ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Broken Walls’ to perform at Christian music festival

Tlingit drummer Bill Pagaran from Palmer will play with his band Broken Walls on the main stage at 3:15 p.m., Sunday at the Lifelight Music Festival in South Dakota. The festival is one of the largest Christian music festivals in the world. Pagaran also authored a drum instructional book (Drumming in Half the Time), is a Taye drum artist, teacher and clinician. For more information, visit online at lifelight.org/festival/schedule/main-stage.

Hill to perform in Palmer Sept. 11

Folk singer and writer Emma Hill, 23, returns to Palmer at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 11 to perform at Vagabond Blues. Born and raised in Sleetmute, Hill graduated from Palmer High School in three years, made lots of friends, then headed to larger music scenes in Anchorage and Portland. Tickets are available at Vagabond Blues and at Fireside Books in Palmer. Cost is $15 for adults and students, seniors and military pay $10.

PHS grad releases new book

Born in Houghton Lake, Mich., Linda Mae (Cornell) Usher graduated from Palmer High School and recounts her years in Alaska in her new book “A Shiver of Memories: My Life in the Slow Lane.”

Usher spent more than 27 years in Alaska “so far from the beaten path, we weren’t even sure there was one.” She lived for a time without electricity, indoor plumbing, telephones and television, and had minimal contact with anyone outside her family. In her book, she details home schooling, making root beer and ice cream, getting water from the river when it was minus 50 or colder for weeks at a time, cutting down trees and building a log home with her husband, raising three children, etc.

The book is for sale at Amazon.com or online at CreateSpace.com/3554735.

Designs sought for book cover contest

Teens are invited to enter a cover design contest for a new book called “Soul Shaking Grief For Teens,” set to publish in December. Alaska teens have until Oct. 1 to submit cover designs that fit the theme “Impaired and Dangerous Driving in Alaska.” First prize is an iPad2, second prize is a $300 gift card from Best Buy and third prize is a $200 gift card from Best Buy. Teens’ stories about impaired or distracted driving also are welcome. For more information, visit forgetmenotmission.com.