Every second Friday of the month, the Northwest Indian College Tulalip site invites community members to take part in an open mic night. It’s an evening of creative poets, singers, and comedians sharing their talents and thoughts. Join in on the fun and express yourself on the mic or just enjoy the show.
The next open mic night will feature the theme “Survivors of Violence” and will take place at the Tulalip Tribes Administration Building, Room 162, on Friday, February 8th from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Admission is free.
The Tulalip Tribes Administration Building is located on 6406 Marine Drive, Tulalip, WA 98271. For more information on NWIC and open mic night, visit http://www.nwic.edu/
MARYSVILLE — The Ken Baxter Community Center, located at 514 Delta Ave. in Marysville, is hosting a Spring Craft Show on Saturday, April 13.
Quality hand-made gifts include Spring and Mother’s Day items, gifts for pets, children, hats, tutus, stained glass, jewelry, plants, garden items, wood crafts and much more. Great turnout is expected. The show is slated to be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Parks and Recreation Department is currently accepting applications for vendors. Call for an application or email mburgess@marysvillewa.gov.
This is a juried show. Table cost is $50 inside and $25 outside. For complete details call 360-363-8450.
Marilyn Sheldon demonstrates the art of making Pendleton bags.
Crafting Pendleton bags at the Hibulb Cultural Center
Article and photo by Jeannie Briones
Admirers of the bright and colorful patterns of Pendleton wool were in for a treat at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center on January 26th. Marilyn Sheldon, a Tulalip tribal member and artisan, shared her inspiration for making unique Pendleton bags with community members attending the Hibulb’s Cultural Series.
Taught how to sew by her mother, Marilyn turns second hand fabric scraps into gorgeous purses, pillows, backpacks, and more. “Recycle, utilize every piece you can. Don’t throw anything away, even your scraps. Pieces you get from the thrift shop can turn into to amazing beautiful gifts,” said Marilyn.
Sharing over ten years of experience in bag making, Marilyn gave a step-by-step demonstration on how to sew a small handbag, beginning with the layout, basic construction and measuring of the bag.
“You can’t make anything overnight; your best piece will take months. I really think about what I want to do. What would make them happy, what is something unique they don’t have, what is something they would use – and bring it to reality,” said Marilyn.
She also offered helpful tips on ways to save time and to save money by shopping at thrift stores and using handles from old purses. One example shown by Marilyn was a bag made from a second hand skirt, which comes with lining already sewn in.
Marilyn created her first personalized bag for herself last year – a vibrant pink golf bag, complete with her initials “M.S.” and “Golf Girl” inscribed on it. She is also planning on making her first Pendleton coat.
These gorgeous bags cannot be found in any stores, because Marilyn has no intentions of ever selling them, instead she simple enjoys making people happy through gifting her handmade items.
Marilyn has fun making these special bags and encourages others to learn. “This is a good way for people to utilize hands, heart, and mind,” explained Marilyn.
The Arlington Arts Council will present two shows to brighten up the dark winter days in the Romantic Winter Music Festival on two Saturdays in February.
On Saturday, Feb. 9, Last Leaf Productions will offer “Sweet and Hot,” a musical revue originally conceived by Julianne Boyd to showcase the musical works of Harold Arlen, a prolific composer from 1930-1970.
Together with popular lyricists including Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and Truman Capote, Arlen wrote hundreds of songs that have become standards in American music. His work includes “Get Happy,” “Stormy Weather,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” and the songs from The Wizard of Oz including “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
Terence Alaric Levitt is music director and accompanist for the show. A composer himself, Levitt has written many shows produced in the Seattle area and in California where he studied music and composition. He will be joined by Keith Ruby to fill out the musical accompaniment for the show.
Performers include Pat Haines-Ainsworth, who played Sister Hubert in Last Leaf’s production of “Nunsense” that played in the Byrnes Performing Arts Center two years ago. Also featured are Jonathan Reis, Emily Cawley, Krista Erickson and Buddy Mahoney who have collectively performed on many western Washington stages including Village Theatre, Northwest Savoyards and Seattle Musical Theatre.
On February 16, the Grammy Award-winning duo Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel return to Arlington for their first local performance since the grand opening of the BPAC in 2007.
Tingstad provides Americana finger-style guitar which is complemented by Rumbel’s wistful high-toned oboe floating gracefully above Tingstad’s gently swirling hypnotic guitar lines. On some pieces Rumbel plays English horn, and she adds a jig flavor with a peppy ocarina, which is much like a penny whistle.
The duo has released many albums, including Acoustic Garden, The Gift, Woodlands, In the Garden and Legends.
Both concerts start 7:30 p.m. at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center, 18821 Crown Ridge Blvd., adjacent to Arlington High School.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance online at brownpapertickets.com and at Flowers by George, 335 N. Olympic Ave., in downtown Arlington. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
Please join us for Lushootseed Family Nights where you can gather with loved ones and learn to speak the words off our ancestors. Scheduled for every Tuesday in February and March 20113 at the Hibulb Cultural Center from 5pm-7pm.
Jim Pepper was known for pioneering the fusion jazz movement as well as being the kind of musical innovator who blended jazz with American Indian music.Jazz aficionados are well aware of Pepper’s composition “Witchi Tai To,” today a jazz classic that was a crossover hit between jazz and the top 40 popular song list when it was first produced in the mid-’60s.
Pepper’s life is celebrated in the film documentary “Pepper’s Pow Wow,” showing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hibulb Cultural Center on the Tulalip Reservation, 6410 23rd Ave. NE, Tulalip.
Admission for adults is $10. For more information call Hibulb at 360-716-2600 or online atwww.hibulbculturalcenter.org/.
Sandy Osawa will present the one-hour film. Osawa, a Makah, is the first American Indian filmmaker to produce on a national broadcast scale and has made 16 broadcast films.
She and her husband, cameraman and editor Yasu Osawa, will answer questions following the film.
Pepper’s heritage is Creek and Kaw and the film shows a rare, personal glimpse into the life of this jazz innovator, who made his name on the European stage rather than back home in America.
The film pays tribute to Pepper’s life along with sharing his music, including a recording of his grandfather, Ralph Pepper, singing the original chant that became the basis for “Witchi Tai To.”
Pepper played the tenor saxophone and the film opens with him performing the song “Caddo Revival” during the Kaw Pow Wow in Oklahoma, where Pepper grew up.
In the film, Pepper is recorded as saying music created by American Indians “comes directly from the ground, from the earth, from the four directions and the music is a healing force.”
Along with documenting Pepper’s life, the film delves into the birth of the jazz-rock fusion movement of the mid-1960s. The film includes footage of Pepper’s band, the first jazz-rock fusion band called The Free Spirits.
Filmmaker Osawa hopes that Pepper’s life “can be a metaphor for many indigenous people who are struggling to walk in two worlds with one spirit,” she said in a statement.
“Pepper’s Pow Wow” has been shown on the Public Broadcasting Station with funding by the Independent Television Service. Osawa’s films are available at www.upstreamvideos.com.
ARLINGTON — The city of Arlington and the Stillaguamish Tribe welcome locals and out-of-towners alike to attend the sixth annual Eagle Festival on Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2, in Arlington. The Stillaguamish watershed hosts large concentrations of bald eagles during the winter, when they feed on the spawning salmon.
This year, in an effort to make the festival a two-day event, organizers have added activities on Friday, including a rafting trip on the Stillaguamish River. To make a reservation, call North Cascades River Expeditions at 1-800-634-8433. The cost is $60. Also on Friday, the Predators of the Heart Wild Animal Show will start at 7 p.m. at Eagle Creek Elementary. This event is new to the Eagle Festival and is sponsored by Calvary of Arlington.
The Arlington Arts Council will again be conducting its Nature Art Show at Magnolia Hall. The show opens on Friday at 5 p.m. with an artists’ reception and wine tasting, and continues on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Included in the show are a Nature Art Contest and an Eagle Photograph Contest. Cash prizes will be awarded. For more details, log onto www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefest.
Also included in the Eagle Festival is a Nature Poetry Contest whose details can be found online, again, at www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefest. Fogdog Gallery will be displaying the poems and providing prizes at 233 N. Olympic Ave.
Starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, city Natural Resource Manager Bill Blake will lead a short walk through the city’s Storm Water Wetland Park, and along the Stillaguamish River’s Eagle Trail. Participants should meet at the Haller Park parking lot, located at 1100 West Ave. From 10 a.m. to noon, wildlife biologists will be giving tours at the Port Susan Bay Nature Conservancy.
For a personal encounter with a live bird, guests should stop by the Sarvey Wildlife open house from noon to 4 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 110 E. Third St. Sarvey Wildlife staff will be showing many birds of prey. Nature exhibits and representatives from Western Wildlife Outreach, Sound Salmon Solutions, Pilchuck Audubon Society and Snohomish Conservation District will be on site from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Representatives from Sound Salmon Solutions will be presenting “Tree Tenders” at 11 a.m. at the Depot at Legion Park.
The Country Carvers Chainsaw Show will return Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Legion Park. Chainsaw artists from across the Pacific Northwest will carve eagles and other art, and an auction at 3 p.m. on Saturday will sell those carvings to the public, while the best-in-show title is awarded.
For more information on the Eagle Festival, please visit the city of Arlington’s website at www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefestor call 360-403-3448.
A number of Canadian musicians have joined forces to show their support for Idle No More, the movement of First Nations people for “healthy, just, equitable and sustainable communities.”
According to the CBC, Feist, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, Blue Rodeo, former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page and The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie have signed a petition backing the movement. The petition was started by Weakerthans’ singer John K. Samson just before Christmas (Dec. 21) and originally sent it through various contacts.
“The response was immediate and huge, from artists of all disciplines, genres and mediums,” Samson said, adding he got the idea after a conversation with his friend and writer Leanne Simpson, a member of the Alderville First Nation. “It’s fundamental to how we think of ourselves and our identity and what a fair and just society should be. Artists have to be right at the forefront of that, it didn’t surprise me that so many replied with enthusiastic support.”
The statement, dubbed Canadian Artists Statement of Solidarity with Idle No More, reads:
“We recognize that our identity as Canadian artists is coloured by the shameful and continued history of injustice and colonialism, and support the Idle No More movement’s demands that Canadians honour and fulfill Indigenous sovereignty, repair violations against land and water, and live the intent and spirit of our Treaty relationship.”
Samson has also contributed the song “www.ipetitions.com/petition/rivertonrifle'” from his 2012 Provincial album to a benefit compilation being organized by Holly McNarland, a strong supporter of the movement who has taken to Twitter to get the message out. And argue with those opposed to the movement.
“I bit the bait and got into it about #idlenomore,” she tweeted on Jan. 6 “A racist mind is like a chastity belt but not worth it, throw the F’N key away.”
Other musicians who have signed the petition include Ian Blurton, Christine Fellows, The Sadies, Sarah Harmer and Bif Naked.
