Bill Cosby to warm up GU arena
THE COS will inaugurate Gonzaga University’s McCarthey Athletic Center as a performing arts venue in January.
Bill Cosby has been booked into the new 6,000 seat arena on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. This will be the first of many big shows to play the new venue, according to Matt Gibson of the Spokane Public Facilities District.
The building should be well-broken-in by that time as the home of the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team. The first basketball game will be in November.
Tickets for Cosby will go on sale Nov. 19, 10 a.m., through all TicketsWest outlets (325-SEAT, 800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com). Reserved seats are $49.50 and $44.50, with a special student price of $25.
Opera House turns 30
Meanwhile, one of Spokane’s more venerable and beloved venues has reached a milestone: The Spokane Opera House is celebrating its 30th birthday.
To celebrate, a free birthday party/open house will take place on Nov. 3 from 5 to 8 p.m. Visitors can enjoy some birthday cake, informal performances by Spokane Symphony musicians, a video highlight show of past touring Broadway musicals and guided backstage tours.
The first 3,000 guests will receive “a special commemorative Opera House 30th birthday present.”
We should point out that the Opera House technically turned 30 back in May. The Opera House was built for the Expo ‘74 World’s Fair, and it was used from May of that year all the way through the close of the fair.
Yet it was in November of 1974 that operation was officially turned over to the city. Since then, it has averaged nearly a quarter-million in attendance per year.
New Civic interim boss
The Spokane Civic Theatre’s Board of Directors has hired one of its own as the new interim director of operations and marketing, the head job of the business side of the theater.
Charlotte Boutz, a member of the board since July 2003, took over the job this week. She will be stepping down from her board position.
Boutz is a 2001 graduate of Wellesley College. She was most recently the director of marketing and sales for the Local Planet, an alternative weekly that folded in July.
Boutz takes over from Deb McCandless, who announced her resignation earlier this month because of differences with the board.
Meanwhile, the Civic is in the midst of a nationwide search for a new artistic director.
First Night plans
First Night Spokane has signed up about 90 musical and performing acts for this annual New Year’s Eve arts celebration, along with about 30 visual artists. That will make it just about as big as last year’s event, which drew about 23,000 revelers to downtown Spokane.
One major change: The children’s festival will not be in the Spokane Convention Center. It will be spread around a number of downtown venues and given a new name, Kid’s Night Out, a name submitted by Aunna Godfrey, a fourth-grader at Roosevelt Elementary.
Two big Seattle acts have been booked: Maya Soleil, an Afro-world fusion music and dance group and Cirque de Flambe, a pyrotechnics act which appeared two years ago.
A stylish new poster, designed by Judy Heggem-Davis, was unveiled Tuesday which illustrates the theme “Hats Alive! For 2005.”
Admission buttons will go on sale in mid-November and will remain $10 if purchased in advance. However buttons purchased the day of the event will be $12.
A Children’s Miracle
KIXZ-FM (KIX 96.1) raised a jaw-dropping amount of money – $106,899 – in three days during its “KIX Cares for Kids” radiothon for the Children’s Miracle Network of Spokane and the Inland Northwest.
KIXZ personalities Coyote and Lyn Daniels broadcast from the Deaconess Medical Center lobby from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 13, 14 and 15 and asked listeners for donation. The KIXZ morning team, the syndicated Big D and Bubba, also got involved.
This is the first year KIXZ has done the radiothon for the Children’s Miracle Network. According to Clear Channel’s Scott Shannon, the take was more than double last year’s total.
A local Marine Band connection
“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band plays the Spokane Opera House today in a free concert at 2:30 p.m.
Among the musicians: Spokane’s own Gunnery Sgt. Gregory Ridlington. He’s a 1991 graduate of Mead High School and a longtime member of this prestigious outfit. He has a masters in music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He was featured soloist with the President’s Own in 2003.
The band tours the country, yet its primary mission is to provide music for the president of the U.S. and the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Free tickets were available in advance for this concert, but you’re not out of luck if you don’t have one. Ticket-holders will be seated first, but at 2:15 p.m., nonticket-holders will be admitted free.
They vant your blood
The Inland Northwest Blood Centers are teaming up with the Interplayers Ensemble for a blood-donor deal.
This makes perfect sense when you consider that Interplayers is currently presenting a scary and stylish stage version of “Dracula.”
Anyone donating blood at one of the INBC’s fixed-site centers now through Nov. 6 will receive a two-for-one coupon for “Dracula.” The play continues through Nov. 6.
Prine choice
John Prine, one of the finest of America’s rootsy singer-songwriters, has been booked into The Met, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.
He’s best known for early ‘70s songs such as “Hello In There,” “Sam Stone” and “Angel From Montgomery,” yet he has continued to record and tour and reap numerous Grammy nominations.
Tickets are $47.50, available through TicketsWest outlets (325-SEAT, 800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).