Inlander 09/21/2023

INDIGENOUS DANCE, IDAHO TWANG AND MORE!

EDITOR’S NOTE

Fall can mean many things to many people. A time for reflection and pumpkin spice lattes, perhaps, but always from your local barista. A time for sweaters, scarves and wondering when the first snow will fall this year.

Art, too, can mean many different things, as you’ll see in this year’s FALL ARTS GUIDE. We have stories that show just how much meaning is infused in that one word, art.

There’s Io Palmer, an art professor at Washington State University whose latest abstract work explores “borders and boundaries and fences.” Her interracial parents lived in Greece when she was born but moved the family to New York City, giving the Pullman-based artist an expansive and unique worldview.

There’s also Gabriella Rose, a young singer-songwriter in Coeur d’Alene whose retro-country music sounds at once new and fresh, and from another era. But she’s Idaho, through and through.

And then there’s CarliAnn Forthun Bruner, an Indigenous dancer who teaches her craft at Gonzaga; Dahveed Bullis, the musician-playwright whose play is coming up at Stage Left Theater; and Shane Gronholz, who’s tasked with helping make sense of this crazy, arty world for the Spokane Public Library.

As always, these stories accompany a calendar of events bursting with this fall’s art offerings. It’s a lot to take in and experience. Maybe by winter you can tell me: What does art mean to you?

— NICHOLAS DESHAIS, editor

STAY ALIVE 2020 PAGE 6

ENCAMPMENT COUNT PAGE 14

READING SACAJEWEA PAGE 28

COMMENT

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HOW DO YOU ENGAGE WITH THE ARTS IN SPOKANE?

YVONNE BOYD

By being proactive and coming out and seeing what’s available, and checking out new exhibits and trying to keep the kids involved.

Why is it important to engage with the arts? I think it’s an important part of our diverse culture to learn something new and see what else is available and what else is out there, and it helps to educate you.

JENNIFER GRIFFITH

I’m an art educator, and I am here at the museum to volunteer at the maker space. I’m also an artist.

Do you have a favorite art space in Spokane?

I’m new to the area. What did I notice first when I got here? I noticed the murals, I noticed the art that was visible to someone coming through the town.

MELISSA PARKHURST

We live in Pullman, so we don’t get to come up to Spokane very often. This is actually our first time at the museum. A friend told us about the Minecraft exhibition yesterday, and we decided we’d come up today for the opening.

What do you enjoy about the arts in Spokane?

I think it’s a chance to see things we don’t see every day, maybe get us outside of ourselves.

SHARLENE DUNN

Mostly through the art galleries. I like how they have different art areas like this one here, the one on the mall downtown. I like the ones that are free.

Do you have a favorite artist or a favorite style of art that you like to see?

I don’t really know a lot of the artists around here but I would say my favorite is photography.

MADISON CLARK

I like concerts and the museums, and just the art around when I’m driving or something.

Do you have a favorite kind of art in Spokane?

I like a lot of the graffiti.

What do you like about graffiti?

I just think it looks really cool, and it’s just so creative and spontaneous.

The COVID Cupboard

Let’s hear it for the things that kept us alive in 2020

BY CHELSEA MARTIN

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The COVID pandemic started out as a whisper (mysterious field clinics going up in China) then hit with a bang that seemed to stop time (morgue trucks stacked up outside hospitals in Manhattan). It became the biggest story in the world, and we covered it every step of the way.

We had just published our Best of the Inland Northwest issue — a celebration of everything we love about our home here. The next week, our cover showed an empty Main Avenue in downtown Spokane at midday — “A Quiet Place” we titled it. We were deemed essential by the governor and our team here rose to the challenge. People were hungry for everything they could learn, and we delivered every week. We never missed an issue.

Eventually, vaccines came along, masks went away, and we could ponder what it all meant. On Jan. 7, 2021, our then-Editor Jacob Fries pulled together a cover package titled “We Survived, Now What?” As he described it, “We asked some of our favorite local writers, novelists and poets to provide a little inspiration, a little hope, a little fun or fantasy as we close the book on what’s been a truly craptastic year.”

One of the pieces was by local novelist Chelsea Martin, who wrote an occasional column for us in 2017-19. Reprinted here, it’s not only a reminder of the power of humor in dealing with tragic and challenging times, but it’s also a literal shopping list of the absurdities of the year we might all like to forget but never will: 2020.

020 was such an exciting year for the home pantry. Between the stay-at-home orders, the lack of indoor dining options, reduced oc-

cupancy at grocery stores, random food shortages and constant chatter about the threat of civil war, many of us found it favorable to keep our pantries stocked with the basics along with a few delicious things to take our minds off the state of the cold, cruel world. This all added up to a highly competitive environment for pantry foods. What pantry foods stood out? What pantry foods added value to our increasingly sad lives? What pantry foods stood up to the challenge of the year 2020?

LEADERSHIP AWARD: CANNED VEGETABLES

While canned vegetable sales were absolutely through the roof this year, very few cans were actually opened, and even fewer were eaten. We guess people just didn’t feel like succumbing to the depressing notion of eating soggy canned green beans. Not on top of everything else we had to go through this year. We decided to give Canned Vegetables the Leadership Award, because like so many of our elected leaders in this astonishing country, they are committed to taking up space and pretending to be good for you while accomplishing literally f---ing nothing.

INNOVATION AWARD: INSTANT COFFEE

In the dark days of early quarantine, we needed something new and fun and easy and made using things we didn’t need to go to the store for, and also not so new as to challenge us at all. Something with the same flavors we were used to experiencing on a daily basis, but maybe with a

The tools of survival, 2020 edition.

slightly different texture and/or color. Enter Dalgona coffee, something food bloggers universally agreed was world-altering, and then promptly forgot about after they wrote about it in their blog.

MOST VERSATILE: CHEESE CRACKERS

This classic yet youthful pantry item offered a shred of fun and a glimmer of hope and crunch amidst bland rows of sauces and flours and unmarked cans, whose labels came off in the sink from trying to wash the COVID off. This year, we ate cheese crackers as a snack as well as full meals. We ate them in the car, the bath and on the kitchen floor. We ate them with our toddlers, our dogs, and for Thanksgiving Dinner alone in our apartments.

IMPACT AWARD: SUGAR

This year, we put sugar in everything. Coffee. Muffins. Bread. Pasta sauce. Chili. Quesadillas. French fries. Pad Thai. Minestrone. Whatever. Whenever. However much you want. Restaurants do it all the time. Ever wonder why restaurant salad is so much better than homemade salad? It’s got f---ing sugar in it. This was the year we collectively dropped the pretenses and poured sugar into our sandwiches. Voila! Sandwiches with sugar in them. Consider this your night on the town.

BEST NEW PANTRY ITEM: HOMEMADE FERMENTED STUFF

Suddenly everyone is an expert on fermentation. Oh, so you planted a victory garden but have no idea what to do with all your radishes, cucumbers and carrots? Well, pickle them, put the jars in the farthest corner of your pantry, and don’t think about them anymore!

INDIE FAVORITE: CANNED FISH

Few like it, fewer love it, and absolutely no one agrees on what to do with it. But that didn’t stop canned fish from developing a cult following this year. Food writers around the country put canned fish on their must-have quarantine pantry item lists, insisting we try putting it on toast or stirring it into pasta or sprinkling it over salad. If these sound like good ideas, we’re happy for you! We just don’t necessarily get it.

COMFORT FAVORITE: ALCOHOL

With bars largely closed, 2020 was the year of the casual bartender. It was so exciting at first — we had gimlets at 3 pm and manhattans in our coffee mugs and blended margaritas over Zoom parties with our friends! And while that excitement didn’t last, nor did our jobs, nor did our interest in Zoom, nor did our ability to maintain friendships, the sweet release of using alcohol as a crutch to get through literally every single day of this bitchass year did not subside. Half a glass of rum and fill the rest up with room temp water? That’s a Tuesday. Two shots of gin, a few drops of tonic water from a bottle you pulled out of the recycling bin, and a sprinkle of whole wheat flour? That’s a Wednesday. And so on.

HALL OF FAME: SPAGHETTI

Good ol’ spaghetti. A classic pantry item, and winner of one of our prestigious pantry awards year after year for good reason. Spaghetti didn’t falter this year, but it also didn’t offer anything new or surprising, so we honor it for its legacy and lasting power, and hope it has many more years ahead.

PANTRY STAPLE OF THE YEAR: FLOUR

Our biggest Pantry Award goes to flour! Flour is a pantry favorite every year, but it truly outdid itself in 2020. It seemed like everyone was making their own bread, trying their hand at homemade croissants, making pizza dough, sprinkling it into cocktails, and adding a little to raw eggs before scrambling, just to see what would happen. And what happened was this: Flour proved itself to be the most versatile, compelling, and dare we say hopeful pantry item of 2020. n

Chelsea Martin is the Spokane-based author of six books, including Tell Me I’m an Artist. Her website is cacadolce.com.

LARRY CEBULA: Excellent reporting.

FALLON STODDARD: The problem is most people are thinking about the image of downtown rather than that these are real people with families and friends who just are struggling right now. We all think it’ll never be us… till it’s us.

JORDAN CRUZ: Wonderfully written piece on a really complex issue.

REBECCA MARIE: Whatever is being done is clearly not enough.

RYAN OLSON: Anyone who reads this who is struggling with drinking or substance abuse, there is a way out. There are so many resources that can be utilized and get you off the streets.

JULIE PROULX: Thank you for shining a light on this.

JENNA KLOPSCH STARR: Really appreciate reading a non-biased article. Thank you, Inlander!

JUDY VANVOORHIS: Great read. Well done on this complex problem. So many questions, so many answers. So little time for many of these people.

MARY JO BUSSE: Great article — breaks my heart.

VERN LAWRENCE: Hard to believe that the innocent little city of Spokane where I grew up has this kind of problem.

MERILYN KAY KRAIGER: I don’t know what needs to be done, but what is being done is not working. We need to find something new.

TRICIA KINDER SPARKS: Wow. Great Article. Heartbreaking.

CORRECTIONS

An article from earlier this summer (“A Reluctant American Abroad,” 6/29/2023) contained an incorrect number about how many people can travel internationally. The great Edmunds-based, PBS travel show superhero Rick Steves says 11 percent of the global population has the means and motivation to travel abroad. So, keep on traveling! And learning basic math.

When the new City Line transit route opened this summer, we missed the bus… er, mark… about funding for the art at its stations (“Delighting Alighting Passengers,” 7/6/2023). The art was paid for with state and local dollars. Little known fact, bussing also means kissing. So, buss off, it was an accident!

Way back in April, we misspelled country pop singer Lindsay Ell’s name (“That Does Impress Me Much,” 4/27/2023). ’Cause we’re Ell-a dumb.

Breean Beggs was appointed to the Spokane City Council in 2016 and elected council president in 2019, two dates we got wrong in a story about Beggs’ departure from the council (“The Way of the Tortoise,” 5/18/2023). In our defense, those were pre-pandemic times so might as well have been a billion years ago, when eukaryotic, multicellular life first emerged and humans had yet to evolve and create a completely made up way of recording time.

We love bread so much we got our rockets mixed up (“Meet Your Bread Maker,” 8/3/2023). Grain Shed bread is available at Rocket Market, not the other Rocket business in town, a mistake we rue almost as much as Oppenheimer does the… oh, nevermind.

We regret these errors.

ENGAGING STUDENTS

Attendance rates still haven’t recovered from COVID, but Spokane’s On Track Academy thinks it has a path to student success

Flashes of reds, greens and yellows glimmer in the sunlight as Aliauana Humphries proudly shows off one of the first stained glass pieces she made at Spokane’s On Track Academy. Right now she’s only learning the basics, so pieces of textured glass sit soldered together into a rectangular frame. But judging by her artsy acrylics — that she learned to do herself — it’ll be no time before these pieces hang somewhere else. A friend’s house or an art gallery, perhaps.

Humphries hasn’t always been proud of the work she’s done in the classroom. She quickly fell behind during her first year at North Central High School, which really wasn’t for her anyway, so she dropped out before her sophomore year.

“I had so much work built up that had passed their deadlines, so I wouldn’t even get full credit if I did a good job,” says Humphries, who is 18. “It just makes you feel like there’s no point in trying.”

The entire experience was overwhelming and seemed like punishment, so she never had plans to graduate high school, let alone go to college.

That is, until she enrolled in the Spokane Public Schools’ Open Doors program, which essentially gives students one last try at a high school education, on terms they can deal with. Whether they dropped out due to behavioral issues, mental health concerns or truancy, this program offers them the opportunity to complete their K-12 education.

For the past 15 years, On Track Academy, which is part of

BY COLTON RASANEN

SPS, has offered an alternative approach to education for students throughout Spokane Public Schools. Instead of six periods throughout the day, students at On Track Academy are enrolled in a block period that is co-taught by two instructors. Instead of rotating through multiple classes daily and keeping up with tons of classwork, students go through education that is structured to their individual needs.

For the past three years, On Track has offered its students the Open Doors program, which is open to people between the ages of 16 and 24 who have dropped out of school and are not expected to graduate before age 21. The program offers multiple paths for students: high school completion, work preparation and training, taking college-level coursework. But a primary focus is getting students to pass the GED — a General Educational Development test that basically translates to a high school diploma if passed.

As attendance rates have yet to recover from the disastrous effect of COVID, On Track thinks it has a path to student success — and that knowledge has come from listening to what the students needed.

“From my experience, [students] love to learn, but we’ve just found ways to take that away,” says On Track teacher Karina Berven, who works with the Open Doors program. “So right away we try to figure out what these students are interested in.”

Berven’s personalized approach to education — an approach

“From my experience, [students] love to learn, but we’ve just found ways to take that away.”

Karina Berven watches Aliauana Humphries work on her stained glass project. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

that she says works best for students who have stopped attending school — has allowed her to easily connect and foster relationships with each student.

“It’s just not possible in a traditional, comprehensive high school or middle school to have a relationship with students in that way,” she says. “I can teach them the things that I’m supposed to teach them while getting to know some really cool people. It’s just very hard not to love it.”

One size has never fit all in education. While the traditional approach to a K-12 education may work for most students, many still fall through the cracks.

In 2007, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction began to focus on students who had often fallen through these fissures. This mainly includes older students who didn’t have enough credits to graduate from high school on time or who dropped out entirely.

The Open Doors program was created by the state Legislature in 2010 through House Bill 1418. From there, the number of schools that offered the program grew exponentially. During the 2016-17 school year, 93 school districts and more than 8,000 students participated in the program.

And it was just in time.

Five years ago, the state superintendent’s office recorded a statewide four-year graduation rate of 81 percent, just 2 percentage points below its apex of 83 percent in 2019-20.

Then, during the COVID pandemic, different yet related numbers started to plummet. Statewide, 91 percent of students regularly attended school in the 2019-20 school year. Late that school year, the virus began to spread widely. In the 2020-21 school year, regular attendance dropped to 81 percent statewide before falling again to 67 percent in the 2021-22 school year.

At Spokane Public Schools — one of the largest school districts in the state with 29,396 students — the trend was similar. In those same three school years, SPS went from 95 percent of students regularly attending in 2019-20 to 86 percent in 2020-21 and finally to 72 percent in 2021-22.

Since fewer students are attending school as often as their peers, programs like Open Doors may seem appealing. But SPS Graduation Assistance Specialist Jeremy Day warns that this program may not work on a larger scale or for all students.

For example, the interpersonal relationships that Berven builds would not be possible if the program expanded too much. Berven’s class size is far smaller than a normal secondary teacher’s load would be. And, unfortunately, the funding needed to keep classes small just isn’t there.

That doesn’t mean slow, small growth for the program isn’t possible though.

After gauging the needs of students, On Track Academy has been able to hire a second teacher for a second Open Doors classroom. On Track’s principal, Chris Burke, says it was important to grow the program because that’s what the community needs. However, he agrees with Day that the program may not work for students on a larger scale.

“We need to be cognizant of keeping [Open Doors] personalized and small because that’s what a lot of students are feeling like they need,” Burke says.

“Being so small truly helps here because you have the opportunity to have that personal connection and get to know everyone else as a person,” Humphries agrees.

For Humphries, the two-hour school days and a self-paced curriculum at Open Doors made her feel empowered to start again. Like other students in the program, when she began the program her only goal was to get her GED.

She passed the test, but she wasn’t ready to stop.

“The school really brought back that motivation and excitement for school that I’ve never really felt, besides in elementary school,” Humphries says. “It made me realize that I love learning.”

Humphries is finishing up the remaining elective credits she needs for her high school diploma by participating in a stained glass program. When she graduates this year, Humphries plans to attend Spokane Community College. n

coltonr@inlander.com

IN THE NEWSEarly in 2015, a new newspaper was carving out its own space in Spokane. THE BLACK LENS, led by editor and publisher Sandy Williams, published its first monthly edition in January 2015 and focused on all topics pertaining to the Black community. Staff writer Deanna Pan, who now works for the Boston Globe and was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, wrote about the newspaper on Jan. 22, 2015, in “A New Voice.” Sadly, the publication went on hiatus after it published its January 2022 edition, and Williams, who also founded the Carl Maxey Center, was killed in a plane crash with her partner, Patricia Hicks, later that year.

CULTURE BEAT

Staff writer Dan Nailen, who later became Arts and Culture editor and then editor of the Inlander, took us back to the ’80s in his exploration of the era’s pop culture staples. The homage to the decade, headlined “NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP,” traverses Nailen’s nostalgia from music and media to shopping mall culture. “What I think makes the ’80s attractive is that they were already exaggerated,” he wrote. “So the nostalgia is on steroids.”

ON THE COVER

30 YEARS OF INLANDER JUNE 2-8, 2016 LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FREE PAPERS THIS WEEK Volume Music Festival and other must-do events PAGE 52 SHOPPING Farm Chicks and the upcycling trend PAGE 35

To pee or not to pee, that is the question. In 2016, Washington politicians were fighting over transgender rights — a fight that often, and still, finds itself in the bathroom for some reason. Initiative 1515 aimed to restrict bathroom and locker room access for transgender people, however, the initiative never made it onto the ballot due to a lack of the necessary signatures. Staff writer Jake Thomas — who currently reports for the nonprofit health care outlet the Lund Report — explored the topic in the June 2, 2016, issue with the headline “DON’T ASK, DON’T PEE.” The story centered on the experience of Jamie Breedlove, a transgender woman who didn’t transition until her 60s. A photo of Breedlove with her brightly dyed auburn hair, hot pink nails and chic white cardigan spanned almost two pages and emanated a sense of euphoria. “My peace is I’m going to die as Jamie, not Jim,” Breedlove said. She died one year later after a battle with cancer.

LOCAL FOLKS

Inlander readers have always expected to open their paper and find commentary from one of many local columnists. In the 2010s, a common face among the crowd was RACHEL DOLEZAL, the former NAACP Spokane president who presented herself as a Black woman. Unfortunately, as we and the rest of the world found out, the staunch activist and educator was actually a white woman. In the June 18, 2015, issue, then-editor Jacob Fries — who now leads InvestigateWest — wrote about how Dolezal came to write for the paper and that her writing and byline would no longer be in the Inlander. In the same issue, staff writer Daniel Walters, who followed Fries to the nonprofit news outlet, wrote an expansive cover story called “The Real Rachel Dolezal.”

COLTON RASANEN

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While politicians fight over bathroom stalls, America’s views on transgender identity are changing BY JAKE THOMAS • PAGE 20

Demo to Reno

Spokane could hand over a tricky property in Hillyard to create affordable housing and space for small businesses

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

Since a former Hillyard church/apartment building burned down in November 2017, the city of Spokane has been trying to recoup the more than $418,000 it spent demolishing the property and removing asbestos. But with the foreclosed property’s value currently assessed at less than half that amount, two auctions failed late last year.

So, on Monday, Sept. 25, the Spokane City Council will consider handing over the property to the Northeast Public Development Authority (NEPDA) for $1. A public hearing that night will let people weigh in on the future of the city-owned vacant lot, which could become part of a thriving intersection at the northeast Spokane neighborhood’s main cross streets, Wellesley Avenue and Market Street.

The NEPDA envisions building a roughly 25,000-square-foot mixed use development on the site, which would include about 30 affordable apartments

(rented to those who make 80 percent to 115 percent of the Spokane area median income) and ground floor commercial space.

In addition to becoming an office for the public development authority, the commercial space could be used as an incubator for local businesses, with advantageous rental terms helping them test their concepts in a brick-and-mortar setting.

tamination at the Wellesley property and create a formal plan for Hillyard.

Due to several setbacks in the foreclosure of the property, much of that work has only recently gotten underway, Bank says.

The organization has also received brownfield funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and some COVID-era American Rescue Plan funding to kickstart Hillyard’s subarea planning process, he says.

“The plan will set the vision for the next 20 to 40 years of the neighborhood,” Bank says. “It touches on everything from where we want crosswalks to what the land uses should be and how we pay for that growth.”

The planning process will be a game changer for residents and businesses, who will get to set the priorities, he says.

If the City Council approves the land transfer, the proposed building would sit near a new north-south freeway on/off ramp that is slated to open as soon as later this year, Bank says.

“We want to create something that is emblematic of Hillyard’s trajectory,” says Jesse Bank, who became the NEPDA’s executive director in August 2022. “Hillyard’s on the rise, and we want to tap into that momentum.”

Founded in a partnership between the city and Spokane County more than a decade ago, the public development authority was restructured in 2019 to help ensure that some of the tax revenue generated in that area is reinvested in Hillyard.

In 2019, the NEPDA also received a $200,000 grant from the state ecology department to test for legacy con-

Encampments Everywhere

Complaints about unsanctioned homeless camps in Spokane skyrocketed this year

BY NATE SANFORD

People have filed 2,453 complaints about unsanctioned homeless encampments in Spokane so far this year — a 54 percent increase over the same time period last year, which saw 1,591.

The data comes from the city’s Homeless Outreach Team, which clears encampments and is made up of litter control workers, police and occasionally a homeless service provider.

The complaints mainly come from citizens calling the city’s 311 line, which means some complaints might be duplicates or involve vehicles that move around or sites that don’t technically qualify as encampments. But even then, the number of camps the city has “abated” — or swept — has also risen significantly. The city team has cleared 948 encampments so far this year, compared with roughly 720 during the same period last year.

The dramatic uptick in encampment complaints comes amid soaring housing costs and a point-in-time count that found a 36 percent increase in the county’s homelessness over the past year.

A map of cleared sites shows encampments spread

across much of the city. The major blank spots are in North Indian Trail, Five Mile Prairie and the lower South Hill. Downtown Spokane and Browne’s Addition had the highest density of encampment abatements.

A majority of the campsites reported to the outreach team — 67 percent — are on publicly owned land. Twenty-two percent are on parks, and the rest are on private or other types of property.

A presentation to City Council earlier this month made the task of clearing Spokane’s encampments seem downright Sisyphean.

Jason Ruffing, a code enforcement supervisor with the city, told council members that when the program started in 2019, weeks would pass before a new camp site popped up in a spot that had previously been cleared. But these days, Ruffing said, the team will sometimes return to the office after clearing a campsite only to find that a new complaint for a campsite in the ex act same spot has already been filed.

Ruffing added that the volume

“Because of how visible that site is, it can act as a billboard for what’s going on here,” Bank says. “It can show people that progress is being made, and address community concerns over the blight that’s been sitting there since 2017.”

The authority would likely partner with private developers to build the project. Once the building becomes profitable, the authority and development partners could sell it, at which point the city would get a priority stake in the profits to recoup the cleanup costs.

“It’s a pretty typical real estate scenario. You build it, stabilize it, hold it for a number of years, then sell it,” Bank says. “I’ve pitched to the city: You have no clear path to being made whole, so let me provide you a path.” n samanthaw@inlander.com

of complaints outpaces the code enforcement unit’s ability to address them. The team is typically able to visit 12 to 18 campsites in a day, but lately, they’ve been receiving 25 complaints each day, Ruffing said.

“The numbers are not favorable right now,” Ruffing said.

Advocates sometimes criticize the practice of sweeping homeless campsites because it can be traumatic and destabilizing and can cause the people living outside to lose their property.

Luis Garcia, the city’s director of code enforcement, told council members that a typical encampment removal starts with police, who will make contact with the residents and establish a safe work zone. He said police will also work with residents to establish what is litter and what is property and, if necessary, offer storage for their belongings.

“That’s something that we’re sensitive to,” Garcia said.

The city has already removed more than 500,000 pounds of trash this year.

The outreach team will occasionally have a service worker from Frontier Behavioral Health or another local group who can try to direct camp residents to resources. Garcia said service providers are sometimes hesitant to appear alongside uniformed police officers while camps are being cleared because it could damage trust with the unhoused people they work with. n nates@inlander.com

The Northeast Public Development Authority hopes to help transform Hillyard. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

La Ciudad Para Todos

Cathcart pushes for more language accessibility at City Hall. Plus, McMorris Rodgers stands up for the internal combustion engine; and West Bonner school’s boss gets the boot.

The Spokane City Council will soon consider a law that would require city departments to improve language access for people with limited English proficiency. The ordinance, introduced by Council member Michael Cathcart, says a 2022 council resolution encouraging city departments to adopt a language access plan resulted in “limited progress,” and that Spokane is still lagging behind other Washington cities. The new ordinance essentially turns the council’s request into a requirement. If passed, city departments would have to start budgeting for language access next year and fully implement language access plans by the end of 2025. The city’s Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion would be tasked with hiring a “language access coordinator” to monitor the citywide efforts to translate public-facing documents and other communications into Spokane’s commonly spoken languages — namely Spanish, Slavic, Russian, Vietnamese and Marshallese. The ordinance is slated for a vote in early October. (NATE SANFORD)

PRO-GAS CATHY

Last week, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers took a stand. For the internal combustion engine. The Eastern Washington lawmaker, whose district is home to numerous hydropower dams and Palouse wind farms, took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice opposition to the “ban on gas-powered cars.” Specifically, she was hailing what’s called the “Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act,” or H.R. 1435, which she says will “prevent Governor Jay Inslee’s radical ban on gas-powered vehicles in Washington state” that is “chipping away at our freedoms.” The legislation was largely passed along party lines, with just one congressional Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, supporting it. In December 2022, Washington state’s ecology department adopted rules that would ratchet up the number of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the state “until zero-emission vehicles make up 100 percent of new sales starting in model year 2035,” according to Ecology. Nearly 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector. Electricity generation accounts for 20 percent. (NICHOLAS DESHAIS)

BYE BYE BRANDEN

Another one bites the dust as one more West Bonner School District leader is ousted. Less than a week after two school board trustees — Susan Brown and Keith Rutledge — were officially recalled by voters, Superintendent Branden Durst was told that he cannot remain in the position. Durst was appointed to the position in June, without the necessary experience — namely, he doesn’t have experience working with students at an accredited school. He applied for an emergency provisional certificate that would allow him to remain in the position, but was denied by the Idaho Board of Education. “There is no pathway for Mr. Durst to obtain the legally required certification to serve as the West Bonner County School District superintendent,” Idaho Board of Education Executive Director Matt Freeman said in the board’s decision. While the board has approved three of these emergency certificates since 2015, they say that going forward these certifications will only be considered for teachers, not administrators. (COLTON RASANEN)

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Cathcart ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Retelling Lost Narratives

Little is known about Sacajewea’s actual life. What’s been pieced together from the journals of Lewis and Clark and other records often glorifies or dilutes the tragedies she and other Indigenous peoples endured as a result of colonial exploration.

Missoula-based author Debra Magpie Earling’s new book, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, tells Sacajewea’s story from a first-person perspective that challenges many things previously thought to be fact.

“She has many different kinds of interpretations [of her], and there’s oral histories about her life from different tribes, including my own,” says Earling, who is Bitterroot Salish.

She’ll be stopping in Spokane on Sept. 27 to discuss the book, released in May, with local readers.

While writing a response to the bicentennial in 2004 of the Lewis and Clark expedition for the Missoula Museum of Art and a later article for Alvin M. Josephy’s anthology Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes, Earling’s interest in Sacajewea was sparked and led her to question much of the historic information about her life.

“Non-Native historians have set a date of her birth at 1788, so that she would be 12 by the time she was abducted,” Earling says, adding that would make Sacajewea 16 years old when she had her first child, although there’s no evidence to support it.

Earling read Lewis’ and Clark’s journals and other records of the journey, noting that Sacajewea seemed to be younger than history states.

So in The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, Earling begins the story with Sacajewea at 9 years old.

“I began to look very closely at Clark, who had left Virginia when he started the Corps, and his fiancee, Judith, was 12 years old when he left Virginia,” she says. “I think it was at Fort Clatsop where someone mentioned that Sacajewea is very young, and I thought, if they think she’s young, then how old was she?”

Earling imagined the expedition through Sacajewea’s eyes, envisioning the fear and hardships she would have endured throughout the arduous journeys she embarked on.

“[Sacajewea] was essentially an enslaved woman,” she says. “She’d been sold or gambled to [Toussaint] Charbonneau, but history records [her] as being married to him.”

Debra Magpie Earling’s new book tells a story of Sacajewea that challenges preconceived notions of her life

BY SUMMER SANDSTROM

The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is written as prose, narrating Sacajewea’s thoughts and interactions with an air of fluidity, while simultaneously evolving and changing as she gets older and becomes more fluent in English.

“I throw the reader in without any handrails or a glossary to explain words,” Earling says. “I throw them in like Sacajewea was kind of thrown into a totally different environment, one that was very frightening to her.”

Earling also wrote The Lost Journals of Sacajewea with a speed and style that changes as the story progresses to reflect the swift rate at which colonialism occurred.

“The story kind of continues to accelerate as you get to the final pages,” she says. “[It] kind of mimics the ways in which the European world entered Native life. It was slow at first and then became a really rapid digression, a rapid seizure of lands.”

She notes how understanding Sacajewea’s story and experience is important to understanding current issues, such as the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

“Native women were terribly abused and murdered at astonishing kinds of rates and ended up missing or abducted,” she says. “If we look through the lens of history, we can see where that kind of treatment toward Native women begins.”

Earling’s interest in writing stories about Indigenous women and “the ways in which Native women have really survived and upheld certain traditions” are apparent in both The Lost Journals of Sacajewea and her prior novel, Perma Red, which tells the story of an Indigenous girl named Louise who, like Sacajewea, insists on her own sovereignty.

Sacajewea, upon returning home to her Lemhi Shoshone people, reunited with a man from her tribe named Blue Elk. The two were betrothed as children, yet upon seeing her with her baby, Toussaint Charbonneau’s son, Blue Elk refused to marry her for having a child with a white man, essentially cutting her off from her people, says Earling.

“At that point she became a sovereign woman,” Earling says. “She said, ‘I am going to see the whales, I’m going to see the ocean,’ and she would not be moved from that. She made a decision to be her own person.”

Earling, rather than focusing on the expedition or the cultures of the different tribes involved in Sacajewea’s story, wanted the novel to primarily revolve around the personal experiences of her life.

“While I was writing the story, I was so imbued with the times, with what was going on, and with [Sacajewea’s] sense of urgency to return to her people, and her sense of urgency to protect her child and to survive,” Earling says. “It was just a remarkable writing journey.”

Earling, who retired from teaching at the University of Montana last year, will be joined by her past student Sharma Shields and by Gonzaga University professor and novelist Shann Ray at the Central Library to read and discuss The Lost Journals of Sacajewea

“For everybody interested in seeing a view of the world of Sacajewea that is totally different than the Western colonized view, this book establishes a very unique and profound vision of the kind of courage, the kind of sacrifice and the kind of love that is able to transcend genocide,” Ray says. “It’s experimental, it’s lyrically exquisite, it’s unlike anything anybody’s read before.” n

Debra Magpie Earling: The Lost Journals of Sacajewea • Wed, Sept. 27 at 6 pm • Free • Central Library, Events Room A • 906 W. Main Ave. • spokanelibrary.org

Debra Magpie Earling

THE BUZZ BIN

LOVE & FAULTS

The highs and lows of tennis in Spokane

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

Tennis is my favorite sport.

Tennis is a very dumb sport.

I hold both these thoughts in my mind constantly, spinning them around like Baoding balls that occasionally clank into one another.

On one hand, tennis can be an incredibly accessible sport, with public courts dotting city parks, and can be played in the fresh, open air into old age. You don’t need to assemble a team to play — just one opponent will suffice. It’s a hybrid of aerobic endurance, anaerobic burst, mental toughness, power, grace and artful ingenuity (See: Federer, Roger).

But at the same time, it can be a completely inaccessible sport in many ways. The racquets aren’t cheap. The balls wear out after a match or two. It can be incredibly unfun if you’re not playing with people very near your same skill level, unlike, say, pickup basketball. The mental strains and frustrations that occur in almost every match can drive even seasoned players batty. And most upsettingly, because it simply can’t be played in the elements (the balls absorb water) unless you live in an always-sunny climate (aka not Spokane), it’s really a sport for the wealthy who can afford the absurd costs of an indoor tennis club membership (I’ve certainly never been in that tax bracket).

Still, it’s been my sport since I was a kid. Fond memories abound of tennis lessons in the park, varsity tennis in the spring during high school (Billings Senior Broncs — 2005 State AA Champs!), and eventually coaching high schoolers and beginner adults as a summer job.

Trying to keep playing consistently in Spokane has been an interesting experience. Despite having basically twice the population of Billings, Spokane’s tennis scene pales in comparison. There’s basically only one local tournament that anyone signs up for all year, and an overall less communal vibe.

It doesn’t help that the invading army of pickleball players has descended on the tennis courts. It’s one thing when these fad-chasing minions keep to themselves, but when they congregate in large groups at Comstock Park to play their games of oversized ping pong they can be the worst. Given the advanced age of

many of these folks, you’d think they’d know a thing or two about decorum and etiquette, but nooooooope. During one match a couple months back, the picklers were walking through our court mid-point and were even trying to measure the court to lay down tape to outline pickleball courts while we were actively playing. Needless to say, I went a bit John McEnroe on the bunch. “PICKLEBALLERS, YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!”

The one way to ensure matches during the year comes via the Tennis Association of Greater Spokane (TAGS) and the organization’s spring and summer leagues. Essentially, players can sign up according to their National Tennis Rating Program skill level (for TAGS purposes: 3.0 is fairly low level, 3.5 is pretty good, 4.0+ is very good) and then try to get in matches versus others at your level. Is self-scheduling sometimes a migraine-inducing task? For sure! Are you basically just paying to be put on a spreadsheet? Yep! Do most of the matches turn out quite fun? Thankfully, yes to that one, too.

The leagues provide an engrossing level of competitive spirit without ever getting nasty (if you care too much about winning and losing in TAGS, you have a problem). It’s been a blast gutting out epic tiebreaks, with 100-plus degree days, long rallies, occasional injuries (hello, knee sleeve and elbow brace!) and swift turns in momentum as the yellow sphere spins back and forth above the net. I’ve had some competitive highs (won spring 3.5 singles in 2022) and lows (have only won one match in summer 3.5 singles in 2023 // cringe emoji), but more importantly, I’ve met some pals over the course of two years playing TAGS, including my doubles partner, Joey (we got thrown together cause we were both fresh Spokane transplants last year).

Perhaps the coolest thing about TAGS and tennis in general is the gamut of people you end up playing who are close to your skill level. This year I’ve gotten wrecked by both plucky teens and gray-haired retirees. (I view myself as an equal opportunity loser!)

Spokane is no tennis oasis, but there’s still a lot to love about the sport here. Wait… “love” means zero in tennis… hmmmm…. (Now if we can just find a way to launch all those pickleball players into space…) n

DRUG PUSHERS

It’s easy to look at the state of American cities and wonder how anyone could ever get hooked on something as deadly as fentanyl. But a look at very recent history would tell you that the legal opioid epidemic, pushed by pharmaceutical giants, got many Americans hooked on incredibly addictive painkillers. Fentanyl is often pressed into pill form to mimic those legal prescription opioids. The history of oxy’s rise is the subject of Netflix’s new limited series PAINKILLER, which offers a damning (and partly fictionalized) retelling of how money and corruption helped fuel the drug crisis. All episodes are streaming now. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

LOCAL WORDSMITHS

Finalists for the 2023 Washington State Book Awards were recently announced by the state affiliate of the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, with two familiar names making the list. Spokane author JESS WALTER is a fiction category finalist for his 2022 short story collection Angel of Rome and Other Stories He’s joined by fellow Spokanite TRAVIS BALDREE, whose “cozy” fantasy novel Legends & Lattes is also a fiction category finalist. And while she’s not based in Eastern Washington, fellow finalist and Seattleite Kim Fu will be visiting the area next month as her short story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is also this year’s selection for Spokane is Reading. Winners are to be announced on Sept. 26; find the full list of finalists at washingtoncenterforthebook.org.

(CHEY SCOTT)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on Sept. 22.

DRAKE, FOR ALL THE DOGS. Sure, nobody buys music anymore (boo, all y’all!), but Drake at least has to keep putting out albums if he ever wants to catch Eminem as the topselling rapper of all-time (Drake’s currently No. 2).

CHAI, CHAI. Appropriately, this Japanese indie pop rock band hits with a caffeinated jolt. The group’s latest album explores how Japanese femininity gets filtered through a Western lens.

WILL BUTLER + SISTER SQUARES, WILL BUTLER + SISTER SQUARES. Without even getting into his brother’s issues, it’s probably a good thing that Will Butler quit Arcade Fire, as his solo albums have been better than any AF output for nearly a decade running. (SETH

SOMMERFELD)

Around here, it’s easier to be a raconteur than a racketer.

Running for Good

The new Boulevard Race and fundraiser brings runners together to support local cancer patients

BY AMELIA TRONCONE

The Boulevard Race’s 4-mile distance may seem an easy feat for some of Spokane’s avid runners, but it’s a case of a little going a long way.

This inaugural race through the streets of downtown Spokane happens Sunday, Sept. 24, as a fundraiser to benefit Community Cancer Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting cancer patients in the Inland Northwest.

Jon Neill, race director and executive director of Community Cancer Fund, believes that the cause behind the event is what makes it special. (The Inlander is a sponsor of the race.)

“You know, we are all affected by cancer. All of us. And we all want to do our part to end it, and to show support for those that are battling,” Neill says. “And that’s been the part that has been the most gratifying, the most rewarding, at times, the one that brings tears to my eyes and makes me want to work a little harder.”

Founded in 2014, Community Cancer Fund works with regional medical nonprofits, patient advocates and private entities to fund screenings, clinical trials and innovative therapy for cancer patients. All donations to it are reinvested in the local community to support those impacted by cancer.

The race’s route begins at the Centennial Hotel, passes Riverfront Park’s Clock Tower, takes participants through historic Browne’s Addition and finishes at Spokane

Falls Boulevard’s intersection with Howard Street. Neill says it was important the course also showcase some of Spokane’s most iconic and historic features.

“What we wanted to do was make sure that we ran on the best city streets, and by some of the coolest landmarks that we, as Spokane citizens, love to share,” he says.

Over 2,000 runners are expected to turn out for the first Boulevard Race, with about 15 percent of participants coming from outside the Spokane area.

“When you put on an event — whether it’s a race, whether it’s a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, a showcase volleyball tournament — Spokane comes out and they support,” Neill says.

As former race director of Bloomsday, Neill knows what it takes to put on a large road race. He first announced the Boulevard Race to the public in May, working to make it a reality in the four months since.

“To put on a major road race of this caliber, it’s typically one where you [need] at least 10 months,” he says. “And I think with what we’ve been able to do in assembling a tremendous team, a sort of roster of sponsors, that it’s just a testament to the community, the cause and the willingness of the city to embrace this.”

Chris Morlan is head coach of Spokane Distance Project, a premier men’s running club, and plans on

running in the Boulevard Race. Morlan says many running events in Spokane are typically held on the Centennial Trail because it’s difficult to block off arterial roads.

So he’s excited for the Boulevard Race’s new, scenic course because it allows runners to explore different areas of the city.

“I am looking forward to a high-quality, well-designed race that is put on by people who really know what they are doing,” Morlan says.

Both Morlan and Neill agree that Spokane’s running scene is unique because schools in the area begin fostering an eagerness for and interest in running from an early age. An example of this, according to Neill, is the elementary school running program Active for Youth, which over 7,000 local students participate in.

A former competitive runner who has run all over the world, Morlan believes that running races have such a large impact in Spokane because of the city’s lively running community. This running culture and community dates to the 1970s and was nurtured by Bloomsday founder Don Kardong.

Neill says Spokane’s rich tradition of running continues to thrive because the sport is fitness-oriented while also fostering community togetherness. The Boulevard Race is reflective of this togetherness because it’s a collaboration between the cancer patient community and fitness community.

“Our goal in putting this race together was not only to present to the city and the region a fantastic for-cause [race] to support cancer patients, but it also had the parallel purpose of bringing a treasured downtown event into the fold here in Spokane,” Neill says.

Boulevard Race director Jon Neill. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

MUSIC CULTURE THEATER VISUAL ARTS WORDS

Express Yourself

Acreative instinct lies deep within all of us. An urge to sing, write, paint, perform, sculpt, dance, talk, act, draw.

Spokane dancer CarliAnn Forthun Bruner responds by using a physically active artform to connect with her Indigenous heritage. Multimedia visual artist Io Palmer also moves as she twists, carves and paints her vibrant and lively sculptural pieces, which sometimes carry profound meaning about social constructs like race.

At Spokane Public Library, a hub for learning, community, creativity and exploring unlimited possibilities, it’s Shane Gronholz’s job to help us make sense of the world around us. So we can be better humans, yes, but also so we can make connections between art, ourselves and the world around us.

Actor and playwright Dahveed Bullis writes scripts and physically transforms himself into each character he portrays. Through her music, Coeur d’Alene singer-songwriter Gabriella Rose muses on heartbreak, hope, anger and joy, crafting a soundtrack for listeners that helps process the rollercoaster ride of being human.

The thread of expression is woven into the fabric of all our lives, reminding us sometimes quietly, other times loudly, that the call to create and share is one of the most beautiful parts of our human existence. It’s an acutely special thing, and we hope this year’s Fall Arts issue inspires you to both express yourself — through dance, theater, music, visual arts and more — and to revel in the profuse moments of artistic expression all around us.

— Chey Scott, Arts & Culture Editor

EDITOR

Chey Scott

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Derek Harrison

CALENDAR EDITOR

Madison Pearson

CONTRIBUTORS

Eliza Billingham

Sylvia Davidow

E.J. Iannelli

Summer Sandstrom

Carrie Scozzaro

Seth Sommerfeld

Amelia Troncone

Samantha Wohlfeil

ON THE COVER:

Io Palmer’s “Unruly Foliage”

Photo by Young Kwak

DEUTSCHES HAUS

W. 25 Third Ave. Spokane, WA

Coming Into Bloom

Coeur d’Alene singer-songwriter

Gabriella Rose’s vintage country style has her on the rise

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

Gabriella Rose isn’t just another pretty country flower. Fittingly, she’s got some thorns.

Even just listening to some of the singles the 21-year-old singer-songwriter has released over the past year makes that instantly clear, as the combo of a country spirit and retro vibes blur together with an attacking sharpness.

On “Because You Got Caught” the sweetness of her vocals hide her bad girl lyricism flavored with south-ofthe-border sounds. She sings in a much smokier tone on “In the Dark” as she broods over an unfaithful lover. And “Deadbeat Disco” owes as much to ’60s pop R&B girl groups and cheerleading chants as it does to country crooning. Rose ain’t painting by the numbers.

But as we sit down to chat over a drink at Coeur

d’Alene Coffee Co., the bold, inner style clashing in the fibers of her being slowly becomes apparent. She’s adorned in a yellow country girl dress and cowboy boots, but she’s also rocking a chic leather jacket and fidgets with its various snaps and zippers with an ADHD bashfulness. She speaks glowingly of her country influences like Lucinda Williams, Colter Wall, and Johnny Cash, but she also quotes Against Me! and Mitski lyrics as we chat. (She feels like the line in “First Love / Late Spring” — “I was so young when I behaved 25 / Yet now, I find I’ve grown into a tall child” — describes her to a T.) The Western stories she’s drawn to aren’t those of the idealized homes on the range, but the brutality of Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian and the feminist abandon of Thelma & Louise

She might look like a manic country dreamgirl on the surface, but there’s an outlaw ferocity ready to carve her own path lurking just below the dusty denim and fringe.

Gabriella Rose isn’t your typical country crooner. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

—LARA MANDELA

Photo Credit: Terrain/Erick Doxey

Rose grew up in a musical family in Southern California, where her mom was a singer in the ’90s Gwen Stefani mold and her dad produced the music. Eventually, her parents split and her mom and stepdad got into farming and brought Gabriella along for the journey, first to Northern California and then up to the Spokane area when she was a tween.

While her mom kept Gabriella singing in church and acted as her vocal teacher, she wasn’t too keen on revisiting her musical past and home was somewhat of a culturally isolated relic centered around bygone decades.

“What we listened to was just old-fashioned country. I was only allowed to watch like black-and-white reruns of Bonanza, Shirley Temple, Popeye, all that kind of stuff. I remember listening to Taylor Swift and that was about as far as I was allowed to go,” Rose says. “So now when I sing people are like, ‘Why do you sing like that?’ because I kinda croon a little bit. But it’s like I was a 1950s baby. My name should’ve been Mabel.”

As part of sibling rivalry with her guitar-playing brother, Rose picked up the instrument to show him that anything he could do, she could do better. Family — and the tough emotions of loss that come with it — sparked Rose’s musical creativity.

“The thing that actually led me to write music was my grandmother on my dad’s side got terminal cancer, and she ended up passing away,” Rose says. “And I remember as a kid, I was like how do I process this? I have so many words that I want to get out, and so I wrote my first song and it just kind of took off from there.”

She started performing on Inland Northwest stages when she was still a teen, finding a welcoming home at now-defunct venue the Bartlett, even winning the club’s Breakout Artist of the Year award when she was 17.

But after early success, Rose — like many a musician — hit a mental wall when the pandemic happened.

GABRIELLA ROSE

Sept. 29 & Oct. 6, Brick West Brewing Co.

“During COVID, I actually pawned all my music equipment. I sold my guitar, and I just said, ‘I’m not doing this, I’m gonna go to college, I’m gonna get a real job,’” Rose says. “But then if I went to a house and I found a guitar, I would just take it to a corner and play it and write little songs. It was like I was an addict or something. And I started just realizing I miss performing. I am not happy doing anything else.”

Oct. 13 with Sam Leye Band, Bing Crosby Theater

Oct. 27-28, Coeur d’Alene Casino

Follow @gabriella.rose.music on Instagram

Back on the proverbial saddle, Rose signed with Coeur d’Alene Records two years ago in order to try to make music her full-time career. This fall she has a slew of concerts on her schedule, during which she can usually be found playing in a duo setup with Hank Flint on electric guitar.

Rose is poised to be a breakout Inland Northwest act, but she’s also willing to take her time. She’s already recorded a full LP, but for now is content just releasing singles, waiting till one of the songs finds a foothold before dropping the record.

On the horizon she’ll be releasing “Just Say Yes” (a love song during which her brother actually proposed to his fiance at one of Rose’s gigs), a duet with Nashville country singer Michael Warren called “She Cries,” and a reimagined piano cover of the ’80s hit “Melt with You” with Jackie Miclau of the LA indie band Mt. Joy. Those singles are a bit scattered, but that’s kind of Rose’s style, both musically and literally.

“What I like about country music, especially the fashion, is it’s so gaudy and over the top,” she says. “My mom is always like, ‘Can’t you just like, wear something normal? Why do you have bright red cowboy boots and like a star spangled outfit on when we’re going to the grocery store?’ Life’s too short to wear boring things.”

Life’s too short for boring music, too. But pricking yourself on one of Gabrielle Rose’s sonic thorns can help fix that. n

“COMING INTO BLOOM,” CONTINUED...

SEPT. 24, NOV. 19

SPOKANE STRING QUARTET

Formed in 1979, the Spokane String Quartet brings chamber music, both traditional and contemporary, to the region. This fall, the quartet kicks off its season on Sept. 24 at the Fox Theater, for which they’re joined by pianist Evren Ozel to perform compositions by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, among others. Quartet musicians Mateusz Wolski (first violin), Amanda Howard-Phillips (second violin), Jeannette Wee-Yang (viola) and Helen Byrne (cello) take center stage on Nov. 19 at the Bing Crosby Theater, performing works from Joseph Bologne, Gabriel Faure and Maurice Ravel. Sept. 24 at 3 pm (Fox Theater); Nov. 19 at 3 pm (Bing Crosby Theater), $20-$25, spokanestringquartet.org (SSa)

SEPT. 29

COHEED AND CAMBRIA, DEAFHEAVEN

When you think of music, “lore” isn’t usually the first thing that springs to mind, but don’t tell Coheed and Cambria that. The prog rock outfit has built almost their entire career around a series of ongoing albums chronicling the Amory Wars, an epic sci-fi story crafted by frontman Claudio Sanchez (which he’s also adapted into comics and a novel). C&C has done so by exploring a galaxy of sounds, too, ranging from shredding heavy metal to melodic pop rock to posthardcore. The group’s latest tour also includes Deafheaven, the black metal-meets-shoegaze act that crafts the most beautiful, punishing music out there (though the band took heat for shifting away from screamed vocals to a much more light and atmospheric sound on 2021’s Infinite Granite). Knitting Factory, 8 pm, sold out, sp.knittingfactory.com (SS)

SEPT. 30

SYMPHONY POPS 1: FIRST LADIES OF SONG

Skiddily-bwop-bop-doo-da-wee-da! Ella’s scatting, Billie’s melodies and Sarah’s technique changed jazz forever. Spokane Symphony’s first Pops concert of the season celebrates Fitzgerald, Holiday and Vaughan with living jazz royalty Carmen Bradford. Discovered by Count Basie and launched as a featured vocalist with his legendary orchestra, Bradford has been adding to the legacy of female jazz singers for decades. The teacher, performer, storyteller and recent Grammy nominee is a dazzling tribute to some of the best-known singers of jazz’s golden age. So forget your “Gloomy Sunday,” get “In a Sentimental Mood,” and “Let’s Fall in Love” with the soulful stylings of the first ladies of song, past and present. The Fox Theater, 7:30 pm, $47-$100, spokanesymphony.org (EB)

OCT. 7

S.A.F.E. FALL FESTIVAL: MAREN MORRIS

Some musicians intentionally skirt social issues in order to build a bigger audience. Country rebel Maren Morris is not one of those people. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter has already had plenty of hits like “The Middle,” “I Could Use a Love Song” and “The Bones,” but she’s never let success get in the way of her advocacy. Her support of trans folks even got Tucker Carlson to label her a “lunatic country music person” … a phrase which she quickly slapped on a shirt to raise funds for Trans Lifeline. Morris is helping out again by playing an event to raise funds for Spokane Alliance for Fentanyl Education (S.A.F.E.) at the Pavilion. With tickets only costing $25, it’s by far the best entertainment deal of the fall, while also continuing Morris’ commitment to fighting the good fight. Spokane Pavilion, 4:15 pm, $25, all ages, spokanepavilion.com (SS)

OCT. 9

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

Prolific and wildly smart singer-songwriter John Darnielle has been releasing music as The Mountain Goats since 1991 and shows no signs of slowing down as the band prepares to release their 22nd studio album, Jenny from Thebes, a sequel to 2002 All Hail West Texas. The group is practically always on the road, but they haven’t been to Spokane in a few years now. If you want to see the G.O.A.T., now’s your chance. Every Mountain Goats show is different: Darnielle usually plays some super deep cuts for die-hard fans, but always plays hits like This Year and No Children. Super fan or not, you’ll want to scream along as he chants “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me!” The Fox Theater, 7:30 pm, $35-$50, foxtheaterspokane.org (MP)

OCT. 10

MACKLEMORE

Washington’s own Macklemore is coming back to the setting of his iconic “Downtown” music video. He may even pull up on a moped and hit up a thrift shop while he’s here. The multi-diamond certified rapper (real name Ben Haggerty) is getting personal with his fans as he performs on his North American tour for his self-titled album Ben Prepare to be immersed in a journey filled with arenachanting pop tracks and hard-hitting anthems that reflect on the (no) bad days. It’s a musical story of relapse, regret, redemption and roots. Spokane Arena, 7:30 pm, $30-$80, all ages, spokanearena.com (SD)

OCT. 13

MUDHONEY

While it became absolutely horrible advice during COVID times, expect Mudhoney to still wildly holler “Touch me, I’m sick!” when the underground icons rock out at the District Bar. While the grunge quartet didn’t reach the fame highs of some of their early ’90s Seattle peers, being less heralded favs of the scene probably helped them stick together for 35 years and counting. While there’s always an unhinged side to the group’s chaotic and noisy sound, there’s also something comforting about Mudhoney’s consistency: frontman Mark Arm can still wail with the best of ’em, the band still puts out albums on Sub Pop, and the group’s loud and energetic live show can most certainly still get a healthy mosh pit going, The District Bar, 8 pm, $30, 21+, sp.knittingfactory.com (SS)

Art: Maple Song - Sheila Evans

OCT. 14

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, and the swingin’est orchestra in the country is coming to Spokane. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is ditching the Big Apple for a tour of the West, including a stop at the Fox Theater. Come jive to standards by legends like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, plus newer repertoire from Wycliffe Gordon and Ted Nash, or JLCO’s own Carlos Henriquez. Leading the band is trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, whose portfolio includes nine Grammy awards and a Sesame Street album. Let the best of Manhattan come to you and get down with some world-class jazz for an especially groovy night. The Fox Theater, 7:30 pm, $45-$95, foxtheaterspokane.org (EB)

OCT. 15

TOOL

It’s great when you find a band that always feels like it’s pushing the boundaries of rock forward. It’s an even rarer level of excellence when a band’s decades old albums still feel cutting edge. That’s certainly the case with Tool. The artful, progressive metal mainstay explores the darker corners of heavy rock with a stunning technical acumen that simply doesn’t age. Frontman Maynard James Keenan and Co. released their standout debut album Undertow 30 years ago, but when tunes from it reverberate throughout Spokane Arena, they’ll still sound as fresh as ever. Spokane Arena, 7:30 pm, $65$590, all ages, spokanearena.com (SS)

OCT. 22

APASHE

The first time you throw some Apashe on the playlist, your friends might give you a look for changing the vibe. Why’d you switch from EDM to classical music all of a sudden? Ah, but did you? Before long, the swelling orchestral melodies and choral voices intermingle with heavy bass, hip-hop and maybe even a quick music history lesson, like the satisfying line in “Lacrimosa” informing listeners: “That was Mozart.” With his new brass orchestra tour, the artist showcases the staying power of live instruments at what’s sure to be a danceable show with dubstep influence. Knitting Factory, 8 pm, $30-$35, all ages, sp.knittingfactory.com (SW)

OCT. 24

PUDDLES PITY PARTY

Coulrophobia — aka the fear of clowns — permeates our society thanks to fictional face painters like Pennywise and the Joker. But there’s nothing to fear when it comes to Puddles Pity Party. The alter-ego of Mike Geier, Puddles is a towering clown in Pagliacci mode with a stunning baritone voice. As anyone who saw his opening set for Tenacious D at Northern Quest last year can attest, his live performances are an absolute blast of gorgeous cover songs, humor, and a dash of melancholy. Where else might you see operatic rearrangements of Billie Eilish, Ozzy Osbourne and Nick Cave songs, songs in Spanish sung to a human tequila bottle, and an overload of swooning about Kevin Costner? No one throws a party quite like Puddles. Knitting Factory, 8 pm, $25-$129, 21+, sp.knittingfactory.com (SS)

509-536-1764

1730 E SPRAGUE AVE, SPOKANE

MONDAY - SATURDAY 10AM - 5PM

BIDEANDBURGEON.COM

OCT. 28 & 29

SPOKANE SYMPHONY: SYMPHONIC-CON

It may be hard to believe for the youngsters out there, but there was a time when nerdy stuff like video games, sci-fi films and fantasy novels were considered… well... actually nerdy and not the widely accepted core of mainstream pop culture. The thought of a symphony orchestra “cheapening” themselves with such trivialities would’ve made high-culture patrons fall out of their seats with aghast incongruity. But now the Spokane Symphony is leaning into its geeky side with Symphonic-Con, a program loaded with beloved music from Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Uncharted video games and more. These days, that’s simply following the money. The Fox Theater, Sat at 7:30 pm & Sun at 3 pm, $25-$64, spokanesymphony.org (SS)

NOV. 5

RUBEN STUDDARD & CLAY AIKEN

At the peak of American Idol fever in 2003, there were few folks more famous than Season 2’s battling finalists Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken. The pair made for a delightful entertaining odd couple: the rotund Studdard was a Black R&B powerhouse, while the spindly Aiken was a white soft pop crooner. While neither would go on to the massive musical success of other Idol alums like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson, they’ve still got the pipes to pay the bills. The duo shows off their star-making voices and friendship forged under reality TV lights chemistry when they team up in Airway Heights. Northern Quest Resort & Casino, 7:30 pm, $39-$69, all ages, northernquest.com (SS)

NOV. 7

THE JONAS BROTHERS

The last time the JoBros were in Spokane was eons ago as they supported another familial music group, sisters Aly & AJ at the Knitting Factory. Now they’re back, 17(!) years later headlining the Spokane Arena. Can you say glow-up? Taking inspiration from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the Jonas Brothers are performing songs from each of their five albums and reminiscing on their rise to worldwide fame. You’ve heard SOS and Burnin’ Up from the band’s early days, but their newest album, The Album, is funkforward and downright groovy. Spokane Arena, 7 pm, $40-$230, all ages, spokanearena.com (MP)

DEC. 8 TV GIRL

Like a stoner spacing out to TV static, it’s easy to get lost in the hypnotic pop of Cali band TV Girl. The group mixes subdued indie sounds with retro ’60s samples to create dreamscapes that entrance audiences (especially Gen Zers; TikTok has certainly helped TV Girl). While the youths snapped up all the tickets to this gig as soon as it was announced, figuring out a way into the show would beat another night on the couch in front of an actual television. Knitting Factory, 8 pm, sold out, sp.knittingfactory.com (SS) n

FEATURED ACTIVITIES

•VENDOR MARKET

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CarliAnn Forthun Bruner envisions a future of self-expression and opportunity by sharing the art of dance across Spokane

BY SUMMER SANDSTROM

Often, we compartmentalize our lives and limit our self-expression, but for CarliAnn Forthun Bruner, dance has the power to shatter these self-imposed barriers.

“I can express myself kinesthetically and tap into parts of myself that maybe I’m not acknowledging in my everyday life,” Bruner says. “As an artist, as a mom, as a teacher,

you have to section your brain off a little bit, and when I dance I feel like all of those barriers melt away and I’m able to feel all of that in a healthy and safe space.”

Originally from Tacoma, Bruner moved to Spokane in 2018 when she began teaching dance at Gonzaga University.

Bruner has always been a very agile and active person, training as a gymnast until she suffered an injury that shifted her into

CarliAnn Forthun Bruner found her calling in Indigenous contemporary dance. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

the dance world at age 13. She primarily focuses on contemporary dance, a style drawing from ballet and modern, among other genres, with an emphasis on expression, innovation and fluidity.

A descendant of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Secwépemc band in Canada, Bruner discovered Indigenous contemporary dance while searching for a topic for her master’s thesis in 2019.

“Indigenous contemporary dance is the intersection of Indigenous worldviews and contemporary dance,” she says. “A lot of these choreographers are using contemporary dance as a tool to explore and tell stories of their Indigenous heritage and worldviews, such as matrilineal aspects, relationality with the land and being connected with all relations.”

Learning about the dance style has allowed Bruner to connect more with her own history, specifically to her great-grandmother who was a Powwow dancer, and to start looking at dance through a different lens.

“It’s a way for me to have an in to asking questions and then embodying it, which has been really healing,” she says. “It’s niche for sure, but there are a lot of choreographers out there doing their thing, you just don’t hear about it as much.”

To Bruner, dance is a crucial art form for any city. She says Spokane has a strong youth dance scene and training opportunities, with many young dancers leaving the city to pursue professional dance careers.

But there’s a lack of studio space and performance opportunities to many outside the youth sphere, which Bruner says is beginning to change as dance overall increases in popularity in Spokane. She says the city needs a smaller venue than the Fox or Bing Crosby Theater to remove barriers preventing some artists from performing.

Bruner also envisions Spokane becoming an alternative destination to Seattle for dance, in part due to the lower cost of living here and proximity to other cities with vibrant art scenes like Coeur d’Alene, Missoula, and Nelson, British Columbia.

“We’re within distance of quite a few cities that are of similar size and interest and have art scenes going on that could be really nice sister cities for touring, bringing artists in, supporting one another,” Bruner says.

She notes that many artists in Spokane are excited to see and collaborate with dance and performing artists, but that the abstract nature of dance is still daunting to some.

“Sometimes dance is kind of scary to watch, like you have that fear of getting it,” she says. “By the way, it’s OK if you don’t get it as long as you’re moved by what you see.

“I think that consistency of those opportunities and the quality of dance that’s been coming out of these various organizations is making it just more accessible,” she adds.

When Bruner moved here from Seattle in 2018, she saw Spokane’s dance scene as being on the crest of a wave. Then the pandemic hit, and only recently has that momentum begun to rebuild.

As part of that effort, she and other artists are producing “Rising Tide: A Collaborative Evening of Dance” featuring works by Bruner, fellow Gonzaga dance instructor Sarah Glesk, Quiero Flamenco’s Monica Mota and Vytal Movement Dance’s Melanie Rose Huff and Lexie Powell. Thirty local and regional dancers perform for the concert’s two nights.

“We want to just come together and support each other and get our choreographic voices out there,” says Bruner, whose piece depicts feeling out of place and stifling oneself to fit within various social constructs.

“It’s really inspired by my 4-year-old and all her glory of being just her glorious self, and dancing like no one’s watching,” she says.

Bruner hopes Rising Tide showcases Spokane’s potential to become an even stronger epicenter for dance.

“I hope and dream that it will become a community where people feel safe to continue their dance career here,” she says. “It doesn’t end when they move to Spokane, but flourishes and blooms in a way that they want it to.” n

JOIN US FOR AN ENCHANTING EVENING

OCTOBER

SATURDAY 5:30 to 11PM

THE DAVENPORT GRAND | $175 PER TICKET

Join Vanessa Behan for an elegant black-tie gala that celebrates our mission — keeping kids safe, strengthening families and creating a healthier community. Enjoy a three-course dinner, games and a thrilling auction that benefits the cause. The magic of the evening will continue to help shape our community for many nights to come.

SIGNATURE SPONSOR

Bouten Construction

Integrus Architecture

Intellitect

John L. Scott Foundation

Kalispel Tribe of Indians

SPONSORS

Northern Quest Resort & Casino

Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists

Numerica Credit Union

KXLY 4 News Now

River Park Square

Providence Inland

Northwest Foundation

Rosauers

Seven2

The Davenport Grand Hotel

CORPORATE TABLE SPONSORS

Chelsey Graves Real Estate

Coldwell Banker

Team Noone at CrossCountry Mortgage

Divine’s Auto Repair, Towing, and Fasmarts

Idaho Central Credit Union

Liberty Lake Rotary Club

McFarland Prey Real Estate

McKinstry

MW Consulting Engineering

NCG

PotlatchDeltic

Pediatrix

Starry Financial Group

Stoneway Electric Supply

Team Cantlon Real Estate URM Stores

* Sponsors listed as of August 23rd. Our sincere apologies if contributions were inadvertently omitted.

INFORMATION and TICKETS

Event tickets are available online at thepumpkinball.org

THROUGH DEC. 31 MINECRAFT: THE EXHIBITION

Make sure your inventory is fully stocked with torches, snacks and handy tools before heading to the MAC’s fall marquee exhibit, which explores the unlimited world of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time. Allowing visitors to feel like they’ve jumped inside the game themselves — hence our aforementioned advice about coming prepared — the exhibit features to-scale characters (yes, even hostile ones!) and settings from Minecraft’s many diverse biomes, plus plenty of hands-on activities. Created to celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary in 2019, the exhibit on loan from Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture is making its last stop in Spokane before retiring for good. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm (third Thu until 8 pm), $10-$20 (free for members), northwestmuseum.org (CS)

OCT. 5

DEREK HOUGH: A SYMPHONY OF DANCE

Get your groove with Emmy Award-winning choreographer Derek Hough’s at his newest live dance show. Co-created with fellow Emmy winners Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo, “Symphony of Dance” explores the power of music through electric choreography and spectacular stage production. This fast-paced show features a live band that brings the soundtrack to life, and a fusion of various dance styles performed by Hough and a talented cast of dancers. Fans can expect to be immersed in favorite styles of dance, including ballroom, tap, salsa, hip-hop and contemporary. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 7 pm, $39.50-99.50, firstinterstatecenter.org (AT)

OCT. 5-7

KELSEY COOK

Growing up with a mom who’s a professional foosball player and a dad who’s been an international yo-yo champion and Spokane’s poet laureate, humor and creativity surrounded Kelsey Cook from the get-go. Cook, originally from the Inland Northwest, is coming home for four shows in Spokane as part of her national tour. Unafraid to delve into taboo topics, Cook’s humor has an air of relatability that almost anyone can find solace in while having a good laugh. Cook has appeared on The Tonight Show and Comedy Central, and her most recent comedy special, The Hustler, is available to stream on YouTube. Spokane Comedy Club, times vary, $20-$32, spokanecomedyclub.com (SSa)

OCT. 7

PALOUSE CULT FILM REVIVAL: TROLL 2

“So bad it’s good” is a fitting description of Troll 2, the 1990 lowbudget horror film that actually isn’t a sequel to anything and doesn’t even have any trolls (they’re goblins). As with its cringey cinema counterparts, Troll 2 has since reached the coveted “cult” status, and is frequently revived for in-person screenings like this one hosted by the Palouse Cult Film Revival at Moscow’s historic Kenworthy theater. For those who’d like to know what they’re in for: A young boy and his family head to a small town for a quiet vacation, unaware, of course, that it’s inhabited by fang-toothed goblins who eat humans after turning them into plant matter — they’re vegetarian, duh. Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 8:30 pm, $5-$8, palousecultfilms.org (CS)

OCT. 7-8

SPOKANE RENAISSANCE FAIRE

History lovers and everyday escapists can relive only the best parts of life circa 1530 at the 10th annual Spokane Renaissance Faire. We say this with the best intentions, because obviously indoor plumbing, modern medicine and a fair justice system are things that didn’t exist in Tudor England during fickle Henry VIII’s tyrannical rule. Instead, head up to Green Bluff to enjoy exciting diversions like equestrian sports (yes, even jousting!), dancing, tasty food, live entertainment, music, an old-fashioned market and much more. Costumes are definitely encouraged, and LARPing is pretty much a guarantee. Lazy K Ranch, 10 am-5 pm, $10-$75, spokanerenfaire.com (CS)

OCT. 16

ADAM SANDLER: THE I MISSED YOU TOUR

Do you miss Happy Gilmore? The Thanksgiving song? The chubby, unshaven man in a sweatshirt that somehow gets cast opposite Jennifer Aniston? Well, Adam Sandler misses you, too! That’s why he’s bringing The I Missed You Tour to Spokane Arena, for mature audiences only. The Sandman and an unannounced special guest are likely to bring some raunchy, juvenile humor to the stage, plus some guitars, too. Sing along with the wedding singer himself, and maybe he’ll even grace us with another version of the Hanukkah song. Either way, expect knee-slappers and surprising insights from an evening with this year’s Mark Twain Prize winner. Maybe the Hustle star will even drop in on some of Hooptown’s outdoor basketball courts. Spokane Arena, 7:30 pm, $39.50-$169.50, ages 16+, spokanearena.com (EB)

OCT. 19

TAYLOR TOMLINSON

It rules that Taylor Tomlinson should be a fixture in our comedic lives for decades to come. The Califonian stand-up isn’t even 30 yet, but she’s already established herself as one of the genre’s top performers with a gleefully brash attitude and lack of fear when amusingly riffing on the challenges in her life, like an engagement that fell through and a bipolar diagnosis. She may have over 2.5 million TikTok followers, but that’s not a case of viral shallowness, as she honed her craft the old school way, grinding through sets at clubs. Her uproarious specials Quarter-Life Crisis and Look At You showcase both her sassy youthful vigor and her seasoned expertise. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 7 pm, $30-$160, firstinterstatecenter.org (SS)

OCT. 20

THE IMMIGRATION RESIDENT FILM PREMIERE

From On The Horizon Films, The Immigration Resident highlights the advocacy work done by Latinos en Spokane. It tells the stories of local Latino immigrants and commemorates migration history and the economic contributions of Latino individuals and communities in the region. Prior to the screening is a social hour and dinner. Funds raised go toward Latinos en Spokane’s work to provide legal services to refugees and immigrants, and the organization’s future goal of creating a legal immigration team. The Immigration Resident also highlights injustice in the immigration system, along with the work being done to create positive changes. Montvale Event Center, 5-9 pm, $150, eventbrite.com (SSa)

OCT. 20-22

DISNEY ON ICE: FROZEN & ENCANTO

Step inside a magical world with Disney on Ice’s newest show, this time around featuring recent blockbusters Frozen and Encanto through world-class ice skating and aerial acrobatics. Split into two adventures, fans first journey to the wintery kingdom of Arendelle before being transported to a musical casita in the mountains of Colombia. Guests can sing along to their favorite songs while seeing Anna, Elsa, Mirabel and the Madrigal family, as well as classic characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. Costumes are encouraged for young audience members under 14 years, and ticket add-ons include pre-show activities. Spokane Arena, Fri-Sat at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 11 am and 3 pm, $24-$112, spokanearena.com (AT)

OCT. 28

DO SPIRITS RETURN?

Turn back the clock 140 years or so, and one of the most popular forms of entertainment for Spokane’s earliest residents would have been attending seances during the peak of the spiritualist movement in the late 1800s. Mystics and mediums mesmerized the public by claiming to be able to communicate with the spirits of loved ones who’d passed on. This modern show at the Bing just nights before All Hallows’ Eve offers a peek behind the thin veil between the living and the dead. Created by local magician and illusionist Isaiah Daniels, the performance asks attendees to suspend their disbelief for a few hours and ponder the unknown. Bing Crosby Theater, 8 pm, $27-$32, all ages, bingcrosbytheater.com (CS)

NOV. 11-12

FALL FOLK FESTIVAL

Dust off your fiddles, tambourines and hand drums and prepare for a festival celebrating all things folk. The annual Fall Folk Festival hosted by the Spokane Folklore Society is a cornucopia of folky fun taking place over two days. With over 100 local groups performing traditional and ethnic dance, along with music and jam sessions on the festival’s eight stages, the festival aims to showcase our region’s history and cultural diversity with performances from groups like the community ukulele group Ukestra and Spokane Buddhist Temple’s Bon Odori Dancers, a traditional Japanese folk dance group. While you listen to the music emanating from all angles, check out the vendor hall where local makers sell their wares. Spokane Community College, Sat from 11 am-8 pm, Sun from 11 am-5 pm, free, spokanefolkfestival.org (MP)

NOV. 21 NUTCRACKER! MAGICAL CHRISTMAS BALLET

Looking for a new way to experience the beloved Nutcracker ballet this holiday season? For one night, a new touring production stops in Spokane, featuring 75 talented dancers from around the world, united by art, to tell the magical tale of Clara’s dreamland journey. Dancers in the show hail from Japan, Tatarstan, Ukraine and beyond, their elegant movements amplified by elaborate set pieces and large-scale puppetry. Favorite scenes — like the Nutcracker Prince’s epic battle with the Mouse King and Clara’s visit to the Kingdom of Sweets — come to life in spectacular form. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 6 pm, $32-$102, firstinterstatecenter.org (CS)

DEC. 8

POPOVICH COMEDY PET THEATER

Animal lovers of all ages won’t want to miss this delightful, fur-filled showcase. Direct from Vegas, Popovich Comedy Pet Theater brings its entirely rescued animal cast north this holiday season for a smile-filled evening that’s likely to leave many audience members wondering: “Can my pet do that?!” Centered on the talents of founder and fifthgeneration circus performer Gregory Popovich, the pet theater’s cast includes more than 30 animal performers: cats, dogs, birds, Diamond the Shetland pony and Lucy the pig. While the animals are the true stars, Popovich and the rest of the show’s human crew are nothing to scoff at, boasting impressive skills in juggling, gymnastics, balance and more. Bing Crosby Theater, 7 pm, $17-$42, bingcrosbytheater.com (CS)

DEC. 13

A DRAG QUEEN CHRISTMAS

It’s true that drag queens never half-ass anything, that’s why this holiday-themed drag extravaganza is a must-see when the RuGirls come to town this December. Hosted by everyone’s favorite Jewish drag queen, Miz Cracker, and featuring big-name RuPaul’s Drag Race stars like Jimbo The Drag Clown, fan-favorite plastic fantastic queen Trinity The Tuck and season 15 winner Crystal Methyd, the show will most definitely include tons of furry fits, glitter, sequins and incredibly fierce holiday looks. The Fox Theater, 8 pm, $40-$270, 18+, foxtheaterspokane.org (MP) n

HOME IS WHERE THE COUGS ARE

Our WSU home just isn’t the same without our students. Welcome home, Cougs!

BECU is proud to show our support by unveiling our annual crop art creation near WSU! And if financial wellness is one of your goals this year, visit BECU in Spokane and apply for membership. We’ll offer you a WSU-embossed BECU debit or credit card, so you’ll always pay with pride. Visit one of our Spokane locations to learn more and apply for membership.

This QR code should lead you to becu.org/locations/Spokane. If you see another URL, avoid entering your personal information and contact BECU.

Membership required. Restrictions apply.

Federally insured by NCUA.

Love Letters to Spokane

No matter his creative medium, playwright Dahveed Bullis remains a die-hard champion of his hometown

BY E.J. IANNELLI

Had events unfolded differently for Dahveed Bullis, he might be making a living on the music circuit. At one time his band Arcadia Is Burning had regular gigs at venues throughout Spokane.

“Back in the day, we played all over the place,” he says. “We played the Knitting Factory a couple times. We played the Cretin Hop, the Hop. All these cool little spots that aren’t really operating anymore. The Empyrean, the Boulevard, the Seaside.”

But once the band reached a certain threshold of success, they were faced with the tough choice of committing to touring or definitively calling it quits. Bullis suggests that Arcadia Is Burning sealed its fate by never really deciding either way. “We just kind of slowly dissolved.”

Before long, however, theater — the medium for which he’s best known today — started to supplant music as Bullis’ primary creative outlet. He acted in and directed a lengthy list of stage productions at theaters throughout the region. He helped establish the Spokane Theatre Arts Council, an organization that advocates for more equity in the theater community. In 2014, he returned to his alma mater, West Valley High School, for a stint as an assistant theater director.

In the fullness of time, and despite some steep personal challenges, Bullis would graduate from Eastern Washington

Dahveed Bullis has made a name for himself in the local theater scene. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

University’s Theatre Arts Program. He also came to lead the theater program at Company Ballet School in Spokane Valley. And in 2020, along with Scott Doughty, he founded Spokane Playwrights Laboratory, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering regional writing talent by workshopping scripts and connecting writers with industry resources. SPL has helped emerging local playwrights like Tristen Canfield turn their dramatic concepts into full-fledged productions.

For a theater career that already had its share of milestones, 2022 marked the start of a supercharged phase when Bullis appeared alongside Matt Slater and Danny Anderson in a production of Pass Over, Antoinette Nwandu’s absurdist existential drama, at Stage Left Theater.

The show, which was directed by Malcolm Pelles, ended up going to the American Association of Community Theatre’s biennial AACTFest and competing at the national level. There it picked up multiple sought-after awards, including one for Overall Outstanding Production. On top of that, Bullis won the monologue competition with a separate piece.

The success of Pass Over has been a turning point of sorts for Bullis, who’s been able to take the play on tour with the same cast members. He just recently returned from a weekend in Bellingham, where New Prospect Theatre hosted their production and an audience talkback session.

“It’s so rare that you work on a play beyond a run, and we’ve been working on Pass Over for a year and a half now. It’s exciting. We’re really wanting to get into schools, colleges, just to bring it out to people. This is the type of show that really needs to be seen, and it hits the subjects that need to be talked about,” he says.

At the same time as he’s touring with Pass Over, Bullis is preparing to direct the debut run of Minimum Wage, a play that he himself wrote and workshopped with SPL. When it opens at Stage Left on Oct. 6, it will be the culmination of eight years of ruminations, notes, drafts and revisions.

MINIMUM WAGE

Oct. 6-22, Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm, $25

The play is based on Bullis’ own experience as a manager in a fast food restaurant.

The protagonist is “a store fixer, and there’s a lot of pressure on him. He’s also a single father and an aspiring actor. So there’s this Tennessee Williams play, and he brings it up all throughout the show, but he doesn’t have time to practice,” Bullis says. “And throughout the process of [Minimum Wage], we get to see all of the other characters get put in situations where they’re making impossible choices.”

Stage Left Theater, 108 W. Third Ave. stagelefttheater.org, 509-838-9727

There are universal touchstones there, then, but Bullis deliberately situated his play in Spokane.

“It’s my love letter to my people. Spokane needs to hear stories about Spokane written by Spokanites. I’m tired of going to a theater and seeing New York’s story or Chicago’s story or a random town in Ohio’s story. You come and watch Minimum Wage, you’re going to hear characters say, ‘Sprague.’ You’re going to hear characters say, ‘Rosauers.’ We’re talking about our city,” he says.

Another rationale for the specific setting was to drive home the immediacy of his characters’ lives.

“This story’s happening right now. These are real situations that really happened in your city — and to people that most of the time you don’t want to think about unless they mess up your order.”

And yet, as immersed as he is in theater work right now, Bullis hasn’t abandoned music altogether. He recently had a solo performance at Brick West Brewing Co., and other small gigs are scheduled for the autumn. Last year he was also invited to work with musician and songwriter Olivia Brownlee on her Spokane tribute album This Is Where You Live

His involvement in that project, he says, was as gratifying as it was apt.

“Being a Spokanite my entire life, and being a part of an album that’s all about Spokane, that’s my entire m.o. as an artist.” n

OCT. 6-15

THE WHO’S TOMMY

Rock out with a soundtrack from British Hall of Famers the Who as you watch the life of Tommy — a young boy traumatized by violence with a penchant for pinball and cults — unfold. This rock musical by Pete Townshend isn’t exactly the same as Tommy, the rock opera and studio album by the Who, or Tommy, the 1975 film, or even the Who’s “Tommy Pinball Wizard” the pinball machine. But apparently, the story’s got a chokehold on the rock scene. Join Aspire Community Theater, now the most rocking theater group in Coeur d’Alene, as they follow Tommy from dissociation and disillusionment to reconciliation and salvation. Expect classics like “Smash the Mirror,” “I’m Free,” and, of course, “Pinball Wizard.” Kroc Center, Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm, $28, aspirecda.com (EB)

OCT. 7-29

, think again. This reimagining of Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire classic by NYC-based playwriting prodigy Kate Hamill is everything the original isn’t and more, confronting historical, misogynistic tropes head-on in what’s been described as a “feminist revenge fantasy.” In Hamill’s retelling — which comes to the Civic’s Studio Theatre just in time for Halloween season — the famed vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing is reimagined as a woman, and Mina Harker is no mere damsel in distress with little agency over her own life. And while he’s still very much a blood-sucking monster, Count Dracula’s most sinister trait in this version may be the masculine charm he wields as a weapon of manipulation and power. Spokane Civic Theatre, Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm, $15-$28,

OCT. 20-29

MATILDA THE MUSICAL

The Tony Award-winning musical Matilda is coming to Coeur d’Alene. Based on Roald Dahl’s 1988 book, this beloved story is about the power of imagination, rebellion and magic. Matilda is an extraordinary young girl with psychokinetic powers who dreams of a better life away from her neglectful parents and the cruel headmistress at her new school. Determined to stand up to the adults in her life, Matilda uses her imagination and cleverness to finally take charge of her own destiny. This production is packed with exciting dance numbers and catchy songs, which are sure to delight. The Kroc, Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm, $25-$30, lakecityplayhouse.org (AT)

NOV. 10-11

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

The Grinch hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season! Ring in the monster’s least favorite time of year with this record-breaking musical, narrated by Max the Dog and brought to life by fantastical costumes that would make Dr. Seuss proud. Trim up the tree, drool over roast beast, whizz down Mt. Crumpet and remind yourself of the true meaning of Christmas. No intermission and a running time under 90 minutes make it a perfect family performance that tops any bedtime story, at least according to The New York Times. If you’re not misty-eyed by the time the Whos stand hand-in-hand and start singing, chances are your heart is two sizes too small. First Interstate Center for the Arts, Fri at 7:30 pm, Sat at 3 and 7 pm, $45-$90, firstinterstatecenter.org (EB)

NOV. 10-18

JULIUS CAESAR

If you (like me) absolutely do not miss watching this 1954 cinematic classic each holiday season, or (like me) will also do anything to kickstart the holiday season weeks before Thanksgiving, then get thee down to Pullman. Starting in mid-October — yes, the show opens and wraps even bethe Halloween candy goes on sale — Regional Theatre of the Palouse is staging the 2008 live adaptation of the beloved film starring Spokane’s own Bing Crosby alongside Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Regional Theatre of the Palouse, Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun

Shakespeare’s historic tragedy about the Roman Empire’s infamous ruler is fall’s main event for Eastern Washington University’s theater program, yet it’s staged as a modern retelling. Watch as those close to Caesar conspire against him and plot his death to prevent him from acquiring an insurmountable level of power. Battle breaks out following Caesar’s assassination, surrounding Rome’s future in turmoil and bloodshed. If you’re longing for an action-packed night of drama or a fun night of Shakespearean storytelling, this production of Julius Caesar could leave you also asking, “Et tu, Brute?” Eastern Washington University, times vary, $5-$10, ewu.edu/ caesar2023 (SSa)

NOV. 14-19

LES MISÉRABLES

One the most famous epics ever penned, Les Misérables follows Jean Valjean through the turmoil, revolution and reformation occurring in 19th century France following his release from prison. Les Mis explores classism, cruelty in the justice system and broad-reaching injustices experienced by so many at the fault of too-powerful people and systems. A tragic story with a surprisingly inspirational message, this production as part of Best of Broadway’s 2023-24 season showcases the hardships of life and love, and the resilience of those fighting for a fair future. First Interstate Center for the Arts, times vary, $50-$125.50, broadwayspokane.com (SSa)

MATTHEW MURPHY PHOTO

DEC. 1-17

HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE

First performed off-Broadway in 1997, Paula Vogel’s dark comedy How I Learned to Drive won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama just a year later. As Lil’ Brit grows up in 1960s Maryland, she’s manipulated and sexually abused by her uncle, which ends up destroying both of their adult lives. Stage Left, the region’s “premier progressive nonprofit theater,” always seeks to explore complex personal and societal issues through its work and offers an “alternative theater experience in Spokane.” Join its cast and crew as they perform Vogel’s nationally acclaimed work, just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. Stage Left Theater, Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm, $25, stagelefttheater.org (EB)

DEC. 5-10

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

A triumph of American literature has become a triumph of the American theater. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, Scout, and Boo Radley revisit audiences in Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Richard Thomas plays Finch, the lawyer defending Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama. Thomas is best known for his Emmy-award winning performance as John-Boy in the heartwarming CBS drama The Waltons. In 2020, the original Broadway cast gave a free performance in Madison Square Garden for thousands of schoolchildren before concluding its run. This year, Thomas and the national cast visit 44 cities for its third year of touring, bringing the prophetic story to hundreds more. First Interstate Center for the Arts, times vary, $52-$100, broadwayspokane.com (EB)

DEC. 23

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS

The Million Dollar Quartet — Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley — are reunited just in time for the holidays. Inspired by the true story of their December 1956 recording session at Sun Records, this musical mixes the rock ’n’ roll hits that made these four men famous with sounds of the season. Audiences go on a journey through a story of Christmas past, present and future, while listening to classic holiday hits like “Run Rudolph Run,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” First Interstate Center for the Arts, 3 pm & 8 pm, $53.50-91.50, broadwayspokane.com (AT) n

JULIETA CERVANTES PHOTO

for LEADERSHIP

Dr. Amanda Cantrell

Dr. Nike Imoru

for INCLUSION

Pivot Spokane

Jackie Caro

Dr. Ashley DeMoville

Christine

Lysnewycz Holbert

Olivia Evans

Bright Comet Theatre

Zine Fest

Stephaine Courtney

for COLLABORATION

for IMAGINATION

Dahveed Bullis

Chelsea Martin

Latrice Williams

Ari Nordhagen

Mallory Battista & Lisa Soranaka

Filipino-American Northwest Association

Elk Soup

Spokane Print & Publishing

Stephanie Oakes

50 Hour Slam

Northwest Film Festival

Monica Mota

Madeline McNeill & Maura Garcia

Pakootas & CarliAnn Bruner

Entangled with Meaning

Artist and WSU professor Io Palmer explores complex social issues with captivating, joyous multimedia sculptures

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

When artist Io Palmer was an undergraduate art student, what resonated most was that art can and should be about something. She remembers an instructor nudging her to think about the ideas she wanted to put into the world through her art.

“That was always really super interesting to me, and that’s where I remain,” says Palmer, a Washington State University professor who now inspires her students to ask similar questions. “I remain at that place where the work, regardless of what it looks like, it’s always about something.”

Palmer’s current exhibition with retired WSU faculty member Ann Christenson at downtown Spokane’s Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, for example, explores numerous concepts simultaneously, from floral arrangements, window boxes and interior design to “borders and boundaries and fences.”

“But it’s not about the flower box,” Palmer says, “it’s about what that represents … how some people are included in something [while] others are pushed out of something, are kept in a certain space, and my work has always been about acknowledging racial constructs, class constructs.”

Even though Palmer’s ceramic constructions in the exhibition titled “Entangle” (on display through Sept. 30 and open by appointment) deal with ugly issues, they are visually captivating, even joyous. That’s intentional, she says.

“I sort of start to get tired of always thinking about myself and other people of color in relation to white America,” Palmer says. “I started really kind of realizing that it sort of puts people as ‘the other,’ and I wanted to concentrate on creating a literal space that is about the richness, that is about the tapestry, that is about the beauty, that is about the struggles of our communities that have been historically dismissed.”

Io Palmer’s art is displayed across Washington state.

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

Growing up with parents of different racial backgrounds gave Palmer a front-row seat to that struggle.

“It’s the ’60s in America,” says Palmer, describing how her parents came to be in Hydra, Greece, where Palmer (her first name, Io, is pronounced ‘ee-o’) was born. “As you can imagine, a white woman [and] Black man wasn’t seen as the wonderful thing that it is,” she continues.

When the interracial couple weren’t allowed to rent an apartment, they first went to Paris, then Greece, says Palmer. Her mother was into batik and printmaking, while her father was a sculptor.

When Palmer was 7 years old, her parents returned to America, where she lived with her mother through high school, then in Washington, D.C., to live with her father and nurture dreams of going to the School of Visual Arts in New York City where she hoped to study under multidisciplinary artist Hannah Wilke.

Other inspirations include painters Julie Mehretu and Mark Bradford, as well as performance artist Nick Cave, says Palmer, who ended up at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Although Palmer initially studied painting in college, the medium didn’t resonate with her as much as ceramics did.

“I still have this image of one of the students making this simple jar, and he had put a top on it,” Palmer recalls. “I remember he pulled the top off and put it back on, and I just thought that was the most magical thing ever.”

After graduation, Palmer traveled cross-country and was smitten with the southwest, eventually earning her master’s in fine arts in ceramics and mixed media from the University of Arizona.

Palmer recently returned to the Southwest to complete one of many competitive artist residencies she’s applied for and been granted throughout her nearly 25 years as a working artist and educator.

ENTANGLE: IO PALMER AND ANN CHRISTENSON

Open by appt. through Sept. 30, free

Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St.

Contact Jim Kolva for viewings, 509-458-5517

“The main thing about a residency is having uninterrupted time to focus on making work,” says Palmer, adding that artist residencies vary greatly.

Sometimes, she says, the artist pays for the experience, but other times it’s free or nearly so, covering such things as supplies or studio space or even living space.

Palmer is keen on addressing the economic realities of working as an artist, which inspired her a few years ago to create something she called Concept Clay.

“My vision was to create murals in different places throughout Washington state, so I was trying to become more of a ‘public artist’ and include students in that artist-led mural work,” Palmer says. “It was also kind of an umbrella for connecting with other ceramicists.”

In addition to teaching — she’s in her 10th year at WSU — Palmer has several large projects in the works, including an installation through 2024 at the Seattle Center. Titled “Medicinal: A Public Art Offering,” the project relates to a recently installed mural Palmer and her students created for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at WSU Health Sciences building in Spokane.

Palmer also continues to reflect on the work she makes and its relationship to the world at large.

“I can’t reconcile just doing work that goes out to a show, that comes back and sits in my basement for 30 years,” she says. “That’s just me, but it’s something that I’ve been struggling with lately, but it’s a good struggle. I appreciate the struggle.” n

NOW REGISTERING 2023/2024 SEASON

Ballet, Acrobatic Arts, Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, Theatre Arts & Pre Professional Program

(509) 869-5573 • companyballetspokane.com

THROUGH JAN. 6 FIVE CRITICAL DECADES OF ART: THE STEPHENS COLLECTION

Travel through time with the Jundt Art Museum’s newest exhibition. Collected over the span of 50 years by Spokane residents Les and Carolyn Stephens, the art featured in this collection tells the story of how society and art has evolved throughout the decades. The Stephens’ collection is a reflection of regional and national trends and styles of the time when they were created. Featured art also explores different art movements, such as 1960s pop art, environmental art, East Coast/West Coast, abstraction, photorealism and more. Art appreciators can expect to see both traditional and nontraditional examples of paintings, wood carvings, sculptures, clay art, photography and more. Jundt Art Museum, Mon-Sat from 10 am-4 pm, free, gonzaga.edu/jundt (AT)

SEPT. 30-OCT. 1 SPOKANE CARVERS SHOW

For 35 years, the Spokane Carvers Association has been chipping away at promoting the art of woodworking in the Inland Northwest. Up to 80 artists meet twice a month at Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church to whittle everything from puppets and ducks to modernist banana sculptures and intricate fairy houses. The annual show accepts entries from beginners to experts, and a jury will select the best in show. Last year’s top award went to a whimsical sculpture of a cardboard box filled with pencils, etched completely and meticulously from wood. This year, additional activities include woodturning demonstrations and a raffle. Definitely carve out some time in your schedule to check out this traditional but ever-adapting artform. The Hive, Sat from 10 am-5 pm, Sun from 12-4 pm, free, spokanecarvers.com (EB)

THROUGH MARCH

9

JEFFREY GIBSON: THEY TEACH LOVE

When we think about multimedia or interdisciplinary art, we might consider it the uniting of a handful of materials or techniques, like painting and sculpture. For artist Jeffrey Gibson, nothing’s off-limits, from sterling silver to wool blankets to rawhide to tipi poles. Showcasing these elements from his Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, Gibson turns ordinary objects — flags, punching bags, illuminated signs — into beautifully embellished, statement-making works of art. In summary, Gibson believes everything and everyone has the potential for radical transformation. Explore more than 35 works by the artist this fall in a solo exhibition at WSU Pullman’s on-campus gallery. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm, free, museum.wsu.edu (CS)

SEPT. 21-OCT. 19

TRACY PETRE WALKER: LIFE AND TIME

Using symbolism, archetypal imagery and stereotyping to explore a variety of current events and social concerns, artist Tracy Petre Walker’s “Life and Time” exhibit at the Spokane Falls Community College Art Gallery explores a variety of societal themes that are present in our daily lives. Walker uses distorted imagery and the layering of space and meaning to form complex compositions that encourage viewers to examine a range of topics on a deeper level. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, Mon-Fri 8:30 am3:30 pm, sfcc.spokane.edu (SSa)

OCT. 6

TERRAIN 14

On the first Friday of October, local arts nonprofit Terrain holds its annual multimedia event celebrating local and regional artists, musicians and other creatives’ endeavors. Attendees are sure to see a variety of mediums, including poetry, film, sculpture, painting, photography and more. Terrain highlights the work of groundbreaking, innovative artists who are adding vibrance and culture to the Inland Northwest, uniting them with the community to create a supportive and powerful creative space. The event is free, but if you’re looking to avoid a crowd, you can purchase tickets ($25) for preview night on Thursday, Oct. 5, for a more intimate experience. 314 W. Riverside Ave., 5 pmmidnight, free, terrainspokane.com (SSa)

OCT. 6-28

MARY FARRELL + TOBE HARVEY

Two heavyweights in the local art scene combine forces for this fall showcase at downtown Spokane’s Saranac Art Projects gallery. Mary Farrell, whose work has been exhibited around the world, works primarily in printmaking. A common thread in her work is softly shaded organic forms from human subjects to tangled bird nests, often produced in tones of sepia, rust, charcoal, seafoam and ochre. It’s a pleasant juxtaposition to Tobe Harvey’s vivid, color-filled imagery. As a Montana native, Harvey often paints sweeping Western landscapes in vivid, contrasting colors. As he recalls these places of intense beauty, Harvey says he’s guided by the lasting emotions he felt while viewing them with his own eyes. Saranac Art Projects, Fri-Sat 12-8 pm, free, sapgallery.com (CS)

Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour

OCT. 6-DEC. 9

REGIONAL WATERCOLOR INVITATIONAL

Though the medium is quite fickle and time consuming, Spokane has a plethora of watercolor painters who produce versatile and unique works year-round. This exhibition at the GUAAC, curated by the aforementioned Tobe Harvey, features several watercolorists including Megan Perkins, Stan Miller, Karen Mobley, Becki Busi and others. Vibrant and serene, these works highlight these skillful artists of Spokane as well as the diverse ways in which each uses watercolor. Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center, Fri from 4-7 pm, Sat from 10 am-3 pm, free, gonzaga.edu/gonzaga-universityurban-arts-center (MP)

OCT. 12-14

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PRINTMAKING ALLIANCE SYMPOSIUM

Back in 2021, local printmaker Reinaldo Gil Zambrano told The Inlander that he wanted to dub Spokane “Print Town USA.” That dream is becoming a reality now with the Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance’s 6th Biennial Symposium taking place right here. The symposium aims to showcase the local printmaking community by hosting printmaking shows and workshops across various venues in the area. Local artists Mary Farrell and Chris Bovey are among the symposium’s keynote speakers, each established printmakers in their own right. Visit the event site for more details. Locations and times vary, $30-$75, rockymountainprintmakingalliance.org (MP)

Saturday, September 30th, 10 AM - 5 PM Five Studios / over Fifty Artists

Driving Maps

MEGAN PERKINS ART

OCT. 29-NOV. 25

EVERYTHING FIBER

It’s not often that fiber arts are given the spotlight, but that idea seems to be shifting as more and more fiber artists come out of the woodwork here in Spokane. This show at the Liberty Gallery above Auntie’s Bookstore features Maggie Anderson, Elyse Hochstadt, Pierr Morgan and more local artists showing off the unique ways in which they work with fiber. From weaving and felting to eco-printing and sculptural art, their art shows just how versatile fiber is as a medium for expression. Liberty Gallery, daily from 11 am-7 pm, free, potteryplaceplus.com (MP)

NOV. 3-5

YULETIDE

It’s back! For the first time in seven years — and since their big move this spring from the Garland District to the U-District — Spokane Art School is hosting Yuletide, its juried, indoor holiday art market. A plethora of local artists are filling the first and second floors of the Art School’s new space with handcrafted, individually produced works in a variety of mediums. You’ll find ceramics, paintings, soap, ornaments, cards and more items to purchase for yourself or others this holiday season. Every purchase directly benefits the incredible artists participating in the show. Spokane Art School, times vary, free admission, spokaneartschool.net (MP)

NOV. 3-25

TOBY KEOUGH: FLOWERS

There’s much to love about the delicate blooms and leafy greens that fresh bouquets and house plants bring to our enclosed living spaces even if these splashes of color, natural texture and heavenly aromas are sometimes temporary. Coeur d’Alene artist Toby Keough, however, offers a more permanent fix with her highly detailed, largescale botanical artworks in the form of paintings and cheerful murals, which she creates both for private residences and in public spaces around the region. As part of the Terrain Gallery’s fall exhibition lineup, Keough fills the cozy space with a heavy dose of much-needed color as we all get ready to hide indoors for the long months of winter. Follow her Instagram (@tobyrae) for even more floral fun. Terrain Gallery, Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm, free, terrainspokane.com (CS)

DEC. 1-30

FICTION, FANTASY & FOLKLORE

New Moon Art Gallery’s final show of the year showcases a variety of art dolls, or artistic objects of various mediums taking the form of a human, animal or imaginative creature. Participating artists were initially tasked with creating an art doll based on a story or concept from fiction, fantasy or folklore. Imagination is the primary theme of this show, with each artist being challenged to go outside of the box and fully embrace their creativity. New Moon Art Gallery, Wed-Sat from 11 am-5 pm, manicmoonandmore.com (SSa)

DEC. 2-JAN 6, 2024

CUP OF JOY

My cup overfloweth! Trackside Studio hosts its 10th annual Cup of Joy exhibition, featuring 150 cozy, ceramic, handmade cups. Come celebrate the humble mug in all its glory. Stop to appreciate all the cups in your life, whether it be a cup of Joe, a cuppa, or a red Solo cup. Artists from all over the country get to submit four cups to the gallery’s most popular event of the year. Cups are sculptures. Cups are kitchenware. Cups are where art and expression meet functionality and hot cocoa. So bring a friend, debate the merit of handles, and renew your admiration for this overlooked vessel. Plus, Trackside is a gallery, a working ceramics studio, and a gift shop, which means you might get to buy a new favorite cup from a local artist to take home. Trackside Studio, Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm, opening reception Fri, Dec. 2 from 5-8 pm, free, tracksidestudio.net (EB) n

Spokane’s Socrates

Art springs from what’s happening in the world — Shane Gronholz wants you to know all about it

Shane Gronholz wants to get inside of your head.

No really, it’s kind of his job.

“No one can ever remember my job title,” Gronholz says. “And I can’t even blame them, it’s a little weird.”

“Current affairs specialist” isn’t the most descriptive of job titles, but Gronholz saw it as the perfect opportunity to mold the job to fit the community’s needs. For him, that meant connecting with locals through discussion, workshops and lectures about philosophy, politics, humanities, the media and, of course, current affairs.

BY MADISON PEARSON

“I’ve always believed there’s an intersection between arts, culture, current events and philosophy,” he says. “All of it helps us understand why people believe the things they do and why they act certain ways.”

Gronholz, who studied philosophy in college, has always been interested in the subject.

“I was always a pretty inquisitive kid,” he says. “My introduction to philosophy came in the form of C.S. Lewis books. It’s philosophy through a theological lens. Then I took a philosophy class in college and decided that was my path.”

After completing a thesis, receiving his Ph.D., and

teaching philosophy at Gonzaga University for four years, Gronholz started the position with Spokane Public Library in August 2022. Since then, he’s hosted programs focused on democracy, citizenship, censorship, immigration and plenty more. Having only been in the role for a year and some change, Gronholz is constantly looking for unique ways to engage the community.

The events are different from most programming on the library’s calendar. Gronholz isn’t necessarily teaching a class or a workshop most of the time, instead, he’s facilitating discussion between community members. Fostering healthy conversations between people who may not agree

Spokane Public Library’s Shane Gronholz wants to talk with you. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

with one another. Or with him.

Like philosophy, art also has a profoundly communicative function. And like the conversations Gronholz is facilitating, art is used to communicate the way people feel and what they’re thinking about. Philosophy and art go hand in hand — each leaning on one another to remain purposeful and relevant as the world unfolds right before our eyes.

Conversation inspires insightful thinking and creativity from which art can be made. Discussion is an art form, and Gronholz is giving the community a blank canvas to paint upon.

“People go to the Shadle Library gardening events because we have a big gardening community here in Spokane,” Gronholz says. “Sharma Shields is our writing specialist for the writing community. What is the natural constituency for current affairs? There really isn’t one, so I have to find experts to help me with those discussions.”

Whether that’s bringing in local journalists to discuss how the media works or referencing a T.M. Scanlon book, Gronholz knows how to create chatter in a room. Chatter that could alter the community’s culture.

Last October, Gronholz held his first event as current affairs specialist. The discussion featured Kimber Glidden, Boundary County’s former library director who’d been harassed about “explicit content” in the library’s children’s section to the point she resigned.

Glidden spoke about her freedom of expression being challenged which Gronholz used to discuss society, government and personal beliefs.

“Important topics and conversations can really be a bummer sometimes,” he notes. “They can be really heavy, but that’s what makes them so important. There are a lot of good things going on in the world, but when the bad stuff happens, we have to talk about that, too.”

SHANE GRONHOLZ

OCT. 1

ERIN PRINGLE: UNEXPECTED WEATHER EVENTS

Spokane writer Erin Pringle grew up in the rural Midwest, but she’s called Spokane home for over 10 years now. Her newest work’s title, Unexpected Weather Events, can be applied to both the Midwest and Spokane’s ever-fluctuating conditions. In the collection, Pringle shares stories of characters who navigate perilous conditions and treacherous landscapes in order to overcome predicaments in their lives. To celebrate the new book’s publication, Pringle hosts a reading with musicians Liz Rognes and Neil Elwell, who perform while she signs copies. Shadle Park Library, 2-4 pm, free, spokanelibrary.org (MP)

OCT. 14

THE SPOKANE CLOCKTOWER MYSTERIES

Just as October’s eerie vibes begin to settle, author Patricia Meredith returns to celebrate her Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries series with a special event at the MAC. Set in 1901 Spokane, the “cozy” detective series is described as “Agatha Christie meets Murdoch Mysteries” with a cast of characters, from heiresses to detectives, who become entangled in a web of suspicion. While the books touch on historical people, places and regional events, the rest is a work of well-researched fiction and mystery. Learn how Meredith crafted her novels’ realistic old-Spokane setting, and go on a special tour of the Campbell House. A book signing in the carriage house concludes the afternoon. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 12-4 pm, free, northwestmuseum.org (CS)

OCT. 21, 27 & 29

LORA SENF: THE NIGHTHOUSE KEEPER

After the success of her debut middle-grade horror novel, The Clackity, released in June 2022, local author Lora Senf is back with her second Blight Harbor mystery, The Nighthouse Keeper. The novel follows a brave, young girl named Evie as she navigates the spooky town of Blight Harbor as the town’s ghosts start to disappear. Evie must figure out where they’ve gone before it’s too late. Senf is celebrating with release/signing parties at Auntie’s Bookstore (Oct. 21), Giant Nerd Books (Oct. 27) and Wishing Tree Books (Oct. 29). Times vary, free, lorasenf.com (MP)

OCT. 23

TOM MUELLER: HOW TO MAKE A KILLING

Patients and profits. Inequality, greed and malpractice. Tom Mueller’s How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine is the type of reporting you hate to read and can’t put down. Join Mueller as he shares about his most recent work chronicling the crime and characters of the dialysis industry. A freelancer for The New Yorker, National Geographic and The Atlantic, Mueller’s previous exposés include a cultural history of whistleblowing and an investigation into the mysterious world of extra virgin olive oil. A Harvard and Oxford graduate from east Texas, with a past life as a Goldman Sachs associate and a classical guitar devotee, Mueller’s unique background helps him see the secret stories and bloody dollars coursing just under the surface of our lives. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 7 pm, $10-$45, spokesman.com/ northwest-passages (EB)

OCT. 24

AN EVENING WITH SABRINA IMBLER

Stay up-to-date on his events at spokanelibrary.org

Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @libraryshane

This month, Gronholz has been hosting a series of free philosophy classes for beginners. A philosophy 101 course of sorts. The classes delve into basic philosophical theories and political philosophy, and serve as introductions to some well-known philosophers and their most notable works.

Gronholz says these classes are his way of sharing his expertise with the community.

“I sort of take a sunnier view of human nature than a lot of people probably do and even I think our culture is sick right now,” he says. “But that’s the thing about culture, no one has a lever to pull to just automatically change culture. It’s this weird, unfolding, amalgam of things.”

Gronholz is always interested in the civic dialogue that occurs during his events.

“So far it’s been great,” he says. “No one has yelled at anyone yet!”

Gronholz knows that not everyone wants to talk about the difficult stuff, but he hopes that those who attend and listen can begin to shape the culture of their community to be even a tad bit brighter.

“You do what you can do to try and make things better,” he says. “So, I’m just trying to do my little part.” n

OCT. 20

BEDTIME STORIES

Good stories can make us feel safe. The best stories can make us feel sleepy. Cuddle up with Humanities Washington to hear bedtime stories from Washington’s own award-winning authors. Charles Johnson, Jess Walter, and writing couple Sharma Shields and Simeon Mills all reveal original work written especially for the evening, themed “Quarter Moon.” Johnson’s stories often illuminate race and philosophy, Walter’s portraits frequently feature recognizable local landmarks, Shields loves monsters, and Mills loves robots. No matter what you need for a good night’s sleep, these authors are almost certain to read it to you. If nothing else, you’ll be able to drift off in the knowledge that you’re supporting good literature in your community for years to come. So grab your teddy and settle in for a night of wild imagination and sweet dreams. Chateau Rive, 6 pm, $150, humanities.org (EB)

Living in the treacherous and mysterious depths of the ocean is a hard reality to imagine, but Sabrina Imbler’s latest work, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures profiles 10 species and their unique underwater experiences. Each essay depicts a sense of community and family for these otherworldly creatures, and their unique traits in adaptation, sexuality and survival. Imbler’s writing invites readers to change the way we envision both their lives and our own. The writer and science journalist from Brooklyn visits Gonzaga University as part of the English department’s annual Visiting Writers Series. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 7:30 pm, free, gonzaga.edu/mwpac (SSa)

OCT. 26

SPOKANE IS READING: KIM FU

Garnering enticing, enthusiastic reviews — like this one from TIME: “Bold…profound…surreal and clever. Fu brings magical realism to exciting heights.” — Kim Fu’s short story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century tempts readers to dive without hesitation into its weird and wonderful worlds. Which makes it an ideal choice as this year’s featured title for Spokane is Reading, the annual community reading initiative that culminates with an in-person event with the author. Within this vivid collection, Fu crafts 12 distinct and increasingly surreal worlds and possibilities touching on death, guilt, technology, sexuality and more. The Seattle-based author meets Spokane readers for two free, public events, so don’t wait too long to pick up a copy from a local library or bookstore. Spokane Valley Library (1 pm), Central Library (7 pm), free, spokaneisreading.org (CS)

OCT. 27

CARLA CRUJIDO: THE STRANGE BEAUTIFUL

For those of us lucky enough to live inside beautiful, old buildings, imagining the lives of past residents who traced our same footsteps can be an entertaining and even eerie exercise of the imagination. That’s sort of the premise behind Carla Crujido’s debut short story collection, The Strange Beautiful, which weaves magical tales of the residents of a historic Spokane apartment building — a very real place on the lower South Hill called the Mt. Vernon Apartments — throughout the past century. The Strange Beautiful is already available for purchase, and Crujido is hosting an in-person workshop (Writing Everyday Magic) as part of the Spokane Writers Conference on Oct. 27, followed by a reading at Auntie’s that evening. Auntie’s Bookstore, 7 pm, free, auntiesbooks.com (CS)

OCT. 27-28

SPOKANE WRITERS CONFERENCE

Whether you’re an aspiring writer or seasoned professional, the Spokane Writers Conference can help writers at any stage of their career develop their style and find inspiration for new literary works. Through 18 workshops and panels across its two-day run, attendees can learn about a variety of writing styles and gather tips and tricks from professionals in different fields, including the Inlander’s own Arts & Culture editor Chey Scott. This year’s conference covers everything from poetry and children’s literature to researching, revising and publishing. Sat from 10:30 am-4:30 pm (Central Library); Sun from 9:30 am-5:15 pm (Spokane Valley Library), free, spokanewriterscon2023.rsvpify.com (SSa)

NOV. 7-10

EVERYBODY READS:

JOANNE TOMPKINS

Traversing the complex paths of life often requires resilience, passion and the ability to transform oneself. These themes are deeply explored in JoAnne Tompkins’ novel, What Comes After. During a prior career as a trial lawyer and mediator, Tompkins frequently witnessed people going through periods of intense conflict, as well as their determination to move forward. Inspired by these emotional moments, her novel follows a community grieving the mysterious loss of two teenage boys. As this year’s featured author for Everybody Reads, a regional community reading program in the Palouse and Lewis-Clark Valley, Tompkins makes several stops to discuss her work with the public. Times and locations vary, see website for details; free, everybody-reads.org (SSa)

NOV. 14

JONATHAN EVISON: AGAIN AND AGAIN

New York Times bestselling novelist Jonathan Evison heads to Spokane to present his latest novel, Again and Again. The book follows protagonist Eugene “Geno” Miles, a seemingly ordinary elderly man living out the rest of his days in a nursing home. However, as Geno’s new nursing assistant Angel learns, he’s anything but normal. Claiming to have lived many lives over a thousand years, Geno insists that he’s been searching all this time for a lost love he first encountered in medieval Spain. Angel tries to discover the truth and while doing so learns, along with the reader, that love is timeless, elusive and sometimes right in front of you. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 7 pm, $10-$45, gonzaga.edu/ mwpac (AT) n

SEPT. 21-27

COMEDY

FILM

9/22 The Tallest Man on Earth, Andrea Von Kampen, The Fox Theater

9/22 Jake Rozier and the Implication, No Soap Radio, Zoramena, Big Dipper 9/22 Styx, ICCU Arena

9/22 J Northwest BachFest: Celebrate Diversity, The MAC

9/22 WSU Faculty Artist Series: Jacqueline Wilson, Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU)

9/22 Symphony Sessions, Wonder

CULTURE

MUSIC

VALLEYFEST

JOIN US FOR THREE FUN-FILLED AND FESTIVE DAYS. Enjoy a parade, car show, live entertainment, vendor booths, beer and wine, science and technology, multi-sport Sunday, and CultureFest. Valleyfest is FREE and packed with familyfriendly events.

9/24 J Spokane String Quartet with Evren Ozel, The Fox

9/24 Northwest BachFest: Catalyst Quartet and Zuill Bailey, Barrister Winery

9/24 African Children’s Choir, Liferoads Church

9/25 J The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids, Northern Quest

9/26 For The Fallen Dreams, VRSTY, Ghost Heart, Pulling 4 Victory, Big Dipper

9/26-27 U of I & WSU Symphony Orchestra, U of Idaho Admin Building

9/27 WSU Symphony Orchestra Concert, Bryan Hall Theatre

9/27 What She Said: The Diva Concert, The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center

THEATER & DANCE

9/21-24 J Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, First Interstate Center for the Arts

9/21-27 J The Addams Family, Spokane Civic Theatre

9/22 Celebration of Modern Dance, Hartung Theater

9/22-24 J Wild Dust, The Guardian

9/23 Gonzaga Dance Season Opener, Myrtle Woldson PAC

9/27 Repertory Dance Theatre, Panida

9/27 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

VISUAL ARTS

Io Palmer & Ann Christenson: Kolva-Sullivan Gallery Tracy Petre Walker, SFCC Gallery

9/21-24 J The Great Northwest Wood Show & Sale, Dahmen Barn

9/21-27 J James Allen: Excavating Books, Bryan Oliver Gallery

9/21-27 Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

9/21-27 Spokane Watercolor Society Invitational, Spokane Art School

9/21-27 Rick Davis, Boswell Corner Gallery

9/21-27 Five Critical Decades of Art: The Stephens Collection, The Jundt

9/21-27 Hannah Kuhns, Emerge

9/21-27 J Eric Sanchez: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Entropy

9/21-27 J The Elvira Art Show, Giant Nerd Books

9/21-27 Marsha Marcuson & Robbin Miller, Avenue West Gallery

9/21-27 J Cozette Phillips, Trackside

9/21-27 Peace Of It All, Art Spirit Gallery

9/21-23 J Jun Oh + Aleeta Renee Jones, Terrain Gallery

9/22-23 Josh Hobson, SAP

9/22-23 Posie Kalin: I Am Who I Am Becoming, Saranac Art Projects

WORDS

9/23 Annette Pimentel, The Kenworthy

9/23 Terena Elizabeth Bell, Auntie’s

9/24 J Rebecca Heisman, Wishing Tree

9/25-27 Borah Symposium, U of Idaho

9/26 J Adrianne Harun in Conversation with Jess Walter, Auntie’s Bookstore

9/26 Riverside Chats: An Evening with Luke Baumgarten, Central Library

9/27 Poetry After Dark, Spark Central

SEPT. 28 - OCT. 4

COMEDY

9/30-10/1 Oktoberfest, Arbor Crest

9/30 Campbell House 125th Anniversary Tour: Memento mori, The MAC

9/30 Oktoberfest, German American Hall 10/1 A Night of Laughter and Hope, Knitting Factory

10/4 Outdoor Movie , Haunted Tour & Ghost Hunt, Commellini Estate

FILM

9/28 J Mountainfilm On Tour, Garland Theater

9/28-30 Twilight 15th Anniversary, Garland

9/29 Drive In Movie: Lilo & Stitch, The HUB

9/29-10/1 Manhattan Short Film Festival, Garland Theater

CULTURE

9/29 Drive In Movie: Friday Night Lights, HUB Sports Center

9/30 Harold and Maude, Garland Theater

MUSIC

9/28 Chevelle, Three Days Grace, Loathe, Northern Quest Resort & Casino

9/28 Bart Budwig, Graham Farrow Knibb, Solana Brooklyn, Panida Theater

9/28 Sleep Token, Knitting Factory

9/28 Willi Carlisle, Matt Mitchell Music Co., The District Bar

9/29 J Coheed and Cambria, Deafheaven, Knitting Factory

9/29 Royal Bliss, Shallow Side, District Bar

9/29 University of Idaho Jazz Concert, U of Idaho Administration Building

9/29 Faculty Artist Series: Julie Anne Wieck, Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU)

The Plant Project

J Spokane Symphony Pops 1: Ladies

of Song, The Fox Theater

CDA Symphony: Beethoven’s Emperor, Schuler PAC

Live, Northern Quest Resort & Casino 10/1 Violent J, Ouija Macc, Esham, Dirty Savage, Gryn, Eric Acebo, Big Dipper 10/2 Gonzaga Symphony Orchestra, Myrtle Woldson PAC 10/4 J Jesse Cook, Bing Crosby Theater

10/4 J The Halluci Nation, The District Bar

THEATER

&

DANCE

J The Addams Family, Spokane Civic Theatre

J Rising Tide: A Collaborative Evening of Dance, Bing Theater

Trouble at the Tropicabana, Cutter Theatre

9/29-30 Two Witches, No Waiting, Circle Moon Theater

VISUAL ARTS

9/28-30 J Io Palmer & Ann Christenson: Entangle, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

9/28-30 Don Hamilton: Everything Was Beautiful at the Ballet, Hamilton Studio

9/28-10/4 Palouse Plein Air Exhibit, Third Street Gallery

9/28-10/4 J Tracy Petre Walker, SFCC

9/28-10/4 Cayla Skillin-Brauchle, EWU Gallery of Art

9/28-10/4 First Impressions: Women Printmakers of Washington, MAC

9/28-10/4 J James Allen: Excavating Books, Bryan Oliver Gallery

9/28-10/4 Frank S. Matsura, The MAC

9/28-10/4 J Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, Jordan Schnitzer Museum WSU

9/28-10/4 Hannah Kuhns, Emerge

9/28-30 Marsha Marcuson & Robbin Miller, Avenue West Gallery

9/28-10/4 River Ridge Association of Fine Arts Small Works, Liberty Building

9/28-30 Bevie LaBrie, Pottery Place Plus

9/28-29 J Cozette Phillips: Exercises in Futility, Trackside Studio

9/28-30 Alison Wahl, New Moon Gallery

9/28-30 Peace Of It All, Art Spirit Gallery

9/28-30 J Jun Oh + Aleeta Renee Jones, Terrain Gallery

9/29 Josh Hobson + Posie Kalin, Saranac

9/30-10/1 Spokane Carvers: Artistry in Wood 2023, The Hive

9/30 J Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour

9/30 Drop In & Zine, Spark Central

10/2-4 Ari Burns & David Harlan, 1912 Center

WORDS

9/28 Drop In & Write, Spark Central

9/28 J Warren Seyler: 700 Generations of the Spokane Tribe, The MAC

9/30 Dr. Zachariah Etienne: Black Holes and Gravitational Waves, Panida

10/1 J Book Release Party: Unexpected Weather Events, Shadle Library

10/3 Environmental and Migration Crisis in the Sahel, Foley Speakers Room

10/4 Art As Activism Writing Workshop, Emerge

The Halluci Nation heads to the District Bar on Oct. 4.

OCT. 5-11

COMEDY

10/5-7 J Kelsey Cook, Spokane Comedy Club

10/5 Funny Funny Funny Joke Joke Joke, Garland Theater

10/6 No Clue, Blue Door Theatre

10/8 Geoffrey Asmus, Spokane Comedy Club

10/8 J Whose Live Anyway?, Northern Quest Resort & Casino

10/11 Trae Crowder, Spokane Comedy Club

10/11 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

10/5-11 Minecraft: The Exhibition, The MAC

10/5-11 Fall Harvest Festival, Beck’s Harvest House

10/6 Backstage Dinner with Cellar Door, The Kenworthy

10/6-8 Fall Festival, New Leaf Nursery

10/6-7 J Whiskey Barrel Weekend, The Coeur d’Alene Resort

10/7-8 J Spokane Renaissance Faire Green Bluff

10/7 J Spokane Archaeology Day, MAC

10/7 J Red, Black and Brew Beer Festival, Sutton Park (Cheney)

10/7 J Philippine History Month: Unity in Diversity, West Central Community Center

10/9 Spokane Big Table Eats Around the World, Davenport Grand Hotel

10/10 Intro to Machine Sewing: Upcycled Bedsheet, Gizmo-CDA

FILM

10/5 J Metropolis, The Kenworthy

10/6-8 Manhattan Short Film Festival, Garland Theater

10/7-8 J The Nightmare Before Christmas

30 Year Anniversary, Garland

10/7 Palouse Cult Film Revival: Troll 2, The Kenworthy

10/10-11 Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Garland Theater

MUSIC

10/5 The Lowedown on Masterworks 2: Symphonic Graffiti, The MAC

10/5 Langhorne Slim, John Craigie, Bing Crosby Theater

10/5 Avatar, Knitting Factory

10/5 40 Fingers, The Fox Theater

10/6 Flamingos in the Tree, The Big Dipper

10/6 No Quarter, Bing Crosby Theater

10/6 J Ray LaMontagne, First Interstate Center for the Arts

10/6 John R. Miller, The District Bar

10/7 J S.A.F.E. Fall Festival ft. Maren Morris, Sammy Eubanks, Pavilion

10/7 Icon For Hire, The Funeral Portrait, Concrete Castles, The Big Dipper

10/7 Collective Soul, Northern Quest

10/7 Prof, Cashinova, J. Plaza, Willie Wonka, Knitting Factory

10/8 J The Gaslight Anthem, Donovan Woods, Knitting Factory

10/8 GBH, Niis, The District Bar

10/7-8 J Spokane Symphony

Masterworks 2: Symphonic Graffiti,

The Fox Theater

10/7 J Spokane Jazz Orchestra with Joe Brasch, Bing Crosby Theater

10/8 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Purple, U of Idaho Admin. Building

10/9-10 J Idaho Bach Festival, University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall

10/9 J The Mountain Goats, Mikaela Davis, The Fox Theater

10/9 Carbon Leaf, The District Bar

10/10 J Macklemore, Spokane Arena

10/10 Cannibal Corpse, Mayhem, Gorguts, Blood Incantation, Knitting Factory

10/11 Spokane Symphony Barrister Chamber Soirées, Barrister Winery

VISUAL ARTS

10/5-11 Cayla Skillin-Brauchle, EWU Gallery of Art

10/5-6 J Terrain 14, downtown Spokane

10/6 J First Friday, Spokane

10/6-11 J Archie Bray Resident Show, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

10/6-11 We Are The Water, We Are The Land, Chase Gallery

10/6-11 Chris Kelsey, Gina Freuen & Mark Moore: New Firings, Trackside

10/6-7 J Keiko Von Holt & Cheryl Halverson, Avenue West Gallery

10/6-11 J Helen Parsons, Entropy

10/6-7 J Mary Farrell + Tobe Harvey, Saranac Art Projects

10/6-7 J Regional Watercolor Invitational, Gonzaga Urban Arts Center

10/6-7 Deb Sheldon, Terrain Gallery

10/11 The Cult, Northern Quest

THEATER & DANCE

10/5-11 J The Addams Family, Spokane Civic Theatre

10/5 J Derek Hough: Symphony of Dance, First Interstate Center for the Arts

10/6-8 J Minimum Wage, Stage Left

10/6-8 J The Who’s Tommy, Kroc Center

10/6-7 Two Witches, No Waiting, Circle Moon Theater

10/6-8 The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again], Myrtle Woldson PAC

10/7-11 J Dracula, Spokane Civic Theatre

10/6 Leela Francis: Wahaka Walls & Windows, Helix Wines

10/7-31 Mel McCuddin’s Final Show, The Art Spirit Gallery

WORDS

10/5 Whitworth President’s Leadership Forum, Spokane Convention Center

10/6 3 Minute Mic, Auntie’s Bookstore

10/7 J Ben Donahue: The Rise of WSU Football, Auntie’s Bookstore

10/8 J Harlem Renaissance: Reclaiming Cultural Identity, The MAC

10/11 Matthew Sullivan: A Nicer Kind of Murder, Central Library

10/11 Poetry After Dark, Spark Central

The dudes from Whose Line come to Northern Quest for a hilarious evening on Oct. 8.

COMEDY

10/12-14 Matt McCusker, Spokane Comedy Club

10/13 No Clue, Blue Door Theatre

10/13 Improvised Murder Mystery, Harding

Family Center

10/14 Improv: Kids Monthly Workshop, Blue Door Theatre

10/15 David Lucas, Spokane Comedy Club

10/16 J Adam Sandler, Spokane Arena

10/18 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

10/12-18 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

10/13 Haunted Hall of Horror, Runge

Furniture

10/13 Friday the 13th Zombie Drag Show, Garland Drinkery

10/14 J Solar Eclipse Viewing Party, Riverfront Park, Spokane Valley Library

10/14 J Illuminate: A Dance Gala, Vytal

Movement Dance Space

10/14-15 Halloween X-Spo, Spokane

Convention Center

10/14-15 Columbia Fire & Iron Fall

Hammer-In, Morgan Jade Ironworks

10/14 J Community Scanning Day: Preserving Spokane’s Black History, Carl Maxey Center

10/14 Craft Pop Up, Hillyard

10/14 Campbell House 125th Anniversary

Tour: Memento mori, The MAC

FILM

10/12 Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Garland

10/13 J Palouse Cult Film Revival: VHS Mania 3, The Kenworthy

10/15 The Witches of Hollywood, South Hill Library

10/18 Legend Has It, Panida Theater

MUSIC

10/12 J Shakey Graves, Flipturn, Knitting Factory

10/12 Spokane Symphony Barrister Chamber Soirées, Barrister Winery

10/13

J Mudhoney, Hooveriii, The District

10/13 Brett Young, Jake Scott, Griffen Palmer, ICCU Arena

10/13 Odyssey, Frisson PNW, Flannel Math

Animal + more, The Big Dipper

10/13 Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Christina Vane, Knitting Factory

10/13

10/14

10/14

J Borgore, Riverside Place

J Sangeeta Kacheri, Unity Spiritual

Center Spokane

J The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, The Fox

10/14 J Alice in Chains, The Podium

10/14 Marc E. Bassy, Knitting Factory

10/14 The War and Treaty, The District Bar

10/15 J Tool, Spokane Arena

10/15 J Ann Wilson of Heart & Tripsitter, Northern Quest Resort & Casino

10/15 Paleface Swiss, Enterprise Earth, Crown Magnetar, VCTMS, Big Dipper

10/15 J Black Veil Brides, Ville Valo, Dark

Spokane String Quartet

3 P.M. SUNDAY, SEPT. 24, 2023 Fox Theater Brahms, Schumann with pianist Evren Ozel

3 P.M. SUNDAY, NOV. 19, 2023

Bing Crosby Theater Bologne, Faure, Ravel

3 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 28, 2024

Bing Crosby Theater Beethoven, Price, Mendelssohn

3 P.M. SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2024

Bing Crosby Theater Adams, Mozart, Korngold with violist Sarah Bass

3 P.M. SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024

Bing Crosby Theater Haydn, Britten, Elgar

10/15 Classic Albums Live: Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Bing Crosby Theater

10/16 Vincent Neil Emerson, Logan Ledger, The District Bar

10/17 Sing While You Can, Hamilton Studio

10/18 The Hu, Knitting Factory

10/18 EWU Music Faculty Concert, Eastern Washington University

THEATER

10/13-15 The Wizard of Oz, Spokane Children’s Theatre

10/13-15 The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, TAC at the Lake

10/13-14 Two Witches, No Waiting, Circle Moon Theater

10/13-15 Much Ado About Nothing, Whitworth Cowles Auditorium

10/14 J According to Coyote, Panida Theater

VISUAL ARTS

10/12-18 J Archie Bray Resident Show, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

10/12-18 J James Allen: Excavating Books, Bryan Oliver Gallery

10/12-18 Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU

10/12-18 Tim Lord: By Book or By Hook, New Moon Art Gallery

10/12 Chris Kelsey, Gina Freuen & Mark Moore: New Firings, Trackside

10/13-18 Origins of Identity, Emerge

10/13-18 J Marcus Jackson, Moscow Contemporary

10/14-15 Craft Faire, Green Bluff Grange

10/14 Second Saturdays, Chrysalis Gallery

WORDS

10/14 J The Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries, The MAC

10/14 J TEDx Spokane: Flourish, The Bing

10/14 Nicola Griffith: Menewood, Auntie’s

10/15 J Patricia Meredith: Bringing Spokane’s Past into the Present, South Hill Library

10/17 Tamara Leitner, Myrtle Woldson PAC

10/17 Scott Leeds: Schrader’s Chord, Auntie’s Bookstore

10/18 WSU Visiting Writers Series: Bojan Louis, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU

Tim Lord

“By Book or By Hook”

Opening Friday, October th - October st.

Kim Long, Diane Rowen, Michele Mokrey

“Enchanted Forest”

Opening Friday, November rd - November th.

ART DOLL GROUP SHOW

“Fiction, Fantasy and Folklore”

Opening Friday, December st - December th.

Vytal Movement’s dancers perform at their “Illuminate” gala on Oct. 14.

OCT. 19-25

COMEDY

10/19 J Taylor Tomlinson, First Interstate Center for the Arts

10/19-21 Josh Blue, Spokane Comedy Club

10/20 J David Cross, Bing Crosby Theater

10/20 No Clue, Blue Door Theatre

10/22 Nick Hoff, Spokane Comedy Club

10/25 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

10/19-25 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

10/19-25 Fall Fest, Beck’s Harvest House

10/19 Campbell House Dark History: Society Secrets, The MAC

10/20-22 J WSQ 2023 Quilt Show, Spokane County Fair & Expo Center

10/20-21 Role-Playing Game Drop In, RPG Community Center

10/20 Kindness Art Contest, Emerge

10/21-22 Harvest Festival, Siemers Farm

10/21 Drop In & RPG, Spark Central

10/21 Adult Pumpkin Carving, Ritters

10/21 Campbell House 125th Anniversary

Tour: Memento mori, The MAC

10/22 Trunk or Treat, Ruby River Hotel

10/25 Coffee & Conversation, Central Library

FILM

10/19 Third Thursday Matinee: Tap, MAC

10/19 Teton Gravity Research: Legend Has It, Bing Crosby Theater

10/20 J The Immigration Resident Film

Premiere, Montvale Event Center

10/20-22 J Beetlejuice 35th Anniversary, Garland Theater

10/25 J Hocus Pocus 30th Anniversary, Garland Theater

MUSIC

10/19 Inland Empire Blues Society Monthly Boogie, Bolo’s Bar & Grill

10/19 Music from the Palouse, University of Idaho Administration Building

10/20 Fallstar, The Undertaking!, Lightworker, No Home, False Visions, The Big Dipper

10/20 All-Day Trey, The District Bar

10/21 J The Steel Wheels, Jenny Anne Mannan, The District Bar

10/21 Mersiv, Jon Casey, Deadcrow, Knitting Factory

10/21 Big Bubble Rave, Knitting Factory

10/21 Student Chamber Recital, University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall

10/21-22 J Spokane Symphony Masterworks 3: Morihiko, The Fox

10/22 Sam Leyde Band, Honey Soup, Beck’s Harvest House

10/22 J Apashe, Knitting Factory

10/22 Billy Raffoul, The District Bar

10/22 Solstice Wind Quintet, Cutter Theatre

10/23 Martin Sexton, The District Bar

10/24 Spafford, The District Bar

10/24 ZHU with NOIZU, The Podium

10/24 J Puddles Pity Party, Knitting Factory

10/24 Northwest Wind Quintet, U of Idaho

10/24 Whitworth Jazz Faculty Recital, Whitworth Cowles Auditorium

THEATER & DANCE

10/19-22 The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, TAC at the Lake

10/19-22 J Minimum Wage, Stage Left Theater

10/19-22 J White Christmas, Regional Theatre of the Palouse 10/19-25 J Dracula, Spokane Civic Theatre

10/20-22 J Matilda, Lake City Playhouse

10/20-22 J Disney on Ice: Frozen & Encanto, Spokane Arena

10/20-23 Retirement Is Murder, Panida Theater

10/20-22 Much Ado About Nothing, Whitworth Cowles Auditorium

10/21 Ballet Fantastique!, The MAC

VISUAL ARTS

10/19-25 Archie Bray Resident Show, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

10/19-25 Ben Joyce, Historic Davenport

10/19-25 Illumination, Third Street Gallery

10/19 Tracy Petre Walker SFCC Gallery

10/19-25 J We Are The Water, We Are The Land, Chase Gallery

10/19-25 J Cayla Skillin-Brauchle, EWU Gallery of Art

10/19-25 James Allen: Excavating Books, Bryan Oliver Gallery

10/19-25 Frank S. Matsura, The MAC

10/19-25 J Jeffrey Gibson, Jordan

Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU

10/19-25 Rick Davis, Boswell Gallery at NIC

10/19-25 The Stephens Collection, Jundt

10/19-25 Origins of Identity, Emerge

10/19-25 First Impressions: Women

Printmakers of Washington, MAC

10/19 Lecture: Tracy Walker, SFCC Gallery

10/19-25 River Ridge Assoc. of Fine Arts

Small Works Show, Liberty Building

10/19-21 Keiko Von Holt & Cheryl Halverson, Avenue West Gallery

10/19-25 Tim Lord: By Book or By Hook, New Moon Art Gallery

10/19-25 Helen Parsons, Entropy

10/19-25 Robbin Miller, Pottery Place Plus

10/19-25 Marcus Jackson, Moscow Contemporary

10/19-21 Deb Sheldon, Terrain Gallery

10/19 Paint & Sip, The MAC

10/20-22 J Farm Girl Quilt Show, Spokane County Fair & Expo Center

10/20-21 Mary Farrell + Tobe Harvey, Saranac Art Projects

10/20-21 2023 Regional Watercolor Invitational, GU Urban Arts Center

10/21-22 Craft Faire, Green Bluff Grange

WORDS

10/19 J Illuminations: Witches, Central Library

10/19 J Lilac City Live: Halloween Special, Central Library

10/20 J Sarah Conover: Set Adrift, Auntie’s

10/20 J Bedtime Stories Spokane, Chateau Rive

10/21 J Lora Senf: The Nighthouse Keeper, Auntie’s Bookstore

10/23 Tom Mueller, Myrtle Woldson PAC

10/24 Bittersweet: A Writing Workshop with Sarah Conover, Shadle Library

10/24 J An Evening with Sabrina Imbler, Myrtle Woldson PAC

Disney on Ice brings Frozen and Encanto to Spokane from Oct. 20 to 22.

COMEDY

10/26 Jessie Jetski Johnson, Spokane

10/27 Improvised Murder Mystery, Harding Family Center

10/27-28 J Adam Carolla, Spokane

10/27 No Clue, Blue Door Theatre 11/1 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

10/26 J Who Is Haunting Your House?, South Hill Library

Role-Playing Game Drop In, RPG

10/28 Goblin Party, Spokane Gallery & Framing

10/28 J Witches Ride, Corbin Park

10/28 Oktober in the Park, Hotel Ruby Sandpoint/Ponderay

10/28 Harvest Fest & Apple Palooza, Downtown Coeur d’Alene

10/28 Murder Mystery & Dinner, Commellini Estate

10/31 Slightly Spooky Celebration, Deer Park Library

10/31 J Campbell House Halloween, MAC

FILM

10/26-29 Hocus Pocus 30th Anniversary, Garland Theater

10/28 Cartoons at the Farmers Market, The Kenworthy

10/28-31 J Halloween 45th Anniversary, Garland Theater

10/28 J The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Garland Theater

MUSIC

Harvest Festival, Siemers Farm

Mercadito, A.M. Cannon Park

Pop Up, Hillyard

10/26 Snacks at Midnight, Left on Tenth, The District Bar

10/26 J Acid Mother’s Temple, The District Bar

10/26 Spooky Rave, Knitting Factory

10/27 J Death Chant, The District Bar

10/27 Kori Ailene, One Tree Cider House

10/28-29 Kevin Shay Band, Beck’s Harvest House

10/28-29 J Spokane Symphony

SymphonicCon, The Fox Theater

10/28 J TesseracT, Knitting Factory

10/28 Abraham Alexander, The District Bar

10/28 Jarabe Mexicano, Panida Theater

10/30 The Black Jacket Symphony

Presents: Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’, The Fox Theater

10/30 EWU Vocal Jazz Solo Night, Eastern Washington University

10/31 J Tubaween, University of Idaho

Haddock Performance Hall

11/1 J Frenship, Gavn, The District Bar

THEATER & DANCE

10/26 Thursday Evening Swing, Woman’s Club of Spokane

10/26-29 Matilda, Lake City Playhouse

10/26-29 The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, TAC at the Lake

10/26-29 J Dracula, Spokane Civic Theatre

10/26-29 J Amelie (The Musical), U of Idaho Hartung Theater

10/27-29 Witches Brew, Pend Oreille Playhouse

10/28 J Isaiah Daniels Presents Do Spirits Return?, Bing Crosby Theater

10/28 Halloween Hafla, Chan’s Red Dragon on Third

10/28 Runway, Globe Bar & Kitchen

10/30 Jumpin’ at the Woodside, Jumping Jackalope Axe Throwing

VISUAL ARTS

10/26-27 J Archie Bray Resident Show, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

10/26-11/1 Origins of Identity, Emerge

10/26-11/1 J Five Critical Decades of Art: The Stephens Collection, The Jundt Art Museum

10/26-27 Tim Lord: By Book or By Hook, New Moon Art Gallery

10/27-28 J Mary Farrell: Tending + Tobe Harvey, Saranac Art Projects

10/28 Color Woodcut Print, Spokane Print & Publishing Center

10/28 SoulCollage® for All Saints All Souls, West Central Abbey

10/29-11/1 Everything Fiber, Liberty Building

10/30-11/1 Kurt Madison, SFCC Gallery

11/1 J Steph Sammons, Pottery Place Plus

WORDS

10/26 J Spokane Is Reading: Kim Fu, Spokane Valley Library, Central Library 10/26 J Pivot Spokane: Guilty, Washington Cracker Co. Building 10/27-28 J Spokane Writers Conference, Central + Spokane Valley Libraries 10/27 J Lora Senf: The Nighthouse Keeper, Giant Nerd Books 10/27 J Carla Crujido: The Strange Beautiful, Auntie’s Bookstore 10/28 Halloween Storytime, Auntie’s 10/29 J Lora Senf: The Nighthouse Keeper, Wishing Tree Books

11/1 J Broken Mic, Neato Burrito 11/1 Art As Activism Writing Workshop, Emerge

Visit: BlueDoorTheatre.org for Details info@bluedoortheatre.org • 509-747-7045 EVERY FRI & SAT 7:30 PM IMPROV COMEDY SHOWS COMEDY COMES ALIVE! WHERE IMPROV SPOKANE SCHOOL OF IMPROV! CHECK OUT OUR NEW 4.55” wide by 5.4” high

NOV. 2-8

COMEDY

11/2 J Funny Funny Funny Joke Joke Joke, Garland Theater

11/2-4 Duncan Trussell, Spokane Comedy Club

11/3 No Clue, Blue Door Theatre

11/4 Teen Improv Workshop, Blue Door Theatre

11/5 J Native American Comedy Night, Spokane Comedy Club

11/5 Dulce Sloan, Spokane Comedy Club

11/8 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane Comedy Club

11/8 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

11/2-8 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/3 J Epicurean Delight, Spokane Convention Center

11/4 J Extra Life Charity Game Day, Uncle’s Games

11/4 Inland NW Toy Classic, Spokane County Fair & Expo Center

11/4 1912 Center Winter Market, 1912 Center

11/4 Friends of the Cheney Library Book Sale, Cheney Library

FILM

11/8 J Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Garland Theater

11/8 Warren Miller’s All Time, Bing Crosby Theater

MUSIC

11/2 J The Lowedown on Masterworks 4: Behold The Sea, The MAC

11/2 Faculty Voice Recital, University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall

11/3 Lee DeWyze, Frank Viele, Bryson Coalt, Vika & the Velvets, The Big Dipper

11/3 Skillet, Theory of a Deadman, The Podium

11/3 Cooper Alan, Knitting Factory

11/3 Stop Light Observations, Little Bird,

The District Bar

11/4 KPBX Kids’ Concert, SFCC

11/4 Atmosphere, Knitting Factory

11/4-5 J Spokane Symphony Masterworks 4: Behold, The Sea, The Fox Theater

11/5 The British Are Coming! University of Idaho Administration Building

11/5 J Inland NW Country Music Association Awards Show

11/5 J Ruben Studdard & Clay Aiken Northern Quest Resort & Casino

11/6 The Imagine Collective, The Bad Seed

11/7 Cavatina Duo, U Idaho Admin. Building

11/7 J Jonas Brothers, Lawrence, Spokane Arena

11/8 Chelsea Grin, Suicide Silence, I Am, Peelingflesh, Knitting Factory

11/8 J A Night at the Opera: Story and Song, EWU

THEATER & DANCE

11/2 Thursday Evening Swing, Woman’s Club of Spokane

11/3-4 Finding Nemo Jr., Bing Crosby Theater

11/3-5 J Amelie (The Musical), Hartung Theater

11/4 Murder in Wonderland, Crime Scene

Entertainment

11/6 Jumpin’ at the Woodside, Jumping Jackalope Axe Throwing

VISUAL ARTS

11/2-3 Cayla Skillin-Brauchle: A Day For Dreaming, A Day For Doing, EWU

11/2-8 Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

11/2-8 Campbell House Originals, The MAC

11/2-3 Rick Davis: Reclamation, Boswell Corner Gallery at NIC

11/2-8 Five Critical Decades of Art: The Stephens Collection The Jundt

11/3-5 J Yuletide, Spokane Art School

11/3-8 Squeak Meisel: Return to Earth, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

11/3-8 Coasters, Trackside Studio

11/3-8 J June T. Sanders, Entropy

11/3-8 Kim Long, Diane Rowen, Michele Mokrey, New Moon Art Gallery

11/3-4 J Sally Jablonsky, Milo Krims, Lenora J. Lopez Schindler, Saranac Art Projects

11/3-4 Spokane Handweavers’ Guild Show & Sale, Barrister Winery

11/3-4 Toby Keough: Flowers, Terrain Gallery

11/3 First Friday, POAC Gallery

11/4-5 J 27th Annual Small Works Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery

11/4 Pottery Night: Wheel Experience, Urban Art Co-op

11/7-8 Gordon Wilson: Emeritus, Bryan Oliver Gallery

WORDS

11/2 Travis Baldree: Avenues to Publication, Liberty Park Library

11/2 Maya Jewel Zeller & Alexandra Teague, Spark Central

11/3 3 Minute Mic, Auntie’s Bookstore

11/5 Eoin Colfer: Juniper’s Christmas, Central Library

11/6 J Travis Baldree: Bookshops &

The Fellowship of the Ring returns to the big screen Nov. 8 for throwback night at the Garland.

NOV. 9-15

COMEDY

11/9-11 Chris Redd, Spokane Comedy Club

11/10 J Say What!, Blue Door Theatre

11/11 Improv: Kids Monthly Workshop, Blue Door Theatre

11/11-11 Moscow Comedy at the Inn, University Inn Best Western

11/12 Steven Ho & Jack Assadourian Jr., Spokane Comedy Club

11/15 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane Comedy Club

11/15 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

11/9-15 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/10-11 Role-Playing Game Drop In, RPG Community Center

11/10 USMC Birthday Ball, Crossroads Event Center

11/11 Winter Market, 1912 Center

11/11 Craft Pop Up, Hillyard

11/11 Cranberries, Turkey & Murder, Crime Scene Entertainment

11/15 Coffee & Conversation, Central Library

11/15 J BookPeople Birthday Celebration, BookPeople of Moscow

FILM

11/9-10 J Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Garland Theater

11/12 Medicine Woman, Shadle Library

11/15 Anime Club, Hillyard Library

11/15 J Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Garland Theater

MUSIC

11/9 The Brothers Comatose, Knitting Factory

11/9 University of Idaho Orchestra, U of Idaho Admin. Building

11/9 J A Night at the Opera: Story and Song, Eastern Washington University

11/10 Jazz Concert, University of Idaho Administration Building

11/10 Rockabilly Space Force, Panida Theater

11/10 J Habstrakt, Riverside Place

11/10 J ZZ Ward, Knitting Factory

11/11 Paper Flowers: Remembering Fleetwood Mac, The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center

11/11 Story of the Year, Knitting Factory

11/11 Proxima Parada, Moorea Masa & The Mood, The District Bar

11/11 An Dochas and Dinner, Cutter Theatre

11/11-12 J Fall Folk Festival, Spokane Community College

11/11 J Northwest Country Music Awards, Bing Crosby Theater

11/11 J Spokane Symphony Pops 2: Symphonic Salute to the USO, The Fox Theater

11/11 Youth Orchestra Concert, University of Idaho Administration Building

11/12 J Spokane Youth Symphony: Mountains & Streams, Fox Theater

11/13 EWU Orchestra Concert, Eastern Washington University

11/14 Faculty Concert, University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall

11/15 Whitworth Chamber Strings Concert, Whitworth University

THEATER

11/10 Gravestone Saloon, Crime Scene Entertainment

11/10-12 Finding Nemo Jr., Bing Crosby Theater

11/10-11 J How the Grinch Stole Christmas, First Interstate Center for the Arts

11/10-12 J Julius Caesar, Eastern Washington University

11/10-12 J Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), SFCC Spartan Theater

11/14-15 J Les Misérables, First Interstate

Center for the Arts

VISUAL ARTS

11/9-15 Ben Joyce Pop Up, Historic Davenport Hotel

11/9-15 J Squeak Meisel: Return to Earth, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

11/9-15 Illumination, Third Street Gallery

11/9-15 Kurt Madison, SFCC Fine Arts Gallery

11/9-15 Ari Burns & David Harlan: Facets of Moscow, 1912 Center

11/9-15 J Frank S. Matsura: Native American Portraits from a Northwest Borderland, The MAC

11/9 Reuse Workshop, Mobius

11/9-15 Five Critical Decades of Art: The Stephens Collection, Jundt Art Museum

11/9-15 Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love;

Here in a Homemade Forest, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU

11/9-15 First Impressions: Women

Printmakers of Washington, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/9-12 27th Annual Small Works

Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery

11/9-15 Everything Fiber, Liberty Building

11/9-11 Ladd Bjorneby & Jakob Chester, Avenue West Gallery

11/9 J Coasters, Trackside Studio

11/9-15 J June T. Sanders, Entropy

11/9-11 J Toby Keough, Terrain Gallery

11/10-15 Places That You’ve Been - But You Haven’t, Emerge

11/10-11 J Sally Jablonsky, Milo Krims, Lenora J. Lopez Schindler, Saranac Art Projects

11/10 Second Friday Artwalk, Downtown Coeur d’Alene

11/11 A Day of Clay, The MAC

11/11 J Fun, Funky Fellows: Illustrative Design, Spokane Art School

11/11 Second Saturdays, Chrysalis Gallery

11/14-15 North Idaho College Faculty Exhibition, Boswell Gallery at NIC

WORDS

11/9 Drop In & Write, Spark Central

11/9 J Poetry Rising, South Hill Library

11/12 Telling Our Stories: Jacob Lawrence and The Great Migration, The MAC

11/14 J Northwest Passages: Jonathan Evison, Myrtle Woldson PAC

11/15 Broken Mic, Neato Burrito

NOV. 16-22

COMEDY

11/16 J Ryan Hamilton, Bing Crosby Theater

11/17-18 Chelcie Lynn, Spokane Comedy Club

11/17 Say What!, Blue Door Theatre

11/19 Lucas Zelnick, Spokane Comedy Club

11/22 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane Comedy Club

11/22 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

11/16-22 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/17-19 J Christmas Arts & Crafts Show, Spokane County Fair & Expo Center

11/17-18 Role-Playing Game Drop In, RPG Community Center

11/18-22 J Liberty Lake Winter Glow Spectacular, Orchard Park

11/18 Drop In & RPG, Spark Central

11/18 Wine for the Holidays, Downtown Coeur d’Alene

11/18 J Spokane Humane Society’s Furr Ball, Davenport Grand Hotel

11/19 Nova Kaine’s Don’t Tell Mama Cabaret & Drag Brunch, Highball

11/22 Coffee & Conversation, Central Library

FILM

11/16 J Third Thursday Matinee: Pina, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/16-17 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,

Garland Theater

11/16 J Dirty Dancing in Concert, The Fox Theater

MUSIC

11/16 Inland Empire Blues Society Monthly Boogie, Bolo’s Bar & Grill

11/16 Just Plain Darin, QQ Sushi & Kitchen

11/16 Terrapin Flyer, The District Bar

11/16

EWU Wind Ensemble, Eastern Washington University

11/16 Kompany, Riverside Place

11/16-18 J Spokane Symphony: Handel’s Messiah, St. John’s Cathedral

11/17 Lauren Daigle, Spokane Arena

11/17 Freddie Gibbs, Knitting Factory

11/18 The Sam Leyde Band, Bing Crosby Theater

11/18 Blake Braley, Zola

11/19 Just Plain Darin, South Hill Grill

11/19 J Spokane String Quartet, Bing Crosby Theater

11/19 Whitworth Chorale Fall Concert, Location TBA

11/19 J The Tenors, Northern Quest

11/19 Blue October, Knitting Factory

11/20 Real Friends, Knuckle Puck, One Step Closer, Arm’s Length, Knitting Factory

11/20 The Imagine Collective, Bad Seed

11/20 Whitworth Wind Symphony Fall Concert, Location TBA

11/21 Jerry Lee and the Groove, Zola

11/21 Jeremy Zucker, Knitting Factory

11/22 Slaughter to Prevail, Knitting Factory

11/22 Brittany’s House, Zola

THEATER

11/16-18 J Julius Caesar, Eastern Washington University

11/16-19 J Les Misérables, First Interstate Center for the Arts

11/17-19 Spring Awakening, Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center

11/17-19 J Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), SFCC Spartan Theater

11/18 MET Live in HD: The Life and Times, The Kenworthy

11/18-18 King Arthur’s Quest, Panida Theater

11/21 J Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet, First Interstate Center for the Arts

VISUAL ARTS

11/16-22 Squeak Meisel: Return to Earth,

Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

11/16-22 Illumination, Third Street Gallery

11/16-22 Kurt Madison, SFCC Gallery

11/16-22 Faculty Art Exhibition, EWU Gallery of Art

11/16-22 Places That You’ve Been - But You Haven’t, Emerge

11/16-22 Frank S. Matsura: Native American Portraits from a Northwest Borderland, The MAC

11/16-22 Five Critical Decades of Art: The Stephens Collection, Jundt Art

Museum

11/16-22 North Idaho College Faculty

Exhibition, Boswell Gallery at NIC

11/16-22 J Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach

Love; Here in a Homemade Forest, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

WSU

11/16-19 First Impressions: Women

Printmakers of Washington, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/16-22 Gordon Wilson: Emeritus, Bryan Oliver Gallery

11/16-19 J 27th Annual Small Works

Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery

11/16-22 Everything Fiber, Liberty Building

11/16-22 Steph Sammons, Pottery Place Plus

11/16-18 Ladd Bjorneby & Jakob Chester, Avenue West Gallery

11/16-22 J June T. Sanders, Entropy

11/16-22 Kim Long, Diane Rowen, Michele Mokrey, New Moon Art Gallery

11/16-18 Toby Keough, Terrain Gallery

11/16 J Illuminating a Medieval Manuscript, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/17-18 Sally Jablonsky, Milo Krims, Lenora J. Lopez Schindler, Saranac Art Projects

11/17-18 Regional Watercolor Invitational, Gonzaga Urban Arts Center

11/18 J Book Arts: Hardcover Book, Spokane Print & Publishing Center

WORDS

11/16 Drop In & Write, Spark Central

11/17 Storytime at the Carrousel, Looff Carrousel

11/18 J Tessa Floreano: Italians in the Pacific Northwest, Auntie’s Bookstore

11/22 J Broken Mic, Neato Burrito

11/22 Poetry After Dark, Spark Central

The Spokane Symphony performs Handel’s Messiah at St. John’s Cathedral Nov. 16-18.

NOV. 23-29

COMEDY

11/24 Say What!, Blue Door Theatre

11/24-25 Hans Kim, Spokane Comedy Club

11/26 J Michael Glatzmaier & Ahren Blisle, Spokane Comedy Club

11/29 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane

Club 11/29 Improv Playground, Harding Family

CULTURE

11/23-29 Liberty Lake Winter Glow Spectacular, Orchard Park 11/23-29 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

Elf on a Shelf, Downtown Coeur

11/24 J Lighting Ceremony Parade, Downtown Coeur d’Alene

11/25-29 J Numerica Lights Up The Night, Riverfront Park

11/25 J Small Business Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore

11/25 Craft Pop Up, Hillyard 11/25-26 Wheatland Bank Horse & Carriage Rides, Downtown Spokane

J Holiday Kick-off, The MAC

11/24

11/24

of Christmas Eve, Spokane

One Night of Tina, Bing Crosby

Honey, Knitting Factory

11/25 J Adriano Ferraro : A Jazzy Crooner Christmas, Bing Crosby Theater 11/27

Concert Band & World

THEATER & DANCE

11/24-26

Historic Davenport Hotel

11/23-25 Squeak Meisel: Return to Earth, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery

11/23-29 Illumination, Third Street Gallery

11/23-29 J Places That You’ve Been - But You Haven’t, Emerge

11/23-25 Ladd Bjorneby & Jakob Chester, Avenue West Gallery

11/23-27 June T. Sanders, Entropy

11/23-25 Kim Long, Diane Rowen, Michele Mokrey: Enchanted Forest, New Moon Art Gallery

11/23-26 J 27th Annual Small Works Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery

11/23-29 Marcus Jackson: Love’s Austere and Lonely Offices, Moscow Contemporary

11/23-25 Toby Keough: Flowers, Terrain Gallery

11/24-25 Sally Jablonsky: Animal Body, Saranac Art Projects

11/24-25 Milo Krims: Now Here, Now Gone, Saranac Art Projects

11/24-25 J Lenora J. Lopez Schindler: The Domicile of the Trees, Saranac Art Projects

11/26-29 J The Whimsical World of Keith Harrop, Liberty Building

WORDS

11/23

VISUAL ARTS

Spokane author Lora Senf releases her second book in November.

NOV. 30 - DEC. 6

COMEDY

12/1 J Ha!!mark, Blue Door Theatre

12/1-2 Yannis Pappas, Spokane Comedy Club

12/2 Teen Improv, Blue Door Theatre

12/6 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane Comedy Club

12/6 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

CULTURE

11/30-12/6 Liberty Lake Winter Glow Spectacular, Orchard Park

11/30-12/6 Numerica Lights Up The Night, Riverfront Park

11/30-12/6 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

11/30-12/6 Christmas Tree Elegance, Historic Davenport Hotel

12/1-3 J Northwest Winterfest, Spokane County Fair & Expo Center

12/2 Deck the Falls Craft Faire & Concert, Cutter Theatre

12/2 Winter Market, 1912 Center

12/2 J Festive Family Holiday Fun, Corbin Art Center

12/2-3 Wheatland Bank Horse & Carriage Rides, Downtown Spokane

12/3 Nova Kaine’s Don’t Tell Mama Cabaret & Drag Brunch, Highball

MUSIC

11/30 Calcium, Riverside Place

11/30 University of Idaho Concert Band & Wind Ensemble, University of Idaho

Administration Building

12/1 J Adriano Ferraro : A Jazzy Crooner Christmas, Bing Crosby Theater

12/1 J KIDZ BOP Never Stop Live Tour, First Interstate Center for the Arts

12/1 University of Idaho Jazz Bands, U of Idaho Administration Building

12/2 Mammoth WVH, Nita Strauss, Knitting Factory

12/2 J CDA Symphony: Holiday Magic, Schuler Performing Arts Center

12/2 J Spokane Jazz Orchestra with Sacha Boutros, Bing Crosby Theater

12/2 University of Idaho Treble Choir & Vandaleers, U of Idaho Administration Building

12/3 Whitworth Symphony Orchestra, Cowles Auditorium

12/4 The Imagine Collective, The Bad Seed

12/4 SFCC Symphony Orchestra, SFCC

12/5 SFCC Choral Concert, SFCC

12/6 Composers Concert, University of Idaho Haddock Performance Hall

12/6 Whitworth Jazz Combo Concert, Whitworth Cowles Auditorium

THEATER

11/30-12/3 J Spokane Symphony: The Nutcracker Ballet, The Fox Theater

11/30-12/3 What the Constitution Means to Me, The Forge Theater

11/30-12/3 J Travolta Christmas Show, The Coeur d’Alene Resort

12/1 Snowflake Showcase, Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center

12/1-3 J How I Learned to Drive, Stage

Left Theater

12/1-4 Dashing Through The Snow, Pend Oreille Playhouse

12/1-6 J She Loves Me, Spokane Civic Theatre

12/5-6 J To Kill a Mockingbird, First Interstate Center for the Arts

VISUAL ARTS

12/1 J First Friday, Spokane

12/1-6 Palouse Women Artists Show, 1912

Center

12/1-2 Jerry White & Katrina Brennan, Avenue West Gallery

12/1-6 J BayleeJoee, Abe Kenney, Missy Narrance, Jon Swanstrom and Susan Webber, Entropy

12/1-6 J Fiction, Fantasy & Folklore, New Moon Art Gallery

12/1-6 Ginger Oakes, Pottery Place Plus

12/1-2 Members Only, Saranac Art Projects

12/1-2 Laurie Whitehawk, Terrain Gallery

12/2 J Holiday Artist Studio Tour, The MAC

12/2-6 J 10th Annual Cup of Joy, Trackside

WORDS

11/30 Drop In & Write, Spark Central

12/1 J 3 Minute Mic, Auntie’s Bookstore

12/2 Holiday Storytime, Airway Heights Library

12/3 Book Club: Science/Nature, Auntie’s

Singer Sacha Boutros is a guest of the Spokane Jazz Orchestra for its Dec. 2 concert.

DEC. 7-31

COMEDY

12/7 J Funny Funny Funny Joke Joke Joke, Garland Theater

12/7-9 Christopher Titus, Spokane Comedy Club

12/8 J Popovich: Comedy Pet Theater, Bing Crosby Theater

12/8-15 J Ha!!mark, Blue Door Theatre

12/9 Improv: Kids Monthly Workshop, Blue Door Theatre

12/10 Jamie Lissow, Spokane Comedy Club

12/13-27 Improv Playground, Harding Family Center

12/13-27 Open Mic Stand-up, Spokane Comedy Club

12/15-16 Bryan Callen, Spokane Comedy Club

12/29-30 J Tim Meadows, Spokane Comedy Club

12/31-31 Jeff Arcuri, Spokane Comedy Club

CULTURE

12/7-31 Liberty Lake Winter Glow Spectacular, Orchard Park

12/7-31 Numerica Lights Up The Night, Riverfront Park

12/7-31 J Minecraft: The Exhibition, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

12/7-10 J Christmas Tree Elegance, Historic Davenport Hotel

12/9 Winter Market, 1912 Center

12/9-23 Craft Pop Up, Hillyard

12/9-24 Wheatland Bank Horse & Carriage Rides, Downtown Spokane

12/9 Homicide at the Tacky Sweater

Shindig, Crime Scene Entertainment

12/9-20 J Park Holiday Lights, Manito Park

12/13 Coffee with Closers, Cedar Coffee

12/13-27 Coffee & Conversation, Central Library

12/16 Drop In & RPG, Spark Central

12/17 J Nova Kaine’s Don’t Tell Mama Cabaret & Drag Brunch, Highball

12/20-23 J Campbell House Holidays, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

FILM

12/13 J Anime Club, Hillyard Library

12/21 Third Thursday Matinee: Gotta Dance, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

12/21 J The Muppet Christmas Carol, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture

MUSIC

12/7 Holiday Jazz Choirs Concert, Idaho Central Credit Union Arena

12/7 Highly Suspect, Knitting Factory

12/7 J Portland Cello Project, The District Bar

12/15 Paul Cauthen, Tanner Usrey, Knitting Factory

12/8 J TV Girl, Knitting Factory

12/8-22 J Need a Little Christmas, Kroc Center

12/9-10 J Messiah, Pullman High School

12/15-17 A Big Band Christmas, University High School

12/16-17 J Spokane Symphony Pops 3: A Bing Crosby Christmas, The Fox Theater

12/29 Zoso: the Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience, Knitting Factory

12/31 J Spokane Symphony New Year’s Eve: Beethoven’s 9th, Fox Theater

THEATER & DANCE

12/7 How I Learned to Drive, Stage Left Theater

12/7-10 J To Kill a Mockingbird, First Interstate Center for the Arts

12/7 She Loves Me, Spokane Civic Theatre

12/7-17 J Travolta Christmas Show, The Coeur d’Alene Resort

12/8-17 J It’s a Wonderful Life, TAC at the Lake

12/9 MET Live in HD: Florencia en el Amazonas, The Kenworthy

12/13 J A Drag Queen Christmas, The Fox

12/10 Dashing Through The Snow, Pend Oreille Playhouse

12/20-21 Cirque Dreams Holidaze, First Interstate Center for the Arts

12/23 J Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, First Interstate Center for the Arts

VISUAL ARTS

12/7-30 J That, Through Which We See... Differing Points of View, Kolva-

Sullivan Gallery

12/7-29 Illumination, Third Street Gallery

12/7-29 J Faculty Art Exhibition, EWU

12/7-29 Palouse Women Artists Show, 1912 Center

12/7-29 North Idaho College Faculty Exhibition, Boswell Gallery

12/7-30 The Whimsical World of Keith Harrop, Liberty Building

12/7-30 Jerry White & Katrina Brennan, Avenue West Gallery

12/7-31 Ginger Oakes, Pottery Place Plus

12/7-31 J BayleeJoee, Abe Kenney, Missy Narrance, Jon Swanstrom & Susan Webber, Entropy

12/7-24 J 27th Annual Small Works Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery

12/7-8 10th Annual Cup of Joy, Trackside

12/7 Fiction, Fantasy & Folklore, New Moon Art Gallery

12/7 Laurie Whitehawk, Terrain Gallery

12/8-30 J Minis Show, Emerge

12/8-30 J Members Only, Saranac Art Projects

12/8 Second Friday Artwalk, Downtown Coeur d’Alene

12/9 Amulet & Illumination: Art of Visual Symbolism, Spokane Art School

12/9 Second Saturdays, Chrysalis Gallery

12/16 J Brrzaar, River Park Square

WORDS

12/7-28 Drop In & Write, Spark Central

12/10 Book Club with a Beverage, The MAC

12/11-25 Scribbler’s Society Writing Club, Coeur d’Alene Public Library

Terrain’s Brrrzaar hosts local artists and makers at River Park Square on Dec. 16.

Celebrating 30 Years

Make your escape.

Nestled among the rolling hills of northern Idaho, Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel has everything you need to feel right at home. Here, you’ll experience the very best of traditional tribal hospitality as you explore the beauty and wonder of our premier casino resort and its surrounding scenery while enjoying world-class gaming and amenities. In just a short drive you’ll find nearly 1,200 video gaming machines, several dining options, live entertainment, a 15,000 sq. ft. spa, a world-class golf course, and more.

A TASTE OF VICTORY

Skewers food truck’s new permanent location in downtown Spokane honors Armenian struggle for survival

When Mirak Kazanjian left Los Angeles, he left his home in the largest Armenian community outside Armenia to attend college in Spokane. But he handled the transition pretty well. He loved the new pace of life. He could deal with missing the beach. The only thing he couldn’t stand was the lack of shawarma.

He couldn’t find any, so he made his own.

Kazanjian’s dedication to making, and eating, authentic shawarma is taking him on a wild ride. What started as an experiment to turn a $15 Craigslist barbecue into a functioning rotisserie became a full-blown food truck business. In 2016, Kazanjian called his truck Skewers. In 2022, Skewers was voted the top food truck in Spokane by Inlander readers in our annual Best Of readers poll for bringing Armenian-Lebanese food all over the city and proudly proclaiming #SpokaneHasShawarma wherever it went.

Now, Spokane can have shawarma every day. Skewers is opening a fixed-location restaurant downtown thanks to a dream-come-true partnership with local chef Michael Wiley.

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Skewers’ new restaurant opens on Friday, Sept. 22, with fast, street-style counter service on West First Avenue where Rain Lounge used to be. On Friday and Saturday nights, stop in for late-night snacks and drinks, both alcoholic and not. Eventually, Kazanjian and Wiley will also offer family-style, sit-down dining experiences in the style of an “agoomp,” or gathering place, in the space next door, previously Scratch Restaurant. Plus, Kazanjian still plans to keep the food truck going next season for a full calendar of catering and events.

Kazanjian’s food is family history, cultural memory and current affairs all wrapped up in fresh pita. Kazanjian’s grandparents escaped the Ottoman empire’s genocide of Armenians during World War I. His grandparents, like many others, fled to Lebanon and eventually raised a family there. Kazanjian’s parents came to America during the civil war in Lebanon. By featuring both Armenian and Lebanese flavors in his dishes, Kazanjian honors generations of resilience and perseverance.

Now, the permanent restaurant marks new victories on both a local and global scale.

“There’s a renewed effort to commit genocide against

Armenians,” Kazanjian says, referring to revived tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, also known as Artsakh. “Maintaining the culture, practicing the tradition, maintaining the language is our victory.”

At Skewers, every meal served is a celebration of Armenian identity and survival.

Shawarma means “turning” or “rotisserie” in Arabic. In order for shawarma to be shawarma, it must be made on a vertical, spinning rotisserie. Beef, lamb or chicken are sliced thin, marinated, layered onto the vertical skewer and rotated between shimmering panes of heat. Also called “donar” in Turkish or “gyro” in Greek, shawarma is an ancient way of preserving and serving meat.

After Kazanjian mastered real shawarma (wraps $15-$17; platters $15-$21) he could start exploring other familiar street foods. He knew what they tasted like, but it was a whole new kind of education to learn the history of the foods he had taken for granted.

...continued on next page

It’s not shawarma without the skewer. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

“A TASTE OF VICTORY,” CONTINUED...

“I did a lot of research to understand really, what was the point of shawarma? What’s the point of falafel?” he says. “[I wanted] to understand that and try to respect that and re-create that. It was part of my culture, but the origins of food are not taught in school.”

For example, he learned that falafel began as an alternative to shawarma for people celebrating Lent, a season during the church calendar when Christians fast from meat and other luxuries. It was an obvious addition to Kazanjian’s menu, not just to serve non-meat eaters, but to offer Spokane authentic falafel made from real beans, not the powders used in most other restaurants.

He makes his falafel ($14 wrap, $12 bites) from both fava beans and chickpeas, since fava beans are more traditionally Lebanese and chickpeas are standard Armenian style. The deep-fried balls are dark on the outside and bright green on the inside (from the fresh herbs), exactly how you’d find them in the Levant.

Hummus bowls ($10), pickled veggies, cucumber-mint or tahini sauces complement each dish with bright, punchy flavors. Wiley, his new business partner, loves the sumac on the Mediterranean fries ($7), a tangy red spice that cuts through the hot potatoes. Some might be surprised by the burst of flavor. But from the start, Kazanjian had little interest in toning down traditional flavors for an American audience.

“I think part of the struggle was my refusal to compromise,” he says. “I still get comments that are perceived as negative reviews, like ‘Your food has too much flavor. It’s too much. You’re using too many spices.’ I usually thank them for being adventurous and trying something they hadn’t before. And I say, it’s not for everybody, and that’s OK.”

Kazanjian has learned that food is an education, both of palate and mind. He doesn’t mind that people have different levels of curiosity. Instead, he thinks about his Egyptian neighbor who cried for joy and homesickness when he tasted Kazanjian’s food. By being honest about his own learning journey, Kazanjian invites anyone to explore culinary and political histories with new flavors, new dishes and new neighbors.

Even though Kazanjian built a winning menu and a loyal following with his food truck, he had few aspirations to open a permanent spot. Banks don’t lend to new restaurateurs very easily, and instead of saving up, Kazanjian was sending

all his extra profits to Armenia in support of humanitarian aid work there.

Michael Wiley, on the other hand, coincidentally found himself with an empty, expensive building and a fully functional kitchen but no one to operate it.

Wiley had just started renting and renovating Scratch Restaurant and Rain Lounge, in addition to operating his more mature businesses, Wiley’s Bistro and Prohibition Gastropub. Issues with a vent hood at the bistro suddenly forced it to move locations, and Wiley had to spend the money reserved for the new venture to save the old one. He needed to let Scratch and Rain go to let the other restaurants stay afloat.

But the universe had a different idea, he says. On his way out of Rain Lounge, after he had just told his landlord Jerry Dicker that he was out, Wiley ran into his old friend Angela Schutz, a local PR manager with lots of friends in the restaurant industry. As Wiley explained what was happening, Schutz had an idea. She introduced Wiley to Kazanjian, and the rest is history. Well, almost.

“In the beginning, I was like, ‘Are we going to get to an agreement? Because you’re both looking out for each other so much,” Schutz says. The mutual respect and consideration was overwhelming.

“It’s one of the ways that I knew this wasn’t just a business move,” Wiley says. “This is a spiritual move.”

Together, Kazanjian and Wiley are the perfect hosts — warm and hospitable, masters of great food. But this space is especially unique. At Skewers, Armenians can gather to celebrate their culture, which flies in the face of the darkness their people face.

Suddenly, Armenians living in different pockets are finding a community they didn’t know existed in the Inland Northwest. Families are sitting down to the traditions of their ancestors. The Armenian flag in Skewers’ new window lets the whole city know that they are here and they are thriving.

It’s a paradox that Kazanjian doesn’t take lightly.

“There’s a genocide going on and it’s like, ‘How can I be excited and happy about this or have Armenians gathering here and acting like we’re happy?’” Kazanjian says. “It’s weird to be celebrating something when there’s a genocide going on. But that celebration is part of their survival.” n

Skewers • 1007 W. First Ave.

• Open Wed-Thu 4-9 pm; Fri-Sat 4 pm-midnight; Sun 4-9 pm • skewerstruck.com

• 509-456-5656

Sweet ’n’ Spicy

Tasty recent openings in the Inland Northwest

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Hey To-Go Boxers, it’s been awhile! We’ve been doing our best to keep up with new happenings over the summer, but sometimes too many good things are going on at once. Here are a few recent openings that are worth checking out.

Cooler weather doesn’t mean you have to forgo cool treats. SUB ZERO NITROGEN ICE CREAM opened a familyowned store in Hayden, Idaho, in June and is ready to thrill all year round with this sci-fi dessert flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen right in front of the customer.

The process was patented in 2005 by chemist Jerry Hancock and his wife, Naomi. The couple franchised in 2008, impressed the Shark Tank judges in 2013, and were eventually named one of the Top 10 Best Franchises to Buy from Shark Tank. The specialty ice cream also caught the imagination of Matthew Geddes, a returning Army vet looking to start his own business.

Geddes opened the Hayden location with his sister and brother-in-law, Kristi and Nathan Hughes. The store is located inside the Triple Play Family Fun Park at 175 W. Orchard Ave. For more information, visit subzeroicecream.com.

Looking for something sweet but straight out of the oven?

CHIP COOKIES, the “original gourmet cookie delivery concept,” recently opened up its 12th franchise location in Coeur d’Alene. What started as a pregnancy craving became a sweet business idea that brings ooey, gooey cookies straight to your door. Choose from flavors like sugar chip, Biscoff chip or OG chocolate chip. If you want more (and chances are, you will) check back every week for rotating specialty flavor.

The new franchise owners, Kimberly Hall and Shaun Joshi, are Coeur d’Alene natives who’ve raised their families in the community for 20 years. Hall got the idea to bring Chip to Coeur d’Alene after melting over a Chip cookie while visiting her son at Boise State.

“I have always loved cookies,” Hall says. “They are a comfort food and make me feel good. I hope this is what Chip Cookies can do for others.”

The new outpost of Chip Cookies is at 291 E. Appleway Ave. For more, visit chipcookies.com.

And if sweet just isn’t your thing, the South Hill just got spicier! INDIA HOUSE AUTHENTIC CUISINE now has a new spot on Regal Street, offering dine-in and delivery options. Experienced husband-and-wife team Deepika Dhawan and Manoj Kumar also own Karma Indian Restaurant on North Monroe Street, plus restaurants in Wenatchee, Post Falls and Moscow.

Sample from a buffet or order off a traditional menu, just make sure to come hungry. New menu items include daal makhani ($17) soaked with rum, a spiced lentil dip that is set on fire to imbue it with smokey, complex flavors.

Vegetarians have lots of options and even get their own section on the menu. Vegans will find plenty to eat, too, like vegetable nirvana ($17) with coconut milk and masala.

Every bite at Skewers is full of history and flavor.

The new India House is located at 4410 S. Regal St. where China Garden Restaurant used to be, and is open from 11 am to 9 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, including the menu, go to indiahouse.us. n

Chip Cookies is now in Coeur d’Alene.

Meating the Demand

Owners of British-inspired Coeur d’Alene pub ramp up sausage production with new Gentleman Sausages

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

Fans of the sausages served at The Crown & Thistle Pub in downtown Coeur d’Alene have a new reason to rave. The British-inspired pub’s tubular meat-treats — Brits call them bangers — are now available for at-home cooking.

While Crown & Thistle sells a limited assortment of its scratch-made bangers fresh in vacuum-sealed six-packs, the full assortment can be found across the street at the pub’s recently opened sister business, Gentleman Sausages.

Gentleman Sausages offers a weekly assortment of fresh sausage, priced per pound ($8.25$9), as well as frozen sausage from whatever didn’t sell out — which is rare, reports owners Ben and Jennifer Drake.

Staples include the German-inspired Benny Brat, and the Francesca, a pork sausage with oregano, basil and bell pepper, named for the couple’s daughter.

The Drakes are known for the unusual flavor combinations in their sausages, which might be inspired by any number of things. The Flagship features Beecher’s Flagship cheddar cheese while the Tim Curry has — you guessed it — yellow curry.

The Fuster Cluck takes its smoky flavors from beer can chicken and its name from the Drakes’ occasionally salty sense of humor.

“The best thing was, your brain is trying to tell you not to say it the wrong way to a customer, so inevitably you say it the wrong way to the customer,” Jennifer says.

Sometimes the name of a sausage precedes its development, she adds, like the Roswell featuring roasted green hatch chilies, cilantro and green onion.

“I just really wanted an alien sausage named the Roswell because I’ve always been a space nerd,” Jennifer says. “So every once in a while we

come up with [a concept] ahead of time before we come up with the actual flavors.”

The naming of the business has a cute story, too.

“In 2015 [Jennifer] bought me this ‘Gentleman’s Notes’ book from when we were in London,” says Ben, who didn’t initially know what to use the little leatherbound journal for.

“It was special,” he says, “so I wanted to make sure that I was going to use it for something special and it sat there for a while.”

A year or so later, Ben got another gift from Jennifer that nudged him toward making his own sausages, which he’d wanted to do since spending time in the Bavaria region of Germany as a young adult.

He knew just where he’d write down all his ideas: inside the little journal.

“She remembered I always talked about wanting to take up sausage making, and so she bought me the Megaforce 3000 [sausage grinding machine], which we still have,” Ben says, pointing to the no-longer-used metal contraption on a side table inside Gentlemen Sausages.

The first batch with the Megaforce, Jennifer adds, “was 5 1/2 pounds and it took eight hours.”

Now Ben and his sole employee can grind out roughly 300 pounds of links in the same time period.

Since ramping up production, Gentleman Sausages is also able to feature its products on the menu of several local spots, including Midtown Bluebird, Stylus Wine & Vinyl Bar, and Radio Brewing. n

Gentleman Sausages • 112 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene • Open Tue-Fri 11 am-6 pm • gentlemansausages.com • 208-292-4300

Wednesday, October 25th | 8:30am - 12:30pm

CenterPlace Regional Event Center

2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley

*Cost: FREE - Breakfast included with registration

To register please visit our event website: www.eventleaf.com/e/2023Caregiver

For questions regarding the CG Conference please contact the Caregiver Support Program 509-458-7450 Option 2

*Breakfast included for attendees that register prior to October 17, 2023

Jennifer and Ben Drake are bringing bangers to Coeur d’Alene. COURTESY PHOTO

Nothing Is Better Than This

Is there another movie overflowing with as much pure, distilled joy as Stop Making Sense?

The 1984 Talking Heads concert film, newly remastered and back in theaters (including on River Park Square’s IMAX screen), is often cited as the high water mark of its genre. And for good reason. It’s a film of perpetual movement, combustible chemistry and unadulterated excitement — a shot of serotonin that gives you the contact high of being at the show itself.

Stop Making Sense was filmed as Talking Heads were ending their tour supporting the 1983 album Speaking in Tongues, and it was stitched together from footage taken at four consecutive shows at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater. Director Jonathan Demme, then best known for the 1980 comedy Melvin and Howard, had apparently seen the band in concert and approached them about the idea of making a film, and they financed its production themselves.

Up to this point, concert documentaries were primarily straightforward affairs — put musicians on the stage, point the camera at them — with the exceptions of Michael Wadleigh’s epic Woodstock (1970), which used pioneering split-screen techniques, and Martin Scorsese’s elegiac The Last Waltz (1978) depicting the Band’s final, star-studded concert. But Stop Making Sense immediately announces itself as a different kind of concert film, and that’s because Talking Heads were a different kind of band.

It opens with frontman David Byrne strolling onto an unadorned stage with nothing but an acoustic guitar

and a boombox, and he launches into a stripped-down, electronically inflected version of “Psycho Killer.” With each new song, Byrne is joined by another Talking Head — first bassist Tina Weymouth, then drummer Chris Frantz, finally guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison — as pieces of the stage are pushed out on wheels. And then the backing band is gradually filled out, one member at a time: backing vocalists Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry, guitarist Alex Weir, percussionist Steve Scales, and Parliament Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell on keyboards.

This conceit crescendos with “Burning Down the House” when the full nine-person band has coalesced, and it’s also (appropriately) when the movie truly ignites into a glorious four-minute blaze of energy. Demme and his cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth, who was fresh off photographing Blade Runner, rarely let their attention wander from the stage; there are hardly any shots of the audience, and no interstitial interviews with the band members.

They also don’t get in the way of the performances with distracting filmmaking tricks, but each song in the setlist gets its own simple but effective artistic treatment.

“Making Flippy Floppy” is accompanied by large projections of words and body parts. During “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”, the band is illuminated by a single living room lamp. “Once in a Lifetime” is performed in an unbroken take that never leaves Byrne as he lets the music possess his body. And, of course, there’s the now-legendary oversized suit that Byrne dons during “Girlfriend Is

BY NATHAN

Better,” which swallows him up in a rippling sea of fabric. Talking Heads represented the ultimate marriage of brainy experimentation and hook-driven dance music, and with Stop Making Sense, they pushed the Warhol-esque concept of rock show as art installation to its most logical and entertaining extremes. But there’s no cold intellectual distance to the performance here. They’re having a blast. This is a great, groundbreaking band at the height of their powers and the peak of their stamina. The way their hyperactive dancing suddenly synchronizes while they’re playing “Life During Wartime” is one of those simple moments of transcendence that few other films deliver.

Byrne was often framed as the sole pilot at the controls of Talking Heads, and certainly his eccentricities and fascinations defined the band — he’s like an android reporting on everyday human behaviors and customs. But he doesn’t hog the spotlight in this film, and everyone gets a moment to let their personality shine through, including Weymouth and Frantz when their side project band Tom Tom Club plays its hit “Genius of Love.”

Byrne’s solo shows continue to be high-concept marvels, and his Broadway show American Utopia itself received the concert film treatment from Spike Lee in 2020. But Stop Making Sense still reigns supreme, the high water mark that every other concert film will forever be measured against. And if it’s re-released in another 40 years, it will still be the best. Same as it ever was. Same at it ever was… n

ESSAY

Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense returns to theaters to remind us it’s still the greatest concert film

WEINBENDER

Forget home — in an IMAX theater playing Stop Making Sense is where I want to be...

In a TIFF

Four of the best films we saw at Toronto International Film Festival

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was one of stark contrasts. There were a few stunning films that may rank among 2023’s best when it’s time to make year-end lists, but there were also several utterly baffling misfires that could easily find themselves among the year’s worst. After taking in as many of these movies as possible, here are the ones to keep an eye out for in the months ahead.

ANATOMY OF A FALL

Already the winner of the Palme d’Or and the equally important Palm Dog Award (for best canine performance) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Justine Triet’s precise drama Anatomy of a Fall was also one of the best movies to screen at TIFF. The film places us in the life of the acclaimed writer Sandra Voyter who is suspected of her husband’s murder after what was initially believed to be a deadly fall from the top of their home. Played by a sensational Sandra Hüller, she must take part in a highly scrutinized trial that will pick apart her relationship and career piece by piece in pursuit of an ever-elusive truth. The result is an understated film that revels in ambiguity, bringing into focus a life now defined by a sudden death while constantly challenging us to give ourselves over to the fact that some questions may never have answers.

THE BEAST

Bertrand Bonello’s slippery science fiction story was rejected by Cannes, but it’s his best work yet and one of the most interesting films of the year. At the center of this tale is Gabrielle, played by Léa Seydoux (No Time to Die), who is trying to make sense of her life across three points in time: 1910, 2014 and 2044. In each era, she is drawn to the same man — George MacKay’s shifting Louis, though dread is taking hold of her mind and distorting the world itself. Little should be said about precisely what this looks like so as to preserve the experience, but there are some bold pivots that push Gabrielle and the viewer right up to the brink.

It all results in a formally thrilling yet increasingly terrifying work with an absolute showstopper of an ending.

THE BOY AND THE HERON

The film that was said to be the last from director Hayao Miyazaki (though now may not be), The Boy and the Heron is his first feature since 2013’s The Wind Rises. While this latest vision echoes elements of his past films, it also feels alive in a way that places it up there among the Studio Ghibli mastermind’s best to date. Following one of the most haunting sequences of the director’s oeuvre — one that viscerally captures the all-consuming terror of a fire — we accompany a boy named Mahito who is struggling with the loss of his mother. When the troubled teenager is approached by a talking heron and whisked away into a magical world that is hidden from ours, Miyazaki immerses us in a melancholic yet mesmerizing experience all its own. Whether or not this is truly the director’s last film, it is a magnificent one.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Jonathan Glazer’s restrained analysis of evil may not be his best work (as 2013’s Under the Skin still exists), but it is a cinematic achievement. It’s also agonizing to watch. Drawing loosely from the novel of the same name by the late author Martin Amis, the movie observes a commandant of Auschwitz as he lives with his family in sickening serenity while overseeing atrocity right next door. None of this violence is ever explicitly seen, but it is almost constantly heard, in spite of the characters’ efforts to ignore the noise. It makes for one of the most horrifying films of the year, with the repetition and routine of the family cutting straight through the bone the longer that we sit with them. As Glazer unflinchingly explores, to grow numb to such violence and compartmentalize it away is to create the conditions that can make immense cruelty commonplace. It is not easy to watch, but this type of thing never should be. n

ALSO OPENING

AMERIKATSI

After fleeing the Armenian genocide as a child, Charlie returns to his homeland only to be thrown into a brutal prison by Soviet occupiers. He discovers hope a despair when realizes he can see into one of the guard’s homes from his cell window. He finds joy and humanity through observation in this acclaimed Armenian feature. Not rated At the Magic Lantern

CANARY

Scientist Lonnie Thompson stood on the front lines of bold natural research, scaling some of Earth’s tallest mountains to drill into glaciers and analyze the climate history info they stored. This documentary details his adventurous journeys and the impactful findings he discovered. Not rated At the Magic Lantern

EXPEND4BLES

THIS TITLE DOESN’T TRACK. END THE WRITER’S STRIKE, HOLLYWOOD. Anyway, Sly Stallone and Jason Statham return for the fourth installment of the over-the-top machismo Expendables action franchise, as their characters try to stop a terrorist who wants to ignite a U.S./Russia nuclear war. Rated R

IT LIVES INSIDE

As an Indian-American teenage girl, Sam just wants to leave her cultural past behind and assimilate. But she must rely on her heritage when the supernatural Dharmic demon Pishacha begins to terrorize her and her loved ones. Rated PG-13

Some of the TIFF faces that should find their way to our screens soon.

STUCK IN A TIME WARP(ED)

It may be late September, but a pop punk summer camp is rolling into town...

Pop punk standouts AllAmerican Rejects, New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, and the Get Up Kids are touring together. So we ranked some songs

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

While the Warped Tour may be dead and gone, embers of the long-running extravaganza summer punk tour still smolder. As nostalgia touring has become the norm in the music industry and things like Emo Nite alternative dance parties have become a cultural plague, the prospect of continuing one’s successful pop punk band into middle age has become a more acceptable pursuit. Case in point: the Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour taking over Northern Quest’s outdoor stage on Sept. 25.

Sort of a mini-Warped Tour itself, the show features early ’00s pop punk standouts the All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, and the Get Up Kids. While most everyone on stage is in their 40s, there’s still plenty of youthful exuberance to be found in their music.

To mark the tour’s stop in Airway Heights, we decided to rank the 10 best songs from these four genre mainstays. See you in the overly cautious, aged mosh pit.

10

“HER WORDS DESTROYED MY PLANET” MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, MY DINOSAUR LIFE

It’s never easy dealing with the one that got away. The pain stings even deeper when you try to better yourself to win them back, but they’re nowhere to be found. Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre gets the emotional bends from the hopefulness self-improvement (“I sold my Xbox to Jimmy down the street / Hell, I even quit smoking weed”) crashing against the hopelessness of realizing their ex is probably gone for good (“I sent you a postcard, but the post office sent it back / They said the building’s been torn down, I just miss what I thought we both had”).

9 “LAST NIGHT”

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME

Built around a cascading, rapid fingerpicked riff, “Last Night” finds MCS at its most reserved and reflective. Pierre sings about a breakup he can see barreling right at him like a train, trying to soften the inevitable blow that’s sure to knock all the wind out of his lungs and leave his heart a broken mess. It artfully dwells in the sadness of the moments without ever leveling blame at her for deciding to leave.

8 “ALL

the sort of unvarnished self-reflection found on “When You’re Around” that keeps people coming back to Motion City Soundtrack.

4

DOWNHILL

FROM HERE”

NEW FOUND GLORY, CATALYST

This is basically New Found Glory as a metal band. The heaviest of New Found Glory’s charting singles features thumping guitar riffs, hardcore breakdowns and thundering fills. Perhaps surprisingly, that pummeling instrumental fits extremely well with singer Jordan Pundik’s signature high-pitched nasal vocals. The mix blends together for a delightfully melodic screed about how toxic folks can drag you down like an anchor.

7 “CAPITAL H”

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, I AM THE MOVIE

Back in a pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe world, when superheroes were still a deeply geeky interest, Motion City Soundtrack was unafraid to brandish its nerd card on “Capital H.” The starting (and repeating) synth slide that launches the action is more thrilling on its own than many a heavily CGI’d MCU fight scene, and Pierre’s underdog with a pop culture-addled persona is on full display as he rapidly delivers lines about coming back swinging with a hero’s resolve in the face of unlikely odds (“Singin’ songs from the balcony as the city crumbles / under the powers of an evil doctor rocket science monster / with capabilities to destroy the entire universe”).

6 “MY APOLOGY”

THE GET UP KIDS, SOMETHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT Quintessential kind-hearted emo, The Get Up Kids frontman Matt Pryor lays out softly vulnerable diaristic feelings about overthinking everything in young adulthood on “My Apology.” Getting straight to the point, the opening line stings for anyone who’s been at the mentally exhausting point: “You’ll be accepting my apology / for taking things too seriously / Sometimes I’m old enough to keep routines / sometimes I’m child enough to scream.” But it’s the composure to not scream that makes the songs stand out, there’s a calm contemplation to Pryor’s reflections over low-key instrumentals that keep the words resonating decades later.

5

“WHEN YOU’RE AROUND”

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, COMMIT THIS TO MEMORY

Who knew battling with your alcoholic demons could be so damn catchy? On this deeper-cut MCS gem, the “you” Pierre is singing about is the toxic booze-soaked person he becomes after a few too many drinks. The pop punk spunk of the earworm chorus belies the self-hatred running throughout the track (“But all I could do was close my eyes / and cross my heart and hope to die / ’Cause you don’t f—ing listen / when I’m around.”). While some folks can only process older pop punk through a nostalgic lens, it’s

“MY FRIENDS OVER YOU”

NEW FOUND GLORY, STICKS AND STONES

While the uncouth phrase “bros before hoes” has thankfully faded from our cultural frat boy vernacular over the years, the bonds of friendship do sometimes outweigh the maddening nature of on-again/off-again romantic relationships. New Found Glory’s biggest hit tackles the topic with a melodic glee instead of vindictive venom, taking a lot of blame for things not working out before crescendoing to a wonderfully boisterous singalong chorus.

3

“HOLIDAY”

THE GET UP KIDS, SOMETHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT The Get Up Kids’ Something to Write Home About remains an absolute classic second-wave emo album, and the album-opening “Holiday” kicks things off on a perfect note. Accelerating like a sound barrier-breaking rocket, the band’s exuberance and emotional frustrations are on full display as Pryor wails out lyrics about a strained relationship that time has dissolved to the point where each party would be “lucky if we’re speaking on holidays.” It’s a pure blast of unstoppable thunderous rhythm and pick-scratching forward momentum.

2

“HIT OR MISS”

NEW FOUND GLORY, NEW FOUND GLORY

Look, young love can be really dumb and messy. And pop punk has long been an ideal vessel for frustrated boys to express this angst. Few songs in that realm nail the target quite like the sublimely simple “Hit or Miss.” The main power chord riff is embedded in any pop fan’s mind, as Pundik wrestles with the internal conflict of lashing out with petty complaints about an ex-girlfriend, while clearly still harboring feelings and wanting her back. “Hit or Miss” is certainly the former.

1“THE FUTURE FREAKS ME OUT” MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, I AM THE MOVIE

There are only a handful of songs that I think are legitimately perfect. “The Future Freaks Me Out” is perfect. (Like, if you can’t enjoy this song, we cannot be friends.) It’s the flawless final form of the Pierre’s frenetic OCD, pop culture-drenched, overactive mind lyricism, as he rattles off heartwrenching pleas for his retro-leaning manic pixie dream girl to realize they could end each of their lonely weirdo lots in life by coming together. From the opening guitar-and-vocals-only chorus to the start-and-stop guitar flairs in the prechorus, the song is littered with detail and mirth (the heartfelt slowburn bridge ending with Pierre literally stopping and going “Ah, f— it” before launching into another chorus is an all-time meta music moment). It’s impossible to fathom not jumping up and down and hollering along with the chorus. We’re all on fire, and we’re all gonna bust a move. n

The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids • Mon, Sept. 25 at 7 pm • $40-$254 • All ages • Northern Quest Resort & Casino • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • northernquest.com

J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW

J = ALL AGES SHOW

EDM SAN HOLO JAM GOOSE

Thursday, 9/28

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Summer Concert Series: Wyatt Wood

J BRICK WEST BREWING CO., Kyle Richard and Friends

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam

CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds

CRAVE, Karaoke with Rich

THE DISTRICT BAR, Willi Carlisle, Matt Mitchell Music Co.

HIGHBALL, Royale

J KNITTING FACTORY, Sleep Token

J MCCRACKEN’S PUB AND BBQ, Gil Rivas

J NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, Chevelle, Three Days Grace, Loathe

PANIDA THEATER, Bart Budwig, Graham Farrow Knibb, Solana Brooklyn

J PINE STREET PLAZA, Music on Main: Ally Fraser-Robinson

J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Hip-Hop Night

J THE JACKLIN ARTS & CULTURAL CENTER, What She Said: The Diva Concert

ZOLA, Wasted Genius

Friday, 9/29

AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Gil Rivas

BARRISTER WINERY, Sean Owsley and The Rising

THE BEE’S KNEES WHISKEY BAR, Kosh

BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Pastiche

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Dangerous Type

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Bobby Patterson and The Two Tones

CURLEY’S, Bruiser

THE DISTRICT BAR, Marrielle Kraft, Emma Klein

THE DISTRICT BAR, Royal Bliss, Shallow Side

J THE GRAIN SHED - CEDAR TAP

HOUSE, Open Mic at The Grain Shed Taproom

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Coheed and Cambria, Deafheaven

MOOSE LOUNGE, Hasenpfeffer

J NIGHTFALL LIVE, Jona Gallegos

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Heather King Band

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Ben Vogel

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain

Darin

J RIVER CITY LANES, Karaoke with Rich

THE ROCK BAR & LOUNGE, Steve Starkey

ZOLA, Snacks at Midnight

Saturday, 9/30

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Christy Lee Band

BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Pastiche

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Dangerous Type CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, The Usual Suspects

CURLEY’S, Bruiser

J KNITTING FACTORY, Jai Wolf, Evan Giia, Manila Killa

Let’s get this out of the way at the jump (to hyperspace): It’s incredibly difficult to actually say the stage name of Dutch DJ Sander van Dijck because your brain desperately wants to just say the name of a certain roguish space pirate from a galaxy far, far away upon which it is riffing. But once you get past that Corellian hang-up, you can have an out-ofthis-world blast seeing San Holo live. His blend of future bass and trap sounds leads to sunny beat-dropping creations that radiate positive vibes, and his effervescent remixes of hip-hop tracks by the likes of Dr. Dre, Outkast and Eminem are pure party-starters. But if you shout “I love you!” while dancing the night away at San Holo’s Existential Dance Music tour, don’t be shocked if he simply replies, “I know.”

— SETH SOMMERFELD

San Holo • Wed, Sept. 27 at 9 pm • $25 • 18+ • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com

As long as white people want to gather in large hoards to goofily dance and bask in chill communal vibes while taking psychedelics, the world will need jam bands. Unlike other genres, jam as a genre doesn’t often reset with tons of new top-tier talent. But as groups like the Dead and Phish age, Goose has flown in to be a new jam mainstay. The Connecticut quintet may shy away from the “jam” terminology, preferring the term “indie groove,” but there’s no mistaking the meandering improvisation at the music’s core. The band does tap into more modern influences than its forefathers — indie rock and even some trance over jazz and funk — but the resulting marathon crowd-pleasing concerts remain. Expect extended riffs on songs from the group’s new EP Autumn Crossing when the Goose soars into the Pavilion.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

Goose • Sat, Sept. 23 at 6:30 pm • $40-$45 • All ages • Spokane Pavilion • 574 N. Howard St. • spokanepavilion.com

MOOSE LOUNGE, Hasenpfeffer

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Heather King Band

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, Live

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Tom Catmull

J PONDEROSA BAR AND GRILL, Rhythmic Collective Duo

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

ZOLA, Blake Braley, Snacks at Midnight

Sunday, 10/1

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Greg White Jr., Dallas Kay

J THE BIG DIPPER, Violent J,

Ouija Macc, Esham, Dirty Savage, Gryn, Eric Acebo

BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Karaoke with DJ Sterling

CRAVE, Karaoke with Rich HOGFISH, Open Mic

J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin

Monday, 10/2

J THE BIG DIPPER, Restless Spirit, Merlock, Black Locust, Sonic Druid BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Karaoke with DJ Sterling

BRICK WEST BREWING CO., Live Karaoke

CRAVE, Karaoke with Rich

J EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night

Blues Jam with John Firshi

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic

Night

Tuesday, 10/3

BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Karaoke with DJ Sterling

LITZ’S PUB & EATERY, Shuffle Dawgs

ZOLA, Jerry Lee and the Groove

Wednesday, 10/4

BIGFOOT PUB & EATERY, Karaoke with DJ Sterling

J J BING CROSBY THEATER, Jesse Cook

CRUISERS, Karaoke with Rich

J THE DISTRICT BAR, The Halluci Nation

THE DRAFT ZONE, Open Mic

LAKERS INN BAR, Karaoke with Webrix

RED ROOM LOUNGE, The Roomates

J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents

J TWO SHOE BBQ, Karaoke Joe

ZOLA, Brittany’s House

Coming Up ...

BING CROSBY THEATER, Langhorne Slim, John Craigie, Oct. 5.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Avatar, Oct. 5, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Laney Lou and the Bird Dogs, Oct. 5, 8 pm.

J THE FOX THEATER, 40 Fingers, Oct. 5, 8 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Flamingos in the Tree, Oct. 6, 6:30 pm.

J BING CROSBY THEATER, No Quarter, Oct. 6, 7:30 pm.

FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Ray LaMontagne, Oct. 6, 7:30-10 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, John R. Miller, Oct. 6, 8 pm.

HIGHBALL, Heather King Band, Oct. 6, 8 pm.

J J PAVILION AT RIVERFRONT, Maren Morris, Sammy Eubanks, Oct. 7, 4:15 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Icon For Hire, The Funeral Portrait, Concrete Castles, Oct. 7, 6:30 pm.

J NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, Collective Soul, Oct. 7, 7:30 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Prof, Cashinova, J. Plaza, Willie Wonka, Oct. 7, 8 pm.

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Greg White Jr., Dallas Kay, Oct. 8, 10 am-4 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, GBH, Niis, Oct. 8, 8:30 pm.

J J THE FOX THEATER, The Mountain Goats, Mikaela Davis, Oct. 9, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Carbon Leaf, Oct. 9, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Cannibal Corpse, Mayhem, Gorguts, Blood Incantation, Oct. 10, 6:30 pm.

J J SPOKANE ARENA, Macklemore, Oct. 10, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Cold Cave, Oct.

10, 8 pm.

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, The Cult, Oct. 11, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Brent Cobb, Oct. 11, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Shakey Graves, Flipturn, Oct. 12, 8 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Rittz, Madchild, Noble, Oct. 12, 9 pm.

J IDAHO CENTRAL CREDIT UNION ARENA, Brett Young, Jake Scott, Griffen Palmer, Oct. 13, 6 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Odyssey, Frisson PNW, Flannel Math Animal, Pretending We’re Just Like Them, Xenoplasm, Oct. 13, 6:30 pm.

J THE DISTRICT BAR, Mudhoney, Hooveriii, Oct. 13, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Christina Vane, Oct. 13, 8 pm.

RIVERSIDE PLACE, Borgore, Oct. 13, 8 pm-midnight.

J THE PODIUM, Alice in Chains, Oct. 14, 8-11 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, The War and Treaty, Oct. 14, 9 pm.

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Tamarack Ridge Band, Billy Dutch, Oct. 15, 10 am-4 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Paleface Swiss, Enterprise Earth, Crown Magnetar, VCTMS, Warcrime, Oct. 15, 6:30 pm.

J THE PODIUM, Black Veil Brides, Ville Valo, Dark Divine, Oct. 15, 7 pm.

BING CROSBY THEATER, Classic Albums Live: Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Oct. 15, 7:30-9:15 pm.

J NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO, Ann Wilson of Heart & Tripsitter, Oct. 15, 7:30 pm.

J J SPOKANE ARENA, Tool, Oct. 15, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Boot Juice, Oct. 15, 9 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Vincent Neil Emerson, Logan Ledger, Oct. 16, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, The Hu, Voice of Braceprot, Blind Channel, Oct. 18, 8 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Jeffrey Foucault, Oct. 18, 9 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Fallstar, The Undertaking!, Lightworker, No Home, False Visions, Oct. 20, 6:30 pm.

KNITTING FACTORY, Spooky Perreo, Oct. 20, 8 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, All-Day Trey, Oct. 20, 9 pm.

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Devon Wade Band, Just Plain Darin, Oct. 21, 10 am-4 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, The Steel Wheels, Jenny Anne Mannan, Oct. 21, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Mersiv, Jon Casey, Deadcrow, Oct. 21, 8 pm.

J KNITTING FACTORY, Big Bubble Rave, Oct. 21, 9 pm.

MUSIC | VENUES

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

MUSIC I’LL BE BACH

How often do you get to see five Grammy winners perform for free? Northwest BachFest kicks off its September series with a free concert at the MAC auditorium featuring the Catalyst Quartet and Zuill Bailey, all recipients of the highest award in music. Catalyst Quartet combines the talents of four Latinx musicians, who in turn commission pieces from emerging Black, Latinx, Asian, LGTBQ and women composers. Together, they’ve created an original set called Little Gems from Diverse Influencers. After solos from Bailey, BachFest’s artistic director and fellow Grammy-winner, the five musicians unveil a surprise finale. Performances continue throughout the weekend at Barrister Winery with Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Haydn, Glazunov and contemporary compositions, but Friday evening’s performance is the only free event.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Northwest BachFest: Celebrate Diversity • Fri, Sept. 22 at 7 pm

COMMUNITY YOUR FACE, YOUR STORIES

COMMUNITY VALLEY VIBRANCY

• Free

• Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

• 2316 W. First Ave.

• nwbachfest.com

• 509-326-4942

For a few months now, Spokane’s art nonprofit Terrain has been cooking up a secret project. Now, the time has come for the grand reveal! Head to the Carl Maxey Center this Saturday for the unveiling of a new mural dedicated to Spokane’s East Central neighborhood titled This Is East Central. The mural features the faces of East Central residents, leaders and neighborhood iconography. Terrain co-founder and Executive Director Ginger Ewing describes the mural as “a love letter to the neighborhood.” The mural also features some pretty impressive augmented-reality technology that allows viewers to hear, using their phones, what East Central means to those featured in the mural in their own words. Head to the Carl Maxey Center to try it out for yourself.

— MADISON PEARSON

This Is East Central Mural Unveiling • Sat, Sept. 23 from noon-3 pm • Free • The Carl Maxey Center • 3114 E. Fifth Ave. • storiesofeastcentral.com

For three decades now, the first official fall weekend of the year in Spokane Valley has meant one thing: Valleyfest time! The threeday community event showcases so many things to appreciate about the region, with activities for all ages and interests. The Hearts of Gold Parade (Sept. 22, 7:30 pm) kicks off festivities along a stretch of Sprague Avenue, while the community car show (Sept. 24, 9 am-3:30 pm) takes over CenterPlace. Attendees can enjoy a culture festival, test their angling skills during “Fishing at the Falls,” or enjoy myriad performances on three different stages around CenterPlace and Mirabeau Park. Multi-Sport Sunday offers participants the option of a run, duathlon or triathlon, and that’s not all in store. For a complete schedule, visit the link below.

— CHEY SCOTT

Valleyfest • Fri, Sept. 22-Sun, Sept. 24 • Most events free • All ages • CenterPlace Regional Event Center and Mirabeau Park • 2426 N. Discovery Place • valleyfest.org

GET LISTED!

Submit events online at Inlander.com/getlisted or email relevant details to getlisted@inlander.com. We need the details one week prior to our publication date.

THEATER WOMEN OF THE WEST

Imagine a vicious dust storm sweeping through town in the Wild West, causing the men to ride off into the sunset, leaving the left-behind women to come together and fend for themselves. That’s the premise of Flip Kobler’s play Wild Dust, where a group of women from different social classes and backgrounds find common ground and camaraderie. With a central theme of resilience and transformation, Wild Dust shows how unlikely friendships can develop from unexpected events. This local performance is put on by The Upstart Players, a theater company dedicated to bringing new perspectives and stories to the stage while uplifting emerging artists.

— SUMMER SANDSTROM

Wild Dust • Fri, Sept. 22 and Sat, Sept. 23 at 7:30 pm; Sun, Sept. 24 at 2 pm • $20-$30 • The Guardian • 1403 N. Washington St. • facebook.com/ TheUpstartPlayers • 208-827-6847

WORDS A VERY LONG WALK

Combining a perhaps long-forgotten historical moment with the unforgiving landscape of the Pacific Northwest, award-winning author Adrianne Harun’s new novel On the Way to the End of the World feels both fresh and familiar. Set in 1963, the novel revolves around a group of quirky characters who take up President John F. Kennedy’s “50-Miler” walking challenge, which the president made into a public, patriotic propaganda event of sorts at the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yet when the unlikely walking companions of Humtown, an isolated mill town, stumble upon the abandoned car of a missing mother, the ensuing mystery reveals much, much more about each of them. The Port Townsend-based Harun heads to Auntie’s to share more about her riveting new read during a conversation with Spokane’s Jess Walter.

—

CHEY SCOTT

Adrianne Harun in Conversation with Jess Walter • Tue, Sept. 26 at 7 pm • Free • Auntie’s Bookstore • 402 W. Main Ave. • auntiesbooks.com • 509-838-0206

I SAW YOU

BLONDE IN BLACK Tuesday noonish. You bought jug of laundry soap, saw you in green subaru wagon. I was in Toyota truck, exchanged glances, wish I wouldve said something. May I get a mulligan? Lol

TRISCUITBOB! Just wanted to let you know that the Reddit community of Spokane appreciates and misses you. We’re all sending you well wishes and hope that everything is going superbly in your life!

YOU HELPED ME REACH CAT FOOD The cat food Princess Katniss Fuzzbot wanted was on the top shelf, and I was jumping up to get it. You came in to help and was able to grab it after only one try. This seems like a simple thing, but you were also a short woman. Thank you for also having the short struggle and still helping.

WHITE ’99 FORD RANGER, CHUCK 70S See you around a lot. Repping Chuck 70s, Levi’s (or maybe it’s bdg jeans), and silver star earrings. Just wanted to say hi. I really like your truck.

NO MILK-BONES FOR DOGS I was on a bike in Kendall Yards and said I had no Milk-Bones for your two dogs. You, fit, thin blond, black pants, dog emblem. I’ll have bones for them, chicken piccata for you! Lol. Sunday am, 7:45ish, Aug 13.

I SAW YOU

HANDSOME MAN IN RED SHIRT I was daydreaming when I saw a handsome man in a red shirt and shorts passing in front of me in Duncan Garden at Manito Park, out for his walk. You looked my way twice almost like you recognized me. Whatever the case, you made my day.

CHEERS

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT Thank you, Spokane, for graciously giving your love to help kids in our community. COVID was so hard, but particularly for children in our community. The Boys and Girls Club has been a safe place for so many over the years. Please consider donating: www.

bgcspokane.org/donate

RE: OPEN A NEW CHINESE RESTAURANT

Don’t be sleeping on Black Straw! Incredible quality and delicious Chinese food. We — a pregnant mother, two teenagers, and a hungry dad — ordered two meats and a thing of noodles, and it was enough food for dinner, and three leftover meals for the pregnant mom. The owner is amazing and always present and actively contributing. We highly recommend you check it out!

P.S.: Even the frugal dad thinks the egg rolls are worth the price.

JEERS

BACKYARD BONFIRE Do you think you’re sneaky, do you just not care, or are you stupid? Besides the fact that the outdoor temperature doesn’t begin to necessitate a fire, there’s a burn ban and a “red flag warning” in place. Your neighbors and their homes would thank you to put off your wood burning, and we don’t need to smell your smoke to remember 20,000+ acres burned, 366 homes lost, two people died, and countless pets and animals missing or worse. I hope the fire crews, responders, police and volunteers who worked 18-hour shifts to keep people safe and alive are proud of the hard hours, days, and weeks of work they did, and you learn to show them some respect by following the law. Call the Burn Info Hotline at 509-477-4710 or online at www.SpokaneCleanAir.org

GILLIGAN, NOT THE SKIPPER Saturday afternoon my husband and I walked down to a North Monroe bar to an icy cold pitcher. The handful of people were friendly and spirited while telling my husband he reminded them of someone. We guessed Gilligan as he has a small stature and it is his go-to costume for Halloween for the last 30 years. I want to ask WTF? to the guy

WITH AMERICA these days. Disgusting. This whole publication should be ashamed of the vitriol and garbage they publish, and allow others to post.

RE: DECORATE LIKE OTHER PEOPLE LIVE HERE When did I finally decide to seek out therapy? When I could no longer drive past those ubiquitous “drive like your kids live

even before the pandemic. Universal Basic Income, even Child Tax Credit, would heavily benefit everyone in this country. It would improve life expectancy or life in general as an American, the line “nobody wants to work” has been used profusely for generations; take that anger toward a positive outlook that would benefit all of us as Americans.

DRIVERS IN STRIP MALL PARKING LOTS

at the bar who proudly asked, “Does that make you the Skipper?” Thanks so much for calling out the obvious that I outweigh the 145 pounds that is my husband of 26 years. At least I had enough grace to laugh it off and move on after being insulted by the douche bag at the bar. I would have loved to say more and should have AND would have appreciated anyone in the bar, including my husband, to call the guy on his lack of class. Trying to only bring joy because really, I’m awesome AF!

TOO EARLY, TOO TACKY Just because stores put goods related to Halloween and Christmas out in July doesn’t mean that Oct. 31 decorations should be displayed mid-September. The appeal of the two days is rarity, magic, and some spirituality. Don’t make them common and crass.

STOLE MY STUFF Jeers to the person who broke the window in my truck and took all my dirt bike gear. I’m sure you have no use for it. So if anybody comes across my gear in a dumpster, please contact police or maybe relay a message to me here. Helmet, pants, jerseys, and all my shoes. It seems nothing is sacred and nothing is safe. Peace to all people who care about each other.

DO YOU READ WHAT YOU POST? Every message here shows the mental illness that runs rampant in this community. Liberals are foaming at the mouth CONSTANTLY; conservatives are doing what they do. But the complaints from both sides of you d bags is absolutely disgusting. Take a long, long look at the garbage both sides post. You guys are 100 percent WHAT’S WRONG

here” signs around town without crying and insisting that all my neighbors must be responsible for the tremendous pain that I felt inside me. Hang in there. Seek and ye shall find.

DEAR STUPID Stupid People of Spokane: You know that lane on the south side of Upriver Drive along the Centennial Trail? That’s called a trail, for runners or walkers or bikers. When you pass a driver on the right side, that’s illegal. That’s because people are walking or running or biking on it as you pass. I am one of those people. If you strike me with your car, my family will press charges against you for third-degree manslaughter. The trail isn’t a personal passing zone for you, a--hole.

LAZY ZOOMERS Jeers to all you lazy Zoomers who don’t wanna work. You just want to stay home, smoke pot and collect a paycheck. Once our socialist overlords make Universal Basic Income a reality, most businesses will have to outsource their labor I reckon. Enjoy your successful careers at streaming video games. Way to dream BIG.

RE: LAZY ZOOMERS Which streamer hurt you that bad? Universal basic income would help families, generate money for purchases for said businesses from that basic income or have extra spending cash toward our city’s economy. Gen X, Millennials, Zoomers and even Boomers are struggling these days, especially with high taxes, high gas, high prices for rent or to buy a home, and high prices of food. Businesses have been planning to outsource/cut workers

Dear Speeders, Jerks, Narcissists, and the Chronically Oblivious. You know those painted grids of White or Yellow Lines on the ground outside the Entry/ Exit Doors at local discount stores? They mean PEDESTRIANS, ONCE THEY HAVE SET FOOT ON THEM, HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY! A parking lot is just that, a lot full of people parking their cars and walking to and from businesses. It is NOT part of the street, avenue, arterial, highway, or a convenient way to avoid a Red Light. When People Are In The DESIGNATED CROSSING ZONE, it means People Driving Cars need to Slow Down or Stop to give Pedestrians the Right of Way! It does NOT mean Speed Up to Pass Them or Slow Down and Keep Coming On until you’re Three Feet from making contact with other people’s legs, carts, walkers, wheelchairs, children, or service animals! I’m sorry you’re late, in a hurry, or upset at being inconvenienced by people in Your Path. Have a care. Get some therapy. Grow a brain. Pay Attention. Make an effort. Look both ways. Slow Down. Stop and Let Pedestrians Go By. It Won’t Kill You! The Lawsuit can be avoided. The Road Rage averted. Hell, maybe you’ll even get Brownie Points in your next life. Honestly, isn’t it enough You Don’t Risk Someone Else’s? n

NOTE: I Saw You/Cheers & Jeers is for adults 18 or older. The Inlander reserves the right to edit or reject any posting at any time at its sole discretion and assumes no responsibility for the content.

EVENTS | CALENDAR BENEFIT

2023 MAC GALA Celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Campbell House with food from London’s Ultimate Catering, live music, wine and dancing. Attire is Campbell tartan, early 1900s or black tie. Sep. 23, 5:30 pm. $150. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

BEYOND PINK FASHION SHOW A designer fashion show and auction supporting Beyond Pink. Sep. 23, 5:30-9 pm. $100. Davenport Grand Hotel, 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. beyondpink.net

BOVEY BONEYARD GRAND OPENING A one-night-only photo op experience with some of Spokane’s historical neon signs. Proceeds benefit victims of the Gray fire in Medical Lake. Sep. 23, 7:30 pm. Sold out. Bovey Boneyard, 19711 W. McFarlane Rd. fb.me/e/5YLLRFT4o

BUILDING DREAMS: BRIGHT FUTURES

FOR OUR KIDS 2023 The gala serves as a fundraiser for West Central Community Center. This year’s gala is honoring Mark Peterson and Tracie Meidl. Sep. 23, 6 pm. $60. West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt St. westcentralcc.org

FOSTERING FLIGHT The annual fundraising event benefits foster youth in need. Proceeds go to SafetyNetINW. Sep. 23, 6-9 pm. $100. Historic Flight Foundation, 5829 E. Rutter Ave. safetynetinlandnw.org/ (509-535-6000)

UNDER WESTERN SKIES ART SHOW & BENEFIT GALA This event features an art sale of works by local artists, a silent and live auction featuring invitational works from various acclaimed artists and more. Funds support Arts & Culture CDA. Sep. 23, 4-9 pm. $50. Rockin’ B Ranch, 3912 N. Idaho Rd. artsandculturecda.org

THE BOULEVARD RACE A 4-mile road race that passes by Spokane landmarks. Proceeds benefit Community Cancer Fund. Sep. 24, 9 am. $25. The Centennial Hotel, 303 W. North River Dr. boulevardrace.com (509-328-8000)

SPOKANE ANGELS BENEFIT SHOW

A performance of The Addams Family featuring a silent auction benefitting Spokane Angels. Sep. 27, 6 pm. $25-$50. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St. spokaneangels.org (509-863-9427)

MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR The annual fundraiser features showings of various short films, raffles and more. Proceeds benefit the Jess Roskelley Foundation. Sep. 28, 7-9:30 pm. $20. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. jessroskelleyfoundation.com (509-327-1050)

COMEDY

BRENDAN SCHAUB Schaub is a podcast host, former professional mixed martial artist and stand up comedian. Sep. 21, 7:30 pm, Sep. 22, 7:30 & 10:15 pm and Sep. 23, 7 & 9:45 pm. $25-$5. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)

THE REAL BLANKS OF BLANKVILLE An improvised comedy show based on the audience’s favorite reality TV programs. Fri at 7:30 pm through Sep. 29. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com (747-7045)

LEWIS BLACK The stand-up comedian and actor often focuses on history and politics. Sep. 23, 8 pm. $35-$55. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com

RYAN MCCOMB The Spokane native returns from Nashville for one night of

stand up comedy. Sep. 24, 7 pm. $15-$20. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

MICK FOLEY Foley is an actor, author, retired professional wrestler and color commentator. Sep. 27, 7:30 pm. $30-$75. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

MORGAN JAY Jay is a musician and comedian based in Los Angeles and has made appearance’s on MTV’s Wild’n’Out, NBC and Comedy Central. Sep. 28, 7:30 pm. $25-$30. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

MOSCOW COMEDY FEST Various comedians perform stand-up at this three-night festival. Featured comedians include Ryan McComb, Liz Miele, Joe Larson, Gabriel Rutledge, Mary Lou Gamba and more. Sep. 28,-29 at 7 pm and Sep. 30, 3 & 8 pm. $25-$80. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

COMMUNITY

MINECRAFT: THE EXHIBITION The world of Minecraft is explored in this wide-ranging exhibition, designed for players and non-players of all ages. TueSun from 10 am-5 pm through Dec. 31. $15-$20. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE This monthly event includes live music, gallery cruising, gallery talks, lectures, artist workshops and demonstrations, periodic exhibition openings and special Campbell House programing. Third Thursday of each month from 5-9 pm. $7.50-$10. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE FALL FESTIVAL The festival features a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, children’s games, food trucks, fresh produce and more. Sept. 22-Oct. 29, daily from 10 am-6 pm. Free. Beck’s Harvest House, 9919 E. Greenbluff Rd. becksharvesthouse.com

ANNUAL FALL CATHOLIC WOMEN’S LEAGUE RUMMAGE SALE This rummage sale includes furniture, clothing, music and more. Sept. 22-23, Fri from 4-7 pm and Sat from 8 am-11 am. St. Mary’s Parish Family Center, 618 E. 1st St. facebook. com/StMarysMoscow (208-882-4813)

HUB FAMILY GAME NIGHT Choose from a variety of games including CLUE, 5 Second Rule, Phase 10, Sequence and more. Sep. 22, 5-7 pm. $5-$15. HUB Sports Center, 19619 E. Cataldo Ave. hubsportscenter.org (509-927-0602)

PARADE OF HOMES Expert home builders showcase their finest work to the public. Fri-Sun from 11 am-6 pm through Sept. 24. $10. Coeur d’Alene. poh.nibca. com (208-765-5518)

SOUTHEAST SPOKANE COUNTY FAIR

This fair features traditional carnival games, a parade, pie eating contest and more. Sept. 22-24; Fri from 12-8 pm, Sat from 7 am-8 pm and Sun from 9 am-5 pm. Rockford. sespokanecountyfair.com

ART DROP DAY Community members are invited to drop their art in the park for someone to find and keep. Sep. 23, 11 am. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. riverfrontspokane.com (509-625-6600)

EAST CENTRAL MURAL UNVEILING

A ribbon cutting ceremony for a community mural and storytelling project celebrating the past, present, and future hopes and dreams of the people and the places that make up East Central. Sep. 23, 12-3 pm. Free. Carl Maxey Center, 3116 E.

Fifth Ave. terrainpokane.com

NORTHWEST PAGAN FEST: LIVING THE MAGIC The second annual fest includes a kids activities tent, zen (destimulation) area, 70+ local artisans and vendors, live entertainment, workshops and classes, food and more. Sep. 23, 10 am-6 pm. Free. Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St. scc.spokane.edu

NUMERICA CARES FOR KIDS CELEBRATION Meet and greet Gonzaga basketball athletes, play games, get your face painted and more. Sep. 23, 3-6 pm. Free. McCarthey Athletic Center, 801 N Cincinnati. facebook.com/numerica.credit.union

SIEMERS FARM HARVEST FESTIVAL A festival with live music, a vendor market, games, a pumpkin patch and more. Sept. 23-Oct. 29, Sat-Sun from 10 am-6 pm. 10 am-6 pm through Oct. 29. $10. Siemers Farm, 11125 E. Day-Mt. Spokane Rd. siemersfarm.com (509-238-6242)

SPOKANE ARTS AWARDS The annual event recognizes the accomplishments of creatives, arts and cultural organizations, and local individuals committed to enriching our community through the arts. Sep. 23, 7 pm. Gonzaga University Hemmingson Center, 702 E. Desmet Ave. spokanearts.org (509-313-6942)

SPOKANE DAHLIA FESTIVAL This event features local cut flower farmers and artists, speakers, demos and more. Sep. 23, 9 am-6 pm. Free. Rosarium Garden Center, 9405 S. Williams Ln. rosariumgardencenter.com

VALLEYFEST The three-day celebration includes fun outdoor activities, food, music and more family-friendly events. Events take place at various venues, see website for full schedule and list of locations. Sep. 23, 10 am-6 pm and Sep. 24, 8 am-4 pm. Free. Spokane Valley. valleyfest.org

ONE SPOKANE STADIUM GRAND OPENING The grand opening of Spokane’s newest sports venue. Sep. 26, 11 am. Free. One Spokane Stadium, 501 W. Gardner Ave. spokanestadium.com

FAMILY FUN FEST Celebrate the HUB’s 16th anniversary with basketball, pickleball, corn hole and more games. Sep. 29, 4-7 pm. Free. HUB Sports Center, 19619 E. Cataldo Ave. hubsportscenter.org

2ND ANNUAL FALL QUEER CLOTHING EXCHANGE Browse community-curated clothes and put together a genderaffirming outfit. Clothing drop-offs are welcome during business hours leading up to the event. Sep. 30, 10 am-4 pm. Free. Atomic Threads Boutique, 1905 N. Monroe St. atomicthreadsinc.com

FILM

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO Two sisters explore their new home and befriend playful spirits in their house and the nearby forest, most notably the massive cuddly creature known as Totoro. Sep. 22, 4 pm, Sep. 23, 1 pm and Sep. 24, 4 & 7 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

PEACE CORPS DOCUMENTARY: A TOWERING TASK The film takes viewers on a journey of what it means to be a global citizen. Airing on KSPS. Sep. 24, 2-4 pm. Free. peacecorpsdocumentary.com

BORAH SYMPOSIUM: PUTIN’S ATTACK ON UKRAINE The Associated Press goes inside Russia’s war on Ukraine, tracing a pattern of atrocities committed by Russian troops with a focus on the Kyiv suburbs. Sep. 26, 7 pm. Free. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

OLDBOY Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Park Chan-Wook’s Oldboy, now restored and remastered in 4K. Sep. 27, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

OUTDOOR MOVIE: HOCUS POCUS

EXPERIENCE A bewitching evening featuring crafting with Camp Dart-Lo, a costume contest and an eerie scavenger hunt. Sep. 27, 5-9 pm. Free. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr. commellini. com (509-466-0667)

TWILIGHT 15 YEAR ANNIVERSARY A screening of the movie based on Stephanie Meyer’s vampire series. Sep. 27, 2:25 & 7:30 pm, Sep. 28, 4 pm, Sep. 29, 2:25 & 5 pm and Sep. 30, 2:25 pm. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland. garlandtheater.com

UNCOVERED: THE SECRETS WE HIDE

Four original short films sharing a journey of overcoming the secrets that shame hides. Sep. 27, 7-9 pm. $20-$25. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com

DRIVE IN MOVIE: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. Sep. 29, 9-11 pm.

$25 per car. HUB Sports Center, 19619 E. Cataldo Ave. hubsportscenter.org

DRIVE IN MOVIE: LILO & STITCH A runaway genetic experiment from a faraway planet, wreaks havoc on the Hawaiian Islands, he becomes the mischievous adopted alien “puppy” of a girl named Lilo. Sep. 29, 7-8:30 pm. $25 per car. HUB Sports Center, 19619 E. Cataldo Ave. hubsportscenter.org (509-927-0602)

FOOD & DRINK

BEVERLY’S FREEMARK ABBEY WINE

DINNER A chef-curated meal inspired by the West Coast paired with Freemark Abbey wines. Sep. 21, 6-9 pm. $125. Beverly’s, 115 S. Second St. beverlyscda.com

NO-LI OKTOBERFEST Celebrate with $8 pints of small-batch German lager, Fresh Hop IPA, Franziskaner Weissbier German Import and $12 Glass Das Boot mugs. 500 person limit. Ages 21+. Sep. 23, 11 am-3 pm. Free. No-Li Brewhouse, 1003 E. Trent Ave. nolibrewhouse.com/oktoberfest

ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT PANCAKE BREAKFAST Pancakes, sausage, eggs and Green Bluff applesauce. Children under 5 free with paying adult. Sep. 24, 8-11 am. $4$8. Green Bluff Grange, 9809 Green Bluff Rd. greenbluffgrowers.com (979-2607)

SPOKANE GREEK FEST This annual celebration includes traditional Greek food items such as gyros and baklava. Church tours are available. Sep. 28-30 from 11 am-8 pm. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 1703 N. Washington St. spokanegreekfest.org

OKTOBERFEST This two-day celebration features small-batch beers, an Oktoberfest menu and commemorative mugs. Sep. 29, 3-10 pm and Sep. 30, 12-10 pm. $20. Garland Brew Werks, 603 W. Garland. facebook.com/GarlandBrewWerks

FRESH HOP FESTIVAL A breweryfocused event showcasing the creative talents of head brewers from the Inland Northwest. Sep. 30, 4-8:30 pm. $60-$85. Millwood Park, 9205 E. Frederick Ave. eatgoodgroup.com

MUSIC

BEST OF BLUEGRASS: CUSTER’S

GRASS BAND The Pacific Northwest-

based band performs traditional bluegrass music along with tight vocal harmonies. Sep. 21, 7 pm. $20. The Jacklin Arts & Cultural Center, 405 N. William St. thejacklincenter.org (208-457-8950)

STUDENT RECITAL: CLARA BROWN Brown performs selections for piano. Sep. 21, 7:30-9 pm. Free. Kimbrough Music Building, WSU Pullman. music.wsu.edu

NORTHWEST BACHFEST: CATALYST

STRING QUARTET & ZUILL BAILEY The Latinx ensemble Catalyst Quartet performs diverse selections, along with solos by Zuill Bailey. Sep. 22, 7 pm. Free. The MAC, 2316 W. First. nwbachfest.com

SYMPHONY SESSIONS Music Director James Lowe takes audiences on a classical music journey featuring traditional and contemporary composers. Sep. 22, 8:30 pm. $29. The Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St. foxtheaterspokane.org

WSU FACULTY ARTIST SERIES: JACQUELINE WILSON The instructor and professor plays selections for bassoon as part of the Faculty Artist Series. Sep. 22, 7:30 pm. Free. Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU), 605 Veterans Way. music.wsu.edu

FLOATING CROWBAR A traditional Irish ensemble, featuring pipes, flute, whistle, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and guitar. Sep. 23, 7-9 pm. $20. Kelly’s Underground, 1301 W. 14th Ave. southhillmusicstudios. com/kellys/ (509-744-9861)

KPBX KIDS’ CONCERT The concert features The Hot Club of Coeur d’Alene playing swinging jazz music. Sep. 23, 1 pm. Free. River Park Square, 808 W. Main Ave. spokanepublicradio.org (509-624-3945)

LADDIE RAY MELVIN & THE BLUE RIBBON TEA COMPANY Original, folk, blues and country music. Sep. 23, 7-9 pm. $5$15. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org (509-447-9277)

NORTHWEST BACHFEST: BACH’S GOLDBERG VARIATIONS FOR STRING QUARTET The Grammy-winning Catalyst Quartet, along with BachFest Artistic Director Zuill Bailey, perform. Sep. 23, 7-8:45 pm. $40; $10 student. Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave. nwbachfest.com (509-326-4942)

AFRICAN CHILDREN’S CHOIR The choir performs popular children’s music, traditional spiritual songs and African cultural pieces. Sep. 24, 7 pm. By donation. Liferoads Church, 3007 E. Marshall Ave. africanchildrenschoir.com (509-328-1099)

SPOKANE STRING QUARTET WITH EVREN OZEL This program features quartets by Brahms and Schumann along with other solo works. Sep. 24, 3-5 pm. $20-$25. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanestringquartet.org

U OF I & WSU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

A combined concert featuring the orchestras from both schools on the Palouse. Sep. 26, 7:30 pm and Sep. 27, 7:30 pm. U of Idaho Administration Building, 851 Campus Dr. uidaho.edu/class/music

CDA SYMPHONY: BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR The Coeur d’Alene symphony performs Rossini’s Overture to Barber of Seville, Capriccio Espagnol by RimskyKorsakov and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5, Emperor. Sep. 30, 7:30 pm. Schuler Performing Arts Center, 880 W. Garden Ave. cdasymphony.org (208-769-7780)

SPOKANE SYMPHONY POPS 1: LADIES OF SONG Carmen Bradford performs selections by America’s first ladies of song including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Lena Horne. Sep. 30, 7:30 pm. $47-$100. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague. foxtheaterspokane.org

GO OVER THE EDGE FOR

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

GREATER SPOKANE PARKS CHALLENGE Complete challenges, using the Outerspacial app, related to parks in the Spokane area to win prizes and be entered into raffles. Daily through Oct. 31. Free. Spokane. spokanecounty.org

YOGA AT THE STACKS An invigorating yoga session atop the Steamplant. Ticket price includes a drink ticket. Sep. 21, 5-7 pm. $35. The Steam Plant, 159 S. Lincoln St. eclipsepoweryoga.com

FALL GARDEN CLEANUP Discuss the importance of fall cleanup in the garden and easy steps to get it all done. Presented by the Master Gardeners. Sep. 23, 11 am-noon. Free. Otis Orchards Library, 22324 E. Wellesley Ave. scld.org

KAYAK THE LITTLE SPOKANE RIVER A six-mile, three-hour paddle on the Little Spokane. Pre-registration and Discover Pass required. Ages 16+. Sep. 23, 11 am-3 pm. $65. Register at spokanecity.org

NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY HIKES

Choose between a leisurely hike in Riverside State Park or a more challenging hike in north Idaho. Sep. 23, 9 am. Free. Riverside State Park Bowl & Pitcher, 4427 N. Aubrey L. White Parkway. landscouncil.org (509-838-4912)

VILLAGE COHOUSING WORKS VCW

GOLF TOURNAMENT This tournament features a scramble format and includes lunch, and silent auction to follow. Proceeds benefit Village Cohousing Works. Sep. 23, 9:30 am-3 pm. $115. Deer Park Golf Course, 1201 North Country Club Dr. villagecohousingworksspokane.org

the musical tells the story of how she broke barriers in order to achieve a high level of fame in the music industry. TueSat at 7:30 pm, Sat also at 2 pm, Sun at 1 pm and 6:30 pm through Sept. 23. $52$100. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. broadwayspokane.com (509-279-7000)

WILD DUST Stranded in the local saloon until a dust storm subsides, women of a western town find themselves united by their shared circumstances. Sept. 22-24; Fri-Sat at 7:30, Sun at 2 pm. $20-$30. The Guardian, 1403 N. Washington St. facebook.com/TheUpstartPlayers

GONZAGA DANCE SEASON OPENER A dance performance featuring Gonzaga Dance’s fall guest artists in residence, Ballet Fantastique. Sep. 23, 7:30 pm. Free. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/ mwpac (509-313-4776)

REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE A night of modern dance performed by the Repertory Dance Theatre. Sep. 27, 7:30 pm. $10-$30. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. artinsandpoint.org

RISING TIDE: A COLLABORATIVE

EVENING OF DANCE A celebration of the female choreographic voice that features the work of five local choreographers representing a wide variety of dance styles. Sep. 28-29, 7:30 pm. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com

TROUBLE AT THE TROPICABANA

Enjoy dinner, dancing and a live show where you figure out “whodunnit”. Call for reservations. Sept. 29-Oct. 7; Fri-Sat at 6 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $40-$42. Cutter Theatre, 302 Park St. cuttertheatre.com

TWO WITCHES, NO WAITING A comedy play focused on eccentric sisters Arlene & Elzbeth. Dinner varies each night, see website for menu. Sept. 29-Oct. 14, Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm. $12-$35. Circle Moon Theater, 3642 N. State Route 211. northwoodsperformingarts.com

VISUAL ARTS

ALEETA RENEE JONES: ANCIENT

An ongoing series of large paintings exploring the search for commonality throughout human history and the ancient ties that bind people together. Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com

COZETTE PHILLIPS: EXERCISES IN

A mixed-media exhibition in response to the affects of the climate crisis. Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm through Sept. 29. Free. Trackside Studio, 115 S. Adams St. tracksidestudio.net

THE ELVIRA ART SHOW An art show comprised of drawings of Giant Nerd Books’ store dog, Elvira, by community members. Mon-Sat from 11 am-6 pm, Sun from 12-5 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Giant Nerd Books, 607 W. Garland Ave. instagram.com/giantnerdbooks

ERIC SANCHEZ: EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE A collection of cubist-style paintings by local artist Eric Sanchez. Daily from 11-6 pm through Oct. 2. Free. Entropy, 101 N. Stevens St. explodingstars.com

DON HAMILTON: EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL AT THE BALLET A collection of photographs by Don Hamilton featuring dancers from local ballet institutions. Viewings by appointment through Sept. 30. Free. Hamilton Studio, 1427 W. Dean. hamiltonstudio.com

HANNAH KUHNS: TELEPHONE This show features abstract works and prints

by artist Hannah Kuhns. Tue-Sat from 10 am-6 pm through Oct. 7. Free. Emerge, 119 N. Second St. emergecda.com

IO PALMER & ANN CHRISTENSON: EN -

TANGLE The show features mixed media art consisting of fabric, ceramics and wire. Through Sept. 30, by appointment only. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. kolva.comcastbiz.net

JAMES ALLEN: EXCAVATING BOOKS

A book arts exhibition featuring books that have been carved out to tell new stories. Through Oct. 26; Mon-Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm and Sat from 10 am-2 pm. Free. Bryan Oliver Gallery, 300 W. Hawthorne. whitworth.edu

JUN OH: JAEMI The local artist uses nontraditional painting materials to create experimental paintings to represent emotions. Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe. terrainspokane.com

TRACY PETRE WALKER: LIFE & TIME

Walker presents a body of artwork that explores universal themes seen within our society through the use of symbolism, archetypal imagery, and stereotyping. Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-3:30 pm through Oct. 19. Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. spokanefalls.edu/gallery

MARSHA MARCUSON & ROBBIN

MILLER Marcuson’s paintings portray nature scenes while Miller uses cold wax to create abstract paintings. Sept. 1-30, Wed-Sat from 11 am-4 pm. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone Ave. avenuewestgallery.com (509-838-4999)

PALOUSE TO CASCADE RAIL TRAIL

EXHIBIT An exhibit of pictures and replica rail signs of the Palouse to Cascades Rail Trail from Easton to Tekoa, Wash. Daily through Sep. 30, 10 am-6 pm. Free. Colfax Library, 102 S. Main St. whitcolib.org (509-397-4366)

PEACE OF IT ALL This exhibit features work exploring the theme of peace in the natural world and the artists’ life experiences. Featured artists include Sandi Bransford, Kris Ekstrand, Doug Fluckiger, Susan Mattson, Shelia Miles and Ryan Molenkamp. Wed-Sun from 11 am-6 pm through Sep. 30. Free. The Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave. theartspiritgallery.com (208-765-6006)

BEVIE LABRIE Artist and painter Bevie LaBrie’s work is inspired by life and nature in all its forms. Sept. 1-30, daily from 11 am-7 pm. Free. Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington St. potteryplaceplus.com (509-327-6920)

SPOKANE WATERCOLOR SOCIETY

2023 MEMBER’S INVITATIONAL This show features art by members of the Spokane Watercolor Society including Janie Edwards, Kim Gardell, Sherri Thies, Dan Earcret and others. Mon-Fri from 10 am-5 pm through Sep. 29. Free. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net

ALISON WAHL: STELLAR JEWELS

Wahl showcases handmade silver and precious stone jewelry. Wed-Sat from 11 am-5 pm through Sep. 30. Free. New Moon Art Gallery, 1326 E. Sprague Ave. manicmoonandmore.com

TIMESCAPE(S) This exhibition features artists reflecting on time/temporality through different artistic forms, media, and perspectives. Featured artists include Sara St. Clair, Gautama Achara, Nika Blasser, Sonja Foard, Heather Woolery and more. Tue-Fri from 12-5 pm, Sat from 10 am-3 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Moscow Contemporary, 414 S. Main St. moscowcontemporary.org

JOSH HOBSON: NOCTURNES A pho-

tography exhibition featuring work that is an expression of climate angst and anxiety. Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm through Sep. 29. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. sapgallery.com

POSIE KALIN: I AM WHO I AM BECOMING Kalin explores memory and identity through the use of found objects and installation art. Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm through Sep. 29. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. sapgallery.com

INTRO TO LETTERPRESS: TYPESETTING Learn the basic process of a simple moveable type lock-up and make your own custom prints in this class taught by Thom Caraway. Sep. 23, 1-4 pm. $50. Spokane Print & Publishing Center, 1921 N. Ash St. spokaneprint.org

MIXED MEDIA ART JOURNALING

WITH DINA NATALE Create a fun and unique journal using different types of mediums and found objects. For adult students. Sep. 23, 11 am-2:30 pm. $92. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net

WATERCOLOR CLASS Learn the basics of painting with watercolors. Supplies included for first-timers. Open to all levels. Every other Tues from 10 am-2 pm. $20. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St., Newport. createarts.org

INTRO TO 3D PRINTING Learn the fundamentals of 3D printing in this onenight workshop covering all steps of the additive manufacturing process, from design to file prep to machine operation. For adults. Sep. 27, 6-9 pm. Free. Gizmo-CDA, 283 N. Hubbard Ave. Suite 102. gizmo-cda.org (208-929-4029)

CAYLA SKILLIN-BRAUCHLE: A DAY FOR DREAMING, A DAY FOR DOING

This exhibition features works on paper, sculpture and performance by the Salem, Oregon-based artist and educator. Sept. 28-Nov. 3, Mon-Fri from 9 am-6 pm. Free. EWU Gallery of Art, 140 Art Building. ewu.edu/cahss/fine-performing-arts/art/gallery

KIMEKOMI FABRIC ART CLASS Learn the Japanese art form of tucking fabric into a pattern. Bring favorite fabrics to use. Tools provided. Sep. 30, 11 am-3 pm. $36. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org (447-9277)

LITTLE SPOKANE RIVER ARTIST STUDIO TOUR Five participating studios showcase over 50 artists and their work. See website for studio map. Sep. 30, 10 am-5 pm. Free. Spokane. littlespokanestudios.com

SPOKANE CARVERS: ARTISTRY IN WOOD 2023 The juried show is open to all carvers from throughout the U.S. and Canada. Carvings are entered by novice, intermediate, advanced and expert carvers. Sep. 30, 10 am-5 pm and Oct. 1, 12-4 pm. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague. spokanecarvers.com

WORDS

BARTON ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES One-on-one English language tutoring and conversation groups. Mon, Wed, Fri from 9-11:30 am. Register via email. Free. First Presbyterian Church of Spokane, 318 S. Cedar St. spokanefpc.org/ barton

ANNETTE PIMENTEL: BEFORE COLORS Pimentel’s new children’s book aims to teach children about the physics of light and color. Sep. 23, 11 am. Free. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

TERENA ELIZABETH BELL: TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE Terena Elizabeth Bell signs copies of her debut experimen-

tal short story collection, Tell Me What You See. Sep. 23, 4-6 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206)

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: QUEER & WEIRD

Discuss This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone at the September meeting. Sep. 23, 6 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com/queer-weird-book-club-ness (509-838-0206)

THE WRITER’S MYTHIC QUEST Local writer Kim Morgan discusses re-visioning strategies for writing in any genre. This four-part series teaches mythology to deepen narrative storytelling and more. Sept. 23 from 2-3:30 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. cdalibrary.com

FLIGHT PATHS WITH REBECCA HEIS -

MAN Explore the science and scientists of bird migration with author Rebecca Heisman as she discusses her book, Flight Paths. Sep. 24, 2 pm. Free. Wishing Tree Books, 1410 E. 11th Ave. wishingtreebookstore.com (509-315-9875)

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: GET LIT! Discuss How to Care for a Human Girl by Ashley Wurzbacher at the September meeting. This book club focuses on books and authors participating in EWU’s annual Get Lit! Festival. Sep. 24, 6 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com/get-lit-book-club-tricia (509-838-0206)

BORAH SYMPOSIUM An annual program featuring lectures and workshops devoted to understanding the causes of war and the conditions for establishing a lasting peace. Sept. 25-27, times/ locations vary. See website for schedule. Free. University of Idaho, 709 S Deakin St. uidaho.edu/borah

COURAGEOUS & KIND Abbey monastics share some of the strategies that have made their lives better. Each session includes a short, guided meditation to relax, followed by a talk and a Q&A. Mon from 6:30-8 pm through Oct. 30. Free. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. sravastiabbey.org

ADRIANNE HARUN IN CONVERSATION

WITH JESS WALTER Harun’s On the Way to the End of the World is an adventure story riven with secrets, a national fairy tale twisted into a whodunit. Sep. 26, 7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-8380206)

RIVERSIDE CHATS: AN EVENING WITH LUKE BAUMGARTEN Riverside Chats spotlight the do-gooders, newsmakers and rebels of our community. This month’s guest is Luke Baumgarten, the founder of RANGE Media. Sep. 26, 7:30 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org

BROKEN MIC Spokane Poetry Slam’s longest-running, weekly open mic reading series. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm; signups at 6 pm. Free. Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave. bit.ly/2ZAbugD

WARREN SEYLER: 700 GENERATIONS

OF THE SPOKANE TRIBE Warren Seyler discusses what it was like for the Spokane ancestors when they lived as a semi-nomadic river people upon the Plateau. Sep. 28, 6:30-8 pm. Free. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First. northwestmuseum.org

DR ZACHARIAH ETIENNE: BLACK HOLES AND GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

Dr. Etienne, professor of physics at the University of Idaho discusses black holes gravity. Presentation followed by a screening of Interstellar. Sep. 30, 6 pm.

$5-$25. Panida Theater, 300 N. First. panida.org n

Washington has been in the process of establishing a social equity program for retail cannabis licencees for years, and last week the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board gave a status update on the project.

In 2020, House Bill 2870 was passed by the state Legislature to establish the state’s cannabis social equity program. As the LCB said in a statement in May, the goal of the legislation and program is to “create a more diverse and equitable cannabis industry in Washington state.” The program “will allow the LCB more flexibility to help those harmed by the War on Drugs establish their business and achieve the state goal of increasing opportunity for social equity applicants.”

Essentially, state regulators saw that communities most harmed by the war on drugs were not among the

EQUITY

Fair Cannabis

Regulators in Olympia make public data on the state’s cannabis social equity program

BY WILL MAUPIN

communities benefiting most from the state’s legal cannabis market. The social equity program was designed to change that.

The LCB will award 46 retail licenses under the program, ideally to members of a community that had been disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs.

Last Wednesday, the LCB made public some statistics on those who have applied for licenses under the program.

According to the LCB, 47% of applicants identified as Black or African American. Reporting by KING-TV in Seattle showed that just 4% of cannabis retailers in the state were Black-owned in 2022, despite making up 12 percent of the state’s population in the 2020 Census.

Fewer than 2% of retail licenses are Hispanic-owned. Yet 14% of applicants for social equity licenses identified as Hispanic, the same proportion of the state’s population.

Of the applicants to the program, 76% identified as something other than “white” or “prefer not to answer.”

As of 2020, according to LCB data, 81% of retail licenses were white-owned.

The LCB will now move to score the qualified applicants, with the 46 available licenses being distributed to the highest-scoring applicant per county and the rest handed out to high-scoring applicants in a lottery system.

This does not mean that the state will soon be home to an additional 46 cannabis retailers. Most of the licenses to be distributed through the social equity program were already included in the finite number of licenses allowable under state law. Some had been previously issued to other businesses, but subsequently canceled, revoked or otherwise abandoned. Others were never issued in the first place. n

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.

I’VE GOT 99 PROBLEMS, BUT 420 SOLUTIONS.

THE ENTIRE STORE IN SEPTEMBER

YOUR TEEN ASKS WHY IS LEGAL FOR YOU, BUT NOT

HIM. AND YOU SAY?

Now that marijuana is legal for those 21 and over, it’s more important than ever to talk with your kids.

START TALKINGNOW.ORG

NOTE TO READERS

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 five-year sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.

Keep out of the reach of children.

WARNING: This product has

intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Cannabis can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults 21 and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

ACROSS

41. It might address a gray area

42. Remove from a board

43. Mystic’s board 45. ____ queen

46. Barrel of laughs

47. Abraham Lincoln’s first Vice President

54. Notion

55. “I’m such a butterfingers!”

56. Nabisco name since 1967

58. Abbott and Costello, e.g. (or what the words in 17-, 22-, 38and 47-Across each start with)

63. Longtime New York archbishop Timothy

64. Mike’s partner in candy

65. Rest spot for a camel

66. Expiration date words

67. Pompous person

68. Foot massage targets

A

DOWN

1. Play-____

2. Actress who, with Ethan, is a parent to actress Maya Hawke

3. Male sheep

4. Bubble bath sigh

5. ____ Image Awards

6. Friedlander of “30 Rock”

7. Madison Square Garden, for one

8. Neither Dem. nor Rep.

9. Classic sandwich initials

10. “Us, too!”

11. Take ____ from (copy)

12. Mr., Mrs. or Mx.

13. Vermeer and Rembrandt contemporary

18. Thumbs-down vote

22. Poppycock

23. Spot for an inconspicuous

tattoo, perhaps 24. Louvre Pyramid designer I.M.

25. Shop tool

26. “Kiss Me Deadly” singer Ford

27. Emerson’s “____ Beauty”

28. Worked a club, say

31. “SNL” alum Oteri

32. Actress Sonia of “Moon Over Parador”

33. Sheeran and Sullivan

34. Often-dystopian conflict of the future, for short

35. City where Grey Poupon originated

36. “Now!”

39. Many a Syrian or Yemeni

44. Clickable address

45. Forensic facility

47. Holi celebrator

48. “Hasta la próxima”

49. Woman’s name that becomes another woman’s name when spelled backward

50. They can be deceiving

51. They may be mobile

52. Gibbon, e.g.

53. Early PC platform

57. Whichever

58. Org. in many Tom Clancy books

59. Ming whose number was retired by the Rockets

60. Ethernet alternative

61. One-eighty

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