Spotlight: Lake City Playhouse stages ‘Evening of Poe’
I got a little notice in my email inbox about an upcoming fundraiser at Lake City Playhouse. “An Evening of Poe,” it’s called, and it offers the works of Edgar Allan Poe told in various readings, live performances and dance.
The release was a bit light on some specifics, so I shipped off a note to George Green, the playhouse’s director, asking for some details. Turns out, this is the third year they’ve done this. It features poetry put to music by Zachariah Baker and Doug Dawson, a live performance by Dawson of the immortal “The Tell-Tale Heart” and – wait for it – “an awesome interpretive dance to ‘Annabel Lee,’ ” choreographed by Ali Waid, Green wrote.
Oh, yeah. Interpretive dance? A grim poem about a lover’s death? That sounds fabulous. This one-night-only show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
And if that weren’t enough, the theater will host midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Nov. 2 and 3. The screenings will be accompanied by a live shadow cast, and wine, beer and goody bags will be available to purchase. Let’s do the time warp again …
Tickets to the Poe show and the “Rocky Horror” screenings are $10 each and available online at lakecityplayhouse.org/ EVENTS.php, or at the box office. Lake City Playhouse is located 1320 E. Garden Ave. in Coeur d’Alene.
Black to hit Pullman, Spokane
If you don’t want to drive to Pullman to see cowboy poet and author Baxter Black on Oct. 26 and 27, wait a few days. He’ll be performing at Chateau Rive at the Flour Mill on Nov. 2.
Tickets are $20 and on sale now at all TicketsWest outlets, www.ticketswest.com or (800) 325-SEAT. Chateau Rive is located at 621 W. Mallon Ave., just south of the Spokane Arena. For details, visit www.baxterblack.com or www.chateaurive.com.
Meanwhile, seats are still available to the two Pullman shows at Washington State University’s Jones Theatre. Tickets are $26 and are available through TicketsWest.
Local band fares well
When the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival rolled through Post Falls last month, it left a winner in its wake.
Nixon Rodeo, a Spokane rock band, won a battle of the bands contest held before the main event. Now, the group is competing with other bands who won local contests when the Uproar festival stopped in their towns.
The top prize includes a slot on next year’s Uproar Festival, the opportunity to record an EP with producer Jay Baumgardner in Hollywood, and $10,000 worth of music gear and other prizes. The 28 local winners are being evaluated by a panel that includes Jose Mangin from Sirius XM, Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Zacky Vengeance, Baumgardner, and music industry veteran Bill McGathy. Sign up to vote for Nixon Rodeo at battle.rockstaruproar.com/register.eb; one email entry per day is allowed. Check out Nixon Rodeo’s interviews and performance clips at battle.rockstaruproar.com/u/ TheNixonRodeo/videos or visit the band’s Facebook page for more information. The contest ends Oct. 30, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
The members of Nixon Rodeo are Brent Forsyth (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Josh Crites (lead guitar), Eric Olsen (bass) and Ethan Harrison (drums, vocals). The band’s album “Made to Bleed” is available on iTunes.
Vocal debut
Benjamin Cleveland, a 2002 graduate of Freeman High School, will be making his professional debut as an opera singer next month.
Cleveland, a tenor, will sing the part of Ruiz in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s upcoming production of “Il Trovatore,” by Giuseppe Verdi.
He began singing eight years ago while a student at the University of Idaho, where he studied under Chris Thompson, according to his parents, Dale and Shirley Cleveland. He’s now working on his doctorate at the University of Kansas.
Will’s on the way
Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and television pundit George F. Will will be speaking in Spokane on Tuesday as part of Whitworth University’s annual President’s Leadership Forum.
The Pulitzer Prize winner, who also has written many books on topics ranging from politics to baseball, will speak at 7:30 a.m. at the Spokane Convention Center. The event is sold out.
For details, visit http://news. whitworth.edu/2012/09/ renowned-political- commentator-george-f.html.