Entertainment
We are currently looking for a great line-up for 2012 entertainment. Have a suggestion? Please contact Alicia Olson at SitkaSeafoodFestival@gmail.com or 928-607-4845.
Last years entertainment included:
CHEF ROBERT KINNEEN: a chef from Anchorage that prides himself on using local ingredients. This is his second visit to the Sitka Seafood Festival.
Chef Robert Kinneen was born in Petersburg, Alaska. He is an Alaskan chef who has been working in restaurants since he was 15 years old. Participating in the culinary arts program at the King Career Center solidified his future in the food service industry.
At the urging of his KCC instructors, after high school he attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Upon graduation he fine tuned his skills in all facets of the industry while working at several prestigious restaurants that include NOLA in New Orleans, Sack’s in Anchorage, The Magnolia Grill, Pop’s Trattoria and Elaine’s on Franklin in North Carolina. During this time he established his philosophies of sourcing product locally and seasonally.
He has also staged at Frontera Grill in Chicago and Lupa in New York City. Returning to Alaska in 2001, he maintained the Triple A four diamond rating as Chef of the Seven Glaciers restaurant at the Alyeska Resort and Chef de Cuisine at the Crow's Nest atop the Hotel Captain Cook.
With his own venture Noble’s Diner and as Executive Chef of ORSO, he established a reputation for his loyalty to Alaskan product and community involvement. This has led to local and national reviews, speaking engagements and representing Alaska in the Great American Seafood Cookoff in New Orleans, LA(2008) . Additionally he has contributed to cookbooks-Pacific Feast by Jennifer Hahn and Wild Alaskan Seafood by James Fraioli highlighting an “Alaskan Regional Cuisine”
He is currently working on food development strategies for Kaladi Brothers Coffee, developing a webisode Series, Fresh Alaska, and a line of Alaskan inspired sauces reinforcing the importance of sourcing locally.
CHEF LOUISA CHU: a chef, writer, producer, and adventurer.
"She has cooked around the world, from Paris to Alaska. She trained at El Bulli, Ducasse, Alinea, Moto, and other restaurants. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris with Le Grand Diplôme for concurrent studies in cuisine and pâtisserie. She has appeared on Food Network's Iron Chef America, Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, Discovery International and National Geographic's Food Lover's Guide to the Planet, Sundance Channel's Big Ideas for a Small Planet, and NPR station KCRW's Good Food, and other outlets. Her writing has appeared in Gourmet, CHOW, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and other publications."
Check her out at: http://www.louisa-chu.com/about.html
WEDDING CAKE COMPETITION
Sitka Seafood Festival announces its first Wedding Cake Competition. Up to 6 wedding cakes decorated in an "Ocean Dreams" theme will be selected to be judged and served at the annual banquet dinner on Friday, May 20th. Selected contestants will receive 2 dinner tickets (a $100 value), professional photographs and advertising. Please click here to see the Wedding Cake Competition Rules. Click here for the application form. Application forms are due by May 1st.
GINGERLEE: Aerialist
Jenn Perry began practicing aerial arts in 2008, focusing on the silks. What began as a trade of knowledge, circus for Pilates, turned into an all-consuming passion for Jenn. She began to apply her Pilates and biomechanics training to hoisting, twisting, flipping, and generally contorting in the air. Jenn performed for the first time in late 2008, with the Dream Science Circus, and has since flown with the Bellingham Circus Guild, independently at various venues throughout the northwest, and she even created an original show performed at the Roost in Bellingham. Jenn has gradually morphed into GingerLee on stage and currently enjoys experimenting improvisationally with live music. She has diversified into several aerial apparatus including the aerial silks, sling, and lyra. On the ground, she has begun training on the Roue Cyr. GingerLee can often be caught flying at many charity events supporting the environment, animals, and women's health, as her favorite way of giving back to her community.
WICKED TINKERS: a Celtic Tribal Sound Explosion
Prepare yourself for a wild ride with WICKED TINKERS! Pioneers of the growing Tribal Celtic movement, the Tinkers have been playing haunting, heart-pounding bagpipes and irresistible tribal drums as a professional touring band since 1995. With the addition, several years back, of the mesmerizing drone of the Australian didgeridoo and Bronze Age Irish horn, the magic was complete. Sit back and be transported to an earlier time in Scotland and Ireland, when battle cries filled the air and strange, unheard-of creatures roamed the night. Or better yet, get on your feet and let your body move to ancient rhythms and forgotten sounds.
Check them out at: http://www.wickedtinkers.com/index.html
RAY TROLL and the RATFISH WRANGLERS: You know the art, now enjoy the music.
"Troll and his band take over where the B-52s 'Rock Lobster' left off in the late 80s/many years ago. Living the artist's life in Ketchikan, Alaska for 25 years, Troll has swum far below the currents of modern art and music, and surfaced for air with a net full of images and songs about such underwater oddities as the ratfish, the sex life of the salmon and the legendary Bombastodon.Set to a hypnotic beat that pounds like a fishboat diesel, and backed up by a loose-knit set of friends including a champion fiddle player and siren-like back-up singers, his songs reach out to the spirit of the fisherman in all of us!" - Peter Marsh, Freshwater News
Check them out at: http://www.trollart.com/news/ratfishwranglers.html