October

Visual Arts

"Redressed"

You really don’t know what you’ll see at a Tresia Oosting show until you get there. That’s what Sue Bradley, owner of Tinman Gallery, says of the Spokane-bred artist.

“Until she is finished with her processes and installs the pieces, her work will look like regular, everyday objects,” Bradley says.

But to Oosting, the world’s objects are her doll parts. Her headless figures are gauze-wrapped prisoners, stumps of arms and legs poking from their mummy confines. Regular objects — leather gloves, a doctor’s bag, high heels, a jump rope — get a simple makeover. Those high heels look alien when wrapped in that same gauze and coated with dusty white shellac. A jump rope — simply a string and two handles — seems ominous under Oosting’s hand, especially when the handles don little tiny patent leather dolls shoes. Oct. 2-24; Tinman Gallery, artist reception: Oct. 2 from 5-9 pm. — LEAH SOTTILE

Visual Arts/Pop Music

Terrain

Amid the packed-in bodies and deafening music, you run into an old professor nursing a party cup of beer. You both came to see a friend’s art. His friend is a local household name; yours a recent college grad. Tonight, their art hangs side by side.

Such is the spirit of Terrain, dissolving the lines between the “art community” and burgeoning artists by placing them in one room — outside the jurisdiction of white-box galleries. A diverse jury comprised of both art aficionados and casual fans (and including Inlander Arts Editor Luke Baumgarten) chooses which submissions to admit. Co-founder Ginger Ewing lobbied hard to convince last year’s jury to accept a particular young artist. This year, those same jurors crossed fingers the artist would submit again, says Ewing. Her artwork is increasingly visible around Spokane — in part, Ewing believes, due to last year’s show: “If it was just left to people who were established, she wouldn’t have gotten in last year.” Friday, Oct. 2; Music City Hall, 1011 W. First Ave., free, 5:30 pm. — ERIKA PRINS

Reading

Empyrean Poetry Slams

Mark Anderson, Kurt Olson, Danielle Estelle, Zack Graham — they can make a room go wild. Onstage there’s no guitar or a drum kit to be found — just nervous hands and shadowed brows. These are poets with something to say out loud.

At Empyrean’s poetry slams, anyone who wants to participate has a mic, a spotlight and the undivided attention of a crowd. It’s open — but first-time readers might want to try Empyrean’s regular poetry open mics before slamming. You won’t see many slammers fumbling through pages of journals or diaries; poetry slam is largely a performance-oriented event. Before the event kicks off, poets sign up to read their original work on stage. That list of names is randomized and five unbiased (meaning they aren’t there to watch their friends) judges are appointed from the audience. Poets are called up to read (most recite their work from memory) and are judged on content, originality and performance.

“Winning a poetry slam doesn’t make you the best poet, it just means that night you competed the best in the eyes of the judges,” says Anderson, who organizes the events with Empyrean owner Chrisy Riddle.

Slammers like Olson and Anderson are well-practiced performers, spitting out lines of verse like they’re speaking in tongues or rapping from the depths of their souls. And the audience goes wild for it — cheering, yelping, snapping and wheedling. Their cheers practically beg each performer for more. Oct. 8; Empyrean, $5, 7 pm, all-ages — LEAH SOTTILE

Visual Art

"Crossover"

While many artists throw out the term “print” when referring to reproductions of their work, local artist Mary Farrell is making the real deal. In her upcoming show, “Crossover,” at the Art Spirit Gallery, Farrell shows her true mastery of the printmaking craft. In this show, the Gonzaga art professor presents her newest monotypes: prints created by drawing or painting on a non-absorbent surface and then transferred to paper (usually with a printing press).

According to the Art Spirit’s owner, Steve Gibbs, Farrell is delving further into her past themes of human and garden forms. Occasionally, they play solos in multi-layered pieces of drying leaves, bundled grasses and late-season blossoms. But humanity and nature often co-mingle here. In “Counterpoint,” bodies rest over silhouettes of leaves, branches, stems and lush bouquets. “Event” shows what looks like a worm’s-eye view of centuries-old tree roots, snarling and twisting in rheumatic crooks and coils. In many, Farrell disguises female figures in quiet repose among tall shrubs and succulent leaves. Her use of color — often oranges, blacks, browns and earthy reds — add depth and mystery; oranges seem to double as fire and light, earthy browns and blacks are both pastoral and foreboding. In “X,” a male farmer-figure stands before a contorted pile of branches. It could be a tree, but there’s a good chance it’s a funeral pyre. Oct. 9 - Nov. 7; The Art Spirit Gallery, artist reception: Oct. 9 from 5-8 pm. — LEAH SOTTILE

Classical

Salute to America

With the recession and a decline in donations, the Coeur d’Alene Symphony had to cancel its Labor Day concert. It’s a familiar story across America: arts organizations in tough times, needing to curtail their programming.

Here’s another American story: Community members banding together and deciding to attend arts events that they otherwise might not, simply to ensure that artistic performances — the kind that enhance quality of life and provide artistic self-respect — don’t simply flicker out and disappear.

And the CdA Symphony has chosen a particularly American program for its October concert at North Idaho College: the Czech-composed but American-inspired “New World” symphony of Antonin Dvorak; George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, with music director David Demand as soloist; and the lush melodies of Howard Hanson’s “Romantic” symphony. All three works should remind small-town listeners that the music’s worth it and needs to be supported. Saturday, Oct. 10; NIC’s Boswell Hall, $15-$20, 7:30 pm. — MICHAEL BOWEN

Pop Music

Gogol Bordello

OK, so I guess calling someone a “gypsy” is an ethnic slur. But Gogol Bordello, they’re claiming it as their own. So don’t get offended if I use it in the next paragraphs.

The group was formed in the late ’90s by Eugene Hütz, a Ukrainian who lived as a gypsy (gasp!) for years after his family fled from their home after the Chernobyl meltdown. After meandering through Poland, Hungary, Austria and Italy in refugee camps, Hütz’s family came to the United States as political refugees. But the nomadic experience deeply branded Hütz’s soul.

Hütz assembled an “immi-punk” band of the scrappiest, craziest musicians he could find from every corner of the world. A Brit with great pipes. Two Russians: an accordion player and a violinist. An Israeli guitarist. An Ecuadoran emcee. An Ethiopian bass player. Men and women brought together to form an artistic family — all united by one purpose: to create a new optimism for their audience in the repetitive swamps of modern music. What comes out is loud and raw — a punk-meets-folklore pulp, cranked out by the busload of band members and whoever else they bring onstage. Gogol Bordello goes far beyond music, integrating theatrical chaos and “sorcery” into their stage show. They’ve been called the world’s most perfect festival band — and it could be true. Gogol Bordello puts on a show that disproves every music cynic’s idea that everything has been done before. Sunday, Oct. 11; Knitting Factory, $22, 7 pm, all-ages (with Apostle of Hustle) — LEAH SOTILLE

Classical

Beethoven Weekend

OK, so it’s a gimmick to get you to attend two Spokane Symphony Orchestra concerts in one weekend. (Yeah, it’d be such a waste of time to go to the second one. They’re gonna make you sit there and listen to nothing but the music of Beethoven.)

On both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, the SSO’s concertmaster, Mateusz Wolski, will perform as soloist in Ludwig’s only violin concerto. From the concerto’s “kettledrum” opening and huge opening Allegro on through the tranquil middle movement and beyond, Wolski will have plenty of opportunities to set off virtuoso firecrackers.

You also get an overture and a symphony for your listening pleasure — but they’ll be different at each concert. On Saturday, it’s Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 (which has its fun at the expense of Classicism) and the Leonore Overture No. 3. (Beethoven, perpetually unsatisfied, spent a decade writing no less than four overtures for his 1805 opera. If you’re keeping score, this is the one that starts softly, then builds up with some offstage trumpet fanfares until it reaches a furious crescendo in the strings.)

For the Sunday matinee, it’ll be Beethoven’s Fifth (with Fate pound-pound-POUNDING on your door at the outset) along with a nine-minute overture written to accompany a play about the ancient Roman traitor Coriolanus. (The man himself was supremely arrogant, attacked his own city out of spite, then relented and met a tragic demise; the music reflects all of that.) Oct. 10, 11; The Fox, $22-$44 (add the second concert for $11), 8 pm and 3 pm — MICHAEL BOWEN

Dance

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

Black lights illuminate only half of each dancer, head to toe. Limbs float, seemingly unbound in synchronization with the other disembodied halves onstage. Familiar ballet moves reveal new lines and perspectives when Aspen Santa Fe Ballet performs American choreographer Moses Pendleton’s “Noir Blanc.”

Classically trained ballet dancers apply the precision and artistry of their trade to new ideas in this contemporary dance-focused company. The 1930s-feel piece “Sue’s Leg” revives choreography by Emmy- and Tony-Award winning choreographer Twyla Tharp.

Tharp worked with the company, well-known for performing her choreography, when they visited New York in February. About a thousand fifth- and sixth-graders from schools in the region — some from rural areas with little access to professional arts programs — will see a shortened version of the ballet this year through grant funding.

“Tons of them will never see another professional dance program the rest of their lives. Many of them, it’s the first one they’ve ever seen,” says Festival Dance Executive Director Cindy Barnhart, who believes getting kids dancing can benefit them academically and help them cultivate confidence, social skills and creativity. Sunday, Oct. 11; Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum, $14-$28, 3 pm — ERIKA PRINS

Pop Music

Sunny Day Real Estate

Quick emo lesson: all those Hot Topic kids with ridiculous swoopy haircuts who cry and talk about cutting themselves — that’s mainstream emo.

But the beginnings of emo were different. And by “different,” yes — I do mean better. Emo was the dramatic kid brother of hardcore. It was hardcore shellacked in desperate melodies and bedroom tearstains. And it was what bands like the Promise Ring, Christie Front Drive, Jawbreaker and — my personal favorite — Sunny Day Real Estate ran with in the early ’90s. A band with deep roots in Spokane, the band grew into Sunny Day after adding Jeremy Enigk’s light, airy vocals to the front of the mix. Their rise and fall was hard and fast. After Sub Pop released Diary in 1994, Sunny Day got huge — so huge that, midway through the recording of their second record, Dave Grohl poached drummer William Goldsmith and bassist (and Spokane native) Nate Mendel for his new band, the Foo Fighters. It’s a break-up that, to this day, makes true emo kids (now in their 30s, at least) get really emo.

The band did a short reunion (without Mendel) in 1997, but this year the original lineup — Enigk, Mendel, Goldsmith and Spokane resident Dan Hoerner — is getting the band back together. Their stop in Spokane is the second-to-last date. And if Enigk (whose conversion to Christianity notoriously divided Sunny Day fans) is right about a God, it will be spectacular. Thursday, Oct. 15; Knitting Factory, $18, 7 pm, all-ages (with the Jealous Sound) — LEAH SOTILLE

Theater

Ed Asner as FDR

What’s cooler, getting to voice cranky old Carl in Up or playing Franklin Roosevelt, live onstage? For Ed Asner, it’s all in a day’s work: He’s been acting for more than half a century, perhaps most memorably as Lou Grant (though I’m partial to his Santa in Elf).

And if starring in a Pixar movie isn’t of-the-moment enough, channeling FDR certainly is — after all, America was looking to his legacy more than any other president’s during our own near-miss with economic doom this year.

This one-man show, based on the 50-year-old Broadway play and movie, Sunrise at Campobello, will take you through a remarkable American life — the triumph over paralysis, the politics, the war.  But art imitates life: Asner in Spokane, just a month shy of his 80th birthday, is a chance to catch another great American at his best. Saturday, Oct. 17; The Fox, $27-$47, 8 pm TED S. MCGREGOR, JR. 

Comedy

Dan Cummins

For millions of years, standup comedians have struggled with how to simultaneously connect with a) college kids, b) unemployed factory workers and c) technophiles. Dan Cummins — a Spokanite comic who tells jokes on sidewalks for petty cash, reeks of nerd and is a fixture on the university standup circuit — has found the answer. You mix poverty with Animal House. The joke goes something like:

“The economy’s not doing well right now, you know? People are struggling. It’s sad to see people doing jobs you know they don’t want to do. I saw a guy riding a Segway down the sidewalk, wearing a toga, holding a sign for a pizza deal.

“I thought, ‘Congratulations, you’ve hit rock bottom.’ [pause for laughter] But what’s weird is if you took away just the sign, that guy would rule. [pause again for laughter]

“You just saw a dude going to a toga party in a sweet little chariot [laughter] … but he doesn’t rule [laughter]…”

The Spokane date is going to be taped for a Comedy Central special, so you jerks better laugh. Hard. Saturday, Oct. 17; The Bing, $15, 7 pm — LUKE BAUMGARTEN

Classical

Spokane String Quartet

Two violins, a viola and a cello: the string orchestra reduced to its essentials. But the interplay of four musicians can still convey a great deal of nuance.

The Spokane String Quartet will open its October concert with a Beethoven serenade — a trio filled with marches, minuets and even a Polonaise. This is early Beethoven, full of newfound popularity, more Classical than Romantic.

“La Oracion del Torero” (“The Toreador’s Prayer”) by Joaquin Turina, a Spanish composer active in the 1920s and ’30s, practically cries out for the flamenco flourishes of the castanet. Alexander Borodin’s melodic second string quartet, which will conclude the afternoon concert, was mined for a couple of songs in the musical Kismet.

Mateusz Wolski, Jeannette Wee-Yang and Helen Byrne will be joined this season by a former SSQ player, now returned — Tracy Dunlop on second violin. They’ll convey more than just the bare essentials. Sunday, Oct. 18; The Bing, $15-$18, 3 pm — MICHAEL BOWEN

Theater

The Illusion

Years ago, a father kicked his son out of the house. Now he misses the boy. I wonder whatever happened to the kid….

In the original version of this play, Pierre Corneille conjured up a magician to help the father witness crystal-ball “scenes from” the son’s life. Two problems, though: The magician plays around with reality, showing the father scenes that are partly true, partly imaginary. And the play, written in 1630s France, was composed in ponderous rhyming couplets — very formal, very French, very boring. So playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming Lincoln) updated the tragicomedy, giving it some humor and mystery. There are plays within plays and subplots tumbling upon other subplots. Will the magician’s illusions inspire any kind of family reunion? Or will the father (played by Leonard Oakland of Whitworth and KPBX) simply be left with a set of insubstantial visions? Friday, Oct. 16; Whitworth University’s Cowles Auditorium, $7 — MICHAEL BOWEN

Pop/Classical

Ben Folds and the Spokane Symphony

Kudos to the Spokane Symphony for scheduling this one; mark it down as one of this fall’s must-see shows.

Comparisons to Elton John and Billy Joel don’t quite do justice to the musical curiosity that is Ben Folds. Yes, he can pound the ivories, pumping incredible, huge sounds out of his grand piano. But he’s got an off-beat appeal that makes him so unique — a little nerdy, with a sharp, borderline-absurdist wit. His last record leads off with “Hiroshima,” a song about the head injury he absorbed when he face-planted off the stage in Japan. But he can also nail the ballad, too: “Late,” from his classic album Songs for Silverman, is a moving tribute to the late, great Portland guitarist Elliott Smith. (A string section on that would be sweet.) Folds’ choice of cover songs is impeccable, too, from Sir Elton’s “Tiny Dancer” to the Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket” (for the kiddie film Over the Hedge) to the Cure’s “In Between Days.”

Folds is a musical mad scientist: He might throw his stool at a piano, lead a sing-along or utter something Tipper Gore would label “explicit” (although I’d be surprised if “Bitch Went Nuts” was on the play list). This is the perfect replacement for the old Symphony on the Edge series. Anything might happen, but you can count on this: an amazing night of music. Sunday, Oct. 18; The Fox, $33-$38, 7:30 pm — TED S. MCGREGOR JR.

Theater

String of Pearls

Michele Lowe’s play shares a premise with the film The Red Violin: a beloved and beautiful object is passed — intentionally, accidentally, lovingly, in anger — from one person to the next. (In this case, four actresses will portray mothers and daughters, money managers and maids, a political consultant and even a gay gravedigger.)

The concept of having each actress play six or seven distinct women (elderly and infantile, wealthy and impoverished) helps reveal connections and unexpected links among them. When a single actress portrays so many different people, our common humanity is revealed.

But String of Pearls isn’t just a chick-flick in theatrical form. Men too, after all, are sometimes lonely, resentful or silly. Director Susan Hardie hopes to create a production that’s “a great place to go with your significant other and then have a long conversation afterwards.” Oct. 23 - Nov. 15; Spokane Civic’s Studio Theater, $16 — MICHAEL BOWEN

Comedy

Dave Attell

Dave Attell famously made himself a household name with his long-running Comedy Central show, Insomniac with Dave Attell. It was a simple concept: Dave and his camera crew would travel to cities around the country, go out to bars and make fun of drunk people. Drunk dancing. Drunk fights. Drunk eating. It was all ripe for the joking. That concept took him to most major American cities (sadly, not Spokane) and some abroad. He’d even go find weird nighttime jobs — like bail bondsmen or bike cops — and make fun of those people, too. It was all very funny if you were bored and up late in your dorm room, like I was in college.

Attell, who’s been a recognizable face in the comedy world since the ’90s, is one of those guys that’s been in everything: Saturday Night Live, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Howard Stern Show, The Daily Show. But his standup follows the off-the-cuff, quick-witted tone of Insomniac — and most times, that results in some pretty sick jokes. Like this one:
“Sex is not important. What’s important is that afterward part. When you’re both naked and it’s warm and you’re watching the sun come up in the windshield. You look in her eyes, you look in her one good eye and help her strap on her leg and you know: You just f---ed a pirate.” Saturday, Oct. 24; The Bing, $28-$32, 8:30 pm, all-ages — LEAH SOTILLE

Film

AFN Horror Film Festival

Though the all-ages music thing is the Cretin Hop’s main jam, the venue shows awesome movies — flicks like Army of Darkness and The Big Lebowski — once or twice a month. If you haven’t ventured far inside, check out the back of the venue: it’s a rec room-sized space, packed with an HD big screen and movie theater-style seating. TC, Tyler and the Cretin Hop peeps will open the space up for their second annual All F-ing Night Horror Film Fest, a quadruple feature, on Oct. 24. At press time, they’d picked Cabin Fever, The Devil’s Rejects and The Lost Boys for this year’s fest. They’ll have treats and prizes and all kinds of goodies, but be sure to show up early: There are only 49 seats in the Cretin Hop theater space. And those punk kids are going to be all over this fest. Saturday, Oct. 24; The Cretin Hop, $9, 10:30 pm, 17 and older — LEAH SOTILLE

Film

Spiff Presents: Dead Snow

So we all hate Nazis, right? And most of us love zombies, right? Well, prepare to have your heart tugged until it rips in half, kids: the Spokane International Film Festival is holding a pre-fest screening of Dead Snow, a Norwegian film about zombie Nazis. (I’m calling them “NaZombies.”) You know what’s coming: A group of teens go up into the snow-laden Norwegian mountains, accidentally pocket some Nazi gold and all hell breaks loose.

The film gets compared to Evil Dead more than anything and features copious film-geek references (including a choice line from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! No one quotes Temple of Doom!)

And just to get you in the Christmas spirit: The big NaZombie blitzkrieg assault is launched to the lilting melody of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” I don’t know what else to say. Miss it and you’ll regret it. For-ev-ver. Friday, Oct. 30; The Garland, $5, midnight — LUKE BAUMGARTEN

Music

Spokane Opera

How does she do it — that soprano belting an interminable, impossibly high note? I have always contended that it’s a delicate combination: volume of hair and tightness of corset. Although industry professionals have dispelled my theory, costume remains as quintessentially “opera” as sopranos flaunting their lung capacity.

But for its 25th anniversary concert, the Spokane Opera has turned the tables: it’s the audience’s turn to dress up. Come as your favorite fat lady — or whatever else you want to be for Halloween.

The gala will feature local and visiting performers singing selections from various operas, many of which the audience will recognize. The popular music selections make the concert enjoyable for everyone, executive director Bill Graham says.
A quarter-century of existence, says Graham, is an immense feat to celebrate — “just lasting and surviving.”

Funding arts is brutal in any economic environment. Graham says after 9/11, shrinking government and private arts budgets compelled Spokane Opera to innovate. Now, in addition to their main stage productions, Spokane Opera offers dinner theater at Luigi’s Italian restaurant and free outdoor concerts called Hot August Nights.

They’ve lured in a broader crowd than the usual opera fare. “Once we meet people [at the outdoor or dinner theater concerts], I’ll see them at the Fox, at one of our main stage productions,” Graham says. “They find that opera isn’t that complicated. If you can get them once, usually they’re hooked.” Saturday, Oct. 31; The Fox, $25-$100, 7:30 pm — ERIKA PRINS