Two Portland groups play two local shows
Robin Bacior, Grand Lake Islands to release new albums
LONG BEACH, Wash. and ASTORIA —
Portland bands Robin Bacior and
Grand Lake Islands are embark-
ing on tours in honor of their new
respective albums. Both groups
will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday,
Jan. 8 at the Adrift Hotel, located
at 409 Sid Snyder Drive in Long
Beach, Washington. Then, both
will play at 9 p.m. Friday, Jan 9
at the Voodoo Room, located at
1114 Marine Drive in Astoria.
Bacior’s voice speaks of a
much older soul. Born and raised
in California, Bacior took great
traditions and brought them with
her to New York. She began col-
laborating with cellist Dan Bind-
schedler, combining classical
arrangements with simple folk
structures. In 2012, Bacior re-
located to Portland, and she and
Bindschedler collaborated cross -
country. During this time, Bacior
had frequent dreams about bod-
ies of water, and felt they signi-
-
whelming amount of transition.
As a result, Bacior wrote a
new collection of songs, later
named “Water Dreams,” her
album that comes out Tuesday,
Submitted photo
Grand Lake Islands is a collective led by
songwriter Erik Emanuelson.
Jan. 13. The songs center around
Bacior’s departure from New
York, the collapse of paths that
felt certain, and humbly mov-
ing forward — essentially, how
it feels when it doesn’t work
out. Bacior brought the songs
to Bindschedler (who has since
moved to Portland), and the two
sat down and arranged more
was then presented to recording
engineer/producer Rian Lewis.
The result is something with-
in the realm of New Music; a
classical duet playing composed
pieces fused with experimen-
tation. Bacior uses the piano as
a rhythmic base while Bind-
schedler laces his cello’s sound
through various pedals, creating
a more atmospheric, sonical-
ly wide space. Throughout the
cello/piano movement, Bacior’s
alto vocals carry their own strong
melodies.
Grand Lake Islands is also
releasing a new record, “Song
From Far,” on Jan. 20. Grand
Lake Islands is a collective band
led by songwriter Erik Eman-
uelson. The project began in
New York City as Emanuelson’s
evening pastime while teaching
English. As his songs grew in-
creasingly stronger, he decided
to leave his career and focus
on music, moving to Portland.
There he met collaborators Evan
Krogh (guitar/lap Steel), Kyle
Hartlet (bass) and Bob Reynolds
(drums).
Grand Lake Islands’ forth-
coming “Song From Far” was
produced by Victor Nash at Des-
tination Universe. It was record-
ed following a highly productive
period of collaboration between
band members during Portland’s
bleakest months. The songs re-
change that occurred in Emanu-
elson’s life.
Emanuelson’s
expressive
tenor delivers lyrics soaked with
stark emotional landscapes.
Themes of isolation and uncer-
tainty are echoed in songs like
“Silver Moon,” where he sings,
“emergency red, and outdat-
ed, with an ear to an unplugged
phone, pacing around waiting
for that old dial tone.” Yet other
and “Monterey,” evoke a kind of
carefree lightness.
Recorded mostly live, the
album’s synchronized energy
feels cohesive as it moves from
ethereal texture to more straight-
forward folk-country grooves.
The songs break into wide-
open brightness with sparkling
guitar, swelling lap steel, and
snapping snare hits before being
swallowed again by interludes
of dark, aerial, nearly distorted
tones. With one eye to the dark-
ness drifting over the horizon
and one eye on the light coming
over the other, “Song From Far”
is a snapshot of a sky in motion.
ENCORE starts winter classes, welcomes new members
ASTORIA — ENCORE stands
for Exploring New Concepts
of Retirement Education and
is for adults 50 years old and
older. It is a volunteer-led orga-
nization that operates under the
auspices of Clatsop Communi-
ty College.
Annual membership is
$50 and includes more than
20 classes offered during fall,
winter and spring sessions
scheduled to correspond with
the college calendar as well
as computer and library priv-
ileges at CCC. The beauty of
ENCORE classes is there is no
homework (except for reading
in the book group), and there
are no grades. You can sign up
for one class or even for all the
classes, whatever your sched-
ule allows because there are no
overlapping times for the class-
es. Classes are offered either in
Astoria or Seaside.
The Curriculum Committee
sets up the class schedule based
on suggestions from ENCORE
members, most of whom have
to teach, including several for-
mer professors. If you want
to keep your mind active or if
you are curious about a topic,
consider coming to a trial class
before joining.
Winter Session begins Mon-
day Jan. 12 with Folk Dancing
led by Drew Herzig. Then,
Tuesday morning is Beginning
Pottery; Tuesday afternoon is
Pick Your Favorite Decade,
where class members can talk
about some personal memo-
ries. Wednesday morning is
Science Exchange, where class
members can bring in articles
of interest or the moderators
suggest topics from science-re-
lated headlines; Wednesday
afternoon is The Bible: A New
and Different Look, using his-
torical events mentioned in the
Bible but discussed in a historic
context. Thursday morning is
Philosophy of Art led by CCC
Philosophy Instructor Seth
Tichenor; Thursday afternoon
is Memoir Writing. Friday is
Book Group led by CCC U.S.
History Instructor Steve Berk.
The book to be discussed is
“The New American Milita-
rism” by Andrew Bacevich.
In the spring, Folk Dancing,
Science Exchange and Book
Group will be offered again
along with several other inter-
esting classes yet to be sched-
uled.
One special class called In-
side the Coast Guard is being
developed for the spring by
Erhard Gross, an ENCORE
member and former profes-
sor. He will be working with
a designated U.S. Coast Guard
representative to complete
sub-topics of the presentation,
such as history of the Coast
Guard, command structure,
rescue unit Cape Disappoint-
ment and more. The ENCORE
Trip Committee will be work-
ing with Gross to schedule
visits to various Coast Guard
installations of interest.
The ENCORE Membership
Committee works to recruit
and retain members by orga-
nizing social events. Dec. 16
was the annual ENCORE Holi-
day Bash at the Riverview Buf-
fet in Astoria, which included
a buffet dinner, a holiday sing-
a-long with the North Coast
Ukulele Strummers, and guest
speaker Sydney Stevens, who
talked about holidays on the
Coty Hogue plays the Fort
Hear American roots, Appalachian folk
ASTORIA — Coty Hogue’s
got something different in her.
Maybe it’s from growing up in a
Montana town several orders of
magnitude below small; maybe
it comes from immersing herself
in a folk music tradition that ex-
tends back for centuries. What-
ever it is, you’d be hard-pressed
But when Hogue picks up
her banjo and lets her voice out,
there it is.
You’d think she’s a pretty
young gal, but her voice gives
her away when she sings
Appalachian songs. That voice,
pitched low and steady, keeps
raising chills. Then she’ll apol-
ogize for playing too many sad
songs in a row and launch into a
fast-picking barnburner.
Frequently accompanied by
Aaron Guest (12-string guitar)
song selection runs the gamut
of American roots music: a little
blues, a pinch of swing, a spoon-
ful of classic opry.
Hear Hogue perform at 8
p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11 at the Fort
George Brewery, located at
1483 Duane St.
Submitted photo
Coty Hogue plays at the Fort George Brewery Sunday, Jan. 11.
Long Beach Peninsula.
Look for a Chinese New
Year’s event in February and
a guest speaker social in the
spring as well. This commit-
tee also organizes ENCORE’s
Lunch Bunch, which meets at
different locations at noon on
For more information about
ENCORE, visit www.encore-
learn.org or contact Evy Javadi
or Mary Fryling at 503-338-
2408.
January 8, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 7