Hicks goes Hollywood

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

Since winning the fifth season of “American Idol” eight years ago, Taylor Hicks has released three albums, performed on Broadway, sung at a Republican National Convention, acted in “Law and Order: SVU” and secured gigs at both Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas. But for him, that was just a start.

The Southern soul singer with pepper-gray hair will make his way to the Clearwater River Casino event center Saturday in Lewiston.
 It’s part of a long list of his 2014 gigs, including tours around the country, the finale of his Paris Las Vegas residency and a new country album, which Hicks, 37, said should be released in spring.

“The common thread will be my voice and the instrumentation,” Hicks said of the Nashville-recorded album, which features more country music than his previous soul, blues and funk albums. “I’m just really excited, because I’ve picked great songs on this record. I’m going to have a few surprises along the way.”

Plus, he has some TV surprises, too.

Hicks played himself on an episode of “Law and Order: SVU” along with season two “American Idol” winner Clay Aiken and R&B performer Ashanti, who all parodied voice competition judges, much like Simon Cowell. Since then, Hicks has looked to other TV and film roles.

“I’m looking at a little bit more serious roles for next year,” Hicks said. “It’s interesting. Having caught my break on television, I’ve kind of been exposed to that art. It’s always smart to revisit it.”

While performing with Willie Nelson and the Allman Brothers were highlights of his career, Hicks said he hopes to one day collaborate with Paul Simon, one of his favorite artists.

“Those are opportunities; you have to make the best of them,” he said.

Hicks said the Clearwater River Casino audience can look forward to hearing songs from “American Idol,” off his records and some “great cover songs,” such as Elvis hits or “Taking it to the Streets” by Michael McDonald.

“Just some really great live music,” Hicks said.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. Saturday concert are available through TicketsWest outlets, by calling (800) 325-SEAT or visiting TicketsWest.com. Tickets, $20-$60, can also be purchased through the Clearwater River Casino box office.

As seen in the Jan. 9 issue of Inland 360.

Ana’s ace: UI graduate films documentary on memory champion

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

When Ana Overgaard started a video project at the University of Idaho, she had no idea it would take her to Florida twice and even as far as London.

“It started as kind of a joke with Nelson Dellis: ‘Someone should make a documentary with you,’ “ Overgaard said.

And Overgaard did.

Nelson Dellis is a famous memory champion. He can memorize thousands of binary digits in an hour, as well as 20 packs of cards and multiple blobs of colors, abstract images, random words and fictional dates. Dellis creates what’s called a memory palace, in order to memorize a name, for example.

“You take the name into something visual, like Ana: Banana, visualize the face and put that there,” Overgaard said. “It looks like they’re taking SATs, and it’s really boring, but in their mind, they’re going on these incredible journeys.”

Techniques like this are what led Dellis to win the 2011 and 2012 USA Memory Championships, and then go on to the World Memory Championships in 2012, where he placed seventh.

Overgaard met him a few years back and decided to pursue what had begun as a class project after getting a $3,000 grant from the UI — the first ever awarded to a Journalism and Mass Media student.

“I thought, now that I’ve got his, I have to do it,” said Overgaard, who used UI equipment to film and edit.

Overgaard planned to follow Dellis to the World Championships, which were supposed to be in New York.

“But it changed to London last minute, right in the middle of basketball season,” said Overgaard, who was a senior guard for the UI women’s basketball team before graduating in May.

She had missed Dellis’ performance in the National Championships due to the WAC Championships, which her team won.

Overgaard vented to a good friend in Spokane about how she was going to have to give up the project. Her friend then spoke to her aunt, who wrote a $7,000 grant, and Overgaard was back to work, able to follow Dellis to London. After that, the project came out of her parents’ and her own pockets.

She just finished work at Bloom restaurant in Moscow and is moving to Boise.

“It got more expensive in licensing,” Overgaard said. “(Dellis) gave ‘TedTalks,’ was on ‘Oprah,’ ‘The Today Show’ and ‘National Geographic.’ ”

She had to pay to use the material, as well as pay for film festival entries and to burn her film to Blu-ray discs. She hopes to enter it in 10 to 15 film festivals.

“It ended up being so much bigger than I thought it would be,” Overgaard said. “As I went to London, I was filming with these professionals and famous memory champions. The more I worked on it, the more I loved it. I had total freedom.”

Overgaard said her proudest moment with camera in hand, was when she strolled down the street with Dellis in downtown Miami. Intimidated by a man who had just been interview by CNN a week prior, Overgaard spontaneously asked him to memorize license plates of parked cars for two blocks.

“It ends up being so cool, and totally fascinating,” said Overgaard, who used the scene in her film.

Overgaard’s film “Ace of Diamonds” will play 7 p.m. Dec. 11 in the UI Administration Building Auditorium.

The film follows Dellis during the World Memory Championships and his climb up Mount Everest, as an attempt to raise awareness for his “Climb For Memory” foundation, which generates money for Alzheimer’s research. The film is free and open to the public, and both Dellis and Overgaard will speak at the showing.

“I never wanted to do documentary at all. It kind of fell into my lap,” Overgaard said. “It’s so expensive, such a struggle, things go wrong, but in the end, once I have a final product, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Exercise your brain muscle
Dellis claims anyone is capable of having a memory similar to his – it just takes practice. Here’s some tips he shared during a lecture, and with Brain World Magazine.

• Exercise – the physical kind. It’s good for circulation. Your hippocampus grows if you are active, and this system helps with memory.
• Eat well. Dellis eats food with antioxidants, such as fruits and vegetables with bold colors. He eats salmon and sardines, a food with DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid found in the brain and retina. He takes DHA supplements, too.
• Stay mentally engaged. Practice active brain challenges, such as puzzles.
• Have a supportive core of family and friends. Social well being is important, too.
• Memorize something. First, take what you’re going to memorize and turn that into a picture in your mind. Once you have that picture, use a memory palace: Take a location you know very well, one you walk through maybe everyday, and choose a familiar path through it. Walk through the place in your head and place the pictures you’ve memorized in those specific places. Later, you will recall them in your memory palace walk-through.

As seen in Dec. 5 issue of Inland 360. 

Appetizing artwork

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

Hungry customers open the door into the foyer of Roosters WaterFront Restaurant and are faced with a snack machine. It’s an odd sight for patrons about to satisfy their cravings.

But this snack machine isn’t selling overpriced junk food. Instead of potato chips, licorice and diet soda, pieces of watercolor, fiber art, pottery and jewelry sit in the metal loops of the machine.

It is called Vincent Art à la Carte and was created by Clarkston’s Nancy Morrison. She was inspired by the concept of Art-O-Mats, or retired cigarette machines that sell art pieces for a set price.

An old Art-O-Mat lives inside Washington State University’s Compton Union Building with pack-sized art pieces that sell for $5.

“I noticed those, and they had a good start on the idea, but you can’t see the product,” Morrison said.
So, Vincent — short for Vincent van Gogh — has his art pieces on display, except for those hidden behind the first in line, which customers try to peek past anyway. Morrison has to clean the glass weekly due to smeared fingerprints.

“The point of this, more than making money, is to get local artists’ artwork out where it can see the light of day,” said Morrison, who filled Vincent’s slots with work from 15 Lewiston-Clarkston Valley artists. “The kind of people that are going to put artwork in a snack machine, they’re not the ones that are so full of themselves that they have to have a museum or gallery. They are people that love to make art, that love to create.”

Morrison is an artist, too, and because she doesn’t currently charge consignment, she instead sells her own mixed media art to make a bit of profit.

Customers can read about whose art is in each slot. Art ranges from $2-$35, and children’s jewelry art projects located in the bottom of the machine, cost $2.

Since the mid-October installation, Morrison estimates that 20 pieces have sold.

Kelsey Grafton is one of the artists featured behind Vincent’s glass. She’s selling her original watercolor paintings of owl scenes.

“It’s a way to generate a buying atmosphere and art awareness throughout the valley in a unique form,” Grafton said. “The products should be changing out all the time, so if you don’t see the one you want, it’s always worth a look.”

For now, Vincent accepts cash up to $20, and gives back $1 coins for change.

Morrison had a sensor installed to ensure pieces won’t stick and money isn’t wasted on a caught piece of art. If the piece doesn’t drop, customers get a second chance to press the button, as an attempt to release the piece again. If all else fails, Morrison’s phone number is on the machine, but she’s never gotten a call.

Vincent has a sister, too. Georgia — short for Georgia O’Keefe — lives in Morrison’s backyard, and with enough artist interest, Morrison said she’ll start looking for Georgia’s Moscow home. Interested artists can contact her via email at morrisonarts@gmail.com.

In the meantime, Morrison is still working to improve Vincent. Her goal is to have scannable QR codes near the artwork, so people can look pieces up online before purchasing, and to learn more about each artist.

“And with so much variety in the machine,” she said, “I haven’t had to ask for any more artwork yet.”

As seen in Nov. 28 issue of Inland 360.

Crying fowl: Inland 360 staff tastes vegan version of popular Thanksgiving staple

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

Turkey is the most popular dish for Americans on Thanksgiving. About 46 million turkeys were killed for the occasion in 2011. For some, there is a no-kill option, though: Tofurky Roast. So, the Inland 360 staff was put to the test. Being the meat-lovers they are, it’s no surprise they were skeptics of a roast free of animal products. But what’s a little “meat” without the tryptophan? Well, results may vary:

“Is that how it comes, in just a little box?” said news editor Jeanne DePaul, holding the empty cardboard from which the roast came — once frozen and wrapped in plastic.

Photographer Barry Kough, who refused to partake in testings, said it looked like a wheat bun.

A lift of the foil, revealing the roast, resulted in an upturned nose. Managing editor Doug Bauer lifted a trash can and motioned toward copy editor Craig Clohessy, the leeriest of the group. Cooked in soy sauce and oil, with sweet potatoes and onions in the oven, the Tofurky’s center exposed a wild rice stuffing once cut. Slices were handed to each staffer in the group.

“It’s kind of an interesting texture,” said graphics editor Brian Beesley, who took the first bite. “I mean, it’s a little bit like turkey and it tastes like turkey … It’d be really good if it had brown gravy slathered over the top.”

Clohessy, who looked ill, said it reminded him of grade school lunches, when children were fed what was supposed to be turkey, but was really “mystery meat.”

“It has the consistency of fat,” he said.

Despite enjoying the wild rice stuffing, production editor Julie Breslin said there was no turkey flavor in the roast, and worse — it squeaked in her mouth when she chewed.

But there were some fans of the dish, too.

A tofu lover, DePaul said the soy-based roast tasted like turkey and gravy.

“The tofu itself, not great,” Doug Bauer said. “The overall dish, OK … If you get a bite of everything together, it’s pretty palatable.”

But some just didn’t see the point.

“If you want to eat turkey, why not just eat turkey?” Clohessy said.

Breslin agreed.

“If you’re a vegetarian, why are you trying to eat turkey?” she said.

DePaul argued the whole point of Tofurky is because vegetarians don’t want to eat the animal.

“You’re trying to join in and have something to slice at the table,” she said.

Some still weren’t convinced: “Why don’t you just eat a *bleeping* salad?” said photographer Steve Hanks, who only tried a smear of the roast from his fingertip after accidentally touching it during the photoshoot.

“You couldn’t fool your family,” said reporter Jennifer Bauer, who was once a vegetarian for 13 years.

Doug Bauer joked that serving the meat substitute would be a good way to test how good of friends you have. 

“That wouldn’t substitute as a Thanksgiving turkey for anyone,” DePaul said.

All the plates were wiped clean, other than Clohessy’s, and the Tofurky exceeded most tester’s expectations. For Thanksgiving, though, the staff will stick to their roots.

“This is going to make that real turkey taste all the better,” Doug Bauer said.

What’s Tofurky made of?

Roast: Water, vital wheat gluten, organic tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), shoyu soy sauce (water, non-GMO soybeans, wheat, salt, culture), expeller pressed non-GMO canola oil, natural vegan flavors, non-GMO corn starch, garbanzo bean flour, white bean flour, lemon juice from concentrate, onion, carrot, celery, vegan sugar, calcium lactate from beets, sea salt.

Stuffing: Organic brown rice, whole wheat bread cubes (enriched wheat flour, water, organic sugar, sea salt, yeast), onion celery, water, organic wild rice, expeller pressed non-GMO canola oil, natural vegan flavors, garlic, salt, vegan sugar, spices and tumeric (added for color).

How do I make vegan gravy?
Try a mushroom gravy, such as the one recommended on the Tofurky box.

Ingredients: 8 oz. sliced mushrooms, 1/4 cup sliced onions, 1-1/2 Tbsp. oil, 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, 2 Tbsp. oil, 4 cups vegetable stock or soymilk, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1/4 tsp. black pepper.

Directions: Lightly saute the sliced mushrooms and onions in the 1-1/2 Tbsp. oil. In another pan, combine and bubble the flour and 2 Tbsp. oil together over low heat for 1 minute. Whisk in the stock or soymilk along with the soy sauce and black pepper. Cook until thickened, whisking out any lumps. Stir in the mushrooms and onions, and serve.

What vegan dishes can I serve on the side?
Cook a butternut squash, topped with a bit of oil and brown sugar. Or, try the same with acorn squash. Most cranberry sauces are safe, just be sure gelatin isn’t one of the ingredients: It’s collagen extracted from the skins, bones and tissues of farm animals. Roast some carrots, with maple syrup, oil and fennel seeds in the oven. Rolls and bread are an easy addition, just read the ingredients before buying — most are OK, but some include buttermilk, butter or eggs. 

As seen in the Nov. 29 issue of Inland 360.

EDM dominates the music scene

EDM is all over the radio. It can be heard in dance clubs, at national music festivals, such as Paradiso or Freaknight, and on college campuses.

Popularized by artists such as Calvin Harris, Deadmau5 and David Guetta, EDM, or electronic dance music, is beat-driven music produced for dance-based entertainment.

“There’s a huge demand for it,” said Moscow deejay Nick Cain, or CnDyCain, who produced a documentary on EDM for his Dance 100 class at the University of Idaho. “It’s a passion, because it’s very upbeat, and very positive lyrically.”

Cain mainly deejays at CJ’s Nightclub in Moscow, but with his EDM-heavy beats, his deejaying has grown in demand.

“I’m booking gigs every other week at CJ’s, as well as at private events on campus,” said Cain who has performed on both the UI and WSU campuses.

Jacob Farris, WSU Student Entertainment Board director, said he hears people listening to EDM on campus and playing hits at parties.

“People are getting more into the music,” Farris said. “My freshman year of college, it was starting to become more popular, and now that I’m a senior, more people are listening to it.”

By the mid-1990s, producers were able to create EDM-based music after the introduction of MIDI interfaces and personal computers, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that sound manipulation progressed and computer software technology was advanced enough to allow EDM studios just about anywhere.

With EDM growing in popularity, Farris said, it was a great opportunity for the entertainment board to expand the musical genres it offers for concerts. In early October, 3LAU, or Justin Blau, performed at WSU, and Adventure Club performed Oct. 29.

Farris previously saw Adventure Club live at Paradiso Festival in the Gorge Amphitheater and said there was a large turnout.

Cain attended Paradiso this year, too, as well as the festivals Lucky and Massive. He said EDM festivals are often stereotyped as having a lot of drug use (see accompanying story below).

“But I’ve had good experiences at every fest I’ve been to,” he said.

Everybody Cain met was polite, he said.

“You’re with 23,000 people. If someone (accidentally) punches you in the back of the head, the guy has a look of shock … He apologizes and you chat with him for two or three minutes,” said Cain, laughing.

But EDM has a home at more than just festivals. Cain deejayed at a WSU residence hall for a back-to-school mixer, and CJ’s Nightclub is host to hundreds of EDM fans each weekend.

“Mainly what got me into deejaying was that music,” Cain said. “At CJ’s, it’s a balance of playing the hip hop and top 30 songs, and the upbeat, hotter tracks that EDM has, too.”

The Zzu Bar and Grill manager Alfredo Bautista, though, said his DJs stick with top 40s, not EDM.
With a shortage of EDM at Pullman’s only dance club, fans flooded Adventure Club’s WSU performance. Tickets sold out within the first week of the student-only event. 

As far as small concerts supported by the UI’s Vandal Entertainment, no EDM groups are scheduled.
“I’m a little jealous I don’t have the opportunity to go see (Adventure Club),” Cain said. “I see Pullman making more and more of a pull, and I really wish UI would follow suit.”

While EDM has made waves locally, it seems that EDM addicts may have to settle for traveling to national festivals or Spokane — which is host to Morgan Page’s 3D Visual Experience on Saturday — to get their fix. 

“It’s a change in what kind of music people are listening to,” Farris said. “You have your typical hip hop, rock. Our generation is getting more influence into this music.”

EDM and MDMA
WSU graduate Patrick Witkowski, 21, died after a brain hemorrhage from supposed MDMA consumption at the late June festival, Paradiso. MDMA is an empathogenic drug, known as ecstasy, or now popularly dubbed “Molly.” In the coroner’s report last week, though, autopsy results finally revealed that his death was related to methamphetamine, not Molly.

Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris said he had been working on the assumption the death was due to an MDMA overdose, but the results showed Witkowski died of organ failure due to a combination of dehydration, heat and meth intoxication.

Witkowski was one of more than 70 Paradiso attendees who had been treated at Quincy Valley Medical Center during a three-day span, and between 40 and 50 of those cases involved alcohol or drug abuse, hospital spokeswoman Michele Wurl told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in July.

At the Electric Zoo EDM festival in New York this September, three people died from Molly-induced dehydration, according to Seattle Weekly, resulting in cancellation of the event’s last day.

“The drug’s appeal is the euphoria it produces, which users often say makes the feeling of togetherness and the intensity of EDM much greater at raves,” Seattle Weekly reported on Oct. 16. “The problem is, the drug is often cut with other substances like methamphetamine, ketamine and PMMA, a cheap cousin of MDMA with less euphoric effect but more of the toxicity that can result in deadly hyperthermia.”

What does EDM sound like?
You’ve probably heard it if you’ve ever been in a dance club: The deejay segues from one song or record to the next with a synchronized beat, hopefully in a seamless transition. But what’s the difference between dubstep, techno, house music and EDM? While some say EDM is the same as all the genres listed above, some call them subgenres of EDM, and others separate it completely. It seems, no one really knows how to describe what music fits in the category, but here’s a few EDM genres broken down by the website, EDM Sauce:
HOUSE: Known as the most ‘human’ sounding music of all genres, it’s often heard in Top 40 mixes, by artists such as Daft Punk or Tiesto.
TRANCE: Trance uses melodic tunes and repetitive synthesizer progressions. It’s usually played between 125 to 150 beats per minute.
TECHNO: Sometimes used interchangeably with EDM, techno is generally a repetitive beat in common time, using drum machines, snyths and digital workstations.
DUBSTEP: A production using strong bass lines, drum patterns and occasional vocals, dubstep was made famous by artists such as Skrillex, and is a bit more aggressive than techno.

As seen in the Nov. 14 issue of Inland 360.

Who is Heart?: WSU director of engineering remembers their live studio performance

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

In 1976, Don Peters didn’t know who Heart was.
“I had never heard of the group before,” said Peters, a crew member for “Second Ending” a show that featured a few concerts each month at Washington State University’s KWSU-TV studio. “We got them to come over and record a concert in our studios. They got here and I thought, ‘Man, these guys are good.’”

Produced and directed by Michael Costones, “Second Ending” would air on stations across the Northwest. Heart signed on to perform the show, and a live studio audience was on site.

Heart’s “Dreamboat Annie,” which led to the band’s breakthrough later that year, was yet to be released, but the band performed hits such as “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You.”

“I was running video, setting up the cameras, and shooting and adjusting to the different light conditions,” said Peters, who is now director of engineering for the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at WSU.

Camera operators had to press their earsets tight to their heads to hear director’s orders, and Peters said despite being in the control room, he could feel the bass through the floor.

The band featured lead singer Ann Wilson and her sister, Nancy Wilson, guitarist. Guitarist Roger Fisher, drummer Michael Derosier and guitarist, bassist and synth player Howard Leese joined them in the recording.

“A woman rocker fronting a band was kind of new to me,” Peters said. “Ann’s voice was just tremendous.”

Peters said it still blows him away that Heart even considered playing at WSU during the band’s break-out year.

“You never know who you’ll come in contact with,” Peters said. “The band — they’re good, but you didn’t know how good at the time.”

Video of the 1976 studio performance can be seen on Heart’s 2012 retrospective collection “Strange Euphoria,” a DVD and four-CD set.


The Wilson sisters return to Pullman, playing at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Beasley Coliseum.

As seen in the Oct. 10 issue of Inland 360.

The strength of the feminine: Lewiston artist paints images of women, creates mosaics

Lindsey Treffry, Inland360.com

Jaymee Laws has been painting women for 20 years, not only because she says they are the perfect vehicle to convey emotion, but because of circumstances in her own life.

A 41-year-old mother of five, Laws has had to find creative solutions in both her art and her day-to-day tasks, being that two of her children are autistic and she works from home. Painting strong, beautiful women is her “thing.”

“And also because we live in a misogynistic culture and women are really important,” Laws said. “I was always interested in feminism and women’s history. I have four daughters, and so just women, in general, are in my life.”

Laws will show nine paintings of women, two mixed media paintings and four mosaic pieces as part of Lewiston’s Downtown Art Walk at the Blue Lantern Coffee House and Wine Bar.

“The women themselves are painted in a realistic style with surrealistic surroundings,” Laws said. “I incorporate a lot of natural elements. For instance, I do a lot with water or birds or trees, and also dream-like qualities.”

Her piece “Amphitrite” depicts the wife of Poseidon, octopus-like, and full of strength, beauty and mystery, she said.

“That used to be pretty much all I did — was paint women — and I do mosaic on the side, but now I’m trying to blend them together,” Laws said.

Laws recently has incorporated mosaic and stained glass, as well as wood pieces, into her work. Some pieces are solely mosaic.

Laws spends a chunk of her time on a 110-year-old, third-generation home where she, her children and husband reside. A stone mosaic floor in the dining room resembles a rug, while a floral mosaic covers the kitchen door.
“Little by little, I just am making the entire house into an art project,” Laws said. “I’m making something everyday. That’s a huge part of my life … Even if I’m not painting paintings, I’m doing something artistic.”

Laws’ artwork has spilled outside the house onto the garage.

Jaymee Laws, a painter and mixed media artist who will be featured during Downtown Art Walk, painted this garden mural during the summer in her alleyway for people to enjoy while driving by.“I painted this garden mural this summer just in my alleyway for people to enjoy when they drive by,” she said.

While Laws spends a lot of time doing art near home, she does have to be realistic with how her time is spent.

“Art is something that I have to do to be whole. It’s part of my soul just to make things,” Laws said. “But it’s also had to take a backseat to mothering.”

Laws said her children are demanding, but in a good way. Luckily, Laws said, her husband Jim — a drummer in the band 7 Devils — helps her go with the flow and is there to support the family.

“I find it pretty amazing how (Laws) finds the time to still be creative and produce so much beautiful artwork,” said Blue Lantern owner Dawn Abbott, who has helped set up the exhibit.
Laws has little time to actively sell her pieces, but said the Art Walk pieces will be for sale, ranging from $75 to $500, depending on size.

“I love that we’re having an Art Walk. And I love the increase in art and interest in art that’s happening in this Valley,” Laws said. “I grew up here, and I did move away for a while, and I moved back. It’s something that I always wanted to see here. The draw of a bigger city is the cultural aspect of it and the appreciation for more enlightened interests. It’s really exciting to see that here.”

As seen in the Sept. 19 issue of Inland 360.