NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Jan. 9.
PORT ANGELES — While live poetry fills the Raymond Carver Room at the Port Angeles Library tonight, live rhythm, blues and bossa nova will happen out in the library “living room,” courtesy of songstress Robin Bessier and her band.
Bessier — a Port Townsend singer who specializes in jazz, swing and Latin music — is the headliner for tonight’s Art Blast, the party the Port Angeles Friends of the Library throw every three months at the library at 2210 S. Peabody St.
It’s a free public event starting with a 6:30 p.m. reception around the winter art show just mounted there. Refreshments will be laid out, and patrons can mingle with the contributing artists, who include Port Angeles designer Trisa Katsikapes and North Peninsula Surface Design Group members Carolyn Dow, Pat Herkal, Barbara Houshmand, Ann Jarnagin, Cheri Kopp, Sue Scott, Janice Speck, Jean-Marie Tarascio, Joyce Wilkerson, Cathie Wier, Diane Williams and Helga Winter.
Bessier and company
At 7 p.m., Bessier will convene with her band: saxophonist-clarinetist-flutist Kurt Festinger, keyboard player George Radebaugh, drummer Tom Svornich and bassist Ted Enderle, who comes from Bainbridge Island to gig with the group.
Bessier’s band plays dance music: “Sway,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Blue Bossa,” Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road, Jack.”
And though there may not be a dance floor, the singer said she won’t mind if people foxtrot or cha-cha among the stacks.
The set list will travel from numbers such as “Quando, Quando, Quando” to “Ray’s Rockhouse,” with some Antonio Carlos Jobim stirred in.
The band “can switch on a dime” from one style to the next, Bessier said.
“It’s a ton of fun to play with these guys,” so she’ll do so until about 8:30 tonight.
Bessier’s group also will appear at the Cellar Door, 940 Water St. in Port Townsend, on Saturday, Jan. 24. Information about her music can be found at www.RobinBessier.com.
To learn more about the Art Blast, an event sponsored by the Port Angeles Friends of the Library, phone 360-417-8500 or visit the North Olympic Library System website at www.nols.org and use the “Events” link.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
