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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Main Street Calumet to host Heritage Celebration featuring KBIC Ojibwa culture Aug. 15-20

CALUMET -- This year Main Street Calumet’s annual Heritage Celebration honors the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s Ojibwa heritage with events during the week beginning Monday, Aug. 15, 2011, and culminating in the annual parade followed by activities at Agassiz Park in downtown Calumet on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011.*

Highlights of the week also include two performances by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) Dance Troupe and "Summer Cloud" Drum Group, KBIC tribal history, storytelling, an Ojibwa Fry Bread Demonstration, the Red Metal Radio Show and the Great Deer Chase mountain bike race.

The Copper Country Heritage Parade on Saturday, Aug. 20, will feature the KBIC Tribal Council, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Veterans Color Guard, the Dance Troupe, and Miss Keweenaw Bay.

Saturday's activities will also include a breakfast featuring ethnic food preceding the parade, a Coppertown USA Museum open house, a horseshoe tournament, live music, guided trolley and horse-drawn wagon tours, old-fashioned children's games, and traditional artists/crafters and food vendors.

* Click here for the Schedule of Events.

For information about the 2011 Heritage Celebration please visit the Main Street Calumet website at www.mainstreetcalumet.com. If you have questions about the event please call 906-337-6246 or email ereese@mainstreetcalumet.com.

For information about the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community please visit the KBIC Web site.

Dave Morehouse to perform at "Music on the Menu" Aug. 12

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library invites everyone to bring a lunch and enjoy music by Dave Morehouse at "Music on the Menu," from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, August 12, on the dock outside the library.

Musician Dave Morehouse entertains with several instruments. Here he is pictured at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet. He will be featured at "Music on the Menu" at noon this Friday, Aug. 12, outside the Portage Lake District Library. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

Morehouse will carry his eclectic vision of music out to the audience. He will be opening with a few fiddle and mandolin tunes and continue by performing some solo guitar and vocal work featuring both original tunes and classic covers. Sometime during the performance he will briefly wield an accordion or a concertina; but, rest assured, he has filled out and submitted the required permits and alerts with proper authorities. The music will be good, but -- more than anything -- he promises to have fun.

Everyone is invited to eat, relax, and enjoy the lunch hour while listening to some great music. In the event of bad weather, the program will be held in the community room.

This event is part of the library’s Summer Reading Program and is free and open to all. For more information, please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org.

Orpheum Theater to host Huffing Pink, Boone Fiala Aug. 12

HANCOCK -- Melissa Davis will be fronting her band Huffing Pink (complete with a new upright-bass player!) and Boone Fiala from Electric Park will be playing solo starting at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 12, at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock.

The show costs $5 at the door. Feel free to bring your favorite frosty beverage!

The Orpheum Theater is behind Studio Pizza in the former Pic Theater building on Quincy Street in Hancock. For more information call 482-5100.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Club Indigo to feature "METROPOLIS" Aug. 12

CALUMET -- Friday's Club Indigo is a German event: Fritz Lang's silent film masterpiece METROPOLIS, newly restored, with all missing parts added, along with the original fully orchestrated score, will be shown at 7:15 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, at the Calumet Theatre, preceded at 6 p.m. by a German buffet from Cormac of the Laurium Irish Times and the Houghton Shelden Street Grill. BYO if you please.

METROPOLIS is the first memorable science fiction movie ever made. It reveals in stunning details the difference between the "haves" living in an earthly paradise among futuristic buildings and transportation vehicles, and the "have nots" who must live underground and slave to make the lives above so rosy and carefree. Until, that is, the son of the ruler discovers the horrors below and with the aid of a sweet "have not" starts a revolution.

Made in the famed UFA studios in Germany, so huge that even a great flood is created, the movie was seven years in the making, with a cast of 3,600 (real people, no CGI at the time) and a phenomenal cost -- but acclaimed as the most memorable film of its kind. Sci fi movies today still use some of Lang's special effects.

Cost for movie and buffet, still $18 for adults, with a special discount for kids (they will enjoy it almost as much as adults for its fantastic visuals). Call the box office ASAP: 337-2610.

Stop Eagle Mine CALL-IN campaign to Gov. Snyder is Aug. 11, 12

From Save the Wild UP and Water Action Vital Earth (WAVE):

MARQUETTE -- Thursday, Aug. 11, and Friday, Aug. 12, are the CALL-IN days for contacting Gov. Rick Snyder to request that Kennecott/Rio Tinto halt work on the Eagle Project until a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement be conducted.

Rio Tinto/Kennecott has never had a non-polluting sulfide mine. Their new technology is untested. Our water, our health and our children’s health -- for generations to come -- is at risk.

Call Gov. Snyder's office at (517) 373-3400.

If you prefer to write, the WRITE-IN campaign continues through Aug. 21, 2011. Contact the Governor's office by Fax at (517) 335-7858; Email:rick.snyder@mich.gov; or write to Governor Rick Snyder, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing MI 48909.

Jacqueline Lehto to share inspiring story Aug. 11 in Hancock

HANCOCK -- In an undertaking she calls "Hope After Hurt," between August 1 and August 18, 2011, Jacqueline Lehto is bicycling 800 miles around Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to raise awareness for the fight against sexual assault and domestic violence.

At two presentations in Hancock this Thursday, August 11, Lehto will share her own story of overcoming devastating abuse as both a child and as an adult. The first presentation is at the Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The second is at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Listeners of all ages will be inspired by Jacqueline’s story of courage, determination, and resilience in the face of great obstacles.

The presentations are free and open to the public and attendees are invited to wear the colors of purple, teal, and/or turquoise. Donations will be accepted to benefit the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter Home for Abused Women of Calumet, Mich.

Jacqueline Lehto has a master’s degree in education and has been a teacher of family and consumer science since 1996. During 2004-2005, she completed one year of congregational care and leadership studies at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., which included a one-month mission trip to China.

Lehto is also a wife, mother, and grandmother of five. She enjoys quilting, piano, downhill and cross-country skiing, motorcycling, and exploring Upper Peninsula waterfalls. During the summer of 2004, she pedaled her bicycle 2,000 miles across Mid-America to share her story.

Lehto frequently speaks to women’s and men’s groups and social service groups and agencies, and at conferences, domestic abuse shelters, junior and senior high schools.

On this summer’s bicycle tour, Lehto has already visited Florence, Wis., and Escanaba, Manistique, Naubinway, St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Newberry, Munising, Marquette, and L’Anse, Mich. Following her appearance in Hancock, she will continue her bicycle tour, speaking in Ontonagon, Bessemer, Watersmeet, Bruce Crossing, Iron River, Crystal Falls, and Iron Mountain, Mich.

For additional information, visit Lehto’s website at www.hopeafterhurt.com.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Updated: Calumet Art Center to present New Chamber Music Concert Aug. 11

CALUMET -- The Calumet Art Center will present New Chamber Music at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 11, 2011. This is a program of very recent new compositions. Admission is $5.

Composer and musician Paul Seitz says the concert program will be preceded by a Workshop (open rehearsal) at 10 a.m. Thursday, also at the Calumet Art Center:

Paul Seitz, violist, is a composer of opera and music for instrumental and vocal ensembles large and small. He has performed in many United States venues, including The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage and the Pine Mountain Music Festival. He has also played in performance venues in Slovenia, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil. He currently teaches at the University of Missouri. (Photos courtesy Paul Seitz)

"In a concert program like ours, most of the music has never been performed before, and much of it is being rehearsed for the first time. So, although we have been preparing for weeks, we've always expected to be rehearsing right up to the day of the concert," Seitz explains. "All six of the composers who have written for this program will be at the evening concert and several will be present at the 'open rehearsal' as well. This is also a chance to observe the interaction of the performers with each other and with the composers and to get some extra insight into the music, as well as an opportunity to visit this lovely performing space."

Here is the tentative Program:

John Donne Songs, for voice and French horn (1972)** Paul Seitz
poems from The Litanie, by John Donne (1572-1631)
The Virgins
The Martyrs
Christine Seitz, soprano and John Peiffer, horn

"Who is this man?/Why did you have to dance with me" (2010)*
(from the musical, Trust Me) words and music by John Peiffer
Christine Seitz, soprano; John Peiffer, baritone; Jon Ensminger, piano

John Peiffer, horn and voice, has been Assistant Principal Horn of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in Washington, DC since 1999. He has been coming to the U.P. to play Principal Horn with the Pine Mountain Music Festival since 2001. Enjoying the unique environment and the superb opportunities for skiing, kayaking and music making, he now divides his time between his residence in Maryland and his home in the Copper Country.

Three by May Sarton (1989)** Paul Seitz
poems by May Sarton (1912-1995)
I. Definition
II. Lullaby
III. Canticle
Christine Seitz, soprano, and Jon Ensminger, piano

Christine Seitz, former Opera Director for the Pine Mountain Music Festival, has been offering Voice Workshops in the Upper Peninsula since 1991 and recently offered one at the Calumet Art Center. Currently the Director of Opera at the University of Missouri and on the directing staff with the Des Moines Metro Opera, she is an accomplished opera singer and voice teacher.

Two Songs, for soprano, violin and viola (2011)* Nathan R Barber
poems by K Carlton Johnson, Lake Linden, MI
Imperia
Visiting Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
Christine Seitz, soprano; Sylvia Ensminger, violin; Paul Seitz, viola

Nathan R. Barber is a native Michigander now living in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he currently teaches at Mercyhurst College and is Director of Operations and Music Librarian for the Erie Philharmonic. He has performed in various ensembles ranging from the Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Keweenaw Symphony Orchestras to Lansing Civic Theater and Calumet Players productions. Additionally, he has conducted the Byron Center Festival Band and Keweenaw Youth Symphony Orchestra.

More than All Roses, for string quartet (2011)* Robert Suits
Sylvia Ensminger, Elizabeth Meyer, violins; Paul Seitz, viola; Patrick Quimby, cello

Robert Suits, an Upper Peninsula native, is a longtime musician and composer, writing his first song in elementary school, and participating in community and school choruses from a very early age. He is currently pursuing a BA in History and in Music Composition at Amherst College in western Massachusetts. Despite much involvement in the world of music, he never planned to pursue music beyond a casual level of interest until his sophomore year at Amherst. At this point, he began to take composition seriously and has subsequently written multiple choral and instrumental works.

Concertino for Marimba and Strings (2008) Nathan R Barber
Thomas Bjoraker, marimba; Sylvia Ensminger, Elizabeth Meyer, violins; Paul Seitz, viola; Patrick Quimby, cello

Brief Intermission

Nine Heads Rolling, for solo percussion (2011)* by Thomas Bjoraker
Thomas Bjoraker, percussion

Tom Bjoraker is currently working towards his degree in percussion performance at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UWSP). During the last three years he has been studying under Robert Rosen and Ryan Korb. While at UWSP Tom has performed in the symphony orchestra, the wind ensemble, and the jazz combos.

Waltzing with Amadeus (2011)*
Elizabeth Meyer
Bryan Suits, flute; Robyn Johnson, clarinet; Sylvia Ensminger, violin; Nathan Barber, percussion


Elizabeth (Libby) Meyer is currently Instructor Music in Theory/Composition and Film Music Studies at Michigan Technological University, Executive Director of the Copper Country Suzuki Association and founder of the Keweenaw Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has written music for orchestra, chamber groups, dance and children’s ensembles. As a violinist/violist she has performed with the Marquette Symphony, Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Civic Orchestra and the Pine Mountain Music Festival Orchestra.

*Indicates world premiere performance.
** Indicates Michigan premiere performance

The Calumet Art Center is at 57055 Fifth Street in Calumet. For information call (906) 281-3494.