A band of Juneauites are bringing a landmark guitar album to life Saturday.
Lords of Karma, a band created for the project, will perform the entirety of Joe Satriani’s “Surfing With the Alien” plus a few bonus tracks twice at the Hangar Ballroom. A 7 p.m. show will be open to all ages and a 9 p.m. show will be for a 21-and-older audience.
“Joe Satriani’s music is pretty timeless, and there really isn’t anyone playing it locally,” said guitarist Ward F. Ward. “It influenced a lot of people, and this is paying that forward. I was listening to it when I was 18 in Washington, D.C., and I just want to pay that inspiration forward.”
Joining ward in the performance will be Andy Engstrom on drums and synthesizers, Vaugh Gallagher on bass and Brian Messing on rhythm guitar.
Tickets cost $20 in advance and can be purchased online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4044002, or they cost $25 at the door. Tickets for the all-ages show are half-priced for students enrolled in any music program.
“It’s going to be a good concert for young musicians,” Engstrom said. “But it is a rock concert, so expect levels.”
Ward and Engstrom said the goal of the show will be to replicate the jazz-fusion prog-ish album as closely as possible, which is a technical challenge.
A lot of the percussion on “Surfing With the Alien” comes from a drum machine, so Engstrom said that makes some of what he’ll have to do counter-intuitive.
“It’s really bizarre. There’s fill combinations between toms,” he said referencing the album’s unusual use of tom-tom drums and quieter cymbals. “Making these melodic splashes with toms — only a guitar player would think of that.”
Getting their game on
Nearly a hundred athletes from Alaska and Canada are expected to compete in the 2019 Traditional Games in Juneau this weekend.
This is the first time Southeast Alaska has hosted a statewide indigenous sports event.
The 2019 Traditional Games are scheduled from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., March 16-17, at Thunder Mountain High School, and the competition is open to everyone — Native and non-Native — age 11 and older. Spectators are invited and appreciated, and admission is free.
Students from all three of the Juneau’s high schools and both middle schools will participate, and athletes from Hoonah, Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Bethel, Utqiagvik, Whitehorse and Northern Arizona University also will compete in Juneau.
Prior to 2017, the Native Youth Olympics program was active in only four elementary schools in Juneau, said coach Kyle Kaayák’w Worl, a veteran of the NYO games who has brought home many medals.
“The Juneau program was successful last year partly because we foster an atmosphere of support and acceptance,” Worl said in a press release. “Historically, people had to work together and support each other, and that spirit is very much a part of the games and something I try to instill in the athletes.”
The opening ceremony will feature music by DJ Celeste Worl.
Tlingit rapper Arias Hoyle will perform his song “Ixsixán, Ax Kwáan” on Saturday morning and debut a new music video at the NYO Celebration, scheduled the evening of March 16 at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. The dance group Woosh.ji.een will perform Sunday morning.
Mobile Mammography is on the move
A mobile mammography will be traveling to communities in Southeast Alaska this spring.
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s WISEWOMAN Women’s Health Program partnered with the Breast Cancer Detection Center to bring mammography to the communities.
The van will be in Angoon on April 25 and 26; Gastavus on April 30; Kake on May 2, 3 and 4; and Haines on May 7, 8 and 9.
• Contact arts and culture reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.
