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There will be an open mic on Thursday May 31 for musicians. singers and poets at the Pit River Casino from 6-9 p.m.
This month will feature special guests The Begin Agains.
Richard Bersbach provides great sound. It is a wonderful opportunity to hear and meet talented local people. Feel free to come perform or just to come listen and enjoy!
Richard Bersach hosts an open mic at the Pit River Casino the last Thursday of every month.
Filed under Burney, Entertainment, Pit River Casino
“The 2018 Spring musical was a smash hit! Burney Junior and Senior High School Students presented three marvelous performances of “Princess Whatsername” written by Brian B. Taylor with music by Bill Francoeur and lyrics by Scott de Turk at the Liz Polley Center for the Arts.
Opening number
The production was directed by Jill Reed Lights and Sound by Larry Goza and Alissa Tereba and Stage Direction by Carolyn Garrigua and her crew. About 400 people came to see the performances that took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights.
Princess Whatsername
A talented cast of dozens of students took the audience through a cleverly constructed fairy tale peopled with characters from a range of Grimm’s folk tales including Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother, Rapunzel, Hercules, princesses and princes, and good and bad fairies.
Hansel and Gretel find Princess Whatsername in the woods
The lead character, Princess Whatsername (played by Bailey Turner) turned out to be Princess Aurora, who had been pricked by a spinning wheel and lost her memory. In her quest to regain her true identity, she wandered through an enchanted forest as the characters enacted comic scenes and delightful musical numbers.
Hansel after eating a candy house
All the students performed excellently. The Seven Dwarves number was classic. Elie Urlie dazzled the audience with his performance as an intriguing hip-hop style Rumpelstiltskin. Paris Deaton-Geisler shone as a country-western style Snow White.
Princess Whatsername and Rumplestiltskin
After the performance a special plaque was presented from the Mountain Echo newspaper with a photo and news article of the first chorale performance at Liz Polley Center.
Jill Reed displays a special historical plaque
Ms. Reed then presented the students actors with gifts of appreciation for their hard work and excellent performance, and the students in turn presented gifts to Director Reed and Carolyn Garrigua expressing their love and gratitude.
Here are more pictures of the performance:
Prince Reveille and Rumplestiltskin
Snow White and Goldilocks in the house of the Three Bears
The Seven Dwarves
The Three Bears chase Princesses
The Queen of the West and Snow White
Goldilocks, Princess Whatsername and Rapunzel
Singing Princesses
Three Bears, Snow White, and Prince Reveille
Prince Hercules challenges Prince Reveille
Queen of the North
Three Bears, Snow White, and Prince Reveille
Princess Aurora reunited with her parents and her true love
Rumpleskiltskin performs the wedding
The final number
Filed under Burney, Entertainment, Schools, youth
Grace Community Bible Church presented performances of “The Basket of Flowers” at the Liz Polley Center for the Performing Arts in Burney on February 9 and 10.
The play is a Lamplighter Theatre adaptation of a children’s story written by the 19th Century Bavarian cleric, teacher, and author, Christoph Von Schmid. The Burney production was performed by a full cast of sixteen actors under the direction of Deborah Hathaway.
Director Deborah Hathaway presented with a bouquet of flowers
The tale tells the story of a fifteen year old girl named Mary, the daughter of the castle gardener. Her father is a humble pious man who uses the flowers to teach lessons of faith to his daughter. She is befriended by the daughter of the countess. After a visit to the castle, a diamond ring disappears and Mary is accused of stealing it and thrown into prison awaiting trial.
Mary learns she has been accused of stealing the queens ring
When Mary refuses to confess, her father is also arrested. A jealous maid testifies that she saw Mary leaving the castle with the ring and the judge finds her guilty. The penalty for stealing from royalty is death.
Mary’s trial
Thanks to the intercession of the Countess and her daughter, the lives of Mary and her father are spared. However, they are banished for life from the land. For over two years they wander homeless through the woods. When her father takes ill during a storm and lies unconscious under a bridge during a torrential storm, Mary finds a kind couple who takes them in and nurses her father to recovery.
Mary and her father taken in by a kind couple
Eventually, Mary’s aging father dies as Mary reads him verses from the Bible. The couple with whom they stay are no longer able to maintain their farm and turn it over to their son and his wife. The daughter-in-law is a selfish domineering woman who puts Mary out on a cold dark night.
Pastor Winkelman give a short invitation to recevie God’s grace and forgiveness
In the meantime, however, the countess and her daughter have discovered the true cause of the disappearance of the ring. They set off to find Mary and in the end justice and mercy prevail. The faith of Mary’s father is vindicated.
Before the final scene, Pastor Henry Winkelman, who played the judge, gave a short talk about forgiveness with an invitation to receive God’s love and mercy through faith in Jesus.
The tale is told in beautiful language. Through the subplots, human nature, both good and bad is explored. The character development portrayed by the actors was marvelous causing the audience to break into applause after numerous scenes.
The lead character Mary was played by two actors. Young Mary was played by Savannah Niemeir. Older Mary was played by Trisha Niemeir. Her father James was played by Seth Landers. Other cast member were Brian Winkelman, Arden Hathaway, Millie Hathaway, Cierra Niemeir, Breanna Landers, Timothy Landers, Henry Winkelman, Stephen McDermeit, Kendra Hathaway, Zachary Paramo, Luke Niemeir, Brenda Hathaway, and Lydia Winkelman.
The cast
The entire drama was accompanied by a lovely musical score. Hillary Fahey provided free access to the wardrobe closet at Shasta Community College to provide the actors with their marvelous costumes. More than three dozen people contributed their time and talent working in various production teams to make the performance possible.
Filed under Art, Burney, Churches, Entertainment
The Fall River Valley Community Choir performed “One Hundred Years of Broadway” at the Mt Burney Theatre on Saturday May 6. Eighteen choir members performed a medley of 50 Broadway hits ranging from the early days of Tin Pan Alley to state-of-the-art contemporary Broadway.
Rev. Bill Myers soloing “If Ever I Would Leave You”
Don Smith directed the choir for the 45 minute review arranged by Mac Huff.
Don Smith directing the choir
Narrator Michael Kerns guided the audience through the history as he introduced each of the six sections of the review.
The performance began with an Opening featuring songs such as “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Beautiful voices
The Early Years featured music from Tin Pan Alley greats such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
Setting the Standards included some of the all time great hits by Rogers and Hammerstein. The Golden Years featured classics such as “Hello Dolly,” Try to Remember,” and “Seventy Six Trombones.”
Breaking New Ground rocked the hall with Stu Stoore’s soulful interpretation of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Melanie Kerns moved the audience to tears as she sang Memory written for the 1981 musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn.
Stu Stoore doing a solo
The historical journey concluded with State of the Art leading us into the new millennium with rousing songs such as “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord,” and “Broadway Baby.”
Then the choir concluded with a finale of more classic show tunes.
The Finale
Under the direction of Director Smith, the choir did a masterful mix of choral blending and individual performance. Laura Beyer, Melanie Kerns, Alison Maki, Candee Parker, Michael Martin, Penny Rogers, Lynn Stoore, Maggie Torres, Bill Myers, Stu Stoore, Brian Baddeley, Jean Rogers, and Tom Jones all sang solos.
What a treat! The spirit of Broadway definitely descended. Special thanks to Donna Sylvester, owner of Mt Burney Theatre, for hosting the event.
The Spirit of Broadway descends
The Fall River Valley Community Choir will give another performance of the review on May 7 at Ingram Hall in McArthur at 4 p.m. and a shortened version at the Fall River Library on May 20.
Filed under Art, Burney, Entertainment, Fall River Community Choir, Fall River Mills, McArthur
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The Pit River Casino will be holding an open mic in the River Rock Grill located inside the casino on Thursday February 23 from 6-9 p.m.
Musicians, singers, drummers and other performers are welcome. Come share your talent.
The casino will continue to hold an open mic on the last Thursday of every month.
Filed under Burney, Entertainment
Fall River Valley Community Choir will begin rehearsals for “100 Years of Broadway” on Thursday, February 9, 2017. Rehearsals will be every Thursday evening, from 6:30 to 8:00pm, at the Methodist church in Fall River Mills. Voices in all ranges are welcome and needed.
“100 Years of Broadway” includes tunes from the era of Tin Pan Alley to today’s musicals like Phantom, Cats, Oklahoma, Superstar and others.
Performances are scheduled for the first weekend in May. For more information call Don Smith at 336-6559.
Filed under Burney, Entertainment, Fall River
More than eighty people filled Old Merc Pizza in McArthur Friday evening to enjoy three hours of performance and sharing by more that a dozen artists. The evening’s offerings included poetry, song, dance, drumming, Broadway musical, as well as inspirational messages from participants in Stand Against Stigma and Brave Faces.
So much talent! Such diversity! Linda and I were unable to capture all of the dozens of acts, but this playlist has videos will give you a taste of some of the performances.
I hope you enjoy.
Thanks to Marc Dadigan from Stand Against Stigma for organizing the event, Old Merc for hosting, Stu Stoore for and excellent job with the sound, and all those who came to make this a wonderful evening.
Hope is Alive!
PS. There are 12 videos in the playlist. Click on the triple bar in the upper left-hand corner to see a menu listing all of the individual titles.
Filed under Entertainment, Hope is Alive!, MacArthur, Mental Health
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Saturday evening January 14 at 7 p.m., the Giant Killaz Tour, will be coming to the Word of Life gym. The event is being cosponsored by WOLA and Four Square Solid Rock churches. Admission is $5 per person or $20 per family.
The concert will feature Christian rap music and testimony. The featured artists will be Tony Tubera and Danny Trejo.
The Giant Killaz tour is organized by Kingdom Muzic. There should be a good turnout for the event because people are planning to come from locations in Northern California and Southern Oregon.
For more information call (775) 455-5064
Here is one the promos for the Giant Killaz Tour from last year.
Filed under Burney, Entertainment, Word of Life Assembly of God
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Another Hope is Alive open mic featuring local musicians, singers, dancers and poets is coming to the Intermountain area. It will be held at the Old Merc Pizza in McArthur starting at 6 p.m. on February 3.
To read more about Hope is Alive see:
Hope is Alive! 6 showcases incredible talent
Open mic brings hope alive in Burney!
Hope is Alive 4 Open Mic to be held at Rex Club Nov. 19
See you there!
Filed under Entertainment, health, McArthur
On Friday evening May 20, Stand Against Stigma hosted a marvelous Hope is Alive! 6 open mike at Billy’s Roadside Café (formerly the Station Café) in Montgomery Creek. The place was packed. Standing room only! Organizer Marc Dadigan opened the event at 6 p.m. and introduced the emcee for the evening, Amanda Flowers Peterson.
Marc Dadigan and Amanda Flowers Peterson
Amanda opened the performances with a wonderful spoken word piece and then introduced a duet by Kimberly Davis and Michael Bennett.
Kimberly Davis and Michael Bennett sing a duet
Next, Billy Riggins (Chill Bill) shared some testimony and performed some of his wonderful music.
Chill Bill
Following Chill Bill, Stu Stoore, a talented sing-songwriter from McArthur shared a lovely ballad and a rousing rendition of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.”
Singer-Songwriter Stu Stoore
Sarah Clark, a dancer, singer and poet, recited the “Cremation of Sammy McGee” by Robert Service.
Sarah Clark recites the Cremation of Sammy McGee
Next another talented folksinger, Rodney performed.
Rodney Manning
This was followed by two songs by a very talented singer who is also a social activist named Mauro.
Mauro
The next performer was Drake Smith. Drake’s soulful singing and dancing are always a show-stopper. After a moving song, Drake treated us an astounding performance of dance.
As you can see Drake is world class!
I was next on the list. I had planned to do a song and a short poem. Shortly before getting up Marc asked me to share a story that I had related to him.
The purpose of these open mics is to promote healing through creativity. Stand Against Stigma assists people who are facing various challenges to gain hope and help by offering resources for them to heal and recover. So, when I was introduced, I recounted a story that illustrated how important sharing was. If you recognize the signs that a person is at risk for suicide or going through some crisis, it is many times helpful to address it. People are often liberated from the burden of their suffering just by getting things off their chest. One can help by simply being a sympathetic and compassionate listener. Loneliness and isolation are at the root of many of our problems.
After sharing briefly, I then did my poem and my song.
By the way, my wife Linda took the photos and recorded most of the videos in this article.
After I finished, we were treated to a performance of Native American Rap by Pit Crew, the dynamic duo of Billy Riggins and Louis Gustafsen.
Pit Crew
… and then a poignant poem accented by beautiful singing performed by Jamieson Brown.
Jamieson Brown performs a beautiful poem
Next, Kimberly returned to the stage to perform two songs from the Broadway musical “Tuck Everlasting.”
Kimberly Michelle Davis sings 2 songs from a Broadway show
We were nearing the end of the program. However, inspired by the performances, two more people signed up. Jordyn Paiell came up to the mic and shared a poignant testimony of how she overcame a difficult situation…
Jordyn Paiell
… and then Diane Lahey sang a song inviting everyone to join in.
Diane Lahey singing a song
Thus ended the individual performances. As you can see there was a wide diversity of talent. It’s hard to believe that the entire program took just over 2 hours. It all flowed smoothly because Amanda was a great emcee and the program limited each act to 8 minutes.
Moreover, the atmosphere was uplifting and the environment was convivial. It was great to see so many old friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in quite awhile.
But still the evening was not finished. Robert, the owner of the restaurant was kind enough to welcome the musicians to stay longer and jam together. And so began a wonderful jam session.
Closing Jam
It began with Steve Stoore doing a song with Pit Crew.
Leroy and Michele from Heavy Dose of Blues were there. Leroy got out his harps and Michele brought in her box drum and a lively session ensued. Here are a couple of videos capturing some of the songs.
What can I say? Hope is Alive in the Intermountain area.
Filed under Entertainment, Montgomery Creek
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