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Nathan Weinbender

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All Stories

A&E >  Entertainment

Riders keep cowboy music alive

Riders in the Sky typically end their live shows with a rendition of the Roy Rogers signature tune “Happy Trails to You,” so it makes sense that they’d eventually dedicate an entire album to the King of the Cowboys. The Nashville-based quartet, which specializes in Western music and campfire songs, brings its salute to the legendary singer and actor to the Bing Crosby Theater on Friday.
A&E >  Entertainment

Futurebirds offer their take on the touring life

The saying goes that you should write what you know, and much of the new album from country rockers Futurebirds concerns the hardships of touring and living on the road. The Athens, Georgia, six-piece, which stops by the Bartlett on Saturday, has described its latest record, titled “Hotel Parties,” as an “accidental concept album,” with lyrics that grapple with 20-something aimlessness and the difficulties of juggling a personal life and a touring schedule.
A&E >  Entertainment

‘City Lights,’ symphony close out SpIFF

Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” is one of those rare films that will make you laugh until you cry, and then, in its final moments, make you cry for real. It’s considered by many critics to be the apex of Chaplin’s long career, and it’s frequently cited as one of the greatest films ever made. The 1931 masterpiece will close the Spokane International Film Festival on Saturday night, and the screening will feature musical accompaniment by the Spokane Symphony.
News >  Features

Review: ‘Sordid Lives’ at Civic is raucous, moving

Like an R-rated “Steel Magnolias,” Del Shores’ play “Sordid Lives,” which opened at Spokane Civic Theatre on Friday, explores love, death and familial dysfunction in a tight-knit Southern community. But unlike “Steel Magnolias,” this is a wild and raucous comedy that frequently lives up to the “sordid” part of its title, and it’ll pivot from a raunchy laugh line to genuine poignancy with the spin of a stiletto heel. It’s a risky, frequently hilarious, occasionally brilliant juggling act.
A&E >  Entertainment

SpIFF brings the world – and ‘Vision Quest’ – to Spokane

It’s no secret that movie theaters become wastelands in January and February, the time of year when Hollywood studios dump some of their least desirable products onto multiplex screens. But the Spokane International Film Festival, which kicks off Friday with an opening night gala, is here to provide moviegoers with a cinematic journey.
A&E >  Entertainment

Herb Alpert still finds joy in the music

Jazz trumpeter Herb Alpert has plenty of accomplishments under his belt. With his band the Tijuana Brass, he scored a number of significant hits in the ’60s and ’70s, he co-founded the label A&M Records and he has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, including the iconic LP “Whipped Cream and Other Delights.” Alpert will be performing with the Spokane Symphony on Saturday night, sharing a stage with his wife Lani Hall, who was a singer in the original lineup of Sergio Mendes’ groundbreaking bossa nova group Brasil ’66.
A&E >  Entertainment

Island vibe, via Michigan

The Outer Vibe describes its work as a “musical vacation,” and hearing the surf-inflected sound on its latest album “Full Circle” (not to mention the colorful tropical fruit adorning the cover), you’d never guess the band hailed from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The five-piece, which adds Spokane to its travel itinerary on Monday, has devoted itself to transporting its listeners to an island paradise.
A&E >  Entertainment

‘Sordid Lives’ loves its uncouth characters

The characters in Del Shore’s “Sordid Lives” are unapologetically ribald and more than a little uncouth, the kind of people you might derogatorily refer to as “white trash.” But the show, premiering in the Civic’s studio theater this weekend, always makes sure that you’re laughing with them, not at them. They know who they are, and they’re proud of it.
A&E >  Entertainment

Musician’s life provides fertile ground for prose

When you’re a touring musician, meeting unusual people in unexpected places on the road, you’re probably going to be inspired to document your travels. Korby Lenker does that, but not always through his music. The singer-songwriter, raised in Idaho and currently based in Nashville, is traveling to promote his debut short story collection “Medium Hero.” His upcoming appearance at Auntie’s Bookstore will feature both readings and acoustic music.
A&E >  Entertainment

Symphony welcomes guest pianist for ‘Love Hurts’ program

The Spokane Symphony’s latest Classics program goes by the title “Love Hurts,” and several of its pieces deal with adoration, heartbreak or loss in one way or another. The big showstopper on the evening’s program is Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, which doesn’t easily fit the “Love Hurts” theme, although its second movement is titled “Romance.” It also exudes a sense of romantic anguish, especially because it’s written in D minor, and it could certainly be the soundtrack to a particularly tempestuous relationship.
A&E >  Entertainment

‘All My Sons’ at the Modern delves into family pain

In the years following the Great Depression and World War II, America went about rebuilding and reinventing itself. The Kellers, the family at the center of Arthur Miller’s 1947 play “All My Sons,” are trying to do the same. The Tony Award-winning domestic drama, which opens at the Modern Theater Coeur d’Alene on Friday, was Miller’s first major hit. In its dissection of family dynamics and its examination of the nature of guilt and failure, it feels almost like a dry run for Miller’s landmark work “Death of a Salesman.”
A&E >  Entertainment

MAC goes hunting for treasure with latest exhibit

You’ve no doubt heard the axiom about one man’s trash being another man’s treasure. It might be a cliché, but it’s also undeniably true: Anything, no matter how unassuming it may appear, can be invaluable to someone else. “Treasure!” is an upcoming exhibition at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, and it serves as a showcase for all kinds of unexpected but valuable finds, from vintage baseball cards to old board games, first edition books to gold doubloons.
A&E >  Entertainment

Lorrie Morgan brings a lifetime of country experiences with her

Country star Lorrie Morgan scored most of her top 10 hits in the 1990s, with songs like “Watch Me,” “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength,” “What Part of No” and “Back in Your Arms Again” getting significant play on country radio. But Morgan, who performs at Northern Quest Casino this weekend, has been a presence in the country music scene since the ’70s, and it was an environment she’s been familiar with since childhood.
A&E >  Entertainment

Extreme seduction: Civic stages ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’

The French aristocrats at the center of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” (translation: “Dangerous Liaisons”) are as bored as they are vicious, and their idea of entertainment is to seduce young, impressionable suitors, string them along and eventually destroy them emotionally. That shrewd premise originates from a 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, and it was reintroduced to modern audiences via Christopher Hampton’s acclaimed 1985 stage adaptation.
A&E >  Entertainment

Jewish film festival aims to challenge preconceptions

The Spokane Jewish Cultural Film Festival has been presenting complex, thought-provoking international movies about the intricacies of Jewish culture and identity since the early 2000s. Sponsored by Spokane Area Jewish Family Services, the festival kicks off at the Magic Lantern next week, and this year’s lineup includes three features and a short.
A&E >  Entertainment

Devil Makes Three brings energy to live shows

The Devil Makes Three takes its name from the lyrics of a song titled “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby,” which you might remember from the Grammy-winning “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. That record is often credited with reigniting mainstream interest in bluegrass and old-timey folk, and the Devil Makes Three continues that trend.
A&E >  Entertainment

Choice words: Wright trolls life for humor

Steven Wright is a master of the non sequitur. The Emmy- and Grammy-nominated comedian, who performs at the Bing Crosby Theater on Friday, is known for his rumpled appearance and dry, deadpan delivery: He always look exasperated, nervous and disheveled, like Woody Allen’s even more self-conscious cousin. That thrown-together persona is
A&E >  Entertainment

Silver Treason celebrates its golden age

The music of Silver Treason is best described as a little bit country, a little bit rock ’n’ roll. The band has been a staple of the Spokane music scene for several years now, and Friday marks the release of its first album, titled “The Golden Age of Silver Treason.”
A&E >  Entertainment

Label gives Car Seat Headrest more confidence

Will Toledo started making music in his bedroom as a Virginia high school student, recording introspective pop tunes on his computer and posting them with little fanfare to Bandcamp. He released his work under the name Car Seat Headrest, and the songs, which Toledo uploaded at a rapid clip, began generating interest from music blogs and journalists.
News >  Features

Nathan Weinbender: Top 10 movies of 2015

There’s a common misconception that film critics don’t like anything designed for mainstream consumption, that the only movies critics will recommend are the obscure, obtuse titles nobody but film critics would ever see. But of the 160 or so new releases I sat through this year, it certainly seemed like I enjoyed most of them.