Around the island….

The sun sets over past islanders at the graveyard enxt to Valley Church, on Saturday night....

Here’s what is going on….

Rhiana in concert last year at the Presbyterian Church - photo by Casey Lehman

• Our own Rhiana Franklin made the final fifteen of this music contest downsound…she & her mom Suzanne left on the ferry this morning for the contest on Friday. Here’s the writeup from the radio station:

Local Colgate Country Showdown at Point Defiance Park: Friday (June 25th at 11:00am). Watch as 15 finalists battle it out for a chance to win $100,000 & a trip to Nashville! It’s the LARGEST country music talent search & KMPS wants YOU to be a part of it!

• Vernadel from the Chamber of Commerce wondered if you could help with this year’s Fourth of July:

The San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce would like to urge you to become a 2010 sponsor of our annual Fourth of July Fireworks Show.  As you know, we could not produce this fireworks show without significant support from our business friends and community members.

Last year we had a grand finale to celebrate the Centennial Celebration of Friday Harbor.  Now we have set a new standard for the kind of show our residents and visitors will expect.  Let’s not disappoint them!

We could not accomplish this fantastic show without you and your continued support.  Please consider sponsoring the 2010 4th of July Fireworks Show.

View the Sponsor Level of your choice to showcase your business or personal donation of your choice.

• If you are making cookies this weekend, take a peek at Anna Maria’s Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, from Tucker House & Harrison House.

You could tell who these visitors were for, eating at Haley's & watching the Brazil/Ivory Coast game...and yes, the baby was cheering in Portuguese...

• The Whale Museum invites you to their fundraiser this weekend – I hear that the Soundwatch boat has been needing repairs lately, so this is pretty timely (and much needed):

Please join us for a Soundwatch Summer Kick-off Potluck/BBQ – Saturday, June 26, 6 pm, Snug Harbor. Join the Soundwatch crew for a potluck to meet the new team, learn about our new KELP education program and raise a few dollars to help pay for the recent engine repairs!  We will have grills going and will provide some drinks.  Please bring your own plates/cups/utensils, a potluck item to share, or something to throw on the grill.

• Have you seen Keith Busha’s Dreams of Damanhur yet? It’s awesome.

• You know, I mentioned that the concert this weekend was featuring music by island composer Alex Shapiro – I thought I’d post a little more about Alex so you can get to know her better. From Jan at the Community Theatre:

Alex....

Island Composer Highlights Summer Chamber Music Concert

Compositions by San Juan Island’s own Alex Shapiro join those of Beethoven, Dahl and Schumann in the program for Chamber Music San Juan’s summer concert.

Music for a Summer’s Solstice will be presented at San Juan Community Theatre on Saturday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Artistic Director and clarinetist Patricia Kostek has assembled several CMSJ favorites for the concert: violinist Ron Patterson and violist Roxanna Patterson and husband and wife cellists Douglas Davis and Rowena Hammill.  Internationally-acclaimed pianist Arthur Rowe will complete the ensemble.

Shapiro–who has become one of the Pacific Coast’s more familiar composers of acoustic and electroacoustic chamber music–has two pieces in the CMSJ program: Elegiac for clarinet, cello and piano and Intermezzo for clarinet and piano.  Shapiro says she wrote Elegiac originally for a piano trio after her father died.  “I dedicate Elegiac to Chamber Music San Juans, who bring their artistry to these notes,” said Shapiro.   “And to Carolyn Haugen, who so generously supported the creation of this version. I know that my father would be deeply touched.”

In addition to Shapiro’s works, the concert program includes Beethoven’s Trio Op.11 for clarinet, cello and piano, Ingolf Dahl’s Concerto a Tre for clarinet, violin and cello and Robert Schumann’s Quartet Op. 47 for violin, viola, cello and piano.

Chamber Music San Juans was founded in 1990 by renowned violinist Ander Toth, whose dream was to bring world-class musicians to the San Juan Islands and create concerts in an intimate setting.

The Business Partner for this performance is Robert Hare Stavers, Fine Art Photography.  Tickets are $26 for adults and $13 for student reserved.  $5 Student RUSH will be available at the door.  A private donor has made provision for free tickets to anyone needing financial assistance to attend a Theatre event.

The SJCT Box Office is open Tuesdays-Fridays, 11-4, Saturdays 11-2, and one hour before any performance.  Call 360-378-3210, or surf to www.sjctheatre.org.

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