Buzz Bin

Diabolical Intentions -- One of the best things about doing our Summer Guide issue year after year is that every now and then, we get to experience that warm, self-satisfied glow of knowing that we've "made a difference." Case in point?

Stroke, Pedal, Jog

The top finishers get all the glory. For this Sunday's Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene, they'll come in from far-flung places and haul away their trophies. But what about the middle-aged triathletes, the age-groupers from around here who will f

Hoopfest 101

Okay, you're out of shape and you haven't played much (as in, since last year). But you've stocked up on Gatorade and Power Bars, and your shiny new Nikes aren't causing too many blisters. (So far.) Your team has these really cute uniform

Digital Democracy

In their zeal to get their hands on federal money, elections officials are giving away the ballot," thunders Paul Berendt, chair of the Washington State Democrats. "That is wrong." Berendt and the state Democratic Party are in the

Hoopfest - Live Music

This weekend, the Hoopfest hijinks will expand like a shockwave from ground zero, with pockets of adjunct entertainment erupting all over downtown Spokane. One of the more interesting side attractions integrated into the Hoopfest mix this

Three's A Charm

It was inevitable -- three guys, three restaurants. Their first restaurant, Moon Time, just celebrated its seventh anniversary. Their second, the Elk, is still going strong after four years. Just opened last week, the Porch Public House

Book Review

Oh, to be young, Indian and conflicted. In case you didn't get the memo, Sherman Alexie doesn't buy into the "Native American" label, so don't read these stories with hopes of mythopoetic vision quests. Alexie is a wry, corrosive wit, an in

Streetball

Starting Saturday just before 8 am, downtown Spokane will be transformed again into one giant pickup game. Nearly 25,000 players will lace 'em up on almost 400 courts. About 140,000 people are expected to make the trip into the forest of

Opening Films

by Inlander Staff *** 28 Days Later -- When animal rights activists break into a research lab and release the wrong apes at the wrong time, the world is thrown into chaos. An experiment in rage results in a deadly virus that turns people into bloodthirsty

Gyroscopic Differences

by Robert Herold In a recent syndicated column, George Will observed that Democrats (the "minority party," as he calls them) have fallen victim to their own excesses. Democrats, asserts Will, don't much like rich people, and have been reduced to what soci

Graveyard Shift

I call Cathy Roginski a "graveside hostess," even though there's no such a thing, professionally speaking. If I were to use official cemetery-speak, she would be called a "lead-in." "It's hard to describe what I do," says Roginski. "I

Recently Reviewed

Huckleberry's Bistro -- All of the menu items here are created with natural and organic ingredients whenever possible, and the variety of foods prepared fresh daily is staggering. They do breakfast, lunch and dinner. Soups are $2 a cup,

Book Review

Even though it was adequate for Winston Churchill himself, Gretchen Rubin declares that "the conventional time line surely fails" when trying to mark the major events of his life. And so Rubin has structured Forty Ways to Look at Winston

Simply MJ

Hard-To-Find Gardening and Farming Tools -- Levin to his urban brother after a day of mowing with a hand scythe: "You can't imagine what an effectual remedy it is for every sort of foolishness. I want to enrich medicine with a new wo

Now Playing

** 2Fast2Furious -- Vin Diesel took a powder, leaving Paul Walker to carry this sequel. Still a cop among speedsters, Walker's Brian O'Conner and a partner go to work for an "import-export" sleaze, all the while setting him up for a fall

Fully Wired

Hoopfest will not only transform downtown Spokane into a swarming hive of shoppers, spectators, athletes and bottles of Gatorade, it'll also create the buzz of nonstop wireless webbing. The 140,000 people expected to attend each day of Hoo

The Real Deal

Almost as soon as KHQ-TV announced plans to move downtown, people began speculating about the company's property along Regal Street. Then, Jim Frank of Greenstone Development teamed up with Educational Services District 101 to purchase t

24,000 Band Aids

Late in the game, and you're down 18-17. The other team's biggest bruiser drives the lane. You step in and plant your feet, hoping to draw an offensive foul, when suddenly -- you got crumpled, took an elbow to the face, but you bounce righ

Liberal With Fangs

If there's one consistent element so fundamental to Sherman Alexie's work it might as well be oxygen, it's the element of unfettered wit. Whether it's a moment of rez humor on a southbound bus (as in his 1995 film, Smoke Signals) or

DVD Review

Director Martin Scorsese leaves his stamp of cinematic quality on Gangs of New York, a historical and mythological portrait of the immigrant experience in early America (in this case, the Irish in mid-19th century New York). It is masterf

Empowering Educators

In 1991, John Taylor Gatto was named New York State Teacher of the Year. That same year, Gatto wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal and publicly quit his job, claiming that America's public schools undermine the rights of stude

Quotes & amp;amp; Notes

by Inlander Staff A Fitting Name -- Wells & amp; Company will celebrate its restoration of two historic Spokane buildings at a dedication ceremony this week. The buildings, formerly known as the Display Block, will be renamed the Freeman Center after Clarence

On The Scene

Summertime beckons with the call of the road, the instinct to sow the wild oats -- to get out and get your road trip on. That being said, On the Scene went on the road this time around to check out Beck at the new White River Amphitheater

Wild, Wild East

Lynch Mob

In the wee hours of April 2, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks summoned reporters from their hotel rooms in Doha, Qatar, for a special press briefing at the Coalition Media Center. "Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of

Fusion Flamenco

Okay, for all the guitar purists out there, let's get one thing straight -- Ottmar Liebert doesn't play traditional flamenco music. In fact, the title of his first album, Nouveau Flamenco, was meant as something

In Brief

Burning Questions -- SANDPOINT - Safe Air For Everyone (SAFE), a Sandpoint citizens' group, has received the 2003 Max Dalton Open Government Award for outspoken advocacy in the use of Idaho's public records and open meeti

CD Review

There's a certain amount of arrogance involved in recording masterpieces in the classical repertoire that have already been recorded and re-recorded by generations of great artists. The question to be answered is always: What is there of

Work Starts On South Perry

When the Center and Corridors Comprehensive Plan was adopted, the area around South Perry and Ninth Avenue was picked to be a pilot project for development according to the city's new plan. And things got off to a great start; by the midd

Fusion Flamenco

Okay, for all the guitar purists out there, let's get one thing straight -- Ottmar Liebert doesn't play traditional flamenco music. In fact, the title of his first album, Nouveau Flamenco, was meant as something of a jok

Zombie Dearest

There will be a select few of you out there who might think this is a sequel to 28 Days, the overwrought Sandra Bullock alcohol addiction movie from a couple years ago. It's not. But as anyone who has seen the trailer knows, there will be no