Vashon Homes & Events from Go! Real Estate

Vashon Island Events: Blue Heron Arts Center Presents Carter Castle and John Browne, Art Hansen Watercolors

Gallery Show – March
Art Hansen, Watercolors, Etchings, Lithographs
Gallery opening: Friday, March 6

Print Sale
Saturday, March 7  noon-5
All proceeds benefit VAA

In addition to the exhibit, the Art Hansen Print Sale will offer unframed, unmatted etchings for very reasonable prices. About 140 etchings will be available for purchase–black and white as well as colored etchings of flowers, Island and Northwest landscapes, gardens, ponds, trees and people.

“This is the perfect way for anyone to acquire affordable artwork by a well-known Northwest artist while simultaneously supporting Vashon Allied Arts,” says Mallman. Frame of Mind owner Donna Kellum has graciously offered 15% discount on framing of all prints purchased at the Print Sale. In addition, she greatly discounted framing of Hansen’s pieces for the show. “I am so grateful to her because the savings in framing will be passed on to those who purchase my work.”

Carter Castle & John Browne

Saturday, March 7th, 7:30 pm
At:  The Blue Heron
Tickets: $10 VAA members, students and seniors, $12 general

Tickets or call 206.463.5131

Island musicians Carter Castle and John Browne roll out an all-blues reunion concert , 8 p.m., Saturday, March 7th, at Blue Heron Art Center.

In addition to the tradition of Mance Lipscomb, John Hurt, Robert Johnson, John Prine and other legendary blues players, Browne and Castle will bring their own lifetimes of experience and expertise to the stage for this show. Each musician will play from his own repertoire solo in round-robin style and together.

Castle, who classifies himself more as a ‘folk-driven’ singer/songwriter, says his music definitely carries elements of blues. “Sometimes it’s about oppression and grief; other times it’s farcical. Blues was the foundation for so many other musical art forms to follow,” says Castle. “I like ‘roots’ music and blues is the ultimate roots music.”

Originally from Maryland, Castle played the 1980’s Greenwich Village music scene. He performed with the likes of Iris Dement and Rod MacDonald and soloed in Seattle area venues including The Tractor Tavern and Folklife Festival. He has also played in several gigs at the Blue Heron Art Center.

“When I first heard John Browne play, I thought now there’s a guy who really knows how to play the blues. He’s the real thing; he and Ricker both are very expressive masters of the blues,” says Castle of his fellow players. “They are historians of this type of music and play a lot; they’re both true storytellers.

Seattle native and Vashon resident for 25 years, John Browne has played guitar since his teens and picked up the harmonica in the mid-1960’s. He lived in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in 1966-67, and played with a jug band called pH Factor. The group’s first paid gig was held at the Matrix where they opened for famous country blues guitarist, Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Experiencing the psychedelic moment, they toured with Big Brother and the Holding Company and opened for The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger, the Byrds, Mothers of Invention, Lenny Bruce and Jefferson Airplane. Their band, pH Factor, according to Browne, played 20’s and 30’s street music, a combination of jazz, blues and social protest songs. “It was culturally relevant and a lot of fun,” he says. Browne says they recorded an album, but before it was released, the record company was sold along with all its media property. A decade later, the album was released in England and coined as ‘an example of the San Francisco sound in the 1960’s.’ Browne has one of the few copies.

After dropping out of the high energy San Francisco music scene, Browne moved to the Oregon coast where he lived without electricity, started a garden and raised a family. A man of many talents, Browne has driven metro buses, worked as logger, commercial fisherman and for many years helped run Wax Orchard farm. He and his wife Vicki now own Judd Creek Nursery, specializing in native plants.

For the upcoming show, he plans to play some of the Memphis Jug Band tunes, some Gus Cannon and some original music. “I’ve written enough music to fill an evening myself,” he says. His guitar, harmonica and seasoned blues voice brings authority and generosity of spirit to every tune. Browne is a Vashon classic and rarely plays publicly these days. But he has been working on a CD and may have one available for this performance.

March 6, 2009 at 5:16 am Leave a comment