MAYOR CONDOR, AHEM, CONDON ON LILAC CITY LIVE
As lightning painted the floor-to-ceiling view behind the third-floor stage, Lilac City Live hosted its last taping before a summer recess. If you missed it, be sure to keep an eye on the Spokane Public Library YouTube page for the episode, in which Mayor David Condon talks about how he was expected to ward off Christmas tree thieves as a 9-year-old, and meet three awkward fictional candidates for the seat he'll vacate in 2020 — a hipster-mayor wannabe, another with the swagger of a professional wrestler, and a third who answers questions between sips from a flask of "Pepto Bismol and tequila." You'll also see other local talent — be sure to stick around for comedian Harry J. Riley's hard-hitting questions for the mayor, who he suspects might be more than 100 years old, and a serious but hilarious assessment of his experience getting a medical bill for more than $60,000. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)
ON THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Some noteworthy new music arrives online and in stores June 29. To wit:
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, High As Hope. English art-rockers are arena-ready with their fourth album.
DRAKE, Scorpion. Are we sure Drake actually survived the Pusha T battle to put this album out?
GORILLAZ, The Now Now. They just had a new one in 2017. Pretty prolific for being animated.
RAY DAVIES, Our Country: Americana Act II. Kinks legend lends his Brit wit to American music styles.
JIM JAMES, Uniform Distortion. The My Morning Jacket frontman has a voice like no other.
MILK CARTON KIDS, All The Things That I Did And All The Things That I Didn't Do. A modern-day Simon & Garfunkel, now with longer album titles! (DAN NAILEN)
STILL CLIMBING
A couple weeks ago I wrote a story about Hannah Tolson, a Gonzaga student and competitive climber who was on her way to Bratislava, Slovakia, for the international collegiate championships. Tolson competed in all three styles of climbing — bouldering, speed and sport (aka "lead") — in a daring trifecta few competitors attempt. The results are in: Tolson finished eighth in the world in bouldering and 13th in sport-climbing, but a false start relegated her to 37th place in the speed-climb. In the women's combined scores, Tolson landed at No. 12. Next up for Tolson? Senior year and a push for the 2020 Olympics. (DAN NAILEN)
#REALNEWS
Journalists work for readers — not awards — but it's sure nice to be recognized. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN), of which the Inlander is a member, just released its list of finalists for the 2018 AAN Awards, and lo and behold, we landed more than any paper in the country, with nine, including shout-outs for Mitch Ryals, Samantha Wohlfeil, Chey Scott, Dan Nailen, Wilson Criscione and Young Kwak. And to be clear, your favorite local newspaper is competing with big-league publications like the Chicago Reader, the L.A. Weekly and Washington City Paper. (JACOB H. FRIES)
FATED FICTION
I just wrapped up my book club's latest pick, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, released in January. The 29-year-old author's sophomore novel follows a quartet of siblings who, as young children, ask a fortune teller to reveal the day on which they'll each die. Told in four parts from the perspectives of each sibling — Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya Gold — The Immortalists explores the idea that each sibling consciously or subconsciously made major life decisions in response to the fortune teller's haunting words. As a reader, The Immortalists had me rapidly page-turning to discover the fate of each Gold sibling. (CHEY SCOTT)
