BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?

Subject: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 02:01 PM

My good friend and bandmate, Lynn, took her elderly mother on what they expected to be her vacation of a lifetime: an Alaskan cruise. Lee is suffering from some memory loss and Lynn wanted to do this while her mom could still enjoy herself.

Sad to say, Lee fell on the cruise ship and broke her hip. She now is in the Ketchikan, Alaska, hospital and Lynn is there with her for the duration, until she's strong enough to fly back here to Kansas City.

I wish I could fly up there to keep Lynn company, but I'm here in Oklahoma taking care of MY elderly and very ill mother.

However, I wonder if any fabulous Mudcateers live in Ketchikan and might stop in and brighten Lynn's day? She's a wonderful guitar player, singer and songwriter and her heart might be made glad by the appearance of another musician.

If so, or if you know anyone, please send me a personal message and I'll give you the details.

Onward!

WyoWoman

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 02:14 PM

Ketchikan, Alaska is one of my most favorite places in the world. Some day I will live there for at least a year. For now, I don't. Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 03:56 PM

Ketchikan is Juneau's first stop on a flight south. One way, it is a 40 minute flight with Alaska Air or a 28 hour state ferry ride.

Round trip, the ferry ride would cost $208. plus food, the plane $361.

Guess I can't make it. Sure would like to, though.

Hope your friends will enjoy as much as they can, and that the broken hip will heal rapidly.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 07:42 PM

I don't know about 'Catters, but I'll PM you the name of my friend at the public library there after I call her tomorrow. KPL won't let tourists use the computers for Internet access, but they might make an exception in this case.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 09:22 PM

Ketchikan doesn't allow tourists to use the computers for internet access? Why ever not? Juneau has provided it for years.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 10:08 PM

Because the library doesn't have enough public computers to meet the demands of both their own patrons AND the people off the cruise ships. Besides, most of the cruise ships have their own Internet access.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: JennieG
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 10:20 PM

Internet access on the cruise ships is quite expensive. Last year my son Stephen The Drummer spent a few months working the inside passage, and he used internet cafes in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway - a chain called "Sea Net". You can buy an access card at any one of these places and use it at all of them, for internet or phone calls. The Ketchikan one is in the Salmon Landing building not far from the cruise ship dock. It is in the same building as the quilt shop, and the yarn and bead shop.

Guess where I went??!!!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 10:34 PM

Must be new since I was there two years ago. And GOOD!

Didcha go to Ray Troll's shop? It's up the creek and he's one of my favorite artists.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 11:01 PM

By the way, Rap, did you know that Ray Troll is a musician? He does a set at the Alaska Folk Festival.

I called my public library and she did some checking on the Ketchikan situation for me.

Like Rapaire said, Ketchikan's facilities are small and insufficient.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 11:12 PM

Wow, Rapaire, thanks for the link to TrollArt!

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 11:23 PM

You're welcome. He's been one of my faves since, oh, 1987 or so.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 11:24 PM

Oh, yeah. Buy stuff. In this case it's okay to feed the Trolls.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: GUEST,harpgirl
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 11:25 PM

Have your friend check this out wyo....


Jam to Gospel/ Bluegrass music with Shannon Spring every Thursday night at 7pm at the stARTled Salmon Ketchikan Arts Hatchery in the Salmon Landing Market. Sponsored by Squares and Contras, call 225-2211 for more info.

Jazz Jammin' at the Salmon, hosted by Austin Hays, come jam the night away at the kiosk at Salmon landing, the stARTled salmon Ketchikan Arts Hatchery, starting at 7pm every Friday night. Call the Arts Council for more info, 225-2211.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 06 Jun 07 - 11:57 AM

I love this process. I now know that Ray Troll got his bachelor's degree in Lindsborg, KS, just over west of where I now live in Kansas.

No new musicians in Ketchikan, but ... now I know about a new artist I'd never heard of.

Lynn is usually very wired (in an Internet kind of way) because she's a software engineer. However, I haven't gotten any emails from her since she left and I wonder if she didn't take her laptop. This would be highly out of character for her, but ... maybe. At any rate, I've gotten some good suggestions and will see what I can come up with for her.

Thanks for playing the game.

BTW -- here's our band's website www.CheckeredPastMusic.com. Lynn's the one who's not holding a sign or a fiddle and isn't a guy.

--ww

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Jun 07 - 12:09 PM

KC, I listened to the sound clips. Great sound, and I must say that your vocal technique has really gotten to be excellent. Great stuff and be sure to let us know when that CD is done. I really want to hear the rest of Across The Great Divide.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 10:42 PM

Thanks, Mick. Good to hear from you.

The whole CD process is so unbelievably slow. We worked hours and hours and just have five songs to show for it. (I believe what's on the website is just recordings of our live performances. I don't think any of the CD songs have ended up on the website yet... BUT we were just trying for "a sample of our work" for the time being.

PM me with your current email addy -- or just send me an email -- and I'll email you another song I think you'll really like ... I would post it somewhere, but I can't figure out how to do that.

Techno-challengedly,
WW

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: GUEST,Mike in Ketchikan
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 03:17 PM

I see someone has already mentioned the jam sessions at the StARTled Salmon -- those'd be a good place to start.

The best way to hook up with local musicians is probably to go to performances in the area and introduce herself. It's a pretty active musical scene for a small town but there aren't all that many people involved. She might try stopping for the Friday night performances at the Potlatch Bar, or I'm told that the bar at Hole in the Wall, about 7 or 8 miles south of town, is also going to have live music on Fridays this summer.

Alas, summer is a busy season for Ketchikanites and not the best time to hook up with musicians. The winter season is really the town's arts & music season, the summer is spent on work and recreation. If your friend is still here in the fall (for her sake I hope not) I highly recommend she check out The Monthly Grind, a local institution which takes place on the 3rd Saturday (usually) of each month at the clan house in Saxman (a few miles south of downtown.) Tickets are $5, which is refunded at the door if you bring a homemade dessert, and the evening's entertainment consists of usually five or six short acts by local artists (anything goes: music, dance, comedy, drama, but >85% music, usually) divided by an intermission halfway through where everyone helps themselves to coffee and homemade desserts from the tables set up at the back of the room. It's a great way to meet folks, especially the local musicians. The Grinds are also extremely kid-friendly, if she happens to have children staying with her (admission is $1 for young kids and the organizers provide boxes filled with craft items; the kids usually gather together in a group right in front of the stage and busy themselves playing with each other and coloring, drawing, and/or cutting things out of construction paper. you just have to make sure they don't get too wound up on sugar during the intermission/dessert period :-)

Even though winter would be better, I still think she's got a good chance of hooking up with some musically-inclined locals. Other suggestions for your friend:
- stop in to McPherson's Music and introduce yourself to the owners; pose your question to them.
- stop at the Ketchikan Arts and Humanities Council offices (aka "The Mainstay Gallery") near the library and ask there.
- write a letter to the editor on http://www.sitnews.us, a site which is widely read by Ketchikan locals.
- the second Saturday of each month there's a folk dance at the Crow's Nest, the club on the Coast Guard base. Everyone's welcome, though I think you're supposed to bring a dessert or snack to share.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: GUEST,Mike in Ketchikan
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 03:21 PM

Also, if she's going to be in town for a little while and is going stir-crazy from hospital visiting, I can make recommendations for other things she might see and/or do while she's staying in the area.

As others have mentioned, Ketchikan is in an extremely beautiful part of the country and though I'm sure her mother's care comes first, she should get a chance to spend some time on herself. It'd be a shame to miss some of the opportunities available here if she's going to be around for a while.

She can e-mail for advice at:

m m c n a l l y @ g m a i l . c o m

and I'll try to suggest some things she might find interesting..

Subject: RE: BS: Any Mudcateers in KETCHIKAN?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 11:59 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. AS it turns out, the cruise ship PAID for a nurse to fly home with her and her mother from Alaska to Kansas City and care for her mom along the way. As of this morning, Lee is now resting comfortably in a nursing home a few miles from Lynn's home and, for a seriously sucky situation, it's turned out as well as it possibly could.

She did get to venture out in Ketchikan some and I"m looking forward to hearing her stories tomorrow evening at rehearsal. I know she liked it sufficiently to want to go back and spend some time there when she's not dealing with a family health crisis.

Thanks again,
WW