Spotlight: ‘Thunderballs’ rolling with casting call
The Spike TV sitcom pilot “Thunderballs” will start filming in Spokane this week. Dude, the casting call speaks volumes about this show.
For one thing, they are seeking someone to play the “Olympia Beer Bikini Girl.”
The story is about a group of 30-something guys on a bowling team and, like every show on Spike, it is aimed at the male market.
Or should we say, the dude market.
Here are a few of the fictional bowling teams being cast locally through Big Fish NW Talent:
• The Mullets (plus a Mullet Mom and Mullet Baby)
• The Super Vixens
• Ballbarians
• The Blue Ballers (a team of cops)
• The Sunset Towers Assisted Living Slingers (an elderly team)
• The Gutter Gals
North by Northwest will film the pilot into the middle of the month. If it gets picked up by Spike, expect to see plenty more of the Super Vixens and the Gutter Gals.
Oh, one more thing: The child cast as the Mullet Baby must have a real mullet. No wigs.
KISS Army mobilization
As you’ve no doubt heard by now, KISS has been booked into the Spokane Arena for a June 24 show. Tickets are $47.50, $67.50 and $97.50, through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).
The Arena called this “the most BADASS rock show that we’ve had in over a decade.” KISS played a sold-out show at the Arena in 1996.
However, I should point out a few other acts that have played the Arena since then: Kid Rock, Motley Crue, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mudvayne, Stone Temple Pilots, Godsmack, Marilyn Manson, Hole, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice Cooper and Tool.
So make your own judgment about the accuracy of that claim.
I should also point out that the present lineup includes only two original members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Ace Frehley and Peter Criss have been out of the band since 2002 and 2004, respectively.
Still, there will be lots of explosions.
A ‘Wicked’ ticket lottery
If you can’t afford to pay full price for tickets to “Wicked,” May 18-29 at the INB Performing Arts Center, here’s a way to get your witch fix.
A $25 “Wicked” ticket lottery will be held on every performance day.
Here’s how it will work: Show up two-and-a-half hours prior to each performance at the INB box office, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Your name will be placed in a lottery drum. A half-hour later, a limited number of names will be drawn from the drum.
If your name is chosen, you can purchase up to two tickets at $25 apiece. You must be there in person and you must pay cash.
These tickets will be a bargain, since tickets normally sell for $42.50 to $142.50 (see item below). And these tickets will be for the orchestra section, i.e., the main floor.
‘Spamalot’ returns
“Monty Python’s Spamalot” will return to Spokane for a one-night-only performance on Nov. 11 at the INB Performing Arts Center.
This will be an add-on show to Best of Broadway’s 2011-’12 season. Right now, the only way to get tickets is to become a subscriber and add this show to your package. Call (800) 843-4667.
Individual tickets will go on sale later.
Carl Kasell discounts
Ticket prices have been reduced from $27 to $22 ($20, plus a $2 theater restoration fee) to see National Public Radio’s Carl Kasell on May 9 at the Bing Crosby Theater.
All you have to do is enter the password “spokanepublicradio” in the promotion code box on the TicketsWest site.
Kasell will talk about his 30 years as an NPR newsman and also tell behind-the-scenes stories about the current-events quiz show he co-hosts, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”
50 Hour Slam finals
The field of films has been narrowed from 35 to 15 in the inaugural 50 Hour Slam film competition.
All 15 finalists will be screened at the Magic Lantern Theatre, 25 W. Main Ave., today at 3 and 7 p.m. (a free feedback session for filmmakers will be held in between those two times).
Then, after the last screening, everyone will reconvene next door for the awards party at Isabella’s Gin Joint, where organizers will announce the winner of the top judge’s award and the people’s choice award.
Tickets to the screenings are $10, available at the door.
Filmmakers were given an assignment last month to make short films – incorporating certain words, themes and songs – in the space of 50 hours.
Mayday music
The four orchestras of the Spokane Youth Symphony will perform a “Mayday Around the World” concert today at 4 p.m. at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague Ave.
You’ll hear Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” and competition winners Kaylee Wood performing Dragonetti’s Concerto in A for Double Bass and Natasha Black performing Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto.
Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for seniors and $9 for youth under 18, at the door.
‘Faces of First Night’
Next time you’re on the third floor of River Park Square, near the elevators, check out the “Faces of First Night” tile project exhibit.
Almost a year ago, First Night Spokane inaugurated a project in which people could paint tiles with a “symbolic self-portrait” of themselves or their families. People from all over the region – and also from Japan, France and Saudi Arabia – enthusiastically joined in.
Now you can see the finished tiles – all 600 of them – on display at River Park Square.
Lona Barnum of First Night calls it “a true reflection of the diverse population of those who support and attend First Night.”
Jaffe joins Old 97’s
Sarah Jaffe, a young Texas singer-songwriter who created a buzz at the South by Southwest music conference this year, has been added to the Old 97’s concert at the Bing Crosby Theater on May 31.
Tickets are available through TicketsWest.
Happy Bing-Day
Don’t forget the big Bing Crosby Birthday Bash on Tuesday at the Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave.
Cake and punch will be served at 6 p.m., the short subjects start at 6:30 p.m. and “The Country Girl,” starring Crosby and Grace Kelly, begins at 7 p.m.
A $5 donation is requested.
SFCC Music Building premiere
Spokane Falls Community College will open its renovated $15 million Music Building on Tuesday with an afternoon of demonstrations and performances.
Events start with a pre-show performance at 1 p.m. featuring the SFCC World Drumming Ensemble. Then at 1:30 p.m. the official dedication begins, including a brief ceremony in the auditorium and performances by the Chamber Singers, Jazz Combos and other student musicians, along with self-guided tours.
The 47,571-square-foot building includes an audio lab, recording studio, piano studio and multiple practice spaces.
During construction, the college’s music students have had to spread out into area high schools, churches and other spaces. Now, all of the music programs are back under one shiny new roof.