Seven

When the String Cheese Incident named their first album “Born on the Wrong Planet,” the Colorado-based jam band couldn’t have been more apt. There’s no act quite like the String Cheese Incident, which delivers an incredibly eclectic mix of genres.

Preorders opened up for Sony’s forthcoming PlayStation 5 Access controller on July 21. Following Microsoft’s well-received Xbox Adaptive Controller released in 2018, Sony is taking a step forward for video game accessibility for PlayStation gamers with disabilities.

It’s evident that Leo Kottke would rather be on a stage than at home. With the exception of the pandemic period, the acoustic guitar virtuoso has been primarily on the road. Since the release of his first album, 1969’s “12 String Blues,” Kottke has often played more than 300 dates a year.

Branford Marsalis’ passports have as many stamps as your average post office. A home address is practically superfluous for the legendary jazz musician, who is constantly touring the world. Marsalis has experienced an endless array of cities across his 40-plus year career.

James McMurtry is happy to be returning to Spokane in the middle of the summer. The clever singer-songwriter recalls performing at the Bartlett in November 2016. “It was freezing,” McMurtry said. “I remember loading in and watching these ladies walking bare-legged when it was well below freezing. I remember thinking, ‘The girls are certainly tough in Spokane.’ ”

When once asked about his most prized possession, Jeff Foxworthy, the comic who has sold more albums than any humorist in history, emphatically noted that it was the photo of him cracking up Johnny Carson.

This month, U.S. legal attempts to block Microsoft’s impending $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard have failed not once, but twice. The Federal Trade Commission’s injunction to halt the merger was denied by a federal district court judge on July 11, and on July 18 the Supreme Court rejected an emergency injunction filed by lawyer Joseph Alioto representing a group of concerned gamers.

3 Doors Down played the First Interstate Center for the Arts in August 2019, Spokane felt like a good fit.

Taylor Swift, who is on her Eras tour, is selling out stadiums around the world, including her stops Saturday and Sunday in Seattle at Lumen Field. In an age when record sales are non-non-existent, Swift’s latest album, “Midnights,” released in October, is her most commercially successful album to date. More than three million copies were sold during its first week of release and over $6 million were purchased within two months.

While curating the Music in Manito concerts, which are slated for Tuesday and Wednesday at Manito Park, Zuill Bailey decided to move in another direction to appeal to teens and young adults. The artistic director for Northwest Bach has tabbed the Attacca String Quartet and Simply Three, a pair of crossover classical acts, for the event.

The last time Dream Theater played Spokane, gas prices were $1.35, pop star Olivia Rodrigo was 5 months old and Arnold Schwarzenegger was months away from becoming governor of California.

Duncan Sheik never envisioned writing music for theater. That was so even after befriending playwright Steven Sater a quarter century ago.

Initially announced in 2019, Baldur’s Gate III is finally around the corner – due to be released Aug. 3 on PC and Sept. 6 on PlayStation 5. Marketing for the game has been ramping up over the past few weeks, with a teaser trailer and lots of new information revealing just how massive the game’s shaping up to be.

Musicians are typically tucked away in the pit during a musical. However, the band is front and center during “Bright Star,” which runs Friday through July 23 at the Spokane Valley Summer Theatre.

When Hollywood came calling, Kim Stout answered quickly.

The pandemic was challenging for every recording artist but Old Crow Medicine Show made the best of a difficult period. Just prior to lockdown, slide guitarist-banjo player Critter Fuqua, an original member of Old Crow Medicine Show, left the band.

When Glen Phillips walked away from Toad the Wet Sprocket in 1998, the laid-back singer-songwriter never expected the straightforward rock band to be more popular than ever a generation after forming.

If someone says “Spo-cane,” as opposed to “Spo-can,” the odds are that they’ve yet to set foot in the Lilac City. Disco Biscuits keyboardist-vocalist Aron Magner mispronounced Spokane while searching the band’s database for a tour date.