Tickets $10–24; available through Brown Paper Tickets. Holcombe Waller’s “Notes from the Riverkeepers,” is a music-driven performance broadly exploring the 2016 Mosier train derailment. The show is a musical response to Waller’s 2016 artist residency with the Columbia Riverkeeper, a non-profit environmental organization chartered with stewarding all aspects of environmental health of the Columbia River. The three-month residency was organized and funded by Signal Fire, a local non-profit dedicated to embedding artists in wild spaces and activist spaces to connect artistic culture more deeply with environmentalism and activist culture. “Notes” features extemporaneous and through-composed storytelling and song, rooted in Waller’s folk, blues, and soul-inspired music, focusing on one of the main issues Columbia Riverkeeper faces in their role as stewards of the Columbia River - the risks of crude oil-by-rail (“CBR”) transportation along both sides of the river. The lyrics incorporate the history of the federal railroad system, the nationwide corporate railroad duopoly represented by the northern and southern side Columbia River rail lines, and the phenomenon of train derailments/explosions/emergency response, focusing particularly on the oil train derailment and fire in Mosier, Oregon in June of 2016. Featuring Dana J on drums, Justin Miller on bass and Joshua Thomas on keyboards and guitars. Additional information is on the Facebook event page linked above. |