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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2021)
A8 THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2021 Night market: May include food carts and small-scale acoustic live entertainment Continued from Page A1 Carr runs her boutique in the Astoria Underground, a mall in the basement of the Sanborn Build- ing on the corner of 10th Street and Marine Drive. The mall, mod- eled by late artist Michael Foster to look like an old Astoria street- scape, has attracted an eclec- tic group of businesses, includ- ing Carr’s shop, Kit’s Apothecary, the gift store Foragers and Astoria Barber Co. Four art galleries have opened in the Sanborn Building along 10th Street, including Paul Pol- son Gallery, Angi D Wildt Gallery and West Coast Artisans. Artist Jill McVarish is rebranding the Secret Gallery, which closed earlier this month, into The McVarish Gallery + Secret Gallery Printing. “The businesses in this area, on that outskirts of town, have such a hard time getting people down there, and establishing the area as part of the downtown,” Carr said. Carr said the night market could include food carts and some sort of small-scale acoustic live entertainment. She doesn’t expect attendance to reach levels seen at the Astoria Sunday Market, which can draw large crowds . The Freak Show, a circus and interactive art exhibit held by the Secret Gallery in spring 2019, drew between 400 and 500 people, she said. The night market would coin- cide with Second Saturday Art Walk. But Carr said it would bring a new demographic into town, accentuating rather than taking away any foot traffi c from galleries. The transit district’s board gave tentative approval for Jeff Hazen, the district’s executive director, to negotiate a parking lot rental for a night market. Some board mem- bers expressed concern that Octo- ber could be too soon, depending on any surges with the virus. Carr, who still needs a right- of-way permit from the city, said the October date is preliminary and could be postponed to a sub- sequent market in July. Hazen said that if the market went forward, there would be transit staff on hand enforcing mask requirements. Goldstick: ‘I was shocked to fi nd out how good it was in Seaside’ Continued from Page A1 “I don’t know how much it aff ected me, but I know that whatever it was, I stayed with it,” he said. “I liked it. I think it was just in my blood.” Goldstick played for high school musicals and weddings, and in jazz bands while study- ing chemical engineering at Penn State University. Engineer- ing paid the bills through most of his 20s, allowing him to care for his family and play piano bars around Philadelphia at night. In his late 20s, Goldstick worked for Mobil in New York City until faced with transferring to New Jersey. Instead, he took a severance package and started driving a cab by day and playing in bars and bands by night. “There were piano bars all over the place,” he said of 1970s New York City. “And for a piano player, it was the easiest way to make money. And since I already had a family, it was an obvi- ous choice for me. You play in a band, you make $50. You play in a piano bar, and you make $100 or $150.” Over a half a century of shows, Goldstick has played gigs from Hollywood musicals to elemen- tary schools, and in bars across the U.S. From 1988 to 2001, he played at the actor Clint East- wood’s Mission Ranch in Car- mel, California. Goldstick relo- cated from Seattle to Seaside in 2014 and started busking on Broadway and at the Astoria Sun- day Market. “I was shocked to fi nd out how good it was in Seaside,” he said. “I had no idea, as far as busking. I made $20 in my fi rst hour on a Monday night.” By 1993, Goldstick had found his passion playing for the elderly in nursing homes, including Clat- sop Care Center. His last gig was in February 2020 in Port- land before everything shut down amid the pandemic. Goldstick fi rst learned about online gigs through a roommate who played in a band on the vir- tual world Second Life. Gold- stick created a Twitch account and amassed around 1,700 fol- lowers from around the world, he said, but quit after being hacked and facing some anti-Semitic remarks. “It was fun,” he said. “I got people from Turkey and Russia that were watching. It was a trip to have that opportunity, but it’s just not worth it.” In the coming weeks, Gold- stick plans to start playing at 1 p.m. from Monday through Friday on his YouTube channel, “Bob Goldstick — Live Stream- ing Shows,” and partnering with a local vocalist, Harper Carr. He’ll set up speakers outside the studio for people in the Astoria U nder- ground. But Goldstick’s driving force with the performances is getting his music back into nurs- ing homes, if only online. “There’s no feeling as a musi- cian … close to what I get when I play at a nursing home,” he said. “And that’s why this year has been so tough in a way. The reac- tion of the people to the music is just — it’s just amazing.” THANK YOU to our members, donors and community for all your support and voting us #1 BEST MUSEUM 2020 County reports three new virus cases The Astorian Clatsop County on Monday reported three new coronavirus cases. The cases involve a female between 10 and 19, a woman in her 40s and a woman in her 50s living in the southern part of the county. All three were recovering at home. A man in his 60s living in the southern part of the county who was reported to test positive on Friday has been hospitalized. The county has recorded 834 cases since the start of the pandemic. According to the county, 19 were hospitalized and seven have died. Relief: ‘We’re used to being scrappy’ Continued from Page A1 organizations virus relief grants after a year of closures and lost revenue. Artist relief The arts commission distributed $1.25 million in grants to 646 art- ists throughout the state, benefi t- ing over a dozen locally. The pro- gram’s recipients were selected out of 1,158 applicants, who reported more than $18 million in revenue loss. Local a rtists selected include Oscar de’ Masi, Audrey Long, Gabrielle Macrae, Kirista Trask and Myshkin Warbler, of Astoria; Julie Adams, of Cannon Beach; Lisa Sofi a Robinson, of Seaside; James Crowe and Jen Crowe, of Warrenton; M.J. Anderson, Deb- orah DeWit and Reeva Wortel, of Nehalem; and Julie Yanko, of Manzanita. The a rtists received grants between $1,000 and $5,000. The funds will help artists pay for mate- rials and other necessary costs. “(The award) came at a very dark time,” said Patricia de’ Masi, co-owner of Oscar de’ Masi Art Gallery in Astoria. “The pandemic was like a rug got pulled out from not just us but everybody. (This) was a beacon of hope for us … It was critical, frankly, in our survival of the pandemic as a gallery but also as an individual artist for Oscar to continue creating and buying art supplies.” A group of 29 panelists reviewed the artist relief fund applications, including Crockett and Jessamyn Grace West, the executive director of the Astoria Arts and Movement Center. “It was really equal parts heart- breaking and inspiring,” Crock- ett said. “(It was) heartbreaking because these are folks that hav- en’t been able to do their job in a year, do their passion in a year — or they’ve had to make signifi cant changes or purchase new equip- ment they weren’t planning on.” Artists’ eff orts to adapt during the pandemic inspired Crockett. “I always think of musicians and performers as the grass that grows in between the sidewalk. We’re used to being scrappy,” Crockett said. “There is some grief in not being able to perform in the way that we’re used to but there’s a lot of adaption. I wasn’t surprised by it but it’s also heartbreaking because a lot were struggling with paying rents, buying food, getting unemployment. It’s kind of a dou- ble-edged sword.” West read over 200 applica- Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Charlene Larsen pulls back the curtains to one of the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts’ many stained-glass windows. The center received relief funding through a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission. tions sent in by dancers and dance organizations. “There was not a single one that did not move me. I was reading some very personal stories about how artists have been fi nancially, physically impacted by not being able to continue work as an artist, to continue to refi ne their craft as an artist, not being able to perform,” West said. Operational support Local recipients for small oper- ating grants include Astoria Arts and Movement Center, Cannon Beach Arts Association, Cascadia Concert Opera/Cascadia Cham- ber Opera, Hoff man Center for the Arts, North Coast Chorale, Partners for the PAC and Tolovana Arts Col- ony. Each group received $1,159 and must have an annual budget under $150,000. The grants are distributed annu- ally and help organizations pay for operating expenses like rent and utilities. At the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts, the grant goes directly toward managing the center, said Bereniece Jones-Cen- teno, the executive director of Part- ners for the PAC. The money funds advertising, daily operations and making facility improvements and repairs. “There’s so much more expenses than people understand. Often folks think, ‘Just get a grant for that.’ … There are a lot of us going after the funds,” Jones-Centeno said. “For our tiny town of Astoria, we have fi ve theaters. It’s amazing that we even get the support from (Oregon Arts Commission ) because they have Portland, Eugene and state- wide groups to deal with. We do really have to rely on our neighbors to support us.” Partners for the PAC relies on fundraising events to support its annual operating costs. The center hasn’t hosted any events since clos- ing in March 2020. “Without that source of support, it makes you nervous because that’s what keeps the water on, what keeps the building warm,” Jones-Cen- teno said. “We can’t do events with a cold building. Support helps us keep the building warm. That sup- port is more important this year.” The Astoria Arts and Movement Center has received a small oper- ating grant annually from the arts commission since 2018. “For a small operation like ours, funding that can be used for basic expenses like utilities is instrumen- tal in our survival,” West said. “A lot of grants are project-based and while that’s really wonderful and important, you have a lot of organi- zations that aren’t even able to off er projects if they can’t essentially pay for their space.” West said the arts commission “literally can be the diff erence in how an organization can survive, especially in its early stages.” The Liberty Theatre received an operating support grant of $3,719. The funds mainly cover payroll expenses, Crockett said. The theater furloughed staff after the theater closed in March 2020. Since then, staff have come back to working at the theater. The theater recently hired another full-time employee. “It helps off set the cost of just the running of the theater. It off - sets the cost of the work that we do in the community,” Crockett said. “As an economic generator for the area, before COVID, we supported three full-timers and fi ve part-tim- ers. These are local jobs in the area and people that contribute to the economy.” OPEN DAILY 9:30 TO 5:00 • 1792 Marine Drive, Astoria 503.325.2323 • www.crmm.org Coastal Living Proudly serving the Oregon North Coast from Tillamook to the WA. Peninsula Golden Whale Jewelry Gemstones • Silver Gold • Navaho • Earrings 14kt Gold & Sterling Charms Quality jewelry in gold and sterling silver by nationally known artists Se habla español Renae Lalyn Nelson Owner Cell: 503.717.2231 renae@luckyductllc.com Fresh Spring Chinook and Columbia River Sturgeon. Available as Fish and Chips or Grilled Dinner with Salad and Rice in our restaurant or Fresh Filet out of our Cold Case. P.O. 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