Bloglander

TONIGHT!

One of Spokane's most beloved bands, indie outfit Mon Cheri, has long brought sweet, toe-tapping tunes to Lilac City stages, weddings, coffee shops, parties… really, everywhere. But on Swoon, the band's new album, they show a side of themselves that is a bit edgier, a little grittier. We like it. Check out our interview with Mon Cheri drummer Brandon Vasquez here. And pick up a copy of the new album tonight at the Swoon album release party at the Bing Crosby Theater, with Troubadour and Kevin Long opening. 7 pm. $10; $15 gets you an album and a ticket. All-ages. 

Southern California’s Emery hate being called a “Christian rock” band almost as much as they hate being called a “screamo” band. Despite numerous attempts to transcend both of those obvious categories, there’s no escape for the Emery boys. The band plays tonight at A Club with Oh, Sleeper, Hawkboy, Drag Like Pull, and In Averie. 6 pm. $12. All-ages.

A strange little mash-up of locals tonight at the Hop, but we'll take it. Rockers Sonic Death Ray play with Yotes, Starting Over, Dead Serious Lovers, Dog Bite Harris, Reverb and the Soul and the Machine. So that's, what? Rock, punk, Americana, shoegaze… takes the award for tonight's most diverse show. Get there at 7 pm. $6. All-ages.

SATURDAY!

In the late ’80s, the city of Spokane had its very own resident post-punk band called the Young Brians. Some of us remember them fondly, some of us weren’t even born yet. With jangling guitar play and heavy use of vocal harmonies, the group was not unlike what REM may have sounded like if it was fronted by Elvis Costello. Check them out tomorrow night at Mootsy's with Nice World and Dave Becker, who is also releasing his solo album. 7 pm. $3; $2, with a student ID. Gotta be 21.

Head upstairs to A Club after the Young Brians for a show by new Spokane band, Mirror Mirror, plus more of the Soul and the Machine and DJ Likes Girls. 9 pm. $5. Gotta be 21. 

The last time Steve Earle hit the road, he was playing songs by himself from his Grammy-winning album, Townes, playing only an acoustic guitar. He's got company this time as he heads for Spokane, playing with backing band the Dukes and Duchesses. Check out our story on him here, and head over the Bing Crosby Theater for his show tomorrow night. 8 pm. $30-$40. All-ages. 

Point Juncture, WA is not a real place. It is, however, a band — a band known for its shameless DIY nature and '90s rock sounds. Check out our interview with the band here, and be sure to get to their show tomorrow at Jones Radiator early — that place fills up fast. They play with the Flying Spiders, Team Evil and IOA at 9 pm. $5. Gotta be 21. 

It's 60%/40% happy/grim this week kiddos. Well, depending on your view of Woody Allen's late career stuff, could easily swing 40%/60%. Midnight in Paris is supposed to be more Vicki Cristina Barcelona than Curse of the Jade Scorpion, though, for what that's worth.

BLACK DEATH
The plague is ravaging cities and villages in 1348 England, and a band of nasty warriors (led by Sean Bean) is sent by the bishop to find out why one little hamlet remains pestilence-free. Well, maybe they’ve set a course to the place for a different reason. Joined by a young monk (Eddie Redmayne) as a guide, the motley group is always ready to take some mighty whacks with swords, axes, and maces, and they’re put through some creepy plot twists. Strong performances and production values, but kinda grim. (ES) Rated R | SHOWTIMES

IN A BETTER WORLD
In this Golden Globe- and Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Dad's away in Africa dealing with the violence of tribal revenge, while back home in Denmark, his son is being bullied and pushed by his new friend into fighting back. While an impending divorce and a recent death cause additional complications, we're left to ponder if the boys have anything to teach their parents about breaking the cycle of revenge. (MB) Rated R | SHOWTIMES

JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER
With her oddball (but cool) Aunt Opal and pesky brother Stink, Judy concocts a summer-long scavenger hunt competition involving roller coasters, monster movies, elephant rides, the search for Bigfoot and a poop picnic. We're sure it'll be totally "thrill-a-delic and super-awesome." (MB) Rated PG | SHOWTIMES

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Woody Allen sends us a postcard from Paris. Standing in as the nebbish director, Owen Wilson works out his relationship problems with Rachel McAdams with the help of some time travel. We're looking forward to Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) as a pretentious jerk. (MB) Rated PG-13 | SHOWTIMES

SUPER 8
In an old-style coming-of-age movie blended with sci-fi, director J.J. Abrams pays homage to executive producer Steven Spielberg by recalling all those broken families and extended shots of awestruck faces from Close Encounters and E.T. In 1979 Ohio, a bunch of young teens (with family and relationship problems) happen to film a late-night train wreck. And something really scary was on that train. (MB) Rated PG-13 | SHOWTIMES

Cash or store credit -- Forgers have been using a digital printer to print off fake receipts, fooling Northern Quest Casino and Wal-Mart, for a time, into giving them refunds on ill-gotten products. Some of the forger's minions have been arrested, but the "master forger" is still out there. (KXLY)

Class Effect 2 -- Four Rogers high school students have designed a video game to introduce eighth-graders to the Rogers experience. One lesson: Get to the cafeteria first if you want pizza. (SR)

Bonus three-day weekend -- Good news for many state employees: They get the day off. Bad news: They don't get paid. This is the final of 10 furlough days intended to save money in the state budget. (KREM)

Man on Wire-- After Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general, light-heartedly asked for a season six of the inner-city Baltimore serialized HBO drama, The Wire, Wire showrunner David Simon offered him deal: I'll make another season of The Wire, if you cancel the Drug War. (Atlantic Wire)

A tough economy and high gas prices are keeping one North Idaho couple from too quickly celebrating the $25,000 check they’ll receive next week.

Lotte Cogle and her husband, Ray Wolsfelt, the owners of the Coeur d’Alene convenience storethat recently sold a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, will get the bonus for selling a winner,but they don’t have big plans for it.

“It would be wonderful to take a vacation, but I’m not sure if it’s in the plans,” Cogle says. “We’llprobably just sit on it for a little while. The economy is really tough right now and theconvenience store business is not the best to be in.”

Retailers who sell winning tickets worth $500 or more receive cash bonuses from the Idaho StateLottery. In the case of the million-dollar ticket Dexco Mini Mart sold a retired Hayden couplelast week, the bonus is $25,000, lottery spokesman David Workman says.

Even if the money goes into a savings account — or maybe toward finishing some requiredupgrades on the store’s Visa software — Cogle says she and Wolsfelt were “thrilled” to find outthey had sold the ticket to a regular customer.

The winner, Clifford Jordan, buys lottery tickets every week and comes in every Friday to checkhis numbers, Cogle says.

“We were just very happy because he’s a good regular customer of ours and a very nicegentleman,” she says. “We were just hoping it was someone we knew.”

Veterans in the gas station business, Cogle and Wolsfelt haven't sold a "big winner" in about 15 years, and this is the first time ever they’ve gotten the cash bonus.

In an area of the state Workman calls “a hotbed for Mega Millions winners,” Cogle says the windidn’t increase business much until one customer bought $240 worth of lottery tickets Thursdaybecause he heard the store sold a winning ticket.

That “$1 million ticket sold here” banner the Idaho Lottery sent the store this week might help.

You're unfired -- Spokane Public Schools rehired 100 of the teachers it let go just a month ago. The school board decided it wouldn't cut class sizes for elementary schools, though the budget problem still looms. (SR)

Putting the pot in potholes -- A South Hill man has his own solution for the pothole problem. He's filling potholes around his community with shards from non-ceramic pots. Since the road was designed incorrectly, the city won't grade it. (KREM)

Chop shop cops chopped -- Washington State Patrol's auto theft unit -- the one that investigated chop shops -- has been disbanded. The cops have been reassigned to traffic safety duty on the highway. (KXLY)

Flood of refugees -- Over 1000 refugees have been fleeing Syrian violence. To respond, Turkey has had to build a second refugee camp. (NYT)

This afternoon, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Eastern Washington, spoke to a paying audience about healthcare at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Spokane.

A couple of blocks away, a small group protested.

It started at noon. Around 20 people stood on the island at Division Street and North River Drive, holding signs that read “Save Medicare, Tax Wall St.” and “McMorris Kills Medicare.” The group primarily took exception with McMorris Rodgers' vote for Paul Ryan's conservative healthcare plan.

At one point, a grizzled semi-truck driver stuck his raised thumb at the group, honking his horn and slowing to show his support.

The organizer for the event, Bethany Heath, secretary for the Spokane County Democrats, says she’s “appalled” by the debate surrounding healthcare.

“I understand some people’s trepidation over the debt, and I agree with getting that under control, but I don’t agree with the way that it’s being handled,” she says.

Heath contacted local unions, asking for support, and was joined by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

“I’m against the corporate greed,” says Amy Cowin, one of the union's members, brandishing a large sign that reads “Save Medicare, Fire Cathy."

Community members also participated, including Christine Clark, a retired clinical lab tech who depends on Medicare for health insurance.

“I believe every one of us has a place in this earth,” she says, waving and shouting “Medicare for all!” at cars driving by.

The protest was not only small, but short lived, with participants leaving the area within the hour.

But, Heath says, even if a thousand showed up to the protest, it would not change her mind. Rather, she says the purpose of the protest was “informative picketing,” to create awareness of McMorris Rodgers' stance.

“We’re not picking on [her], we’re just picking on the situation,” she says. “We’re just trying to make people aware of how she votes.”

The Spokesman-Review’s latest real estate story “HouseSales Continue Climb” seems, at first glance, like a positive thing. Forfour-straight months, the number of home sales have increased.

But to assume that speaks to a recovery is a little like assuming that astory that “temperatures have increased for the last four months” says somethingsignificant about climate change. Just like in retail, in real estate, theseason matters.

Check out this graph posted last year at lilaccityrealestate.com:  

The number of sales increases as it gets warmer and decrease as it getscolder. (Some weird stuff happened in 2010, but that was because of thefirst-time homebuyer housing credit.)

Basically every every single year, from the heights of the housing bubble tothe depths of the recession, the number of housing sales have increased fromJanuary to May, then decreases as it gets colder.

That’s why, usually, those taking a look a the housing market compare a specificmonth with that same month the previous year. How many homes were sold inJanuary of 2011 compared to all the other Januaries? (This year was the slowestJanuary on record.)

But, as Bert Caldwell points outin the Spokesman, last year’s sales were likely artificially inflated by thefirst-time homebuyer housing credit, which expired after April 2010. So thatmetric of comparison is a bit iffy. We’ll have to wait until later months tounderstand if that matters.

But the news that housing sales have increased over the last few months is alittle like the news that the flowers are blooming and the birds have returnedfrom the south: It’d be a lot bigger news if it didn’t happen.

With our powers combined -- Spokane and Coeur d’Alene have now merged into one giant “Metropolitan Statistical Area” when being calculated for the U.S. Census. The two cities hope businesses will notice the larger population and move to Spokane-Coeur d’Alene. (SR)

Gubernatorial dreams – Turns out all Attorney General Rob McKenna’s media-friendly crusades and accompanying press releases were in service of a larger purpose. He’s running for governor. (KREM)

Empty community chest running -- Recessions have consequences. The latest comes at the Northeast Youth Center, on East Queen in Spokane. Despite being in the poorest legislative district in the state, funding has been cut. Now, they’re asking for help from the community. For now, they’re hoping their landlord will let them delay rent as they raise money to purchase the building they use. (KXLY)

The family business -- As many in the Syrian army defect, the President Bashar al-Assad’s brother, Maher al-Assad, will likely play a larger and larger role. Already, he’s been behind the crackdown that’s resulted in the deaths of 1,300 Syrians. Some even believe he has been one shooting at demonstrators. (NYT)

I'm sure we weren't the only ones whose feelings were just a little hurt by the Globes backing off the bill for Elkfest — but we understood that a tour with Archers of Loaf is a bit more enticing for a band than a plate of corn pasta at the Elk and a lot of really, really drunk Brownesies.

The Spokane-Seattle-Spokane band, who recently released their Barsuk debut and rocked the Yeti stage at this year's Sasquatch Festival, was the focus of a team of pro filmmakers back at their April show at the Showbox in Seattle. The band is always dynamic live — and these three cameras (as you can see below) really captured that energy. 

DVD

True Grit
Though not considered the pinnacle of their filmmaking, this Coen Brothers remake of the John Wayne classic cleaves closer to Clinton Portis' original novel, displaying the brothers' unparalleled love for the poetry of American vernacular speech. You'll spend half the film awed by the beauty of the vistas, half wishing you spoke like Rooster Cogburn. Rated PG-13

Sanctum
Claustrophobic cave-escape horror from Executive Producer James Cameron, just dying to 3-D the shit out of as many weird film topics as possible. (Not to be confused with Werner Herzog's 3-D cave doc, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, now in theaters.) Rated R

Blue Crush 2
Because the girl-surf-film industry is too big to fail. Rated PG-13

AC/DC: Let There Be Rock
Ditto the 30th-Anniversary-boomer-rock-doc market. Rated PG

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MUSIC

All Sixes and Sevens | Tech N9ne
We're confused and a little scared here, but it appears that the new album from Spokane's favorite touring horror rapper features collaborations with a bunch of mainstream pop-hop artists — B.o.B., Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, mother-effing T-Pain. To quote David After Dentist: "Is this real life?" We fear it is, kiddo.

Further confusing the issue is the album title, which seems to hint that N9ne has developed a love of Geoffrey Chaucer. The mind leaps: Is this a Troilus and Criseyde concept album?!?! Maybe, but track names like "Am I a Psycho?" and "Fuck Food" suggest the world hasn't quite spun off its axis just yet.

Suede / Dog Man Star | Suede 
Reissue of two albums from influential '90s Brit-poppers

Suck It and See | Arctic Monkeys 

Arabia Mountain | Black Lips 

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VIDEOGAMES

Red Faction: Armageddon | PS3, XBOX, PC

Decade-old Martian-mine-worker shooter franchise ditches its oblique socialist references and gives us a nutso, megalomaniac bad guy who looks half Sith Lord, half Juggalo

InFamous 2 | PS3
Sequel to the beloved be-good-or-evil superhero action epic. 

Operation Flashpoint: Red River | PS3, XBox, PC 
Crappy AI hinders the multiplayer of this Rainbow Six-style FPS sim just when it wanted to go more Call of Duty.