JULY 27, 2017 // 3
SCRATCHPAD
Artists who live two lives
By ERICK BENGEL
FOR COAST WEEKEND
A
feature story this
week focuses on Arvi
Ostrom, an Astoria
man who owned and tended
a bar in Uniontown while,
unbeknown to his loved ones,
he drew thousands of striking
pictures before his death in
1995 (see Page 6).
Ostrom’s grandson, a
musician named Ken Carlson,
said: “I don’t think a lot of
people understand artists have
to live two lives.”
The notion of workaday
coast
folks cultivating an artistic
alter ego stuck in my mind as
I spent Sunday evening in a
Cannon Beach park watching
a man named Konrad
Wert, a 40-year-old
singer-songwriter
from Beorne, Texas,
shred the guitar, banjo
and fi ddle during a
Tolovana Arts Colony
concert.
His music was
breathless and heartfelt, the
lyrics punctuated by staccato
“Heys!” and “Ho’s!” and
passionate, pre linguistic cries.
Half the fun was the specta-
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
weekend
arts & entertainment
4
6
10
COASTAL LIFE
Close to Home
Aboard the Hawaiian Chieftain
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY TOLOVANA ARTS COLONY
Continued on Page 19
Konrad Wert — better known by his stage name, Possessed by Paul James — performs in Can-
non Beach.
COAST WEEKEND EDITOR
ERICK BENGEL
CALENDAR COORDINATOR
REBECCA HERREN
CONTRIBUTORS
DAVID CAMPICHE
RYAN HUME
LYNETTE RAE McADAMS
BARBARA LLOYD McMICHAEL
KAELIA NEAL
THE ARTS
‘Behind the Bar’
FEATURE
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Arvi Ostrom’s vast body of work revealed
Artists off er peak inside
their workspace
14
cle of Wert himself: his eyes
shut, head wagging, body
heaving in his chair, and left
foot rhythmically pummeling
something he calls a
“clog-stomper.”
At times, the one-
man folk band felt
like a full-blown en-
semble. Wert’s manic
virtuosity rivaled that
of any live musician
I’ve seen.
Yet his music is, in fact,
a side gig to his 20-year pro-
fession as a special education
COLI N MUR PHEY/
THE DAILY ASTO RIAN
Peter Nevins checks out
his latest print at his
Astoria studio.
DINING
Mouth of the Columbia
Shelburne Inn: historic setting, local bounty
FURTHER ENJOYMENT
MUSIC CALENDAR .....................5
SEE + DO ........................... 12, 13
CROSSWORD ........................... 17
CW MARKETPLACE ......... 18, 19
GRAB BAG ......................... 20, 22
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