Bloglander

For the most part, this weekend in Inland Northwest football fandom was largely forgettable, as we'll elucidate below in the first new edition of Monday Morning Placekicker of the 2015 season. But despite the fact the 12s had to suffer a somewhat inexplicable loss, EWU traveled and suffered a painful loss (and potentially a devastating one) and the Idaho Vandals couldn't cover a 43-point spread, there is reason to rejoice on the Palouse because...

THE COUGS DIDN'T COUG IT!
A week after losing what should have been a gimme game against the Big Sky doormat Portland State (who actually might be better than they get credit for), Washington State roared to a come-from-behind win at Rutgers on Saturday, with QB Luke Falk tossing the game-winning touchdown with just 13 seconds left:
Oh, they TRIED to Coug It, giving up a couple touchdowns on returns, including one that gave Rutgers the lead with less than two minutes to go. But thanks to Falk, who had a monster day with nearly 500 yards passing and four touchdowns, questions about Coach Mike Leach's future and whether or not the Cougars will win any games in 2015 can be put on hold. At least for another week. They play Wyoming on Saturday. 

MEANWHILE, IN CHENEY ...
There is nothing wrong with going on the road against Northern Iowa and coming away with a loss. The Eagles have actually done that several times — they are now 0-6 at UNI's "UNI-Dome" after losing a barn-burner 38-35 on Saturday. While it might be frustrating to lose a game in which quarterbacks Jordan West and Reilly Hennessy combine to chuck the rock for more than 500 yards, when a team can only run for 26 yards, that's a problem. The Eagles will need to find some offensive balance moving forward into Big Sky play, starting Saturday against Montana State. 

“Weird Al” Yankovic didn’t begin his Sunday night Northern Quest Resort & Casino show onstage, that would have been far too ordinary. Instead the comedic singer began “Tacky,” a parody of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” in the venue’s loading area, walking and singing to a camera that was piped onto a large stage screen. Once he made into the performance space — of course clad in his obligatory Hawaiian shirt — the audience went nuts, especially when he climbed onto the stage, finally joining the rest of his band.

It was soon clear that Yankovic is one of the best dancers ever seen on stage. There was the squirming arm-tentacles move and also the move where he shook his entire body as if electrocuted. His Rockette-level high kicks were divine and his dizzying airplane spins couldn’t have been executed as well by a dervish. And when he came out in the Michael Jackson-inspired fat suit for his 1980s hit “Eat It,” Yankovic had the pelvis thrusts, hand action and jumps down to a tee.

This was a packed-to-the-gills two-hour show with no opener; of course Yankovic has enough material to last several days, so that was fine. The laughter was non-stop. When not on stage (swiftly changing into his next octopus/Devo/Amish/rapper outfit) there were short video vignettes — often just clips of previous Yankovic TV/film appearances or references, but also funny fake interviews with celebrities like Celine Dion and Eminem.

“Who’s ready to polka?!” Yankovic asked from the stage.

And with that, the accordion player blasted through a mash-up of recent pop hits, like Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” played all the better with a polka beat and bubbles coming from the stage.

Even through all of the fun and hilarity, as the sun set on Airway Heights some fans realized they should have worn a lot more layers. Some even chose to leave early. Too bad for them, as they missed out on amazing classics like “Smells Like Nirvana” and “eBay.”

While Yankovic’s 2014 album Mandatory Fun, went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the new songs like “Foil” (parodying Lorde’s “Royals”) and “Handy” (a take on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”) didn’t get as much of a response from the audience as his older work. When Yankovic came out in Amish garb for “Amish Paradise,” the crowd’s smart phones recorded everything and fans of all-ages sang nearly every word to “White and Nerdy.”

The encore was a tribute to Star Wars and the audience who had stuck around, including those who had their light sabers out and ready, stood up and were treated to the favorites“Yoda” and “The Saga Begins.”

Last night, Yankiovic transported his fans to a galaxy far, far away — far away from the troubles of our little lives. It was a satisfyingly funny and creative show, the likes of which was family-friendly but still smart as hell. Not many other shows touring out there today could say the same thing. 

We have a big week of highly entertaining opportunities for fun ahead of us, and you can find those options throughout our event listings and Staff Picks. 

Here are some of the highlights for the days ahead: 

Monday, Sept. 14

LIVE BANDS | John Hiatt always puts on an excellent show, drawing on a deep catalog of excellent rock, country, folk and blues including tunes like "Memphis in the Meantime," "Perfectly Good Guitar" and "A Thing Called Love" (made famous by Bonnie Raitt. His band plays The Bing Monday night, with Gatorloops opening. Here's a little taste of Hiatt: 
FILM | Regal Cinemas is hosting a special presentation of Nerdist Presents: The Hive, an avant-garde zombie thriller put together by comedian Chris Hardwick and DJ Steve Aoki. 

Tuesday, Sept. 15

COMMUNITY | Put the Sunday loss behind you and pop up your Seahawks spirit at the Tailgate with Taima, an opportunity to meet the team's mascot and enjoy a little chili. You might remember our story about Taima. 

LIVE BANDS | Teen Daze and Heavenly Beat join forces for a night of excellent indie-electronic actionat The Bartlett. 

VISUAL ARTS | The Bryan Oliver Gallery at Whitworth opens a new show called The Devil is in the Details, featuring intriguing artwork from Benjamin DeMott, Claire Hedden, Joetta Maue, Andy Messerschmidt and Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor.

HERE

Stars of the locally-filmed show Z Nation came under criticism recently for some not-so-nice comments about Spokane during a TV interview, and felt so bad about it they issued an apology. (KXLY/KREM)

This year's hot summer has caused many crops at Green Bluff to ripen much earlier than normal, so much so that some crops went bad. (KXLY)

The Coeur d'Alene School District approved an emergency levy of $1.2 million to support a spike in student enrollment. (Spokesman-Review)

THERE

Not all of us watched the Seahawks game yesterday, and that's OK. In case you missed it, here's a recap. (New York Times)

California is still stricken by massive, out of control wildfires, forcing thousands to flee and leaving apocalyptic-like destruction in their wake. (ABC)

Kim Davis still won't issue gay marriage licenses now that she's back to work, but she won't block other clerks in her office from providing them, either. (USA Today)

Shania Twain loves rock ‘n’ roll. And the audience was tipped off to this early at Saturday night’s packed out Spokane Arena show, which was part of her Rock This Country tour. The bumper music prior to her arrival on stage was Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” When the Canadian singer finally came out from the depths of the stage singing her song “Rock This Country,” she wore a glitzy Rolling Stones shirt dress. At the end of the song she even turned around and pumped her pelvis at the exact moment pyrotechnics went off  — a true rock star move if there ever was one.

BUT for all of the rock inspiration, rest assured that this was a country show. Although the crowd, wasn’t as decked out in proper country attire as expected.

Through the better part of an hour the singer, back on tour after an 11-year hiatus, took her adoring fans through a multitude of older, country-tinged hits — the ones not on her smash hit Still the One album — such as “Any Man Of Mine,” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under.” There was one point when there were even three fiddle players on stage and some steel pedal guitar infusion.

It’s not always right and proper to talk about how sexy a female is. But in the case of Twain, at 50, the woman was the best looking person in Spokane last night. She strutted and stomped around the stage in thigh-high platform boots, flipped her amazing mane of hair around, sparkled and smiled, and looked like she was having a blast, even going into the audience at one point. She was a goddess in the spotlight, helped majorly by a rowdy backing band and a state-of-the-art stage set-up worthy of the Super Bowl.

Sure, her vocals aren’t exactly the same. But there was a point in the 2000s when the artist thought she’d never sing again. She had to relearn to sing. Every show Twain does now, she warms up for an hour beforehand. And certainly, there were some songs that seemed like she was saving it, holding back. But when “From This Moment” finally came, she hit every challenging note beautifully, her voice soaring the same as when she blasted onto the pop charts in the 1990s.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been up here and I really missed it,” Twain said from the stage. “When you don’t do something for a long time you lose your confidence. But I’m back.” She then literally got in a saddle that was connected to a crane that came out of the stage and she delivered her 2002 single “Up.”

This is supposedly Twain’s final tour. She wants to go home and finish her new record, some of which the audience got an acoustic taste of at last night’s show. These songs were all lovely, but the big hits, the ones we were all waiting for, came at the end. “You’re Still the One” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” were out of control. But it was the encore, the one we had to wait what felt like an hour for, that brought down the house.

Once more, coming from a trap door in the stage, Twain said the words “Let’s go girls” and the screams were deafening. We all knew what was coming. For her final song, Twain thankfully wore a Xena Warrior-inspired swimsuit that highlighted most of her butt, and sang with much panache, fireballs and falling confetti, “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”

Sunday night, Twain said she had come to throw the biggest party possible. She didn’t disappoint. 

Law enforcement officers in Washington state should only be allowed to use deadly force when they fear for their lives or the lives of others and if there are no other options available to stop the threat, the ACLU of Washington says. But that's not how things work right now in Washington state. 

The call for change comes after Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant announced he would not file charges against the three Pasco cops who shot and killed Antonio Zambrano-Montes in February. Zambrano-Montes was throwing rocks at cars when officers were called. The officers shot at Zambrano-Montes 17 times after he threw rocks at them. The incident was caught on cell phone video and circulated online, sparking protests in the southeastern Washington town. 

Under current state law, officers can only face criminal charges if there is probable cause to believe they acted with malice and without good faith. But proving that can be difficult. The 29-year-old Washington statute gives broader protection to officers than some other states because malice is extremely hard to prove. 

"Officers have a responsibility to use deadly force only when absolutely necessary to protect themselves or others against serious bodily harm," ACLU of Washington executive director Kathleen Taylor said in a statement. "Whenever possible, they should always find ways to de-escalate encounters with civilians and use alternatives to deadly force." 

Demonstrators have gathered at 10th Avenue and Lewis Street every month since Zambrano-Montes' death. They wave signs and chant: "It was just a rock," according to local news reports. 

Who schedules all of these amazing musical acts for the same weekend? Sigh. Such is the life of a music fan in Spokane. Sometimes weekends are so packed you can’t possibly attend everything, and other times there’s nothing. This weekend is especially a doozy, start your planning now.

TONIGHT
Perry Street Shakedown kicks off tonight, with the highly entertaining Five Alarm Funk headlining the event. Read our preview and get the full schedule for the last block party of the summer right here. The 21+ beer garden is $3, but otherwise, the event is free. Cathedral Pearls plays at Lantern Tap House across the street from the Shakedown stage starting at 10 pm.

From the moment she burst onto the scene back in the early ’90s, Iris DeMent’s voice has resonated with lovers of folk and country music. Tonight, she brings that voice to the Bing Crosby Theater touting her newest album The Trackless Wood. The all-ages show starts at 8 pm and tickets are $30.

SATURDAY
Taylor Swift wasn’t the first female singer to ditch her country boots and make a statement at the top of the pop charts. Back in 1997, it was Shania Twain rocketing into the Top 40 with hits about feeling like a woman, and Brad Pitt not impressing her all that much. It’s been 11 years since the Canadian artist toured North America, and Saturday the songstress hits the Spokane Arena for what’s being touted as her final tour ever — the Rolling Stones said that, too. Except explosions of all kinds, from the pyrotechnics to Twain’s still-on-point vocals. Tickets range from $46 to $136 and the show begins at 7:30pm. 

The Washington Center for the Book just announced their list of finalists for the Washington State Book Awards and you can take some pride in knowing that four Spokane-area authors made the cut.

Bruce Holbert's Hour of Lead was nominated in the competitive Fiction category. Here's our profile from last October about the Western-influenced novel and the Mt. Spokane High School teacher's struggle to get it all out onto the page.

In the Poetry section, Gonzaga professor Tod Marshall made the finals with his collection Bugle, which received instant positive reviews upon its release last winter.

Over on the nonfiction side, Greg Gordon is a finalist for his book When Money Grew on Trees: A. B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Baron, a look back at the early days of Western logging and how Hammond and others nearly destroyed the forests of our region. Gordon is a history professor at Gonzaga.

Mary Kronk Farell, a former local television journalist, was nominated in the Young Adult category for her book Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific.

The Washington State Books Awards are set to be announced on October 10 at the Seattle Public Library.

Back for just its second year, the expanded three-day Perry Street Shakedown is going big by bringing Northwest hip-hop legend Sir Mix-A-Lot to its outdoor stage. Yes, the “Baby Got Back” MC, who was recently in the area last Halloween, closes down Saturday night’s festivities at the all-ages free event — although the entire South Perry Pizza parking lot serves as a 21+ beer garden; admission is $3.

Headlining the block party tonight is Vancouver, B.C.’s Five Alarm Funk, who threw one of the biggest Spokane dance parties of the year at the previous Shakedown. The group may be rooted in funk, but their music is a passionate mix of gypsy steampunk madness and rock ‘n’ roll. We asked Five Alarm Funk’s drummer Tayo Branston how his nine-piece band felt about coming back to Spokane.

“Last year we were blown away by the [Shakedown] crowd,” Branston says. “It was a first-year festival, and it’s scary when it’s first year, but the response for the crowd … they were so into it. And then when it came along to play here again, we were more than excited.”

Expect the same wildness from the band tonight, with a couple brand new songs. Mostly, just expect to get your groove on.

Here’s the full Perry Street Shakedown schedule:
TONIGHT
Breezy Brown, 5 pm and spinning breaks
Real Life Rockaz, 6 pm-7:30 pm
Five Alarm Funk, 8:30 pm-10 pm

SATURDAY
DJ Teej, 1:30 pm and spinning breaks
Bandit Train, 2 pm-3:30 pm
B Radicals, 4 pm-5:30 pm
Milonga, 6 pm-7:30 pm
Veda Lux Boutique 5th Anniversary Fashion Show, 7:45 pm-8 pm
Sir Mix-A-Lot, 9 pm-10 pm

SUNDAY
Poncho P, 1:30 pm and spinning breaks
L.O.S. (Left Over Soul), 2 pm-3:30 pm
Mama Doll, 4 pm-5:30 pm
The Lil' Smokies, 6 pm-8 pm.

Note that nearby Lantern Tap House also hosts a sour beer tasting and offers live music starting at 10 pm (following the outdoor shows): Cathedral Pearls on Friday and the Hoot Hoots on Saturday.

Our cover story this week takes a look at the local bail system and how it puts the squeeze on people who are charged with a crime but have no money to bail themselves out. You should definitely read the story, but then listen to what John Oliver has to say on the subject: 

"The frequency and cost of bail has risen dramatically, and it is disproportionately hurting the poor," Oliver says. "In fact, in 2013, an analysis of New Jersey's jail population found that nearly 40 percent were being held solely because they couldn't meet the terms of their bail, which is crazy. Jail is supposed to be for dangerous criminals."