You’ll Find Lots Of Spokane In ‘Love Always’
When it comes to local movie news, it’s hard for the low-budget “Love Always” to compete with the $70 million disaster-fest “Dante’s Peak,” which begins shooting next month in Wallace.
But “Love Always” may actually have more local flavor.
This independent movie was filmed last summer in Spokane, Nevada and California starring Marisa Ryan, Moon Zappa, Beverly d’Angelo and Michael Reilly Burke. You may remember seeing Ryan and Burke shooting scenes in Riverfront Park in August, although at the time the working title was “All Points Between.”
This road-movie-slash-romantic comedy is finished now and awaiting distribution. I have not yet seen it, but Spokane obviously has a starring role. The publicity materials show Ryan and Burke superimposed over a drawing of a highway (I-90) leading toward a city skyline dominated by a big clock tower and a cable-andgirder Expo pavilion. Very familiar looking.
The movie is based on the 1990 novel “Finding Signs” by Sharlene Baker (Alfred A. Knopf), which is about a woman traveling back to Spokane to find her true love.
Writer-director Jude Eberhard of San Diego said she hopes to screen it in Spokane soon.
We’ll keep you posted.
The night of the Zombies
It looks as though White Zombie and Pantera will play The Gorge on July 27.
Tickets are not yet on sale, but look for an official announcement soon.
The opening act will be Eyehategod.
By the way, several more Gorge events are in the works and should be announced in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out. Some of them are bigger than Pantera, if you can imagine that.
Outdoors in the park
We have no official dates yet, but it looks like at least four acts will play separate outdoor concerts at Riverfront Park this summer.
They are:
Joan Baez, the folk legend.
Sheryl Crow, the folk-alternative singer-songwriter.
The Mavericks, the rocking country band.
The Neville Brothers, the New Orleans R&B combo.
The dates are not yet firm, but look for these shows during the hot months. Ticket announcements should come in the next few weeks, according to Riverfront Park officials.
Beer-soaked in Spokane
In other movie news, a small independent film crew spent the week at Hale’s Brewery in North Spokane filming a 35-minute big-screen comedy.
Director Roald Simonson of Seattle said he plans on showing this short movie at film festivals around the country.
The film is called “The Beer Commercial,” and it stars Spokane actor (and photographer) Don Hamilton as a microbrewery owner who suddenly decides he needs to film his own beer commercial. He hires a novice director, and the rest of the movie consists of disastrous attempts to make the commercial.
Simonson, a friend of brewery owner Mike Hale, said he picked the brewery as the setting because he thought this former brick schoolhouse would be a visually interesting site. He recruited a number of his old college friends from Harvard to help him make the movie.
“I just wanted to get my feet wet in movies,” he said, “and believe me, my feet are soaking.”
Up and coming ‘Pirates’
A few years ago, Uptown Opera audiences got a look at the young Frank Hernandez in various experience-building roles. Hernandez is now out hobnobbing with Pavarotti.
Who will be the next stars to emerge from the Uptown Opera? Well, there are two candidates in “Pirates of Penzance,” which runs May 24-31 at The Met.
Keep an ear out for Jessica Bowers, a mezzo-soprano who will be heading to the New England Conservatory, and Heather Steckler, who will be heading to the Eastman Conservatory. These two Whitworth College grads will sing the roles of Ruth and Mabel, respectively. Call G&B Select-a-Seat for tickets.
Calling all Civic veterans
The Spokane Civic Theatre has issued an all-points bulletin for former volunteers.
The theater is compiling a special 50th anniversary mailing list of everybody who has ever served the theater in any capacity, on stage or off. Many are already on the Civic’s regular mailing list, but plenty more are still out there.
If you were a former volunteer or know of one, call 325-2507 or send name and address to the Spokane Civic Theatre, P.O. Box 5222, Spokane WA 99205.
Watch out, it’s synergy
The fruits of the new KXLY-KZZU partnership are indeed bountiful. KZZU-FM’s Breakfast Boys, Dave Sposito and Ken Hopkins, will host “The Breakfast Boys’ Saturday Cinema” every Saturday night at 8 p.m. on KXLY EXTRA! They’ll be screening movies such as “The Man With Two Brains,” “Mr. Mom” and “Bachelor Party.” The show will be taped each Friday at 11:30 a.m. at The Met. The public is invited to attend.
, DataTimes