Seldovia Arts Council

Saturday August 30 (Labor Day weekend) will bring a mini-festival of top-notch guitar music to Seldovia with the Guitar Master”s Concert. Come hear these singer songwriters and master dobro, slide and resonator guitar players, Del Rey, Steve James, Corinne West, and Doug Cox, fresh from the Acoustic Alaska Guitar Camp.

Del Rey has been a blues queen since her teenage years, playing music with elements of country blues, stride piano, classic jazz and hillbilly boogie. She travels the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, giving concerts as well a concert/lecture on “Women in American Music”. She’s frequently on tour with Steve James, plays ukulele with Ukeshack, and writes about music for publications including Acoustic Guitar. Del has several collaboration recordings, plus 5 solo albums. The latest, Blue Uke, came out on Hobemian in 2008. “If you like your blues warm, wise, witty and well-played, give Del Rey a listen.” (Dirty Linen)

Doug Cox is not only a master dobro player, but is accomplished on other “slidey” instruments such as the guitar, weissenborn, and national mandolin. Making his home on Vancouver Island, Doug tours festivals, clubs and concert halls and has recorded 2 solo albums plus many collaborations. His music has appeared in film and programs aired on NBC, CMT, Spike TV, A&E, PBS, Animal Planet and Discovery. An acclaimed educator, Doug teaches at guitar camps and workshops across the country, and has produced a series of instructional packages on slide guitar, dobro and guitar playing. “This virtuoso brings the Dobro into the drawing room and the concert hall. It’s no longer just a case of country backup, it’s a front-and-centre solo instrument.” (Jurgen Gothe, CBC’s Discdrive)

Steve James is well known among devotees of contemporary acoustic folk and blues. Steve taught himself guitar from the age of 12, then migrated from New York to Texas where he played solo, led a small combo, and played support for many excellent musicians including Bo Diddley, Bill Monroe, and Dave Van Ronk. In 1988 Steve began recording albums and touring throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and China. He has published articles, instruction books and videos. Currently Steve lives in Austin where he performs guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, guitar-banjo, and writes, teaches and fishes. “Flawless fingerpicking and slide guitar paired with an idiosyncratic writing style and an exuberant performance persona makes Steve James come on like a full band.” (Dirty Linen)

At the age of 15 Corinne West dropped out of school to tour the country in an old converted school bus with a nomadic group of artists. Realizing that one woman with a guitar could live a creative life and make a statement about the world, she began busking (performing live in public for tips). She developed a signature sound, taking elements from Americana, country, bluegrass and rock. Her first album, Bound for the Living brought accolades from major music reviewers, and being a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition launched her career on the national festival circuit. Acoustic music legend Mike Marshall produced Corinne”s second album, Second Sight. “Corinne West is a brilliant songwriter with a powerfully eloquent singing voice.” (Maverick)

With Anchorage”s Alex Weed. An up and coming bluesman, Alex tours clubs and festivals nationwide, including 2007’s Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival. His raspy, soulful vocals reflect an unusual depth of understanding, reminiscent of a young Otis Redding or Ray Charles. In between gigs, Alex studies as a guitar performance major at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The concert will begin at 7:30 pm on Saturday, August 30 in the Susan B. English School Commons. Tickets will be on sale at the gate beginning at 7 pm, at the usual prices.

While we had only a few attendees at this weekend’s workshop, everyone said they had a good time. Judging from the piles of supplies, inspiring books, and projects, it was a productive time. You can see what we all did in the workshop photo album.

In fact, everyone had such a good time that we may look at doing this on an ongoing basis, perhaps every month or two, to broaden the availability of resources and expertise in the community. Would you like a chance to bring a project or supplies, look through published works on a wide assortment of book-related topics, and work with other artists on a book or journal project of your own? If so, leave a comment here and we’ll take the matter up at an upcoming meeting.

There will be a regular meeting of the Seldovia Arts Council on Monday, August 10 at 10 am in the public library.

The agenda will include:

Old business:

• Wrap-up of Celtibilites
• Minutes
• Treasurers’ report

New Business:

• Journal-making workshop: this will be held on Aug. 15 - 16 in the Multipurpose Room
• Guitar Master’s Workshop: This will be held on Aug. 30– Labor Day Weekend. This event still needs a chair and there are 5 people needing housing.
• Selection of an interim secretary
• Do you have other things you would like to discuss ????

A copy of the press release on the August 30 Guitar Masters concert is now available for download.

Instructors Susan Mumma and Savannah Lewis will be sharing some of what they learned in a previous Seldovia Arts Council book-making workshop and encouraging the class to use book-embellishment techniques to enrich a journal of their choice.

The workshop will consist of one evening and one full day, beginning Friday evening at 7 pm and resuming on Saturday at 10 am.

That first evening will be introductory. We’ll look at some of the things that can be called books in a show-and-tell from that previous workshop as well as having a number of books on hand to demonstrate yet more techniques and provide inspiration. There will also be a writing exercise to get us started thinking about a journal entry, even for those who don’t plan on focusing their journals on written content.

Saturday will be devoted to creating a journal, either from scratch or by adding to a purchased volume, and then completing a journal entry of some kind. Materials will be brought in by participants, with a few special tools shared among the group.

While this workshop will offer a lot of inspirations and potentials, it’s up to each participant to choose a direction of their own. Journals come in many types and many forms, so each participant will want something a little different. This doesn’t have to be a serious and weighty document; we endorse frivolity and joy. Create a diary, a travel record, a book of daily sketches, poetry, multimedia works, photography, embellishment, textiles, a collection of doodles made while listening on the phone, a pet journal, a dream record, a serial journal to be contributed to in turn with another person, a food or tv or movie or book log and review journal, a collection of life goals, a personal cookbook of recipes, a pet-peeve rant collection or voodoo doll sketch pool, a project notebook, an enhanced address book with whole pages about your contacts, a spiritual quest, a special holiday–there are lots of things we can collect and savor in a journal.

We’ll be posting a suggested materials and links list shortly, so check back to this entry for a class handout download. Update: Here’s your workshop handout, available for download in pdf format.

The workshop fee will be $15 and both sessions will be held in the Multipurpose Room. Participants are also encouraged to bring a snack to share on Saturday; coffee and tea will be provided.

Questions? Email journaling@seldoviaartscouncil.org.

Instructors Kate and Betsy have posted a few changes to their yoga class schedule. T’ai Chi sessions have been canceled and the Wednesday evening yoga session has been cut due to lack of interest. The current class schedule is:

Monday @ lunch 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Tuesday 8:30 - 9:45 AM
Thursday 8:30 - 9:45 AM
Saturday 9:00 - 10:30 AM

The Celtibillies put on a great show Saturday night.

There was even dancing!

More photos are available in our concert photo album.

Did you take photos of the show? Share them! Leave a comment here with a link to where you’ve posted them online or email them to photos@seldoviaartscouncil.org and we’ll post them for you.

The Seldovia Arts Council brings the Celtibillies to Seldovia this Saturday, August 2, at 8pm.

These four musicians are steeped in their native Appalachian music, but also are strongly influenced by Celtic melodies. The happy result is a beautifully unique sound. Native to southwest Virginia, Becky Barlow, Jack Hinshelwood, Tom Sauls, and Patrick Turner have grown beyond their origins as a contradance band. They use high energy vocal arrangements and satisfying harmony accompanied by fiddle, hammered dulcimer, banjo, guitar and various rhythm instruments to create spirited jigs, reels, waltzes and breakdowns. Don’t miss this very special concert!

“Interweaves Bluegrass and Irish music on a mind-reeling collection of instruments”—Washington Post

A band of great imagination and versatility”—Sing Out

“Sparkling dulcimer arrangements are gorgeous”—Dirty Linen

The performance will be at 8pm at the Susan B English School. Tickets are available at the door starting one half hour before the performance at our usual prices.