Scene & Heard

Young musicians playing it smart

Katie Allison (left) and Katie Culp – perform during The Glass Straws’ gig at the Blue Valley Bistro on Saturday night. Photo provided

CRESWELL – While playing at the Blue Valley Bistro on Saturday night, Katie Culp of The Glass Straws was proud to admit that she had just landed her first ”real” job.
”I’m working three hours a week at Noodles,” said Culp, 18, who’s home on Christmas break from the Belmont School of Music in Nashville, Tenn. ”My title is Noodle Ambassador.”
In a sense, that’s kind of a fitting designation, because Culp has learned to use the old noodle quite well, thank you, already earning a year of college credit at Creswell High School before she ever set foot in Nashville. She graduated with a 3.9 GPA and was senior class president.
The same high praise could be heaped upon her bandmates – her brothers Zach, 20, and Chris, 14, and best friend Katie Allison, 18. While Chris is still a freshman at CHS, the others graduated with honors and are pursuing their dreams.
Zach, the band’s drummer, is a mechanical engineering major at Oregon State, where he is carrying an impressive 3.5 GPA. At Creswell, he was the 2018 Class Salutatorian with a 3.98 GPA. He was a four-year letterman in soccer, scoring two goals in the game that sent the Bulldogs to the state playoffs.
Chris, who plays bass, carries a 4.0 and is the only freshman at Creswell High in Jazz I, an advanced band class usually reserved for upperclassmen. He lettered in cross country, bettering his personal-record time by 1:30 in the district meet.
Allison, a music major at Lane Community College, said the thing she was most proud of at Creswell was being named Outstanding Spanish Student two years in a row.
The two Katies, who both play guitar, are big fans of the show ”Stranger Things” and they wore replicas of shirts worn by two of the show’s characters, Eleven and Hopper.
”I’m sure this won’t be the last time we do this,” Katie Culp said. ”I’m sure we’ll come up with some other kinds of themes.”
Thus far, The Glass Straws have had only a handful of gigs. Saturday’s show was their third appearance at the Blue Valley, and they also played in the Spring Jam at CHS.
The Blue Valley actually had a hand in the naming of the band.
”We wanted to try to make an environmental gesture,” Katie Culp said. ”Then we saw that they had glass straws here, so we just we went with it.”
The Glass Straws played four originals Saturday, including ”Pollution,” a song that showcases Katie Culp’s extraordinary voice. They were a little rough around the edges at times, but still entertaining.
Don’t be surprised if you hear about these kids, individually or collectively, making it big someday.
Hey, stranger things have happened.

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