music

Hear harmonic state spoofs and more

Imagine the story of Alaska in song, a glorious explosion of facts and voices usually reserved for the legislative chamber.

Only these guys can really sing, and by "these guys" I mean Anchorage's Midnight Sons A Cappella Chorus and their guests, Vocal Spectrum.

"First we do an a cappella spoof of Alaska, kind of like how Carol Burnett would do it if she did a cappella," said Steve Stripling, one of the singers and public relations volunteers for Midnight Sons. "It's lighthearted humor, sort of like a high school play with old guys in the parts -- but endearing."

The second act features Vocal Spectrum (www.vocalspectrum. com), the 2006 Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Champions who sing everything from Bobby Darin and The Beach Boys to the "Barber of Seville."

"People hear these guys and just can't believe there are only four voices making all that music," said Stripling.

The two quartets will perform "The Great BIG Alaska Show" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and July 11 at Snow Goose Theatre (717 W. Third Ave). Tickets are $18 through Midnight Sons (www.midnight sons.com, 332-7464) or Center-Tix (www.centertix.net, 263-2787).

-- Dawnell Smith

visual art

Learn to turn junk into funk

Unique Ways Studio promotes the making of eco-art as a core mission, using its space as a venue for teaching how to turn throwaways into functional, beautiful, thoughtful arts or crafts.

"We're all about reusing, recycling, reducing," said Linda Warford, who co-owns the business with Jerelyn Miyashiro. The work on the walls "usually comes out of our classes. It's the student work."

The two eco-artists eventually want to sponsor festivals and other events but are currently focusing on several eco-art classes, including this month's course in making totes from plastic grocery bags on Wednesday, July 16 and 23; and next month's workshops on binding journals, sketch books and notebooks from waste paper and cardboard are on Aug. 6, 13 and 20.

Classes are from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Unique Ways Studio at E. 207 Northern Lights, No. 112, in the Northern Lights Professional Building across from Barnes and Noble Bookstore (www.unique waysstudio.com). The cost is $30 per class. Sign up online, via e-mail at uniquewaysstudio@gmail.com or by calling 441-4601.

-- Dawnell Smith

fashion

Grab some funky bags

If you want fireworks in your fashion, check out "Frieda's Funky Mod Bags" at Sevigny Studios this week.

A mostly self-taught seamstress in Houston, Alaska, Frieda Schoon started sewing about three years ago and quickly took up the habit of mixing fabrics, buttons, trim and other embellishments in everything from diaper bags and messenger bags to purses and totes.

With a home-based business and Web site, Schoon stitches for a living -- like her mother and sister, who both own seamstress businesses in Michigan and probably never expected Schoon to follow in their footsteps.

"I was the tomboy athlete who didn't want anything to do with that stuff," she said, "but when I started getting into it, I thought, 'Hey this isn't so hard. I can figure it out.' "

Technical mastery in hand, she looks for funky, vibrant cottons and corduroys, often online, and then comes up with patchwork bags of all kinds, including custom orders upon request (www.lrhdesigns.net, friedaschoon@yahoo.com).

A show of her work opens today from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and continues through Thursday at Sevigny Studios (706 W. Fourth Ave.), but the shop stocks her bags throughout the year.