18 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Hear Gerle Haggard at the Sou’Wester
SEAVIEW, Wash. — Gerle
Haggard returns to the Wash-
ington coast and the historic
Sou’Wester Lodge this
weekend. On Saturday, Feb.
18, this eight-piece ensemble
will perform a post-Val-
entine’s Day sweetheart
show for music lovers in the
lodge’s intimate parlor room.
The show starts at 8 p.m.
This marks the fifth
appearance of the all-female
Merle Haggard tribute band
to the Seaview venue on the
Long Beach Peninsula.
Gerle Haggard Band
brings the best of Merle
Haggard’s timeless music
to audiences who’ve been
loving songs like “Mama
Tried,” “Misery and Gin”
and “Working Man Blues”
for nearly five decades, as
well as introducing these
and many more classics to
a whole new audience. Old
and new outlaw country
listeners will enjoy hearing
T he
Frank lin
A partm ents
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Gerle Haggard will perform Feb. 18 at the Sou’Wester Lodge.
pepperings of The Hag’s
more obscure singles as well
as carefully chosen covers of
some of his own idols: Bob
Wills, Jimmie Rodgers and
Lefty Frizzell.
The band’s original instru-
mentation, tight harmonies
and a mix of showmanship
from lead singer Tave Fasce
Drake are woven together.
This appearance will fea-
ture national fiddle champ
Aarun Carter who brings her
own finesse to these classic
country songs.
The show is free and
open to the public. The
Sou’wester Lodge is located
at 3728 J Place. For more
information, call 360-642-
2542.
Oregon’s poet laureate will
visit Cannon Beach on Friday
CANNON BEACH — Oregon
Poet Laureate Elizabeth
Woody will give a reading
at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17
at Tolovana Hall, located
at 3779 Hemlock St. The
reading is free and open to
the public.
Appointed in 2016 by
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,
Woody is the eighth poet to
hold the post. Among the
poet laureate’s duties are
to “foster the art of poetry,
encourage literacy and learn-
ing, address central issues
relating to humanities and
heritage, and to reflect on
public life in Oregon.”
Woody’s work is rooted
in both personal experience
and her American Indian
heritage. She is an enrolled
member of the Confederate
Tribes of Warm Springs.
In a review of Woody’s
“Luminaries of the Hum-
ble,” Judy Elsey observed:
“Woody’s poetry acts as a
tool for rebuilding history,
reconstituting dignity, and
communicating culture.”
The title of that book —
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Oregon Poet Laureate Eliz-
abeth Woody will appear in
Cannon Beach on Feb. 17.
“Luminaries of the Humble”
— is instructive. Woody says
her poems are often inspired
by observing extraordinary
people in their day-to-day
lives. “They could be my
grandparents,” Woody
says. “They could be my
little sisters. They could
be someone in the street. I
don’t know who I will see
next and have a poem come
out of it.”
Astor Street Opry Company
Youth Theater
presents
The Jungle Book
PRODUCED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH PIONEER DRAMA SERVICE, INC., ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO.
Directed by: Heather A. Yadon-Ramsdell
Showtimes
Providing Elegance &
Efficiency to D ow ntow n
Astoria for O ver 100 Years
1432 Franklin Avenue
Easom Property
Management, Inc.
503-325-5678
Friday, February 17 th - 7 pm
Saturday, February 18 th - 2 pm
Sunday, February 19 th - 2 pm
Friday, February 24 th - 7 pm
Saturday, February 25 th - 2 pm
Sunday, February 26 th - 2 pm
This production was made possible by a generous grant from the City of Astoria.
ASTOR STREET OPRY COMPANY
129 W. BOND STREET, ASTORIA OR 97103
TICKET LINE (503) 325-6104
CITY OF ASTORIA
For more information on this or other productions at ASOC visit
www.AstorStreetOpryCompany.com.
Besides reading at the
Cannon Beach event, Woody
will dive into her process,
provide background on her
poems, and hold a ques-
tion-and-answer session. As
such, aspiring writers are
encouraged to attend.
Woody got her start in
academia. She studied at the
Institute of American Indian
Arts, Evergreen College and
Portland State University.
Over her two-year term
as poet laureate, she hopes
to visit far-flung pockets of
the state, bypassing popula-
tions centers like Portland
that she feels are well-served
by the arts.
In the early 2000s,
Woody was part of the group
that revived the state’s poet
laureate position, which had
laid dormant for decades.
She remembers some of the
criteria the group set for the
prospective poets.
“I didn’t want (poet lau-
reates) to be namby pamby,”
Woody says. “They have to
have some kind of back-
bone. They have to have
really strong community ties
and have been in Oregon a
long time.”
Woody inhabits those ide-
als. She is passionate, tied
deeply to community, and
views the position in terms
of service. “I think that’s my
natural inclination,” Woody
says. “Because I’m not
going to make money out of
it. I have to get something
out of it. Service is import-
ant. I was raised in a family
that always had me thinking
about other people.
“It’s good for people to
be gathered for at least a few
moments,” she adds. “And
the literary community has a
lot of opportunities for that
to happen. It’s a good place
to draw in folks.”
For more info, visit tolo-
vanaartscolony.org, email
tolovanaartscolony@gmail.
com or call 541-215-4445.