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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2020)
7 Wednesday, January 22, 2020 GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon QUICK TAKES BlueMountaineers play at Saturday’s community dance a brief look at what’s happening in northeast oregon Elwood stops in Baker City LA GRANDE — A dance with music by The BlueMountaineers starts at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Union County Senior Center, 1504 N. Albany St., La Grande. The evening includes a finger-food pot- luck, door prizes and George Neer’s “famous” homemade ice cream. All ages welcome. Admission is $3 at the door (younger than 12 are free). Learn the art of Celtic knots Feb. 6 BAKER CITY — Ginger Rem- bold will teach “Celtic Knots — Circle Designs” from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 6 at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2020 Auburn Ave., Baker City. Students will learn to create Celtic knotwork circle designs us- ing grids and dots as a guide. The process taught in this class may be used to make personalized cards and posters or as a meditative practice. Cost is $10 members or $15 for nonmembers. The class is open to age 12 through adult. To register, call 541-523-5369, stop by the center, or go to www.crossroads- arts.org. Register early for Josephy Center beading workshop JOSEPH — Roger Amerman will lead a workshop on Plateau- style beading Feb. 7-9 at the Jose- phy Center for Arts and Culture, 403 N. Main St., Joseph. The three-day, 14-hour work- shop is limited to eight students on a first come, first served basis. Workshop participants will learn “contour” and “lane” bead stitch- ing and create a beaded neck bag. Beginners as well as experienced bead-workers are welcome. The cost is $100 per student, plus mate- rials (approximately $25). Amerman is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Okla- homa and an accomplished artist whose work has been featured throughout the United States, Lefty’s Taphouse welcomes Elwood to Baker City Friday. including the Smithsonian Institu- tion in Washington, D.C. He has developed strong ties with Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Perce communities and has writ- ten, lectured and taught across the West. He resides on his wife’s reservation, the Nez Perce Reserva- tion of Idaho. To register or for more informa- tion, go to www.josephy.org or call 541-432-0505. Elwood performs at Lefty’s Friday BAKER CITY — Elwood will play at Lefty’s Taphouse, 1934 Broadway St., Baker City, at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 during his winter tour of Oregon and California. The bio on his website — www. elwood-music.com — describes his music like this: “What is it that moves your soul? For Elwood it has always been the ever awe inspir- ing serenity and shear power of Mother Nature and you can feel it in his music.” WEEKEND OUTLOOK Baker Community Orchestra begins rehearsals BAKER CITY — The Baker Community Orchestra will begin its winter/spring 2020 season Jan. 23 with registration at 6:30 p.m. and its first rehearsal at 7 p.m. in the Baker High School band room. Rehearsals will continue weekly on Thursdays from 7-8:30 p.m. The season will conclude with a concert in early April. The group is open to anyone who plays a band or orchestra instru- ment. There is no audition require- ment, nor any charge to play. There are a few loaner instruments available. For more information, call Brian Watt at 541-523-4662 or email bandswatt1@gmail.com. Unique chamber series concert tells story through song LA GRANDE — The Grande Ronde Symphony Association kicks off the decade with a unique chamber series concert featur- ing musical selections from Tony award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years.” Soprano Renee Wells and tenor Devin Frasier will entertain the audience in an intimate home setting Jan. 25 at 307 C Ave. in La Grande. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the performance begins at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be offered following the concert. Wells and Frasier will they take on the roles of a married couple dealing with the circumstances of life. Selections will share an emo- tional musical journey about two New Yorkers in their 20s who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. “This will be an unprecedented opportunity to hear pieces from a modern Broadway play (per- formed) by two of our region’s most well-known vocal artists,” GRSA’s president, Alice Trindle, said in a press release. “The Chamber Series was created for this type of presen- tation, so that local residents can experience music in small-space settings, while being exposed to exceptional quality performances.” Chamber series season ticket passes for the remaining four per- formances may be purchased for $100 per person through the GRSA at P.O. Box 824, La Grande 97850, or at www.granderondesymphony. org. Single tickets may be pur- chased at the door for $25 each. ments of the Arts. Otsuka tells the story of a Japanese family uprooted from its Berkeley, California, home after the start of World War II and forcibly relocated to an internment camp. They spend two harrowing years there before returning to a home far less welcoming than it was before the war. Using five distinct but inter- twined perspectives, Otsuka’s graceful prose evokes the family’s range of responses to internment. The novel serves as a requiem for moral and civic decency in times of strife and fragmentation. According to the NEA’s website, Otsuka draws on both research and personal family experience, as well as her background as a vi- sual artist, to craft this crystalline, semi-autobiographical debut novel, winner of the American Library Association’s Alex Award and the Asian American Literary Award. Organized by Wallowa County’s Fishtrap and La Grande’s Art Center East, five weeks of spe- cial events and book discussions throughout Wallowa and Union counties kick off Feb. 19. Check www.fishtrap.org and www.artcen- tereast.org for updates on local Big Read events. Get reading — the Big Read kicks off Feb. 19 NORTHEAST OREGON — Residents of Wallowa and Union counties are encouraged to get reading in preparation for the 2020 Big Read featuring “When the Em- peror Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka. The Big Read is a nation-wide initiative of the National Endow- FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY High 39 Low 26 High 34 Low 30 High 46 Low 33 Mostly cloudy Cloudy Cloudy and milder
