It's February and until very recently, we were seeing signs of Spring everywhere we looked... the snow was definitely welcome. It's an odd Winter, and we were sorry to see that it will last an additional 6 weeks according to the Groundhog. Other than Valentine's Day, there's not that much to get excited about this month; after all it is the month when renters get stiffed by 2-3 days on their rent. I guess that's why we're talking about the weather...

But, there is Kavarna's Sweetheart Mocha, some good music ahead, family & friends, and soon enough it will be March, and then April.

—Linda and Alex Galt

As some of you may know, my father, Tony Galt, passed away from pancreatic cancer in December. Aside from being a professor at UWGB, he was an enthusiastic and highly accomplished photographer. From now through March 11th, we will be exhibiting a retrospective of his photographic work at Kavarna.

Dad began taking photography seriously as a teenager, and continued throughout his life. He used photography extensively in his anthropological fieldwork in Italy as well as a way to explore the world around him. While the exhibit includes photographs from almost every part of his life; it focuses on his nature photography from Northeastern Wisconsin. Many of the nature images in the retrospective were taken at Baird Creek Parkway and other parks in Brown County.

Some time ago, Ben Frye (who worked alongside his father at the String Instrument Workshop for many years on Broadway) suddenly began to make ukuleles. This came naturally to him, he'd already been making guitars, double basses, and other stringed instruments for well over a decade. With the money from selling these ukes, he left to travel the world for a year with his girlfriend. He's now somewhere in South America. Shortly before he left, they held a final garage sale to raise some extra money for the trip, that's where I bought one of his very few remaining ukuleles. It turned out to be a very good decision. Playing the ukulele has made my life at least 5 percent more joyful (and Linda's 2% shorter... just kidding). So, Kavarna's Ukulele Night is (in a way) a tribute to Ben Frye's creativity. I know that there will be at least one other performer there that night who owes their interest in the ukulele to Ben.

Ukulele Night will be a very informal concert/jam/open mic sort of evening, and it will feature Victoria Vox (who's become something of an international ukulele superstar), Dale Anderson and Mark Riggenback (the Delta Jets), the Reverend Eddie Danger, Nick Utrie, and the Kavarna House Orchestra (if we ever find time to practice!). If you've ever had a hankering to pick up the ukulele, you should definitely come and see how simple and wonderful it really is. The evening will begin at 7:30 pm, and there is no cover. Please let us know if you're interested in performing.

• » February 12th: the Way Down Yonder Gulf Coast Benefit at Luna Café in De Pere. This will feature performances by Woody Mankowski, Tom Reynolds, Steve Johnson, and others. There will also be a raffle, door prizes, and what I'm sure is a very good gumbo. Money raised will be used to send a group of people down to New Orleans to help clean houses. Direct Action! It all begins at 3pm.
• » February 17th: Green Bay Green Drinks, 6pm - 10pm at Kavarna. This is the Green Bay environmental communities' monthly informal get together. Want to talk shop about the environment? Drop on by.
• » February 19th: Al Buch, District 9's candidate for Alderman and Brown County Supervisor (and co-proprietor of The Gift Itself) will be speaking at the River's Edge Apartments Community Room (on Chestnut Street) at 4:30 pm.
• » February 19th: the Cuong Vu Trio will be performing at 56 Ultra Lounge (which used to be the Historic West). This has been described to me as "Radiohead meets Miles Davis," which definitely appeals to me. We're selling the tickets for $10 at Kavarna, they'll be $15 at the door. Additional details are at the excellent greenbaymusic.com

• » We recently learned that Naletta Burr (Director of On Broadway, Inc.) was named one of the "50 People That You Should Know" by the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce; we're very happy that the Chamber picked up on that. We're definitely happy to know her, and we're glad to see that she's getting some recognition. (Even if we didn't win the Winterfest Chili Cook-off for the third year in a row).
• » We're trying to make a listing of the websites of Kavarna patrons... one we'd like to share is whitepelican.blogspot.com, which is a blog about the environment and N.E. Wisconsin written by Rich and Jessica G. It's definitely the place to keep tabs on what's happening in our area from an environmental standpoint.

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