AUGUST 25, 2016 // 9
Enjoy an outdoor concert in Cannon Beach
Baby Gramps, Luke
Ydstie and Kati
Claborn to perform
Sunday, Aug. 28
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY DONNA CRISPIN
Sign up for a basketry workshop Sept. 10 in Seaside.
Transform invasive plant
into a thing of beauty
SEASIDE — Refashion the
leaves of invasive yellow
lag iris into a beautiful
hand-made basket.
North Coast Land Con-
servancy will host iber artist
Donna Crispin to teach a
hands-on basketry workshop
from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Sept. 10. The workshop will
be held at the conservancy’s
Circle Creek Habitat Re-
serve, located at the end of
Rippet Road in Seaside.
Participants will work
outside or, if the weather
is inclement, inside the
unheated barn and are urged
to dress accordingly. All
materials will be provided;
participants should bring a
lunch and water as well as
kitchen or basketry shears.
You can see examples
of Crispin’s work at donna-
crispin.blogspot.com
Crispin has been weaving
baskets and other ibers arts
for almost 30 years, incor-
porating Paciic Northwest
indigenous techniques, Japa-
nese aesthetics, and materi-
als and inspiration from the
natural world.
She has taught at Til-
lamook Bay Community
College, the University of
Oregon, the Sitka Center
for the Arts and Ecology,
Lane Community College,
the High Desert Museum in
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Donna Crispin will teach a
basketry workshop Sept. 10.
Bend, the Newport Paper
Arts Festival, the Tolovana
Arts Colony, the Sou’West-
er Lodge and more. She
has had basketry and
fiber art shows in Oregon,
Washington, California and
Colorado, and has been a
featured artist at the Can-
non Beach Arts Association
gallery. She is a member
of the National Basketry
Organization, the Colum-
bia Basin Basketry Guild
and the Natural Fiber Arts
Group.
Cost of the workshop is
$60 and includes all materi-
als; $10 of each registration
supports NCLC’s coastal
conservation work. For more
information or to register,
call NCLC Administrative
and Outreach Assistant
Lynette Villagomez at 503-
738-9126.
CANNON BEACH — On the
evening of Sunday, Aug.
28, the Tolovana Arts
Colony will present a free
concert in Cannon Beach’s
downtown park. The event
features Seattle’s legendary
Baby Gramps, Astoria’s
Luke Ydstie and Kati
Claborn (of Blind Pilot),
and more.
“If you feel like being
amazed,” wrote the es-
teemed music critic Robert
Christgau, “(Baby Gramps
is) a better bet than most.”
Indeed, Gramps’ funky,
freaky, funny folk is eclec-
tic, energetic, inclusive
and expertly performed.
Plucking and picking
a steel-bodied, Nation-
al-brand resonator guitar
with seeming abandon
and aplomb — as well as
croaking, occasionally
through an old metal mega-
phone — Gramps tech-
niques are both virtuosic
and revolutionary.
“He’s a performer with
a style so distinct you’ll
never forget it,” Christgau
continued, writing for the
Village Voice.
As memorable as his
guitar playing, so too is
Gramps’ scruffy style, tone,
humor and gravely vocal
chords. The New York
Times’ Ben Ratliff wrote
that Gramps sounded like
“Popeye after smoking an
entire tin of Prince Albert.”
Reviewing a collection
of sea chanteys, Rat-
liff christened Gramps’
performances “among the
album’s best.”
“(T)hat’s saying a lot,”
Ratliff continued, “among
the other contributors are
Sting, Lou Reed, Lucinda
Williams, Bono...”
Springing from tradi-
tions of early 20th century
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY JOHN CORNICELLO
Baby Gramps will bring his ragtime, blues and jazz to Cannon
Beach’s downtown city park Sunday, Aug. 28.
PHOTO BY JOSHUA BESSEX
Kati Claborn and Luke Ydstie will open the concert.
American ragtime, blues
and jazz, Gramps’ catalog
runs the gamut, from sea
to land, serious to whimsi-
cal, young to experienced.
Indeed, these are songs for
children of all ages. Among
some of Gramps’ age-span-
ning tunes are “Teddy
Bears’ Picnic,” “Let’s All
Be Fairies,” and “I’m Gon-
na Eat Some Worms.”
Setting the stage for
Baby Gramps are Luke and
Kati. From Astoria, the duo
are best known as members
of Blind Pilot where Luke
(Ydstie) plays bass and Kati
(Claborn) performs a myri-
ad of instruments, including
banjo, guitar, ukelele and
more. Both also contribute
backing vocals.
When not on national
tour with the critically
adored group, Ydstie and
Claborn are parts of the
Alialujah Choir, Hook &
Anchor, as well as regular
collaborators with a make-
shift family of musicians in
the Astoria area.
Last fall Ydstie re-
leased “Collected Essen-
tial Works,” his first solo
album. The Coast Week-
end called it “earnest, a
blending of crisp, strummy,
mid-tempo folk and sensi-
tive, lilting, plucky Ameri-
cana.” Claborn is featured
on the album as well. She
contributed lyrically and
sung backup vocals.
As Luke and Kati, the
duo’s strength and center
is singing in harmony —
something they do in all
the aforementioned groups.
The concert itself starts
at 6 p.m. But before, after
and between performances,
Cannon Beach’s DJ Beef
will keep the music going
with a cross-section of
world, popular and eclectic
selections. Hear the music
start at 5:30 p.m.
Located in Cannon
Beach’s downtown city
park, on Second and
Spruce streets, across from
Jupiter’s Rare and Used
Books, the early evening
event is free and open to
all. Attendees are welcome
to bring food, libations,
picnic baskets, blankets,
chairs and so on.
The event is produced
by the Tolovana Arts
Colony with support from
Cannon Beach’s Tourism
and Arts Commission. For
more information, visit
tolovanaartscolony.org,
email tolovanaartscolony@
gmail.com, or call 541-
215-4445.