Attend an open mic
The “8-Word, 8-Day” poetry open mic is back, starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, at Café Luna.
The event will feature Seattle’s 2009 Poet Populist, Mike Hickey, who won his title from votes garnered at Seattle poetry venues, and is a college instructor, labor leader and award-winning poet.
Poets are invited to join Hickey in taking on the challenge of writing a poem for the open mic that includes the following words: don’t, moon, screech, chill, creepy, sister-twister, oozing and bite. Poets can also read other works.
Jonathan Raban speaks
British author Jonathan Raban, who has penned works including “Passage to Juneau,” “Surveillance,” “Waxwings,” “Bad Land,” “Old Glory,” “Hunting Mr. Heartbreak” and “My Holy War,” will appear at 7 p.m., Sunday, October 11, at Blue Heron Art Center.
Raban is the first speaker in Vashon Allied Arts’ new Arts and Humanities Series.
Raban, who has resided in Seattle since 1989, will discuss the challenges of “Writing the Northwest,” prompted with questions by Islander Mike Feinstein.
Raban is a recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature, the PEN/West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award and the Governor’s Award of the State of Washington. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Guardian and The Independent.
Tickets to the event cost $18 to $20. Call 463-5131 to purchase them.
Drama Dock has a potluck
Drama Dock’s annual membership meeting is slated for 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at Vashon High School theater.
The gathering will include a potluck, news about the group’s next season, election of officers and a screening of a DVD recording of Drama Dock’s “Urinetown.”
Rethinking a war
Robert Greenwald’s documentary, “Rethink Afghanistan,” will be shown at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at Vashon Theatre.
The film, which is being presented by Vashon Film Society and For Word Film, is a critique of the last eight years of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and the current push to expand the war.
Organizers suggest a $5 donation at the door; proceeds will go to the Brave New Films Foundation.
Gospel choir comes to town
The Total Experience Gospel Choir will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at Bethel Church.
Opening for the award-winning choir will be Vashon’s Community Gospel Choir with Vashon Island Youth Chorus. The event is a benefit for Seattle’s Bailey-Boushay House and is being presented by Islander Larry Flynn to raise awareness of AIDS prevention.
Dance bands rock the Bike
The Seattle band, The Staxx Brothers, will play a show at Red Bicycle Bistro and Sushi at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11.
The band’s show comes on the heels of the release of their album, “12th Street Blues,” which blends hip-hop, R&B, funk and jazz.
The group includes a blind rapper from Detroit, female back-up singers, and Davin Stedman, the band’s frontman. Members have performed with Tone Loc, The Drifters, Ray Charles and others
The show has a cover charge of $5, and is for ages 21 and older.
A local band, Rumor Has It, will take the Bike’s stage at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, for a free, all-ages show. The band includes Vashon players Roger Taylor, Steve Amsden, Paul Colwell, Sarah Perlman, Kevin Almeida, Larry Lawson and Todd Zimberg.
Books by the Way reading
Joyce Hinneman, author of “In Hovering Flight,” will read from her book at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Books by the Way.
Nancy Pearl, a commentator on KUOW Radio, called the novel “elegiac, poetic and understated.” Hinneman described her book as “a novel about mothers, daughters, and art; about illness and death; about fragile ecosystems and tenacious human relationships — all explored through characters who are inspired by the lives, and particularly the songs, of birds.”
Writers read at Havurat
A free reading from two literary journals is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at Havurat Ee Shalom, 15401 Westside Hwy.
Readers will include five contributors from “Drash,” a publication that tilts towards Northwest and Jewish themes.
Wendy Marcus, musical director at Seattle’s Temple Beth Am and an editor of “Drash,” will read Northwest stories from the journal “Polygot,” which won the Serena Kennedy McDonald Prize from Snake Nation Press.
Marcus is seeking submissions of poetry, short fiction and essays for the next volume of “Drash.” Contact wendy@templebetham.org for more information.
Copies of both journals are in stock at Vashon Bookshop.
Wine and music at Luna
Café Luna will host a wine tasting with Vashon Winery’s Ron Irvine, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9.
At 7:30 p.m. on the same evening, the Island jazz trio Mucho Gusto will play a free concert. Seth Alexander, a band member, defined the group’s sound as “Jill Scott meets John Coltrane” and said the trio will play “some seriously danceable tunes mixed with some soul-searching jazz.”
Steve and Kristi Nebel will play another free concert at the café at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. The duo plays Americana music and has recorded seven CDs and toured internationally.
