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FIRST FRIDAY RAMBLES - 6/6/2008 1:55 pm
AK State Fair concerts announced - 6/2/2008 12:24 pm
Elton sings til the midnight sun goes down - 5/28/2008 10:23 pm
Winners recital series continues Thursday - 5/28/2008 10:10 pm
Second Life and the Mystery of Art - 5/23/2008 8:54 pm
Alex Combs dies in Homer - 5/23/2008 1:14 pm
Did you see the show? - 5/23/2008 1:09 pm
Review: Trace Adkins brings big guns to Sullivan Arena - 5/23/2008 12:04 am
Head's up: Moody tunes at Out North - 5/21/2008 11:08 am
Review: Ambitious "The Time of Your Life" timely, but inconsistent - 5/17/2008 12:16 am
Did you see the show? - 5/15/2008 10:41 pm
REVIEW: "GOOD EVENING" - 5/15/2008 5:54 pm
Wynonna Judd to perform in Anchorage - 5/15/2008 2:13 pm
Review: Musselwhite dishes out the moaning, raging - 5/15/2008 8:39 am
ADT's next season reaches out to dance newcomers - 5/14/2008 11:17 am
"Uncle" Walter Austin passes - 5/11/2008 5:37 pm
REVIEW: HANSEL & GRETEL - 5/9/2008 6:17 pm
Adams featured in The New Yorker - 5/8/2008 10:20 am
FIRST FRIDAY RAMBLES - DID YOU SEE THE SHOW? - 5/2/2008 10:49 am
Review: Wooten woos a Bear Tooth crowd - 5/2/2008 2:47 am
Alaska Junior Theater announces next season, includes Black Violin - 5/1/2008 5:06 pm
Head's up: Put on your armor and prepare for satire! - 4/30/2008 12:16 pm
JUNE 6, 2008 - 1:55 PM
Polar Bear Reverie: By Nathalie Parenteau
First Friday found me on the South Side of Northern Lights on June 6, thanks in part to some spectacular rush-hour, road clogging accidents. But I found plenty to view.
The must-see this month is a pair of ravens by Jean Shadrach at Terra Bella Bakery and Cafe, 601 E. Dimond, next to Bed, Bath and Beyond. These black and white panels are in a Japanese-based style Shadrach called "po'mo" - for "pour more." She takes paint and pours it onto the canvas, dribbling with more accuracy than Meadowlark Lemon. At first the things look like, well, splashes of black paint. It takes a minute for the ravens to pop out at you with the clarity of a photograph and a lot more presence. These startling images share the walls with Shadrach's more familiar acrylics and watercolors, plus gyclees and papier colle. "I've always got to be trying something new," she said.
JUNE 2, 2008 - 12:24 PM
Come August, you’ll be able to catch shows by bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, country boy group Emerson Drive and hip hop/reggae artist Sean Kingston – they’re all part of the Alaska State Fair entertainment lineup, which was released this morning.
Ralph Stanley
The Charlie Daniels Band returns after just playing the fair last year. And in local news, Alaska-bred rockabilly band Joey Fender & the 55s are returning from their new home in Austin to play a free fair gig.
MAY 28, 2008 - 10:23 PM
Sir Elton at Sullivan Arena: Anchorage, Alaska, May 28, 2008. Photo: Trenton Yates.
If you have a photo from his Alaska concert or of Elton John roaming around Anchorage or Fairbanks to share, post it HERE.
By LELAND SMITH
Sir Elton John conquered the sold out Anchorage crowd Wednesday night at the Sullivan Arena. Sporting an ornate long jacket with tails embroidered with musical notes and the words “Music Magic” Elton, without a word leaped into “Your Song,” the tender ballad that charted his career path in 1970. He then rose and turned to the crowd and said, it took me thirty years to make it to Alaska; thank God I’m here. This is the 49th state I have played.
MAY 28, 2008 - 10:10 PM
Megan Bledsoe: Harpist, 2007 Anchorage Festival of Music Young Alaskan Artist Award winner.By MIKE DUNHAM
Past winners of Anchorage Festival of Music Young Alaskan Artists awards gave the first of two reunion recitals on Wednesday. I've heard some - not all - of these musicians around the time they received their awards and the progress each has made since shows what a lot of practise and a little extra maturity can do.
Jaren Philleo: Oboist, 1999 winner.Take Jaren Philleo, the Fairbanks oboist who was the first recipient of this award and the scholarship money that comes with it back in 1999. Now a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, she showed, in the Sonatina of Malcom Arnold, that she's mastered one of the toughest tricks in the book - how to play an oboe softly.
MAY 23, 2008 - 8:54 PM
Welcome to Rasmuson's virtual gallery
Sunday's Daily News Life & Arts article on the Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaska raised numerous semantic questions over how to differentiate between what is real and what is otherwise.
On one hand, devotees of the online world known as Second Life take their "avatar" personas seriously and point out that one can acquire and deploy assets in the cyber world just as one can in the real world, which Second Lifers call "First Life."
On the other hand, no Second Life avatar will ever grow a single potato to feed the folks at Beans Cafe or cobble a single pair of shoes to give to someone who has worn out his or her footwear. They might purchase such from income earned through Second Life activities; but to be actually helpful, the purchases will be made exclusively in First Life, suggesting that it's the only life that truly exists in the empirical sense that the hungry and ill-shod understand.
MAY 23, 2008 - 1:14 PM
Alex Combs 1919-2008: Photo: Bob Hallinen
Alex Duff Combs, a towering figure on the Alaska art scene for more than half a century, died Thursday in Homer. He was 88.
Combs and student: Undated photo. ADN archives.
The man credited with advancing the sophistication and appreciation of modern art in the 49th state was born in the rugged backwoods country of Hazard, Kentucky, August 11, 1919. He described his family as “dirt poor.”
Combs: Undated. ADN archive.
MAY 23, 2008 - 1:09 PM
.preview.jpg "Josaphat D. Chambers")
Josaphat D. Chambers
Memorial Weekend is often a slow one for arts happenings in Anchorage. Half the town is out of town. But there are still things to see and do.
For instance, UAA piano student Josaphat Chambers presented a free recital of Brahms and Beethoven in the UAA Arts Building Recital Hall on Friday night. You don't go to a Junior piano recital expecting to hear Wilhelm Kempff, of course. But I went because it was free, the program seemed ambitious and J.D. did a pretty good job of promoting himself.
MAY 23, 2008 - 12:04 AM
Trace Adkins: Photo: Hot Schatz Public Relations
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
At a time in Nashville when many country stars are joined at the hip with their stylists and wouldn’t know a combine if it ran ‘em over, Trace Adkins stands out. Not because he’s a traditionalist (he isn’t) or because he doesn’t have a stylist (he does), but because he’s authentic.
A cross between John Wayne and The Rock, he swaggered onto the Sullivan Arena stage Thursday night in a tight black T-shirt that could barely restrain his massive pecs and biceps.
MAY 21, 2008 - 11:08 AM
If you want to hear music with gothic, electronic, post punk flair, check out the Alex Reed show at Out North Friday night.
Reed handles vocals, keyboards, guitars and samples for ThouShaltNot of Florida, a moody trio doing show throughout the Lower 48. Reed will do a solo show in Anchorage while on vacation.
Check him out at 7 p.m. Friday, May 23, at Out North on 3800 DeBarr Road. Tickets cost $5 at the door (279-3800, www.outnorth.org). Find out more about Reed and the band at www.thoushalt.net and www.myspace.com/betterroads.
--Dawnell Smith
MAY 17, 2008 - 12:16 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Depending on where your head’s at in this time of war and economic uncertainty, the bar play “The Time of Your Life” may feel like a refreshing draught of optimism, or it may come across as falsely cheery as beer goggles.
"The Time of Your Life"
Either way, playwright William Saroyan’s message here has the simple complexity of a Chinese proverb and the go get ‘em spirit of a high school English teacher on graduation day: “In the time of your life, live.” You know, like carpe diem, but in English.
MAY 15, 2008 - 10:41 PM
Caught a play, concert, performance or art show you'd like to tell everyone about? Add your thoughts in the comments here.
MAY 15, 2008 - 5:54 PM
Comedy tonight!: =John Fraser, Rob Lecrone and David Haynes in "Good Evening" at Wild Berry Theater.
By MIKE DUNHAM
If you snicker at “Monty Python,” you’ll howl at “Good Evening.” Once a Year Theater Company’s production of the Tony-winning comedy revue has the bounce, silliness, randy puns and wacky, wicked wit associated with the British music hall tradition. It also has long-time local funny man John Fraser in the script he was born to perform.
The two-hour show consists of a chain of skits in the style of “Saturday Night Live.” Several of the bits, written by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, were originally done on television in mock interview format, including the classic “Frog and Peach.”
MAY 15, 2008 - 2:13 PM
By Sarah Henning
Nashville is sending its most recognizable redhead to Anchorage June 27.
Wynonna - known for her alto growl and sassy lyrics - will perform as part of Arctic Thunder festivities at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
An Elmendorf spokesperson confirmed the base will host a concert June 27, but wouldn't name the artist. However, the Alaska gig is listed on both Wynonna's Web site and with Pollstar, a concert industry magazine.
According to Wynonna's Web site, the show will be free and open to the public.
Wynonna, who rose to fame in the 80s in The Judds, is known for chart-busting, genre-bending singles including "No One Else on Earth," "What the World Needs" and "Only Love."
MAY 15, 2008 - 8:39 AM
Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
The thing about the blues is they're persistent. They don't woo you with flamboyance so much as charm you by sticking around.
So the blues smoldered rather than flamed when the Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band railed and wailed through nearly two hours of hard luck, hard scrabble, down home, mostly Delta blues at the Snow Goose Theatre Wednesday night.
Songs like "Long Lean Lanky Mama" and "Church Is Out" got people to their feet, for sure, but Musselwhite sounds best when doing the mournful, driving tunes that throb to the bone while he moans on his blues harp. (If you think you know what a harmonica can do, you haven't heard Musselwhite).
MAY 14, 2008 - 11:17 AM
Next season, Alaska Dance Theatre will collaborate with Minneapolis’ premiere contemporary ballet company.
Photo courtesy James Sewell Ballet
In April, ADT will perform with the James Sewell Ballet, known for injecting humor and humanity into its work. The company’s recent history has included everything from a murder-mystery ballet based on Garrison Keillor’s Guy Noir character to a social justice piece that begins at a peace rally.
MAY 11, 2008 - 5:37 PM
Walter Austin: Photo: Evan Steinhauser
By MIKE DUNHAM
A solitary drum covered by a beaded Tlingit blanket and accompanied by an empty chair and single drumstick sat in the middle of the Wasilla High School gymnasium during a powwow on Saturday afternoon -- a silent tribute to Walter Austin, who died in Anchorage on Friday. He was 89.
"Uncle" Walter, as he was known, was born in Juneau on Oct. 5, 1918. He worked as a fisherman and served in the Civil Defense during World War II, patroling the beaches of Southeast with a WWI era Eddystone rifle that he later used for seal hunting. He said he never missed a seal with that rifle.
MAY 9, 2008 - 6:17 PM
Not all there: Michael Fawcett, Zieh Huyk and Christina Ashby have roles as townsfolk in the musical "Hansel and Gretel." Photo: Tony Batres
By MIKE DUNHAM
"Who do you know in the cast?" asked the ticket-seller as I paid to get into the premiere of a new musical version of "Hansel and Gretel." The suggestion that no one would be there unless related to a cast member hit me as a little unsettling. But when someone takes the time to rework the Grimm Brother's archetypal classic and compose fresh music for it, one must take note.
MAY 8, 2008 - 10:20 AM
John Luther Adams: (AP Photo)
Fairbanks composer John Luther Adams has become the first Alaskan in decades - maybe ever - to be the subject of a major profile in The New Yorker magazine. Arts writer Alex Ross visited Adams to write the piece, titled "Song of the Earth," which appears in the May 12 issue of the journal and may be viewed online at www/newyorker.com.
MAY 2, 2008 - 10:49 AM
Root basket: By Atz Kilcher of Homer. Photo: Aurora Fine Arts
Downtown Anchorage was not our first choice for this month's Ramble. Events at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, a concert at the Egan Center, the Taste of Anchorage and the chaos brought on by some of the stupidest construction misplanning in the history of the city made parking an even bigger headache than usual. I don't think I'll try going downtown for any further events until the snow flies - probably in June.
But I finally found a vacant meter on the far side of the Federal Building and walked to the Alaska Native Arts Foundation's elegant gallery where new work by Da-ka-xeen Mehner made me set all my peckishness aside. "Weapons of Mass Defence" was not what I'd expected. The artist has created four super-sized replicas of traditional Tlingit knives out of steel. There's a Claes Oldenburg aspect to the things, but the spacing and simple elegance of the pieces also reminded me of the late James Schoppert's work. A series of masks - with Mehner as the model - complemented the set-up. Also at the gallery, some intriguing caribou skin masks by Aakataq. I cannot recommend this gallery too highly.
MAY 2, 2008 - 2:47 AM
Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
When you put on your listening ears to hear the Victor Wooten Band, you can expect to learn a lesson or two.
But when Wooten took his mostly solo rendering of "The Lesson" into a controlled but thundering bass loop of remarkable mastery last night at the Bear Tooth, more than a few jaws dropped. And when he layered on another loop and played with both, even the buzzed young bucks in back looked spellbound.
Not to mention all the local bass players, jazz guitarists, horn players and composers standing in the audience.
Wooten playing with Bela Fleck: Darla Khazei/Association Press archive 2001
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