Community Calendar

The Spokane County Interstate Fair is turning up the volume this September with a three-night concert series, set to take the stage at 7 PM each night during the 2026 Fair. The lineup includes Gretchen Wilson and The Band Perry on Sept. 15, Daughtry on Sept. 16 and Nate Smith on Sept. 17.

Welcomed by KNKX. Frank Vignola is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, John Lewis, Tommy Emmanuel, Lionel Hampton, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List:” for the Wall Street Journal.

His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.

Pasquale Grasso - It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazine’s February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians who’d impressed him. “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso,” said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. “This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult. “Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell],” he continued. “What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model—which is an incredible model to have—is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.”

In 1902 New York, anything seemed possible. RAGTIME is a uniquely compelling exploration of America at the turn of the 20th century, weaving together three unforgettable stories: a daring Harlem pianist, a determined Jewish immigrant, and an affluent society woman. Each navigates a changing world, united by courage, compassion, and belief in the promise of the future.

With its Tony Award-winning score blending ragtime, blues, jazz, and show tunes, RAGTIME has been hailed by TIME Magazine as “a triumph for the stage,” and by the International Herald Tribune as “the best musical in twenty years.”

In a production marking our nation’s 250th birthday, this beloved epic musical bursts onto the Village stage, painting a vivid portrait of the people who built this country with hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Boz Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until his 1976 album Silk Degrees peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200, and produced the hit singles “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown”. Scaggs produced two more platinum-certified albums in Down Two Then Left and Middle Man, the latter of which produced two top-40 singles “Breakdown Dead Ahead” and “Jojo”. After a hiatus for most of the 1980s, he returned to recording and touring in 1988, joining The New York Rock and Soul Revue and opening the nightclub Slim’s, a popular San Francisco music venue until it closed in 2020. He has continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, with his most recent album being 2018’s Out of the Blues.

Eminent Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré released his new album Les Racines through World Circuit on June 10, 2022. Touré is known as the “Hendrix of the Sahara” and the son of the late “Desert Blues” pioneer Ali Farka Touré; the album Les Racines is Touré’s debut album on the label and his first since 2017. The title, which translates as ‘the roots’, represents a deep reconnection with the Songhai music of Northern Mali known as “Desert Blues”, made famous by his father via his own World Circuit releases decades earlier.

There’s a popular proverb in Mali that says life’s family name is change. It’s a dictum that Vieux Farka Touré has followed throughout his career over a series of adventurous cross-border explorations and collaborations. Yet there’s another more universal adage that says to know where you’re going, you must know where you’ve come from. It’s that essential human need to embrace one’s heritage that lies at the heart of Les Racines.

The son of the late Ali Farka Touré, acclaimed as the finest guitarist Africa has ever produced, Vieux spent two years making Les Racines but the album had been gestating in his mind even longer. “I’ve had a desire to do a more traditional album for a long, long time. It’s important to me and to Malian people that we stay connected to our roots and our history,” Vieux explains. The lockdowns caused by the Coronavirus outbreak, which prevented him from touring, were turned to his advantage as he used the time to craft the most profound statement of his career to date.

Les Racines is Vieux’s sixth solo album in a recording career that began in 2006 and which has taken in audacious collaborations with the likes of Dave Matthews and the jazz guitarist John Scofield, an album with the American singer-songwriter Julia Easterlin, and two records with the Israeli artist Idan Raichel as The Touré-Raichel Collective. “Early in my career people asked why I wasn’t just following my father. But it was important for me to establish my own identity,” Vieux says. “Now people know what I can do, I can return to those roots with pride and I hope a certain authority.”

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, the Washington State Historical Society invites you to explore the history of building the State History Museum. 30 Years and Counting: The Making of the Washington State History Museum is a special exhibition that uncovers the vision, effort, and community spirit that brought this iconic Tacoma landmark to life.

Discover the bold ideas and architectural ingenuity that shaped the museum’s distinctive look. From early sketches to final blueprints, see how the building’s design reflects both innovation and reverence for Washington’s past. Go behind the scenes of the museum’s construction. Through photographs and artifacts from the building process, witness how a dream took shape—brick by brick, beam by beam.

Staff Picks: 30 Objects for 30 Years

In a special feature area, museum staff share their favorite objects from the collection—each one a personal reflection on the power of history to inspire, surprise, and connect us.

This is a permanent exhibition. Since time immemorial, Tribal nations have existed in this place we call Washington. This Is Native Land invites visitors to understand Washington State through the lived experiences and voices of its Native people.

Tribal nations are sovereign nations. Today, Native history, culture, and community thrive in our state. Through everyday acts of sovereignty – big and small – Indigenous peoples demonstrate they are still here, they have persevered, and they will always be here.

This Is Native Land is guided by three teachings:
We are of the land and waters
With knowledge comes responsibility
Sovereignty protects people, lands, and waters

These teachings are shared through multimedia, artwork, and interactive objects designed for guest engagement. They represent a contemporary continuation of Tribal stories and traditions.

Over 100 Native contributors from more than 60 Tribes shaped the exhibition’s stories and content. We thank the Native Advisory Committee and all community participants for their contributions.

Never Turn Back: Echoes of African American Music unveils the profound legacy of Gospel, Blues, Jazz, and Soul artists who shaped the soundscape of American culture and used their music as instruments of resistance, identity, and representation.

Gospel, Blues, Jazz, and Soul embody the profound influence of African American music on culture and history. From the spiritual foundations and transformative movements of Gospel hymns to the revolutionary improvisations of Jazz, the Blues’ Southern roots rising from the Mississippi Delta, and Soul’s powerful amplification of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, these genres have defined the unique sound and undying spirit of a nation that continues to echo through contemporary Black music today.

LeMay – America’s Car Museum proudly presents The Birth of the American Supercar, a groundbreaking exhibition guest curated by renowned automotive innovator Steve Saleen. This one-of-a-kind display invites guests on an exhilarating journey through the evolution of American supercars. From early speed pioneers to cutting-edge modern marvels, visitors will experience a stunning lineup of vehicles that have redefined engineering, speed, and style, built by a wide range of American automotive manufacturers like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Saleen himself, and even some more obscure ones like Vector, Cunningham, and Hennessey. From roaring V8s to sleek carbon-fiber bodies, discover how American automakers pushed boundaries, challenged European rivals, and redefined what a supercar could be. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see some of the most thrilling and historically significant American-made performance vehicles ever built—all under one roof.

“Every piece I create, from the humblest tumbler to the most baroque sculpture, makes a statement about isolation, striving, access, perseverance, boundary pushing, and the pursuit of excellence. I believe my presence in the field as a working-class Black man, striving and excelling in a field occupied chiefly by society’s most privileged (whitest), is a powerful artistic and political gesture. “—Jason McDonald

Glass vessels evocative of the highly ornamented Baroque style, black silhouettes embedded in scenes on ancient pottery vessels, and medallion reliefs of Black figures all abide in the deliberate, expansive practice of Jason McDonald. McDonald’s visual language is deeply rooted in research of ancient histories, traditional techniques, and race. Here, contemporary ideas blend and transform tradition with caring attention to detail, precision in thought, and beauty. Motivated by glass—with its magical properties, myriads of endless possibilities and potential—McDonald’s devotion lies in the desire to refine the craft, making his hands more familiar and knowledgeable with each replication. Through his repetition and re-imagination of these historical forms, the objects transform into sculptures and vessels of time, carrying with them the essence of centuries-old traditions, as well as McDonald’s commitment and insertion of the representation and notions of Black identity. With a commitment to the craft that transcends his own work, McDonald diligently carves out space for those who will follow him through mentoring and the creation of his own glass studio, which he has named Ideal Conditions.

Organized by Tacoma Art Museum and curated by Victoria Miles.