Arts and Entertainment

Alaska's Loch Ness monster revealed, dancing skeletons and battling poets highlight arts this week

Alaska's 'Loch Ness monster'

A giant mural showing Alaska sealife from, oh, 75-plus million years ago will be unveiled at an Open Studio ceremonial event on Friday. Artist James Havens has been working on the 32-foot piece for months, with help from local kids and volunteers who are all invited to stop by and sign the back of the canvas. There'll be music, snacks, work stations for young people, fossils and a sculpture of the head of the painting's centerpiece, a snake-necked plesiosaur discovered in the Talkeetna Mountains. Ossie Kairaiuak from Pamyua will perform a drum tribute to the creatures from the age of dinosaurs. The free event will go from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former Natural Pantry store at the north end of the University Center Mall.

The Classic Slam returns

Camille Conte will emcee the Classic Poetry Slam at Tap Root on Thursday, Oct. 13 — which means you have plenty of time to practice. There'll be cash prizes and celebrity judges including Melissa Mitchell, Steve Heimel, Daphne DoAll LaChores, Julie Decker, Phillip Blanchett (another Pamyua dude) and U.S. Senate candidate Ray Metcalfe. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Poets must sign up at the door between 6 and 6:30 and have four original poems not previously performed at an Anchorage slam. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For more information call 907-717-8578.

Concerto for Big Bad Wolf and orchestra

The Anchorage Symphony will play the score live as Walt Disney's classic "Silly Symphony" cartoons are shown on the big screen Saturday. The ground-breaking and Oscar-winning animated shorts were created between 1929 and 1939 and laid the groundwork for future Disney work from "Snow White" to "Beauty and the Beast," with dancing skeletons, animated trees and musical instruments and revisited fairy tales like "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Three Little Pigs." There'll be two shows at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ideal for old and young music lovers alike. Tickets are available at centertix.net.

 
 
 
 
 

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham was a longtime ADN reporter, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print. He retired from the ADN in 2017.

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