Ray Booker, the prominent Anchorage musician who started the annual Jazz Fighting Hunger fundraiser in 1997, says the event on Sunday will be the last. "I will be migrating south later this winter and officially become a snowbird," Booker wrote in an email. "Because I will not be sure of when I will be in-state, I am bringing the project to a close."
The project has raised more than $125,000 for the Food Bank of Alaska over the years. That's equivalent to half a million meals, the way the Food Bank squeezes dollars. Here's hoping they draw a few dollars more at the final installment, starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Anchorage Museum.
As usual, there'll be hors d'oeuvres, a no-host bar and a silent auction when the doors open. The music will start at 7:45 p.m. and continue until 9 p.m.
Joining an all-star lineup of Alaska musicians will be Bay Area keyboard man Scott Lawrence, who has toured the country and the world with the likes of the Beach Boys, Santana, Jesse Colin Young, Elvin Bishop and Country Joe and the Fish. Lawrence will be returning to the town where he was a regular part of the music scene 30 years ago.
Lawrence began playing with Big Mitch at the old Midnight Express, joined the ChromaZone trio and connected with Booker in the classic jazz group Pyramid. In the 1990s he went to Texas, where he got a master's degree in jazz studies, then moved to California, where he's based his career as a performer and teacher ever since.
Tickets, $50, are available at centertix.net. As always, all proceeds benefit the Food Bank.
Art awards announced
The Alaska State Council on the Arts announced the recipients of two of the state's most eminent art honors on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Four writers were selected from 47 applications to receive the Alaska Literary Awards: poets Jill Osier of Fairbanks and Alyse Knorr or Anchorage, Kyle Mellen of Fairbanks, a finalist for the Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award in 2011, and Christine Byl of Healy, best known for her well-received memoir, "Dirt Work." Each of the four receives $5,000.
Four other Alaskans were chosen from 52 applicants for the Connie Boochever Fellowship. They are painter Austin Parkhill of Homer, photographer John Hagen of Haines, multimedia artist Enzina Marrari of Anchorage and Ellen Frankenstein of Sitka, maker of several important documentaries, including "Carved from the Heart," "Eating Alaska" and "Miles from the Border."
Writing contest is on
The annual UAA/Alaska Dispatch News Creative Writing Contest is now accepting submissions. This will be the 34th year that we've looked for new work from Alaska's best -- but sometimes least-recognized -- writers from around the state. As in previous years, there will be cash prizes and winning submissions will be published in We Alaskans, tentatively in mid-May. Whether fiction, nonfiction or poetry, work must be original and previously unpublished. Get the details at at adn.com/creativewritingcontest. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 12.
Southeast artist honored in D.C.
Crystal Worl of Alaska was one of five Native American artists celebrated at a reception held on Oct. 27 at the Vice President's Residence in Washington, D.C. Each artist had been commissioned to create 10 prints -- for a total of 50 prints -- to be exhibited at U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.
Worl, a Tlingit Athabascan, also works in jewelry, metals, painting and glass, focusing on traditional Tlingit formline designs to which she applies new techniques and ways of modernizing them. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The reception was hosted by Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill. The other four artists in the project are Tony Abeyta (Navajo), Jeff Kahm (Plains Cree), Courtney Leonard (Shinnecock) and Dan Namingha (Tewa-Hopi).
Loussac book sale underway
The annual Fall Book Sale, sponsored by Friends of the Library, is taking place at Loussac Library this weekend, with an extended schedule and new format and location, all due to the ongoing construction.
For starts, the sale is taking place in the "dungeon," so called because it's under the rest of the library in the storage area on the west side of the first floor. Follow the signs.
Hours are 6-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, and noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. All materials unsold at the close of business Saturday will be marked half price on Sunday.
The book sale is the biggest fundraiser for the city's library system and helps support materials and programs that are not usually covered by public money.
Funny, but important -- and free!
Providence Hospice will present several free performances of a quirky, light-hearted play about end-of-life decisions. You read that right. "Dusk," by Bryan Harnetiaux, is described as humorous and family-friendly.
The plot involves a man who, after a heart attack, has to discuss the choices with his family, including tough decisions like those surrounding the legal ins and outs of an advance directive, instructing them on what to do in the event that he can't speak for himself. Bill Cotton is in the lead role. Diane Benson directs. Professionals from Providence Health & Services Alaska and Providence Hospice will discuss the play after each show and answer questions.
The performances, which are all free, will take place as follows:
5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, Providence Alaska Medical Center, East Auditorium
7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center, 22424 Birchwood Loop Road, Chugiak
7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Mountain View Public Library, 120 Bragaw St., Anchorage
3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center, 22424 Birchwood Loop Road, Chugiak
Leaping to Ohio
Last year we interviewed several young dancers taking part in the Anchorage Concert Association's production of "The Nutcracker." One of them, Rose Montgomery-Webb, is now a trainee with the BalletMet Dance Academy in Columbus, Ohio, and will perform in that company's "Nutcracker" from Dec.11-27. She'll have roles as both a soldier and the First Angel.
In last year's Anchorage staging, she danced the part of Fritz in all the performances and, as we recall, did a mighty fine job with it.
Bring out your pictures
The UAA Bookstore continues its series of author talks and presentations with two upcoming events. UAA Spanish professor Francisco Miranda will present commentary and recitations from the anthology "A Gray Barn Rising" at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Spanish language poets in the book include Pablo Neruda and Federico Garcia Lorca.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, Samantha Hill and Carolyn Kozak will address the place of family photos in historic and art exhibitions. Hill, Rasmuson artist in residence at the Anchorage Museum, is known for a collection of photos, mainly of African-Americans, taken between 1867 and 2012 known as "The Kinship Project." Kozak is the curator of "100 Snapshots," opening at the museum on Nov. 13.
Parking is free at the university on Saturdays and, for the Tuesday event, in the Library Lot, Library N.E. Lot and East Garage. Both events will take place in the Consortium Library, Room 307, and will be free.
Chiu album in running for Grammys
Frederic Chiu, who performed a program of Debussy and Prokofiev at UAA on May 1 and was the juror for the Alaska Piano Competition that followed, is getting high marks for his new album, recorded a month before the Anchorage concert. "Album" may not be the right word. "Distant Voices" is billed as an audio and visual project. Featuring music by Debussy and Chinese composer Gao Ping (featured in the trailer with Chiu vocalizing as he plays), it's the first classical music release from Yamaha Entertainment Group of America and uses Yamaha's Disklavier technology. Chiu has been a Yamaha artist for 26 years, which may astound those who thought he looked 25 when he played here. The release party concert took place in Los Angeles on Sept. 20 and the album is now under consideration for Grammy Awards in eight categories, a roster that ranges from solo performance to world music to album notes.
This may be a good place to note that the next visiting pianist to perform in the UAA Arts Building recital hall will be Sara Davis Buechner, whose program on Friday, Nov. 13, will include Mozart and a bunch of Gershwin; we understand she does a rip-roaring job of "Rhapsody in Blue." Tickets are available at uaatix.com.