The warmer weather finally seems to have decided to stick around for the rest of spring, or at least for the weekend ahead that's packed full of outdoor community events. Bloomsday is expected to be beautifully sunny and in the 70s, and tonight's First Friday should be comfortably warm, too. This month's event is being touted as the largest First Friday event Spokane has hosted. So take it easy as you mosey through your favorite downtown district, enjoy the fresh air and see what's new in the growing local arts scene. 

Use this map on your phone or tablet as you're out and about to find out what's showing where, and we'll see you there.

If you, like us, are stuck inside during this amazingly sunshiny Friday afternoon, here's something to make it slightly more enjoyable.

The folks at Bad Lip Reading have outdone themselves, taking on AMC's The Walking Dead and producing something that's probably better than that brain-dead-yet-addictive bucket of brains.

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Gonzaga's president is having to answer why the university denied an all-male Catholic club at the university. And no, this "all-male Catholic club" is not the priesthood.

The future of high school football being played at Joe Albi Stadium is up in the air.

One suspect accused of involvement in the beating of a WSU professor has been arrested. 

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Some jackass in Portland has been harassing the families of victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting.

Dinosaur eggs have been found. Yeah! But they won't grow into real dinosaurs...BOO!

The Mariners are looking not-so-great this week, and no one is showing up to games, but hey -- the ones who have showed up are good at catching foul balls with their beers. 

From the people who brought you the most awkward date in the history of Spokane comes this amazing tale of two sisters who are tearing up the modeling world.

At this afternoon's announcement event for the 2013-2014 season of Best of Broadway, perhaps the most exciting news wasn't even about this season.

Rather, it was news — reserved for the very end of the program, which included live performances from both Sister Act and A Million Dollar Quartet — that West Coast Entertainment, the company responsible for bringing the Best of Broadway series to the INB Performing Center, had booked the outrageously popular Book of Mormon for a performance sometime in the spring of 2014.

That news, although enough to get more than a few squeals from the younger folks among the several hundred season ticket holders, members of the press and sponsors at the Monday afternoon event, didn't overshadow what's looking like a strong 2013-2014 season. I mean, hey, they're bringing Wicked back to Spokane!

Here's how it's shaping up:

Anything Goes: Oct. 10-13

Million Dollar Quartet: Dec. 12-15

Hello Dolly: Jan. 30-Feb. 2

Sister Act: March 27-30

Wicked: May 7-25  

There's also a schedule of other one-night events, including a pre-holiday appearance by Mannheim Steamroller (Nov. 23) and a somewhat surprising booking of Green Day's American Idiot (Nov. 10).

If you're planning on heading out and about the town tonight to check out the newest art gallery offerings, make sure to bring an umbrella and also to wear something pink. This month's First Friday receptions are "going pink" in recognition of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure later this month, on April 21. Many venues will be offering drink and food specials for those who do come decked out in bubblegum, magenta, peony and other hues of pink.%uFFFD

Click on the blue markers on the map below to see what's going on where!

It may have spawned one of the biggest controversies in Coeur d'Alene's recent memory, but McEuen Field is now on its way to big changes.

Ground has been broken, trees have been uprooted. Now, the Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission is looking for artists to help design the entryway arch that will welcome people into the new park.

There is no theme, but we're guessing they don't want anything with the word "recall."

The city is apparently willing to spend up to $110,000 on the arch, according to its information packet for artists. Applications are due May 24.

Here's the full packet:

McEuenArch.pdf

When the lights came back on after last night’s two-and-a-half hour long performance of War Horse — the first of eight total performances during the play’s five-day run in Spokane — more than a few show-goers were blinking back a welling of emotion in their slightly reddened eyes.

The story of a teenage boy, Albert Narracott, and his beloved horse, Joey, who are unexpectedly torn apart by war, was not without heartbreak and loss, as any true-to-life war drama should be. Though the story starts out in England's Devon countryside, most of the performance later on is set on the harsh battlefields of World War I. Intense flashes of light and a fog machine make the on-stage battles come to life, but the most realistic effects in War Horse are undoubtedly its horse puppets.

The handmade, life-size horse puppets — each handled by a team of three actors; one actor maneuvers the puppet’s head and the other two are inside its frame moving its body and legs — are what make the stage version of War Horse a magical and emotional experience for the audience; children and adults alike. Read more about how War Horse’s puppets come to life here.

I spoke to two of the cast members who play the role of War Horse’s central character Joey, along with doing a fair amount of research on the show including reading its plot synopsis, so there weren’t any twists or surprises that I didn’t expect. Even though I knew how the story would end, there were still plenty of scenes during which I fought to keep down the lump in my throat. War Horse uses a number of innate emotional paths — animals, family, friends, war, loyalty, honor and kindness — to speak directly to the human condition in all of us.

Patrick Osteen, who rotates between the roles of Joey and the play’s other main horse, Topthorn, says that while War Horse is based on a book that was written for younger audiences, it’s not an overly happy, upbeat production. (The title of the play is, after all, War Horse.)

“It’s not a story that shies away from tackling some very large and aggressive themes,” Osteen told The Inlander in a phone interview before the touring production made its Spokane stop. “World War I was an extremely tough war for the entire world, but for England especially… and that is something we’re wrestling with in telling this story. It’s a story about a kid who sacrifices everything to follow his friend.”

If you asked any of the audience members who saw last night’s performance, it's almost certain they’d tell you to get out there to see War Horse before it heads out of town after this Saturday. For tickets to the show, go here.

Spokane may not be Hollywood, but believe it or not, we are actually pretty decent in the acting department.

Well, scratch that – our Spokane Civic Theatre is the best in the state. Last weekend, our local stars graced the stage at the Washington State Theatre Festival (called Kaleidoscope) with their production of The Turn of the Screw. Held in Bremerton, the best of the best from our state went up against each other to earn themselves a spot at the regional competition. There, our local production company came out on top, advancing to the next festival.

It's the first day of March, and it's a Friday, so you know what that means: new art displays are up at galleries and businesses across the city! We've put together this handy map with all the First Friday events we know of so you can easily access it on your smartphone while you're out and about tonight.

And should you feel a hungry rumble in your stomach as you're out enjoying the area's creative offerings, don't forget that Spokane Restaurant Week is still happening, and you can enjoy a delicious, fixed-price meal before or after you peruse the galleries (most are open from 5-8 pm, unless otherwise noted.) It's bound to be a busy night at restaurants everywhere, so if you're planning to head out, it's a good idea to make a reservation earlier today. Don't know where to eat? See all the participating restaurants' menus here!  

Congratulations to our Yo Gabba Gabba Coloring Contest winner, Amelie! She gets the opportunity to attend the Yo Gabba Gabba event at the INB Performing Arts Center tonight at 6 pm.

Amelie, age 5 — “We liked how bright the colors were, and how she filled in all the areas that needed to be colored,” say the judges. Notice the artist’s attention to accuracy of the character’s colors, but also that she’s not afraid to color outside the lines.

“They all did great, considering their ages — and we wished we could have picked them all, but we didn't have enough tickets to give away," the judges added. Here are some additional favorites:

Patrick, age 2 — This work is reminiscent of an early Pollock or Rothko. Keep doing your thing, Patrick.

Andrew, age 5 — Do I see a double rainbow? I think yes.

Meet Woodward, The Inlander's official newsroom fish. He's an Inlander-red betta fish, and from what we can tell, he's got a lot of moxie — a compassionate patrician like Lord Grantham from Downton Abbey, mixed with a little Liberace zazzle. We're still getting to know him, but we agreed to adopt him if he throws out a Tweet here and there for us. 

One of Seattle's most provocative and highly sought-after artists, Charles Krafft, found himself at the center of quite a controversy last week after The Stranger posted a blog post titled "Charles Krafft is a White Nationalist Who Believe the Holocaust is a Deliberately Exaggerated Myth."

Krafft is not new to pot-stirring with his art. He's made pieces out of "human bone china" — ceramics made from real human remains. He's memorialized great disasters in his "Disasterware" series, and made Hitler-head teapots.

Now, though, The Stranger thinks they've proved Krafft is a Holocaust denier (he's said so on a white nationalist website). And the conversation has been running rampant in the blog's comments — is he? Isn't he?

And, maybe most importantly, should his personal beliefs — no matter what they are — matter to the art world?

Local gallery owners and avid ceramics collectors Jim Kolva and Pat Sullivan — of downtown Spokane's Kolva Sullivan Gallery — own several Krafft pieces, which are on display now at the WSU Art Gallery. They don't know Krafft well personally, but this controversy wasn't a huge surprise to Kolva.

"I know he’s kind of iconoclastic. He can be acerbic, and kind of does his own thing," he says. "And he’s been kind of a member of the arts community in Seattle, kind of on the edge. … But he’s always been the person who likes to stir things up."

So, having dined with Krafft and bought his pieces over the years, would Kolva have seen this revelation that he's a white nationalist coming?

"I wouldn’t be surprised by whatever his views are," he says, "The question is whether it’s actually true."

Kolva says knowing an artist's personal beliefs wouldn't impact whether he and his wife purchase a piece of their art. He says the art in their vast collection ranges: beautiful landscapes to ones with heavily-charged political messages. They don't always know the artists behind the paintings and sculptures. Sometimes they do. But art, to them, is about their own reaction to it.

"Sometimes art is a matter of communication and not all the communication you get is going to be what you agree with," Kolva says. "If I’m visually attracted to the aesthetics of the piece, what the deeper origin of it isn’t necessarily important to me.

"I think we have a reaction to it is the first step. We like pieces that make us smile, but they might not be something that would make someone else smile," he says.

"I could see how, given just his attitude and the small amount of times I’ve talked to him, I could see how [these beliefs] might come out. But I could also see it as another thing he’s foisting on the public. You don’t know, that’s the interesting thing."

Would he judge Krafft for having an opinion very different from his own?

"We’re not going to throw out Charlie’s work because of his little article in The Stranger," he says. "I’m not going to shun him."

The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, commonly known as the MAC, remodeled its facilities and launched its first website in 2001. That same website has finally been brought up to speed.

The museum teamed up with North By Northwest, a Spokane-based design studio that specializes in film, video and web marketing. After eight months of collaboration, the result is an accessible website that's compatible with the laptops, tablets and smart phones that didn't exist a decade ago.

The website just launched today and the new look is colorful, user-friendly and provides a streamlined look at the different collections, exhibits and programs that are offered. Becky Bishop, the public correspondent for the museum, says the MAC website will also link to micro-websites for other art institutions and an online-only exhibit, geared toward photography and the history of the Northwest.

The revamp was long-needed, Bishop says, and is the first stage of the museum's "re-envision the MAC" project. The project's goal is to put a new spin on the MAC's ability to reach schools and the community, as well as scholars from around the world who want to show their historical discoveries to the Northwest.

Another new online feature the museum would probably like visitors to notice is the donation option that allows people to become a member of the museum and support upcoming changes at the MAC.

Also this month, the MAC started offering new Sunday hours, a day the museum previously had not been open to the public. It's now open on Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. 

The Kenworthy Performing Arts Center is changing with the times.

On Main Street in Moscow, a small theater has opened its doors to the public each morning since 1926. Back then, a pipe organ accompanied silent films. Over the years, owners extended the theater, installed new equipment, and changed the façade. Now in 2013,  the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center will update yet again, this time from 35mm film to an all-digital projection format.

Christine Cavanaugh, executive director for the arts center, explains that much of the decision came down to current technology standards.

“Our motivation behind the switch is simply, adapt or die. The movie industry is changing and we need to change with it to keep our doors open,” Cavanaugh says.

By the end of this year, most films will be shot and produced using digital equipment, she explains. This means that 35mm film, the current format KPAC supports, will be on its way to obsolete.

“For us to stay viable as a cinematic art house, we need adapt to the changing tide of technology,” she says. “Being a community-based, mission-driven, not-for-profit art house, we can be much more than a mere movie venue and employer, or a recipient of charity and coordinator of volunteers. We are a flagship asset, an essential cog and an indispensable part of our healthy community.”

An asset that is entirely dependent on the movies the theater shows. Cavanaugh explained that while performing arts are a center of nonprofit theater’s culture, showing movies pays the bills.

“Without this upgrade, we won’t be able to sustain,” she says.

The bill for the upgrade totals around $50,000 to $60,000, a substantially lower estimate than the $100,000 originally anticipated. In the beginning of February, the center launched their Fabulous 50 Campaign to raise funds for the digital equipment. Those who donate over $1,000 receive the honorary title of “Fabulous 50 Member” as well as a host of perks, including free movies.

This challenge brings a host of new options for the screen, though, including operas, ballets and symphonies. Overall, patrons of KPAC can expect an increased visual quality in the movies they see at the center.

“As we move forward, we need to remember that cinema presented on a big screen in a darkened room full of strangers is a great thing, a profound thing that can deeply move the human psyche and transform lives, no matter the way it is presented,” Cavanaugh says. 

The Harlem Shake thing has been fun while it lasted, but the fact that the below video exists means it's time to stop. This one wins.

What do you do on a Sunday in Spokane? Now that football season is over, you can participate in the counterpart of Spokane’s popular culture: Art.

This last week, The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture opened its doors for the first time on a Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm (and will continue to do so) for guests to roam the current galleries. As executive director Forrest Rogers says, “Why close for half the weekend when Sundays are a huge day for family outings?”

“We have invested additional resources in extending the MAC’s hours to be open on Sundays,” he says.

And good news for visitors on the weekends: You can avoid mobs of elementary-aged kids, for a more, let’s say, peaceful viewing experience.

The works of naturalist David Douglas are featured as the prominent exhibition currently, and a Spokane modern architecture exhibit will open March 2.

This Sunday, Feb. 10, will be your last chance to see two Native American photograph exhibits: “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Kasebier” and “Plateau Portraits: The Photographs of Richard Lewis.”

Each year, right around this time, I begin to tire of winter, but thankfully this is also the time when the Sasquatch Music Festival unveils its lineup. And this year's it's awesome. Take a look at this fab-o-lous poster.

If you're having trouble reading all of that, here is the full lineup in normal print. Tickets are on sale now.

Mumford & Sons, The Postal Service, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Sigur Ros, Vampire Weekend, The xx,  The Lumineers, Arctic Monkeys, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Cake, Primus (3D), Empire of the Sun, Imagine Dragons, Bloc Party, Andrew Bird, Grimes, Dropkick Murphys, Built to Spill, Alt-J, Steve Aoki, Azealia Banks, Tame Impala, Father John Misty, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tallest Man on Earth, Devendra Banhart, The Presets, Laidback Luke, Schoolboy Q & Ab-Soul, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, Killer Mike, P.O.S., Death Grips, Shad, El-P, Michael Kiwanuka, Solange, Twin Shadow, Divine Fits, Dirty Projectors, Japandroids, Azari & III, Disclosure, Baauer, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Menomena, Ryan Bingham, JJ Grey & Mofro, Porcelain Raft, Youth Lagoon, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Holy Ghost!, Matthew Dear, Toro Y Moi, John Talabot, Shout Out Louds, Surfer Blood, DIIV, Torche, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Atlas Genius, Youngblood Hawke, Capital Cities, Fang Island, Red Fang, Reignwolf, Baths, Lusine, Yppah, Odesza, Four Color Zack, Beachwood Sparks, The Barr Brothers, Shovels & Rope, Willy Moon, Peace, Elliott Brood, Radical Face, Nancy & Beth (Megan Mullally & Stephanie Hunt), Akron/Family, Caveman, Telekinesis, Indians, Chvrches, Wild Belle, Suuns, Brown Bird, Bombino, Robert DeLong, Seawolf, ZZ Ward, Hundred Waters, Luke Sital-Singh, Wake Owl, Deep Sea Diver, Jherek Bischoff, Sean Nelson, Rose Windows, Nacho Picasso, Brothers From Another, Knowmads, Let’s Talk, Ra Scion, OC Notes “Golden Gods,” Kingdom Crumbs, Theoretics, Nissim (D. Black)

Twice a year First Friday — Spokane's monthly art walk event — gets even bigger and better during the Visual Arts Tour, held in February and October. Attendees of VAT can expect to see lots of amazing local art, hear some great music and sample some tasty libations and snacks. 

To make your evening memorable and easy to plan, we've put together a map showing you where to go to check out the new art exhibits at area art galleries and businesses. 

Enjoy, and we'll see you there!