14/48 Vashon
14/48 Vashon will return with four performances at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, at Open Space for Arts & Community.
The annual fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants theater festival features seven writers, seven directors, more than 25 actors, plus a gaggle of designers, musicians, and technical wizards. This tireless and intrepid company will present 14 new, 10-minute plays that have been written, memorized, and performed in just 48 hours.
Get tickets and find out more at openspacevashon.com and read The Beachcomber’s Jan. 23 article about the festival at tinyurl.com/4xb8usje.
Benjamin Hunter
Benjamin Hunter, a celebrated musician, composer, educator and the director of Seattle’s Northwest Folklife festival, will play a concert, “Roots & Shoots of the Diaspora,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at Snapdragon’s Black Cat Cabaret. There is a $10 suggested donation.
Find out more about Hunter, his life and music, at benjaminhuntermusic.com, and read The Beachcomber’s Jan. 23 article about him at tinyurl.com/ya77b98d.
Jam in the Atrium
Jam in the Atrium, a celebrated monthly series of concerts by well-known Pacific Northwest jazzmen, will launch its new season from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
Joining the Jam’s organizer, islander and bass player Bruce Phares, will be Brian Kirk, on vibes, and another special guest, percussionist Ronnie Bishop.
Phares is eager to welcome Kirk to Vashon, and said his appearance here on the first day of African-American History Month will be especially meaningful.
“For years, I’ve followed his adventures, leading him across many genres due to his broad spectrum of commanding talents as a multi-instrumentalist, lecturer, educator, bandleader, and in his role as a talented writer and deeply-rooted griot,” Phares said.
At the Feb. 1 concert, Kirk will preview some of his latest project — a highly anticipated tribute project to Cal Tjader, who was a revered musician in the jazz world from 1951 until he died in 1989.
Bishop, Phares said, is an in-demand Northwest performer, playing with many of the region’s top bands, including Kirk’s ensembles.
Find out more about the concert and upcoming shows at facebook.com/groups/jamintheatrium.
Signature Exhibition
Northwest Watercolor Society’s Signature Exhibition, running through July 15 at the Seattle Convention Center, includes works by island artists Donna Caulton and Isle Reimnitz.
Both Caulton’s painting, “Gone from the Highlands,” and Reimnitz’s paintings, “Pacific Dunes,” are among the 63 Signature and Gold Medal Fellowship members’ 85 pieces to be on display in the Phyllis Lamphere Gallery on Level 2 of the Arch Building located at 705 Pike Street, in Seattle. The show is also online at nwws.org.
There will be a reception for the artists, with light refreshments, from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, in the south end of Level 2 of the Convention Center’s Arch Building. Parking information is available at seattleconventioncenter.com/parking-garage-information.
Mushroom talk
Mycologist Danny Miller will give a talk, “The Secret History of Mushrooms,” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
Miller chairs education programs for the Puget Sound Mycological Society, helping to design and teach the curriculum for the club’s classes. He is also the club’s librarian, and Identification Committee co-coordinator, as well as the emergency poisoning point person for King County Washington Poison Control.
Miller also belongs to the PNW Key Council, a group of amateur and professional mycologists, and is a co-creator of mycomatch.com, a free Pacific Northwest mushroom identification program. He has an avid interest in figuring out where all of the mushrooms fit into the fungal tree of life, and is currently trying to collect the DNA of every Pacific Northwest species to determine which still need names.
His talk is presented in collaboration with Vashon Nature Center. Get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org. The talk is free for ages 18 and younger.
Pete Droge tickets
Islander and alt-rock music icon Pete Droge, joined by his longtime partner in life and music, Elaine Summers, will play a show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at Vashon Center for the Arts. The show is all but certain to sell out — get tickets now at vashoncenterforthearts.org.