Arts + Culture

Artistic director Trey McIntyre did something unusual when he began to envision a dance performance set entirely to the music of Queen.

“I began really exploring the life of Freddy Mercury and his trajectory and how he came to be as an artist," McIntyre says. "And that’s something that I don’t think I’ve ever done with a composer or a musician; I tend to separate the work from the artist. But in this case, his life became quite fascinating to me.”

You may be best suited to live in Idaho if you're agreeable and not very extroverted. That's according to data compiled by a group of multinational researchers who've sliced the United States into distinct regions based on personality types.

The regions were determined by personality test data from more than 1 million Americans. Western states fall mostly in the "relaxed and creative" category, while states on the East Coast are largely deemed "temperamental and uninhibited".

The French drama Blue is the Warmest Color opens in U.S. theaters October 25, but you won’t be able to watch it in Idaho, at least not on the big screen.  

Films like this one would usually find a home at The Flicks Theatre, but not this time. 

Carole Skinner, who owns the Flicks, told The Hollywood Reporter, “It isn’t because we’re prudes.”

Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter made a recent proclamation that grabbed the attention of the L.A. Times, but flew under the radar of most people in Idaho. On the same day that the federal government shut down and Idaho's new health exchange launched, Gov. Otter declared Oct. 1 "Aaron Paul Sturtevant Day".

A top Mormon leader says more states and nations may legalize same-sex marriage in the future, but human laws cannot "make moral what God has declared immoral."

Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, in an address Sunday at the Mormon church's biannual general conference in Salt Lake City, said the faith's stance against same-sex marriage might be misunderstood or prompt accusations of bigotry.

The president of the Mormon church says worldwide membership has hit 15 million, representing a three-fold increase over the three decades.

President Thomas S. Monson announced the milestone during the opening session of the two-day Mormon church conference Saturday morning.

The biannual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings 100,000 members to Salt Lake City. More than half of church members live outside of the United States.

Nearly 300 people stepped into the StoryCorps mobile recording booth to share their stories when it stopped in Boise this summer. Of the 131 interviews that were recorded in that booth, we've aired 14 of them on KBSX 91.5 fm.

Julie Kreiensieck, 87, will never forget the day she learned her father was a spiritualist. It was around 1939, when the Boise resident learned spiritualists believe they serve as an intermediary between the living and the dead.

Kreiensieck stopped by the StoryCorps booth in Boise to tell her daughter Donna about that day her life changed.

Every angler has a story about the one that got away. Gary Lane has been fishing in Idaho for a long time and the first story he remembers about a fish, was the one that got away. He tells the story to his friend Greg Stahl.

“My folks took us by horseback into the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area,” said Lane. “I think I might have been in the second or third grade. I caught my first salmon there, a wild salmon. That really hooked me on fishing and the whole outdoor world.”

“Was that a Chinook salmon?” asked Stahl.

“Yeah, a Chinook.”

“Were you fly fishing?”

Treefort Music Fest isn't until March, but organizers of the indie festival are already getting people stoked about this year's event.

The final episode of Breaking Bad airs Sunday. After six years, star Aaron Paul will end his run as the complex meth cook and drug addict Jesse Pinkman.

Paul's sister says the show has changed the Boise native and their family.

"He's just become more comfortable," says Danielle Hart. "Before, he had a hard time accepting the admiration, if you will. I think that has to do with the show and the show's popularity."

Back in 1985 Idaho's teacher in space Barbara Morgan was at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. She was one of ten finalists for the Teacher in Space program.  Meanwhile, in Idaho, her husband Clay was a smokejumper.  He says a few days before Barbara would learn whether she'd become the first teacher in space, he faced his own survival story. 

Los Angeles actress Lauren Weedman is thinking about moving to Boise. At least that’s the premise of her new one-woman play that opens Saturday at Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT.) It’s called Boise: You Don’t Look A Day Over 149 and it’s part of Boise’s 150th anniversary celebrations this year.

William March Jr. served in the U.S. military for 26 years, and spent two tours in Vietnam.  Later in life he became a circus clown and took his son Paul and the rest of his family around the country performing on the road.  They have a close relationship.  Paul March was thinking about their relationship when he asked his dad about the saddest moment in his life. 

Former NFL great Steve Young will be one of the keynote speakers at a three-day conference in Salt Lake City exploring how the Mormon faith is dealing with gays and lesbians.

The 32nd annual Affirmation International Conference begins Friday and runs through Sunday. Affirmation president Randall Hacker says he's expecting about 300 people at the gathering.

Steve Young and his wife, Barb, are scheduled to speak Saturday night. Young is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He played collegiately at Brigham Young University.

Ever since wolves were re-introduced in Idaho in 1995, they’ve been in the spotlight. No matter where you stand on wolves, their re-introduction remains a story unto itself.

Suzanne Stone remembers the day the first four wolves were released in Idaho. She was there. Stone, who's been an advocate of wolves for 25 years, told her story to Debbie Courson Smith inside the StoryCorps booth in Boise.

Actor Aaron Paul gave his fans plenty to tweet about Monday. The Idaho native says he’s rented out Boise’s Egyptian Theatre and wants everyone who can to come watch the next episode of Breaking Bad with him on Sunday. 

While the event is free, you'll need to get a ticket to get through the door. 

Art in the Park gets underway in Boise’s Julia Davis Park Friday and runs through Sunday. The event is an annual fundraiser for the Boise Art Museum (BAM). Art in the Park got its start 59 years ago when artists started hanging their work for sale on a clothesline.

Boise resident Dawn Burke wasn’t thinking about rats when she went looking for new pet.  “I always thought of rats as dirty, filthy, disease carrying…like, people have them as pets?”   She shared this with her husband Don during a visit to the Idaho Storycorps mobile recording trailer this summer.

Burke did end up with a pet rat and later founded the Rat Retreat, a non-profit sanctuary for abandoned rats. 
 

She says she was shocked to learn her neighbor in Yakima, Washington at the time had pet rats.