LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

State's Transportation Plan Gets Federal OK
28 Mar 2024 15:06

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    Federal officials on Wednesday approved most of Alaska’s four-y [ ... ]

New Funding Plan Ahead for Visit Sitka?
28 Mar 2024 15:02

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    At an hour-long work session with the Assembly Tuesda [ ... ]

Sitka 'Frankenstein' Puts Classic Tale in New Ligh...
28 Mar 2024 15:01

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    The story behind a classic, though often misunderstoo [ ... ]

State May Los Millions Over Ed Dept. Missteps
28 Mar 2024 14:59

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    The state government risks losing millions of dollars in feder [ ... ]

Gov Signs Bill On Internet In State Schools
28 Mar 2024 14:57

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday signed a bill that promise [ ... ]

Capitol Christmas Tree to Come from Tongass
28 Mar 2024 14:56

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, known for its steep mountains [ ... ]

City League Games Thursday
28 Mar 2024 14:52

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing Wednesday in competitive division City League volleyball matches, Ca [ ... ]

March 28, 2024, Police Blotter
28 Mar 2024 14:50

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 27
At 2:36 p.m. a dead  [ ... ]

March 28, 2024, Community Happenings
28 Mar 2024 14:48

This Week in Girls on the Run By Sitkans Against Family Violence
and The Pathways Coalition
During th [ ... ]

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Guitar Virtuoso Making Return Visit to Sitka

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

It’s not hard for fellow musicians to describe the style and sound of guitarist Chris Proctor, who is playing a concert here on Saturday.

“It sounds like four musicians playing at once,” said Ted Howard, organizer for Sitka Folk, the sponsor of Proctor’s show. “It’s the bass line with his thumb, melody with one of his fingers and harmony lines with his other fingers. It’s simply amazing. ... When I closed my eyes I couldn’t believe there was only one person on stage.”

Chris Proctor will perform Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi. (Photo Provided)

The concert starts at 7 p.m. at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi, with an opening act by local performers Debby LeVeck and Jim Shepard.

Proctor’s acoustic guitar repertoire ranges from Americana to Celtic, to blues and more contemporary songs and tunes that are “more classic in construction – like chamber music.”

“He’s just very, very talented,” said Howard, who speaks as a guitar player himself.

“I’m amazed by the clarity and accuracy of his tone. ... He plays recognizable tunes, takes the arrangement and puts it into a guitar – you have Paul McCartney on bass, and John Lennon’s voice going at once.”

Proctor will also conduct a workshop 3 p.m. Sunday at The Loft, at 408 Oja Way, for guitar players of all abilities.

Proctor is traveling with both a six-string and the less well-known 12-string guitar, which he has a particular affection for. He usually leaves the 12-string at home when traveling, since carrying two protective cases is a little cumbersome.

But he said the 12-string is always a hit.

“They love hearing it, they’re knocked out by it,” Proctor said. 

Proctor started learning music the way most kids do – through band instruments – but it wasn’t for him.

“My parents did the usual damage with band instruments,” he said. “I wasn’t enjoying what they told me to learn.”

But his enthusiasm for playing music picked up when he went to a blues concert at age 14 or 15.

“It blew the top of my head off,” Proctor said. “I thought, I have to do that.”

He started on the guitar learning the blues, listening to and trying to play like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake and Big Jim Davis, and “any blues player you can name.”

“You listen to the recordings and then play in that style,” he said.

Proctor also drew inspiration from the music of Leo Kottke and John Fahey, and songs from the British Isles.

“I got a notion that you can make stuff up if you had that acoustic skill and be the whole band – there were incredible possibilities there,” he said.

That’s what he does today, at age 65, touring full time, being the full band with a six-string or 12-string guitar.

He was last in Sitka five years ago for a concert and workshop, both of which were well-attended, Howard said.

“Everyone who went to the workshop left a better player than when they went in,” Howard said.

Proctor remembers that visit well. The Alaska tours he has done gives him plenty of time in each community, since it’s nearly impossible to play a show a day, traveling from town to town across the state. He said Alaska is “not the most efficient” state to tour in given the distances between communities and logistics of getting around, but he does have more time to enjoy the scenery.

“You only play for two hours. The rest of the time you’re living somewhere,” he said. “People think it’s about the music, but it’s not.”

In Sitka, he remembers walking to Sitka National Historical Park to watch the fish run.

“I had a wonderful walk – or run-walk – to the river, filled with dying salmon,” he said. “It’s not something a Utah boys sees very often. Sitka’s a beautiful town – I flew in in the morning, and it was just beautiful.”

Proctor is finishing up a five-week tour with gigs in Sitka and Petersburg, after an Alaska multi-city tour that included Talkeetna, Fairbanks, Seward, Valdez, Anchorage and Wasilla, before returning to his home in Salt Lake City.

 

He said he did collect a few fans from a tour decades ago, getting around the Kenai peninsula with the help of bush pilot Tom Thibodeau, who inspired a song. At his stop in Valdez this year, a handful of people showed him the LPs they bought at his concert there in 1984, just a few years after he started recording.

“Here they were, 32 years later and 10 (records) later, and they’re still hanging in Valdez, still listening to the music,” he said.

It was 20 years before he came back.

“I’ve enjoyed my time in Alaska,” said Proctor. “If I wanted to be most efficient I would stay at a Holiday Inn Express, and play lots of music.”

Today he focuses more on touring in places he wants to visit and spend time in, including the West Coast and Europe.

“Alaska’s at the top of that list,” he said.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. Saturday show at Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi are $20 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors, available at Old Harbor Books.

The fee for the Sunday workshop is $10, also sponsored by Sitka Folk.

 

 

You have no rights to post comments

Login Form

 

20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

Calendar

Local Events

Instagram

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Instagram!

Facebook

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Facebook!