Poetry band

A high school poetry band from Bainbridge Island will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, at Café Luna.

The group will be part of an open mic program at 7 p.m. hosted by Islander Peter Ray. Ray described the band as avid poets who created music to fully express their poems.

The seven band members perform with guitars, cello, hand drums and voices.

The members are Adam Foley (vocals and guitar), Nate Cork (guitar), Annie Stern (vocals) Hannah Lankenship (vocals), Alex Whit (cello), Eric Schuler (hand drums) and Gabe Sever (hand drums).

Sign-ups for the open mic are available on the night of the event.

The open mic is a regular event held the first Thursday of each month.

Ben Gilmer

Ben Gilmer, who performs solo acoustic original Americana bluegrass and folk music on guitar, banjo and mandolin, will be at Café Luna at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7.

Gilmer grew up in the mountains of southwestern Virginia and spent much of his youth playing in the creek, wandering around the farm with his brother and cousins and playing music with his family on their front porch.

Much of Gilmer’s songwriting is deeply rooted in southern Appalachia.

Gilmer’s formal musical training came from picking bluegrass at Joe’s Barber Shop in his hometown of Lebanon, Va., and from playing country tunes with his grandfather and uncles. Gilmer spent the past few years in West Virginia, where he worked and attended graduate school; he then went on to teach geography at Radford University in southwestern Virginia.

Gilmer now lives in Seattle with his wife Alyse and can be found playing shows throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Gilmer’s new album, “Juxtaposed” (2008), received rave reviews after it was released.

For more on Gilmer’s music, visit www.myspace.com/bengilmer.