Orcas Center Presents on Center Stage

Triple Americana:
Carolyn Cruso with
Tom Rawson & Ellen van DerHoeven

Friday, February 7th at 7:30pm
Tiered Ticket Pricing: $47, $25, $15
$2 ticketing fee per ticket
Orcas Center Members receive $2 off per ticket

**Orcas Center’s Tiered Ticket Pricing is based on the needs of your family. The variant in pricing is not based on seat location or dates of performances, rather, what you’re able to afford to help us to maintain our facilities and create quality programming.

Tier A is the true cost per patron of putting on show at the Orcas Center, Tier B is our standard rate, subsidized by our generous donors, Tier C is a rate also subsidized by our generous donors. **

Tune up your vocal chords, you’ll need em! Three of the NW’s finest troubadours, Tom Rawson, Ellen van der Hoeven, and Carolyn Cruso, are bringing a night of Triple Americana: songs, stories, harmonies and tunes inspired by the coffeehouse to Orcas Center.

Tom Rawson, folk singer and storyteller from Orcas Island, is the West Coast’s very own version of Pete Seeger. Armed with long neck banjo and other weapons of mass delight, Tom is a master of warmth and wit who loves to share his musical treasures with an ‘I know something you don’t know and you’re gonna love it too’ kind of smile.

“With his disarming manner and generous heart, he fed us lyrics like he was cooking us supper. Since when do you go to a concert, and the focus is on the audience, not the ego of the performer?” S. Jaen Black of Orcas News and Review said.

Ellen van der Hoeven, an expressive singer/songwriter from Vancouver BC, rounds out the duo with sweet dynamicism. Her songs are influenced by her rich background in British, Irish, Canadian and American folk, and include references to fairy tales, family relationships, and of course, the universality of love.

Solo artist Carolyn Cruso plays the beautiful and rare hammered dulcimer, a stringed instrument of the zither family originating in the Appalachians.

“She is an outstanding hammered dulcimer player who has gained local and national acclaim for her wonderful recordings and performances,” authors of The Quarter Note in Seattle wrote. As a talented multi-instrumentalist on the flute, guitar or vocals, Cruso’s adventurous dulcimer playing has been described by reviewers and fans alike as mesmerizing and lyrical. With various Celtic traditions, jazz elements and the natural world as her influences she weaves a web of magic with her music and stories.

Throughout the evening, Susan Slapin’s artwork will be displayed in the background. Susan’s artwork is poetic in nature, with an emphasis on both the world of intuitive color, and relative abstractions of the natural world. Susan received her Art degree from Marylhurst University in Oregon and works in a number of mediums, including printmaking, acrylic, mixed media, and pastels. She also enjoys teaching art, and is represented locally by Waterfront gallery on Orcas island. You can learn more about her work at: www.susanslapincontemporaryabstracts.com