Tuesday night's Mile High Jazz Band concert was standing room only as the band was joined by local poets reading their works. Comma Coffee isn't really the kind of place one thinks of as a site for a heavy assault by a swing band, but it works out perfectly, creating a sort of front-parlor setting like a family clustered around a piano. Jakki Ford of Reno joined in with some fine songs, including "Back in Your Own Backyard." Closing tune for first set was "Blues in Hoss Flat," by Frank Foster and Count Basie. Super soloists were Dean Carter, trombone, and JoJo Shelley, tenor sax. David Bugli conducted in his casual manner, and the band's section work was as precise as that of Count Basie.
THE NAY SAYER
Comic David Spade has found fame as a professional smart aleck as in his TV ads toying with complaints. Spade brings his wit to the Rose Ballroom June 16 at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks. Spade appears at 8 p.m. and tickets are $69 and $60 at (800) 648-1177 or (775) 356-3300 or at janugget.com.
RENO ART OPENING
The Nevada Museum of Art presents a look at the art of Montana sculptor Deborah Butterfield Saturday through Sept. 23. Butterfield transforms pieces of scrap metal, found wood and bronze into a key figure in Western culture - the horse. "Deborah Butterfield: Horses," features 14 large-scale sculptures. OK, so it's a bit avant garde. But it's also evocative of the West.
The Museum is at 160 West Liberty St. Call (775) 329-3333 or see www.nevadaart.org.
MUSIC IN THE AIR
Harveys Lake Tahoe and Another Planet Entertainment team up to bring Sammy Hagar & The Wabos to the Harveys Outdoor Arena Sunday Sunday. Hagar is a real mover. Tickets are at www.ticketmaster.com or all Ticketmaster outlets. This will be the first show of the Harveys Outdoor Summer Concert Series and it coincides with the "Opening Day Lake Tahoe" community-wide weekend activities. Tickets are general admission and are $55 in advance and $60 day of show.
The Summit shopping center in Reno will hold a "Summit Live!" summer concert series. The free concerts run Thursdays, beginning June 21 through Aug. 9. The music plays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on The Summit's plaza.
The eight-week schedule for the summer concert series includes: June 21, Uncle Funkle; June 28, The String Beings Quartet; July 5, Paul Perryman and the Country Kickers; July 12, Reno Jazz Tenor Summit; July 19, Mariachi Los Cazadores De Nevada; July 26, Guitar Woody and the Boilermakers; Aug. 2, Jeff Leep and the World's Most Dangerous Party Band; Aug. 3, Hot August Nights Pre-Event Dance with the Vibra Tones, a Friday event from 5 to 9 p.m.; Aug. 9, Papa Clutch and the Shifters
Picnics are OK and guests should bring blankets and low-back chairs. The Summit is at South Virginia and the Mount Rose Highway, exit 57B in Reno. See www.thesummitonline.com.
BAC PHOTO SHOW
The Brewery Arts Center and Gallery will host the Historic District and Flower Power Art Show through today at BAC, 449 W. King St. On display will be the best of the show photo by Egon Klementi of the Historic District; first place Historic District photo by Nevada Hale-Bryon; first place Floral Paintings by Rick Rose; first place Historic District photo by Ralph Philips; and first place floral photo by Stephen Johns. Call 883-1976.
ANY SPONSORS OUT THERE?
"Jazz and Beyond," presented by the Brewery Arts Center and the Mile High Jazz Band, opens Friday Aug. 17 with BAC's 15th annual Beer Tasting and runs through Sunday. The free festival includes noted jazz performers such as Cherry Poppin' Dudes and the Yellow Jackets (great group!). Food and drink, street vendors and dancing and after-hours jam sessions are included. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Call 883-2976.
• Contact Sam Bauman at 881-1236 or Sbauman@nevadaappeal.com.
BOOK ROCK PARTY
Visiting friends in the Bay area, fell by the book group expo in the San Jose Convention Center (after wandering a bit). It was as combo salon, marketplace for books, and rock party, with entrance $42 per day over the weekend. Could take in a Sam Hagar rock concert (almost) for that kind of bucks. Most interesting to see all the literary types (mostly female) and the preening authors. Missed the big gun of the affair, Khaled Hosseini, author of "The Kite Runner," hot book in Mideast lit. But the beer tasting was good (the brown beer so strong it could stand on its own bubbles) and the book standings enticing. Surprise: Thomas (the elder) Wolfe thick novel "Look Homeward, Angel," was on sale in reprint form. Hope yet for book business.