An upcoming Local Artist Showcase at Orcas Center will feature singer-songwriters, acoustic rockers and a horn section. Cara Alboucq; Marlene Dickey; Walter O’Toole, Justin Rorabaugh, Peter Vinson; and The Dust Bunnies will take the intimate OffCenter Stage at Orcas Center to perform for their community on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Curated by local multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Carolyn Cruso, the showcase features both established and emerging island musicians.
“It gives local performers an opportunity to play in a great setting where everything is going right: the audience, the lights, the sound. It’s got velvet curtains, it’s got the great stage lighting … Some acts have had semi-professional experience, and others are emerging artists,” Cruso said.
“I’m always excited to hear what people have to say with their music and lyrics,” she said of songwriters Alboucq, Dickey and O’Toole, adding, “the band … will end the evening on a high, energetic note. They’re a lot of fun.”
Cara Alboucq, daughter of Orcas Horns trumpet player Steve Alboucq, is an aspiring indie/folk singer songwriter who lives in Bellingham. She has “a degree in Philosophy and not a clue what to do with it besides write music.” Having recently returned from a solo trip to Scandinavia, Alboucq said she has many more plans to travel the world with her guitar and her thirst for knowledge and self exploration.
Dickey has toured the Caribbean and the west coast from Alaska to Costa Rica with her music. She covers well loved songs from the folk and jazz idioms as well as her own pieces, informed by what she calls “a gypsy life lived between remote places like Orcas Island and the Oregon coast range.”
The Dust Bunnies play a wide array of music from New Orleans-style to straight ahead James Brown funk, with some Malian and Nigerian rhythms thrown in for added spice. Their signature sound includes a horn section featuring tuba, tenor and baritone sax and bass flute. The band enjoys continually exploring new material, combining original pieces with choice covers. For this show they will introduce some totally fresh arrangements, promising to make their already upbeat show even livelier. The Dust Bunnies are: Al Bentley on tenor sax, Randy Jezierski on drums, Randy Smith on guitar, Ben Shepperd on bass flute, Matthew Wallrath on tuba, and Gregory Books on baritone sax.
Local rockers Vinson, Rorabaugh and O’Toole have been writing and performing music together for seven years, most notably in the band Blue Tarp. They say their music is “strongly rooted in their shared passion for the blues, and rock music in all of its glorious manifestations.” For this showcase, they will put down their electric guitars and play songs written for an acoustic performance.
Cruso said the Black Box venue is perfect for artists suited to a smaller setting than the large Orcas Center Stage.
“[The Local Showcase] provides an opportunity for emerging artists to polish up their pieces, to get together a bio and a photo, and to take it to the next level,” she said.
As a professional musician for over 20 years, Cruso has seen a wide array of musician bios and promotional material, and draws on that experience to help the artists create their own unique materials. Some past
Local Showcases have been videographed, useful to the musicians when applying to perform at festivals or other venues. Deborah Sparks is available to create stage-lit photographic images for the musicians, as well – all in keeping with the Orcas Center’s stated goal of being “a vital resource to island artists for production support and performance opportunities.”
Tickets to the event are $10; doors open at 7:15 p.m. The next Local Showcase at Orcas Center will be hosted on Sept. 25. Those interested in participating can contact Carolyn Cruso at 376-5290 or on Facebook.
