Orcas Center will present the perfect mid-summer theatrical treat, the Midnight Mystery Theatre performing whodunit radio plays on Saturday, July 12.
Idgy Vaughn writes and plays twisted Texamericana with all the aplomb and raw magic of an unsocialized farmkid. A single mother, Vaughn waitressed at a truckstop in Buda, Texas, until a customer won the lottery and loaned her just enough to record her full length debut, “Origin Story.” After losing her hometown’s talent show to Christian karaoke singers seven years in a row, Idgy finally became a winner herself at the Kerrville Folk Festival’s prestigious New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Since then, she’s been winning over critics, cynics, dj’s, program directors, and fellow songwriters one at a time.
A quick look at what’s going on in the San Juan Islands arts community.
On Saturday, July 19, Orcas Center will host two performances with legendary Brazilian jazz percussionist Airto Moreira. Joining Airto and band members Harvey Wainapel (saxophone), Gary Brown (bass), and Kit Walker (keyboard), will be vocalist Diana Booker and her husband, Krishna Booker. Opening the show will be Orcas favorites Martin Lund and Gene Nery.
Overton Berry and Friends will appear in a tribute to Art Foxall on Thursday, July 3, at 2 p.m at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts.
The Funhouse introduced Orcas Island Music Together this spring and now the youngest islanders have something just for them. Music Together® is an internationally recognized early childhood music education program. It was founded on the premise that all children are musical and can develop their musical potential within a supportive learning environment. A Music Together class inspires children and their parent/guardian with song, dance, instrument, and rhythm play. The whole idea is to bring more music into everyday life experience.
The June 2008 edition of the Slightly OffCenter Local Artist Showcase, curated by Carolyn Cruso, features some of Orcas’ favorites: John Clancy’s Improvissimo, Heather Stansbury and Bryan Benepe, Buckthorn and Rutabaga, and Evan Fraser and Tbird Luv. The showcase will be on Sunday, June 29 on the Orcas Center OffCenter Stage. Tickets are $10 and available at the door of the Off Center Stage, and in advance at the Orcas Center box office.
Each Wednesday at noon this summer concert-goers can take their brown lunch bags to Emmanuel Episcopal Church and enjoy a variety of great Orcas musicians.
Sculptures by Hannah Alex-Glasser and acrylic/watercolor paintings by James Hardman will be on exhibit in the Orcas Center main gallery throughout July. The show will open with an artists’ reception Friday, June 27, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Madrona Room.
Orcas Islanders will have the rare opportunity to experience the talents of local musical prodigy Oliver Aldort at Orcas Center on Saturday, June 28 at 7:30 pm.
Dick Staub, pastor of the Orcas Island Community Church, is inviting islanders as well as “international creatives – those for whom the transcendent or God is of paramount importance” to KindlingsFest 08, a “celebration of art andideas where they intersect with the spiritual.”
ORCAS ISLAND
A 63-year-old island business, tucked away in the woods above West Beach, enters a new phase as Orcas Island Pottery brings bronze sculpture to its rambling site. Syd Exton, owner of Orcas Island Pottery, is preparing for the official opening of the new Bronze Sculpture Garden on June 27 from 4 to 7 p.m., as she arranges inventory, weeds the gardens, and installs a pond where one of the new bronze sculptures will be featured this summer.
