Washington Island » News

Unity The Band

Jerry — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:56:39 +0000

Unity the Band, the 2010 WAMI winner for Reggae and World beat music, is
playing our annual weekend show at Nelsen’s Hall, on the 20th and 21st of
August. It would be great to see this on your calendar! Take a look at our
site: http://www.unitytheband.com/unify/

We have quite a good following, and we love coming to the island, so maybe we can get this to become a really special event. Our annual concert, at Fishstock, in Fish Creek, has become huge, and I don’t see any reason that this could also be something great–maybe an end-of-Summer blow out, or something!

Thanks,
Jason Brown
Unity The Band

AFT Favorite Claudia Russell brings her band to Red Barn July 31

Jerry — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:52:58 +0000

California singer/songwriter Claudia Russell and her band perform Saturday, July 31, 7:30 at the Red Barn on Washington as part of a eight-day tour of Wisconsin and Illinois. The Red barn is located at 1474 S. Shore Drive on Washington Island. Russell will also conduct a songwriting workshop the following day at noon. Tickets are just $7 dollars adults and $3 dollars for children. Russell is a world-class vocalist, songwriter and guitarist and is well known to Door County audiences as a frequent cast member of American Folklore Theater fall shows such as Fish and Whistle, Goodnight Irene and Old Friends. Accompanied by her band, the Folk Unlimited Orchestra, Russell plays her own brand of Americana/Folk woven from traditional music, pop, blues, western swing, and county. Her performances are truly heartfelt and entertaining. Using humor, personal stories and her “Who me?” attitude, Claudia quickly bonds with audiences, winning them over with her powerful voice and signature guitar voicings. Russell has performed at festivals and concert series all around the USA. Though she is based in the San Francisco Bay area, she is proud to call the Door County her home away from home. “I’m a Midwestern wannabe. Every show I play, I talk about Door Country and all the good times I’ve had, and friends I’ve made here,” Russell says. Besides playing concerts from Washington Island to Goshen, Indiana, Russell has logged more than 300 performances in American Folklore Theater productions and has also as performed at Milwaukee’s Stackner Cabaret. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said of her Old Friends performance: “Russell has a voice that was born to sing folk music. She breaks hearts…” Russell’s first CD, Song Food, gained airplay on more than 125 stations and earned her Best New Artist honors from WUMB in Boston. Her second CD, Ready To Receive, and her third, Live Band Tonight gained similar airplay as well as press acclaim including rave reviews in Sing Out magazine. Chicago DJ Rich Warren of WFMT wrote: “Russell is a great live performer. And her band! Let’s just say they’re hot. Plug them into a medium sized city and they’ll light it up.” Warren has been a big supporter of Russell and has featured Claudia and her band on Folk Stage on their last Midwest tour. Speaking of the band – the Folk Unlimited Orchestra is rounded out by bassist Mark Petrella and Russell’s husband, guitarist/mandolinist Bruce Kaplan. (Kaplan’s brother James, a Milwaukee resident, is known to many Midwest audiences as co-creator of American Folklore Theater musical comedies such as Guys on Ice and Lumberjacks in Love.) Russell is a third generation professional singer. Her father, Val Rosing, was the vocalist on the original million selling 1930s BBC recordings of Teddy Bears Picnic and Try A Little Tenderness. Her grandfather Vladmir Rosing was a famous Russian opera tenor who appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

Don’t miss Claudia Russell and the Folk Unlimited – one of Door County’s favorite traveling troubadors. For more information, visit islandredbarn.com or www.claudiarussell.com.

Skydive Door County!

Jerry — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:31:46 +0000

We’d like to welcome you to Wisconsin’s most scenic dropzone! Nowhere in Wisconsin can you have such fantastic views of Lake Michigan, be it in the plane ride up or while in freefall or floating under canopy. You’ll see it all. We have an incredible view of the entire Door County peninsula! During your ride to altitude, you will be treated to a scenic view of Green Bay, downtown Sturgeon Bay, and the great Lake Michigan. This awesome tour is available ONLY at Skydive Door County

Unseasonably Warm Weather

Jerry — Sun, 30 May 2010 22:16:03 +0000

I was riding in my Jeep today, top off, doors off and thinking to myself that this is a pleasure usually reserved for late in the summer, July 4th at the earliest. It was actually hot for Washington Island and I am sure it brought many people here to escape the temps further south. Please check out a submission for the Washington Island Facebook Group photo contest. Submitted my LFH.

I hope to have many more submission to my email by the deadline of June 15, 2010. There is a wildflower and garden category.

Today’s observations

Jerry — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:37:36 +0000

The plows are out this morning. There was a fire call last night. No injuries! I can see some blue sky out my window and my current temp is 26 degrees!

Men’s Day

Jerry — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:04:57 +0000

Thursday February 11, 2010 was a great winter day for the annual Men’s Day trip on 4wheelers and snowmobiles around the shores, and interiors of our Island. Breakfast, refreshments and dinner are all inclusive and enjoyed each year by resident men and many arriving the day before or day of on the Ferry. Pictured here are many of the men who posed for a picture by Mack Gunnlaugsson.

Icelander in service

Jerry — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:45:40 +0000

The Icelander is a boat formerly owned by Washington Island Resident Ted Jessen, it spent many years here on Washington Island at Shipyard Island Marina. Pictured here as it was then in its classic white hull and striping.

Now the boat is again in service as a towboat in Sturgeon Bay, WI. I spent sometime working on this wonderful craft in the 90’s and am glad to see the boat back in use helping stranded vessels in the water in our area. Photos provided by Steve Weinert.

Winter is here…?

Jerry — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:28:58 +0000

I have been doing a little work on the website…not too many changes for the coming season as yet. I wanted to share a photo of my fishing experience with Captain Frank, one day this fall! If you have ever been late season bass fishing on the shores of Washington and Rock Islands you know what you can find in the order of big bass. The larger of the two was my first 5+ bass in my life at 5lbs. 11 oz. The other weighed in around 4 or so. They have been both released and hopefully will be back in the same area next year! Thanks Frank for the wonderful trip.

Island News needs help from you

Jerry — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:33:50 +0000

Please let me know if you would like to be a contributor to the Island news section of the site! I would love to have daily pictures and observations posted for the web site visitors. Just email me and I will get you set up! jerry@washingtonisland.com

Ties from Iceland to Wisconsin

Jerry — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:55:03 +0000

I received this email recently and if anyone would like ho help this student please feel free to email me so I can connect you with him!

My name is Nicholas Sepúlveda. I am currently a fourth year biology and anthropology student at Juniata College, PA, but a resident of Green Bay. I am writing because I have great interest in Washington Island’s cultural history and your website seemed to be the only real source of information that was not part of a library collection.

I spent my third year of university abroad at Aberdeen, Scotland where I met Karen Milek, a professor of archaeology there. I took interest in her work–which is largely about Viking Age homes in Iceland. My interest was so great that I was able to secure a position at the Icelandic Archaeological Institute’s (Fornleifastofnun Íslands) field school. To this end, I have spent the summer digging in Iceland. Currently, I am assisting with excavation of a modern farmstead in Skagafjörður. This site is interesting because it is one of a family that emigrated to North America.

Of course I developed an interest in these migrations, and I was able to locate from census data that many Icelanders settled in Wisconsin, mostly in Door County and on Washington Island (please see the attached census document and a newspaper article from the 1920s).

Because my interest in iceland is so great, I have decided to prepare an application for a Fulbright Scholarship to study abroad and complete my master’s degree in Medieval Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík. One of the large components of the program is interaction with the host country and fostering host/US relations.

I thought a great way to accomplish this might be to explore the ties between Wisconsin and Iceland and learn more about their historical relationship. To this end, I hoped I might be able to contribute some way to the presentation of Washington Island’s presentation of its history.

I would greatly enjoy any opportunity to complete an article about the settlement of the Island, trace genealogies, design presentations, or simply prepare a small newsletter to help more people understand the history of the island. I thought it might be a good idea to contact you about these possible opportunities.

If I were to receive a Fulbright, I would have considerable access to historical resources here in Iceland. I am typing this letter for example, in the Emigration Museum in Hofsós, a tidy building with a large library full of books and friendly Icelanders who enjoy genealogy.

I look forward to hearing from you and your thoughts of about Iceland or individuals I may contact in Wisconsin who may be interested, the Fulbright Program, and my ideas about Washington Island.

Best wishes,

Nicholas email: SEPULNB06@juniata.edu