Today's Features

It’s a chilly October night. Leaves blow outside, and shadows flit across a darkened stage. Or were they only shadows? Creaks and groans fill Center/Stage. Is it just the old building settling? Or is something lurking across the way?

There’s nothing better than a cold autumn evening to set the mood for a suspense thriller. And there’s nothing better than the Evergreen Players’ latest production of “Night Watch” to leave you looking over your shoulder with fear and delight.

What do a 2-foot wooden Viking named Sven, a song about Mad Cow disease and three follicularly challenged men singing “Bald guys are happenin’ ee” have in common? One man ee Wayne Faust.

The talented singer/songwriter/comedian is appearing at Sammy’s Tavern on Oct. 11. And as disparate as those three things may seem, Faust has a way of making his audiences roll with laughter at all of them.

One of the universal joys of music is that it can be enjoyed in myriad settings with audiences large or small. One day you might get a kick out of singing along with the radio in your car. The next, you might settle into an audience with hundreds of listeners for a musical extravaganza.

The Evergreen Chamber Orchestra knows that setting and company can accentuate a musical experience for even the most veteran listener. For this reason, the ECO is kicking off its 2008-09 season with two unique concerts.

A friend who volunteers at the Evergreen Nature Center stopped by last week to show us photographs of a wood rat taken by a couple who live on Upper Bear Creek. These folks had seen and heard some little critter in their house and wanted to be sure to live trap it and remove it before they left on a vacation.

Our friend loaned them her live trap, and the next day they came into the Nature Center with the little animal in the trap. It was indeed a bright-eyed little wood rat. She later brought the photographs to us in hopes we could identify it as to species.