Bing bed available for Regis Philbin
Hey, Regis Philbin, we’ve got a Bing bed for you.
Philbin, a big Bing Crosby fan, is coming to do a show at the Northern Quest Casino on March 21. In an excess of enthusiasm several weeks ago, he declared on “Live With Regis and Kelly” that he was going to tour Crosby’s old home at Gonzaga University and maybe even “sleep in Bing’s bed.”
Amused Gonzaga University officials replied that, although Crosby’s old house is now the school’s Alumni House, there is no original furniture in it.
Now Susan Garred of Post Falls is making Regis an offer. She has a bed in her Post Falls house that belonged to Richard Duff, one of Bing’s best pals growing up. Family legend says that Crosby slept in it during sleepovers as a kid.
She’s a Philbin fan and she says she would love for him to spend the night in the Bing bed. So, here’s your chance, Regis.
Tickets are available for the show through TicketsWest outlets (509-325-SEAT, 800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).
Civic Theatre changes
The Spokane Civic Theatre has made two changes to its 2009-2010 season:
• “The Pirates of Penzance,” the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta, will be the season opener instead of the previously announced “Fiddler on the Roof.”
The rights to “Fiddler” have been restricted, because a professional national tour of “Fiddler” will be coming through Spokane next year.
• “Curtains,” the whodunit musical that garnered a 2007 Tony Award for David Hyde Pierce, will replace “Chicago” in the January 2010 slot.
The rights for “Curtains” just became available, after it closed its Broadway run. The Civic called this a “rare opportunity” to schedule a fresh Broadway hit.
For season ticket information, call (509) 325-2507.
Summer rock alert
Here are a pair of big shows, recently announced:
• The Fray, Aug. 7, Spokane Arena. This Denver-based band recently debuted its second album atop the Billboard charts. Tickets go on sale March 21 through TicketsWest outlets.
• Johnny Winter, Aug. 15, Knitting Factory Concert House. The white-maned guitar legend bridges the gaps between Texas blues, British blues-rock and Southern rock. Tickets go on sale March 16 through TicketsWest.
A ‘Urinetown’ collaboration
Spokane will finally get to see “Urinetown: The Musical,” the 2001 Broadway cult hit.
This musical satire, which won three Tony Awards in 2003, will be the first-ever collaboration between the Gonzaga University and Whitworth University theater departments.
The schools will team up to produce this story about a town in which a corporation charges the public ever-increasing prices to use the only toilets. It’s a satire about corporate mismanagement and politics, and also a parody of high-minded musicals such as “Les Miserables” and “West Side Story.”
It opens March 27 and continues through April 5 at Gonzaga’s Harry and Colleen Magnuson Theatre. Call (509) 313-6553 for ticket information.
A ‘StarCraft’ hero
Check out the premiere of a new Sci Fi Channel show, “WCG Ultimate Gamer,” on Tuesday at 10 p.m. (cable channel 59 in Spokane, 36 in Coeur d’Alene).
This series puts 12 top video-gamers in a house and pits them against each other in a variety of games for $100,000 prize. One of the contestants: Geoff Robinson, a Spokane native who attends Oregon State University.
Robinson is a past national champion in the game “StarCraft.” Yet he is by no means the stereotypical gamer.
He was captain of both the chess team and football team at O’Dea High School, after his family moved to Seattle. He is also a national class powerlifter who can bench press 650 pounds.
On top of all that, he’s about to get a degree in English and history at OSU. Now, that’s a well-rounded gamer.
New on Comcast
KAYU’s auxiliary channel, “THIS Spokane TV,” has been addded to the Comcast cable lineup in Spokane on channel 117. It is also over-the-air on digital channel 28.2.
It features classic movies and sitcoms.
Photos from Iraq
A stirring exhibit of 25 photos, “In Iraq: Spokane Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 1-161 Infantry Regiment, 81st Brigade Combat Team,” is on display at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.
Jed Conklin, a former Spokesman-Review photographer, shot the photos during a two-week stint in Iraq documenting these local Washington National Guard soldiers.
The museum is at 2316 W. First Ave., in the Browne’s Addition neighborhood.