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The 9th Annual Sutter Creek Festival
Deserves a Ten!
by Chris Bradshaw
There’s lots to crow about in Sutter Creek. According to all the "better-than-evers" heard from the departing crowd after Sunday’s Finale Concert, the 2007 Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, held August 10-12 was an overwhelming success. Professionalism was definitely a top priority this year. A diverse lineup of seasoned players, some new and updated venues and even a surprise new piano helped to boost the festival to new heights.
The festival fires were lit at possibly the best kept secret of the whole extended weekend, which is the pre-festival event held Thursday evening at The Greenhorn Creek Resort in Angels Camp. Presided over by
Keith Taylor, this popular open-piano session featured five hours of continuous ragtime music as festival performers
John Remmers and the Bradshaws joined Keith and others for playing, listening, eating and visiting. If you have missed this in the past, you will want to schedule this into your plans for next year. Everyone is welcome--players as well as listeners. Hearing
Fred Hoeptner, playing Fred Hoeptner compositions on Greenhorn Creek’s beautiful Yamaha grand was a treat.
By Friday, close to 4:00 p.m., every seat in the Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium (festival headquarters) was taken and at the sound of the whistle, we were off to the races with Keith Taylor playing two Gil Lieby pieces,
Ragtime Oddity, followed by Traintown Blues.
Eight venues were kept active during the festival, a few with some updates and changes. The American Exchange Hotel (formally Bellotti’s) has undergone an elegant makeover and is quite lovely. Three pianos again graced the concert area. Hanford House sported a new piano--small but quite nice. More sets were featured at the Foxes, on their beautiful grand.
Tea Eras was the new outdoor setting this year, replacing The Courtyard. Located in a dell below the sidewalk, (you have to peek over the hedge to even see it) and nestled on a grassy spot amongst the trees, the Tea Eras provided a shady outdoor setting to enjoy the comfortable weather. It proved to be a good spot to sip iced tea, as many were doing. And of course, the Back Roads Cafe, Susan’s Place, the Sutter Creek Theater, and the Ice Cream Emporium enjoyed heavy usage during the festival.
Unfortunately, as the curtain was supposed to go up on another new feature of the Sutter Creek Festival--Silent Movie Night--the projector powered down. The void was quickly filled, however. Keith Taylor hung around to play and talk about the tradition of pianos in the role of accompaniments for silent films, playing some and talking about the life of a silent movie pianist who most likely was viewing the picture for the first time, while simultaneously providing the background music--a role now filled by music editors, composers and numerous musicians in modern day film making.
After Keith, Frederick Hodges performed for about an hour and half, playing Hollywood "talkie" tunes from 42nd Street and Top Hat and then moving on to telling the stories and playing some of the music of the movies he had planned to accompany. No one seemed to miss the silver screen when they had Frederick playing on the black and whites. Plus, we still have “Silent Movie Night” to look forward to next year. It’s a "win-win!"
Moving from venue to venue one caught the eclectic sense of programming--the wild and wonderfully high-spirited playing of
Patrick Aranda and Carl Sonny Leyland, often at the same time, in one place while John Remmers, from Ann Arbor Michigan brought quality playings of many favorite rags and some lesser known tunes in another.
Virginia Tichenor wore two hats this festival, as first a primo-pianist and second as a drummer backing husband
Marty Eggers who was at the piano. Brad Kay's excellent playing combined with a well-honed sense of hilarious mischief, was in evidence with his rendition of
"Clap Hands, Here comes Charlie!" (by Ella Fitzgerald.) Comping on the piano while kazooing away on the melody, this number brought down the house on one of the festival concerts. And of course, the
Sonny Leyland Trio with Marty Eggers and Hal Smith are always a hit.
Another stellar performer was Tom Brier who mostly has two speeds--fast and faster--but who also managed to present a few of his more lyrical numbers to occasionally tame things down a bit. The youngest player on the program was twenty-year-old
Jared DiBartolomeo who performed his own beautiful untitled waltz that had a Willie the Lion Smith feel about it. The Bradshaws, with their fingers flying on their newest duet arrangements had a great time, too. Jack had the honor of playing a number of
Dale Hadley's compositions at Susan's Place while Dale and his wife were having their lunch.
"Washboard Kitty" Wilson, seemingly everywhere at once, performed with various musicians during the festival.
There were also several groups playing at the festival. The HeeBee JeeBees (The
Sullivans and Drivons) performed on Saturday. Their evening set with friends was the most inclusive set on the whole weekend and possibly the most diverse. Where else could you find two festival favorites, Northern California’s
Petra Sullivan and Southern California's Patrick Aranda playing side by side?
Many others joined the HeeBee JeeBees during their hour-long set which we wished could have gone on all night. What was especially fun was hearing Bub and Steve sing
"Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl" in their own true fashion, which by the way, had the audience sputtering and hooting with uncontrolled glee. Later,
Stevens Price, who played only a few sets this weekend due to all of his fearless leader responsibilities did find time to sing
"That Lovin' Lovin' Rag" with Bub and Steve.
Saturday the Town Square Harmonizers were seen about town bringing their close harmonies and barbershop magic to the festival. Another group to perform was the
Raspberry Jam Band who played on Sunday. Julia Riley’s troop of stalwart musicians obviously enjoy making music together.
The Saturday Night (more formal) Festival concert presented many of the performers playing two of their own favorite numbers to an appreciative audience. But the rules all changed during the Sunday afternoon concert when players played one solo tune and then invited someone to join in on a second. Some pretty interesting combinations resulted. Carl Sonny Leyland and Keith Taylor successfully improvised an interesting blues number and Stevens Price with Tom Brier playing Stevens’ own
"Soda Jerk Rag" was a hit combo. Noted was that the most popular person to be chosen for the combos was Marty Eggers. Whether it was tuba or piano, we all enjoyed seeing Marty in the spotlight.
There were other changes that made a difference to the festival this year. With the newly opened Highway 49 bypass, gone are the large trucks that rumbled through the town. And with a decrease in traffic passing through Sutter Creek, you no longer have to take your life in your hands when crossing Main Street. This festival also featured many more open piano sessions, as requested on previous evaluation forms, making it possible for more festival attendees to get in on the action.
If getting to the festival next year is a problem, Gaslight Tours is putting together a package that includes round trip transportation from the Sacramento area. Contact
Lessie Diffey at (707) 450-0380 for more information.
A festival of this caliber doesn’t just happen. There are many people to thank beginning with Stevens Price, festival founder and director and his wife,
Jan who have spent an entire year putting this festival together. Special thanks also goes to
Ilah Blauvelt, whose job description includes wearing many hats, and to her husband
Frank for his continued support. Tireless workers Marilyn Norton, Helen
Lucas, and Dan Lucas need special recognition for their hard work, too. Thank you
Colin MacDonald for your work on the website. Great job, everyone.
Next year is the 10th anniversary of the Sutter Creek Festival. It’s going to be quite a celebration and you won’t want to miss it. There will be something old, something new, and something for everyone! We’re pulling out all the stops. In fact, two 2008 all events badges have already been won in this year’s raffle by
Blanche Korfmacher from San Francisco and we’re quite sure that she would like lots of company. Mark those calendars for August 8-10th and don’t forget the pre-festival event in Angels Camp on August 7th. See you there.
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