Bloglander

Nearly halfway through their excellent sold-out show, Lyle Lovett told the audience that the acoustic shows he and fellow Texan Robert Earl Keen do on occasion are more than just concerts for them, but rather a handy excuse for a couple of buddies to "hang out."

Their respective careers playing heartfelt and often hilarious country and folk tunes have taken each of them far from home regularly for decades now, but the friendship that started when they were both college students in 1976 at Texas A&M remains, and is palpable as they sit next to each other on stage, cracking jokes, swapping stories and delivering songs of Cadillac cowboys, family spats and love gone awry. 

"We were real friends," Lovett said of the bond the two forged when they were aspiring songwriters sitting on a College Station, Texas, front porch. "Not fake show-business friends."

There is very little "show-biz" about Lovett or Keen, no matter how many movies Lovett appears in or how dramatic Keen's combo of suit and hat look on stage. And their show at Northern Quest Resort & Casino Sunday night was proof positive that a stripped-down all-acoustic show can be just as engaging and emotionally satisfying as any amplified blowout full of stage bells and whistles. 

He was in Spokane.

Larry David impersonator, Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders made a whirlwind visit across Washington state yesterday as part of his political revolution/campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. After making earlier stops in Vancouver and Seattle, Sanders made an appearance at the Spokane Convention Center, where, according to official accounts, he drew 9,820 people.

Sanders currently trails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the delegate count. But he’s making a play for Washington’s 118 delegates and Idaho’s 23. Both states hold their Democratic caucuses this week. and Sanders, who has done well in demographically similar states, is hoping to bolster his delegate count.
The crowd lined up early in the evening, and a line stretched deep into Riverfront Park, people hoping to cheer on Sanders. While people waited, pro-life activists harangued the line through a megaphone and graphic pictures of abortions.

Inside the main room (overflow rooms were set up in the building) the crowd was mostly younger millennials, a demographic that Sanders has done well with. Some wore dreadlocks. Some wore political t-shirts and took selfies to a rotating playlist that included “America” by Simon and Garfunkel, Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” “Power to the People” by John Lennon and “Burn Baby Burn” by the Trammps.

Before speaking, Sanders met with local leaders (elected and otherwise), including Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, Spokane City Councilwoman Candace Mumm, Spokane Tribal Chair Carol Evans, Spokane Riverkeeper Jerry White and Center for Justice Executive Director Rick Eichstaedt.

According to Eichstaedt, Sanders told those gathered that he would undo a recent act by Congress that lifted the country's ban on oil exports (which could increase the number of volatile oil trains passing through Spokane), and that he supports incorporating environmental concerns into a renegotiated treaty with Canada over the Columbia River.

“He’d also support a ban on all fossil fuel extraction on public lands,” said Eichstaedt of his conversation with Sanders.

Joe Pakootas, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, warmed up the crowd.

“I am a supporter of this political revolution,” said Pakootas (who earlier told the Inlander that he hadn’t formally endorsed Sanders). “I support Bernie Sanders' positions. We have been ignored and neglected by our leaders in Washington for too long. You see, I know what it’s like to be ignored and neglected by my government. I grew up on the Colville Indian reservation.”

After 9 pm, Sanders, who had a hoarse voice, took the stage. Here’s what got the biggest applause:

Washington is ready for revolution
According to Sanders, 30,000 people came out to see him in Vancouver, Seattle and Spokane, which he said “makes me think that Washington is ready for a political revolution."

FROM INLANDER.COM
• THIS WEEK: Bee buzz, free classes, classic theater and coffee competitions
• NCAA: March Madness here, here, here and here.

• Thousands turn out for Sanders rally last night in Spokane
People lined up for hours, in a seemingly endless queue of supporters that wound through Riverfront Park. In the end, only about 1,000 were able to get inside the convention center hall. (KXLY)

• Bill Clinton in Spokane today to campaign for Hillary
Former President Bill Clinton is schedule to hold a rally at Spokane Falls Community College at 12:30 pm. Doors open at 11:45 am, and members of the public can RSVP to attend at this link. Idaho Democrats will caucus tomorrow; Washington state's on Saturday.

• 11-seed Zags to face 10-seed Syracuse in Sweet 16 battle on Friday
Gonzaga trounced Utah over the weekend, and supporters and critics agree: The team is playing its best basketball of the year. Next up: Syracuse on Friday in Chicago.

• Obama makes historic visit to Cuba
The president and first family arrived Sunday, and were greeted with chants of "U.S.A!" (NYT) Obama is set to meet with Raul Castro later today.

The momentum of perhaps the best opening weekend in the history of the NCAA Tournament felt like it was going to continue on into the Spokane Arena on Sunday night. Two made-for-TV underdogs with a lot of grit and hustle — Hawaii and St. Joseph's — came in hoping to maintain the weekend's narrative.

But it wasn't to be. The strong survived on Sunday. 

In the opener, Maryland got out-hustled across the board in the opening minutes. The Terrapins' offense finally got their 10th point of the game on a Diamond Stone dunk...with 9:34 left in the first half. For their part, Hawaii was finding some breaks where they could and shutting down Maryland, including standout guard Melo Trimble.

Hawaii's Michael Thomas' 19 points led the Rainbow Warriors, who were represented incredibly well by a couple thousand rowdy fans, many of whom were waving palm branches, not because it was Palm Sunday (which it was), but because that's what Hawaii fans do. The rest of the Spokane Arena, never shy to embrace an underdog, backed the Rainbow Warriors, too.

Hawaii never got closer than 10 points down the stretch, despite only trailing by one at halftime. The final: 73-60, Maryland.

The nightcap was what most of the place, decked out in the iconic green and gold of Eugene, Oregon, came to see. It also had the makings of one more upset to cap off the weekend. St. Joseph's was coming off that bonkers ending against Cincinnati on Friday night and had the speed to compete with the Ducks of Oregon.

And it felt like it was going to happen. DeAndre Bembry, an All-Hair Team, Spokane Division member, had 16 points and a dozen rebounds, keeping the Hawks in position to make a run. And holy shit did they make a run. St. Joe's was up by seven points with 5:33 to play. It looked like Spokane was going to be the first gravesite of a one-seed.

As you already know, it didn't happen. St. Joe's had a couple awful, awful possessions and Oregon was able to hold on.

But damn, it was some good basketball here in Spokane this weekend.

Hopefully you survived the March Madness invasion of Spokane (and its traffic) and are ready to embrace spring. Yes, it's spring! Officially! So check out our event listings and Staff Picks and get out and celebrate. 

Here are some highlights of the week ahead: 

Monday, March 21

WORDS | Gonzaga is hosting honey bee expert May Barenbaum for its 30th annual O'Leary Lecture, where she will discuss “Apis-Pocalypse Now: Can Science Save the Honey Bee?” It's free and open to the public. 

Tuesday, March 22

COMMUNITY | The judicial system is a mystery for most of us, but the League of Women Voters is here to help, hosting a Judicial Forum where you can hear from local judges about how the system works, how it's supposed to work, and what judges do that we never think about. 

Wednesday, March 23

HEALTH & WELLNESS | Everyone wants to live healthy, but we're bombarded with different messages about how to do that. Enter the Mindful Eating Seminar, a series of free seminars offered at the WSU Riverpoint Campus starting tonight at 6:30 pm. 

Thursday, March 24

You could say my household has divided loyalties when it comes to Saturday's Gonzaga men's basketball game against the University of Utah in a battle to head to the Sweet 16. 

The lady of the house is a Gonzaga professor, whereas, as my alma mater's school song goes, "A Utah man am I." We've both come to appreciate the other's team over the course of the last couple years of watching games together, and while I've often pondered how the teams would match up, I'm not too excited that it has to happen in the tournament. Both teams lost to Duke last year on the Blue Devils' way to the National Championship. So at least we can now share a hatred of Duke, right?

Here's what all you Zag-loving hoops fans need to know about Utah, who beat Fresno State in the first round, going into Saturday night's game in Denver, happening at 5:40 pm Pacific time. 

The basics: The Utes are led by Pac-12 Player of the Year, sophomore center Jakob Poeltl (pronounced like "turtle", despite any discernible "r" anywhere in the 7-foot Austrian's name). But while Poeltl rightfully gets the most attention, given his impending NBA career, Utah is a pretty deep team. Seniors Jordan Loveridge, Brandon Taylor and Dakari Tucker are all capable of bombing threes, and big men Kyle Kuzma and Chris Reyes help Poeltl down low. Point guard Lorenzo Bonam is streaky as a shooter, but he's lightning fast and can create his own shot better than the rest of the team. That doesn't matter much, because Utah is really good at sharing the basketball. They're also among the Top 10 in the country in field goal percentage as a team.  

Key matchups: This could be a great game when it comes to head-to-head showdowns all over the floor. The best is clearly Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis vs. Poeltl, a matchup of potential lottery picks who both have excellent offensive and defensive skills. Sabonis is the more muscular of the two, while Poeltl has the more-fluid offensive game. Sabonis is better shooting away from the basket, while Poeltl is the better passer. Let's just hope the referees don't saddle either big man with foul trouble so we get to see a great showdown. 

OK. Deep breaths. This is only the second day of this glorious NCAA Tournament, but it's already becoming one of the most memorable in the annals of hoops history. And, wouldn't you know it, Spokane was a major part of it.

As I told you earlier today, Hawaii stunned California in the opener at the Spokane Arena — a 13 seed beating a 4 seed — and on most opening week Fridays, that would be a national headline. But just a half hour later, Michigan State fell to Middle Tennessee State (15 over 2). Then Stephen F. Austin manhandled West Virginia (14 over 3). And then things would continue to get crazy.

But at the Spokane Arena, Maryland was taking care of South Dakota State, leading by 18 points in the second half thanks to 27 points from senior forward Jake Layman. It seemed like a break from the madness. But then SDSU came crawling, and the sprinting, back into the game. The Jackrabbits got the game within two points with a minute left. Because of a weird series of fouls and missed free throws, SDSU actually had the ball with 12 seconds left down by just three.

But...they turned it over on the last possession – leading to a breakaway dunk by former Duke, current Maryland guard Rasheed Sulaimon to jack the Rabbits' chance at an upset. 79-74, Maryland.

Next up came Oregon and their day-glo fans, which you've probably seen all over town. On a day during which it felt like anything could happen, it never felt like Holy Cross could do much harm to Oregon. That’s not to discredit Holy Cross, a school that entered its conference tournament as the nine seed and proceeded to run the table. Then, they squeezed out a win over Southern in the first four just to get to Spokane.

The Ducks' Chris Boucher delivered three alley-oop dunks within the span of about four minutes and that kind of knocked the Crusaders out of things. Oregon is tough and big and fast. We learned that today. Oregon dismantled those kids from Holy Cross and it didn't look like the Ducks were ever really sweating it. 91-52, Oregon.

The nightcap, though, was a different story. It was one of the most evenly matched games of the tournament thus far. In a word, it was a slugfest, man. It was Rocky II. I could lay out the back-and-forth nature of the contest, but you should just know that St. Joseph's and Cincinnati played a gem.

In the end, after much back-and-forth, it came down to this:

Less than 24 hours apart came announcements that within the next several days both Bernie Sanders and President Bill Clinton are making stops in the Lilac City while out on the campaign trail.

Democratic candidate Sanders is holding his Spokane rally at the Spokane Convention Center this Sunday, March 20. Then, the following day, President Bill Clinton is heading through Spokane to campaign for wife Hillary.  

Sanders' website lists the event as "at capacity," but also mentions that the free event doesn't require tickets and admission is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. We can expect that means lots of supporters lining up all day in the breezeway of the Convention Center. Doors open at 6, and the rally is set to kick off later.   

For security reasons, no bags are allowed into the event, and attendees are asked to only bring the basic necessities; just keys, phones and any other small personal items. No signs or banners on sticks will be allowed inside, either.

President Clinton is heading to Spokane on Bernie's heels to attend a Hillary for Washington organizing event. While we're still awaiting details on the location and time, an email announcement says he'll be encouraging Washingtonians to caucus for Hillary in the upcoming Democratic caucus next Saturday, March 26. Hillary, meanwhile, is heading to Western Washington next week to campaign in Seattle and Everett, Washington.

We'll update this post with more information about President Clinton's visit on Monday as we receive it.

UPDATE: President Clinton will be stopping at Spokane Falls Community College's gymnasium on Monday, at 12:30 pm. Doors open at 11:45 am, and members of the public can RSVP to attend at this link.

FRIDAY
Classic rock: It seems Spokane is never going to get the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young together at the same time — especially after a recent public dispute between Nash and Crosby. Last year, Neil Young and Graham Nash came through the area; this month, it’s David Crosby’s turn to woo the classic rock fans among us. Crosby’s music, from his time with the Byrds and CSN and even his solo stuff, is definitely more out there than that of his cohorts, but that’s what makes him so endearing. Expect his upcoming solo acoustic show at the Bing tonight to include a steady stream of the hits, with a dash of tunes from his 2014 album Croz, his first studio release in more than 20 years. Show starts at 8 pm and is $48.

Hippie feel-good music: The Reserve, yes, a new downtown music and arts club, plays host to the Tone Collaborative tonight. Other rockin' and often improvisational acts, B Radicals and Marco Polo Collective open the free show. Meanwhile, the Red Room Lounge celebrates its 10th anniversary tonight with funk masters TAUK and local act L.O.S. hitting up its stage. Cost for that is $12 at the door.

Here at the Spokane Arena, big basketball news was being made. The biggest news, arguably, of the entire tournament, you could say. Hawaii had just beaten Cal — and handily, at that — making for a 13-seed over a 4 upset, which hadn't happened since 2013. That news, however, was quickly overshadowed.

By the middle of the second half of Hawaii's 77-66 win, anyone not decked out in blue and gold Cal apparel was rooting, and rooting vigorously, for Hawaii, which makes sense, given that Spokane is basically the Hawaii of the lower 48. The place was rocking, led by a diehard group of actual Hawaiians who made the pan-Pacific flight to the mainland for the game. One guy told me he'd been in Anaheim for the Rainbow Warriors' win in the Big West tournament — flew back to the islands and then came to Spokane yesterday.

Even folks at the arena just to take in a game probably thought they'd just seen what would be the most talked-about game of the day. Well, that changed a half-hour later when Middle Tennessee State did the unthinkable and knocked off Michigan State — the team about 22 percent of the people who filled out an ESPN bracket picked to win it all. Many are calling this the biggest NCAA tournament upset EVER.

Spokane can nevertheless pride itself as Upset City. The last time men's games were held here, Harvard beat Cincinnati and North Dakota State knocked off Oklahoma. There could be more upsets to come, too.

Hawaii will play the winner of the Maryland vs. South Dakota State game. Following that contest, all those green and yellow folks who traveled up from Oregon will begin making their way into the arena.