SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Dream Date is Tasha and Sarah; a couple of hard-working and tender-loving moms out of Washington state. Inspired by our love of 80s balladeers, sweet songs, reverb and “pretty lights”, we play lush, dreamy music & sing our harmonies with hopes of conjuring a beautiful and timeless space to be a balm a world that seems to need it.
http://dreamdatemusic.com/
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Time and the Bell
Lovely, mind massaging songs that both sooth and rile up the soul. These ladies can harmonize like supernaturals. http://timeandthebell.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TimeandtheBell/
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Nate Lumbard
Iowa-born, Portland-based, Nate Lumbard is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has toured the nation and the world sharing both introspective and groovy de and re-constructions of life as we know it. When he is not inventing instruments or bouncing his newborn baby girl, he is eating clam chowder for breakfast.

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!

Summer 2019 Wellness Retreat Series

Expansive Alignment: Committing to Your Vision

with Renee Sills

Just one week after the Autumn Equinox and supported by the auspicious beginning of a waxing crescent moon in Libra, we’ll gather together for an immersive exploration of Embodied Astrology and the personal and collective potentials of Jupiter’s upcoming transit through Capricorn.

Jupiter in Capricorn (December 2019 – December 2020) is an invitation to trust the future by actively shaping it. In astrology, Jupiter is a planet associated with optimism, good-fortune, vision, life purpose, broadening perspectives/horizons, philosophy, self-improvement and positive consciousness. Capricorn is a sign that helps us all to materialize on the earthly plane, confront and move through obstacles, grow stronger through challenges we face and manifest our ambitions. Jupiter’s transit through Capricorn happens once every twelve years, but in 2020 this transit will combine with several other long-term influences making it an important, and potentially pivotal time for personal and collective healing, transformation and development.

Regardless of your sun sign, each person’s natal chart includes Jupiter and Capricorn as active and important influences. Working with your own natal placements allows you to understand how this upcoming transit will affect you specifically and will give you clues, tools and timing for working most effectively with its challenges and opportunities.

This unique retreat combines astrological method and how-to, movement, meditation, somatic healing practices, and creative, intuitive journeying. You will:

• Learn practical skills for astrological chart analysis and gain a deep understanding of how Jupiter and Capricorn work in your natal chart.
• Be guided through intuitive and accessible mind/body explorations that will help reveal, clarify and synthesize your personal vision and life purpose, creative offerings and soul-commitments.
• Craft a personal manifestation design for the next year that works most effectively with the exciting and powerful astrology of 2020 and Jupiter’s transit through Capricorn.
• Enjoy a healing and regenerative retreat with a fun group of vibrant individuals on the beautiful Washington coast at a one-of-a-kind, female/queer-owned and operated retreat center where you can walk/cycle on the beach, use the Finnish Sauna, peruse the art gallery and pause in the wellness space!

Renee Sills is a multidisciplinary artist, consulting astrologer and embodiment coach/guide. She has worked with hundreds of clients and students worldwide who appreciate her unique insight and effective guidance. She specializes in crafting strategies for counter-culture success with artists, activists, makers, movers and visionary entrepreneurs. She offers astrology, embodiment and creativity as tools for cultivating and maintaining liberatory relationships, (re)generative occupations/vocation, and living in alignment with purpose, passion and integrated authenticity.

Renee is the author and producer of the Embodied Astrology podcast. She comes from a lineage of astrologers and intuitives. She has studied astrology in-depth for over 20 years and continues to train under experienced mentors. She has taught yoga and other movement forms for 15 years and holds several certificates in bodywork and energy healing. She has a BFA in Intermedia and CyberArts and an MFA in Art & Social Practice. She resides in Portland, OR.

SCHEDULE (subject to slight changes):

SUNDAY

3pm: Arrival and check-in

5 – 5:30pm:  Welcome drinks and snacks

5:30 – 7pm:  Opening talk, introductions and intention-setting for our work together in the retreat

7:30pm: Dinner at the Pickled Fish (optional, cost not included in retreat package) + sauna and free time

MONDAY

9:30 – 10am: Juice Flight Wellness Offering 

10am-1pm: Embodying Your Vision – Exploring Jupiter’s astrological symbolism through meditation, movement, art and writing

1 – 4pm: Lunch and free time

4 – 7pm: Interpreting Jupiter in your chart: Understand how Jupiter works for you through its sign and house placements, disposter and planetary aspects

7pm onwards: Dinner on your own + sauna and free time

TUESDAY

9:30 – 10am: Complimentary coffee and tea

10am – 1pm: Clarifying Your Commitment – Exploring Capricorn’s astrological symbolism  through meditation, movement, art and writing

1 – 4pm: Lunch and free time

4 – 5:30pm: Interpreting Capricorn in your chart: Understand how Capricorn works in your chart through its house rulership, natal planets and angles in Capricorn and Saturn’s placement

5:30 – 7pm: Synthesis – Interpreting Jupiter’s transit through Capricorn for your chart

7:30pm:  Catered Dinner and evening lecture on important dates for Jupiter’s transit through Capricorn

9pm onwards: Sauna and free time

WEDNESDAY

9 – 9:30am: Complimentary coffee and tea

9:30 – 11am: Commitment to Vision – Embodiment practice and ritual

11am – 12pm: Prepare to depart (checkout at 12pm)

BEGINS: Sunday at 5pm

ENDS: Wednesday at 11am

RETREAT FEE: $250

**7 spaces are open to Sliding Scale, and are reserved for QTLGB+ and BIPOC only**

Sliding Scale suggestion: 

$50-100 (greatest need)

$100-200 (mid need)

$200-300 (low need)

*If interested in Sliding Scale, please contact souwesterwellness@gmail.com

LODGING costs are separate from retreat fee. This is a nightly rate, individual to each room. Please see below how to book direct online.

DEPOSIT: $200 deposit reserves your space and is credited towards your total

BRING: Journal and pen/pencil, comfy cushion and/or blanket for sitting and a water bottle. Wear comfortable clothing

BOOK ONLINE by clicking BOOK NOW (at top of page), enter the date range and the access code ALIGN

*For SHARED LODGING OPTIONS please contact souwesterwellness@gmail.com

The Sou’wester Lodge at 3728 J Place, Seaview, WA 98644

This class is part of the Summer 2019 Wellness Retreat Series. All classes are open to the public and all skill levels welcome.

Visit www.souwesterlodge.com/wellness/retreats to see the full schedule of retreats.

Those Willows are a 5 piece Indie band based out of Portland, Oregon with harmony-driven, pop-centric song-writing that keeps you moving every step of the way. 

In 2018 Those Willows signed to ROLA Music and completed a full scale tour through Europe. Since returning home, they have been working in a cabin on the base of Mt. Adams, writing and recording a fresh Motown infused, indie rock set.

“…vice grip vocal harmonies…” – Oregon Public Broadcasting

www.thosewillows.com

Sage Elaine Fisher is an American composer, performer and sound artist based in Portland, OR. She is best known for her performance project, Dolphin Midwives, which abstracts harp, voice and percussion using electronics, extended techniques and ritual processes. She explores themes of empathy, sustainability, vulnerability, transformation and technology through social experiment, meditation, psycho-acoustics and ritual.

Dolphin Midwives has brought experimental harp to contemporary art centers and venues on the west coast, Pacific Northwest and Canada, including Disjecta, S1, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Coaxial, Zebulon LA, Red Gate Arts, and Columbia City Theatre, and shared her work at TBA Fest, Debacle Fest, PDX POP NOW, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, Treefort Music Festival, Subharmonic, The Wayward Music Series, Quiet City and the Improv Summit of Portland. In 2016, she released Orchid Milk, her first recording under the Dolphin Midwives moniker. Her installation, Naturaphones, was shown in 2017 at The Bison Building, as a culmination of a six month residency for PNCA+OCAC, and featured four large-scale acoustic sculptures, ambient performance, and several sculptural prototypes. She founded and directed Dröna Choir to perform her new choral work, invisibility ritual; performed on the new moon in total darkness, to explore the vast space between silence and sound. In 2018 she composed a new score for Night of the Living Dead, commissioned by the PJCE and supported by a RACC grant. Her sound art performance/installation, Break: preparations for the apocalypse, was shown at Variform Gallery in Dec 2018. Liminal Garden, Dolphin Midwives’ debut studio album, was released internationally on Jan 18, 2019 by Beacon Sound/Sounds et al. In June 2019 she placed in Portland’s Best New Band list in the Willamette Week.

https://www.dolphinmidwives.us/

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C R Y S T A L C O R T E Z is a composer and multimedia artist based in Portland, Oregon. Her sonic work is focused around the use of field recordings, sounds produced and electronically processed live from objects, and multi-channel sound spatialization. Her practice has recently involved the development of interactive sculptural interfaces and wearable technology that use movement and other corporeal methods to drive audio and visuals. Crystal blends sound, tech and performance art to produce ceremonial happenings. Her work has been shown at PNCA, PICA, Navel (LA) and more.

Photo by Amber Case
https://www.crystalcortez.com/

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!

DRECKIG
“Longtime husband and wife duo Papi Fimbres and Shana Lindbeck filter Latin dance rhythms through a portal of krautrock and electronic club music. Layering drum machines, synthesizers, percussion and vocals in Spanish, English and German, they create energetic, dance space music that is equal parts trippy and deeply groovy.” -Willamette Week
Picture credit: Heather Hanson
https://dreckig.bandcamp.com/

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MONDEGREEN
are a dream pop / moon-rock band that formed in Portland, Oregon in 2015. The band consists of Ash Dybvig (Theda) on vocals, guitar, and flute with partner Dustin Dybvig (Brass Clouds, Horse Feathers) on drums, keys, and bass. After years of emailed tracks were exchanged across the states from Oregon to Buffalo, New York, the duo met and married in Oregon; forming the project under the initial name Hypnagogic, and then later Mondegreen (meaning: a misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning).

Their debut ‘Returnity’ is an exploration of space, lucidity, peace, mother nature, fractals, and modern-day consciousness. Throughout their futuristic artifact, Ash’s falsetto leads you into a melodic array of cosmic discussions. Accompanying celestial flute lines and bright, warped guitar comes a backbone of Dustin’s lyrical percussion and trip-hop influenced rhythm. Lush strings, deep, bouncy pianos, and mellotron jams are placed cleverly inside this collective psychedelic operetta.

https://mondegreenband.com/

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!!

~Mike Coykendall~
Veteran songwriter and producer brings an entertaining mix of wildly varied influences in a one-man-band style performance. Amazing original compositions interspersed with interpretations of classics.
www.mikecoykendall.com

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~Tyler Berd~
Tyler Berd sings seasick folk songs across a miniature nylon string guitar. His music is surreal and conversational, direct and rambling. He first scared up regional noise around Boston with the frenetic live performances of his band Bellwire, whom Dig Boston called “quick-witted, wordy, power pop akin to Elvis Costello or early-day Pavement.” He’ll be touring in support of two upcoming singles off his first full-length album out this fall, Tyler Berd and his Deputies.

“Crafty inventive songs infused with humor, wit and absurdity” – La Crosse Tribune

“Troubadour folk meets introspective bedroom pop in a collision of styles and expectations.” – Independent Clauses

https://tylerberd.com/

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!

Goth-folk musical duo Charming Disaster, based in Brooklyn, NY, performs original storytelling songs inspired by love, death, true crime, ancient mythology, and the occult. Channeling the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir storytelling of Raymond Chandler, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they explore dark narratives and characters with a playful sensibility, combining vocal harmonies and clever lyrics with ukulele, guitar, and virtuosic foot percussion. Their song “Ghost Story” was featured on the hit podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and the duo has toured around the United States, playing bars, clubs, museums, bookstores, and the occasional historic cemetery. Their third album, SPELLS + RITUALS, was released in June 2019 to critical acclaim.

“Charming Disaster has an affinity for monsters, mortality, paranormal activity and unearthly shenanigans…The songs on Spells + Rituals create a dark, compelling mood, sparked by flashes of wry humor… The band’s literary lyrics, and melodies that reference music from all over the world, are designed to give listeners an emotionally and musically expansive evening.” – Rock & Roll Globe

http://charmingdisaster.com
Photo by Shervin Laines

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!

All guests staying at the Sou’wester (and community members too) are invited to a Thanksgiving Feast Potluck at the Sou’wester in the Pavilion! (All guests bring your own plates and utensils.) Dinner starts at 5:30pm.

Please RSVP via souwesterfrontdesk@gmail.com or 360-642-2542 with number of people and what dish/drink/food you are bringing to the potluck.

Desserts after dinner at 7pm in the Main Lodge Living Room. Talent Show and Sing-a-along with Ivy Ross Ricci and Louis Ledford in the lodge in the evening around the fireplace as the kickoff for the 3rd Annual GRATITUNES Festival, a 3-day music fest, free and open to the public.

An evening of readings and music featuring Sophia Shalmiyev, Leni Zumas, and Ivy Ross Ricci plus new works by special guests!

Leni Zumas won the 2019 Oregon Book Award for her national bestselling novel RED CLOCKS, which was also shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Neukom Prize for Speculative Fiction. Red Clocks was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and was named a Best Book of 2018 by The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Entropy, and the New York Public Library. Vulture called it one of the 100 Most Important Books of the 21st Century So Far.

Zumas is also the author of FAREWELL NAVIGATOR: STORIES and the novel THE LISTENERS. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Granta, The Times Literary Supplement, Guernica, BOMB, The Cut, Portland Monthly, Tin House, and elsewhere. Her work has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She lives in Portland, Oregon, and directs the creative writing program at Portland State University.
www.lenizumas.com

Sophia Shalmiyev tells us on the first page of her striking, lyrical memoir, Mother Winter. To understand the end of her story we must go back to her beginning.

Born to a Russian mother and an Azerbaijani father, Shalmiyev was raised in the stark oppressiveness of 1980s Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). An imbalance of power and the prevalence of antisemitism in her homeland led her father to steal Shalmiyev away, emigrating to America, abandoning her estranged mother, Elena. At age eleven, Shalmiyev found herself on a plane headed west, motherless and terrified of the new world unfolding before her.

Now a mother herself, in Mother Winter Shalmiyev recounts her emotional journeys as an immigrant, an artist, and a woman raised without her mother. Depicted in urgent vignettes that trace her flight from the Soviet Union and back again to find the mother she never knew, Shalmiyev’s story is an arresting, impassioned account that is equal parts refugee-coming-of-age tale, feminist manifesto, and a meditation on motherhood, displacement, gender politics, and art. Her years of travel, searching, and forging meaningful connection with the worlds she occupies culminates in a searing observation of the human heart and psyche’s many shades across time and culture.
www.sophiashalmiyev.com

Ivy Ross Ricci is a nationally recognized, musician, writer, educator, and activist who incorporates philosophy, poetry, humor, storytelling, and a radical understanding of human potential into accessible songs and social service. She believes in the power of everyday life lessons to draw us all into the heart of Creativity, Empathy, and Awareness. Her work with youth and adults aims to dismantle discrimination based on gender stereotypes. She has been recognized for her contributions and leadership in the fields of girls’ empowerment, literacy, public art, women’s health, juvenile justice & youth advocacy, music, teen peer leadership training, implementation of anti-bias curricula, and creative after-school programming.

Most recently, Ivy has been touring a music video for a song that she wrote entitled ‘Girls Sit Screaming’ in schools nationally and facilitating conversations with students, teachers and parents about how we can create a world in which mainstream constructs of gender don’t limit any of our amazing youth as they come of age.
It is an honest song of defiance and freedom that exposes the many double standards that girls and women experience in the classroom, in the workplace, and in our society in general. It is an anthem for the cultural shift we are experiencing in which women’s voices are heard, believed, and valued.

While her work focuses on the experiences of girls and women, Ivy is dedicated to establishing an inclusive environment that pays attention to the needs of all gender identities.
Photo by Eve White

www.ivyarts.org

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!