Bloglander

It's been a while since many of us have had to endure full work weeks thanks to those Monday holidays. That's no reason to hole up inside when there are good things happening, as found in our event listings and Staff Picks. Here are some highlights of the week ahead:

Monday, Jan. 8

DANCE | Learn something new in the new year — try Beginner Square Dance Lessons at the Western Dance Center tonight! I once broke a wrist square-dancing in grade school. Lessons clearly would have helped.

Tuesday, Jan. 9

MUSIC | Northwest of New Orleans is back in 2018, with this month's edition of cool jazz featuring Hot Club of Spokane, Max Daniels, Olivia Brownlee and Sarah Berentson at The Bartlett.

Wednesday, Jan. 10

FILM | If you haven't seen The Disaster Artist yet (and you totally should), take advantage of this opportunity to see The Room, the horrible flick that inspired James Franco's movie, playing on the big screen! It really needs to be seen to be believed. Here's a taste, although the trailer (wisely) eschews the dialogue that makes it a camp classic:

FOOD & DRINK | The Wandering Table celebrates a year of its Fried Chicken & Local Beer dinners with a feast featuring Orlison Brewing this time around to accompany Chef Adam Hegsted's tasty grub.

It's the first week of the new year, your kids are still out of school and maybe your visiting family is still hunkered down in your house. You need some good times, and you can find them in our event listings and Staff Picks. Here are some highlights of the days ahead:

Tuesday, Jan. 2

OUTDOORS | If you're a college student just kicking around til your next semester starts, head thee to Silver Mountain for discounted ski tickets today through Thursday — just $26!

Wednesday, Jan. 3

FOOD/COMMUNITY | The Yards hosts Dinner with a Psychic Medium, where you'll get some tasty grub and be part of a group reading from medium Tesa Harster. Bring the good mojo, people! You don't want to be the one to doom the group.

Thursday, Jan. 4

COMEDY | He tells jokes! He juggles! That's what we call "multi-talented," folks. He's Ivan Pecel, and he's performing at the Spokane Comedy Club.

Friday, Jan. 5

MUSIC | Outlaw country rising voice Autumn Everland headlines a show at Bridgepress Cellars at 5 pm. The show is free, and there are drink and food specials all night.

THEATER | We all know John McClane was a one man gang when he took care of business in Die Hard. Now Ryan Dean Tucker tackles the entire film as Die Hard: The One Man Show. Yippee-Ki-Ay!

Saturday, Jan. 6

MUSIC | The Hugs bring some poppy garage-rock to The Bartlett, and will be joined by Summer in Siberia and Fruit Juice.  Here's a little sample of The Hugs:

You did it! You survived another Christmas, and you hopefully have a few days off to goof around with friends and family before the new year arrives. Here are some highlights from our event listings and Staff Picks for the week ahead:

Tuesday, Dec. 26

COMMUNITY | Go check out the life-size gingerbread house at Hotel RL before it goes away. We wrote a story about thing, and it's pretty amazing.

Wednesday, Dec. 27

THEATER | Extend your Christmas fun a bit with the incredible aerial artistry on display with Cirque Dreams Holidaze, tonight and Thursday at the INB.

Red alert! Only one week left to get your Christmas shopping done (if you're into that sort of thing). But keep your sanity through the crowds by entertaining yourself, too, using our event listings and staff picks for guidance.

Here are a few highlights of the week ahead:

Monday, Dec. 18

COMMUNITY | It's Family Skate Night at the new Spokane Ice Ribbon, meaning sweet deals (as in, free skating for the first 500 people!) and fun for the whole gang downtown.


Tuesday, Dec. 19

MUSIC | Need another shot of holiday tunes? Bring your guitar and join the Holiday Open Mic at The Bartlett tonight.

It's mostly holiday action in our event listings and Staff Picks, and there ain't anything wrong with that! Here are some highlights of the days ahead:

Monday, Dec. 11

COMMUNITY | Get thee to the Gaiser Conservatory Holiday Lights, an epic show every year at Manito Park and only an option for a limited time. A great way to spend a Monday.

Tuesday, Dec. 12

MUSIC | The Northwest of New Orleans crew throw a jazzy, snazzy Christmas music party at The Bartlett tonight. Get there and get in the spirit with Hot Club of Spokane, Rachel Aldridge and more!

Wednesday, Dec. 13

FOOD | Join the gang at Batch Bakeshop for an Edible Gifts Class, either tonight or Wednesday. It's not too late to whip up something tasty for the folks on your shopping list.

The deluge of Christmas-related festivities pretty much started at Thanksgiving, and it will be relentless through the end of the year. Thankfully, there's some non-holiday fun to be had, too, so peruse our event listings and Staff Picks.

Here are some highlights of the week ahead:

Monday, Dec. 4

MUSIC | The mighty Foo Fighters headline the Spokane Arena Monday night, joined by The Struts opening. Read our story about Dave Grohl's evolution from punk drummer to classic frontman before hitting the show.

MUSIC | Hit The Bartlett for local songwriter Brian Stai's album release party tonight, joined by Ruthie Henrickson.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

THEATER | The Wizard of Oz is classic film and classic book. Check out how it works as a live theater production as it opens a two-night run at the INB tonight.

Monday, Nov. 27

MUSIC | Johnny Lang has moved from being a blues-guitar prodigy to a grown-ass man with some serious skills as a performer and songwriter incorporating rock and soul, too. He headlines the Bing tonight. UPDATE: Lang's show has been postponed until April 10, 2018, due to illness. 


COMMUNITY | Head over to Northern Quest for a chance to spin the big wheel on The Price is Right Live!

Tuesday, Nov. 28

MUSIC | A Perfect Circle brings their prog-rock weirdness to the Spokane Arena tonight. Read our interview with the band before you go.

Hopefully you all have a short week so you can enjoy some family and friends time at Thanksgiving, and beyond. Here are some options to keep everyone entertained, as draw from our event listings and Staff Picks.

Monday, Nov. 20

FILM | Head to the Magic Lantern for the latest in their Monday Night Movies series, Private Violence. The movie delves into domestic violence through the eyes of two survivors.

Tuesday, Nov. 21

COMEDY | Join a slew of Spokane's funniest folks at the Bartlett for the Spokane Comedy Mixtape Vol. 2 live recording from the club's stage.

A bevy of good times await when you peruse our event listings and Staff Picks, so you should totally do that. But if you don't have time, here are some highlights of the week ahead:

Monday, Nov. 13

FOOD | You don't want to watch sausage making, generally speaking, but doing it yourself? Hell, yes! Delicious sausage is the result! You can take a sausage-making class tonight at Second Harvest.

Tuesday, Nov. 14

THEATER | Join star Jamie Farr and see Tuesdays With Morrie at the INB tonight. He's Klinger from M*A*S*H, people; show some respect!

Depression and anxiety are the most common mental health concern in the U.S., but the good news is, there are ways to help.

Healing Spokane is bringing back its forum on the Depression and Anxiety, looking beyond the traditional approach, and offering information on evidence-based practices that can complement care received by a doctor or physician.

At the most recent forum, Dr. Sean Smitham, a clinical psychologist in Spokane, explained that struggling with depression and/or anxiety doesn't mean you're broken: you're just dealing with a human problem, which we wrote about for InHealth earlier this year:

First, he says, no one ever taught you how to deal with your incredibly powerful brain, about feelings and how to cope with them. Second, when two parts of your brain are in conflict, the more ancient part is going to win, Smitham explains at a recent Healing Spokane forum at WSU Spokane.

The newer, chatty, mammal part of the brain — the part behind what we think of as the voice in our head — can get overpowered by the more ancient reptilian brain, where our fight-or-flight responses are located, he says. Call it a design flaw.

"Every time (fight-or-flight) gets activated, the reptile brain gets in the driver's seat," Smitham says. "That top part keeps chattering away, but it's no longer driving the bus. This is why you can't talk yourself out of a panic attack. You can't talk yourself out of anxiety very well, either."

Smitham and others will return for another look at the topic, "back by popular demand," at a free forum from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 14, on WSU Spokane's Campus, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd.-EWU Center Building, Auditorium, Room 122.

Speakers will touch on a variety of perspectives, including Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, yoga and meditation, integrative nutrition, naturopathy, psychotherapy and family medicine.

Last time, suggestions to help included moderate exercise, mindfulness, diet changes, herbal remedies, and refraining from caffeine and alcohol consumption.

RSVP for the free event at Eventbrite.