THE BUZZ BIN

The Boys Are Back In Town

One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen was the original BOYGENIUS tour back in 2018. The sad singer-songwriter supergroup consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus all played full sets of their amazing individual works before coming together to play all the harmony-rich tunes from their eponymous debut EP. After a few years away, a pandemic, and Bridgers exploding into a megastar, Boygenius returned last week with three new singles (one with each member singing lead) from their upcoming album, The Record. The swirling rock road trip of Baker’s “$20” contrasts sharply with the melancholy apologetic slowburn of Bridgers’ “Emily I’m Sorry,” and Dacus’ “True Blue” splits the middle distance as a mid-tempo folkrock love song. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

CARNIVÀLE (HBO MAX)

Fans are still butt-hurt about the 2005 cancelation of Carnivàle, a dark period drama that was meant to run for six seasons but was cut off at two (HBO business foreshadowing?). The series follows a 1930s traveling carnival set against the twin bummers of the Great Plains dust bowl and the Great Depression, pitting young roustabout Ben (Nick Stahl) against preacher Brother Justin (Clancy Brown) in a low-key supernatural battle of Good vs. Evil. Carnivàle’s dirt-caked aesthetic and colorful “freak show” cast make for an utterly unique series.

THE O.C. (HBO MAX, HULU)

When he’s introduced to Orange County with a beatdown and a “Welcome to the O.C., bitch” in the pilot episode, it’s clear to teen outsider Ryan (Ben McKenzie) that this ain’t Beverly Hills 90210 The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl) tweaks the pretty-teens-withproblems genre with undercurrents of classism, metahumor and a sprawling 2000s indie-rock soundtrack that made stars of Phantom Planet, Rooney, and Imogen Heap for at least five minutes. The O.C. also brought us Chrismukkah, a.k.a. Festivus 2.0.

DEAD LIKE ME (THE ROKU CHANNEL)

Pre-Dexter, Showtime had no original series luck in the early 2000s, but Queer as Folk, The L Word and 2003’s Dead to Me at least attracted some buzz. (Related: Why the hell isn’t The Chris Isaak Show available anywhere?) Dead to Me was the first creation of Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, American Gods), following a group of “grim reapers” who, instead of moving on themselves, are stuck with the job of escorting other souls to the afterlife. The dryhumored series ended at Season 2, giving star Mandy Patinkin no time to rage-quit. n

Bill Frost has been a journalist and TV reviewer since the 4:3-aspect-ratio ’90s. His pulse-pounding prose has been featured in The Salt Lake Tribune, Las Vegas Weekly, SLUG Magazine and many other dead-tree publications. He’s currently a senior writer and streaming TV reviewer for CableTV. com, Salt Lake City Weekly and TV Tan Podcast.

Jingle All The Way

Have a knack for making up silly songs? Or maybe you’re a serious musician looking for a fun side project? Well, the COEUR D’ALENE CASINO is asking for Northwest musicians, songwriters or anyone with some rhythm in ’em to create a new jingle for the North Idaho establishment. If you’re interested in making a little ditty, you have all of the creative freedom in the world, but the 30-120 second jingle must end with the lyrics: “Winning is just the beginning at the Coeur d’Alene Casino!” The first place winner will take home $3,000, and $2,000 in prize money goes to other chosen jingles. What are you waiting for? Get to jinglin’ and submit by March 31 at 5 pm! (MADISON

PEARSON)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on Feb. 3.

SHANIA TWAIN, QUEEN OF ME.

Before kicking off her world tour in Spokane in April, the pop country queen drops her first new album in six years.

MACKLEMORE, BEN. While he’ll likely never hit those “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” highs again, the Seattle MC still is out here crafting new melodic hip-hop for his devoted fans.

SAY HI, ELOCUTION PRATTLE. The Seattle indie pop oddball mutes himself on a new collection of 20 vocal-free instrumental lo-fi synth tracks. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

BY MADISON PEARSON

Humans need plants to survive. We eat them, drink them, use them as medicine, and even decorate with them in order to bring joy to our daily lives.

Once you start caring for a couple of houseplants, it’s easy to spiral into an obsession with our magnificent, leafy friends. If your collection of 20-plus houseplants isn’t enough to satiate your need for greenery in your home anymore, why not take it to the next level with a full-blown living wall?

Living walls, or vertical gardens as they’re sometimes called, are made up of an array of live plants that are planted vertically and can range in size from just a few square feet to entire walls in large atrium spaces.

However, larger installations can cost upwards of $125-$225 per square foot of wall and aren’t exactly feasible for renters or homeowners who are on a strict budget or have limited space.

While you can certainly contract a company to install a living wall in your home, there are also local and handcrafted options to consider depending on your budget, your lifestyle and what look you’re going for.

Dominic Villareal, the owner of A Modern Plantsman, weighed his own options when expanding his Colfax plant store to downtown Spokane in late 2021.

“My partner and I were scoping out the local plant scene, and we noticed immediately that there was a lack of living wall installations in Spokane,” he says. “There are no plant stores or nurseries in the area that have one.”

When Villareal secured the space for his shop on the main floor of the Hotel Indigo building, he began designing a plant wall that was eye-catching as well as functional for his customers. The plant wall, constructed by Villareal himself, features wooden shelves that are just deep enough to hide the pots that the plants reside in, giving it the appearance of a living wall.

“That’s very doable for a home setting,” he says. “You can take the pots off the shelf for easy watering and care.”

Villareal recommends plants that trail for any DIY living wall project, but also says that including plants of different heights can give the wall a much more textured and varied appearance.

“Start with plants like pothos, heart leaf philodendrons and prayer plants,” Villareal says. “Prayer plants specifically can deal with very low-light situations, which is perfect for a home installation. They’ll disguise any nonnatural elements of the wall once they start to trail down.”

Previous owner of Sage + Moss and seasoned houseplant parent Annecia Paulson recommends utilizing organic elements when creating your display for ease of watering and a more harmonious facade.

The most common way to do this is by creating mounted plant displays. Mounted plants are plants that have been affixed onto an object using moss or other organic materials.

“Creating mounted plants is actually a really easy process,” she says. “You simply remove most of the dirt from the roots, place the plant on the piece of bark and then attach it using sphagnum moss and fishing line.”

The upkeep and care of mounted plants lie in the choice of wood, Paulson says.

“Using cork bark is the best option — it’s lightweight and naturally mold-resistant. Just soak the whole thing in water, let it drip dry and then hang it on your wall using Command hooks or string. Super simple,” she says.

If the trial and error of diving in headfirst just isn’t your thing, many area plant stores, including A Modern Plantsman, offer workshops on how to create mounted plants and products that can assist you in your journey to creating a living wall.

“We really try to act as a resource for people in the community,” Villareal says. “We want to help people learn how to do these things. I’ve already gone through the trial and error of the projects that people attempt at home, so I’m happy to give people that knowledge.” n

Inside