‘Stomp’ Brings Its Percussion Magic To Town

Spotlight has been slacking off in Smoot, Wyo., the past two weeks, so to compensate we’ll cram lots of items into a small space today, beginning with:

“Stomp,” the drumming-crashing-kicking-smacking international stage hit, has been added to the Best of Broadway lineup at the Spokane Opera House for Dec. 8-10. You may have seen this eight-person percussion group on Letterman, Leno and the Academy Awards telecast.

Tickets are now available for Best of Broadway subscribers only (one of the perks of subscribing), but look for a public on-sale date around late September. Call G&B Select-a-Seat for more info.

Travolta sightings

Numerous John Travolta sightings occurred in Coeur d’Alene on July 11, the opening weekend of his sister’s starring role in “Mame.”

He and his wife, Kelly Preston, along with various other family members, snuck into the Schuler Auditorium right after the lights went down. By intermission, of course, everybody in the theater knew they were there. After the play, Travolta went backstage to congratulate sister Ellen and then hung around the stage door, chatting with fans and signing autographs. At least one high school girl had a near-swoon experience.

Tom Grant crosses over

Tom Grant, KREM-2’s investigative reporter, finished his fellowship at the University of Michigan and has returned to — the station across town.

Yes, Grant is switching to KXLY-4, where he will join the crew they call “The Investigators.” He and Kerry Tomlinson will investigate “corruption, fraud and crime in the Inland Northwest,” according to the station.

Grant is best known for his dogged and often lonesome coverage of the Wenatchee child sex cases, for which he won national recognition. He has won two Edward R. Murrow awards.

His first day on KXLY will be Friday.

‘Smoke Signals’ smokin’

Sherman Alexie’s movie “Smoke Signals” already appears to be a decent-sized art-house hit.

It reached No. 20 and 19 on the box office list the last two weeks, which is not bad for a modest-budgeted independent film.

More telling was the fact that it raked in $5,759 per screen, more than any film except “The Mask of Zorro,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Armageddon” and “Something About Mary.”

Of course, at 66 screens, it was playing at about 3,000 fewer screens than each of those.

The complete Lyman

The Lyman Gallery in Sandpoint will feature all 60 of the late Stephen Lyman’s limited-edition wilderness art prints in a special show, “Stephen Lyman - A Retrospective.”

The show opens Friday with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. and continues through Sept. 12 at the gallery’s new location, 301 N. First. Check it out if you’re in town for The Festival at Sandpoint.

An arty little town

Speaking of Sandpoint, it has made it into the third edition of John Villani’s “The 100 Best Small Arts Towns in America.” It is one of the few towns to make it into all three editions.

Moscow, Idaho, also made it into the new edition.

They’re in the book

Cheney artist Rik Nelson and Mead artist (and cultural treasure) Harold Balazs both have work included in a new coffee-table book “Trashformations: Recycled Materials in Contemporary Art and Design,” by Lloyd E. Herman.

The book features artworks made of, well, trash, or what we might more elegantly term “found materials.” Nelson’s work even appears on the cover,

The book is published by the University of Washington Press.

Spokane Film Festival

Looks like Spokane will be getting a film festival in September.

Bob Schleufer, a local inventor and video producer, has booked The Met for the 1998 Spokane Film Festival, Sept. 20 and 23.

The festival will feature “freshman filmmakers from the region,” with categories including experimental, animation, narrative, documentary and short themes.

Schleufer wants to make this an annual event. He is still seeking films and can be reached at 484-0144.

Kotula on CD

Bobbi Kotula, one of the area’s top theater performers, has her first CD out, called “Red Letter Love,” with 14 songs.

Write to P.O. Box 355, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816 for an order form.

Kotula is currently knocking ‘em dead as Sister Robert Anne in “Nunsense” at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre.