of ink, Spokane has so many amazing people doing good work in the community, and this is how you choose to use your platform? This cowboy larper doesn’t deserve this praise, let alone any cop in Spokane.
Ozzie is great and cares! I am sad to see you move on, but I hope you enjoy your time in
Bye, Felicia!
Off to whiter pastures… Good riddance to bad
BENJAMIN BARR: Great cover shot for your goose poop story.
I’ll never forget when this guy used his pulpit to promote his views of the Second Amendment less than 24 hours after the Freeman shooting. While standing on the grounds of the school. I had only just stood on the front steps of the school, hoping my child wasn’t among the dead.
KAREN GALLION: I am going to miss him and his steadfast, caring of community, high expectations, goal achieving, national and worldwide knowledge for training of officers, interactive. His personality. There will never be anyone else like Sheriff Knezovich. Best to him and his family! n
BY DANIEL WALTERS
Last week, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said his department had a new strategy for fighting crime.
Because all that community frustration over slow Spokane police response? His department feels it, too.
But he believes his plan to take officers from other parts of the department and turn them into general patrol officers will help fix that.
“This will increase the number of patrol officers that are out on the streets, which will reduce response times to calls,” Meidl said.
There is, of course, a downside: fewer neighborhood resource officers and a much smaller traffic unit. Meidl hopes that with upgraded radar equipment on police cars, every patrol officer could do a little traffic enforcement.
As Mayor Nadine Woodward stood by his side at the news conference where he announced the new strategy,
Meidl praised her “infallible support.”
The Spokane City Council? Not so much praise coming from Meidl.
That could be because City Council President Breean Beggs and other council members are wary of the new strategy — noting how much neighborhoods have been begging for better traffic enforcement.
“We’re going to let them see how this new system works,” Beggs says of the police. “I’m just skeptical that it’s going to work.”
The Spokane City Council was touting its decision to pass a budget that used a slew of traffic-calming funds to explicitly hire nine more traffic officers.
By contrast, the council took money from roughly six unlikely-to-be-filled patrol positions and spent it elsewhere in the police budget.
“It is contrary to our priorities,” Meidl said later in his office. “If I were to try to honor what they did, it would come at the cost of patrol because they now have to pull nine officers off patrol to fill those traffic positions.”
In practice, the difference may ultimately be symbolic — the police department does not expect to be able to recruit and train enough new officers next year to fill either all the open patrol officer positions or the newly created traffic officer positions.
Still, it shows how the council’s vision for the police department has diverged from the mayor’s, creating a series of skirmishes between the city’s executive and legislative branches.
Councilwoman Lori Kinnear argues that they don’t want to just be a “rubber stamp for any department.”
Council members point out the budget they passed
actually funds more officers than the mayor’s proposal did.
“In no way do I want to dictate to Craig Meidl how he should run his police department,” Kinnear says. “My job is to be supportive. But it’s also to ask questions.”
Meidl doesn’t want to be seen as complaining. He’s not arguing the council has defunded the police — though he believes the money still falls short of what they need. It’s more that the council is saddling his department with roadblocks, caveats and additional mandates.
Woodward, meanwhile, sees an ongoing series of attacks on her executive branch authority and argues that the City Council should defer to the chief’s expertise.
“Those of us who don’t have expertise in policing should rely on those who do,” Woodward says, arguing that the problem is “the amount of time that the department seems to be under the microscope.”
Beggs, a longtime police reform activist, says elected leaders should have oversight of police.
“Police are unique in that they have the legal ability to grab people and put people in jail and kill people,” Beggs says. “They’re the only department that can do that.”
Fights about a city council’s oversight of the police have traditionally focused on use-of-force policies or the independence of the police ombudsman tasked with sifting through officer-involved shootings and other controversies.
But more recent battles between the mayor and the council have been decidedly more focused on the logistical aspects of the job — about where the police work, how many are assigned to which unit, and whether their police cars are electric or not.
“At times our legislative branch is saying, ‘Well, we know, you think that’s what’s going to help you keep the community safe… but we have a different view,’” Meidl says.
In fact, last fall, a disagreement over how the police department could use their money had Meidl urging the council not to approve extra money for enforcement. The council wanted the department to spend $125,000 of its “civil forfeiture” money — seized by police from drug crime suspects — for anti-drug youth education programming.
“We felt that getting at the root causes would be better,” Kinnear says.
But Meidl wanted to use the vast majority of it to money for confidential informants, drug buys and vehicles.
“Are we spending money just because it makes us feel good, but there’s no scientific data to show it’s going to be effective?” Meidl says.
Kinnear argues that there wasn’t any data that the police department’s current use of the money was effective either.
Eventually, the council decided to tap into another pool of police department money to fund anti-drug youth programs. But for Meidl, there was another entire level of frustration. Every department had plenty of scrutiny on civil forfeiture funds, but his peers didn’t have to try to jump through city council hoops.
“There is no other department that I am aware of in the state that has a city council that tries to influence, mitigate or control how they spend their [civil forfeiture] money,” Meidl says. “Nobody else in this state has any issues with that.”
The mayor, meanwhile, has sometimes seen the council’s scrutiny as an assault on her own authority. Last year, she was particularly incensed about an ordinance that challenged her decision to locate the South Police Precinct in the former East Central Library building.
In August, she argued that the council’s ordinance was “dangerous,” “retaliatory” and continued the council’s “consistent attack on the independent authority of the office of mayor.”
The council passed the ordinance, anyway, 5-2.
“I made the executive decision to move our officers there,” Woodward says now. “It’s important to note that the decision was made at the request of the community.”
There was a ton of support within the East Central neighborhood for locating the police precinct in the library. The neighborhood council endorsed the proposal. So did the local business district. It was the top vote-getter in an unscientific survey. The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center had been a passionate supporter of the police precinct, warning in a December 2021 social media post that “this is where the narrative starts to change and your voices get silenced.”
But there had also been other voices in the community, like the Carl Maxey Center and the Hispanic Business/Professional Association, which wanted to use the space for a Hispanic Community Center. When Woodward made her “executive decision,” some on the City Council felt railroaded.
Kinnear says her problem with the mayor’s decision wasn’t because she objected to a police precinct. It was about responsible budgeting and using the empty library in a more profitable manner.
“You have, essentially, five to seven desks in this enormous space,” Kinnear says. Additionally, she says, it was about a fair process.
Meidl is skeptical.
“They’re saying that they want there to be a process,” Meidl says. “But that process seems to be selected based on what they want the outcome to be. I’m just being honest with you.”
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Toward the end of our interview, Meidl pulls out a sheet of notebook paper and shares a few other examples of council interference with the department.
For example, when the Legislature wanted to pay most of the cost of a virtual training simulator for the department, Meidl says some on the council initially wanted to select community members to be in charge of selecting the simulator scenarios.
“My mouth about hit the ground,” Meidl says. “You want us to put together a community group of folks that you pick to tell us which scenarios we’re going to train our officers on?”
And Woodward says council members were even scrutinizing carpet replacement purchases in the police training facility.
“We had a couple of council members who decided that they need to go over to that facility and inspect the carpet to see for sure that it needed to be replaced,” Woodward says. “When I say ‘micromanaging,’ that’s an example.”
But it sounds less absurd when Beggs fills in the context. He says that state money was specifically supposed to be used for training related to statewide police reform, not carpet upgrades.
“It’s because they were misusing, in our opinions, the funds,” Beggs says.
On top of that, he says the council wanted to meet with the Legislature to convince them to make Spokane a regional training center, which would have resulted in an entire building upgrade.
Beggs says the police approach can sometimes resemble that you-need-me-on-that-wall speech from the film A Few Good Men.
“They’re like ‘We’ll tell you what we need and how much. Give it to us,’” Beggs says. But Beggs says the council has to consider the entire city, not just one department.
On Monday night, the council passed a resolution laying out the timeline for deciding what to do about the library building — and explicitly allowing for the possibility that, after the process is completed, the police precinct might stay in the building.
Meidl, however, isn’t waiting on instructions from the council. “Right now, we have no intention of moving out,” Meidl says. n danielw@inlander.com
“THIN BLUE LINE ITEM,” CONTINUED...
“My mouth about hit the ground. You want us to put together a community group of folks that you pick to tell us which scenarios we’re going to train our officers on?”
Last month, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released his two-year transportation spending plan. Buried among the $58 billion in proposed projects, amid the pages of tables and schedules, is a delay on something some Spokane motorists have been clamoring for since Truman was president: the northsouth freeway. For about a decade, officials have said the North Spokane Corridor would be completed by 2029. Now Inslee’s recommendation is to have the freeway first envisioned in 1946 done sometime in the mid-2030s. His punt on the project may not last the legislative session. Greater Spokane Inc., the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors all lined up to criticize Inslee’s proposal, saying in a joint statement that “stripping the project of funding at this juncture will cost our region millions in the long run.” Spokane’s trio of Democratic legislators — Sen. Andy Billig and House members Timm Ormsby and Marcus Riccelli — quickly followed suit, saying the delay “does not have our support.”
(NICHOLAS DESHAIS)
Four years after courts rejected the Washington Legislature’s last attempts to dodge the Public Records Act, state lawmakers have fashioned a new ploy to refuse to share their communications: “legislative privilege.” Already, communication from the office of Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, a Spokane Democrat, is being withheld using that term, which is not specifically found in statute. “I’ll leave it up to the attorneys to give the legal justification for it,” Billig said at a press conference last week. Meanwhile, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, also a Democrat, defended the concept, claiming that “legislative privilege is an exception of privilege that is grounded in the [state] constitution,” but should be rarely used. But while the Washington Constitution does protect legislators from “civil action or criminal prosecution for words spoken” as part of legislative debate, it does not explicitly exclude lawmakers from the Public Records Act. Republican House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, meanwhile, has stressed that Democrats, not Republicans, were the ones using the controversial tactic. “The idea that things that are difficult can be concealed seems counter to what the [public records] debate was about a few years ago,” Wilcox said. (DANIEL
WALTERS)
It’s part of a national trend that some have described as a “labor shortage,” and others have described as a lack of jobs willing to pay workers what they deserve. Regardless, Washington state agencies are having trouble finding staff. In a recent Medium post, Inslee reported that the turnover rate for state employees has jumped significantly — to 20 percent in the current fiscal year from a five-year average of 13 percent. “When state agencies don’t have enough employees, Washingtonians notice,” Inslee wrote. “At best, a consequence might be long wait times. At worst, someone could be hurt.” Inslee’s proposed two-year budget includes general wage increases for most positions, and targeted increases for specialized or high-turnover positions. He writes that several agencies are also looking at changing their telework policies to attract more employees. While the impact of the shortage has been widespread across industries, Inslee specifically pointed to ferries and hospitals as two especially challenged areas. (NATE SANFORD) n
Inslee wants to delay the north-south freeway. Plus, the Legislature dodges the Public Records Act; and the state needs more employees
The East Central Spokane homeless encampment known as Camp Hope has shrunk considerably since it moved to the neighborhood a year ago. But while many campers have moved elsewhere, the money is still flowing.
It’s unclear how much money has been, or will be, spent. From what we’ve gathered for this article alone, the tally so far is more than $36 million. (That’s money that’s been spent or allocated for services at the camp itself, or to shelters.)
But this is not a comprehensive list. There are some contracts we didn’t include, and in some cases, the people putting money toward the camp wouldn’t say how much they’re spending.
For instance, the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund is currently funding a lawsuit to stop local law enforcement from clearing the camp. Lerria Schuh, the fund’s executive
director, declined to say how much the organization is paying toward the lawsuit. (Schuh also says the SmithBarbieri organization isn’t financially supporting Jewels Helping Hands or any of the other service providers running the camp.)
Some other costs associated with the camp are hard to quantify. Doug Trudeau, who until recently was president of the East Spokane Business Association, argues that local businesses have been losing money because of a rise in crime and vandalism he associates with the camp. Local businesses have also spoken of a decline in customers, he says, adding that road construction in the area may also be playing a role.
On Monday, the City Council approved a $70,000 settlement with Cameron-Reilly LLC, a contracting company who said they faced vandalism and theft while working on road construction near Camp Hope.
As part of the same $24 million state initiative, the commerce department allocated $3.47 million to the Empire Health Foundation to subcontract with various service providers at Camp Hope. Of that money, Jewels Helping Hands — a nonprofit that’s been managing the camp since its inception as a protest outside City Hall in 2018 — is receiving $1.48 million.
Julie Garcia, executive director of Jewels, says all of the nonprofit’s work at Camp Hope is funded by its contract with the Empire Health Foundation, which is also subcontracting with Revive Counseling Spokane, Compassionate Addiction Treatment and the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium.
Tax records indicate that Garcia was paid $35,671 for her work with Jewels in 2020, and $25,600 for her work in 2021. Jason Green, Garcia’s husband and the treasurer for Jewels, says that a 2020 tax filing reporting that $565,032 — 64 percent of the nonprofit’s revenue that year — had gone to “executive compensation” was done in error. He thanked the Inlander for bringing it to his attention, and says he’s filing an addendum to correct it. The total for Garcia and the other two board members who received compensation in 2020 was $62,184, Green says.
The city of Spokane has touted the recently opened Trent Resource and Assistance Center as a key part of its plan to close Camp Hope. The shelter is in an industrial warehouse owned by local developer Larry Stone, who purchased the building last spring for $3.5 million. In total, the lease is expected to cost at least $1.6 million over a five-year term. The city is paying Stone $26,100 a month for use of the building as a shelter. The city is also paying Stone’s property taxes, maintenance and a management fee of 2.5 percent of the base rent. Stone did not respond to requests for comment.
The building’s lease agreement stipulates that Stone make improvements to the building at his own expense. The county has also invested $500,000 in upgrades to the building. The state has put $2 million toward the shelter as part of Inslee’s Rights of Way initiative.
The shelter is being operated by the Salvation Army, which has a $5.5 million contract with the city to operate the shelter through the end of 2023. Revive Counseling Spokane, which provides mental health services at the shelter, is getting $1.6 million from the city for its work at the shelter through 2023.
There are four separate entities working to provide security at or adjacent to Camp Hope. Between March and November, the city paid $238,640 to private security company Crowd Management Services to patrol outside the camp. During that same time period, the city also spent $401,899 for police overtime to patrol outside the camp. (Police generally make time-and-a-half pay while working overtime.)
When you include garbage removal, that brings the city’s total spending at Camp Hope to more than $720,000 between March and November of last year. Brian Coddington, the mayor’s spokesperson, said he doesn’t have numbers from December yet. Coddington says the city still wants the state to reimburse it for those expenses. The state has said it won’t do that.
The Washington state Department of Transportation, which owns the land Camp Hope occupies, is paying for private security of its own at the camp. Since September, the state agency has paid Security Services Northwest $317,585.
WSDOT has also been paying for diesel, generators, porta-potties, fencing, propane heaters and other minor amenities at Camp Hope. Between September and December, the state agency spent $7,100 removing 24 tons of debris from the camp. The money WSDOT is spending comes out of the North Spokane Corridor property management budget.
The last security entity is a small team employed by Jewels. The team is primarily composed of current and former Camp Hope residents. Green says they’ve paid $155,421 for the security team since August, when Jewels first started contracting with Empire Health Foundation. Before then, he estimates they spent $14,000 on security at the camp. n
Every weekend, you’ll find live music at the Nighthawk Lounge with local bands playing past midnight. For a more relaxed vibe earlier in the evening, choose the option of live acoustic music in the Chinook Lounge.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 TH & SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 TH
6 PM — 9:30 PM
CHINOOK LOUNGE
Kyle Swaffard is a singersongwriter from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho who has been entertaining audiences in the Pacific Northwest for more than 30 years.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 TH & SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 TH 8:30 PM — 12:30 AM
NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE
Dangerous Type is a 4-piece rock cover band from Spokane, Washington, playing a wide variety of songs and styles.
The casino floor is bustling with commotion. Flashing lights and the cacophonous sound of slot machines echo throughout the gaming floor at Northern Quest Resort & Casino, even on a Sunday morning like this.
There’s plenty of action: dice clatter off the walls of the craps tables, the digital slots emblazoned with pop culture branding spin on and on, gruff men are getting in their sports bets. It’s a glitzy cloud of jackpot hopes and lost bets. Amid this routine bedlam, a small crowd of passers-by are gathering by a cordoned off section of the slots, whipping out their phones to get pics from a distance.
It’s not even noon yet, but there — among the casino’s weekend regulars — stands Gonzaga All-American Drew Timme. As if the 6-foot-10-inch, bearded Timme wouldn’t have stood out enough, he’s adorned in his full GU jersey (headband, of course, included).
No, the basketball star isn’t there to gamble. But he’s the surest bet to come out a financial winner today.
He’s shooting another commercial for the casino.
The charismatic Timme has become an advertising star for Northern Quest in the wake of the NCAA passing Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) rules in 2021, which — after decades of only seeing coaches, schools and the NCAA profit — finally allowed student athletes to get paid. The new rules are changing college athletics forever for both superstars like Timme and competitors you’ve probably never heard of.
There has long been money in college athletics, but the issue has always been who’s generating the cash versus who’s reaping the rewards. As TV deals and coaches’ contracts exploded over the past couple of decades, there was a growing sentiment among fans that the NCAA’s pure amateurism model — where student athletes got scholarships to cover tuition, room, board and books, but couldn’t get directly paid in any way — was a grossly unbalanced system.
“When I think of the NCAA, that saying ‘Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered’ comes to mind,” says Mark Titus, a host of Fox Sports’ popular college basketball podcast Titus and Tate and a former walk-on player at Ohio State. “The reason it became a problem is because coaches went from making $1 million a year to making $8 million. And there’s a certain point that the general public started seeing how many people are getting not just rich, but like filthy rich, like generational wealth, while the athletes are getting punished for getting a free sandwich. And it rightfully didn’t sit well with people.”
The major wrench that got thrown in the NCAA’s system was the antitrust class action lawsuit O’Bannon v. NCAA. Led by UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon, the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in 1995, the suit
took aim at video games that used these former players’ likenesses without compensation. While the games didn’t name the players specifically, they had rosters full of players with the correct height, weight, handedness, hair, etc.
The NCAA lost the legal battle in 2014, with finalized affirmations made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015. Rather than take this as a step toward a new direction, the NCAA essentially shut down all college sports video games.
“At that point instead of saying, ‘OK, well we’re going to start paying college athletes for their NIL,’ the NCAA just said, like, ‘All right, let’s just kill all the products so we don’t have to pay them,’” explains Amanda Christovich, sport business reporter at Front Office Sports who specializes in college athletics.
But then state legislatures started forcing the NCAA’s hand. In 2019, California passed a law that said student athletes couldn’t be forced to sign away their rights to profit from their name, image and likeness. When Florida passed a similar law that would go into effect on July 1, 2021, the governing body on collegiate sports was left with no choice but to capitulate. On June 30, 2021, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors put in place interim NIL rules. For the first time, student athletes could profit from their marketable profiles.
Getting a grip on NIL’s basics isn’t an easy task, because the NCAA itself has a bunch of gray areas when it comes to the rules. When talking to experts, people had a tendency to refer to the state of NIL as “the Wild West.” While it might be most visible with ad campaigns featuring folks like Timme, USC quarterback Caleb Williams and UConn women’s point guard Paige Beckers — or occasionally more headline-grabbing fun deals, like Nebraska wideout Decoldest Crawford doing commercials for an air conditioning company — the implications run deeper than surface level.
For starters, each state has different NIL rules, making it a somewhat uneven playing field. Here in the Evergreen State, there has yet to be any specific NIL laws, but some practices fall under the State Ethics Law. Most crucially, Washington government resources cannot be used to support a third-party business. Essentially, that means public universities cannot act as middlemen to set up deals for student athletes… but private institutions like Gonzaga can. As a result, the athletic departments at Eastern Washington and Washington State University must take an approach of being educators about how the athletes can find deals on their own. This includes programming on topics like networking, etiquette, social media, brand building and finance.
How new NIL rules for NCAA sports are finally letting Inland Northwest collegiate stars cash in
“When NIL was first passed, it was just kind of a free-for-all and follow your state rules. And now the NCAA has given us a little bit more guidance on things that we can follow and directions that we can go,” says Nick Garner, director of student-athlete innovation at WSU. “At Washington State, we have about 450 to 500 student athletes, and they could all go about NIL in 450 different ways. And they can connect with their businesses and community members and hobbies and interests and just all different kinds of things that they weren’t able to take advantage of in the past. So I mean, everything from trying to start like a book club, because they love to read, to starting a coaching clinic.”
One major factor that has emerged since the NCAA opened the door for NIL is the formation of NIL collectives. Particularly at big schools, these groups pool together money from boosters to offer resources to help a school’s athletes get more deals. This perputates the traditional major conference school versus mid-major or low-major school power divide. EWU doesn’t have a collective, while Gonzaga and WSU have collectives — Friends of Spike and Cougar Collective.
It’s also true that for lower level schools like Whitworth University, which competes on the NCAA Division III level, NIL rules are not really a going concern. Maybe there are small deals at certain schools — like athletes tweeting about a local restaurant and getting a bit of free food in exchange — but nothing that has made waves, according to Tim Demant, Whitworth’s director of athletics.
“I’m not aware of anything in DIII that’s of any significance,” says Demant. “My guess is if there was something significant, some of the DIII boards would be all over that.”
For the universities themselves, one of the major boons regarding NIL is the stress it relieves from compliance officers — the people who need to make sure the athletes aren’t doing anything to make them ineligible
because of violations of NCAA amateurism rules.
“I did compliance for 18 years [at WSU and Gonzaga], and it was hard to see some of these kids want to do something so great [but] they couldn’t use their name, image and likeness,” says Catherine Walker, EWU’s senior associate athletic director. “And now that they can, it’s pretty special.”
Pre-NIL, Walker had to deal with sending out a constant barrage of cease-and-desist letters to people using images of athletes without permission. With his big personality and distinctive mustachioed look, former WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew would’ve been a star during NIL era, but it was a headache for Walker to constantly have to shut down people for things ranging from Tshirts to the town of Colfax’s “Gardner Minshew Days” to handing out mustaches before the 2018 Apple Cup.
“I was on the sideline of the Alamo Bowl when we won,” says Walker. “And just the first thought in my mind is like, ‘I don’t have to send another cease-and-desist letter ever again for Gardner Minshew.’”
Speaking of mustaches, Drew Timme is standing in a hotel casino hallway in the early Sunday morning hours two days after leading Gonzaga to a win over Michigan State on an aircraft carrier. While he runs his lines for his latest Northern Quest ad, the makeup team is covering up scratches on his arm, a result of the physical matchup days prior. Even when the camera’s not rolling, you can see why Timme is an advertiser’s dream: He’s a top performer who is very recognizable, takes direction well, and has the charisma to get the cast and crew laughing at his expense even when the cameras aren’t rolling.
“Once we started doing it, you could tell that Drew had a sense of humor,” says Mark Robbins, the Spokane
actor who’s played the hapless husband in Northern Quest’s ongoing ad campaign for years and is positioned as Timme’s buddy in the commericals. “The hard parts are just sometimes he beats himself up for not being able to keep a straight face through some of the jokes.”
Without NIL, Timme might not have even come back to Gonzaga for another season — one that might see him break the all-time Zags scoring record. In an interview with Fox Sports’ John Fanta in September, Timme
basically said coming back to school was actually the best financial decision for him now that NIL was in place. He said that while he might’ve made $200,000 to $500,000 this year as a pro, he’ll make more than that in NIL deals with brands ranging from national Dollar Shave Club ads to local Walker’s Furniture spots.
“I won’t get too far into specifics,” Timme told Fanta, “but it’s going to be more. It will be more than that.”
Gonzaga already had a standing relationship with the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, making the initial NIL dealings relatively smooth. For Northern Quest’s part, they’re already forecasting local athletes that might make sense for NIL deals in future years, including hopefully blending stars from local schools and incorporating female student athletes. They also are trying to set up more in-person NIL deals to get people out to the casino, like an event last year where the GU men’s and women’s baketball teams were on site for photo-ops with nearly 400 fans. They’ve also been kicking the tires on retroactive NIL deals, possibly bringing in former Gonzaga greats to hock now-legal jerseys with their names and such.
“ It was hard to see some of these kids want to do something so great [but] they couldn’t use their name, image and likeness.”
Naturally, the introduction of NIL has led to agencies specifically focused on working with student athletes. For Drew Timme, the Seven1 sports agency was the obvious fit. Co-founded by former NBA All-Stars Jermaine O’Neal and Tracy McGrady (ironically, both of whom went straight from high school to the NCAA instead of playing college basketball), the group is not only based in Timme’s home state of Texas, but Timme played for O’Neal’s traveling AAU basketball team as a kid, so there was a longstanding relationship prior to NIL.
Seven1 also represents Gonzaga forward Anton Watson, who certainly doesn’t have the same national profile as Timme, but is more appealing to some local businesses because he’s a Spokane native.
“For Anton specifically, it’s refreshing to see how the companies around the Spokane area where he’s from have rallied around him to present him with different opportunities. You don’t see that that often with student athletes that are born and raised in a particular city and decided to go to that school,” says Seven1’s Chief Talent Director Deddrick Faison.
With top college athletes transferring more these days or leaving school early to go pro, an established presence like Timme is somewhat of an NIL unicorn. So the offers roll in. Before the season had even started Seven1 had over 20 deals in place for Timme, and it expects even more once the college football season concludes and focus shifts to hoops. Many of those ad campaigns are front-loaded to shoot before the season so as to not interfere with Timme’s basketball and class schedule.
“For Drew, specifically, we receive daily opportunities for him at various levels. Some are bad, some are good, some are really, really, really, really bad,” says Faison. “That’s
kind of how you have to differentiate that.”
The Timme family itself is also somewhat of an outlier, according to Faison.
“When I say that the Timmes are like a unicorn of this industry, they’re very, very together in the things that they do, they’re very easy to deal with when it comes to being able to source deals, because we discuss every deal,” Faison says. “I source all of our deals through [Drew’s mom] Megan Timme, and we discuss them at length almost on a daily basis when they come in. And we come to a consensus.
“The dynamic for college athletics is changed,” he continues. “Drew’s family, they do pretty well… but there are quite a few student athletes that have come from an impoverished type of situation, and it’s ‘Am I gonna help my family immediately or can I go back to school?’ Even if they want to go back to school, they feel as if they need to take that [pro] deal. Whereas now they can do both. They can still enjoy the college life and go through that process, and then also take care of the family at a certain level.”
Timme is actually somewhat of an NIL outlier in one key sense — he’s not big into social media.
For most athletes and schools, social media is the first area of NIL focus for student athletes to build their brands and market themselves to companies. Not only is social media promotion an easy way for top athletes to do NIL work without a timesuck, but it also opens the door for athletes who are influencers on their own. University of Miami basketball twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder have parlayed their massive social
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media following (over 5 million followers across social platforms) to earn north of $1 million over the first 12 months of NIL, despite not being elite level women’s college hoops stars. (Which also leads to some uncomfortable topics about how much sex appeal sells with NIL. It is American advertising, after all.)
For a local example of an NIL social media figure, look no further than Dean Janikowski, the kicker for WSU’s football team. The special teams standout has garnered national buzz for his “More Than a Kick” campaign, which raised money for the Heather Janikowski Foundation, the charity his family established to help children with cancer after Dean’s mother died in January 2022 after a long battle with cancer. The campaign allowed people to contribute money based on the number of points Janikowski booted through the uprights this season — raising nearly $18,000.
“Right after the UW game, someone came out and made a comment [on Twitter] about like, ‘Why is he celebrating so hard after a field goal?’” says WSU’s Garner. “And Dean replied back about how each field goal he makes helps raise money for kids with cancer. And it just really blew up on social media. You had UW fans and WSU fans coming together to help raise money.”
And while the NCAA has allowed athletes to be involved in charities prior to NIL’s passage, tying money to individual performances — like Janikowski’s point total — would’ve probably fallen into the nonpermissible gray zone, despite being a literal cancer fundraiser.
Janikowski has also been able to make some money for himself based on his social media skills. His TikTok
account (@dean.janikowski) has over 51,000 followers and garnered over 1.9 million likes. By doing things like video announcements, posting photos, or doing full-on explanations of products, he’s been able to secure NIL deals ranging from local entities to national brands like G Fuel energy drinks and even McDonald’s. It also makes him think with a business mindset.
“NIL is fun. I’ve liked it a lot,” says Janikowski. “After doing it for a while, I’ve sort of figured out kind of like my price point or the actual audience and numbers I can bring to different companies. I’ve done tracking companies where you put a tracker on your electric dirt bike, and I’ve been able to bring a few million views to that company.”
Finding out how much NIL athletes actually get paid is difficult. With rare exceptions, the dollar figures are kept close to the vest so that both the athletes and businesses have negotiating power in other NIL deals. In November, a University of Arkansas report said that 140 of its student athletes had combined for over 300 NIL deals, earning an average of $4,102. Valuations on what athletes could be worth to the NIL market can be much higher. Alabama’s Heisman-winning star quarterback Bryce Young had a valuation of $3.5 million this year, according to NIL valuation site On3, while incoming basketball and football recruits Bronny James (LeBron’s son) and Arch Manning (Peyton and Eli’s nephew) have valuations of $7.5 and $3.5 million respectively.
NIL isn’t going to make the vast majority of student athletes wealthy. For most it’s essentially just a part-time freelancing job. And part of the struggle of the new NIL world for someone like Janikowski is simply the time commitment. Over the course of the season he’s gotten
around 100 NIL offers, but has only accepted around 10 percent of them. After doing school work and taking part in team practices and games, there isn’t a massive amount of time to do NIL work.
“Time is the hardest part,” says Janikowski of the process of NIL social media creation. “I really strive to make sure I spend a lot of time on it and do it really well and get a lot of views to it, because then it just keeps opening bigger doors. Like I started real small, and then next thing you know, McDonald’s was emailing me and asking for deals.”
NIL also opens doors for athletes to thrive in ways not connected to advertising dollars. Or really, it’s less “opening doors” than breaking down ones that were previously locked for virtually no good reason. In many ways, what NIL really does is allow student athletes to be able to do things that their fellow non-sporting peers could obviously always do. Not only could student athletes not do things like give lessons in their sport or teach at summer camps, they basically couldn’t even be entrepreneurs totally separate from their sports.
Former WSU golfer Cami March serves as a perfect example of the unfair pre-NIL standard. As a businessminded student who majored in digital technology and culture, March has an idea to create an app called DWN, which would be a sort of mood ring for activities in your area. The app looks to streamline the hassle of creating plans with friends in a group chat by taking your vibes (energetic, self-care, party, adventure, chill) and matching them with restaurants, activities and event tickets that suit the given mood. But because in the past there had ...continued on next page
been examples of football players opening fake businesses to funnel booster money to players, it became incredibly difficult for March to start up her own LLC in order to launch her app despite her being a golfer having nothing to do with the product.
“It was just issues with our compliance,” says March. “So because of [past shady businesses], student athletes with good entrepreneurial intentions weren’t able to create businesses. And so I had to kind of go through a bunch of hoops and obstacles to try to figure out how to stay compliant as an athlete and to make sure that I wasn’t, you know, ineligible because of my endeavors. It just took a lot longer than what it would for a regular student, which was just unfair.”
While March eventually was able to form YOUDWN LLC, having to jump through the hoops added nearly six months to the process. She’s still developing the app and working out the bugs (though it’s already been approved for the Apple and Google Play app stores), while at the same time pursuing her professional golf dreams. She even testified about the hurdles NCAA rules had forced her to clear to the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce in September 2021, when it was looking into the new student-athlete rules. For March, the new era of NIL is vital to allow the sort of exploration that college is supposed to be about.
“When you are between 18 and 22, you’re still learning a lot about yourself and trying to see what you have access to,” says March. “So I think the NIL opportunities will only allow students to further explore who they are, what they’re interested in outside of sports, and then being able to have guidance from people that really understand what’s going on. I think that’s the great thing about NIL — that it doesn’t feel like there are things that we can’t do because we’re an athlete.”
While many have lauded NIL as a step in the right direction for college athletics, there are still plenty of dissenting voices who feel the rules have somehow sullied the integrity of the sports — most specifically college football and men’s basketball. While any fan of the sports without their heads buried in the sand knows that boosters have been funneling money to top stars and recruits for generations (often referred to as “bag men” — someone dropping a literal duffle bag full of cash for a star athlete to pick up), some feel the openness of the transactional part of NIL undercuts the former amateurism spirit.
“It’s above board bag men in many, many ways,” says Christovich of Front Office Sports. “So I guess you could say, it’s like the rich getting richer in that sense.”
But Chistovich stresses that on the whole NIL seems like a net positive, even if it messes with competitive balance. With only a minute fraction of players going pro in their sport and the NCAA not providing worker’s compensation if an athlete gets hurt during competition, NIL maximizes their chance to make money in what might be the peak earning potential era of their entire lives.
“I think like some of the fears people had about name and likeness stuff was that the programs that have more money are going to get the best players,” says Titus of Fox Sports. “And I’ve laughed at that notion all along, because has that not been the case up to this point? At a certain point, the economics are gonna take care of itself.”
The opening of the transfer portal — essentially eliminating the old rule where athletes had to sit out a year of competition when moving to a new school (a luxury high-paid coaches always enjoyed) — has also
raised red flags for purists. Collegiate sports fans might be envisioning doomsday scenarios where a sports fan billionaire — say Indiana alum Mark Cuban — might use NIL to overpay top stars to improve the Hoosiers’ hoops teams. But those guys are still capitalist businesspeople, and the idea that someone’s going to pay $50 million for an 18-year-old to play hoops is frankly ludicrous fantasizing. And while some top Power 5 conference football programs are certainly enticing for transfers because they offer superior NIL opportunities compared to lower levels, many actually within the sport are skeptical that NIL is really the force behind the transfer influx as much as players just getting frustrated with a coach, seeking more playing time, or pursuing a higher level of competition to test themselves against.
“I think it’s silly to think that all the players that transfer are doing it strictly just for the money,” says Janikowski. “I think it’s a very small, actual number.”
Beyond that, the general future of the NCAA seems to be on shaky grounds. With college football being the organization’s major revenue source and the commissioners of major conference like the SEC and Big 10 trying to add as many big programs as possible (as UW and WSU Pac-12 fans know, seeing USC and UCLA joining the Big 10), the balance of power could potentially shift away from the NCAA entirely over the next decade.
“The NCAA right now has to be having an existential crisis. I don’t really completely understand what their purpose is,” says Titus, who points out that the NCAA has always been about two things — maintaining amateurism and putting on tournaments to crown national champions. “And with the amateurism
model gone, like half of your identity is gone. So now basically all they do is just run tournaments. And I think at some point — and I think the conferences have already figured it out — you don’t need the NCAA to do that.”
Beyond the potential power vacuum, there are also cases in the courts that could further upend the NCAA in similar ways to O’Bannon v. NCAA
“As far as the overall health of the NCAA, I would
not be surprised if they didn’t even exist in five years,” says Christovich, “because there are so many cases winding through the court system that are going after them.”
The NCAA recently came out on the winning side of Gee v. NCAA, which was determining if the NCAA was liable for sports injuries — based around the brain damage that led to a former USC linebacker’s death. But a current case in Pennsylvania could have even more lasting ripples. Johnson vs. NCAA seeks to declare student athletes as employees of their schools under the laws of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. A ruling in that case could come within the next few months.
There are also plenty of issues within the NIL space that have not yet been fully addressed as the rules are in their infancy.
“Particularly on the women’s side, [there’s a] racial bias in earnings for NIL,” says Christovich, pointing out that pretty much all the top earning women in the NIL space are White. “And it’s like, ‘Well, why is that?’ And that’s complicated to report out because no one is willing to share how much they’re actually making. The trends that are happening in the general sort of influencer marketplace or industry are clearly extending to NIL… the gender wealth gap, the racial wealth gap, those sorts of things.”
“This is still the American economy,” she emphasizes. “We know how it works.” n seths@inlander.com
“WELCOME TO THE AGE OF $TUDENT ATHLETE$,” CONTINUED...
NIL clears away compliance barriers for entrepreneurial student athletes like former WSU golfer, Cami March. WSU ATHLETICS
“ I think it’s silly to think that all the players that transfer are doing it strictly just for the money. I think it’s a very small, actual number.”
Harrell Holmes Jr. has been prepping for his role in Broadway’s dramatization of the pop group’s story for decades
BY E.J. IANNELLI
In 1960, five male vocalists came together and formed The Elgins. After seven years, some lineup tweaks and one significant name change, they had a string of massive hits under their collective belt — songs like “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “I Wish It Would Rain” — and were among the constellation of musical artists who came to embody a distinctive and influential sound known as Motown.
As the Temptations, the group would go on to have 42 chart hits, win three Grammy Awards and become a fixture of the ever-evolving pop music scene by adapting their sound to the times. Their successes and tribulations are retold in the Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations, which arrives in Spokane next week for a six-day run as part of the Best of Broadway series. ...continued on next page
The book for the jukebox musical was written by playwright and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Dominique Morisseau, who, like the band itself, hails from Detroit.
“It’s a memory play told from the perspective of Otis Williams, who is still with us, who’s still touring to this day, even at the age of 81,” says Harrell Holmes Jr. He plays Melvin Franklin, a founding member of the Temptations and one of its “Classic 5” lineup along with Williams, Paul Williams (no relation to Otis), Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin.
“It tells the full story of the things they went through, navigating family life and also the tumultuous time of the ’60s, with it being Jim Crow and segregation. They wanted to make change through their music. One thing that I didn’t know is that the song ‘War,’ which was made famous by Edwin Starr, was originally recorded by The Temptations,” says Holmes.
“And then you have the story of what they went through internally, with some of the drug use and all of that craziness.”
The behind-the-scenes “craziness” might come as a surprise to those who only know the Temptations’ public image of the mid- to late 1960s — a quintet of clean-cut singers with suave dance moves and matching elegant suits.
But some of its members privately maintained lifestyles that were a little more rock ’n’ roll than their sound or stage personas would suggest. David Ruffin and Paul Williams both struggled with drug addiction. Others, like Kendricks, fell out with other band members over the stylistic direction of their music.
Because of the Temptations’ Motown milieu, there are also some famous dramatized cameos in Ain’t Too Proud. Smokey Robinson, who wrote or co-wrote early Temptations hits like “My Girl,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “It’s Growing” and “Since I Lost My Baby,” features in the musical, as do Motown founder Berry Gordy and Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross.
“We do have a great song and segment in there where the Temptations and Supremes finally come together,” Holmes says. “It’s very
difficult to get bored during this show because there’s so much history.”
For his role as Franklin, Holmes began preparing decades before the casting call for Ain’t Too Proud
“I actually started singing at the age of 7 after seeing the Temptations movie that came out. My very first performance was in my thirdgrade talent show singing ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.’ I ended up starting my own group called The Little Temptations,” Holmes says. He even performed Temptations songs during his later outings on Star Search and American Idol
More recently, Holmes read Otis Williams’ memoir Temptations and watched performances and interviews on YouTube to get a better fix on who Franklin was and his dynamic within the group.
Although Franklin had been with the Temptations since the very beginning, his contributions became more prominent during their psychedelic soul phase. His husky line “and the band played on” on their 1970 hit “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” would later be adopted as a poignant commentary on the AIDS epidemic.
And Franklin, not unlike his bandmates, had his own private struggles. He developed rheumatoid arthritis at a very young age, and the treatment led to further health problems. Yet he continued performing with the Temptations until the year before his death in 1995.
“Outside of his amazing bass voice, Melvin was known for his personality. He was always smiling, always making funny facial expressions, and just having the time of his life. Those are some of the things I’ve tried bringing to the stage,” says Holmes. Based on feedback from Franklin’s children, he’s managed to capture him accurately.
“They’ve gotten a chance to see the show and say I’ve portrayed their father well,” he says. “That’s the ultimate compliment for me.” n
Ain’t Too Proud • Jan. 17-22; Tue to Sat at 7:30 pm; Sat at 2 pm; Sun at 1 pm and 6:30 pm • $47.50 to $95.50 • First Interstate Center for the Arts • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • broadwayspokane.com
Longtime Whose Line Is It Anyway stars Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood are anything but scared when performing in front of an audience.
However, they will be without a script when they take the Fox Theater stage to perform their two-man improvisational comedy show, Scared Scriptless, on Friday, Jan. 13.
With a decade-long tenure on the Ameri can version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, another 10 years on the reboot and seven years of appearing on the U.K. version of the show, it’s safe to call Mochrie an improv king. Before his start as a certified funnyman, Mochrie studied theater, never expecting to find his way into the comedy world.
“I had no idea what improv was until I saw Jonathan Winters on a talk show,” he recalls. “I just thought, ‘This guy is funny!’ And because I’m so elderly, improv just wasn’t a part of mainstream entertainment when I started becoming interested in comedy. When I did start performing improv, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
Along with Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady, Mochrie, now 65, became a main cast member on the American version of Whose Line in 1998. The three main men take turns participating in improv games such as Scenes from a Hat, Party Quirks, Props and the much-disliked by the majority of the cast musical improv game: Hoedown.
Certain games required host Drew Carey to ask the studio audience for suggestions about specific topics or situations, while at other times suggestions were written by the production staff or submitted by the audience in advance.
Whose Line had multiple recurring actors who would take on the role of the fourth improv-er on each episode. Sherwood, among the many recurring actors, appeared in 71 episodes of the show, making him the second-mostprolific recurring cast member just behind Greg Proops.
“Brad and I didn’t have a ton of opportunities to be on stage with each other before getting on Whose Line together,” Mochrie recalls. “We’re both stage hogs.”
The pair have intermittently toured North America with their two-man show since the early 2000s. Initially, the show was called “An Evening with Colin and Brad.”
“We changed the name to Scared Scriptless because we love puns and trying to figure out dumb things to call things,” Mochrie says. “It also makes people really slow down and think about the title, which we like.”
When first toying with the idea of the tour, having only two people on stage felt a bit foreign to the duo, but Mochrie says the two have a brotherly sibling-type relationship and have always had good stage chemistry, which made the transition from four to two much easier.
“He’s the irritating, younger brother pestering me,” Mochrie says. “We have a very good road relationship. A good dichotomy. He’s a little OCD; he thinks of details that I would never think of. And I’m there to make sure he doesn’t have a stroke. We like to say our show is just Whose Line without the tall guy or the Black guy.”
With a similar format to Whose Line, Scared Scriptless requires audience suggestions and quick thinking. In order to make sure things go smoothly, the pair try to keep up with recent pop culture happenings.
“We get some pretty niche things as suggestions,” he says. “Brad typically keeps up with all of the new music because that’s his wheelhouse. It’s always good to have passing knowledge of that stuff, though. It’s a muscle that gets flabby if you don’t use it for a while.”
The core of the show has stayed the same over the years. Mochrie and Sherwood continue to garner laughs from audiences around the world, on television and in person, playing familiar Whose Line games, but also creating fresh, new games on the spot.
After over two decades of bantering and performing together, Mochrie and Sherwood feel nothing but excitement when stepping onto the stage each night.
“The stage is the best place in the world to be for us,” he says. “We have trust in one another, and it all usually works out in the end. Mostly.” n
Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood: Scared Scriptless • Fri Jan. 13 at 7:30 pm • $28-$58 • Fox Theater • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • foxtheaterspokane.org • 509-624-1200
Whose Line co-stars Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood up the improv on their Scared Scriptless comedy tour
Twitter is bad now.
I mean, Twitter always was bad, but it was bad in the ways that french fries are bad or horse track gambling is bad — it was bad because it was so addictively good, but unhealthy. Now it’s just bad-bad. Like a TV show in season 9 bad, where most of the original stars have moved on, the writers are desperately trying to resurrect old villains to juice the ratings, and the whole site’s glutted with shady product placement.
Of course, all websites, with time, seem to wither and fade. What’s weird is that almost all of the big ones these days are doing it at the same time. The internet kind of sucks now.
Facebook, that site that once bestrode the internet like a colossus, that felled newspapers and kindled romances, has turned nearly unusable.
It doesn’t want you to post all your photos in photo albums. It certainly doesn’t want you sharing links to interesting articles — good luck getting anyone to click on anything outside of a wedding photo. It’s like Mark Zuckerberg had been so defensive about the idea that viral disinformation on his website got Trump elected that he eventually flipped a switch that made Facebook
Google lost its way. It’s harder than ever to find relevant results, particularly if they’re older than three years. Entire pages, includ ing some of my old articles, appear to have dropped off the site entirely.
Almost the entire culture journalism inter net has collapsed. The AV Club was bought by an equity firm and stripped for parts. Gawker was murdered by a tag team of Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel. Grantland was banished. Deadspin is dead, though its reanimated corpse is still staggering around.
Newspaper websites pivoted to video and then pivoted even harder to bankruptcy. Slate long ago abandoned its counterintuitive hot-take schtick — and now mostly seems to churn out an increasing number of niche absurd advice columns responding to clearly fake questions.
BuzzFeed went from a cat meme distribution platform to an investigative journalistic powerhouse to a mere relic of nostalgia. (“Remember BuzzFeed?” you could imagine Mo Rocco saying in an “I Love the 2010s” VH1 video.) Snapchat’s cultural relevance lasted like 15 seconds, and then disappeared.
I understand TikTok is still entertaining people at least, by falsely accusing innocent people of murders or by stoking teen vandalism.
There’s an economic reason for much of the internet’s collapse, like the dot-com bubble bursting in the ’90s: A huge part of the modern internet was built on little but greedy dreams — venture capitalists, buoyed by low-interest rates, had pumped a ridiculous amount of money into websites that weren’t making
any profit, on the premise that somebody thought somehow, someday, they might. But most sites never found that fabled revenue stream, and with the Fed raising interest rates to combat inflation, that spigot of free investor money is running dry everywhere.
There are a handful of bright spots online. Some of the better Substacks tease a return to the idyllic days when bloggers made provocative and thoughtful arguments. The problem is each one is behind an individual paywall.
The internet connected everyone to everyone — with thrilling and terrifying results. And now, the opposite is happening. It’s fragmenting, returning to individual websites, catering to individual customers. In the long run, that’s probably good for newspapers like ours.
But for now, we’ll have to keep scrolling, scrolling, past “Can You Believe How Ugly This Former Teen
Since it opened in August 2007, CHURCHILL’S STEAKHOUSE in downtown Spokane has continued to evolve, sometimes out of necessity, like when its Post Street spot was damaged in a 2008 fire. In fall 2022, the steakhouse again closed for renovations, but only briefly to update its main dining area and basement lounge. Renovations upstairs include replacing window treatments, reupholstering booth seating in a plush gray fabric, and swapping existing flooring and wall finishes with wood. The downstairs lounge got new flooring, paint and other upgrades, making for an even better spot to meet for a glass of wine or craft cocktail. In addition to celebrating 15 years in business this year, one of Churchill’s steak gift boxes was recently featured on the Rachael Ray Show. (CARRIE SCOZZARO)
Set in a not-too-far-fetched future, where gene editing has advanced enough that an entire government agency works to block people from messing with the laws of nature, sci-fi author Blake Crouch’s book UPGRADE follows main character Logan Ramsay. Working for the government to pay for the sins of his mother’s well-intentioned but devastating intervention in the food chain, Ramsay gets an uncomfortably personal look at what happens when you mess with DNA. With action, betrayal and lots of genetic science references for the nerdiest readers to geek out over, it’s hard to put this story down as you race with Ramsay to save humanity without destroying it. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)
Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on Jan. 13.
On her fourth LP, the Americana singer-songwriter continues to be more rough-edged fringe scrapper than country diva.
Armed with lots of minimalist off-kilter beats, the genre-blending Minneapolis pop artist carves his own unique path.
The Norwegian folk singer-songwriter delivers a mildly haunting aural koselig. (SETH SOMMERFELD)
Commellini Estate’s new chef leads pasta-making classes and supper clubs while celebrating the Spokane venue’s historic past
BY CARRIE SCOZZARO
Chef Frank Comito figures he has around 1,000 cookbooks in his personal collection and more than 30 years under his belt cooking all manner of dishes. Locally, that’s 15 years at Spokane Country Club, three years at Northern Quest Resort & Casino, and a year or so running the local restaurant group that includes Steelhead Bar & Grille, The Barrel Steak & Seafood and Morty’s Tap & Grill. Before that, Comito ran kitchens for several large resorts in Oregon, did a guest cooking gig in Hong Kong and even opened his own French-inspired patisserie.
Yet since joining Commellini Estate, Comito has been focused on one type of food: Italian.
During our visit, for example, he’s perfecting his pasta-making techniques for one of many upcoming classes ($85; find the complete schedule on the venue’s Facebook page) at Commellini Estate. He wills his thick fingers into forming delicate farfalle, which look like bowties but translates to butterflies. He twists pieces of dough into trofie and curls other pieces into strozzapreti, an elongated kind of the more familiar cavatelli pasta.
Comito also has taught Commellini guests how to make gnocchi and ravioli, fine-tuning the dough so that all the participants can be successful, he says.
But when it comes to sauce for the pasta, there is no fine-tuning of ingredients or techniques. Instead, Comito relies on recipes that date back to the days when Albert Commellini and his younger sister Leda first lured diners in the 1940s to the former chicken-ranch-turned-restaurant north of Spokane’s Fairwood neighborhood.
“I can do anything I want to all the other recipes, except for the three sauces, and the chicken cacciatore,” says Comito, who joined Commellini in June 2022, during the height of the popular event venue’s wedding season.
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The “three sauces” include Albert’s white wine alfredo — Albert was reputed to make his own wine — and Leda’s bolognese meat sauce, which now features local Browning Beef. The third sauce, a hearty marinara rich with onions, tomatoes, garlic, Italian spices and olive oil, is courtesy of Albert and Leda’s niece, Gina Seghetti, whose daughter-in-law Lauri and granddaughter Desiree Seghetti-Sulpizio, have run Commellini Estate since 2009.
Then there’s the chicken cacciatore, which is a closely guarded family secret, so much so that Comito had to sign a nondisclosure agreement, he says.
“When I think of what’s in the traditional cacciatore, it’s chicken with, you know, a red sauce, a sweeter red sauce, a little bit of spice and a lot of bell peppers,” he says.
And at Commellini? Comito shakes his head and smiles.
Commellini Estate encompasses about 200 acres on North Dartford Drive, the original route of Highway 395 that parallels Spring Creek as it meanders down to the Little Spokane River. Guests can tour the estate during its new Speakeasy Supper Club series; the next is set for Jan. 21 ($85). Lasting around 45 minutes, it includes a historical tour highlighting the estate’s more colorful past replete with mobsters, celebrities, and bootleggers, but also decades of diners.
Tours originate at the entrance to one of the estate’s underground tunnels from its bootlegger days — hence inspiring the “speakeasy” in the event title — progressing to the 1920s Army truck and guard-house-turned-busstop, according to Seghetti-Sulpizio.
“The tour primarily covers our Prohibition past, the chicken ranch, the original homestead and the famous
restaurant/event venue that Leda Commellini started,” Seghetti-Sulpizio says.
After the tour, diners settle in for a five-course meal similar in format to the original one that the Commellinis offered until the 1970s when Leda’s health declined. Originally, when you called to make a reservation, explains Comito, you ordered for your dining party up front.
And you were told, “Hey, we have these three things: chicken cacciatore, fried chicken and some kind of steak. Which one do you want?” Comito relays. “And there was no discussion about ‘Oh, hey, I’m gluten free’ or ‘I don’t like anchovies. I mean, it was none of that kind of stuff in the day.’”
Now, of course, dietary restrictions are a bigger deal — both the meat sauce and marinara are gluten-free, for example — but Commellini still does a five-course meal for its supper clubs starting with a relish tray. For the Jan. 21 dinner, it’s followed by mushroom soup, and pasta with polpettine or miniature meatballs and Gina’s marinara. Up next is a tenderloin with a Chianti reduction. The meal concludes with the Italian classic dessert known as tiramisu: a rich yet airy cake made with layers of ladyfingers infused with coffee and Frangelico and mascarpone mousse.
The meal is also served at large tables in the openplan dining room, which features a mix of styles, from rustic wood-paneled walls to an elaborate terrazzo floor and Corinthian-style columns at the entrance. Drawings
of Leda and Albert, framed photos, and other historic items on the walls lend a homey feeling.
People might come as strangers, but they can also leave as friends, says Marina Purdie, the estate’s sales and marketing manager.
“Our hope is to create an experience that fills a fundamental human desire to slow down, gather around a big table and truly enjoy a meal,” Purdie says. n
Commellini Estate • 14715 N. Dartford Rd., Spokane • Hours vary • commellini.com • 509-466-0667
After months of memes and viral trailer remixes, horror comedy M3GAN arrives in theaters predigested and seemingly destined to be a letdown compared to all the social media hype. Instead, it nearly lives up to the expectations set by its advance online fanbase, delivering a fun, stylish variation on familiar horror-movie themes.
There have been plenty of horror movies about killer robots and deadly dolls, and the title character of M3GAN is both. She’s the creation of toy-company engineer Gemma (Allison Williams), who’s sick of working on insipid, cutesy robot pets and wants to create something more elaborate and more meaningful. Gemma inadvertently finds herself in the ideal position to test M3GAN when she unexpectedly becomes the guardian of her 9-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), after Cady’s parents are killed in a car accident. Gemma’s arrogant, buffoonish boss David (Ronny Chieng) doesn’t approve of the M3GAN project, but Gemma moves forward with it anyway, desperate for any help in raising this child she barely knows.
At first, M3GAN (short for Model 3 Generative Android) seems perfect for Cady, bringing her out of her shell and keeping her occupied while Gemma focuses on work. But M3GAN is vaguely sinister from the start, especially in any situation that could prove even slightly distressing to Cady,
After a priest is murdered by biotech Satanists seeking to clone Jesus to offer him as a sacrifice to the devil, the Archangel Michael enters the slain priest’s body and attempts to thwart the sinister plans. Rated R
This reboot of the ’90s comedy franchise follows two house cleaners who — after realizing they’re cleaning LeBron James’ house while he’s on vacation — decide to throw an elaborately over-the-top party at the crib to make some much-needed money. Rated R
When his commercial airliner goes down on a war-torn island, a pilot (Gerard Butler) must team up with a prisoner who was being transported on the flight (Mike Colter) to save the other passengers and escape the isle. Rated R
whom she’s been programmed to protect. It’s not hard to see where this is going. Even without watching the trailers, M3GAN’s plot is entirely predictable.
Screenwriter Akela Cooper (Malignant) and director Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) effectively balance the horror and the humor, as they have in their previous works, and while M3GAN is never particularly scary, it features some amusingly nasty kills once M3GAN goes rogue. The movie opens with a spot-on parody of a cloying toy commercial, and the filmmakers include some sharp commentary on excessive screen time and the dangers of outsourcing parenting to technology. This isn’t a message movie, though, and the focus remains on M3GAN and her ridiculous antics, from singing Cady to sleep with pop songs to menacingly dancing down hallways. Johnstone’s use of music is delightfully off-kilter, and there are times when it seems like M3GAN could turn into a full-on musical without missing a step.
It takes a little while for M3GAN’s homicidal rage to build, and the relationships among the human characters are less interesting, although Williams and McGraw find some emotional honesty in the exploration of grief and
familial bonds. When M3GAN comforts Cady over the loss of her parents, it’s genuinely affecting, and it adds more stakes to the story beyond the typical slasher-movie dynamic.
Rated PG-13
Directed by Gerard Johnstone Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Jenna Davis, Amie Donald
M3GAN herself is a marvelous creation, occupying just the right spot in the uncanny valley, and that’s thanks to a team effort among the makeup and visual effects artists and actors Amie Donald (who plays M3GAN onscreen) and Jenna Davis (who provides M3GAN’s voice). It’s easy to see her becoming a horror icon alongside murderous dolls like Chucky and Annabelle. She’s closer to the robotic Chucky of the disappointing 2019 Child’s Play remake, but M3GAN is a smarter, more entertaining version of what that movie was attempting.
The PG-13 rating requires Johnstone to pull some of his punches, and M3GAN isn’t quite as brutal as it could have been, especially as the violence escalates in the finale. It’s more goofy than horrific, which may disappoint some horror fans, but is exactly what all the carefully crafted marketing promised. M3GAN is already a burgeoning franchise, with the filmmakers dutifully setting up a potential sequel. The marketing for the next one will probably be even better. n
M3GAN hit the uncanny valley sweet spot. BY CHASE HUTCHINSON
For a film ostensibly about trying to show greater understanding for the struggles of others, there is an almost total lack of curiosity in the way A Man Called Otto tells its story. It contains the majority of the same basic characters and general storylines from Fredrik Backman’s original Swedish book, A Man Called Ove, though without any of the same sense of care in bringing them to life. Obviously, films will only rarely be able to have the same level of detail and interiority as a novel. However, considering there was a 2015 Swedish film adaptation that already achieved this, one can only wonder what this American remake is meant to contribute to the story. The cynical feeling that it was merely about appealing to incurious viewers who are opposed to watching films with subtitles is felt in every aspect of its shoddy storytelling.
Rated PG-13
From the moment we get introduced to the titular character, a lonely grump of a man played here by serviceable yet superficial Hollywood mainstay Tom Hanks, everything feels stilted and broad in a way that the film does not have a handle on. Placing us with Otto as he deals with the loss of his wife and his own desire to join her, he is at a hardware store attempting to buy rope with which to kill himself. He grows frustrated with the employees (one of whom is played by John Higgins of the Saturday Night Live comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, enacting a scenario the group would normally parody), and eventually storms out. It establishes early on the film’s many inadequacies that will trouble it for the entire runtime. Foremost among them is that, despite some game performances from some of the supporting cast, the balance between darker humor and a more genuine emotional heart is never struck. Everything feels clunky in its narrative fluctuations, devoid of the novel’s greater grasps at poetry and purpose to all of the events playing out.
Where the 2015 film was more adept at navigating this via a strong central performance by Rolf Lassgård, this lackluster remake just
never comes close to rising to the task. One of foremost reasons for this, however much it may pain one to say it, falls at Hanks’ feet. He isn’t terrible by any means, and the role is a tough one to crack. The trouble is that he hardly seems interested in capturing any nuances beyond furrowing his brow and shouting occasionally. As Otto groans about all his frustrations with the world, there is never a hint that Hanks is doing much else besides going through the poorly edited motions. When juxtaposed alongside the infinitely more dynamic work by the joyous duo of Mariana Treviño as Marisol and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Tommy, Otto’s new neighbors that he initially despises though comes to form a connection with, the problems with the blunt performance of its lead become all the more apparent. You never believe Hanks as this character, and the film doesn’t seem to either.
It tries to cover some of this up by adding in some new backstory for Otto, but this comes at the expense of all that it excises from the source material. Where the original delicately establishes more of his fleeting relationship with his father, an integral part of informing who he is and the meaning that echoes in key scenes, that all gets lost here. Though one could generously say this is to better flesh out Otto’s life with his wife, the details of all their time together also get smoothed over. Everything is painted with the broadest strokes, obfuscating any greater emotional resonance behind superficial sentiment. Where the preceding and superior film did more with less, this film does less with more. It sells the story short at every turn, culminating in an ending that was rich when done before but now feels empty. While there is something interesting about viewing them alongside each other to see where they differ and the impact of each alteration, the original adaptation is the only one that actually does justice to Otto’s tale. n
We all can do better. I’m accurately aware of that when a new year rolls around and we start challenging ourselves with betterment resolutions. While it can be difficult to change one’s diet or phase out a vice, it’s a lot easier to commit to becoming a better patron of the arts. Even marginal tweaks can not only improve your experiences at concerts and create a more rewarding sonic world for yourself, but can also contribute positively to the local music scene and career musicians on the whole. With that in mind, here are a few suggested musical resolutions for 2023.
Keeping abreast of the Spokane music scene hasn’t been the easiest task in the scattered year or so since live shows have returned in the wake of peak COVID. (I mean, it’s literally my job to keep on top of it, and I still sometimes feel lost.) But getting out to support the local scene is something vital that feeds itself in a posi-
tive feedback loop. The more we get out to shows, the healthier the scene; the healthier the scene, the more talented folks will strive to be a part of it; the more talented folks being a part of it, the more shows worth getting out to see. I’ve noticed that even people in local bands and acts don’t frequently come out for one another’s shows. That wasn’t the case when I was covering the Seattle music scene. If music people aren’t putting in the effort, why should anyone else?
But there are ways to casually get out for more local shows with a very low barrier for entry. Keep an eye on the event calendars for spots like the Big Dipper and Lucky You Lounge (or simply check the Inlander’s calendar in print or online) to know what’s happening. Lucky
You offers an array of free basement shows on many weekends that highlight local talent (including their “So Below” concert series — there’s one this Saturday). Even if you go and don’t like the tunes, at least you’re already at the bar and having a night out on the town.
I know file sharing and then streaming have led most people to think that music is something that doesn’t have value and they should be able to access all of it for free, but I am on my hands and knees begging you to actually buy some music in 2023. The economics of the music industry have gone haywire over the past couple of decades and pretty much any non-superstar artists are dealing with the ramifications. In our capitalist system, we need to compensate our artists financially.
Think of it this way — how many hours of enjoyment do your favorite songs and albums give you over the course of a year? Dozens? Hundreds? So is it really too much to ask to plop down $10 or $15 bucks to support that? It’s an outrageous value! If you’re willing to pay that much for a lunch, a couple of drinks or a month of one of your myriad of streaming services, why can’t you support music the same way? So buy an album! (Or at least some merch or concert tickets.) Even if you’re just going
to listen to all the tunes on Spotify anyway, think of it as a charitable donation.
To that end, keep in mind Bandcamp Fridays. The music distribution site lets artists sell their music and wares directly to fans, and on the first Friday of most months, the site waives its 10-15 percent cut of the fees — meaning the money goes straight to the artist and labels. It’s a brilliant way to support artists while broadening your musical horizons.
We’ve all got our preferred music styles. Even the folks who like to boast that they listen to “everything,” they’ll still tend to go out to see certain types of music live more than others. But you can’t really understand a region’s music unless you are doing Costco-like samples of the various flavors that stock the sonic shelves. If you mainly catch national touring acts at Knitting Factory, maybe swing by Neato Burrito for a DIY show. If you’re normally taking in folky singer-songwriters at Lucky You, return for one of the venue’s hip-hop shows. If you’re a metalhead who spends most of their time thrashing at the Big Dipper, try to make it to a Spokane Symphony concert (maybe the free Symphony in the Park summer concert). If your concert-going is only familiar old singers and rockers at the Bing or the Fox, find a show of up-and-coming locals to reinvigorate that youthful zeal.
One pretty fun exercise I started engaging in last year was last-minute jaunts to Spokane Arena shows. Am I the type who would normally plan out going to a Korn and Evanescence show? Absolutely not! Did I wait until an hour before the show and buy a cheap ticket on a ticket reseller site so that I could take in a scene and collection of people that don’t fall neatly into my wheelhouse? Absolutely! Adding spontaneity to your concert-going routine is rarely a bad thing.
Personally, one of my resolutions is to return to my old, pre-pandemic norm of going to 100-plus concerts over the course of a year. I had a pre-COVID streak of five straight years of reaching that goal, though I’d done so in Seattle where there are simply more quality concerts on a regular basis. To hit the century mark in Spokane, branching out isn’t merely a choice — it’s essential.
It’s not news that people can be jerks at concerts. The sardine-ing of masses into tight spaces leads to personal space issues that can sometimes ruin a night out trying to see one of your favorite artists. Remember, you are just one person of many at these shows. You don’t deserve anything anymore than anyone else in the crowd.
There are the obvious things to avoid. When a crowd is set, don’t push in front of others to get a spot (especially if you’re tall). Don’t talk while the bands play (almost nothing you have to say is so vital that it can’t wait at least until the end of a song), and if you insist on chattering, at least go to the back of the room to avoid ruining the songs for others. Use good cellphone decorum — taking some photos and video clips are fine, but you don’t need to be recording whole songs and blocking folks’ views.
The most galling example I’ve seen over the past year and change in Spokane is people who fundamentally don’t understand the tenets of mosh pit etiquette (that may seem like an oxymoron, but I assure you it’s not). Pits are an incredible way to blow off steam and let out aggression in a fun and communal way. But make sure to be mindful of that communal aspect. (And yes, this paragraph is entirely targeted at aggro White dudes.) Mosh pits are at their best when everyone’s on board, so try not to rough up people on the fringes of the pit who clearly don’t want to be a part of it. Trying to ruin other music fans’ nights is never cool. And if you are basically the only one moshing — just slamming into people standing and trying to watch a band — you aren’t punk, you’re just an asshole. n
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Desert Highway Band
J BOTTLE BAY BREWING CO., RCA
CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds THE MASON JAR, King Alchemy
J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin
STEAM PLANT RESTAURANT & BREW PUB, Pamela Benton
THE STEAM PLANT, Pamela Benton ZOLA, Desperate8s
AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Gil Rivas
THE BEE’S KNEES WHISKEY BAR, Ron Greene
J THE BIG DIPPER, Symphony of Syllables: Flynn, Past Life Kenny, Willistherealist, Nathan Chartrey BIGFOOT PUB, The Shift
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Haze
CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, The Turn Spit Dogs
CHINOOK STEAK, PASTA & SPIRITS, Kyle Swaffard CURLEY’S, The Happiness THE DRAFT ZONE, Beat Salad, The Red Books, Jason Perry HIGHBALL A MODERN SPEAKEASY, Ron Greene Band LUCKY YOU LOUNGE, David Ramirez, Joey Anderson NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Dangerous Type OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Wiebe Jammin
PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Brian Jacobs and Samantha Carston
RED ROOM LOUNGE, Young Neves (Listening Party), Datboyrob, Duddha, Lil Rose, Brasi, NGS, Mega T
THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain Darin SPOKANE VALLEY EAGLES, Stagecoach West J WEST CENTRAL ABBEY, The Music of Tom Waits ZOLA, Bruiser
J J THE BIG DIPPER, Roderick Bambino (EP Release), Buffalo Jones, Strangerers BIGFOOT PUB, The Shift
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Haze CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, The Bobby Patterson Band CHINOOK STEAK, PASTA & SPIRITS, Kyle Swaffard CURLEY’S, The Happiness THE DRAFT ZONE, No Soap Radio, The Red Books, Jason Garrett Evans FOXHOLE BAR & GRILL, Son of Brad GARLAND PUB & GRILL, Into the Drift Duo J LEBANON RESTAURANT & CAFÉ, Safar LUCKY YOU LOUNGE, Heat Speak, Traesti Darling, Queen Bonobo LUCKY YOU LOUNGE, So Below: Stubborn Will, The Dilrods, Emergency Exit NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Dangerous Type NOAH’S CANTEEN, Joey Anderson OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Sam Leyde PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Kosh
J PONDEROSA BAR AND GRILL, Steve Starkey SPOKANE VALLEY EAGLES, Sharky and the Fins ZOLA, Blake Braley
CURLEY’S, Steve Livingston & Triple Shot HOGFISH, Open Mic
RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night
LITZ’S PUB & EATERY, Shuffle Dawgs LUCKY YOU LOUNGE, Zonky Night
THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic HIGHBALL A MODERN SPEAKEASY, The Happiness PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Bob Beadling RED ROOM LOUNGE, The Roomates SOUTH PERRY LANTERN, Dallas Kay ZOLA, Runaway Lemonade
J J WASHINGTON CRACKER CO. BUILDING, Carmen Jane: Farewell Show, Jan. 21, 7-10 pm.
J LUCKY YOU LOUNGE, The Holy Broke, Jeremy James Meyer, Matt Mitchell Music Co., Jan. 28, 8 pm.
219 LOUNGE • 219 N. First Ave., Sandpoint • 208-263-5673
ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-927-9463
BABY BAR • 827 W. First Ave. • 509-847-1234
BARRISTER WINERY • 1213 W. Railroad Ave. • 509-465-3591
BEE’S KNEES WHISKY BAR • 1324 W. Lancaster Rd.., Hayden • 208-758-0558
BERSERK • 125 S. Stevens St. • 509-315-5101
THE BIG DIPPER • 171 S. Washington St. • 509-863-8098
BIGFOOT PUB • 9115 N. Division St. • 509-467-9638
BING CROSBY THEATER • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-227-7638
BLACK DIAMOND • 9614 E. Sprague Ave. • 509891-8357
BOLO’S BAR & GRILL • 116 S. Best Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-891-8995
BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR • 18219 E. Appleway Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-368-9847
BUCER’S COFFEEHOUSE PUB • 201 S. Main St., Moscow • 208-596-0887
THE BULL HEAD • 10211 S. Electric St., Four Lakes • 509-838-9717
CHAN’S RED DRAGON • 1406 W. Third Ave. • 509-838-6688
COEUR D’ALENE CASINO • 37914 S. Nukwalqw St., Worley • 800-523-2464
COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS • 3890 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-2336
CRUISERS BAR & GRILL • 6105 W Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-446-7154
CURLEY’S HAUSER JUNCTION • 26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls • 208-773-5816
EICHARDT’S PUB • 212 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-263-4005
FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • 509-279-7000
FOX THEATER • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200
IRON HORSE • 407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene • 208-667-7314
IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL • 11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-926-8411
JOHN’S ALLEY • 114 E. Sixth St., Moscow • 208-883-7662
KNITTING FACTORY • 911 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-244-3279
LEFTBANK WINE BAR • 108 N. Washington St. • 509-315-8623
LUCKY YOU LOUNGE • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • 509-474-0511
MARYHILL WINERY • 1303 W. Summit Pkwy. • 509-443-3832
THE MASON JAR • 101 F St., Cheney • 509-359-8052
MAX AT MIRABEAU • 1100 N. Sullivan Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-922-6252
MILLIE’S • 28441 Hwy 57, Priest Lake • 208-443-0510
MOOSE LOUNGE • 401 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-7901
MOOTSY’S • 406 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-1570
NASHVILLE NORTH • 6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-457-9128
NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • 877-871-6772
NYNE BAR & BISTRO • 232 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-474-1621
PEND D’OREILLE WINERY • 301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545
THE PODIUM • 511 W. Dean Ave. • 509-279-7000
POST FALLS BREWING CO. • 112 N. Spokane St., Post Falls • 208-773-7301
RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL • 10325 N. Government Way, Hayden • 208-635-5874
RED ROOM LOUNGE • 521 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-7613
THE RIDLER PIANO BAR • 718 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-822-7938
SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE • 1004 S. Perry St. • 208-664-8008
SPOKANE ARENA • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • 509-279-7000
SOUTH PERRY LANTERN • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-473-9098
STEAM PLANT • 159 S. Lincoln St. • 509-777-3900
STORMIN’ NORMAN’S SHIPFACED SALOON • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-862-4852
TRANCHE • 705 Berney Dr., Wall Walla • 509-526-3500
ZOLA • 22 W. Main Ave. • 509-624-2416
The average rodeo bull is at least 1,500 pounds of solid muscle and bone that out in its natural habitat is an impressive example of bovine superiority. But with a rider strapped to its back and another strap constricting its nether region, that bull becomes a ticked off ton — or two — of four-hoofed fury. Who aspires to climb on such a creature for what has to be the scariest eight seconds of their lives (the minimum time to receive a bull riding score)? Find out when the Professional Bull Riders tour thunders into town for one night of adrenaline-pumping action. Forty of the best riders will be whittled (figuratively, hopefully not literally) down to 10 competitors, until a single rider reigns supreme.
— CARRIE SCOZZARO
Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour • Sat, Jan. 14, 7 pm • $17$202 • Spokane Arena • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • spokanearena. com • 509-279-7000
Have you ever been sitting at a Chiefs game and thought to yourself: “I could do that.” Well, chances are that would result in injury, but you can get damn close to playing hockey with the pros at this free event in collaboration with Numerica Credit Union and the Spokane Chiefs! Lace-up your skates and take on the Ice Ribbon with some Chiefs players alongside Boomer, the team’s loveable mascot. Take this opportunity to learn how to skate like a hockey pro and hone your defensive skating skills. Numerica is gifting skate rental and admission fees to the first 300 people along with a slice of pizza from David’s Pizza. After you unlace your skates, hang around for autographs and photos with the players and Boomer.
— MADISON PEARSONSkate with the Chiefs • Tue, Jan. 17 from 6-8 pm • Free • Numerica Skate Ribbon • 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • riverfrontspokane. org • 509-625-6600
Western tradition has the new year starting Jan. 1, but for more than 1.5 billion humans, another date is equally important (if not more): the first new moon. This “lunar” new year is marked by celebrations connected to a range of cultural heritages, including Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Vietnamese. Locally, the Spokane Chinese Association welcomes 2023 — the year of the rabbit, according to Chinese astrological tradition — with a two-part event. From 1 to 4 pm Sunday, explore Chinese calligraphy, painting, cuisine and more at a free cultural fair. Purchase tickets for the varied performances that begin at 5 pm, including traditional music, dance, singing and the uniquely graceful form of mindful movement known as tai chi.
— CARRIE SCOZZAROLunar New Year Celebration • Sun, Jan. 15 from 1-5 pm • $8-$23 •
The Fox Theater • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200
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Though men got the bulk of the credit for discovering DNA’s double-helix structure, one woman was quietly working behind the scenes. In high school biology or chemistry, many of us learned that James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins made this groundbreaking discovery. Yet their work was made possible by that of Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling, who produced a crucial piece of photographic evidence of DNA, dubbed “Photo 51.” In the Civic’s next Firth J. Chew Studio show, audiences are immersed in this inspiring discovery as told through the eyes of Franklin, who died before her male colleagues were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for the achievement. The British scientist’s contributions to our understanding of DNA went mostly unrecognized during her lifetime — earning her the nickname the “dark lady of DNA” — and this play, which debuted in London’s West End in 2015, seeks to right the historical record.
— CHEY SCOTT
Photograph 51 • Jan. 13-Feb. 5, Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm • $10-$25
• Spokane Civic Theatre • 1020 N. Howard St. • spokanecivictheatre.com • 509-325-2507
In a market saturated with stanzas seemingly pulled straight from a 14-yearold’s Tumblr blog, the world of poetry needs more diverse voices that are willing to be subversive, introspective and uplift underrepresented communities. This evening, presented in part by Humanities Washington, features four Indigenous Washington state poets reading selections from their work and speaking about poetry — and the world — through an Indigenous lens. Poets participating in the event are Laura Da’ (Eastern Shawnee), Rena Priest (Lummi, and the current Washington State Poet Laureate), Cedar Sigo (Suquamish) and Arianne True (Choctaw, Chickasaw). If you find yourself on the west side of the Cascades, this event is being held in person at Evergreen State College. Otherwise, a livestream link is provided upon registration.
— MADISON PEARSONIndigenous Voices: An Evening of Poetry and Conversation • Tue, Jan. 17 at 7 pm • Free • Online at humanities.org
STD TESTING, FOR FUNSIES Hi Nina. I know we have never met, but we have someone in common. I saw your text to my boyfriend Jeff P. this weekend. *Now ex-boyfriend. He is legit the worst boyfriend/person/man/father that I have ever and never wanted to meet, and I have no idea why I continue to sabotage myself by continuing to spend time with him. I want you to know that getting tested for an STD is highly recommended as he is the only person I have been with for the last two years. Sadly I was the only genuine person in our committed relationship. Just thought I would let you know since it appears you two still have something there. And hey, I am not here to judge, maybe you’re meant for each other. I highly recommend getting tested for STDs simply for the fact that you have ever met Jeff at all. Take care.
BESTIE Sixteenish years ago you walked into my life. As dumb teenagers we had many ups and downs, but no matter what we always wind up side by side. You’re an amazing man. I admire how deeply you care, how much effort you put into the meaningful moments. I love how much my kids adore you. With the uncertainty of each day there’s one thing that’ll never
the way everything went down and how unfair I was to the beautiful ways you were trying to tell me “I love you.” Flowers sent to my English class with the most unforgettable note attached that read “JUST BECAUSE.” If I could have had the faith required in myself to understand how much you really cared and loved me I would have been able to accept and say to you back. I undeniably love and appreciate you too. One of my only real examples of how I deserve to be treated and I’m sorry I was not strong enough to really grasp how beautiful we were ... you were. I am so happy for everything you gave me because my life has not provided anything that exceptional from love that could compare; I won’t let it. You were the best I will ever have the blessing to have had. It helps me smile when every part of my life is shattering. Still. I’ll always believe in second chances... hopefully I get a chance to tell you in person. If life decides to make a way. So thank you for being the difference in my life. Then, now and always.
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS AT COSTCO I had a beautiful bouquet of Christmas flowers left on the windshield of my Chevy pickup on Friday, 12/23/22, at the Costco in Spokane Valley. So, I wanted to send a huge thank-you to whoever this kind stranger was. It was so unexpected and was so much appreciated after being in the Costco rush that day. I don’t think I quit smiling the whole day after that. So, thank you for making my day. There needs to be more integrity and kind souls like you in the world. Spokane is pretty darn amazing. :)
ENDANGERED CHILD On Jan. 4, a nonverbal, terrified child, probably 5 years old, was running frantically down Monroe in nothing but a pull-up and a jacket. Cheers to the two cars who blocked the lanes and put their hazards on. Cheers to the woman who was chasing him down, the two men who stepped in, who came to help us restrain the child and
who sped by urgently and rather than helping, actively threatened the safety of that child. I am so thankful that I got to give his mom a big hug when she got him back safely, and that she was sobbing tears of gratitude into my shoulder, and not grief. Absolutely horrifying situation, and I’m grateful for the good, kind folks who stepped in to help. And to the folks who acted selfishly and recklessly, I hope
people and dogs. I have no idea if your dog is friendly or not and constantly have to worry about unleashed dogs coming upon my leashed ones. You're right: Dogs like to chase squirrels, but can also disrupt wildlife.
RE: TRAILS Regarding the message about homeless people littering trails last week, I hate to tell you but that's the culture of Spokane. People tolerate those people and allow them to own those spaces. Nobody is going to do anything about it. Give them your money as they beg for it outside every store and on the streets and stop using the trails. Exercise down the middle of the street instead. The
all of your tires go flat, you get a terrible case of diarrhea, and that you’re never in such a desperate situation where you need genuine assistance.
HELPED ME HOME Today I was headed across the street. Stepped across the ice berm at the edge of road but slipped on gravel in road. I am 72 and walk with a cane. I could not get up. A wonderful lady pulled her car over helped me up and walked me to my apartment. I did not get her name and want her to know how much I appreciate her kindness.
RE: OFFICIAL STORY Oh my! The writer who stated something about someday we will all notice “sponsorship by Pfizer” is absolutely brilliant! Here is the truth. They won’t. They still think SARS-Cov2 is the first virus of it’s class. We Americans have been misled by the same mentality that gave us “Iraq such as....some countries don’t have maps.” Some countries don’t have intelligence either. The US, or at least parts of it, have shown that in spades. The last few years have been a sham. Wake up, people. This isn’t a Twilight Zone episode.
that little white man on a red light means? Because you'd swear half of Spokane thinks it means "aim for these." I watch the crosswalks and the signs and begin to cross when a car doesn't move, but time and time again they speed up again. And what's their excuse? Every single one of these idiots have been on their phones. I'm sorry, Karen, but someone's life is more important than contacting your friend about that new fancy grill or whatever. Wanna meet for dinner with your friend? Do they have to know THAT MINUTE? Or is some asteroid going to come wipe us out before you send that text? No? Then hang it up and drive. Are they giving honorary driver's licenses to people now? Is that why some of you don't know that walk sign is for people walking and not a morbid game of frogger? Get. Off. Your. Phones. It's as bad as driving while intoxicated and when you are too tired. Takes three seconds to hit someone, bud, and the rest of your life becomes hell (for those of you who don't care about others but just yourselves, because when I make it about valuing your life over everyone else's, tends to get you to listen).
SAME NEWS EVERY NIGHT Jeers to the local news reporting the same stories every night. First we hear for months about how many people are contracting
so-called homeless don't use that part of the city. They just occupy state land, whether it be along the river or elsewhere. So long, Ozzie. At least he tried. Spokane didn't help him.
SPOKANE HAS A BAD REPUTATION... ...Because the people in it don't rep the city or the lives they live in a way that can raise awareness to Spokane and the potential we have yet to raise up to it. Spokane is the city people dream about living in; manifest your desires and watch the land repay your faith.
THAT BURNT LOOK What is with the seemingly popular paint color of dark, dark charcoal — almost black? More & more businesses & even houses are being painted that dull, dreary tone. Why are you trying for that burnt look? Spokane burned down once in 1889. Are you trying to recreate that scene? It is depressing to see these places. Why don't you paint some flames or glowing embers on the walls while you're at it? n
DRIVERS VS. CROSSWALKS When you go to driving school or learn how to drive, do they teach you about crosswalks and what
DAVE LANDAU Landau is the third chair on “Louder with Crowder” and has been featured on Comedy Central and NBC. Jan. 12, 7:30 pm, Jan. 13, 7:30 & 10:15 pm and Jan. 14, 7 & 9:45 pm. $25-$35. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-3189998)
CHOOSE TO LOSE An all-improvised game show comprised of audience members. In order to win, you must lose. Fridays at 7:30 pm through Jan. 27. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com (509-7477045)
COLIN MOCHRIE & BRAD SHERWOOD: SCARED SCRIPTLESS The “Whose Line” comedians improvise original scenes, songs and more from audience suggestions. Jan. 13, 7:30 pm. $28-$58. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org (509-624-1200)
COMEDY AVALANCHE: GABRIEL RUTLEDGE The stand-up comedian has performed on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and at multiple comedy festivals across the U.S. Jan. 14, 8 pm. $25-$40. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. panida.org
COMEDY NIGHT A night of comedy featuring Dan Brown and Charles Hall Jr. Jan. 14, 7-8:15 pm. $25-$35. Kroc Center, 1765 W. Golf Course Rd. merlinscomedyclub.com (208-667-1865)
DAN CUMMINS The stand-up comic and podcaster has been a guest on multiple late-night shows. Jan. 15, 7 & 9:30 pm. $29-$49. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com
NEW TALENT TUESDAYS Watch comedians of all skill levels work out jokes together. Tuesdays at 7 pm (doors at 6 pm). Free. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com
UNPLUGGED FAMILY NIGHT An unplugged evening of games, crafts and quality time. A light dinner and snacks are provided. Jan. 12, 6:30-8:30 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org
RECYCLED PAPER MAKING Give discarded materials new life as recycled custom creations. Auditory sensitivity warning: loud machinery (kitchen blenders). For ages 10-14, and 7-9 with an adult. Jan. 13, 4-5 pm. Free. Hillyard Library, 4110 N. Cook St. spokanelibrary.org
ROLE-PLAYING GAME DROP IN Improve your RPG skills by watching and participating in games. Fridays from 4-8 pm and Saturdays from 1-5 pm. Free. RPG Community Center, 101 N. Stone Street. rpgcenter.org (509-608-7630)
LUNAR NEW YEAR: DRAGON DANCE & COOKING DEMO This joyous Lunar New Year celebration includes a dragon dance and cooking demonstrations for dumplings and sushi. Jan. 14, 11 am-2 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-4445300)
LUNAR NEW YEAR STORYTIME & ACTIVITIES Hear stories about Lunar New Year and do some fun crafts. Children under 8 should be accompanied by a caregiver. This event is followed by family dragon dance lessons and more. Jan. 14, 10-11 am. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org
NORTHERN LIGHTS FIREWORKS This event features a torchlight parade, a fireworks show and a party in Taps after the festivities. Schweitzer, 10,000 Schweitzer Mountain Rd. schweitzer.com
LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a cultural fair and performances of traditional Chinese folk dances, a Chinese choir, taichi, Chinese martial arts and more. Jan. 15, 1 pm. $8-$23. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanechinese.org
WINTER QUARTERS AT SPOKANE HOUSE Events include readings from the Spokane House trading post winter journal, storytelling by Spokane Tribal member, historic games and tours of the Interpretive Center. (No Discover Pass required.) Jan. 16, 1-4 pm. Free. Spokane House Interpretive Center, 13501 N. Nine Mile Rd. friendsofspokanehouse.com
WSU NATIONAL DAY OF RACIAL HEALING This day-long event is intended to help the university community develop critical and reflexive thinking that directly supports culturally and racially, non-harming, compassionate practices. For a full schedule of events, see website. Registration required. Jan. 17, 9:10 am-6:30 pm. Free. Washington State University, Pullman. provost.wsu.edu/ national-day-of-racial-healing/ MAD CADDERS Learn 2D and 3D digital design or brush up on your skills with these two-hour sessions in Fusion 360 or Inkscape. Jan. 18, 6:30-8:30 pm. $10. Gizmo, 283 N. Hubbard Ave. gizmo-cda. org (208-929-4029)
OPEN STUDIO AT THE HIVE Stop by to check out Artist-In-Residence studios, tour The Hive and ask any other questions. Jan. 4-Feb. 22, Wed from 4-7 pm. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5300)
PRO-CRAFT-INATORS ACCOUNTABILITY CLUB Are you a crafter who has unfinished projects around your home? Join your fellow pro-craft-inators and finish a project (or several) that you’ve started. Registration required. Wednesays from 7-8 pm through Jan. 25. Free. scld.org
LILAC CITY LIVE! A show in the style of late-night programs featuring Erin Peterson of Trending Northwest, The Hive Artists-in-Residence Mallory Battista and Lisa Soranaka, and musical guest Truehoods. Cash bar available. Jan. 19, 8-9 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5300)
DROP IN & RPG Stop by and explore the world of role playing games. Build a shared narrative using cooperative problem solving, exploration, imagination and rich social interaction. On the first and third Saturday of the month from 1-3:45 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org (509-279-0299)
PAPRIKA When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients’ dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it. Rated R. Jan. 12, 7-9 pm. $7. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)
TOTALLY TUBULAR TUESDAY A weekly screening of a throwback film. Check the website for each week’s film. Every Tuesday at 7 pm. $2.50. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.com
FANTASTIC PLANET On a faraway planet where blue giants rule, oppressed humanoids rebel against their machine-like leaders. Jan. 18, 7-8:30 pm. $7. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)
THIRD THURSDAY MATINEE: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR This music documentary uses live footage from the 1963-1965 Newport Folk Festivals with Bob Dylan as the focus. Jan. 19, 1 pm. $7. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
BEER DINNER Kick-off 2023 with this beer dinner featuring brews from Wallace Brewing and four chef-curated courses. Jan. 12, 5:30-8 pm. $55. Coeur d’Alene Taphouse Unchained, 210 E. Sherman Ave. bit.ly/3hupoQc
FIRESIDE DINNER & MUSIC SERIES Enjoy selections from Arbor Crest’s seasonal menu along with wine and beer from Square Wheel Brewing. Music lineup varies, see website for more. Thu-Sat from 6-8 pm. Arbor Crest Wine Cellars, 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd. arborcrest.com
KITCHEN COOKING CLASS: HANDFORMED PASTA Commellini Estate’s Executive chef teaches how to create versatile pasta noodles. The class culminates in family-style meal inside the historic estate’s main venue. Jan. 12, 6:30-9:30 pm. $85. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr. commellini.com/ (509-466-0667)
SAUERBRATEN DINNER A dinner hosted by the German-American society featuring sauerbraten with red sauerkraut and potato dumplings. Jan. 14, 5:30-10 pm. $20. German American Hall, 25 W. Third. germanamericansociety-spokane.org
MAC & CHEESE FESTIVAL Various local chefs prepare mac and cheese dishes in competition for the Golden Noodle award. Taste the dishes paired with craft beer and vote on your favorite. Jan. 14, 11 am-6 pm. SOLD OUT. Downtown Coeur d’Alene. cdadowntown.com
DRAG BRUNCH The cast of Runway performs while enjoying a full breakfast menu and mimosas. Hosted by Savannah SoReal. Sundays from 10 am-2 pm. Globe Bar & Kitchen, 204 N. Division. globespokane.com (509-443-4014)
NOVA KAINE’S DON’T TELL MAMA CABARET & DRAG BRUNCH Inland Northwest drag performers take the stage and perform pieces choreographed by Troy Nickerson. First and third Sun of every month at 11 am. Highball A Modern Speakeasy, 100 N. Hayford Rd. northernquest.com (877871-6772)
WINTER MARKET Enjoy a craft beer while supporting a collection of local makers, bakers and farmers at this indoor farmers market. Third Sun. of every month from 2-4 pm through March 19. Free. Lumberbeard Brewing, 25 E. Third Ave. lumberbeardbrewing.com
This annual conference is organized into a series of monthly webinars about heritage tree fruits. See website for full schedule of webinars. Jan. 18, 10-11:30 am, Feb. 15, 10-11:30 am, March 15, 1011:30 am and April 19, 10-11:30 am. Free. University of Idaho Extension-Sandpoint Organic Ag Center, 10881 N. Boyer Rd. uidaho.edu/cals/soac
WINE WEDNESDAY All dinners in the series feature food from culinary regions south of the equator. Each meal comes with three wines paired by owner Josh Wade. See menus at link. Wednesdays at 6-8 pm through Feb. 22. $27.50. Fête - A Nectar Co, 120 N. Stevens St. nectarcateringandevents.com (509-951-2090)
SPIRIT OF SPOKANE REHEARSAL Sit in on the rehearsals of the Spirit of Spokane chorus. Tuesdays from 6:30-9 pm. Free. Opportunity Presbyterian Church, 202 N. Pines Rd. spiritofspokanechorus.org
DRUMMING WITH DJEMBE Join local musicians Matt Slater and Himes Alexander of The Smokes on djembe drums and create playful, performance beats. Jan. 21, 9 am. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org
5: SLATKIN Maestro Leonard Slatkin collaborates with the Symphony for performances of Double Play by Cindy McTee, Francesca da Rimini, Op.32 by Tchaikovsky and Brahm’s first symphony. Jan. 21, 7:30 pm and Jan. 22, 3 pm. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanesymphony.org (509-624-1200)
JACKASS DAY Celebrate Silver Mountain’s roots with $19 lift tickets, vintage ski gear and riding the resort’s original chairlift. Jan. 12. $19. Silver Mountain Resort, 610 Bunker Ave. silvermt.com
MT. SPOKANE NIGHT SKI Ski in the dark on Mt. Spokane’s 16-lighted runs. Wed-Sat from 3-9 pm through March 11. $36. Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, 29500 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. mtspokane.com (509-238-2220)
DJ NIGHT ON THE ICE DJ A1 provides the tunes for themed nights, contests and more. Every Friday at 6 pm through Jan. 27. $7-$10. Numerica Skate Ribbon, 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. my.spokanecity. org/riverfrontspokane (509-625-6600)
PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS: PENDLETON WHISKY VELOCITY TOUR Topbull riders battle the sport’s rankest bovine athletes in the ultimate showdown of man vs. beast. Jan. 14, 7 pm. $17-$202. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanearena.com (279-7000)
SNOWSHOE AND BREWS MOUNT SPOKANE TOUR A 2-3 mile snowshoe tour through the woods of Mount Spokane State Park. Afterward, head to Big Barn Brewery to enjoy beverages. Fee includes: snowshoes, poles, trail fees, instruction, guides and transportation. (Beverages not included) Jan. 15, Feb. 18 and March 5 from 9 am-2:30 pm. $47. Big Barn Brewing Co., 16004 N. Applewood Ln. spokanerec.org (509-755-2489)
MT. SPOKANE SNOWSHOE TOUR Learn the basics of snowshoeing during this guided hike on trails around Mount Spokane. Fee includes snowshoes, poles, trail fees, instruction and transportation. Meet at Yoke’s in Mead. Jan. 16, Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 5, Feb. 12, Feb. 20 and March 18, 9 am-1 pm. $39. spokanerec.org
STATE LAND FREE DAYS The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission invites visitors to enjoy a state park for free on select days each year. Visitors are not required to display the Discover Pass for day-use visits to a Washington state park or on lands managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) or Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) on these dates: Jan. 16, March 9, March 19, April 22, June 10, June 11, June 19, Sep. 23, Oct. 10, Nov. 11 and Nov. 24. parks.wa.gov
SKATE WITH THE CHIEFS The public has the opportunity to skate alongside Spokane Chiefs players and mascot Boomer.. Free admission and skate rentals from Numerica Credit Union to the first 300 people, along with a free slice from David’s Pizza. Jan. 17, 6-8 pm. Free. Numerica Skate Ribbon, 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. riverfrontspokane.org (509-625-6600)
SKATE FOR A CAUSE: SPOKANE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY This program is supports community-centered, nonprofits in fundraising efforts. At this edition, a portion of the proceeds goes to the Spokane Shakespeare Society. Jan. 18, 4-8 pm. $12. Numerica Skate Ribbon, 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. riverfrontspokane.com (509-625-6600)
LIVING VOICES: WITHIN THE SILENCE Understand the impact of Executive Order 9066, which imprisoned thousands of innocent Japanese Americans during
WWII, through the experiences of one young incarcerated citizen. Jan. 13, 7 pm. $18. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. artinsandpoint.org (208-263-9191)
PHOTOGRAPH 51 A portrait of Rosalind Franklin, one of the great female scientists of the 20th century, and her fervid drive to map the contours of the DNA molecule. A chorus of physicists relives the chase, revealing the unsung achievements of this trail-blazing woman. Jan. 13-Feb. 5, Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2pm. $10-$25. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St. spokanecivictheatre.com (509-325-2507)
MET LIVE IN HD: FEDORA Umberto Giordano’s exhilarating drama returns to the Met repertory for the first time in 25 years. Packed with memorable melodies, show-stopping arias and explosive confrontations. Jan. 14, 9:55 am and Jan. 16, 6 pm. $15-$20. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)
AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS A new Broadway musical that follows The Temptations’ extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Jan. 17-22; Tue-Fri at 7:30 pm, Sat at 2 and 7:30 pm, Sun at 1 and 6:30 pm. $47.50-$95.50. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. broadwayspokane.com
SIRI STENSBERG: SCATTERED STORMS
This exhibit explores the intersection of material, color, space and sound. Jan. 10Feb. 10, Mon-Fri from 9 am-4 pm. Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. spokanefalls.edu/gallery
INTERTWINED A group show featuring artwork by Stefani Rossi, Michael Dinning, Megan Varecha, Kimber Follevaag and Meagan Mack. Jan. 6-31, Mon-Fri from 8 am-5 pm. Free. Chase Gallery, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanearts.org
LILA SHAW GIRVIN: GIFT OF A MOMENT Living and working in Spokane since 1958, Girvin has used vibrant color, form, and unassuming techniques with oil paint to explore new dimensions of feeling through ethereal, abstract paintings. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through March 12. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)
LIVING MATTER This exhibition exemplifies the artists’ approach to living things through materials including ceramic, wood, paper, drift wood and
oil slick. Featured artists include David Lustig, Kelsey Grafton, Amanda Bielby, Marceil DeLacy and Lonnie Hutson. Jan. 7-27, Thu-Sun from 11 am-6 pm. Free. The Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave. theartspiritgallery.com (208-765-6006)
MEGAN ATWOOD CHERRY: PRECIOUS CARGO Cherry’s latest series combines painted wood, stone and fiber to create unique artwork. Mon-Thu from 19 am-4 pm, Fri from 10 am-2:30 pm through Jan. 27. Free. Boswell Corner Gallery at NIC, 1000 W. Garden Ave. nic.ed
SAVAGES & PRINCESSES: THE PERSISTENCE OF NATIVE AMERICAN STEREOTYPES This exhibition brings together twelve contemporary Native American visual artists who reclaim their identities by replacing stereotypical images that fill the pop culture landscape. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through March 19. $10-$15. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org
MICHAEL SONNICHSEN: COLOR FORMS This exhibition of prints and objects provides new ways of seeing the familiar through the play of color and form. ThuSat from 4-7 pm through Jan. 28. Free. Terrain Gallery, 728 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com
JOHN J. DEROULET: VANITAS New work created during the last three years while observing and living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Jan. 6-27 by appointment. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. johnderoulet.com
WHITWORTH FACULTY BIENNIAL Art created by Whitworth art department faculty including Katie Creyts, Robert Fifield, Marissa Lang and more. Mon-Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm through Jan. 20. Free. Bryan Oliver Gallery, Whitworth, 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth.edu (777-3258)
SARANAC ART PROJECTS: 6 This exhibit features six local artists displaying various paintings, sculptures and installations. Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm through Jan. 28. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. sapgallery.com (509-350-3574)
CAT SCULPTURE CLASS This is a fastmoving three-pound clay sculpture class. The focus is on exploration with clay and trying to capture the pose and swag of your favorite cat. Ages 12+. Jan. 14, 10 am-noon. $50. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net
ART JOURNALING Work with Dina Natale to create a fun and unique journal using different mediums. Jan. 14, Jan. 21, Feb. 4 and Feb. 18, 11 am-2:30 pm. $80. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net
BASIC ALTERATIONS Beth LaBar teaches basic alteration techniques like changing a pant leg width, hemming, taking in and letting out a garment and fitting. Jan. 14, 1-3 pm. $55-$60. Art Salvage Spokane, 1925 N. Ash St. artsalvagespokane.com (509-598-8983)
MAKE YOUR OWN PENDLETON MOCCASINS A six-hour, Coeur d’Alene Tribal member-guided hands-on project. All materials provided, Jan. 15, 10 am-4 pm. $150. Coeur d’Alene Casino, 37914 S. Nukwalqw. cdacasino.com (208-769-2464)
ANNA MALAIKA TUBBS: THE THREE MOTHERS New York Times bestselling author Tubbs reads selections from and discusses her book, The Three Mothers Jan. 12, 10:30-11:30 am. Free. Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St. scc.spokane.edu (533-7000)
CUP OF STARS WRITING CLUB FOR TEENS An inclusive writing group meant to inspire teens and foster literary community. Emphasis is on generating writing more than on critique. Jan. 12, 4:305:30 pm. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org
NAMINA FORNA: THE GILDED ONES Join author Namina Forma in discussion about The Merciless Ones. Register to receive Zoom link. Jan. 12, 11 am-noon. Free. scld.org
OFFICE HOURS WITH SHARMA SHIELDS Local novelist Sharma Shields, the library’s new Writing Education Specialist, is available weekly to address writing inquiries. Jan. 13, 10 am-noon. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org
BIG DREAMS STORY TIME A special storytime inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Jan. 14, 1-2 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. cdalibrary.org (208-769-2315)
POLAR BEAR STORIES AND FUN Read stories about polar bears and learn more about them with some fun activities. Jan. 14, 11 am-noon. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org
SPOKANE FĀVS COFFEE TALK: THE EVIL IN THIS WORLD A conversation featuring Cassandra Benefield, a journalism major and managing editor of FāVS; Dr. Brent S. Maughan, a retired Spokane physician; and Rebecca Tallent, an award-winning journalist and public relations professional. Discussing the world’s religions and belief systems. Jan. 14, 10 am-noon. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. fb.me/e/5wrzvCUSf (509-240-1830) n
Cannabis is legal in Washington, but so is employment discrimination against cannabis users. A new bill in the state Senate looks to address that issue.
The bill, Senate Bill 5123, was filed by state Sen. Karen Keiser, a Des Moines Democrat, and had its first public hearing earlier this week. If signed into law, the legislation would add protections for workers who consume cannabis outside of the workplace.
Currently, employers in the state can decline or terminate employment based on the results of a cannabis drug test. The bill points out that many tests will return a positive result based simply on the presence of non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites, which can remain in a person’s system for up to a month after their last cannabis use.
“Applicants are much less likely to test positive or be disqualified for the presence of alcohol on a preemployment screening test compared with cannabis, despite both
being legally allowed controlled substances,” the bill states. “The Legislature intends to prevent restricting job opportunities based on an applicant’s past use of cannabis.”
Should the bill make it through the Legislature and be signed into law, it would change the state’s code and make it unlawful for employers to discriminate based on past cannabis use.
The phrase “past cannabis use” is critical. Employers would still be allowed to decline to hire, or to terminate employment, based on a positive result not based upon non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites. Basically, employers would still be within their rights to decline or terminate employment based on tests that can show active intoxication.
There are some caveats as to just who would be protected from this discrimination.
Businesses in the construction field would be exempt-
ed from the changes. People seeking employment that requires a federal background check or security clearance would not be protected either. It also would not preempt any existing federal laws. Employers who receive certain kinds of federal funding or federal contracts would therefore be beyond the scope of the proposed changes. Existing state laws not specifically mentioned in the bill, such as an employer’s right to maintain a drug-free workplace, would not be preempted either.
If passed, the bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. From that point forward, most cannabis users around the state would no longer need to sweat a preemployment test. No more cranberry juice cleanses, or awkwardly asking a friend to donate some clean urine. By and large, responsible cannabis use outside of the workplace would be viewed just as responsible alcohol consumption outside of the workplace. n
Be aware of the differences in the law between Idaho and Washington. It is illegal to possess, sell or transport cannabis in the State of Idaho. Possessing up to an ounce is a misdemeanor and can get you a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine; more than three ounces is a felony that can carry a fiveyear sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.
BE AWARE: Marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older under Washington State law (e.g., RCW 69.50, RCW 69.51A, HB0001 Initiative 502 and Senate Bill 5052). State law does not preempt federal law; possessing, using, distributing and selling marijuana remains illegal under federal law. In Washington state, consuming marijuana in public, driving while under the influence of marijuana and transporting marijuana across state lines are all illegal. Marijuana has intoxicating effects; there may be health risks associated with its consumption, and it may be habit-forming. It can also impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. Keep out of reach of children. For more information, consult the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board at www.liq.wa.gov.
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Check out the Discovery Den, our newest gaming area which is the first and only testing room in the Inland Northwest. Featuring an ever-changing variety of video gaming machines from the world’s leading manufacturers, you won’t find these video gaming machines being tested anywhere else in the Inland Northwest—or possibly even in the US. Play them first and help decide which ones stay and which ones go.
