It’s a ‘nonconformist traditional’ band
Published 5:00 pm Saturday, January 18, 2003
A favorite local music group, No Band is an Island, will return to its favorite local stage for a 7:30 p.m. concert Jan. 24 at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. All seats are $12; call 221-8268.
The “nonconformist traditional” band will perform an evening of original compositions intermingled with old time hand-me-down tunes in new arrangements. With a sound described as “Bebop-folk with a Celtic swing,” No Band is an acoustic chamber folk quartet with inspired by American and other early music. Its members are Randy Hudson on concertina and hammered dulcimer, Linda Morris on fiddle and viola, Devin Ossman on whistles, flutes and sax, and Siri Sobottka on cello, guitar and vocal specials.
This will be the group’s second live concert recorded at WICA, though the first since Sobottka joined the band.
Hudson, Morris and Ossman have been playing together since their first gig, the 1998 St. Andrew’s Celtic Fling at Seattle’s St. Andrew’s Church. Shortly after, with Hudson’s old partner Phil Marple on guitar, No Band Is An Island served as the opening act for the Canadian folk duo, Finest Kind. This first appearance at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts inspired their quest for further performance, and in April 2000 the Whidbey audience heard them in a solo concert, recorded live and eventually released as the CD, “Live at WICA.”
No Band has appeared in large public venues, such as the Northwest Folklife Festival, Best of Northwest Arts Show, the Greenbank Farm Loganberry Festival and on the main stage at Langley’s Choochokam Arts Festival.
After Marple retired from the group, No Band was joined by Siri Sobottka. They then became the “house band” for a series of live internet broadcasts, “Wired @ WICA.”
They also played Best of the Northwest for the second time and warmed up for their coming performance and recording at WICA with new tunes (two thirds of the show are original compositions by Hudson, Ossman and Sobottka), plus arrangements featuring the band’s unique instrumental configuration that gives it a signature sound.
New band member Siri Sobottka, or Siri Blaine, is a Northwest native who began her cello studies at the Cornish School in Seattle at age 11 and continued with Eva Heinitz at the University of Washington. She abandoned her cello for many years while she and her twin sister, Karin Blaine, pursued their popular music interests as the guitar/vocal duo Ditto. Later, as the Blaine Sisters Band, the pair performed in many Seattle venues. As Siri Blaine, Sobottka went on to sing as lead vocalist with the swing band The Rhythm Boys. Their many performances included Bumbershoot, Folklife, Bite of Seattle, Hot Jazz Port Townsend and the Bellevue Jazz Festival, plus many local clubs. Sobottka currently sings with the Fabulous Fenderskirts, a vocal trio with jazz quartet. She is also a continuing member of South Whidbey’s Saratoga Strings.
LINDA MORRIS was born and raised in Seattle. She took up the violin at an early age, but left it reluctantly behind for a career in health care. She was the first woman to graduate in her field with an masters in public health from UCLA.
As an adult, Morris returned to the violin by taking up old-time fiddling. She played in groups with names like The Swinging Nettles, The Loosely Strung String Band, The Heavy Meddlers and Once Around The Barn, as well as with many regional folk and national artists, including Kenny G.
Morris also plays classical music with the Saratoga Chamber Players and the Whidbey Island String Quartet.
RANDY HUDSON, born in Tacoma, first heard a hammered dulcimer played at the 1975 Northwest Folklife Festival when he was at the University of Washington. He soon built one and learned to play it.
This led to founding the Dusty Strings Dulcimer Company – a leading manufacturer of the once-rare instrument – and regular performances around Seattle as “Hobnobbin’”with guitarist Phil Marple.
Many years later, after moving to Whidbey to manage the bronze foundry for his sculptor wife, Georgia Gerber, Hudson discovered an antique “button-box.” This led him to the English concertina and a debut performance with Sing!Chronicity at WICA. Shortly after, he assembled the rest of the group that opened for “Finest Kind.” In addition to his instrumental specialties, Hudson composes many of the group’s new tunes.
DEVIN OSSMAN comes to Whidbey from Southern California. His interest in the flute began early, and he started playing just as soon as his fingers could reach all the keys. He studied classical flute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he received a bachelors degree in music in 1984.
After returning to Los Angeles, Ossman gained experience working in recording studios and began learning more about composition and the use of synthesizers and computer sequencing to assist the creative process.
After moving to Whidbey in 1997, he began playing regularly with the Island Contraband and the Celtic group, “Indigo.” He also appears as soloist with the Saratoga Chamber Players.
When not teaching flute and sax, Ossman can be found at his Oak Harbor shop, Truly Magic Toys.
