Jamie Bernstein to present "The Bernstein Beat" with Keweenaw Symphony Apr. 17 at Rozsa

HOUGHTON -- Bring the entire family along on the marvelous musical journey of Jamie Bernstein’s "The Bernstein Beat," together with conductor Joel Neves and the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Saturday, April 17, at the Rozsa Center.*

Jamie Bernstein, daughter of conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, will present her father's music at a concert with the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra Saturday, Apr. 17, at the Rozsa Center. (Photo courtesy Michigan Tech University)

This fun-filled family adventure explores the music of Jamie’s father, conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, one of the most beloved and influential Americans in 20th-century culture. Jamie’s desire to help the next generation discover how "cool" her father was is evident in her wonderfully contagious enthusiasm and effortless ability to completely captivate a young audience.

The concert is based on the format of Leonard Bernstein’s groundbreaking televised "Young People’s Concerts," introducing kids to his irresistible music, including selections from his Broadway shows "On the Town" and "West Side Story." Jamie reveals the secret of understanding the complex rhythms in her father’s music: break 'em down into "hot dogs and hamburgers!"

Audience volunteers help Jamie onstage and during one piece, everyone gets to shout "MAMBO!!" at the top of their lungs!

Assisting Ms. Bernstein in this delightful musical endeavor is conductor Joel Neves, assistant professor of music and director of orchestras at Michigan Tech University, and director of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra.

Conductor Joel Neves, assistant professor of music and director of orchestras at Michigan Tech University, and director of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra. (Photo courtesy Michigan Tech University)

As a narrator, writer and broadcaster, Jamie Bernstein has transformed a lifetime of loving music into a career of sharing this passion with others. As a concert narrator, she has appeared with symphonies around the world, performing her acclaimed family and adult concert programs and narrating such concert standards as Walton’s "Facade" and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, "Kaddish." Her much-lauded concert series has earned rave reviews from around the country.

For a glorious evening of music-making and pure family fun, join Jamie Bernstein, Joel Neves and the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Saturday, April 17. After all, when was the last time you were allowed to yell "MAMBO!" in a crowded theater?

For more information on Jamie Bernstein, visit her blog at www.j-beat.blogspot.com.

This event is sponsored by the Katherine M. Bosch Endowment, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and Minnesota Public Radio (WGGL).

Ticket prices: General Public, $20 and $15; 18 and under, $15 and $10; Students, free (MTU student ID required). To purchase tickets contact the Rozsa Box Office at 487-3200, The Central Ticket Office (SDC) at 487-2073, Tech Express (MUB) at 487-3308 or go online at tickets.mtu.edu. No refunds, exchanges, or late seating, please.

*Editor's Note: As of early afternoon today, Apr. 17, the Central Ticket Office reports seats are still available and tickets can be purchased at the door.

CCGAP to hold fund-raising party for Guatemala human rights work April 16

HOUGHTON -- A fund-raising party for the Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP) will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 16, at the Michigan Tech Forestry Building. The Uptown Swingsters will be playing for eating and dancing.

Admission is free, but you can buy drawing tickets at the door for the grand prize of a handwoven Guatemalan wool blanket and other great prizes, too!

CCGAP supports accompaniment in Guatemala where people, mostly indigenous, are engaged in human rights activities that may put their lives at risk. Accompaniment deters violence and helps give confidence to these people to pursue economic, environmental and human rights justice.

Bring your wallets for the silent auction, including donated works by local artists and artisans, and join CCGAP in a stand of solidarity with the people of Guatemala. A variety of refreshments will be served.

To learn more about CCGAP and the accompaniers they have sponsored, visit the CCGAP Web site.

Click here to go directly to the recent April 2010 Newsletter with photos and stories about human rights work in Guatemala.

Citizens opposed to sulfide mine to gather in protest at Eagle Rock Apr. 15

View from the top of Eagle Rock, the Ojibwa sacred site where Rio Tinto-Kennecott plans to put the entry to its "Eagle Project" sulfide mine. (Keweenaw Now 2009 file photo)

MARQUETTE --If you love the Yellow Dog Plains, the watersheds, blueberries, wolves, hawks, deer, camping, hiking the back roads and stargazing, you are invited to join in an eclectic gathering of concerned citizens near Eagle Rock at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 15.

Groups in opposition to the proposed Eagle Project sulfide mine are very concerned that the "Rio Tinto Machine" will march onto the Yellow Dog Plains as soon as the county road restrictions are lifted.

Please bring water and snacks, rain jacket, your prayers and songs, children and friends. Concerned citizens opposed to the mine will be gathering to celebrate, to protest and to support Jessica Koski who will be speaking on their behalf at Rio Tinto's annual meeting in London.*

Carpool Information:
-- 3 p.m. MQT Carpool from Marquette, meet in gravel parking lot where Hawley Street meets CR550, across from the Jacobetti Skill Center.
-- 3:30 p.m. Carpool leaves.

The 510 and AAA road are in great condition.

*Read Jessica Koski's recent Detroit Free Press article.

For more information, Please Visit www.savethewildup.org/event

See also these updates on Kennecott's insistence that it doesn't need a federal permit from the Environmental Protection Agency:

"Kennecott says no federal permit needed for mine"

and, from the new Headwaters News:
"Rio Tinto 'determines' it doesn’t need federal oversight at Michigan mine."

Hancock City Council to hold Special Meeting on proposed land purchase Apr. 14

HANCOCK -- The Hancock City Council will hold a Special Meeting at 6 p.m. TONIGHT, Wednesday, April 14, in City Hall to discuss the following item:
Consideration to purchase 29.64 acre parcel of land from Tonne Construction for $135,000.00.

At a public hearing preceding their March 17 meeting, the Council heard public comments from residents concerning the potential land purchase. During the meeting it was moved by Councilor Lisa McKenzie and seconded by Councilor Tom Gemignani to table the purchase of 29.61 acres of land from the Tonne Construction Company for $135,000.00 until a full Council is present.*

According to Clerk Karen Haischer, this Special Meeting is at a time when all councilors will be present. (Some may be absent from the regular meetings coming up.)

This meeting will be followed by the scheduled April 14 Budget Work Session. Additional Budget Work Sessions will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, and at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 5.

*For details, click here to read the minutes of the March 17, 2010, Regular City Council meeting, posted on the City of Hancock Web site.

Editor's Note: See our March 12, 2010, article on the proposed land purchase, with readers' comments.

Haitian group to perform Apr. 14, 15 at Rozsa

The Boukman Eksperyans band's leader, Lolo Beaubrun, is pictured here with his wife Mimerose. (Photo courtesy Rozsa Center, Michigan Tech University)

HOUGHTON -- Boukman Eksperyans has rescheduled their Rozsa Center performances for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15.

Earthquake aftershocks in Haiti temporarily halted all travel and prevented the group from performing on the originally scheduled dates. Tickets purchased for these events will be honored for this week's shows. For details and more information please contact the Rozsa Box Office at 487-3200.

Boukman Eksperyans ushered in a musical revolution with their Grammy-nominated debut album, Voudou Adjae. This brilliant release introduced the world to Boukman’s worldly high energy sound, fusing traditional Haitian and Caribbean rhythms with rock and reggae. Voudou Adjae brought the band international prominence and made them spokespeople for Haitian people.

Since their emergence on the scene, Boukman has continued to release revolutionary critically acclaimed albums and mesmerize audiences world-wide from Haiti (where they draw tens of thousands of fans per show) to the Caribbean, throughout North America, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Africa -- both as a headlining act and alongside Wyclef Jean, Femi Kuti, and Baba Maal.

The Rozsa Center is proud and honored to present the Haitian roots band Boukman Eksperyans for two energy-filled evenings of music.

Sponsored by the James and Margaret Black Endowment.

Ticket prices for the general public are $20 and $15; MTU student prices are $15 and $10 (MTU student ID required). To purchase tickets contact the Rozsa Box Office at 487-3200, the Central Ticket Office (SDC) at 487-2073, Tech Express (MUB) at 487-3308 or go online at tickets.mtu.edu. No refunds, exchanges or late seating, please.

Free Press article: "UP mine threatens sacred tribal rights"

DETROIT -- The Detroit Free Press published today, April 11, 2010, an opinion article by Jessica Koski of Baraga, a Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) member and graduate of Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College and Michigan Tech University. Koski, who spoke last August at the Protect the Earth walk to Eagle Rock -- the proposed portal for Kennecotto-Rio Tinto's Eagle Project sulfide mine -- says the former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) director's claim that Eagle Rock is not a place of worship, despite its sacred meaning for the Ojibwa people, is ethnic discrimination.

Jessica Koski of KBIC speaks about her research on sulfide mining and on Native American sacred sites during the Protect the Earth event on Aug. 2, 2009, at Eagle Rock, potential site for the entrance of Kennecott-Rio Tinto's proposed sulfide mine near Big Bay, Mich. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

Koski notes in her article, "UP mine threatens sacred tribal rights," that protection of Eagle Rock should be enforced under the U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. She adds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has not yet approved permits for the mine under the Clean Water Act, "should be obligated to protect sensitive areas of national significance like the Great Lakes."

Read more of Koski's article on Freep.com or on page 25A of the Sunday, April 11, 2010, print edition of the Detroit Free Press. Jessica Koski is now studying for her master's degree at Yale University.

Read about Jessica Koski's research on Native American sacred sites in our Aug. 8, 2009, article, "Protect the Earth: Part 2, Walk to Eagle Rock."