By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- Charlie Daniels burst onto the Borealis Theatre stage Saturday night with a string-smoking solo to open the feisty bar stool anthem “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye.”

Charlie Daniels: Charlie Daniels

In his red Western shirt, white cowboy hat and a belt buckle just shy the circumference of a pie plate, Daniels brandished his bow like nunchucks -- when he wasn’t using it to stun the fiddle gods.

Daniels may turn 71 in October, but he’s determined not to show it.

Cheap Trick: Lead guitarist Nielsen at the Alaska State Fair on Aug. 24, looking like a real Alaskans. Photo, Joe Ditzler.

Evergreen pop balladeers Cheap Trick was the lead-off name band at this year's Alaska State Fair. Our reviewer (and photographer), Joe Ditzler, has his take below. If you saw the show, feel free to chime in here.

Okay, let's go through the checklist. Rain? Yep. Darkening nights? You bet. School supplies piled up in the corner? Unfortunately.

Well, the signs are all there; our annual migration to the Valley is about to begin and, as always, the Alaska State Fair promises rides, sweets and exhibits, but does it really give us art?

Yes, the arts and craft exhibit takes up a whole lot of room, but when does a quilt go from being a bed spread to an art object? And how come one kid's wire horse come across as art while another's pony diorama just looks obsessive?

If ever a place forced a discussion of handiwork verses craft, and craft verses art, the fairgrounds is it. So head to the fair and let us know what you see. Do any categories present particularly fine examples of artful creation? Did you see any one wreath, bracelet or bowl that transcended its functional use?

By Don Decker

The art world, at regular intervals since the invention of photography, has declared, “Painting is dead.” Juneau artist David Woodie’s exhibition of 21 paintings at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art helps dispel the notion that everything that can be done with paint has been done. Though the work is not groundbreaking, it is unique and inviting, particularly by Alaska standards.

It’s a large-scale show in format and quantity, demonstrating a significant level of technique and craftsmanship. Moreover, the artist challenges us with references and surreal imagery, both personal and metaphorical.

On Tuesday, Cyrano’s Off Center Playhouse will host a play so controversial, its first New York City run was canceled last year for fear of political fallout.

Rachel Corrie 2: Rachel Corrie, 2002. Photo provided by Corrie's sister, Sarah Corrie Simpson.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a one-woman play based on the journals and e-mails of an American activist crushed to death in 2003 when she tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from razing Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

Cake's John McCrae and Xan McCurdy: Opening song in Cake's concert at the Moose's Tooth Friday night.

Dawnell Smith
Daily News

While Cake fans swayed through the Moose's Tooth parking lot screaming for "The Distance" last night, the band parsed out nuggets of irony and rock and roll, politics and bass, good humor and trumpet.

Though Cake never pandered to the crowd, the band enticed it with songs and banter that leaned from the sardonic to sweet.

More to the point, the band let loose a string of deftly played, sharp-tongued tunes that resonated through a slice of midtown best known for traffic and heavenly pie. Forget the 1996 hit "The Distance," my friends, because jams like "Sheep Go to Heaven," "Love You Madly" and "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" carried the night.

Alex Combs: The man at work.

Dawnell Smith
Anchorage Daily News

Anyone who knows or cares about art in Alaska knows something about Alex Combs, the old-timer who came to Alaska in 1955 and lived, taught and made art in Anchorage for two decades before moving to Halibut Cove. Though known for his lush, sensual paintings, he also fashions sculptures from clay and mixed media.

He rarely shows more than a piece or two in Anchorage anymore, but his family is holding a show and sale of 33 of his paintings Friday evening to celebrate his 88th birthday and help clear out his studio. All the paintings will be priced half the cost of their value in the market, said his son, Sam Combs.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones in Atwood Hall on Aug. 3, 2007.: Photo: Leland Smith

Bela Fleck and crew redefined jazz in Atwood Hall on Friday. Leland Smith got this photo and filed the review below. If you were there, tell us what you thought.

Indigo Girls

By Laura Carpenter

The Indigo Girls rocked the house Thursday night in their first of two sold-out shows at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub.

Before the concert, fans were already buying and wearing Indigo Girls paraphernalia and a group from Fairbanks who came down just for the concerts admitted that the Indigo Girls were going to Fairbanks and that they got tickets for that show also, which is Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Blue Loon.

Thursday’s concert was an event for lesbians — yes, we are everywhere — but really it was a concert for people who enjoy good rock-folk music. Testosterone was well represented; men in crisp shirts sang aloud to songs like they meant every word. And they were not too far from the woman in a bridal veil.

Torrie AllenThe Board of Directors of Anchorage Opera announced in a press release on Wednesday that it had selected Torrie Allen as the new General Manager of the company.

Allen has 25 years experience in arts management and performance positions and, as a bass singer, has performed in major venues from New York City to Paris, Houston to St. Petersburg, Russia.

He relocated to Anchorage from New York last December to take the position of Development Director for Anchorage Opera. In April, following the departure of the previous manager, Ed Bourgeois, he took over general management responsibilities on an interim basis while the board conducted a national search to fill the position.

By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News

The Anchorage Museum has launched a fundraising campaign to recover what was lost in the governor’s June veto spree.

Museum expansion: Architect's drawing of the Anchorage Museum expansion.

The Anchorage Museum’s staff and board have been scrambling since June 30, when Gov. Sarah Palin trimmed $231 million from the state budget including $5 million slated for the museum’s $116 million expansion.

In the last three budget cycles, the state has committed $20 million total to the expansion, said Capital Campaign Director Joy Atrops-Kimura. Without this additional $5 million, the museum could potentially lose another $1.8 million it was slated to receive in matching funds from several national and regional private foundations, said Suzi Jones, the museum’s deputy director of programs.

A trebuchet can catapult melons and paint canisters with incredible accuracy, but wobbling fish heads present another challenge altogether, especially when attached to bodies crafted from plastic bags, duct tape and sand.

The frilly flying fish proved too unwieldy for the infamous trebuchet last night at the 8th Annual Studio Party BBQ in Spenard, but Peter Berdovsky's multi-media performance hit the bull's eye. Berdovsky, or "Zebbler" launched a series of videos on the east wall of Sheila Wyne's studio to the sound of pounding rhythms and haunting voices.

The projections began as amorphous abstractions of shape and color, but the clips grew more and more specific and tense, centering first on dance, war dance and ultimately the rituals of war and the incessant flow of time, traffic, rage, destruction and inertia.

By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News

When your date turns out to be a raging nut job, you can run screaming to the nearest nunnery or you can laugh.

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” chooses the latter.

The funny, frothy revue about romance (or lack thereof) is sweet as wedding cake. Though the sketch topics are derivative, the jaunty songs are so pleasantly put together the material rarely feels like retread.

The musical, which opened Friday at Cyrano’s Off Center Playhouse, uses just four cast members to inhabit more than 25 different scenarios. Although the characters in each scene are different, there is a progression in time throughout the evening from dateless 20-somethings to sex-less marrieds to a geriatric hook up at a wake.

reggae4: Reggae veterans H3 performing at the Alyeska MountainAir Reggae Fest.

reggae5: H3 and the crowd at the Alyeska MountainAir Reggae Fest.

reggae3: Dancers at the Alyeska MountainAir Reggae Fest.

reggae2: Wailers' rhythm section.

reggae1: The Wailers and the crowd in Girdwood

--Dawnell Smith

You probably don't know Peter "Zebbler" Berdovsky, but you've certainly heard of his work. Zebbler and another grunt got arrested for their involvement in the Boston bomb scare back in January. They also learned the recipe for reaping havoc and generating paranoia in the "age of terror."

Loosely put, the recipe calls for taking a late-night adult cartoon about a talking milkshake, box of fries and meatball, and shaking it vigorously with guerrilla marketing. What ensues involves legal action along with accusations about greed, panic and the signs of the times.

The desire for media attention precipitated the incident in Boston. In a nutshell, Turner Broadcasting enlisted the New York-based guerilla marketing outfit Interference to promote the Adult Swim cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" in cities throughout the country. The advertising scheme involved hanging electronic devices shaped like cartoon characters in high traffic areas like roads, public transportation centers and pedestrian corridors.

The full press release from the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center:

For immediate release:
July 26, 2007

Smithsonian's James Pepper Henry selected as new CEO of Anchorage Museum

James Pepper Henry: James Pepper Henry will become the new director of the Anchorage Museum on Oct. 22. Photo: Kristine Brumley

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - James Pepper Henry, an associate director at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), has been chosen as the new director of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center. He replaces long-time museum director Pat Wolf, who will retire Oct. 21. Pepper Henry assumes his new position Oct. 22.

Page Moon of Anchorage

Anchorage-born-and-raised Page Moon rose through the ranks of around 750 initial contestants to win the silver medal in her division at the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio, last month.

The 16-year-old virtuoso has studied with Timothy and Rumi Smith and currently studies with Svetlana Velitchko.

Moon’s program included Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 8 and Debussy’s “L’isle Joyeuse,” and according to Velichko, the audience reaction was nothing short of spectacular. The Alaskan was somewhat handicapped, however, by being among the first contestants to perform; later placement arguably gives a competitor a better shot at commanding the judges’ attention.

Perseverance Theatre announced today that Producing Director Jeffrey Herrmann has taken a position as managing director at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington D.C.

Jeffrey Herrmann

Herrmann, who has worked at Perseverance for eight seasons, begins his new position in September.

Woolly Mammoth is a key regional theater on the Eastern seaboard and has been called “Washington’s most daring theater company by the New York Times. The company has a strong reputation for nurturing young playwrights and new works.

FALL SEASON: Opera and museum expect decisions next week.

By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News

Three of Anchorage's five largest arts organizations are searching for top executives as the fall arts season looms.

Pat Wolf (ADN 2005 file photo)

The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center and Anchorage Opera have both been executive director hunting since last year and expect to announce their choices in the next week.

The Alaska State Museum has announced the awarding of 31 grants totaling $105,600 to Alaskan museums, funded by an appropriation from the Alaska legislature. Major awards included: $10,000 for an exhibit case at Kodiak's Alutiiq Museum, $8,410 for baidarka conservation at the Baranov Museum (also Kodiak), $8,613 for totem pole restoration at the Juneau Douglas City Museum, and $10,000 for media preservation at Homer's Pratt Museum. Smaller awards included such authentically Alaska touches as $2000 for a Toyo stove for the Hope Sunrise Historical Society.

The full press release is available online at: www.museums.state.ak.us.