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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2017)
ENTERTAINMENT Saturday, November 25, 2017 BRIEFLY Irrigon drama students present Jekyll and Hyde IRRIGON — A evening of theater entertainment and dinner is being presented by the Irrigon High School drama club. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” will be staged Friday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 pm in the high school’s cafetorium, 315 S.E. Wyoming St. Tickets are $5 each. The price includes a meal of chicken strips and steak fries, which will be served at intermission. Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, the play features the story of the brilliant scientist who unleashes his inner demons after partaking of a formula he concocted. A re-telling of the classic tale, the adaptation by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher is said to be hipper, more intense and includes well-timed humor. In addition to the lead cast members, the script includes characters who speak to Jekyll as the voices in his head. For more information, contact linda.pedro@morrow. k12.or.us or 541-922-5551. Brass Fire funks up Christmas PENDLETON — Some funky Christmas tunes have been added to the Brass Fire set list to help people usher in the holiday season. The 10-piece jazz, blues, swing and rock band will perform Saturday, Dec. 2 from 7-10 p.m. in the lounge at the Red Lion, 304 S.E. Nye Ave., Pendleton. There is no cover charge. Food specials are available. The regional horn band covers hits by Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago and many other top artists. For more information, contact Brad Rozema at 541-314-5416, brassfireband@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/ brassfire. Johnny Cash boyhood home considered for historic nomination LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The boyhood home of country music icon Johnny Cash is being considered as a nominee for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s review board is to meet Wednesday to consider 14 state properties for nomination to the list of the nation’s historic places, including the Cash home that was built in 1934 in Dyess in northeastern Arkansas, about 30 miles northwest of Memphis, Tennessee. The house and 40 acres were provided to the Cash family as part of a federal government economic recovery program during the Great Depression. Preservation Program spokesman Mark Christ told the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette that a final decision on whether the property is included on the list will be made by the National Park Service. East Oregonian Page 3C MUSIC REVIEW Anchorage band offers carnival sideshow in sound S uper Saturated Sugar Strings is one of those bands who defy categorization and genre affiliation. This collective, hailing from Anchorage, Alaska, have been described as having a “nostalgic contemporary sound, rich with harmonies, string melodies and an element of carnival sideshow.” What a wonderfully specific image and one that could not Johnny be more accurate. Vinyl It’s that Ride the Vibe “carnival side- show” vibe that is the one real constant throughout their upcoming release, “All Their Many Miles.” Brass, strings, double bass, piano, acoustic and electric guitars and assorted percussion instruments in the hands of these six people create a sound that is wonderfully unique and immediately captivating. While “All Their Many Miles” is not scheduled to be released until early 2018, SSSS will be performing Monday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co. The all-ages show is free. Contributed photo by Carly Garay Anchorage-based band Super Saturated Sugar Strings will per- form an all-ages show Monday, Nov. 27 at Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co., Pendleton. Songwriters Kathryn Moore and Carlye Watt alternate lead vocals. Moore has an incredible voice that can conduct vocal gymnastics or delicately nuanced and emotive crooning, often in the same song. Watt commands a rich baritone that provides a perfect contrast. “All Their Many Miles” is a collection of 10 eclectic songs that stand completely alone from one another, yet collectively create a truly infectious album. A standout track is the hypnotic “Precipice.” According to Moore, “Precipice” has had an incredible journey to become a song on the album. It was originally inspired by the reaction to an exhibit in Alaska of art inspired by mental illness. Her reaction became a poem, which eventually inspired the song Different manifestations of art from the same source. Listening to Moore explain the song, it’s obvious she is tremen- dously moved by the process and experience. When asked if that causes her to feel differently about sharing that song with the world, she instantly indicates otherwise. “No, all of our songs are autobi- ographical, so I kind of feel the same about them all,” Moore said. As one might expect, taking this band live certainly required a learning curve. With their unique blend of instruments, learning how to effectively perform live has been “the bane of their existence,” Moore said. In addition, she added that “they have learned how to rock out and emote while at the same time adjust your volume so everyone can be heard. We’ve become better musicians because of it.” Catch the show at GP to get your own glimpse of the soul- shaking, nostalgic-contemporary, carnival sideshow. ■ A retired educator, Johnny Vinyl spends his days with Lucifer, an 8-year-old German shepherd, reading and riding the vibe. His column, Ride the vibe, focuses on entertainment. Contact him via tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com WHAT TO DO Festivals Hermiston 5A State Title Game •Saturday, Nov. 25; 5 p.m. •Maxwell Siding Event Cen- ter, 145 N. First Place, Hermiston $20. The football game will be aired live; kickoff at 6 p.m. Includes food and beverages. Tickets available at Nookie’s/ Hermiston Brewing Co. Pendleton WinterFest •Friday, Dec. 1; 6 p.m., gala event •Saturday, Dec. 2; 10 a.m.-4 p.m., family day •Pendleton Convention Cen- ter, 1601 Westgate www.sahpendleton.org/ foundation/winterfest $35/gala event, free/Family Day. Formerly the Festival of Trees, the holiday extravagan- za’s evening gala features hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, a three- course meal, jazz music, live/ silent auction with decorated trees, experience packages and gift baskets. The free Family Day features tree viewing and holiday activities. Winterphest, Bazaar & Light Parade •Saturday, Dec. 2; 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; 5 p.m. parade •Pilot Rock Community Cen- ter www.facebook.com Free. After shopping for homemade goodies and gifts, get ready for the Light Parade, followed by a chili feed ($) and float awards. Hermiston Festival of Trees •Saturday, Dec. 2; 6 p.m., gala event •Sunday, Dec. 3; noon-4 p.m., family day •Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395 www.facebook.com $40/gala event, $5/suggest- ed Family Day donation. The gala event features a live and si- lent auction for Christmas trees and other holiday decor and gift baskets. The Family Day fea- tures tree viewing and holiday fun. Light Festival & Parade •Saturday, Dec. 2; 5:30 p.m. •Downtown Condon www.condonchamber.org Free. People are encour- aged to come early to shop at lo- cal merchants, caroling on Main Street and a 4 p.m. screening of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at the Liberty Theater. After party at the Elks Lodge includes ($) food, drinks and pictures with Santa. Art, Authors & Museums The Art of the Gift •Tuesday-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturdays, noon-4 p.m. •Pendleton Center for the Arts, 214 N. Main St. www.pendletonarts.org Free admission. The East Oregonian Gallery features creative gifts from craftspeople from across the nation. Unique stocking stuffers available for under $10. Also, one-of-a-kind gifts as well as functional and wearable items for sale. Runs through Saturday, Dec. 30. “Say Cheese” •Saturday & Sundays; noon- 5 p.m. •Arts Portal Gallery, 508 N. Main St., Milton-Freewater www.facebook.com Free. Exhibit features first graders involved in the Carnegie Picture Lab Mask Project. Runs through Nov. “Drawn Narratives” •Monday-Thursdays, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. •Betty Feves Memorial Gal- lery, BMCC, 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., Pendleton. Free. Features Christopher Troutman, whose work explores the differences and similarities of two places he lives each year: the Midwestern United States and southern Japan. Gallery also open by appointment by calling 541-278-5952. Runs through Dec. 7. Whit Deschner •Tuesday-Sundays, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. •Peterson’s Gallery and Chocolatier, 1925 Main St., Bak- er City www.petersonsgallery.net Free. Features artwork by Baker City artist Whit Deschner, including images of scenes from around the world. Runs through Nov. 30. “Art of Survival: Enduring the Turmoil of Tule Lake” •Monday-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., •Tamástslikt Cultural Insti- tute, near Wildhorse Resort & Casino. www.tamastslikt.org $10/adults, $9/senior cit- izens, $6/youths, free/5 and under or $25/family of four. Ex- hibit probes the complexity of the Japanese-American con- finement site in Newell, Califor- nia, during World War II. Runs through Jan. 7. “Season of Magic” •Saturday, Dec. 2; 2-4 p.m. •Arts Portal Gallery, 508 N. Main St., Milton-Freewater www.facebook.com Free. Holiday-themed art ex- hibit opening. Exhibit hours Sat- urday & Sundays, noon-5 p.m. through Dec. 17. Music No cover. Show up and share your talents. All perform- ers get a free beverage. •Friday, Dec. 8; Saturday, Dec. 9; 8 p.m. No cover •Wildhorse Sports Bar, Wild- horse Resort & Casino, off I-84 Exit 216, Mission. Night life Fun Addicts •Saturday, Nov. 25; 8 p.m. No cover •Wildhorse Sports Bar, Wild- horse Resort & Casino, off I-84 Exit 216, Mission. The Wasteland Kings •Friday, Nov. 24; 9 p.m. No cover •Hamley Steakhouse & Sa- loon, 8 S.E. Court Ave., Pend- leton Super Saturated Sugar Strings •Monday, Nov. 27; 7-9 p.m. •Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co., 403 S. Main St., Pendleton No cover. All ages. Funky and alt-folky group from Anchor- age. Elwood •Thursday, Nov. 30; 7-9 p.m. •40 Taps, 337 S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton No cover during Live Music Thursday. Open Mic at GP •Thursday, Nov. 30; 7-9 p.m. •Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co., 403 S. Main St., Pendleton No cover. All ages are wel- come during the last Thurs- day of each month. Bring your instrument, voice, family and friends. Dana Osborn Band Santa Express Donation Event •Saturday, Dec. 2; 5-11 p.m. •The Pheasant, 149 E. Main St., Hermiston www.facebook.com $10. Features UFC 218 Hol- loway vs. Aldo 2, raffle items, door prizes, drink/food specials. Dancing with DJ Diego Arriola after the fights. Benefit event for Hermiston Police Christmas Express. Karaoke w/DJ David •Saturdays; 8 p.m. •Riverside Sports Bar, 1501 Sixth St., Umatilla DJ & Trivia •Saturdays; 9 p.m. •Midway Tavern, 1750 N. First St., Hermiston Mac’s Trivia Night •Tuesdays; 7 p.m. No cover •Mac’s Bar & Grill, 1400 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendleton 21 and older. Eat. Drink. Think. Teams of 2-8 compete in trivia contest with other teams. Live host and prizes, including $50 gift card for winning team. Digital Karaoke •Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m. •The Pheasant, 149 E. Main St., Hermiston •Friday, Dec. 1; Saturday, Dec. 2; 8 p.m. No cover •Wildhorse Sports Bar, Wild- horse Resort & Casino, off I-84 Exit 216, Mission Wine tasting Brass Fire •Fridays; 8 p.m. •Riverside Sports Bar, 1501 Sixth St., Umatilla •Saturday, Dec. 2; 7-10 p.m. •Red Lion Inn, 304 S.E. Nye Ave., Pendleton No cover. Local brass band performs an eclectic array of music. Jam Night •Thursday, Dec. 7; 6:30-8 p.m. •Pendleton Center for the Arts, 214 N. Main St. www.pendletonarts.org Free. Join Pendleton Music Company and other local mu- sicians for an informal evening of jamming. All levels of experi- ence are welcome. Open Mic Thursday •Thursday, Dec. 7; 7 p.m. •40 Taps, 337 S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton •Fridays, 4-8 p.m. •Sno Road Winery, 111 W. Main St., Echo. Karaoke w/DJ David DJ and dancing •Fridays, 8 p.m. •The Pheasant, 149 E. Main St., Hermiston Karaoke •Fridays; 9 p.m. •Midway Tavern, 1750 N. First St., Hermiston Cimmi’s Late Night Marti- ni Lounge •Fridays; 9 p.m.-midnight •Virgil’s at Cimmiyotti’s, 137 S. Main St., Pendleton No cover. Features martinis, mixology and music. Holiday Barrel Tasting •Friday, Dec. 8, 4-8 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 9; noon-5 p.m. •Echo Ridge Cellars, 551 N. Thielsen St. & Sno Road Win- ery, 111 W. Main St. $5/tasting fee at both ven- ues. Both wineries will offer holiday wine deals and samples of future releases straight out of the barrel. A gift basket work- shop is available Saturday at Echo Ridge. Theater, stage, film & lectures “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” •Friday, Dec. 1; Saturday, Dec. 2; 6:30 p.m. •Irrigon High School, 315 Wyoming Ave. $5. A re-telling of the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson featuring suspense and humor. Ticket price includes dinner. “The Nutcracker” •Thursday, Nov. 30, Friday, Dec. 1; 7 p.m. •Saturday, Dec. 2; 2 p.m. •Bob Clapp Theatre at BMCC, 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., Pendleton $5/adults, $3/children under 12. Celebrate the 10th anniver- sary of “The Nutcracker” with the Pendleton Ballet Theatre. Features more than 30 local dancers under the direction of Julie SnedenCarlson. Journey to Bethlehem •Friday, Dec. 1-Sunday, Dec. 3; 5-9 p.m. •Seventh-day Adventist Church, www.facebook.com Free. Features the sights, smells and sounds of a bustling village during Biblical times — sharing the reason behind the season. Outdoor tours followed by refreshments indoors. Hot tickets •Dancing with the Hermis- ton Stars. Jan. 13, Hermiston High School. Tickets ($10-$20) via www.desertartscouncil.com •Chicks with Hits (featuring Pam Tillis, Terri Clark and Suzy Bogguss), Jan 26 at Wildhorse Resort & Casino. Tickets for the 21-and-older show ($49-$79) available via the Wildhorse Gift Shop or www.wildhorseresort. com ——— Want to get your event list- ed in our calendar? Send in- formation to community@eas- toregonian.com, or c/o Tammy Malgesini, 333 E. Main Street, Hermiston, OR, 97838. MOVIE REVIEW In ‘Coco,’ Pixar journeys to Mexico and beyond the grave By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK — Pixar films have never been shy about death. The “Toy Story” films are, in part, about mortality. The poetic highlight of “Up” is a wordless sequence of a spouse’s passing. The Earth, itself, was left for dead in “Wall-E.” But Pixar plunges fully into the afterlife in “Coco,” a brightly colored fable surrounding the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The imagery of skeletons and graves in a kids’ movie might have put off other animation studios. But director Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3,” “Monsters, Inc.”) envisioned a film about family heritage and keeping alive the memories of deceased loved ones so they aren’t, as he says, “just fading photos in an album.” It’s also a celebration of Mexico, as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a musician. But after a feud with his family, he slips into a wondrous netherworld where he depends on his long-dead ancestors to restore him to the land of the living. Disney-Pixar via AP This image released by Disney-Pixar shows characters Miguel, voiced by Anthony Gonzalez, in a scene from the animated film “Coco.” “Coco,” which opens Wednesday, is Pixar’s first feature film with a minority lead character, and one of the largest American productions ever to feature an almost entirely Latino cast (among them Benjamin Bratt and Gael Garcia Bernal). That makes it something of a landmark event, one that has already set box-office records in Mexico where it opened several weeks early. But it also took a lot of homework and a lot of outreach for Pixar to convince Latinos that the production wasn’t just big-budget cultural appro- priation. Such fears spiked when Disney tried to trademark “Dia de los Muertos” in 2013. After a backlash, the studio abandoned the effort. Charting a different path, Pixar brought in cultural consultants, including playwright Octavio Solis and cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who had been critical of the trademark bid. Unkrich retailored the film’s approach, doubling down on efforts to create an authentic celebration of Mexican folklore, traditions and music. “We took every pain that we could along the way to surround ourselves with cultural consultants, to spend a lot of time in Mexico, specifically embedding ourselves with Mexican families down there,” said Unkrich. “I knew that there would be a fear that we were going to lapse into cliche and stereotype and so we did everything we could to not let that happen.” It also meant pivoting from Unkrich’s initial idea, which centered on a Mexican-American boy who travels to his family in Mexico for the first time. In that treatment, the young protagonist is trying to get over the grief of a loss. “It was born out of the fact that I’m not Latino myself. I’m American and that was at the time my natural entrance into a story,” said Unkrich. “We realized that that thematically was antithetical to what Dia de los Muertos is also about, which is this obligation to never forget, to never let go. We at that point had an epiphany that we were making the film as outsiders.” “It didn’t really embrace the DNA of the holiday, which is not letting go of but staying connected to,” says Darla K. Anderson, a veteran Pixar producer. “When we realized that, we definitely pivoted to embrace more of the connected nature of Dia de los Muertos.” Pixar also looked within its own ranks to help Unkrich craft a culturally faithful tale. Adrian Molina, an animator on previous Pixar releases, serves as co-director and helped steer the script. “Growing up Mexican-Amer- ican, I know the transformative power that seeing yourself repre- sented onscreen has,” says Molina. “My hope is for anyone who’s a small Latino or Latina kid and sees this film that that has an impact on how they see themselves. And if you’re coming from a different experience, recognizing the fact that there’s Latino and Latina heroes and the beauty of a Mexican family.”