Entertainment

POSTED: Thursday, May. 17, 2007

Best Bets: FolkLIKE Music and Arts Festival

Explorations Academy’s seventh annual FolkLIKE Music and Arts Festival kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at the school, 1701 Ellis St., with a day of hands-on music and arts workshops, including belly dancing, visual arts and drumming, led by local artists and musicians and open to all skill levels. In the evening, the action moves to Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro at 5:30 p.m. for a wild salmon barbecue, auction and music by the Kreestoe Trio of Jazz. Bellingham bands Feed and Seed, Acorn Project and Sway take over the beer garden for a dance party at 8:30 p.m. More workshops continue from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20, at the school. Teens ages 17 and younger can attend unlimited workshops at no charge. Tickets for the full festival, including the Saturday wild salmon barbecue, dance party and all workshops, are $35. Admission to Saturday’s dance alone is $8. Unlimited workshop admission is $10 for adults and free for youth 17 and younger. For tickets or more information, contact Explorations Academy at 671-8085.

Grammy winner John Prine, who’s proud to call himself a former mailman, a chronic dreamer, a child of the Midwest and a grandchild of Appalachia, performs songs like “Sam Stone,” “Illegal Smile” and “Dear Abby” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, at Mount Baker Theatre, 104 N. Commercial St. (tickets purchased for the April 22 show are valid, check with the theater box office, 734-6080). Tickets are $34 and $39.50 and are also available online at www.mountbakertheatre.com.

The Whatcom Symphony Orchestra 2006-07 season ends with an all- Rachmaninoff program at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 20, at Mount Baker Theatre, 104 N. Commercial St. The first half of the program features the Symphony No. 3, and Orion Weiss joins the symphony in the Piano Concerto No. 3 as the featured soloist for the second half of the concert. Roger Briggs conducts. Weiss offers a free master class from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center, Room 16. Call 671-5612 for details. For concert tickets, $19 and $23, call 734-6080 or go to www.mountbaker theatre.com. Cecil Isaac presents a free pre-concert lecture at 2 p.m.

The “Danish Team” was among the competitors at the 2006 Welding Rodeo at Bellingham Technical College, 3028 Lindbergh Ave. Sparks fly this year from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, during the sixth annual welded sculpture competition and silent auction fundraiser. Professional and amateur teams from around the world create sculptures from scrap in eight hours. The theme this year is “The Wonderful World of Bugs.” A barbecue features food by the BTC Culinary Arts Chefs’ Club from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The amateur teams, featuring several local high schools, compete on Friday, with a silent auction at 1 p.m. The professional teams compete Saturday, with a live auction beginning at 5:15 p.m. Admission is free. Call 738-0221 or go to weldingrodeo.btc.ctc.edu or www.weldingrodeo.com for details.

Alilo, an all-women’s a cappella nine-voice ensemble, performs songs of from Romania, Hungary, Armenia, Bosnia and Georgia at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 18, at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center, 1314 Harris Ave. Kathleen Ash Barraclough directs the group. Suggested donation is $10. For more information, call (360) 421-5520.

T’ai Hartley plays the role of Jack (clockwise, from upper left), Steve Sherman plays Algernon and Amalia Larson plays Lady Bracknell in Western Washington University’s production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde’s comedic classic about true love, bogus identities, social faux-pas and little white lies, at 7:30 p.m. May 23-26 and May 30-June 1, and at 2 p.m. May 27 and June 2 at the Performing Arts Center Mainstage Theatre. Graduate student Kate Muchmore directs. Tickets are $12 general, $8 students and seniors, available by calling 650-6146 and online at www.tick ets.wwu.edu.

The Ethos Percussion Group performs songs of India, West Africa and the Middle East at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Concert Hall. Community members and Western students perform with the group at 7 p.m. Friday in the PAC Plaza (rain location is PAC Room 16). Friday’s event is free and open to the public; bring your own instrument. The group also presents a free master class from noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Concert Hall. Tickets for the evening concert range from $16 to $23 and can be reserved by calling 650-6146 or by going to www.tick ets.wwu.edu.