Rachel Mason, of the National Park Service, will present a talk on the "Lost Village" of the Aleutians at the Anchorage Museum tonight at 7 p.m. The museum is at 625 C St., but enter on the 7th Avenue side.

Mason is particularly interested in speaking with anyone who may have personal memories or family stories about villages abandoned during World War II, Attu, Kashega, Biorka and Makushin.

The event is free.

By Mike Dunham
Rick Zelinsky: With Yngvil vatn Guttu at the 2009 Spenard Jazz Fest.
Some of the best music I've heard in this town lately has been at the Tap Root Cafe. It can be a noisy venue, but connoisseurs are figuring out that the seats in front of the band are our territory. (They oughta add some tables on at least part of the dance floor.)

By COLLEEN LONG
Associated Press
Fine art, high price: Photo courtesy of Donald Ellis Gallery.
NEW YORK — The design for the ceremonial Eskimo mask comes from a shaman's dream. Fantastical, with a wide grin of pointed teeth and a halo of feathers, it is a highly expressive piece of Native American art — and had been tucked away in a private collection, unseen by the public for a half-century. Until now.

By MIKE DUNHAM

Dennis Oppenheim, the contemporary artist who designed the “Image Intervention” sculpture at the University of Alaska Anchorage Fine Arts Building, died in New York City of liver cancer on Jan. 22. He was 72.

By MIKE DUNHAM
WHERE CHARLENE SHUGAK, 17, DIED: Died April 12, 2010. Found in Russian Jack Springs Park ball field.—Death due to hypothermia, probably compounded by drinking may have impaired her judgment on weather conditions. Photo by Dirk Spennemann.
Dirk Spennemann came to Alaska to research World War II and found himself fixated by a very different and more contemporary conflict — the deaths of homeless people in Anchorage.

By ANNE HERMAN

'Qug'yuq': Set design by Anastasia Semek.
The image of black-winged Raven grabbing the frightened Qug’yuq — whose head, torso and arms reach frantically away from him — was visceral and intimate. In that moment, good and evil, light and dark were caught in a web of desire, fear and possession. It was, though, one of only a few such moments in Alaska Dance Theatre’s new production, “Qug’yuq.”

By MIKE DUNHAM
If you were gay: Kerri Brackin, seen here as the "Second Hander" with the puppets "Nicky" and "Rod" is part of the Anchorage cast of "Avenue Q."
You don’t expect soul-wringing drama in a puppet show, and “Avenue Q” doesn’t offer any. But the touring production of the Tony-winning musical, which opened Friday night in Atwood Concert Hall, serves up a lot of silliness, amusing song-and-dance and two hours of polished, feel-good entertainment.

(A "You Be the Critic" review submitted by Sean Talbot)
Sisters Mary Paul and "Mary Annette": At VPA.
The house was packed. Nuns were running up the aisles with their eccentricities and glee. The audience laughed and clapped along, high on the adventure. In our laps laid Bingo cards, and in the back of every person’s mind that night, a grasshopper was saying you’re going to win something tonight!

By MIKE DUNHAM

I attended the dress rehearsal for Alaska Dance Theatre's "Qug'yuq," a full-length story ballet retracing the tale of "Swan Lake" with a Yup'ik twist. The piece mixes standard ballet with a couple of "yuraq" (Yup'ik dance) episodes. The primary music is drawn from Mahler's 2nd and 10th symphonies.

This reminder, Rick Zelinsky et al will be presenting a tribute to John Coltrane starting at 8 p.m. tonight at Tap Root Cafe, in the former Fly By Night Club on Spenard Road. There's a modest cover charge and that money goes to the musicians.

Also tonight, starting at 7:30 or so, The John Whelan Band performs for a Contra Dance fling at Romig Middle School on the first night of the Anchorage Folk Festival. More about that tomorrow in Play.

Dirk Spennemann: Assessing the condition of a 75 mm Japanese WWII gun on Kiska in 2007. Photo: National Park Service

Let's put on a play!: Linus, center, is shown with Charlie Brown and Lucy during an animated webisode series for “The Peanuts.” (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Entertainment)
THEATER

The Rasmuson Foundation has opened the application period for artist awards. The following press release contains details, which include teleconferences in which artists can get more information. Note that the first of these has already taken place. The other two will be held at 6 p.m. on Jan. 19 and 20.

A very happy Russian Christmas for opera lovers: Rene Pape in the title role of the Met's "Boris."

A number of local opera fans were disappointed when the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's "Boris Godunov" didn't go as scheduled back in November. The "Encore" presentation has been re-scheduled, however, and tonight's the night. The much-accalsimed production of the mad Czar features René Pape, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Evgeny Nikitin, Oleg Balashov and Ekaterina Semenchuk. Showtime is 6:30 P.M. at Century 16.

Rita Dove: Shown in a 1998 photo with fellow former poet laureate Robert Pinsky and Hillary Clinton, then First Lady.(AP Photo/Brian K. Diggs)

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove will be the keynote speaker at the tenth Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference, June 10-11, in Homer. The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet will be joined by a faculty that includes notable Alaskan writers including Anne Coray, Richard Chiappone, Heather Lende, Nancy Lord, Sherry Simpson, Peggy Shumaker, Eva Saulitis and Frank Soos.

Cal and pal
The Energizer battery people are looking for people with inspirational stories, and there've gotta be a bunch of them in Alaska. This press release arrived today, somewhat abbreviated here:

By MIKE DUNHAM

The Anchorage Symphony presented an exceedingly tranquil program on Saturday night. Even the “modern” piece, Eric Ewazen’s 1999 concerto for oboe and string orchestra titled “Down a River of Time,” drifted in a pastorale mood.

LITERARY ARTS

Call to authors and poets: F Magazine is accepting submissions for a writing competition to be featured in the local publication’s June issue. Participants can submit short fiction (1,000-5,000 words) or poetry (one or two pages). The deadline for submission is April 24, with a $5 fee for each entry. Visit fhideout.org for details. Entries can also be submitted at the address below, with checks payable to F Magazine. Eligible entries must be postmarked by April 20.
F Magazine
Writing Competition
3142 Mountain View Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99501

From Out North:
Art by Catherine Senungetuk
The Color of Living: 35 Years of Catherine Doss Senungetuk, curated by K N Goodrich, will soon close at Out North, 3800 Debarr.

The family invites the public to a celebration of Catherine's life on Friday, January 14th, from 3-6pm at the gallery.

'Qug'yuq': Set design by Anastasia Semek.
We're a week away from the debut of Alaska Dance Theatre's revisioned "Swan Lake." Titled "Qug'yuq," Yup'ik for "swan," and set in mythological Alaska and featuring drummers and dancers from the Alaska Native Heritage Center. But you can see some of the moves in this video of a rehearsal.

Note that the music is Mahler, not the familiar Tchaikovsky.