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Oak Harbor Music Festival Set for this Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 4 through 6

BY RUSSELL CLEPPER
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
Sept. 2, 2015

The unexpected success of the Oak Harbor Music Festival continues with this Labor Day weekend’s 2015 edition with what has become, in just four years, the flagship musical event of the island. Not bad for a town that has never been known for supporting a hopping live music scene. But this Friday through Sunday, Sept. 4 through 6, Oak Harbor will be front and center in the Whidbey Island music world.

However, despite its lack of music venues, quite a number of fine area musicians have come from Oak Harbor, including Larry Mason who has booked talent for the event since its second year, 2013. Mason has always been proud of the Ed Bridges Music Scholarship, which is awarded to graduating seniors from each high school on the island.

Janie Cribbs and the T.Rust Band

“This year the Oak Harbor Music Festival is awarding six music scholarships to graduating seniors from all three school districts on Whidbey Island,” Mason said. That’s double from last year. That’s because, this year, the festival has added another scholarship, named after another Oak Harbor High School music teacher, Bruce Lance, who retired this year.

Saturday night’s headline act is Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real. Nelson, one of Willie Nelson’s musically gifted children, is a well-respected guitar player and singer—respected, as a matter of fact, by no less than Neil Young. Promise of the Real was formed around the group members’ mutual interest in Young’s music; the band’s name was inspired by lyrics from one of Young’s songs, “Walk On.” Eventually, Young invited the group to collaborate with him on his new album, “The Monsanto Years.”

Although the folk rock icon himself will not be at this show, Promise of the Real is backing Nelson up this year as he tours to support “The Monsanto Years,” which was released earlier this summer. (If you’d like to catch that tour, Neil Young and Promise of the Real will perform at Seattle’s WaMu Theatre on Oct. 4. However, tickets start at $122 apiece.) All shows at the Oak Harbor Music Festival are free, although donations are encouraged and accepted and are one of the primary sources of funds for the scholarships the festival provides.

The group’s performance at 9:30 p.m Saturday on the Island Trollers will also have a nationwide audience. “With the help of the Melodic Caring Project, we will stream Lukas Nelson’s set live to hospitalized kids across the USA, as well as to the Internet,” Mason said.

Whidbey favorites—PETE

New to this year’s festival will be the presentation of the winners of the teen talent contest that the festival sponsored this year. “I am very excited about it,” Mason said. The seven winners will play at 1 p.m. on Sunday on the Island Trollers Stage. This is another way Mason and other organizers have found to encourage the development of musical ability among young, talented area musicians. After all, Mason himself was one of a crop of youngsters back in the 1970s who were inspired to pursue a career in music because of then Oak Harbor High School Music teacher, Ed Bridges, namesake for the festival’s original scholarship.

The participation of local musicians in the festival doesn’t stop with these young folks. “We also have the very talented Nathaniel Talbot,” Mason said. “Janie Cribbs and the T.Rust Band, PETE, Broken Banjo and the Cranberry Bog Bluegrass Band. Whidbey Island natives also play in Greg Murat and the Cool Wind, and the Mama Rags.”

As in the past two festivals, shows are presented on two main stages at either end of Pioneer Way in downtown Oak Harbor. The start times of the shows are staggered so that fans can catch at least parts of every act on the schedule if they want. There are two beer gardens, vendors, ample parking and even camping available.

Hip hop artist Scotty Jay

Many groups on this year’s bill are return performers, including several of the local groups such as Janie Cribbs and the T.Rust Band, PETE and Nathaniel Talbot. Others include the Joy Mills Band, Fame Riot and Dylan Jacobsen. The festival has added a hip hop artist this year, Scotty Jay, as well as a big band, the A Town Big Band. A complete list of performers and the schedule for both main stages is posted on the festival’s website (see link at the end of this article.) Jazz, singer-songwriters and many other genres are included in the eclectic offering the festival is presenting.

Weather reports look promising and the music will be excellent. Last year, the festival drew 15,000 people, twice as many as the year before. With this year’s line-up and good weather, festival-goers should be prepared for some large crowds.

For more information, please visit the festival’s website: http://www.oakharborfestival.com/home.

Russell Clepper is a singer-songwriter who plies his trade locally and around the country. He also is a substitute teacher for the Oak Harbor School District.

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September 2, 2015
Cows and Pigs and Sheep — oh my! It’s “Farm Day” at 3 Sisters Family Farm on Saturday, July 18

Two of the many cows that will rush up to greet you. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

BY LARA DUNNING
Whidbey Life Magazine Contributor
July 15, 2015

“Can I come see the farm?” is a question Jessica Muzzall often gets asked at 3 Sisters Market.

Unfortunately, since 3 Sisters Family Farm is a working farm, she must say “no.” But questions like this show the Muzzall family that people have a genuine interest in their operation and a strong desire to see the 600-acre farm where their food is raised.

On Saturday, July 18, the sisters are saying a definite “yes.” They are opening their gates for “Farm Day” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 938 Scenic Heights Road, on the northeast edge of Penn Cove.

What can one expect on
“Farm Day?”

Visitors can see the animals up close and learn about their diet and daily routine. A tractor-trolley will take riders to the back of the farm past lounging pigs and grazing cows. There will be kid’s activities, like a hay maze and temporary farm-inspired tattoos, as well as educational booths from groups such as Island County 4-H, Whidbey Camano Land Trust and Washington State University extension programs. The USDA-inspected mobile slaughter unit from Island Grown Farmers Co-op will be on site—not for slaughtering, but to show where the processing takes place.

A few of the hundreds of bales of hay grown on the farm to feed the cattle. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

In the covered barn, Serendipity Catering & Events will sell juicy 3 Sisters burgers, all-beef hotdogs and blackberry cobbler. Additional specialty sweets will be available for purchase by Dinky Donuts and Toppins Frozen Yogurt. In the old self-serve storefront visitors can stock-up on grass-fed beef, all-natural pork, cage-free eggs and other Whidbey Island products.

Muzzall, one of the three sisters and 3 Sisters Market manager, said, “We’re happy to give back to the customers and provide them with an opportunity to see where their food is coming from.” The free day is a way to show their appreciation and demonstrate their lifestyle. “It creates an understanding of what it is to be a farmer—the time and the commitment,” Muzzall added.

Sister Jennifer Jones offers a delicacy to her prized pigs. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

While visiting the farm, Jennifer Jones, another Muzzall sister, took some time away from her morning duties. Dressed in work clothes that had been put to good use that a.m. she told me their farm is the “real deal.” They proudly don’t use any genetically modified feed and, even though the farm isn’t certified organic, they follow sustainable and organic farming practices. Days often begin at sunrise and last until sunset, which in summer means long, hard days tending to 400 cattle, 500 chickens, 100 pigs and 30 sheep. There’s also mending fences, sowing, harvesting and general upkeep.

“This is really what we do,” Jones said. “It’s important for people to see and to provide a hands-on experience.”

Some of the larger pieces of equipment used in the maintenance of the farm. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

The Muzzall family has had plenty of hands-on farming experience—five generations—dating back to the turn of the century when Edwin and Stella Muzzall moved from Michigan to a rented farm in Everett, Washington. In 1910, they moved to Whidbey Island and along—with their son and daughter-in-law, Lyle and Edna—started with milk cows and egg laying hens.

In 1920, another son and daughter-in-law, Cortland and Edna, joined the farmstead. Lyle and Edna’s son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Evee, bought Cortland out 26 years later and joined the farm.

In 1956, the family decided to leave the poultry business and built a Grade A milking parlor. Ron and Shelly, Bob and Evee’s son and daughter-in-law, returned to the farm 30 years later. In 2000, they formed 3 Sisters Family Farm, named for Ron and Shelly’s daughters, Jessica, Jennifer and Roshel—the fifth generation.

3 Sisters Family Farm and 3 Sisters Market

After six years the family decided to sell the milk cows and focus on providing the community with grass-fed beef, all-natural pork and cage-free eggs. They sold their products at farmers markets and in 2012—after the demand grew—opened 3 Sisters Market at 779 Holbrook Road in Penn Cove.

Local products overflow the shelves of 3 Sisters Market, in addition to the sisters’ farm products. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

A trip to 3 Sisters Market shows off their hard work and connections with local business that enable them to carry Penn Cove mussels, San Juan Island Sea Salt, Whidbey Pies, Golden Glenn cheeses, Mukilteo Coffee, Twin Brook milk and cream, beauty products, vegetables and more. Just off Hwy. 20, in the former San de Fuca fire station on the western edge of Penn Cove, it’s the perfect place to check off those items on your grocery list and at the same time support local farmers and artisans.

The sheep may have a gorgeous view. but they require a great deal of care. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

Like the original homesteaders Edwin and Stella over 100 years ago, the Muzzall family is involved in all aspects of farm life—from birthing to butchering, sowing and harvesting their own hay and barley, and selling and promoting their products.

“Farm Day” at 3 Sisters Family Farm offers an opportunity to step into those hard-working boots and get a glimpse into a farmer’s life.

Lara Dunning is a freelance writer. Her articles have been published in The Crossing Guide, the Anacortes Scene and Waggoner’s Pacific Northwest Boating. Her interests include young adult novels, history, hiking and locavore-inspired food.

Image at top: Look for this sign beside the farm on Scenic Heights Road, on the south side of Oak Harbor. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

LINKS:

3 Sisters Family Farm: http://www.3sistersbeef.org/home.html

Serendipity Catering & Events: http://www.serendipitytogo.com/

Unique old and new farm implements are found around the farm. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

Dinky Donuts: http://www.dinkydonuts.com/

Toppins Frozen Yogurt: http://www.toppinsfrozenyogurt.com/

Island Grown Farmers Co-op: http://www.igfcmeats.com/

The sisters will be glad to tell you the uses of the various pieces of equipment around the farm. (photo by Marsha Morgan)

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CLICK HERE to read more WLM stories and blogs. Have a great story idea? Let us know at info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

July 15, 2015
Feed the Need with Oak Harbor’s New Food Forest

BY SUSAN WENZEL
Whidbey Life Magazine contributor
June 4, 2014

John Lennon once asked the people of the world to “imagine no possessions…no need for greed or hunger…”

Thanks to the creative and motivated minds of project co-chairs Netsah Zylinsky and Christine Pace, an army of volunteers and a generous grant of $3,000 from the Oak Harbor Garden Club, the Imagine Permaculture Forest, located at 526 SE Bayshore Drive, is no longer merely a dream. Yes, this sustainable food forest, designed to nurture the hungry throughout Whidbey Island—particularly those who come to SPIN Café in Oak Harbor for the twice-weekly free meal—is a growing, thriving and permanent reality.

Permaculture Logo (photo by Susan Wenzel)

Although the food forest is burgeoning with more than fifty fruit trees, gooseberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, peas, carrots, cabbages, chard, a variety of herbs and dozens of other vegetables and fruits, it is much more than a simple garden, Pace explained.

“Permaculture is about creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that continuously feeds people and does not take resources away from the earth but adds back to it. For example, we filled the garden with all kinds of edibles but also included flowers to attract the beneficial insects and pollinators.”

“Most of what we planted is self-sustaining,” added Zylinsky, who spent decades learning about permaculture and now loves to share her knowledge with others. “In a couple of years, we should be able to walk away and this place will continue to thrive on its own forever.”

To support such long-term vitality, the garden utilizes thoughtfully calculated sustainable agricultural methods including mulching and composting as well as companion planting—in which mutually beneficial plants are positioned near each other to foster growth. The nutritionally complete “Three Sisters” combination of beans, squash and corn seen in the garden is a prime example of companion planting and is considered by some to be the oldest known form of permaculture. The broad leaves of the squash prevent the establishment of weeds and provide natural compost for the corn and beans as the older leaves are shed. The corn provides structural support for the climbing beans and the beans provide nitrogen needed by both the squash and corn.

Just as the plants in the food forest support each other, this garden project is destined to provide both food and a picturesque place for the community to relax. The Imagine Permaculture Forest is slated to become a permanent part of Oak Harbor’s landscape thanks to the support of Hank Nydam, Parks Operations Manager for Oak Harbor. “Hank has been a huge source of encouragement and support,” explained Pace. “He helped us secure the land from the city and is further helping our efforts to become a city park.”

Many other members of the community have likewise rallied behind the project, dropping by the garden to help or providing donations of plants, money or even food to feed the workers. One such contributor has been Karen Mueller, the owner and operator of the independent Wind & Tide Bookshop.

Project co-chair Netsah Zylinsky plants herbs with volunteer Rohini Ray (photo by Susan Wenzel)

“Karen has been an invaluable help,” Zylinsky said. “She opens up her wonderful store for our planning meetings and is here helping most Saturdays.”

“I love this,” Zylinsky added as she paused from planting herbs in the centrally located, spiral-shaped mandala to survey the efforts of the busy workers. “We are saving the world one garden at a time.”

Almost ripe quince on one of the many food forest fruit trees (photo by Susan Wenzel)

For more information, please visit the Imagine Permaculture Forest website or visit the Wind & Tide Bookshop located at 790 SE Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor. (Be sure to set aside some time to browse the amazing selection of new and used books, including many works by Whidbey Island authors and artists.)

Working parties are held every Saturday at the garden from 12 noon to 2 p.m. and help is always appreciated. It is suggested that workers bring gloves, gardening tools, eggshells, grass clippings, coffee grounds, etc.

Susan Wenzel, food writer, believes in the power of locally produced food to fortify the health and well-being of both the individual and the community as a whole.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

June 4, 2014
Retired Navy Admiral Hosts Vaudevillian Variety Show to support Whidbey’s public radio station

March 26, 2014

What does Rear Admiral Ret. Bill McDaniel have in common with 1) a towering Texan/Québécois singing cowboy who yodels, 2) a classically-trained Soprano 3) circus performers, 4) six local, women entrepreneurs and 5) a local, community-run, public radio station?

They are all putting on a fantastic. family-friendly Vaudevillian Variety show in Oak Harbor from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. this Sunday, March 30 at Oak Harbor High School.

McDaniel is working with ‘Vaudeville’ producer Mary Rose Anderson of Coupeville and director Annie Zeller Horton of Greenbank. Together they are spearheading the variety show matinee to raise funds to pay musical licensing fees and studio rent for Whidbey Air public radio.

“Recipe for Disaster” performers Matt Hoar and Siobhan Wright (photo credit John Pendleton)

“Working with the variety show is not just fun and exiciting, but also a meaningful effort; the internet station provides a connection close to home for the sailors and officers who are deployed all over the world,” said McDaniel, who also joined the Whidbey Air Board of Directors last Spring.

The performers at the Vaudeville show will be the following: singer/songwriter Karin Blaine of Clinton; musical duo “The Muse and eye” (Russell Clepper and Sarah Dial Primrose of Langley); belly dancer Gwendolyn Sipes of Freeland; the dynamo music teacher from Oak Harbor High School, Darren McCoy of Oak Harbor; accordion player David Locke of Freeland; classically-trained soprano Meredith Ellen Reichmann of Oak Harbor, singer/songwriter Lowell Sipes of Freeland, Honky Tonk County Classics Crooner Jack Hubbart of Oak Harbor; circus performers “Recipe for Disaster” (Matt Hoar of Freeland and Siobhan Wright of Langely) and actress/singer/Vaudevillian vamp Allenda Jenkins of Oak Harbor.

Allende Jenkins (photo courtesy Vaudeville show)

Tickets to the “Whidbey Air Public Radio’s ‘Isle of the Arts’ Visits Vaudeville” variety show are $10 for adults and $1 for kids 15-years-old and under. Concessions and fabulous door prizes, donated from businesses throughout Whibey Island, will be offered also.

“We want all ages—young and old—to celebrate Whidbey Island, which is why we made the tickets affordable,” said Kathy Baxter of Coupeville who is Chair of the Board .

“Hopefully, those who can afford to donate more to the radio station will do so, but it’s important to price the tickets so everyone can come and join in the fun this Sunday,” says Baxter.

“We want Whidbey Air Public Radio to build a strong community from Clinton to Deception Pass, and that’s what we want this Vaudeville variety show to do, too,” Baxter says.

Gwendolyn Sipes (photo courtesy of Vaudeville)

Getting behind this spectacular event are six-women-owned businesses as sponsors: Sue Taves and Jan Shannon of Whidbey Life Magazine in Langley, Avi Rostov of Click Music in Oak Harbor, Sarah Richards of Lavender Wind Store in Coupeville, Janet Burchfield of Front Street Realty in Coupeville and Amy Carpenter of AAC Design of Coupeville.

In support of women entrepreneurs on Whidbey Island during March—Women’s History Month, the Whidbey Weekly shopper is also sponsoring the variety show. In addition, John Pendleton of Pendleton Imaging in Oak Harbor and Angela Mariti Newton of Coupecakes in Coupeville are receiving honory mention for their donations in-kind.

Whidbey Air Public Radio, based in Coupeville, streams radio programming over the internet and is produced and hosted by local volunteer talent from Clinton to Deception Pass. “Its longest running show is a talk show that showcases the “depth and breath of the island’s artistic community,” said Board member and “Isle of the Arts” co-host Anderson.

Karin Blaine (photo courtesy of Vaudeville)

“As an internet radio station, our station’s mission is to bring the sounds, colors, and flavors of the Whidbey Island area to the world,” said Anderson’s talk show cohort, Horton of Greenbank.

“Whidbey Air Public Radio is still kind of a fledgling operation. While it’s entirely volunteer-run, this community radio station boasts both a wide variety of shows and listeners, local, domestic and abroad,” said Horton, who is also a member of the Board of Directors.

The Muse & the Eye (photo courtesy of Vaudeville)

“Isle of the Arts” specifically showcases artists, writers, musicians, actors, dancers, culinary artists—even circus performers and local vintners. It streams live on Mondays at 1 p.m. PST and is rebroadcast the following week on Tuesday morning through early Monday morning. Finally, it is posted on the http://www.Whidbeyair.org as a podcast.

“In the same spirit that the show ‘Isle of the Arts’ provides a venue for the talent from the Whidbey Island area, this fundraiser variety show will do the very same thing,” said producer Anderson.

“We want to ‘wow’ people who come to the Vaudeville show with just how rich the talent pool of performers is right here in our own backyard,” said Horton.

“In addition, Locke on his accordion will be acting as the ‘Doc Severinson’ to Rear Admiral McDaniel’s ‘Johnny Carson’,” said Horton. “Together the two—the emcee and his sidekick—will provide entertaining distractions between the acts.”

Gwen Samuelson of Coupeville, a member of the Board, said, “Whidbey AIR has listeners who have made themselves known in Egypt, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, England, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Germany and France. And that’s just to name a few. Plus our internet station has an audienceacross the United States. So we’re going to record this Vaudeville show and bring it to the world!”

“Whidbey Air is proud to have locally generated content, produced and hosted by Whidbey Island residents for the enjoyment of our island communities, as well as islanders serving and living abroad,” adds Baxter. “It’s Whidbey to the World,” she notes, repeating the station’s slogan.

Listeners can contact the radio station with their questions and comments by going to “contact us” on the website (www.WhidbeyAir.org) or by ‘liking’ the station’s Facebook page: “Whidbey Air Public Radio” and then posting messages there.

Tickets for the Sunday Vaudeville Variety Show are being sold both in advance and at the door. Advance tickets are available in Oak Harbor at Click Music on 7^th Avenue. In Coupeville, they can be purchased at Lavender Wind store on Coveland and Linds Drugs on Main Street. In Greenbank, advance tickets can be purchased at the Greenbank Farms Cheese Store at Greenbank Farms. In Langely, they are available at Moonraker Books on 209 1st St.

NOTE: SPECIAL ACCESS AND SEATING is available to elderly and disabled; please call or text the producer in advance at 515-451-3749 (cell). Or just arrive no less than 45 minutes in advance.

For more information about Whidbey Air Public Radio’s ‘Isle of the Arts’ Visits Vaudeville variety show”, call or text Producer Mary Rose Anderson at 515-451-3749 or email WhidbeyAirGoesVaudeville@yahoo.com.

(Pictured at the top: Rear Admiral (ret.) Bill McDaniel in uniform (photo courtesy of Vaudeville))

March 25, 2014
An angel flies from Oak Harbor with a mission

BY RUSSELL CLEPPER
Whidbey Life Magazine contributor
Nov. 4, 2013

It looks like any other commercial building near downtown Oak Harbor. One story, glass-walled store front, flat roof, surrounded by asphalt. Once it housed two businesses, a paint store and a gym.

Now it’s a mission. A mission with a sign that says “Click Music.” The mission is to bring live music to the community.

“The mission is also about finding a place in community and through music for people who might not fit in anywhere else,” said Avi Rostov, owner and founder of the store.

“I know what music did for me as a kid in terms of expressing myself. That’s what I want to do for kids.”

Click Music owner and instrument repair wiz, Avi Rostov, is all about the kids who want to play music. / Photos by David Welton for WLM

Rostov said that the retail store with its inventory of guitars, ukuleles, drums, sheet music and all the rest, is just a way to pay the rent for what she considers to be the important part of the enterprise. Click Music offers lessons in stringed instruments, horns and woodwinds and other band instruments as well. It also serves as a space for musicians to gather together to practice, jam and sometimes perform for live audiences. It’s that part of the business that carries out Rostov’s mission: Teaching people, especially youth, to express themselves through music, and to give them and other musicians a place to practice and play together.

Like an angel of musical mercy, the quiet but determined Rostov never misses a chance to help some young, struggling kid. She has helped many to realize that some of their difficulty with learning music was not their fault, but the result of the faulty instrument they had rented or been issued to play.

“That’s the reason I got into [instrument] repair,” she said. “Half the time their instrument wasn’t working. They get told to practice more. They get that all the time. I carry a screwdriver in my pocket and I say ‘let me do this for you.’ That’s why I got up this morning.”

Besides fixing malfunctioning instruments, Rostov also refurbishes the ones that are not rental quality and gives them to foster kids.

Although many of her own students, as well as others who have taken lessons at Click, have attained notable musical achievements, such as going to state competitions or becoming music majors at universities, Rostov’s main focus is on students who are having a difficult time in life.

“I’m always interested in the student [who’s having] the hardest time, not the ones with potential to be a rock star,” she said. “The kid with the heavy heart can go tell his troubles to his clarinet. To me that’s much more important.”

Musician Karin Blaine works with violin student Shelby Bailey at Click Music in Oak Harbor.

Rostov opened Click Music five years ago. Her home instrument repair business was suffering as several of the music stores she was affiliated with began to close. She continued teaching clarinet lessons to students all up and down the island. Parents would enlist her aid to acquire instruments they could no longer get anywhere on the island. She built a network of suppliers and would joke with their parents sometimes about how she would open up a music store “if she had any money.”

One night, six of those parents met with her.

“Now you have the money,” they told her, offering her thousands of dollars in gifts and trades of various sorts. It wasn’t really quite enough, but Rostov took their support to heart and began looking for a place to rent.

Now besides the retail store, the facility boasts about a half-dozen private practice rooms for lessons, two large practice/performance spaces, and the instrument repair rooms, too.

“Retail is to pay rent so we can do repairs and lessons,” Rostov said. “We have amazing teachers. When they’re not giving lessons, they sit down together to play and trade knowledge. People show up during the day just to play.”

Click Music guitar teacher Dave Willis makes a repair to a guitar.

There are 14 teachers who give lessons at Click Music. Dave Willis is one of them. He used to own one of those music stores that closed. Now he teaches fretted instruments and also repairs them.

Rostov handles band instrument repair, a skill for which she has more than 20 years experience and a certificate in instrument repair from Renton Technical College, one of only three schools in the country that offer such training.

When she talks about the youngsters who take advantage of the facility to get together to practice and learn, that is when “Our Lady of Click” shines brightest. Some of the students and their parents built a stage in the large space that was formerly a garage. They can play loud and scream all they want. As far as Rostov is concerned, they are expressing themselves through music.

One of the purest incarnations of this phenomenon is the Wizard Band.

“They are kids who didn’t like band class or are on the verge of quitting,” she said. “They want to play the music they want to play.”

And what did they want to play? The music from “Harry Potter”; hence, the Wizard Band. They have gone on to learn the music from “Star Wars” and “The Hobbit” and are working on the score from the movie version of “Les Miserables.”

“The project grew out of a conversation with these kids who were taking lessons,” Rostov said.

Now it has grown to a group of between 12 and 16 participants, some of whom are not students at Click.

Other Click Music projects include a Clarinet Choir and an acoustic/bluegrass jam. The space is also utilized by a group that practices juggling and for belly dancing classes. The community-minded Rostov is open to any group that needs space to practice their chosen form of creative expression.

Avi Rostov stands in front of the “piano wall” at Click Music, her store for music, lessons and repairs in Oak Harbor.

Music will always remain her focus, however, and if Oak Harbor ever becomes known as an incubator of musical genius, Avi Rostov will deserve no small share of credit for it. She will probably miss the award ceremony, however. She’ll have her screwdriver out, taking apart some chapfallen kid’s clarinet to see why she can’t quite hit that C note.

For more information about Click Music, Avi Rostov and the rest of the staff, visit the website.

Russell Clepper is a singer-songwriter who plies his trade locally and around the country. He also is a substitute teacher for the Oak Harbor School District.

November 4, 2013
Oak Harbor Music Festival expects big crowds on Labor Day weekend

BY RUSSELL CLEPPER
Whidbey Life Magazine contributor
Aug. 26, 2013

Two years old and already one of the biggest kids on the block.

Almost 30 acts will perform during three days for the Oak Harbor Music Festival this Labor Day Weekend, Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, Aug. 30 to Sept. 1. Organizers expect several thousand people to attend.

Nathaniel Talbot will lend his mad fingerstyle guitar skills and dulcet singing voice to the festival. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Last year, about 3,100 people came out,” said Margaret Livermore, president of the Oak Harbor Music Festival Corporation, which was recently granted 501(3)C nonprofit status.

“This year we are hoping to see 6,000 to 8,000.”

That makes the event, which is free to the public, a major contender in the music scene on Whidbey Island, all the more so considering the quality of the acts that organizers are attracting. Highly talented and popular local acts will be joined by a slew of up and coming bands from around the Northwest region, including groups from Canada and Alaska.

More established local performers with long, impressive feuilles de route include Windham Hill recording artist Scott Cossu, bluesman Mark Dufresne and rock and soul artist (and recent X Factor finalist) Leroy Bell.

Leroy Bell and His Only Friends. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

A section of Pioneer Way downtown will be transformed into a pedestrian thoroughfare between two sound stages. The Windemere Harbor View Stage will be set up in the Go Realty parking lot. A few blocks further east, the Island Thrift Dockside Stage, near Whidbey Coffee (near the intersection of Pioneer with Midway) will provide a second venue. Food courts and beer gardens near the stages will serve attendees and arts and crafts booths will offer their wares for sale, too.

“We’re offering parking at the big lot at the intersection of Pioneer and Bayshore,” said Livermore. “And camping, too, on a first come, first serve basis.”

Camping is $25 for RV’s and campers (no hook-ups.)

The event raises funds for diverse local needs or projects, including the Ed Bridges Music Scholarship for local students. Bridges, former music teacher at Oak Harbor High School, will present the scholarship this year during the Opening Ceremony on at 5:45 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, at the Windemere Harbor View Stage.

Local acts include indie folk artist Nathaniel Talbot who will take to the Island Thrift Dockside Stage at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30 for a solo performance. Talbot’s songwriting skills, creatively accomplished finger-style guitar picking and distinctive strong tenor voice have earned him accolades throughout the Northwest. He will be kicking off the music on that stage, 30 minutes after the Bellingham group, Polecat, opens the the festival on the Harbor View stage.

Tambourine Sky will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31. The band members are seasoned performers Janie Cribbs, Joe Reggiatore, Larry Mason and Kevin Johnson, all Whidbey Island musicians, well known and respected locally for their original music and performing skills. Cribbs and Reggiatore have performed locally for several years as the rocking, bluesy folk duo, Janie and Joe.

Tambourine Sky plays at 4 p.m. on Saturday. (Robbie Cribbs photo)

Larry Mason did the booking for the festival and is a former student of Bridges. He said many of Bridges’ students are still involved in the professional music scene in some capacity in the region. Including Mason, there are at least three of his former students playing in the festival; Carl Funk of the Halyards, and Terry Morgan, bassist for Leroy Bell.

Mason is also enthused by the fact that this year’s recipient of the Ed Bridges Music Scholarship is a young lady who wants to become a music teacher.

“It’s so cool to think that this money will go to help someone who is going to influence other young people the rest of her life. It’s a win/win for us,” he said.

Along with Funk, Mason also performs with the Halyards, an Americana roots rock group, that plays on the Windemere Harbor View stage at 3:15 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1. Rounding out the participation of island musicians, fans of Janie and Joe may be interested to note that Joe Reggiatore will do a solo performance featuring his masterful guitar playing on that same stage and on the same day at 11 a.m.

Oak Harbor businessman Michael-John Paparella got the idea to produce an annual music festival in Oak Harbor on Labor Day weekend. He believed a music festival could help bring business to the downtown merchants in Oak Harbor and raise funds for local causes as well. He had seen this kind of community project work well in disaster-struck communities in Florida where he previously lived.

Originally called the Oak Harbor Music and Jazz Festival, organizers this year changed the name to reflect the more eclectic offering of music this year’s line-up will present. Many genres will be represented, including country, Americana, roots, indie, folk, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, singer/songwriter, blues, swing jazz and classic rock. There will even be Argentine tango, interpreted by another Bellingham-based band, Tocato Tango.

The line-up page on the festival’s website (see below) has links to most of the groups where prospective festival goers may listen to their music; a useful feature for folks who would like to plan ahead or discover new music to come out and enjoy. This will be a rare chance to hear some of these artists here on Whidbey Island.

For more information visit the Oak Harbor Music Festival site.

(Pictured at top, Robbie Walden guitarist./Photo courtesy of the artist)

Russell Clepper is a performing singer songwriter who plies his trade locally and around the country. He also is a substitute teacher for the Oak Harbor School District.

August 28, 2013