Seven

The first thing Steve Gleason did after learning he was succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease was turn on his camera. The former NFL safety was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, around the same time that he and his wife, Michel, discovered they were having a baby, and he began producing a series of video diaries expressing his fears and doubts and dispensing nuggets of fatherly wisdom to a son he would likely never speak to in person.

Every painting that Matt Schwenk undertakes begins with what he calls an “understory.” It’s the base layer he first paints, the layer that lies behind all the stories that come later. Kind of like how a troubled childhood could be a person’s understory.

This First Friday, the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox will kick off a visual arts exhibit by 15 local artists and designers whose works were inspired by classical composers. Spokane Symphony Conductor Eckart Preu provided the names of the composers – some traditional, some contemporary – from which the artists had to choose. The resulting artworks, 18 4-by-6-foot posters, will be installed temporarily in the windows along First Avenue and Monroe Street. The original posters and additional prints will be for sale during the exhibition’s opening, sponsored by Spokane Arts, from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Over the course of six albums, Beach House has developed a haunting and melodic sound that’s unmistakably its own. The Baltimore-based dream pop duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally perform at the Knitting Factory on Tuesday, on tour with their most recent albums “Depression Cherry” and “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” which were released just two months apart.

The new Bluebird in midtown Coeur d’Alene offers eclectic Pacific Northwest fare with Asian and French influences.

“Cursed Child” is a most satisfying and well-done follow-up to “Deathly Hallows.” It’s beautifully written and achieves Shakespearean levels of drama as it delves into the past’s hold on the present, the power of familial love, the importance of friendship and the healing power of forgiveness.

What’s new for home viewing on video-on-demand and Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services.

“Little Mermaid” hits the Kroc stage this month

Cheryl Hines just wants to have fun. And she did – on the set of

Enjoy a morning of active play for kids and meet Bob the Builder, Daniel Tiger from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Aqua Duck and the FitKids. There will be activities for every age, including parachute games, gigantic beach balls, banana races, hula hoops and more.

The superhero movie is at a strange crossroads. It generally either takes itself too seriously (“Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman”) or delights in not caring a bit (”Deadpool”). The choice, dear moviegoer, is yours. Do you prefer your costumed heroes to brood or to break bad?

“Wiener-Dog,” clearly inspired by French director Robert Bresson’s “Au Hasard Balthazar,” is unapologetically depressing – and among the most inventive and exhilarating films of the year. Written and directed by Todd Solondz (“Welcome to the Dollhouse”), the film makes few if any concessions to mainstream tastes. This is a clear case of what you see – or can stand – is what you get.

In Washington, cabernet sauvignon is king. Just as it is in California’s Napa Valley and its native Bordeaux, cab is the most important wine grape in Washington. And it’s no accident. Wine lovers have long gravitated toward the red wine grape, and that has been true in Washington for the past dozen years.

The festival, now in its 48th year, transforms the North Idaho College campus into an outdoor art gallery with more than 160 booths displaying works of art in a variety of mediums, including cloth and fiber, glass, jewelry, wood, painting, metal sculpture, photography, pottery and leather.

Since forming in the late ’80s, the Mavericks have been defined by a fiercely independent spirit. The Grammy Award-winning, Nashville-based band, which hits the Fox Theater’s stage on Sunday, has always strayed from the status quo, blending rockabilly, Americana and Tejano styles and weathering the storm of multiple break-ups, lineup changes and reformations.

Harry Potter is flying back onto bookshelves with a new story. The play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” takes off where the seventh book’s epilogue ends: with Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione at Platform 9

It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. That’s if the dog is super-soldier former CIA agent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), and the trainer is director Paul Greengrass, who helmed Bournes “Supremacy” and “Ultimatum.” After the misfire that was “The Bourne Legacy,” a misguided attempt to pass off the franchise to Jeremy Renner, Damon and Greengrass ably right the ship, delivering a Bourne film that looks and feels like the kind that we’ve always loved.

There are plenty of music festivals to choose from in the summer months, but few are as dependable for their variety as the Festival at Sandpoint. Here’s a rundown of the lineup of this year’s festival, which kicks off on Aug. 4 and runs through Aug. 14.