KCAW

In the mid-90s, there was a campaign to amend the Oregon constitution that sought to restrict gay rights. Thomas Lauderdale, a young political activist and pianist, was fighting against it. And music was the means.

Lauderdale connected with the midcentury-era trio the Del Rubio Triplets, after seeing them on the star-studded Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas special.

“They lived in a triple white mobile home in San Pedro, California. They wore matching mini skirts, matching booties, and they had huge hair,” Lauderdale says. “They played guitar, and they sang covers of ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and ‘Whip It.'”

Lauderdale brought them to Portland, Oregon to do a series of concerts campaigning against the ballot measure in nursing homes, hospitals, even rotary meetings.

“And at the end of [each show] they would very sweetly say, ‘Please vote no on Proposition 13,'” Lauderdale says.

At the end of the triplet’s week on tour, Lauderdale had planned a community-wide concert, but he needed an opening act. He says he threw on a Betsy Johnson cocktail dress, hopped on stage, and Pink Martini was born. Growing to over a dozen musicians, they became the house band for political fundraising in Portland, and soon an internationally renowned, genre defying group. 

And now, Pink Martini will travel to Sitka and Juneau in April for two benefit concerts for Katlian Collective, a nonprofit working to revitalize Tlingit clan houses in Southeast, starting with the Point House in Sitka. Clan houses are cultural centers for Tlingit people – places of ritual, community and tradition. 

It’s a project that Pink Martini is happy to support. The band, known as the “little orchestra” performs in numerous styles, from jazz to classical to pop, and in over 30 different languages. 

“We’re sort of musical diplomats and ambassadors, and sort of believe in the power of bringing people together through music,” says Lauderdale. “We have a 31-year history of doing this, and we’re so delighted to be coming to Alaska, to be part of be continuing in that tradition.”

Storm Large is one of the band’s lead singers, and this will be her second time touring in Alaska with them. She says often a band’s lead singer is the “mouthpiece” that carries its identity, but Pink Martini is different.

“It is one of the most relaxing front gigs, because I’ll sing a bunch of songs solo, and then I will shimmy back to the back…[and] Jimmie Herod will step forward, Edna Vazquez will step forward, or it’ll be a band solo, a piano with Thomas and his partner, Hunter Noack, on piano doing Rhapsody in Blue [and] the most hilarious physical comedy you’ve ever seen in your life,” Large says.

“It’s like Laugh In, kind of,” she continues. “It’s a big variety show, and everybody has an important role in unison. But I see Pink Martini as as a collective of wonderful, amazing, brilliant stars in their own right.” 

Kiks.ádi clan member Lduteen Jerrick Hope-Lang says the work to rebuild Point House started out of a conversation with the late Bertha Karras.

“We walked by this chunk of property on our way to her house, and she said to me, just casually, ‘That’s your people’s property, and you need to get it back,'” Hope-Lang says. “At the time, I really had no idea, or no concept as to what tied me to that land, and what her impression was that I had any business being a part of it. So kind of led me down a rabbit hole to understanding what had been there prior.”

What came next was over a decade of work toward repatriating the land where the Point House stood. Hope-Lang now stewards the land on behalf of the Kiks.ádi. They hope to break ground on a 21st Century clan house sometime in the next year, and continue to address the broader issue of clan houses.

“I said, we need to rebuild, not just structurally, because this is a brick and mortar project, but we need to rebuild spiritually. And there’s ideas that tie to that property, that I just felt like…the time was ripe,” Hope-Lang said.

To address the broader issue, the group has received federal grant funding for their work and succeeded in getting the National Trust for Historic Preservation to recognize Sitka’s Indian Village as an endangered historic place. They’re also remodeling a 19th Century Kiks.ádi clan house four doors down from the Point House.

Hope-Lang says fundraising is key to keep the work going. Last year, Katlian Collective brought several big-name bands, including Portugal the Man, to Southeast and the concerts were a resounding success. So he reached out to his longtime friend, Lauderdale, with Pink Martini, who jumped on board. 

“Last year was rock and roll and folk and singer songwriter, and this year, bringing Pink Martini into the fold, it really creates this open dialog of like, ‘We are inviting you. The purchasing of a ticket is an invitation to be a guest in our process,” Hope-Lang says. “You could be part of this restoration, this regeneration, this restorative practice.”

Hope-Lang says Pink Martini’s music encompasses the name of the show which is “Hit Wóoshdei Yadukícht, Dancing our House Together.”

Learn more about the work of Katlian Collective, Inc. here. Tickets to see Pink Martini at the Sitka Performing Arts Center on April 15 are available at www.fineartscamp.org

This Saturday, March 28, the Sitka Sound Science Center will host its annual Food Web Cruise. Matt Goff and Lauren Bell joined KCAW for the morning interview, to discuss the opportunity for Sitkans to learn from naturalists about the rich ecosystem while enjoying a light breakfast on the water, and hopefully spotting some wildlife. Listen to the conversation here:

Learn more and purchase tickets here

Police Chief Mike Hall stepped into Sitka Police Department’s top job earlier this month. He joined KCAW for the Morning Interview to on March 19, along with Municipal Administrator John Leach, discuss his background and goals for the future of SPD. Listen to the conversation here:

Sitka Community Theater is back with their upcoming annual play production, and this year they will be bringing William Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” to the big stage. Sitka Community Theater’s Shannon Haugland, Kelly McElligott, and Demaris Oxman join KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss the timeless appeal of Shakespeare, their experience learning how to perform his language, and what listeners can expect from the show.

Next week marks Giving Day for the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka campus, where for 49 hours one can donate money to support up to seven student and community initiatives for the campus. Aklei Helen Dangel, Liz Zacher, and Lauren Wild from UAS join KCAW for the Morning to share more about what Giving Day entails and what prospective donors can support such as arts programming, dual enrollment students, and whale research.

As herring season draws near, Sitka fishermen are getting ready to make some good catches. But humans are not the only ones looking forward to the plentiful harvest herring bring, but also our friendly underwater neighbors: whales. Keith Nyitray from the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society and Andy Szabo from the Alaska Whale Foundation join KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss what to expect from an upcoming Pub Talk on March 25th at Harbor Mountain Brewing on the interactions between humans and whales in foraging herring.

The Sitka Sound Science Center’s Science in Residency fellow for March to April is Claire Puleio, a PhD candidate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks specializing in volcanology. Her research focuses on Mt. Edgecumbe and the volcano’s recent unrest, as well as its unique geological context. Lina Kapp, community and visitor engagement manager with SSSC, and Puleio joined KCAW on the Morning Interview to discuss Puleio’s research and the events she will be hosting during her time on the island. Listen to their conversation here:

The Sitka School District budget will be in the red next year without substantial cuts. The Sitka School Board is looking for ways to trim a deficit of at least $1 million and is asking for community input on its process.

When the board met in a work session on March 10, Superintendent Deidre Jenson said if they build next year’s budget status quo, they’ll end up with a $1.2 million deficit. Cutting roughly 10 teaching positions would bring them close to a balanced budget.

That’s not accounting for inflation or if the school district’s health insurance costs increase. Jenson said a 10 percent jump in insurance would nearly double how much the district would be in the hole. Jenson said they expect to have preliminary insurance numbers at the end of March.

View Jenson’s presentation here

While the state legislature approved a funding increase last year, school leaders say it wasn’t enough, and the district still needed to spend down its fund balance last year to keep from eliminating staff. Jenson said she’d grown weary of cutting, and cutting.

“Bottom line is, the state has not funded schools the way they should have, and I’m getting a little frustrated with it,” Jenson said. “They want us to make changes, and they want us to make improvements in the state. And then they talk about like, ‘Can we not talk about what we’re going to cut for half-a-year and instead talk about educational improvements?’ I’m pretty frustrated.” 

For around two hours, the board discussed its plans for how to right the ship. Could Secure Rural Schools be a buffer? The federal funding program, which supports schools surrounded by federal lands which don’t contribute to the local tax base, was reauthorized this year, including two years of retroactive pay. It’s still not clear exactly how much money the city will receive or when it will receive it, but the assembly has signaled plans to direct the whole amount from the retroactive years to the school district, which could be up to $600,000 a year. Board member Tom Williams suggested putting the funds in reserves. 

“My household money, my car breaks down, and I don’t have anything in savings. You know, I’m walking,” Williams said. “I think a responsible budget has reserves so that when the unexpected happens, which it seems to always do, you have money to be able to cover these costs.”

Several board members including Paul Rioux said given the uncertainty of the amount and timing of the federal funding disbursal, they would prefer to use the money for one-time expenses, like curriculum or tech. 

“I do not feel comfortable building a budget around SRS funds that we may or may not be getting. I mean, I know that makes the front end a lot more difficult, probably, for staff, but I would rather build it to the worst case scenario and then add things back in as we get the good news that it’s showing up,” Rioux said. “Rather than build it in a better case scenario and be like, ‘Oh, the check’s not coming in the mail this year,’ and then we have to go back and panic cut, and I don’t want to be in that position.”

Jenson also reviewed the potential effect that merging schools could have on the budget. Sitka’s school enrollment has been steadily declining over the past two decades [by around 400 students], which has reduced revenue from the state. Closing a school would also decrease the district’s revenue, at least at first. Still, board member Courtney Amundson said the long range savings should be noted.

“It’s not going to save us next year, but over the over the long term, we need a plan, right? Because we have fewer students, we have a lot of buildings, and they could be put into a smaller space,” Amundson said. “So it may be additional costs in two or three years, but in 10-20 years you’ll see those cost savings.”

Jenson said if enrollment continues to fall, they would have to consider that down the line. But she said right now there are too many students enrolled in Sitka’s two elementary schools to fit into just one of the buildings.

The board also discussed how to get feedback from staff, parents and stakeholders. Rioux suggested a survey that doesn’t ask parents what to cut, but to instead rank their top 5 programs as a way for the board to gather more information to inform the budgeting process. President Phil Burdick liked the idea, and said they should also ask folks what they’d put an influx of one-time funding toward.

“Considering where we are and what we’re looking at, and what we have already done in the last 15 years because of flat funding,” Burdick said and continued, “there isn’t a lot more for us to do in terms of cutting saving. It’s important to know what the community values. It’s important to know what the priorities of this community are, and the reality may be that we might not be able to fund them.”

The board will host hearings for staff and stakeholders later this month to share budget scenarios and get community feedback on how to move forward.

Next week marks the first time in about 25 years that Sitka will be hosting the Alaska Library Association Conference, and the first time in four years that a rural community will be hosting the annual event. Librarian Jessica Ieremia and Board Member of the Friends of Sitka Public Library Kari Sagel joins KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss what the conference entails, events community members can get involved in (such as a whale-watching tour, furry friend cafe, and keynote talk by a Pulitzer-winning graphic novelist), and an upcoming auction that will enable other rural communities to host the conference in the future.

Mt. Edgecumbe High Schools’ boys and girls basketball teams are heading to state next week, along with the Sitka High School boys team. KCAW News Director Katherine Rose spoke with Sitka Sentinel Reporter Anna Laffrey who was courtside reporting for the Sentinel in Juneau for the Region 5 basketball tournament. In a tight three game series, both Mt. Edgecumbe High School teams emerged victorious over Sitka High.