Nathan Weinbender

The first time legendary trumpeter Arturo Sandoval heard a jazz record, he wasn’t even aware the genre existed. It was in his native Cuba sometime in the mid-1960s, and he knew immediately that he was going to devote his life to playing it. “For a few years, I was only playing traditional Cuban music,” Sandoval said from his home in California. “Then I heard an album of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Oh, my goodness – that was it. I became crazy about it.”

The title of Austin Stiegemeier’s latest art exhibit was inspired, appropriately enough, by a handwritten sticker he saw on a streetlight on the corner of First and Monroe. It read “Violet is an anagram of love it,” and something about it connected with him. A few weeks later, the sticker was gone, presumably scraped away by city cleanup crews, but its message had been preserved farther down the block.

If you’ve ever seen Lewis Black on TV, whether it be one of his frequent appearances on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” or on one of his many Comedy Central stand-up specials, odds are he was angry about something – fuming, cursing, gritting his teeth and making wild hand gestures for emphasis. Asking Black, who comes to the INB Performing Arts Center on Sunday evening, about his material leads to the sort of free association tangent you might expect: He bounces from one hot-button topic – Obamacare, Congress, ebola, the wealthiest 1 percent, social media – to another with reckless abandon.

I wonder what might have happened had John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 horror masterpiece “Halloween” been released under its original title – “The Babysitter Murders.” Would it still be hailed as a high point in its genre with such a lurid name, or would it have been instantly dismissed by critics and lumped in with all the cheap, exploitative trash that was filling drive-ins and second-run theaters at the time? After all, “Halloween” is such a catchy, evocative, moody title. “The Babysitter Murders”? Not so much.

Few artists have experienced a career as long and varied as Sergio Mendes’. The Brazilian-born Mendes, who performs some of his classics with the Spokane Symphony this weekend, was one of the main artists to bring his country’s traditional bossa nova to the States, where it became a huge success in the 1960s. “Bossa nova became a worldwide phenomenon because of the songs, because of the melodies,” the pianist said from his home in Los Angeles. “For me, at the end of the day, it’s the great songs that I still love, and that’s what we bring to the people when we do a show.”

Halloween falls on a Friday night once every seven years or so, so of course local venues are capitalizing on the occasion and going all-out tonight. Here are some of the best Halloween events that neighborhood venues, bars and theaters have to offer – nationally touring musical acts, local concerts, costume contests and a Halloween cinema staple. Halloween Bash and Costume Contest with Sir Mix-a-Lot, 9 p.m., The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., Sandpoint. Yeah, you read that right: Sir Mix-A-Lot. His most famous track, a goofy, ribald ode to ample posteriors called “Baby Got Back,” unexpectedly rocketed its way up the charts in the summer of 1992, and what once seemed like a fluke novelty hit refuses to die: You can’t go a night in any karaoke bar without hearing somebody belt it out, it’s still being parodied and referenced on TV ads, and Nicki Minaj liberally sampled it in her most recent hit “Anaconda” (which makes “Baby Got Back” sound like Mother Goose). Mix-a-Lot (real name Anthony Ray) is a Seattle native who famously performed with the city’s symphony earlier this year, and he plays at the Hive in Sandpoint this evening. I think the odds are pretty good that you’ll hear “Baby Got Back” at least once. To get more information about the costume contest, or to reserve a V.I.P. booth, visit www.livefromthehive.com. The show is 21+ only. $25; tickets are available through TicketsWest.

I wonder what might have happened had John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 horror masterpiece “Halloween” been released under its original title – “The Babysitter Murders.” Would it still be hailed as a high point in its genre with such a lurid name, or would it have been instantly dismissed by critics and lumped in with all the cheap, exploitative trash that was filling drive-ins and second-run theaters at the time? After all, “Halloween” is such a catchy, evocative, moody title. “The Babysitter Murders”? Not so much.

Few artists have experienced a career as long and varied as Sergio Mendes’. The Cuban-born Mendes, who performs some of his classics with the Spokane Symphony this weekend, was one of the main artists to bring his country’s traditional bossa nova to the States, where it became a huge success in the 1960s. “Bossa nova became a worldwide phenomenon because of the songs, because of the melodies,” the pianist said from his home in Los Angeles. “For me, at the end of the day, it’s the great songs that I still love, and that’s what we bring to the people when we do a show.”

Halloween falls on a Friday night once every seven years or so, so of course local venues are capitalizing on the occasion and going all-out tonight. Here are some of the best Halloween events that neighborhood venues, bars and theaters have to offer – nationally touring musical acts, local concerts, costume contests and a Halloween cinema staple. Halloween Bash and Costume Contest with Sir Mix-a-Lot, 9 p.m., The Hive, 207 N. First Ave., Sandpoint. Yeah, you read that right: Sir Mix-A-Lot. His most famous track, a goofy, ribald ode to ample posteriors called “Baby Got Back,” unexpectedly rocketed its way up the charts in the summer of 1992, and what once seemed like a fluke novelty hit refuses to die: You can’t go a night in any karaoke bar without hearing somebody belt it out, it’s still being parodied and referenced on TV ads, and Nicki Minaj liberally sampled it in her most recent hit “Anaconda” (which makes “Baby Got Back” sound like Mother Goose). Mix-a-Lot (real name Anthony Ray) is a Seattle native who famously performed with the city’s symphony earlier this year, and he plays at the Hive in Sandpoint this evening. I think the odds are pretty good that you’ll hear “Baby Got Back” at least once. To get more information about the costume contest, or to reserve a V.I.P. booth, visit www.livefromthehive.com. The show is 21+ only. $25; tickets are available through TicketsWest.

In the latest installment of our ongoing Meet the Musicians series, which focuses on members of the Spokane Symphony, we sat down with Julián Gómez Giraldo, who has directed the Symphony Chorale for the past six years. A native Colombian, Giraldo also serves as director of orchestra at Eastern Washington University. Depending on the requirements of a given piece, the chorale will feature anywhere between 80 and 120 singers, all of whom are volunteer performers. We spoke with Giraldo and symphony conductor Eckart Preu about the benefits of having a chorale and some of the individual pieces in this weekend’s Classics concert series.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is one of the most influential and oft-imitated stories of the past few centuries, the kind of horror story that, like “Frankenstein” or “Dracula” before it, has been remade and repurposed countless times. But the version of “Jekyll and Hyde” premiering at the Spokane Civic Theatre tonight offers a few new twists on the classic formula. As adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by Susan Hardie, the production contains moments and plot developments both expected and unanticipated.

Looking through Jason Mraz’s discography, it’s difficult to find many songs that are dispirited or brokenhearted. His music is, for the most part, all sunshine and optimism, the perfect soundtrack for a lazy afternoon on a California beach. Even the title of his latest album – “Yes!” – radiates positivity. So it’s somewhat disarming to hear him describe himself as “a pessimistic and grumpy person, generally,” which immediately deflates the (admittedly unrealistic) notion that Mraz’s personal disposition is as perpetually cheerful as that of his music. If anything, writing songs is a form of therapy for him.

Cami Bradley learned how to work at a breakneck pace during her stint on “America’s Got Talent” last year, and her newest project hasn’t allowed her to slow down, either. It’s been just over a year since the Spokane native placed sixth on the NBC series’ eighth season, and she has since teamed up with Alabama-based singer-songwriter Whitney Dean to form the Sweeplings, a folky duo that will play its first Pacific Northwest concerts at the Bartlett tonight.

Cami Bradley learned how to work at a breakneck pace during her stint on “America’s Got Talent” last year, and her newest project hasn’t allowed her to slow down, either. It’s been just over a year since the Spokane native placed sixth on the NBC series’ eighth season, and she has since teamed up with Alabama-based singer-songwriter Whitney Dean to form the Sweeplings, a folky duo that will play its first Pacific Northwest concerts at the Bartlett tonight.

Looking through Jason Mraz’s discography, it’s difficult to find many songs that are dispirited or brokenhearted. His music is, for the most part, all sunshine and optimism, the perfect soundtrack for a lazy afternoon on a California beach. Even the title of his latest album – “Yes!” – radiates positivity. So it’s somewhat disarming to hear him describe himself as “a pessimistic and grumpy person, generally,” which immediately deflates the (admittedly unrealistic) notion that Mraz’s personal disposition is as perpetually cheerful as that of his music. If anything, writing songs is a form of therapy for him.

Whenever we preview upcoming Spokane Symphony concerts, we tend to focus our pieces on the traveling soloists or the featured composers. For this year’s season, we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on some of the players you might see on the Fox stage month after month, the musicians who have made Spokane a little more tuneful during their stints with the symphony. This week, we spoke with the three senior members of the symphony’s percussion section, Paul Raymond, Rick Westrick and Brian Bogue. SR: What is the strangest piece or instrument you’ve played during your time with the symphony?

Joyce Yang isn’t yet 30 years old, and already the South Korean-born pianist is on her way to becoming one of the most famous and decorated classical musicians in the world. At 19, she won the silver medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and she received Juilliard’s prestigious Arthur Rubinstein Prize in 2010. This weekend, Yang will perform two compositions – César Franck’s Symphonic Variations and Manuel De Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” – with the Spokane Symphony as part of its Classics series. Yang, who lives in New York City, answered questions about how she learned to love music, her methods for interpreting a new composition and dealing with success at such a young age.

In 2011, Hasidic rapper Matisyahu cut off his distinctive locks and beard, biblical requirements of his religion, and posted a photo of his new clean-shaven look online. “No more (Hasidic) reggae superstar,” the caption read. The Internet lost its mind. Matisyahu (real name Matthew Miller) is best known for incorporating his strict Hasidic beliefs into his music, and such a dramatic change in appearance suggested that perhaps he had abandoned his faith. Although he still identifies as Jewish, Matisyahu says his belief system has evolved beyond the strictures he initially set for himself, and that it’s too complicated for a simple label.

There are only three guys in Rags and Ribbons – guitarist Ben Weyerhaeuser, pianist Jon Hicks and drummer Chris Neff – but you wouldn’t know that from listening to their music. Like their main creative influence, Muse, the Portland band makes a lot out of a little, specializing in big, dramatic, harmony-heavy rock that sounds like it requires at least a dozen people to pull off. Weyerhaeuser and Hicks met in a choir class at Willamette University, eventually starting their own a cappella group, an experience he describes as “hilarious and cheesy.”