Here Are Some Things We Really Like

We’re introducing a new feature in Spotlight: Things We Like.

We got this idea from Brill’s Content, the fascinating new magazine which spends most of its space criticizing the media, or at least policing it. To balance that out, the magazine runs a monthly feature called “Stuff We Like,” handing out credit where it’s due. Since Spotlight occasionally criticizes media figures (can anybody say “Mark Fuhrman”?) we thought we should balance things out, too.

So here’s the first installment of “Things We Like,” the “we” being me, in this case:

* Spokane’s newest TV anchors: Both Richard Brown at KXLY-4 and Penny Daniels at KHQ-6 have proven to be excellent additions to Spokane’s TV news scene. Both are seasoned professionals with plenty of experience, but they somehow didn’t acquire huge egos or pomposity along the way. The big markets’ loss is Spokane’s gain.

* Bud Nameck — The former TV sports anchor has turned himself into a fine all-around morning radio host for KXLY-AM. He’s sharp and funny and a solid pro. We were going to give equal credit to his partner, Kate McAllister, but she left the show two weeks ago for other pursuits.

* Joe Zupan of KPBX-FM — Zupan has a smooth and soothing radio delivery as the local host of “All Things Considered,” and he has also proven to be an accomplished reporter and producer.

That’s just a start. We’ll make “Things We Like” a regular feature of Spotlight. If you want to nominate a person or a program or a publication in Spokane’s media, write or call the number listed at the end of this column.

Roller coaster mania

Mike Ellis, the diabolical promotions man at KZZU-FM, is at it again. The same man who brought us the four-people-crammed-into-a-Suzuki stunt last year (the survivor won the car) has an even more brutal promo planned for this summer.

Apparently the stunt will be this: Eight people will be chosen to spend 25 days on the new roller coaster at Silverwood. They will have to ride the coaster during operating hours and live in it the rest of the time. The survivor gets $10,000.

Wow. Sounds like fun. Sign me up.

`The Basket’ case

“The Basket” has been accepted into the Seattle Film Festival in May.

This is quite an honor for this Karen Allen-Peter Coyote movie, filmed by North by Northwest in the Spokane area last summer. Details will be forthcoming.

`Moon Over Buffalo’

The Interplayers Ensemble has announced its season-finale “wild-card” play selection: “Moon Over Buffalo,” by Ken Ludwig.

This is a backstage farce about a theatrical couple on tour in the 1950s. Comic disasters and complications ensue. “Moon Over Buffalo” starred Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco during its 1995 Broadway run.

Ludwig’s previous hit farce was “Lend Me a Tenor,” which was a big comic hit for Interplayers in the 1980s.

A controversial hit

Speaking of Interplayers, they have a controversial hit on their hands with Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive.”

At least three couples have already walked out on the play. Walking out takes a lot of determination in a play with no intermission. According to director Bob Welch, one of the couples later wrote him a letter calling the play “porno.”

The play is certainly not intended as pornography (it has no nudity, but a lot of sexual talk). Yet it is an unsettling and powerful look at a teenage girl whose uncle molests her. I can see how it provokes strong reactions and even anger, although I found it to be ultimately thought-provoking and rewarding.

Welch said most playgoers have understood the point of the play, which by no means condones pedophilia. The theater is holding discussions after every performance about the issues presented.

Da Gorge is Da Bomb

The Gorge Amphitheater has been voted the “Best Large Outdoor Venue” for the fourth year in a row in the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.

Pollstar is the major trade publication of the concert industry.

Plays of the Century

The Spokane Civic Theatre has come up with an inspired way to usher in the new century: a reader’s theater series called Reader’s Stage which will feature the top 21 English-language plays of the 20th century, as chosen by The Drama League.

Plays include “Amadeus,” “Inherit the Wind,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Angels in America,” “Death of a Salesman” and, well, you get the idea.

Performances will be Sunday evenings beginning Sept. 12 and will continue through June 25 in the new century.

In reader’s theater, actors sit on chairs and read the roles. It can be as powerful as fully-staged plays, especially with plays this well-written.

`Lonely Planet’

The Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “Lonely Planet” won Best in State honors at the Washington State Community Theatre Association Festival in Richland last week.

This means the play will move on to the regional competition, May 1 in Lewiston.

Thomas Heppler and Troy Nickerson shared the competition’s Best Actor award.

Movie seminar

Tim Kelleher, an Eastern Washington University grad, will present a two-day seminar on film writing and film directing on Thursday and Friday at the University Theatre on the EWU campus.

Kelleher has written several movies, including “First Kid” for Disney. He wrote and directed “Supermodel” for Touchstone and “The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon” for Disney TeleFilms.

The first day will focus on writing, the second day on directing. These seminars are free and open to the public, but you must make reservations by calling 359-6390.