SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2016
Hop aboard the Helping Library
Hands Soup Train
Tidings
Homegrown Pub invites
restaurants in Florence to help
the community by joining the
Helping Hands Soup Train.
Restaurants will take turns on
Wednesdays of each week by
bringing in a soup to support
Helping Hands and the com-
munity.
The number of restaurants
involved will determine how
often each restaurant will be
asked to share a soup.
Helping Hands has been
helping members in the com-
munity with food, clothing and
other essentials such as bed-
ding, toothpaste and more.
Helping Hands is open
Monday, Wednesday and
Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information or to
volunteer, contact Helping
Hands at 541-997-5057.
To be involved with the
Helping Hands Soup Train,
contact Jen Nelson at
Homegrown at 541-997-4886.
News about
the Siuslaw
Public Library
Library Tidings,
a regular feature
of the Siuslaw News,
features news about
upcoming Siuslaw
Public Library pro-
grams for adults and
children, new books
and videos, and other
library news of interest
to the community.
Library Tidings by
Kevin Mittge
nt Celebrati
e
m
e
r
i ------in honor of------
on
Ret
CAL APPLEBEE
The Lunar Chronicles:
‘Cinder,’ ‘Scarlet,’ ‘Cress,’
‘Fairest’ and ‘Winter’
By Marissa Meyer
Book review by Susie Voth
“Cinder,” the first book in the
Lunar Chronicles, hooked me
from page one. I like the futuris-
tic setting, the characters, the
plot, and the not-overdone
descriptions. What I really love
though is the story, a retelling of
Cinderella with robots, cyborgs,
and space ships.
Way cool.
Cinder is a cyborg. Although
she has the ability to fix almost
anything (robots, hover crafts,
her own malfunctioning parts)
her status as a cyborg makes her
a second class citizen, or worse.
She resides with her step-
mother and two step-sisters,
Pearl and Peony, in New Beijing.
Her workshop is in the market
place and it is there that Prince
Kai brings his android, Nainsi,
for repairs.
As with every fairytale, there
must be a wicked character. In
the Lunar Chronicles that char-
acter is Lunar Queen Levanna.
The ability to control the minds
of others is a trait of the inhabi-
tants of Lunar. Queen Levanna is
very adept at this. She has nefar-
ious aspirations for Earth that
include marriage to Prince Kai
and ultimate control of the plan-
et.
“Scarlet” is loosely based on
the fairytale Little Red Riding
Hood (Scarlet/Red — you get
the picture). “Cress” is the name
of the plant growing in the
witch’s garden in Rapunzel and
in indicative of a character that
in some way is isolated.
“Fairest” gives the backstory
of evil Queen Levanna. Finally,
“Winter,” the princess with hair
as black as ebony, skin as white
as snow, and lips as red as blood
— is Snow White of course.
The adventures of the fairytale
characters in all of the books are
exciting. As of now, all books in
the series are published and can
be read one after another without
having to wait (unless of course
the book is checked out).
5 A
Other books read included
“And the Mountains Echoed” by
Khalil Hosseni, “The Signature
of All Things” by Elizabeth
Gilbert, “Mink River” by Brian
Doyle, “Walking the Gobi” by
Helen Thayer, and “The Edge of
Eternity” by Ken Follett.
As the Dark Horse Readers
report, “Book groups are fun and
get you out of your regular
genre. You also make new
friends who love to read!”
Our Mapleton branch
The Mapleton library, open
Tuesday through Saturday, is at
88148 Riverview Ave., in the
Lions Club Building.
With a nice view of the
Siuslaw River, it’s a wonderful
place to sit and enjoy a good
book or read the newspaper or
use Wi-Fi.
Book groups and book lists
As mentioned in last week’s
Tidings, there are a number of
book groups active in western
Lane county. Here is a selection
of 2015 books read by the Dark
Horse Readers book group
which meets in the library.
The top three favorites were:
“The Invention of Wings” by
Sue Monk Kidd, “The Book
Thief” by Markus Zusak, and
“Ordinary Grace” by William
Kent Krueger.
Friends of the Library
to meet
The Friends of the Library
will hold its monthly meeting
Thursday, Feb. 25, in the
library’s conference room. All
Friends members and library
supporters are invited to attend.
For more information, contact
the Friends of the Library at
SiuslawLibraryFriends@gmail.
com.
OPUS photo exhibit featured at Eugene Record Show
h ursday, February 18 5pm-7pm
Drinks and Appetizers
Please join the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce Board of
Directors as we celebrate Cal’s retirement.
Location of Event:
BANNER BANK
777 Highway 101, Florence
YACHATS — It seems
appropriate that all that
remains of this famed central
Oregon coast ‘60s record shop
is a peace sign preserved on the
wall of a self-proclaimed old
“hippie” in nearby Yachats.
The hippie is Jeff Howe, and
this 67-year-old collector of
vintage vinyl says he fondly
remembers his favorite hang-
out, OPUS Records and Relics,
from 1968 to ‘71 when this
eclectic LP shop was run by
Ken Kesey’s “Pranksters” near
Kesey’s summer home at Brays
Point.
“When OPUS closed back in
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1971, there were folks like me
who wanted a ‘piece’ of it, and
the piece I saved was this vin-
tage Peace Sign,” said Howe.
Thanks to Howe and friends
in nearby Yachats — who
saved “OPUS” memories —
any unraveling of this spirit of
the ’60s record shop would be
gone with the central Oregon
coastal wind.
However, the Sunday, Feb.
21, Eugene Record Show — at
the Eugene Hilton in down-
town Eugene (10 a.m. to 5
p.m.) — will feature a
“Looking Back at OPUS
Records and Relics” photo
exhibit sponsored by the Silver
Lining Boutique and the
Florence Antique District along
Highway 101 in Florence.
Howe fondly recalls a fellow
OPUS record fan being Jimi
Hendrix.
“Yea, OPUS was ‘the’ record
shop along our coast for hard
rock, psychedelic rock, blues
and all the Dead’s stuff because
Kesey’s Pranksters had it cov-
ered,” explained Howe during
a recent interview outside a
now nondescript former coastal
souvenir shop that once housed
thousands of ’60s-era records
and head-shop “relics.”
“So one day, one of these
OPUS dudes tells me that
‘Hendrix’ walked in the door
asking for ‘Jimmy Fames and
the Blue Flames’ records; while
the dudes took notice of this
legendary guitar master,”
added Howe when recalling the
Hendrix sighting was “some-
time huge during the winter of
1968.”
At the time, Seattle native
Hendrix had not yet headlined
at the Woodstock or Isle of
Wight Festival in 1969 and
1970. It was two years before
the singer’s death at the age of
27 on Sept. 18, 1970.
“It was a better time for
Hendrix back during his 1968
visit down the Oregon coast
from his home up in Seattle.
Hendrix was just voted ‘Pop
Musician of the Year’ and he
was simply another vinyl fan
searching the massive racks of
records at OPUS for his tunes,
and other music he liked,” said
Howe, while showing off a
black and white image of
Hendrix holding an album
inside this famed central
Oregon coast record shop that
“only opened when it rained,”
and “in those days it didn’t rain
a whole lot around here… so it
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was rare to find Kesey’s dudes
opening the shop.”
While Hendrix pioneered the
use of his guitar as an electron-
ic sound source, OPUS
Records and Relics pioneered
the selling of rock records as if
the shop owners were a “Band
of Gypsys.”
According to the exhibit
researcher and creator, the
OPUS photo exhibit is all
about “celebrating vintage
records” at a time when the
’60s rock ’n’ roll generation
took love and peace sign
images as just as seriously as
their favorite LPs.
OPUS is defined as “a piece
of music,” while the Looking
Back at OPUS Records and
Relics photo exhibit is a cele-
bration of the central Oregon
coast’s legendary LP sales.
The
Florence/Mapleton
dealer sales table will feature
vintage ’60s records and relics
unearthed at the OPUS files
stored safely at Brays Point
and in nearby Yachats.
Kesey’s “Trickster” Bugs
Bunny rabbit (from the
“Further” bus) will also be
included in the OPUS photo
exhibit.
—Submitted by Dave Masko
FRAA to
host writing
workshops
The Florence Regional
Arts Alliance (FRAA) wel-
comes writers of all levels
and genres to join “Writers
on the River” at the next
monthly workshop.
“Writing from the Heart:
Storytelling Essentials,” will
take place Saturday, Feb. 20,
from 10 a.m. to noon, at 120
Maple St. in Old Town.
Through simple tech-
niques and experiential writ-
ing sessions, participants can
discover their natural voice,
awaken their creative genius
and learn storytelling essen-
tials.
Cost is $20 for FRAA
members or $25 for non-
members, payable at the
door. Preregistration is
required.
For more information or
to preregister, call 928-
300-5568 or email CJReditor
@gmail.com.
Workshops are taught by
Catherine J. Rourke, an
award-winning writer, jour-
nalist, columnist, author and
editor.
The next workshop at
FRAA will be March 19.
For more information call
541-999-0859
or
visit
www.fraaoregon.org.