Buzz Bin

by Inlander Staff & r & & r & Making a Deep Run & r & The Zags went to the Sweet 16 in basketball? Don't know anything about that. But they certainly made it to the Big Dance of Forensics. In the Cross Examination Debate Association's national tournament, held recently at Dallas, Gonzaga's team of Charlie Hutchinson and Nick Bormann upset heavily favored (and 2004 national champion) Emory in the first round, then got past Wichita State before falling to Walla Walla's Whitman College in the Sweet 16 of the debate world. (Whitman lost to Harvard in the Elite Eight.)


Yes, the Fightin' Missionaries bested the Arguin' Jesuits. Maybe next year.





Bussin' a Move & r & Celebrate the passing of Tax Day with a Movin' and Groovin' Fun Bus Tour on Saturday, April 15. Get on the bus at 8:15 pm at the Valley Bowl or 8:45 pm at Howard Johnson's downtown, then dance to Motown tunes between stops at local watering holes like the Spread, Bluz at the Bend and the Blue Dolphin. Visit www.spokanescenictours.com or call 362-5963 or 625-9622.





Very Many Manipuri Dancers & r & On Saturday at 7 pm at the Met, take in the Krishna Bhakti Dance Ballet of India. A troupe of Manipuri performers will demonstrate the spiritual dances and music of northeastern India that are mentioned in the Mahabharata. And starting at 6 pm, Taste of India will offer light snacks for that full East Indian experience. Tickets are $10-$20, but there's a free demo on Saturday at SCC's Lair from 1:30-2 pm. Visit www.rasika.org or call 465-5558.





Check Your Tickets & r & Interplayers will open its 26th season this fall with a production starring the husband-and-wife acting duo of Jack Bannon and Ellen Travolta: William Inge's Bus Stop (in which a bunch of misfits collide in an all-night Kansas diner).


Meanwhile, early next year, Best of Broadway patrons who get their tickets mixed up may be in for a surprise: Annie, the traditional, rags-to-riches, feel-good musical, will be preceded at the Opera House by Hairspray, based on the John Waters movie about fat girls, segregated Negroes and transvestites fighting back against "normal" people.


And the Hollywood star who has been "attached" to the summer 2007 remake of Hairspray, in the cross-dressing role of big Edna Turnblad (played in the movie by Divine and on Broadway by foghorn-voiced Harvey Fierstein)? None other than Ellen Travolta's little brother John.





Farmers' Friends & r & Sample regional foods and discuss sustainability and the market's potential for relocating at the Farmers' Market Spring Celebration next Wednesday at 6:30 pm at the Community Building. Visit www.friendsofthemarket.com or call 951-4361.