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The hospital gurney that shows up mere minutes into “2 Hearts” – carrying one of its four protagonists and trailing a wake of weepy loved ones behind it – telegraphs that the story we’re about to see is a medical tear-jerker, the nature of which will not be difficult to guess given the clumsy hints that are sprinkled throughout its early scenes.

Fortunately for Khalil Islam-Zwart, he had an airport pickup sign when he was meeting Public Enemy's Chuck D at Spokane International Airport in 2003. The hip-hop legend was catching a ride with Islam-Zwart for a speaking gig at Eastern Washington University.

After experimenting with different writing styles for years, local artist and photographer Joyce Wilkens found in poetry an inspiring new world of expression. To celebrate the release of her first collection, “Poetry Pie,” Wilkens will host a socially distanced open house this weekend.

It’s no secret BTS is dynamite on the music charts – and as of Monday, the South Korean boyband has made Billboard history by landing at both No. 1 and No. 2 on the Hot 100. With “Savage Love” beating out “Dynamite” for the top spot, BTS is the first group to achieve such a feat since the Black Eyed Peas.

Fans of Miranda July know what they’re in for when they settle in to watch one of her movies. Since her 2005 feature debut “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” and her follow-up “The Future” in 2011, she has become the kind of writer-director whose work inevitably seems to be described as “quirky.”

In “Honest Thief,” in theaters this Friday if you’re good with that, Liam Neeson portrays a softer, PG-13-rated side of the morally righteous lone wolves running through his 21st century movie career. His character this time is a retired bank robber, renewed by the love of a good woman (Kate Walsh).

If ever a match were made in cine-literary heaven, it would be Charles Dickens and Armando Iannucci, each a master of probing social criticism, slashing wit and floridly besotted love of language. So the fact that Iannucci’s “The Personal History of David Copperfield” is a surpassingly lively and acutely observant flight of fancy doesn’t come as a shock. 

Shannon Welles was prescient when her peers were foolishly optimistic weeks after the pandemic crushed the live music industry in March. "I believe we will have things figured out in about a week," singer-songwriter Cherie Currie told The Spokesman-Review in April. "There will be a plan by then."

For local painter Diane Covington, Coyote has always been a trickster. In her world, Coyote is an anthropomorphic man whose antics and schemes often result in him becoming his own worst enemy. Native artist Covington, 58, chose to focus on Coyote for a new series of artists’ workshops she launched last February.

Timing is everything. When Stevie Lynne wrote and recorded the single "We Are the People" in 2016, she opted not to create a video for the unifying anthem at that point. "I didn't feel like the timing was right," Lynne said while calling from her Spokane Valley home. "It was a weird political climate. I decided against it."

Courtroom drama meets political theater in “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (2020, not rated), Aaron Sorkin’s dramatization of the real-life trial of protest leaders at the 1968 Democratic National Convention charged with “conspiracy.” Sorkin takes on issues of free speech, protest and suppression.

Singer and pianist Jim Brickman was looking forward to going on his annual holiday tour across the U.S. at the end of the year, but the coronavirus pandemic had other plans. Instead of cancelling the tour, Brickman is taking the show on the virtual road. "Comfort and Joy at Home" will find Brickman performing a virtual concert.

After consulting the Spokane Parks Department and Spokane Regional Health District about social-distancing requirements, Out Spokane has decided to move the Annual Pride Parade and Rainbow Festival to online this weekend. June, the month in which organizers had hoped to march, marked 29 years of pride in Spokane.

On Sept. 24, my favorite game of all time received its first major update in nearly eight years. That game is “Left 4 Dead 2,” a cooperative first-person shooter that tasks players with overcoming hordes of zombies. Sounds original, right?

Sheryl Stone winced when she gazed at the capacity crowd cramming the Knitting Factory for a sold-out Alter Bridge show in late February. "I looked at this sea of people in the audience, and I just knew that these people were super-spreaders," Stone said.

It's difficult not to be drawn to the beauty and contrast of Andy Warhol's "Reigning Queens." Illustrating the difference between chilly and distant Queen Elizabeth II and sunny and approachable Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, courtesy of screen prints, is inspired, and the concept by the late, legendary artist holds up a generation later.

Regal Cinemas, the country’s second-largest movie theater chain after AMC Theatres, suspended operations at its 536 locations on Thursday – a bold move that its parent company, Cineworld, attributes to an “increasingly challenging theatrical landscape.” The decision affects approximately 40,000 jobs.

For podcaster Hrishikesh Hirway, it all changed with Bjork. Hirway had been hosting “Song Exploder” for two years inviting musical artists across genres to each break down the making of a song.

Spokane Arts has made a selection for the 2021 Hooptown USA outdoor basketball court mural project located at Riverfront Park. Local mural artist Joshua Martel will be the painter for the mural at the multi-court complex, which is still under construction at the North Bank of the park.