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Nathan Weinbender

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A&E >  Entertainment

Symphony gets into the spirit with Holiday Pops

There’s something about a symphony that perfectly captures the feelings of Christmas, about orchestral music that seems to warm you up as the winter weather blusters outside. Led by conductor Morihiko Nakahara, the Spokane Symphony cozies up with its annual Holiday Pops performance, a collection of holiday tunes new and old, this weekend. Like every other annual yuletide entertainment, the Holiday Pops walks the line between keeping their material familiar and surprising the audience. As in years past, the evening’s program is a mix of the expected and the unconventional, featuring as many songs that everyone knows as pieces you may have never heard before.
A&E >  Entertainment

Change afoot in 1969

The “Church Basement Ladies” series is fascinated with historical context, peering in on the lives of the same group of characters as the world outside their quaint Lutheran church threatens to pass them by. The second entry in the series, subtitled “A Second Helping,” begins in 1969, which is an important distinction: In the year that brought us Woodstock, the moon landing, the Nixon presidency, the Manson murders, the draft lottery and the premiere of “Easy Rider,” the women who run the kitchen in this small Minnesota church are going through radical changes of their own.
A&E >  Entertainment

Flogging Molly enjoys community of fans

If you love Flogging Molly, you do so unreservedly. They’re one of those bands that inspires and thrives on rabid fandom – just go to one of their shows and you’ll know what I mean – and they’re as known for their rollicking, freewheeling live shows as their rock ’n’ roll spin on traditional Irish music. The band, which stops in Spokane on Saturday night, has been touring frequently but hasn’t released an album since 2011’s “Speed of Darkness.” Guitarist Dennis Casey says they’ve got new material in the works.
A&E >  Entertainment

Flogging Molly enjoys community of fans

If you love Flogging Molly, you do so unreservedly. They’re one of those bands that inspires and thrives on rabid fandom – just go to one of their shows and you’ll know what I mean – and they’re as known for their rollicking, freewheeling live shows as their rock ’n’ roll spin on traditional Irish music. The band, which stops in Spokane on Saturday night, has been touring frequently but hasn’t released an album since 2011’s “Speed of Darkness.” Guitarist Dennis Casey says they’ve got new material in the works.
A&E >  Entertainment

A jazzy little Christmas

Every year, Spokane Jazz Orchestra gets in the holiday spirit with their swinging takes on seasonal favorites, and this weekend they’ll be channeling the spirit of the Big Apple with “Christmas in New York.” Spokane native Charlotte Carruthers, now living in Seattle, will be singing several numbers with the orchestra, an occasion SJO director Tom Molter says is always welcome.
A&E >  Entertainment

For L.A. band, first tour has been years in the making

It was seven years after they started playing together that Los Angeles’ Francisco the Man recorded and released their first LP. It likely would have happened sooner, but life kept intervening following the band’s formation in 2007: They were all finishing up college, their original guitar player left, three of the four members got married. “When you stop, you lose a certain amount of momentum creatively,” said Abdeel Ortega, the band’s drummer and one of its founding members. “Every time we’d take a hiatus, it was like starting over again. … Having the time to think about songs is great, but losing that momentum sucks. It kind of affects the creative process. That’s been a battle for us, but as of lately we’ve been playing a lot more, and everyone is pushing to make this a real thing.”
A&E >  Entertainment

Variety show blends all things holiday

Although it’s now in its third year, “Traditions of Christmas” is still pulling out all the stops. It’s a holiday variety show featuring vignettes that are inspired by everything from Charles Dickens to the Rockettes to 1940s USO shows, and it features aerial dancing, a kick line, a dance number a la “Stomp,” visits from the Santa Clauses of the world and a living nativity scene featuring real animals.
A&E >  Entertainment

Variety show blends all things holiday

Although it’s now in its third year, “Traditions of Christmas” is still pulling out all the stops. It’s a holiday variety show featuring vignettes that are inspired by everything from Charles Dickens to the Rockettes to 1940s USO shows, and it features aerial dancing, a kick line, a dance number a la “Stomp,” visits from the Santa Clauses of the world and a living nativity scene featuring real animals.
A&E >  Entertainment

Calloway’s grandson keeps big band tradition alive

Cab Calloway was one of the brightest stars of the big band era, a band leader and vocalist who rose to prominence performing at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club in the ’30s and ’40s. He died in 1994 at the age of 86, but he continued to perform up to his death. “He was very, very active all the way through until the very end,” said Calloway Brooks, Cab Calloway’s grandson. “His dream was to basically be carried off-stage feet first.”
A&E >  Entertainment

He’s making his voice heard

With all the recent talk of music streaming services and the issue of artist royalties, inspired predominantly by the dispute between Taylor Swift and Spotify, it’s fitting that singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson would come through town this weekend. After all, Hutchinson owes a lot of his popularity to the Internet, so he’s a vocal cheerleader for accessibility to music on the Web. “I’ve been pretty outspoken that I support Spotify and streaming sites – that’s how I listen to music and how most people are starting to listen to their music,” Hutchinson said. “I think once everybody is doing it, we’ll figure out the right way to make sure that artists are getting paid correctly. But my job is to write songs and put them out there and make sure everyone can hear them.”
A&E >  Entertainment

Calloway’s grandson keeps big band tradition alive

Cab Calloway was one of the brightest stars of the big band era, a band leader and vocalist who rose to prominence performing at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club in the ’30s and ’40s. He died in 1994 at the age of 86, but he continued to perform up to his death. “He was very, very active all the way through until the very end,” said Calloway Brooks, Cab Calloway’s grandson. “His dream was to basically be carried off-stage feet first.”
News >  Spokane

Review: Civic’s ‘Christmas Carol’ is fast-moving holiday fun

Charles Dickens was one of the most famous authors of his era, a literary superstar who enchanted countless readers and inspired as many storytellers during the Victorian era. His books still resonate with modern audiences – just think how many times “Oliver Twist,” “Great Expectations” and “A Tale of Two Cities” have been adapted or reinterpreted in the last century. But it’s “A Christmas Carol” that remains Dickens’ most recognized and widely read work, a novella that blends the supernatural with holiday cheer that has been the source of dozens – maybe even hundreds – of staged versions since its 1843 publication. This weekend, Spokane Civic Theatre premiered their large-scale interpretation of the 1994 Broadway musical take on “A Christmas Carol,” and the show is a lot of spirited fun. Helmed by Civic’s artistic director Keith Dixon, it’s the kind of holiday entertainment that remains effective despite the familiarity of the story.
A&E >  Entertainment

Brothers bring Welch novel to the screen

When it comes to diversity in film and on television, there’s a noticeable dearth of stories about the modern Native American experience. Montana-based film director Andrew Smith, whose newest feature “Winter in the Blood” is based on a 1974 novel by Native American writer James Welch, says mainstream audiences might not even be aware that a major demographic of people don’t have a voice in the media. “There is a bit of a blinder on for a lot of Americans,” Smith said, “where they’re possibly less interested in stories of the people who were here first.”
A&E >  Entertainment

Classic story, new direction

Tonight marks a major debut at Spokane Civic Theatre, but it isn’t the show that’s playing. Sure, “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” opens this evening, and it promises to be a large-scale holiday showstopper, but Civic has produced the show before – back in 2008.
A&E >  Entertainment

Early exposure, lifelong love

Cellist Edward Arron estimates that he plays about 120 concerts a year around the country, and this weekend he’ll be adding Spokane to his ever-growing list of concert stops. Arron will be joining the Spokane Symphony, along with visiting conductor Michal Nesterowicz, to perform Franz Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major, a piece he has a long personal history with. We spoke to Arron from his home in New York about his musical childhood, what he’s learned as a traveling musician and why playing the Haydn concerto is a high-wire act. SR: Tell me about your background in music.
A&E >  Entertainment

Brothers bring Welch novel to the screen

When it comes to diversity in film and on television, there’s a noticeable dearth of stories about the modern Native American experience. Montana-based film director Andrew Smith, whose newest feature “Winter in the Blood” is based on a 1974 novel by Native American writer James Welch, says mainstream audiences might not even be aware that a major demographic of people don’t have a voice in the media. “There is a bit of a blinder on for a lot of Americans,” Smith said, “where they’re possibly less interested in stories of the people who were here first.”
A&E >  Entertainment

Classic story, new direction

Tonight marks a major debut at Spokane Civic Theatre, but it isn’t the show that’s playing. Sure, “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” opens this evening, and it promises to be a large-scale holiday showstopper, but Civic has produced the show before – back in 2008.
A&E >  Entertainment

Boyd’s work garners ‘old guy award’

When he was younger, fronting cover bands and playing rock gigs in bars and clubs, local singer-songwriter Jim Boyd says he never really paid much attention to the lyrics. They really didn’t matter to him – in fact, he recalls turning up his guitar during some shows so it would drown out the words he’d just barely memorized. He didn’t start writing his own music until he was well into his 30s, right around the time he stopped drinking, and he says the process was almost therapeutic at first.
A&E >  Entertainment

Classic Christmas magic

It’s a holiday tradition: Every year before Christmas, several different productions of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” come out of the woodwork, each of them attempting to put its own stamp on the oft-told tale. The story originates from German author E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” and it concerns a young girl named Clara who, on Christmas Eve, is given an intricately carved wooden nutcracker by her godfather, Drosselmeyer. The nutcracker is broken but transforms into a real-life prince in the middle of the night, and he and Clara find themselves in a fantasy land filled with militant mice and dancing sugar plum fairies.
A&E >  Entertainment

Tribute band makes Neil’s hits sparkle

The term “tribute band” is generally associated with images of a guy belting out “Burning Love” in a sequined Elvis bodysuit, or a guitar player squeezed into Angus Young’s schoolboy outfit. But Super Diamond is doing its best to subvert those expectations, taking the expansive catalogue of the great Neil Diamond and putting its own twist on the material. The San Francisco-based six-piece, which plays the Knitting Factory on Thursday, has attained more attention than your typical tribute act: They’ve been the musical guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” they were name-dropped in a “Jeopardy!” clue, and Diamond himself has played with them on two separate occasions.
A&E >  Entertainment

Boyd’s work garners ‘old guy award’

When he was younger, fronting cover bands and playing rock gigs in bars and clubs, local singer-songwriter Jim Boyd says he never really paid much attention to the lyrics. They really didn’t matter to him – in fact, he recalls turning up his guitar during some shows so it would drown out the words he’d just barely memorized. He didn’t start writing his own music until he was well into his 30s, right around the time he stopped drinking, and he says the process was almost therapeutic at first.
A&E >  Entertainment

Family’s quiet suffering is laid out

Tennessee Williams is best known for his wild, unapologetic theatrics, from images of unhinged Southern belles and shouted proclamations of romance to themes of sweaty desperation and sexual inhibition. But the play that first brought Williams to prominence was 1944’s “The Glass Menagerie,” a modest character study that is, for the most part, as quiet and delicate as the glass figures that serve as its central metaphor. Now playing at the newly christened Modern Theater Spokane (formerly Interplayers), “Menagerie” focuses on three damaged characters who are cramped together in close quarters and yet remain separated by a vast emotional gulf. The play springs from the memories of Tom Wingfield, who lives with his mother Amanda and his physically weak older sister Laura.
A&E >  Entertainment

Fast-tempo piano piece to open Splash concert

A few things separate Symphony With a Splash from your typical Symphony Classics concert. It’s a little more laid back, there’s live music in the lobby beforehand, some concertgoers actually get to sit on the stage with the orchestra and the programs tend to focus on more offbeat selections. All four of the pieces in tonight’s Splash concert have unusual elements to them. The program opens with Conlon Nancarrow’s “Player Piano Study,” a breakneck tempo of a piece originally designed for a programmable, mechanical piano.