2006 Christmas concerts

Our Christmas concerts are over. I am always a little bit “glum” when they are over as I enjoy them so much. The people who come are always genuinely nice people. Many friends come. It is always good to see friends. I almost hate charging for our concerts as they are so much fun for me. But if we didn’t charge a ticket price, I’d have to get a REAL job!!!
A highlight of our concerts is when we play Jingle Bells. It has become somewhat of a tradition to play that song. One year I didn’t play Jingle Bells and I got an ear-full of “How come you didn’t play Jingle Bells?” When we perform Jingle Bells, we ask members of the audience who bring bells to come up on the stage and join us and shake their bells. It is tough to get the first 2 or 3 to come forward but once the first few come up on the stage we are joined by a lot of people. I ask the ones who brought bells if there is anyone with a special story about their bells. In the Everett concert on 12/15 Ron Love brought silver bells dating to the 1880’s from his grandfather’s sleigh. Ron’s grandfather was the first principal of Snohomish High School.
We had sold-out concerts in Kirkland on 12/11, Everett on 12/15 and Issaquah on 12/18. Issaquah was almost canceled as there was no power until 12:45 in the afternoon on 12/18. I received the phone call while eating lunch. I was kind of depressed about the power and what a change of disposition I had with a short sentence from the house manager saying, “The power is on!”
Auburn on 12/16 was almost full. It is a larger hall than the rest seating over 1000 people. I had special guests with me called the “South Sounds Strings,” a 25-member harp ensemble organized by Pat Wooster. Also with us is a renaissance-folk group called Erwillian, consisting of interesting instruments that blend well with the harp. They have guitars, whistles, recorders and dulcimers. They have become good friends over the last couple of years. In the group are Jordan, Scott, Robert Bethel and Jeff. With Erwillian, my harp and the 25 other harps, there were over 1200 individual strings on the stage at one time!
12/17 in Mt Vernon went very well. I was a bit concerned about the attendance since the date was changed due to the bad roads on 11/29 when it was first scheduled. Along with us in Mt Vernon was a choir from Wenatchee called the Wenatchee Men's Apollo Chorus. They are a bunch of normal guys who like to sing normal songs. Some are apple farmers, some are truck drivers and some are retired. I think of myself as a normal guy who happens to play the harp that likes to play normal songs.
The other performers with Katherine and myself for our concerts was Robert Puff who plays woodwinds, Ben Rud on percussions and Peter Wilson on the keyboard. Jon Pardue shared the keyboard with Peter on the dates Peter could not be there. Peter is getting married on 12/30 and had to be in Idaho while we had a few concerts to help make wedding plans. In Everett Peter’s fiancé Molly was able to join us in one concert with her fiddle/violin playing.
On 12/11 in Kirkland and 12/18 in Issaquah a friend of ours, Ken Gayle joined us with his gorgeous tenor voice. He sings with the Houston opera now. He comes home to Seattle to visit his family and we like to have him sing with us when he is available. He has hit the “big time” now. It is an honor to have him with us.
For all of our concerts, we serve Bronn-ies and coffee during intermission. It is used as a fundraiser for the Sultan High School band parents group with the donations that are received. Kris Pardue, the wife of Jon Pardue who played the piano with us made 2000
Bronn-ies this year! They were excellent, the best ever!
A song highlight was the song from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I always like to play a song the one wouldn’t usually here on the harp to give a bit of a surprise to those that don’t know what a harp can sound like. It went over very well. When the piano starts in with the familiar bass pattern, there are giggles of surprise from the crowd.
We hope that you can attend a concert sometime, whether when we are near to you or if ever you are in Seattle at Christmas time. We had a great 25th year of performing our Christmas concerts. We look forward to many more years. We can’t thank you enough for your support.

My song in honor of the Northwest Power Outages

We have a had a challenging November and December weatherwise. I wrote a song in honor of the recent power outages in the Northwest due to the fierce windstorm that blew with hurricane force winds the night of December 14th. Over 1,000,000 customers on the power gride were out of power.

Sung to the tune of "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth."

All I want for Christmas is the power back on

Man it’s cold!

And my feeling’s gone.

Gee if I could have the heat turned on

My skin wouldn’t be blue for Christmas.


It seems so long since I could see

My favorite show on my cable TV

Gosh oh gee how happy I’d be

To see a truck from the utility


All I want for Christmas is for PSE

To rescue me

From my misery

Can someone please remove the tree

That keeps me from my electricity.


The window’s developed a frame of mold

My freezers warm and my shower’s cold

Gee O Gee how bad I smell

I am smelling as bad as…….


All I want for Christmas is the power back on

Man it’s cold!

And my cable’s gone.

Gee if I could have the heat turned on

My skin wouldn’t be blue for Christmas.

Portland and Hillsboro-December 8 and 9

We love giving concerts for our neighbors in the south in Portland and Hillsboro. I like Oregon because they have gas station attendants who pump gas for you. And there is no sales tax. What more could you ask from a state?
The concert in Portland was on Friday December 9 at the Old Church in downtown Portland. A prominent architect in the Portland area who had built many buildings in the Boston area built the Old Church in the 1880’s. The church has a very large gothic styled steeple. The Presbyterian congregation that built the church outgrew the building. Many different congregations occupied the building during its history and now it is a venue for concerts and weddings. The acoustics are wonderful.
We all (Katherine’s parents, my brother and my mom) went to Portland for the weekend. Our friend Jon Pardue also joined us as a musician onstage. He is a great jazz piano player who filled the holes nicely and created some additional great sound. A favorite of the audience is when I play something for people who don’t want to be at a harp concert. This year I am playing the theme from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, which seems to be a hit for those that don’t want to be at the concert. I always ask to see the hands of those that don’t want to be there. Laughter erupted from the front row from a wife who must have had the exact conversation that I can picture when I think of people coming to a harp concert. Her husband did not want to be there. The coincidental aspect is that this nice man’s name was Charlie. It couldn’t have been scripted any better!
I enjoy living a musician life. Part of that life is going out to eat after the concerts. I felt bad for my mother-in-law Nell and my mom Betty as we sat in the booth waiting for our food. Betty and Nell needed each other to prop themselves up as they are used to much more reasonable bedtimes. We found a tremendous place to go for dinner, serving breakfast all night and open until 3:00AM. It was very reasonably priced called “The Stepping Stone” on 23rd Ave in West Portland. We will find ourselves there again when we visit Portland.
In the morning Jon, my brother Park and I packed up at the Old Church. We had time to return to the hotel to go for a walk and sit in the hot tub before we gave our concert. We headed to Orenco Presbyterian Church in Hillsboro. An extremely friendly group greeted us at Orenco. The concert went well. There were many friends in the audience and quite a few “newbie’s.” I like having the new audience members. I like to think that our concerts aren’t the typical harp and voice concerts. We play for those that don’t want to be there!
We ate another late night supper at a McMeneman’s Brewery, a local popular establishment in Portland open late. We don’t have a lot of choice where to go when we want dinner at 11:00.
We woke on Sunday and attended First Presbyterian Church in downtown Portland and headed back north on I-5 and Sultan.

Leavenworth, WA concerts

One of our annual musical highlights are the concerts we give in Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth was voted as the top Christmas town in the USA by a major travel magazine. Leavenworth reinvented itself as a Bavarian themes town with quaint gift shops and plenty of saurkraut!
Our concerts in Leavenworth are small and intimate. Santa Claus or more properly “Father Christmas” makes an appearance each night. It is really awesome to be introduced by St. Nick! The concerts are a bit shorter in length as they are geared towards tour groups. But all are welcomed. The concert attendance ranges from 70-100 each night. We were in Leavenworth this year for 10 concerts. Tonight will be our last.
Leavenworth is 75 miles east over Stevens Pass from our home in Sultan. I think I will be putting chains on the van tonight.

Olympia and Mt Vernon (rescheduled)

It’s easy for me to get into the “Christmas Spirit” when the snow begins to fall. Seattle had a breath of the Arctic on Monday after Thanksgiving. What a great amount of “drama” happens when Seattle gets a touch of snow. It caught Seattle and it’s residents off guard as snow always seems to do. No one expects snow in Seattle and no one expects the mercury to go as low as it did. In Sultan on Tuesday night on 12/28 we went down to 15 degrees. Plenty chilly for us.
As far as concerts go, the cold weather is not conducive for harp concert patrons. We had no options for our concert in Olympia on 12/28 so we had to perform with the “show must go on” attitude. Attendance was greatly reduced because of the icy roads. What the audience lacked in numbers was made up for by their enthusiasm. It was a great show made very intimate by the smaller crowd. The theater manager said that our show had more presale show tickets than any other show in the theaters short history of being open only a year. The Kenneth Minnaert Center for the Arts is a gorgeous place to give a concert. We will be back next year.
On 12/29 we were scheduled to give a concert in Mt Vernon. The box office manager from McIntyre Hall strongly urged us to reschedule our concert. Fortunately, the theater and Katherine and my schedule had one date that was open for both of us. It would be odd to reschedule a Christmas concert after Christmas! We will be in Mt Vernon on December 17th. In all of my 25 years of giving concerts, I have never rescheduled or cancelled a concert. The box office was willing to phone all of the patrons who purchased tickets so that none would venture on to the icy streets. We are looking forward to Mt Vernon and all of the friends we have coming to hear us.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

We are home. It’s a great place to be after being gone for two months. So what do we do for Thanksgiving? We leave!!!
My side of the family goes to Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Lake Quilault is in the heart of the rain forest where it receives more than 13 feet of rain per year! This year Lake Quinault received 4 feet of rain on November alone.
Katherine’s family lives in Canada where Thanksgiving is celebrated the first weekend of October.
We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Bronn and Katherine and family.

Crescent City, CA Roseburg, OR and Moses Lake, WA

Paso Robles to Crescent City is a long way. California is a good state to divide in half to make one of the states the 51st! We decided not to drive the entire distance to Crescent City in one day as we had a day between concerts. We drove for most of the day up highway 101 and then to hwy 1 through San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopping at dinner time in Ukiah.
What a surprise to see our hometown of Sultan, WA in the headlines on the national news. When we saw our town o FOX news we knew it must be flood season. The only time Sultan is on the news is when it floods. There was a 20 pound salmon swimming up Main Street in front of the Chinese restaurant. The Chinese restaurant has excellent fresh seafood. The fish swim right to their door!
We left the gorgeous fall weather in Ukiah as we headed for the coast. By the time we hit Eureka on the coast, it started to rain. It was the first day of rain we have had for almost 2 months. We can’t complain. By the time we reached Crescent City, it was a deluge. We made up for the lack of rain for two months in one day. It was the first time we had to unload the van in the rain. We appreciated our wonderful weather.
We stayed in Crescent City at the Curly Redwood Inn. STAY THERE!! The motel is made from ONE tree. It is a charming cozy motel. The best for us in the rain was undercover parking to unpack without getting wet.
There hasn’t been a concert that we haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. All of the concerts have been grand. The Crescent City crowd was full of enthusiasm. A highlight was having Menno and Jinny May in the audience. They are the “big shots” who got us on board with community concerts. Very nice people.
We left in the morning for Roseburg, traveling through the impressive Coastal Redwoods via Grants Pass and up I-5. We stopped for Chinese food in Grants Pass. It must have been the fish in Sultan swimming in front of the Chinese restaurant that madde me crave Chinese food.
We set up at auditorium at Umpqua College in Roseburg and then had dinner at the home of John and Jennie Burpee. They have an Oak tree that is more than 200 years old in their front yard. Most everyone in the Roseburg community knows Dr. Burpee as he is Roseburg’s opthamologist. Jennie fed us a nice lunch and then also volunteered to sell CDs during intermission for us. Jennie Burpee was voted as “Roseburg’s Citizen of the Year.” She gets to ride in the lead car in the Roseburg parade this year!
Katherine and I like to stay overnight in the town that we perform as we can pack up our equipment the next day instead of bringing the harp and all of it’s entanglements into the motel room each night. But we had a long way to go for the next night’s concert in Moses Lake so we decided to drive a couple of hours north to Albany to spend the night.
We left Albany for Moses Lake via the Columbia Gorge. With all of the rain, Multnomah Falls was impressive. I always thought that Multnomah Falls was Oregon’s most visited sight. The most visited sight is actually the Tillamook Cheese Factory!
We crossed the Columbia River in Bonneville and aimed towards hwy 97 and Satus Pass. On the way up Satus Pass there is a very interesting coffee shop, owned by a Greek Monastery to earn money for the nuns. We had some Greek treats along with Greek coffee. I am sure the coffee was good but was not entirely to my “taste.” I always like trying something new once. I don’t think that I will be making an effort to acquire a taste for Greek coffee. There is something odd about chewing coffee!
We checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Moses Lake before the concert and then set up at the Wallenstein Theatre at Big bend Community College. Bruce was a huge help. Not only a huge help but a very nice person. I knew him from the Methodist Church in Moses Lake when Katherine and I gave a Christmas concert a few years ago. I was blessed to have some young harpist in the audience who came quite a distance to hear me. I got a "big head" from it as they were in "awe" of me. Katherine helped me get over my big head in a hurry!
We left for home on the 10th excited to arrive home and filled with anticipation when we can get on the road again. This is a fun time in our life. We are making terrific memories and meeting many quality people. We are very appreciative of all those that are supporting us and our music that we make. Music is a wonderful gift that we (as in all of the world) have been given. I am appreciative that we can make live music and am thankful that there are people wanting to hear our music that we make. There is nothing like LIVE music. I am thankful for the patrons of community concerts who support LIVE music. LIVE music is a once in a lifetime experience that can never be repeated. Each concert is unique. There weren’t two concerts that were exactly the same. Please come out and see us sometime!

10/31-11/5 Lompoc, Orcutt and Paso Robles, CA

10/31- 11/5 Lompoc, Orcutt, and Paso Robles
Everywhere we stopped we were given candy as it was Halloween. At a bank in Turlock, one teller was dressed in a costume that made him look like he was going to rob the place. Quite a sense of humor for a bank teller! I don’t think I will try that costume on as a customer. Maybe next year for Halloween I will dress up like a bank teller.
It was very difficult to find an espresso for the car in Turlock. Eventually we found one and were on our way heading south on 99 to Fresno.
In Sioux Falls, we purchased a Golden Eagle Pass to our countries National Parks which is good for one year. We have decided to visit National Parks that are close (within reason) to where we are traveling. The next concert was on November 3rd so we had a couple of days to sightsee. We decided to spend the night at Wuksachi Lodge, a “neo-rustic” lodge in Sequoia National Park.
We left highway 99 in Fresno for highway 180 traveling through orange groves on the outskirts of town. We entered the chaparral (California’s sagebrush) filled with oak and buckeye, climbing ever higher to the crown of the Sierra Nevada in Kings Canyon National Park. An interesting note is that missionaries named the canyon after the three kings visiting the nativity. That is why there is not an apostrophe in the word “Kings.” “Kings” is plural.
Kings Canyon is billed as the deepest gorge in North America. It’s deeper than Grand Canyon in Arizona. I almost got in a “fist-i-cuff” with a ranger. Earlier we visited Hell’s Canyon, also billed as the nations deepest gorge, deeper than Grand Canyon. I told the ranger “what’s for.” It was Halloween and I pretended to be an obnoxious tourist!
The ranger told me that there are three different types of canyons. The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon is the classic canyon carved from a plateau on both sides. The Snake River of the Hell’s Canyon travels through high mountains. Measuring from mountain peak to mountain peak, the canyon is the deepest in the world. The south fork of the Kings River traveling through Kings Canyon has higher mountains than Hell’s Canyon but only on one side. Measuring from the highest peak in Kings Canyon to the river level makes Kings Canyon the deepest canyon. All three canyons have their own unique marvelous sights standing on their own merit. Grand Canyon is still the “grandest” canyon of them all as it is used as the measuring stick for all canyons. There are many things in Kings Canyon and Hell’s Canyon that aren’t in the Grand Canyon.
We loved the fact that the road descends to the bottom of Kings Canyon. We felt very small and insignificant winding on the road the clings to the sides of the massive cliffs. We were a bit disappointed that there was controlled burning occurring to prevent forest fires, leading to smoke in the valley. It is a necessary evil.
Up from the canyon we drove and made it to the lodge shortly after dark. We unloaded the car and had dinner in the dining room being served by someone in a clown outfit. They had gorilla waiters on Halloween. It turned out that there was a Halloween staff party in the banquet room.
On Wednesday, we visited Sequoia National Park. The trees are magnificent. Through the efforts of John Muir, our countries second national park was established, mainly to preserve the giant trees. Sequoia trees are voluminous because of their age. They do not die. Not only are the Giant Sequoias the largest living things, they are also the oldest. The particular ecosystem that the giant trees thrive is quite small. One-third of the area had been logged. 150 years ago it would take two men two weeks to fell a tree. Walking through the forest of the giant trees was almost like being in church.
We did a bit of walking such as out to the top of Moro rock. From one side, it looks like an impressive climb. The back side there is a road that goes most of the way to the top to where stairs were carved in the rock to help hikers have sure footing. Beautiful views of the Sierra Nevada range! We left the national parks inspired on highway 198 and headed off to the coast on highway 41 to Paso Robles to stay with new friends, the O’Farrells. We met Steve and Paula in San Francisco at a show. Through their great generosity and trustworthiness in their fellow man we were asked to stay with them in their cute apartment above their wine making shop. Steve is an avid hobbyist winemaker. He told me, “If you want to make a small fortune in wine, you need to start with a large fortune.” They have a very nice home. Paula plays the harp so we were had a connection through the harp. On top of that, Steve likes football so we were able to see the Monday Night Football game when we arrived. Paula fixed a light dinner for us and Steve showed us our lodging for five nights! It was very pleasant to stay in one place for so long. We had our privacy and were actually able to unpack our suitcase.
On Wednesday, I played my harp in a store in Cambria, CA that sells our music, called “Ellen’s Cottage.” I am honored that they play my music in their store. I greeted customers and tried to play their requests. In fun to play off of the stage once in awhile to meet people face to face.
We took a drive to Hearst castle on the coast at San Simeon and walked out to the end of the pier Mr. Hearst constructed for the ships that delivered building materials to his estate. What a life. I know exactly how much money Mr. Hearst left when he died. He left all of it. Walking to the end of the pier, it’s as if Mr. Hearst built the pier for me. He left it and now everyone else can enjoy it. That was very nice of him!
We were back at the “farm” to go with the O’Farrells for dinner in a very nice French restaurant in Paso Robles. It was fabulous. An 8 course dinner counting the glasses of wine. We loved every course except one particular style of cheese. I am sure it was supposed to smell “that” way. I am sure it was supposed to taste good. But if the cheese were bad or rancid, I don’t think one could tell. I have never had cheese as strong as that. The cheese was from France. It must have been delivered by way of foot travel many years ago. The actual translation of the cheese’ name is “monk’s head.”
On Friday we gave a concert in Lompoc, 90 miles south of Paso Robles. We were treated by the Wilson’s to a tour of the many murals adorning the buildings of Lompoc. The town is running out of blank walls suitable for the murals, many which tell a historic story of Lompoc. The Wilson’s treated us to a nice early supper at an Italian restaurant before the concert.
The concert was held in a church. I love the acoustics and ambience in a church. Lynn was the tech person helping us out. He is a techie for the techies. He had a metre machine that would tell where the best spot was to place speakers. He was knowledgeable and showed me a better way to connect the electric keyboard for a better sound. We were also given many cookies. I love it when that happens.
On Saturday, we gave a concert in Orcutt at the Orcutt Presbyterian Church organized by our good friends, Diane and Ken Parker. We have given concerts in their church for quite a few years every other year. Ken is a huge fan of USC, being a graduate with an education doctorate. I keep telling him to watch out for my UW Huskies. They almost beat USC this year. Ken and Diane treated us to a grand lunch at the Santa Maria Inn. Many stars from Hollywood stayed there. I had a huge salad big enough to feed a farm of rabbits. I sat next to Pastor Bob and had a pleasant conversation.
The concert went well. Diane helped to sell CDs after. She asked me to play at church the following day with the choir which I enjoyed doing a lot. Sometimes, if I am not asked to play at church when we are out of town, then it is easy to simply not attend. We’ll be back there in a couple of years.
We had an afternoon concert in Paso Robles held at Trinity Lutheran Church. The earthquake a few years ago in Paso Robles damaged the performing arts center so severely that the building was condemned. We enjoyed playing at the church. It was quite a shock and surprise to see a former high school friend in the front row at our concert. To think we were all the way from Washington State in Southern California and to run into an alumni from Nathan Hale, class of ’79 is amazing to me. Not only that, Sue is the one I took to the prom! There was a good friend of my mom’s at the concert as well from Moro Bay, Mrs. Jones. It’s good to see friends.
We were back at the O”Farrells’ for a dinner and to enjoy their new addition to their family, Sadie, a chocolate lab. We had nice a conversation for a few hours and played Paula’s harp to see how it sounded. It is a very nice lever harp from Triplett Harps in San Luis Obispo. It was a joy to become acquainted with new friends and to touch bases with old ones.

Oatmeal and 10/25 -10/30 Folsom,CA, Los Gatos, CA and Turlock, CA

Oatmeal
10/25 -10/30 Folsom,CA, Los Gatos, CA and Turlock, CA

Some people say San Francisco is in Northern California. If that is so, where would those same people say Yreka, CA is? Katherine and I met our good friend Dan Daniels in Yreka for a late breakfast at Grandma’s Diner after we left Grants Pass. Dan is a pastor friend of ours who has a passion for what he does. I don’t care what someone does, it’s refreshing to see passionate people doing their best at what they do. We had oatmeal. I would much prefer having 3 egg omelets and hash browns every morning but I only brought so many jeans that fit. Katherine thinks I get crabby when I eat too much oatmeal. I guess I do. I have a bad attitude about oatmeal. You could say that I am not passionate about my oatmeal.
We drove the back road to Folsom, leaving I-5 at Mt Shasta on Hwy 89 past the quaint town of McCloud on the southern flank of Mt Shasta. It was a logging town that went “out of business” with the spotted owl. We had a latte for the car at the McCloud Mercantile where I left my notebook full of phone messages. I discovered my mistake 100 miles south and kindly the owner FAXED all of our messages to us down in Chico at a Office Depot store. With the cost of FAXING per page, it may have been cheaper to drive back 100 miles to pick up the book!
We drove around Lassen Peak National Park. If we had time we would have scrambled up the peak. The mountain is 10,457 feet high but the road climbs to over 8,500 feet. Next time we will bring our hiking shoes. It was a fabulously beautiful day. The blues were strong in the sky with a crisp northerly wind. It was an interesting park and a beautiful one as well. THIS is Northern California.
We made it to Folsom after dark and a bit too late for a decent dinner other than an all night kind of place. Good thing I had my oatmeal for breakfast! We found a place to stay downtown Folsom that is on the lake. We were able to drop off our equipment at the concert venue which was the Folsom Community Center on our way to have a salad.
On the 26th we woke and went for a drive through the Gold Country of California along Hwy 49 to see Sutter’s Mill. It’s amazing what change comes with the discovery of gold. Money is a catalyst for change; it certainly continues to be so today.
The concert at night was a joy. It was a crowd very enthusiastic and enjoyed being at the concert. It was a bit smaller crowd than what we have had but easily made up for it by their appreciative nature. As always, the tech help was great.
On the morning of the 27th, we had breakfast in the charming historic section of Folsom; walking distance from the hotel. I DIDN’T have oatmeal! It was a great breakfast of a 3 egg omelet with spinach and mushrooms and ham. I was good and had no cheese. Katherine said I was only mildly crabby. The coffee was good.
We took a drive through the Napa Valley, leaving I-80 at Davis, traveling over Hwy 128 to St. Helena. We stopped at a great drive in called Taylor’s. The seating was outdoors on the nice lawn. We split a chicken salad. We drove to a famous historic winery called Beringer Winery. Gone are the days of free wine tasting. We couldn’t afford a bottle of wine and hardly were able to let ourselves spend the money for the wine tasting. We ended sharing the wine tasting. The gardens were gorgeous. The Beringer Winery has an Oak tree on it's grounds that has been alive since the signing of the American Constitution. They pay the groundskeepers from the wine tasting, I am sure. They must be very wealthy!
Continuing on, we wound our way through Santa Rosa and on to the Coast Highway, Highway 1. We were able to drive to the end of the road at Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore. Two items of interest to me are the lighthouse and the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I found the lighthouse interesting because of it's short stature. It is short because the light needs to shine below the level of the constant fog ceiling. It certainly wasn’t foggy when we were there. I found the epicenter of the earthquake intriguing. In one minute, the earth’s crust shifted over 12 feet. For an illustration, the National Park service built a replica of a fence that crossed the fault line. One fence post was in front of me and the other fence post was behind me when they were originally built to be in the same line. After the earthquake, it looked like a fence I built!
We ate in Inverness at a quaint, full of ambience, Czech restaurant. The owner was a gentleman who escaped from the Eastern Europe country after it’s occupation by the Soviet Union shortly after World War II’s ending by cross-country skiing into Western Germany. His life path lead him to California where he opened up a restaurant. I had goose and Katherine had the traditional Czech cabbage roll.
We continued on through San Francisco. It’s an unusual place, especially the night before Halloween! We stayed with good friends in Foster City, south of San Francisco.
On Saturday the 28th we did nothing except stay around our friends house. No driving; just sitting. I was able to watch a football game and Katherine was able to do a bit of bookkeeping. We took our friends, Ken and Eunice to dinner after a rousing game of Bocé Ball.
On Sunday, we attended church in the morning before setting up in Los Gatos for our matinee concert. What a beautiful high school Los Gatos has. I wouldn’t have minded high school so much if I went to a school such as that. The theater was newly remodeled. The concert was again very well received. Kevin is enthusiastic about community concerts and Diana, a teacher at school was superb with her technical help.
We have a closing prop that is always fun to use. It is a chandelier that we use for “Phantom of the Opera.” We are always happy when a facility has the means to use our prop.
We left for Turlock in the morning on the 30th to give a concert at 7:30. I looked at the map to take the shortest way from Foster City to Turlock. The map lead me onto route 130 over Mt Hamilton and the Lick Observatory. The road had so many sharp switchbacks that we almost rear ended ourselves on some of the turns! I challenge anyone to tell me where a windier road in the country is. We will make a point to drive it to check it out.
The view from the observatory would be incredible if it weren’t so smokey in the bay area. We would like to return to see the observatory.



The concert went very well. Turlock has a high school campus that looks like a college. Another school that I would be excited to attend! It was huge! I am honored to be on the same stage as so many great professional entertainers. Bob Newhart had just been on the very same stage. We were offered a nice meal before the concert by the community concert group. We had a bouquet of flowers on a table at the back of the stage with our sandwich! What class!!

Salem, Coos Bay and Grants Pass 10/21-10/25

Salem and the Elsinore Theatre was a special treat. We arrived in Salem a day before the concert as the drive from Longview was quite short. It’s relaxing to us to stay more than one night in a hotel room if we can. Since the drive down I-5 was so short, we took the scenic route from Portland on old 99 and onto state route 213, starting in Oregon City, passing through the charming town of Silverton, finishing up in Salem.
Katherine and I stayed at Creekside Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Salem, conveniently located near the downtown district. We were able to walk to a restaurant called McGrath’s, a restaurant specializing in seafood. The weather was unbelievable. A very warm evening. We were pleasantly surprised at how active downtown Salem was on a Friday night. We walked past the theater where we were to give a concert the next night.
We set up at the Elsinore Theatre in the early afternoon and then were treated to a fine early Chinese supper by a sponsor of the community concert in Salem. We performed well for the concert. We get a lot of nice compliments about our program which we are very grateful.
We left our nice bed and breakfast for Coos Bay on Sunday morning to make an afternoon matinee. We drove along highway 126 with a Latte in hand to the coast. We were so blessed by the colors of fall and sunny weather. We have been following the changing of the colors since the middle of September.
Coos Bay was a delight. We never know what to expect in the towns we play. Coos Bay has a very active group. George Tinker, a teacher was of valuable assistance to us when we arrived. The tickets were about sold-out. Michael Gordon, the president is full of enthusiasm for community concerts, as he is a musician himself serving as the drummer in his Praise band at church. We were pleased to be invited to the Gordon’s home for an after concert supper of the fanciest salad I have had in recent memory.It was a salad heavy with the condiments and accessories; a real MAN’S salad. We are always happy to be invited to a homemade meal.
The next night 10/23, we played in Grants Pass, OR. We followed highway 42 to I-5 and headed south. We stayed at the Redwood Inn, a wonderful independent motel for 3 nights as we didn’t have to play again until Folsom, CA on 10/26.
Talk about an active group! Grants Pass has sold more tickets than they have seats. There was a crowd waiting for the doors to open. We have had a good time playing in the theaters as we are able to use our terrific “prop” for the “Phantom of the Opera” finale. The technical help in Steve Daggett was tremendous. After the concert, Diane Hess, the president treated us to a pizza at the Rogue River Pizza and Brewing Company. The dinner was topped off with bread pudding with authentic whiskey sauce which we enjoyed in our motel room.
We stayed an extra day in Grants Pass to see what makes the southern Oregon town tick. We toured Wildlife Images, a non-profit animal awareness shelter that takes in orphaned and wounded animals from around the Pacific Northwest. The bears were a highlight. We took a short drive to the Oregon wine growing region of the Applegate Valley. We had a nice tour at the Troon Vineyard where we purchased their catchy labeled wine, “Druids Fluid.” If you have a chance to spend some time in Grants Pass, don’t pass the opportunity.