SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
Florence author
publishes new book
Cyan Orr’s new
chapbook, “from inside
Schrödinger’s box,” is a
collection of vibrant
lyrical poems that
explore the longing,
curiosity and wonder in
which readers, as sub-
jects of a thought exper-
iment, attempt to under-
stand the box that con-
tains them and the
unknown beyond.
Orr holds an M.F.A.
in Creative Writing
from Ashland
University, as well as an
M.A. in counseling, and
a B.A. in psychology
and math.
COURTESY PHOTO
She is the recipient of
the Mason’s Road The cover of Florence author
Literary Prize for her Cyan Orr’s new book.
poem “The Scarecrow’s
California, Idaho and New
Response.”
Cyan enjoyed 39 years Jersey.
She now resides on the
teaching mathematics and psy-
chology to high school and Oregon coast with her hus-
college students at schools in band, Bob.
Jessie Leigh to perform at
Blue Bills this weekend
This weekend’s entertain-
ment at Blue Bills Sports Bar
& Tap Room, located inside
Three Rivers Casino Resort at
5647 Highway 126, will be
Jessie Leigh.
Leigh infuses her rock and
roll attitude into her country
style, creating a fresh and
unique sound. She takes “old
school” music and makes it
relevant.
Although the main genre is
country, the songs on Leigh’s
debut album are influenced by
a variety of music styles and
appeal to a wide range music
lovers.
Leigh will perform Friday
and Saturday, March 3 and 4,
from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
JON CURRIER PHOTOGRAPHY
Jessie Leigh
Deborah Grigsby
LPC, NCC, MA-MHC,
C4249,NPI#1205266046
Life, Health & Wellness
Coach
185 Nopal Street
PO Box 2566 ~ Florence, OR
541-999-1913 best or 997-1234
dgrigsby61@hotmail.com
F AT T UESDAY
Bria Skonberg
Review
B Y B URNEY
G ARELICK
“ L
aissez les bon
temps rouler” —
let the good times
roll. Fat Tuesday in French is
Mardi Gras, the annual cele-
bration including parades, cos-
tumes, music, food and revelry
that occurs in New Orleans,
where jazz was born.
This year Mardi Gras was
Feb. 28, but in Florence the
celebration began on Feb. 26
at the Florence Events Center
with the earth-shaking jazz
performance of Bria Skonberg
and her tornadic trio. The
event was part of the 2016-17
Seacoast Entertainment con-
cert series.
Attractive, young and
blonde, Bria Skonberg can
blow a horn to knock Gabriel
for a loop.
She excels on trumpet and,
almost simultaneously, she
sings like the Skylark Hoagy
CAME ON
Carmichael
and
Johnny
Mercer wrote about, and she
emcees the show with natural
wit, warmth and charm.
Skonberg translates the
intricacy of jazz into a vernac-
ular accessible to every ear.
Currently living in New
York City, Skonberg is the
daughter of public school
teachers, who attended the
Florence concert. She was
raised on a farm in Chilliwack,
British Columbia.
Talking about her roots
among the chickens and crit-
ters must have brought to mind
“The Barnyard Shuffle,” the
original version of a dark,
creamy chocolate ballad we
know as Hoagy Carmichael’s
iconic “Stardust,” to which
Skonberg dusted off new stars
in the cosmos.
The last tune of the concert
paid homage to the first jazz
recording one hundred years
ago — “Livery Stable Blues”
— by the Original Dixieland
Jazz Band. Skonberg celebrat-
ed with a Dixieland perennial,
“Tiger Rag,” on which her
mild-mannered
drummer,
Darrian Douglas, who’d
waved the brushes with the
finesse of an Impressionist
S UNDAY
painter, got the chance to rock
out and roar with a big cat’s
meow.
Skonberg’s program was
jazzy and eclectic — “From
This Moment On,” Cole
Porter’s song which opened
the show, to Sidney Bechet’s
exotic “Egyptian Fantasy” to
Louis Armstrong’s “Swing
That Music” to Anita O’Day’s
“Don’t Be That Way.”
Skonberg’s breathy, com-
panionable vocals evoked the
style of jazz diva Diana Krall,
especially on “Getting to be a
Habit with You,” and
Skonberg’s scatting on “St.
Louis Blues” channeled the
legendary Ella Fitzgerald.
In addition to being an
excellent performer, Skonberg
is a terrific songwriter, whose
work may well join the jazz
repertoire. “How Can This Be”
is a bright and bodacious intro-
duction to a fortuitous
stranger; “Down in the Deep”
wallows in the blues with low-
down wah-wahs from her alter
ego, a small blue mute; and
“Wear and Tear” spins like a
Speed Queen on a tremulous
cycle.
“Wear and Tear” was co-
authored with bass player Sean
“A Holistic Approach to Counseling through
Mindfulness and Meditation”
Class Act Theater announces 2017 season shows
Class Act Theatre (CAT) has
officially announced its lineup
of plays for the 2017 season.
According to David Lauria,
Artistic Director of CAT, “It
has been a wonderful challenge
to come up with a lineup of
productions that will continue
the success of our first season.
We wanted a good mix of
music, drama and comedy and
we feel sure that these four
plays fulfill that goal.”
This year’s lineup will
include:
• “I Love You, You’re
Perfect, Now Change”
Book and lyrics by Joe
DiPietro with music by Jimmy
Roberts, this musical celebra-
tion of the mating game takes
on the truths and myths of that
contemporary
conundrum
known as “the relationship.”
This hilarious revue pays
tribute to those who have loved
and lost; to those who have
fallen on their face at the portal
of romance; to those who have
dared to ask, “Say, what are
you doing Saturday night?”
Show dates will be June 16,
17, 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., and
June 18 and 25 at 2 p.m.
• “Proof”
A drama by David Auburn
and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer
Prize and Tony Award for Best
Play.
On the eve of her birthday,
Catherine, a troubled young
woman, has spent years caring
for her brilliant but unstable
father, a famous mathemati-
cian. Over the long weekend
that follows, a burgeoning
romance and the discovery of a
mysterious notebook draw
Catherine into the most diffi-
cult problem of all: How much
of her father’s madness — or
genius — will she inherit?
Show dates are July 21, 22,
28 and 29 at 7 p.m., and July
23and 30 at 2 p.m.
• “Vanya and Sonia and
Masha and Spike”
Written by Christopher
Durang and winner of the 2013
Tony Award for “Best Play.”
In this riotous comedy, mid-
dle-aged siblings Vanya and
Sonia share a home in Bucks
County, Pa., where they bicker
and complain about the cir-
cumstances of their lives.
Suddenly, their movie-star
sister, Masha, swoops in with
her new boy toy, Spike. Old
resentments flare up, eventual-
ly leading to threats to sell the
house. Also on the scene are
sassy maid Cassandra, who can
predict the future, and a lovely
young aspiring actress named
Nina, whose prettiness some-
what worries the imperious
Masha.
Show dates are Sept. 8, 9, 15
and 16 at 7 p.m., and Sept. 10
and 17 at 2 p.m.
• “Greater Tuna”
Written by Jaston Williams,
Joe Sears and Ed Howard.
What do Arles Struvie,
Thurston Wheelis, Aunt Pearl,
Petey Fisk, Phineas Blye and
Rev. Spikes have in common?
In this hilarious send-up of
small town morals and mores,
they are all among the upstand-
ing citizens of Tuna, Texas’
third-smallest town.
“The audience all but
exploded the theatre with
laughter.”
Florence Community PTA
will host their annual Talent
Show, “Siuslaw Superstars” on
Wednesday, March 8, and
Thursday, March 9, at the
Florence Events Center.
This year, thanks to
increased student interest, each
night will feature different stu-
dent
performers
in
Kindergarten through Fifth
Grade with special middle
THE 2017 ROTARY AUCTION
FRAA ART CENTER
120 Maple Street
Phone: 541-997-4435
Hours Open: Wed-Fri noon-5pm,
Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. noon-5pm
Classes and Workshops
Mono-Print Flowers/Birds of
Florence with Kat Cunningham
Tuesdays, Feb 28 and March 7, 6-8 pm.
Contact 541-999-1782 or 541-997-4435 for
fees and to register.
Palette Knife Painting with
Patricia Williams
Mondays, 11 am - 2 pm
Contact Patti at 916-296-0485 or
artjewelrybypatti@gmail.com for details,
fees and to register.
Watercolor Painting with Mary
Bennett Intermediate Level class.
Thursdays, 12 - 3 pm
Contact 209-986-0366 or 541-997-4435 for
details, fees and to register.
Ceramics for Kids w/ Ben Cahoon/
Alissa Clark
Thursdays, 4-5 pm
Hand Building Ceramics w/ Alissa
Wed, 3-5 pm and Thurs, 6-8 pm
Open Lab on Saturdays
Drop in, work at own pace. Sat 12-5 pm
Ceramics classes held at Alissa’s Studio.
180 Laurel Street.
Cronin, who drives the
acoustic bass with dazzling
plucking and majestic bowing.
He also sings a swinging song
and was featured on “Old
Fashioned Love” by early jazz
pianist James P. Johnson and
“Honeysuckle Rose” by anoth-
er noted ivory-tickler, Fats
Waller.
Speaking of ivory-ticklers,
Skonberg’s pianist, Mathis
Picard, was phenomenal. His
accompaniment, his breaks,
his riffs and runs and rolls
complemented and highlighted
every song. His fingers put the
FEC grand through a triathlon
of jazz, twisting the keys like
licorice, stretching the black
and white harlequin ribbons to
wrap packages of harmony and
rhythm topped with festive
bows, and returning them to
their upright positions, still
rippling with good vibrations
to enhance future performanc-
es for years to come.
No ebb tide for Seacoast
Entertainment. The waves hit
the shore in a horn of plenty
with Bria Skonberg’s extraor-
dinary performance. As they
used to say in New Orleans,
“Now you has jazz.”
— The New York Post
Show dates are Oct. 20, 21,
27 and 28 at 7 p.m., and Oct. 22
and 29 at 2 p.m.
Season tickets are $60 and
are now available to current
season-ticket holders. Season
tickets will be available to the
general public beginning April
1.
Season ticket order forms
are available on request via
email at fatcatflorence@gmail
.com; on the CAT website at
catproductions.org; by phone at
541-991-3773; or at Class Act
Theatre, 590 Kingwood St.
(corner of Kingwood St. and
Rhododendron Dr.) Mondays
and Wednesdays from noon to
5:30 p.m.
Tickets for individual shows
are $18 for regular admission,
$16 for seniors age 60 and
older or active military.
Indivudul tickets go on sale
beginning May 1 on the CAT
website, at ShowTix4U.com or
at the box office.
PTA hosts annual ‘Superstars Talent Show’ next week
by Appointment only
NEW! Open Studio at FRAA
No registration required. Drop-in, bring
your materials, and create. All artistic
mediums welcome. Every Friday, 1-4 pm
5 A
NEW! Bead Embroidery with Pat
Tellez, Learn to bead around a shell,
cabochon or other object.
Friday, March 24th, 12-4 pm
Contact 360-718-1963 or 541-997-4435 for
fees & to resister. Registration req’d.
NEW! Porcelain Painting w/ Pat
Tellez Paint a beautiful kingfisher.
3 sessions, Fridays, March 31, April 7 & 14
12- 4 pm. Pre-registration required at FRAA
and stop-in to view the finished project.
Creative Writing Workshops -
Writers on the River w/ Catherine
Rourke
“Memoir Writing: From Real Life to
Real Story”
All writing levels
Sat March 18th, 10 am to noon
Next workshop, April 22nd, 10 am - noon
To register, call 541-708-2120 or email
CJReditor@gmail.com
Painting with John Leasure
Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm
March 4, 11, 25 and April
Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or
541-991-2754 for details and fees.
Saturday, March 11, 5 p.m.
Florence Events Center
http://thefl orencerotary.org/
T ICK ET S
$
65
Contact Craig Sanders for tickets:
541.999.1713
Call
email: craig@hoaglandproperties.com
Sponsored in part by:
The Archives, LLC • The Shippin’ Shack
Siuslaw Signs & Graphics • TR Hunter • The J Group
Sue Gilday State Farm Insurance
Dan Gilday at TR Hunter • Mc Bradley/Smith
Law Offi ce of Jane C. Hanawalt, PC • Paula Becker
Dr. Brian Holmes & Dr. Justin Linton
The River House Inn • Laurel Bay Gardens
Oil Painting with Michael Wood
Wednesdays 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Contact: fmwood@msn.com for fees and
more information.
For more information about classes, visit fraaoregon.org. To register for
these classes, please call or visit FRAA at our art center on Maple Street.
Rotary celebrates a world fi lled with possibility, raising funds for
scholarships for Florence area youth and other community projects.
school appearances.
The community is invited to
join Siuslaw students and par-
ents for this display of
Siuslaw’s superstars perform-
ing vocal and piano solos,
gymnastics, dance, poetry and
more with the event emceed by
Siuslaw Elementary Principal,
Michael Harklerode.
“Students have been prepar-
ing their acts since early
February and we hope the com-
munity takes advantage of this
annual opportunity to see our
brave and talented students up
on stage at the FEC,” said
Natalie Lyda, of the Florence
Community PTA.
Tickets are available for just
$2 for PTA members and $3 for
non-members in the Siuslaw
Elementary office or by email-
ing natalielyda1@gmail.com.
Van Fans
meeting today
The monthly meeting and
luncheon for the Van Fans
will be held at The
Shorewood on Spruce Street,
March 1, beginning at 11:45
a.m. Everyone is invited to
join our group of volunteers.
There is no charge to join,
so come on down and have
lunch and become part of our
mission to keep the cancer
van in operation for our
coastal friends and family.
The luncheon is $8.50.
For additional information
call Lea Rudd at 541-999-
0779.
