Performer Profiles Garden City Youth Choir The Garden City Recreation Commission produces a summer youth musical each year, and has done so for over two decades. This year's production is Guys and Dolls Junior, and features 76 of this communities youth, from ages 5 to 18. They've had a handful of rehearsals so far this summer and not all of them could be here today, so this will be a partial representation of the talent that will be on stage July 30th and 31st at Clifford Hope Auditorium. For more information, stop by the Garden City Rec's face painting booth. So, here now to perform the title song from Guys and Dolls Junior, the Garden City Recreation's Summer Youth Musical cast. Too Many Strings Debra Bolton, banjo Dale Bolton, bass Mary Lake, guitar Mike Lake, mandolin and Quatro (the quatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico) Having formed at the Community Church, Too Many Strings has been playing together for two years. Mike is the pastor at Community Church. Mary is a renal dietician. Debra is on the faculty at K-State (and a former program director for HPPR). Dale is self employed as an I-T (Eye-Tee) consultant (former Exec. Dir. of HPPR). RUSS & DEBBIE TIDWELL Russ and Debbie Tidwell have lived in Garden City for the last 16 years. Both are employed by USD #457. Debbie teaches Elementary Music, and Russ is the GCHS Debate and Forensics coach. Our style is "eclectic", and will include Classic Country, Folk, Acoustic Rock, Gospel, and Contemporary Christian music. We are honored to have played at the last HPPR celebration in 2000, as well as the GCRC's summer Concert in the Park series for the last few years (we play one of those, in fact on Sunday the 27th of June- so we're playing Stephens Park two nights in a row!), and Pleasant Fest in Wallace County. We have a 7 year old son- David- who is performing with the Rec's Youth Musical Group at the celebration as well. Fresh Picked Parsley Fresh Picked Parsley began as many bands do – with a couple of long-time friends getting together to share their love for music. Valarie Smith and Kathryn Prewitt started playing and writing music long before they considered themselves a band; experimenting with the various instruments that caught their fancies and learning to blend their acoustic styles as one. Slowly, their duo grew to a trio when Samantha Geier added a mandolin to the mix and the three began to delve into their diverse approaches to composition, harmony, and song. Brianna Anderson would later accompany the group with a bass guitar and the trio became a foursome, once again expanding their perspectives on sound and enhancing their acoustic resonance. The newest member, Josh Sasser, adds yet another fresh dimension with lead guitar. Through their playing, Fresh Picked Parsley continues to grow mentally, emotionally, and melodically, exploring an assortment of methods, approaches, and techniques that complement each individual's gifts as well as solidify their talent as a whole. The name Fresh Picked Parsley revisits the earliest days of the group, when Val and Katie used to sit on the floor and pick at the array of instruments spread around their feet. The story of the two family's enduring friendship was a topic of several conversations. Val and Katie had been told many times of when Val's father used to walk to Katie's grandfather's restaurant with sprays of parsley, picked fresh from his garden, each morning. Katie's grandfather would garnish each plate he served with a sprig of parsley, brightening each meal served with a bit of home-grown love. Through music, Fresh Picked Parsley hopes to exemplify and project that same brilliance, happiness, and love symbolized by those sprigs of parsley adorning common plates. Valarie & Josh Valarie Smith and Josh Sasser met at an open-mic in Austin Texas in the winter of 09 and have been musical commrades since. Josh, whom studied music at South Plains College in Levelland TX adds a melodic rhythm to Valaries' acoustic singer/songwriter style. Joining them to complete the trio is Jax Delaquerre, an established musician from the Denver area, who teamed up with Valarie in 07. This performance will feature original songs composed by Valarie, with Josh playing the lead guitar and Jax on the up-right bass. Don Eves Someone once said, "The purpose of the artist is to bring light to the human heart." The songs of Don Eves spotlight the lives we live and the lives we imagine. With life being a mixture of heartbreak and ecstasy, Don’s songs deeply reflect the many-sided prism of the human experience. From the time he learned a few chords on the guitar, he immediately started writing songs. The songs are forged from whatever the "inspiration" is at the time. He writes western songs, spiritual songs, country songs, feel good songs, feel bad songs, and even songs for the hopeless romantic. (Or hopeful romantic, depending on your perspective) Up until 1994, music was something Don created privately for his own enjoyment and a few close friends. This all changed when one of those friends talked him into entering one of his songs in a songwriting contest. His song "No Daddy" won the best country song award and kindled a fire in him to share his music with the world.This song has touched the hearts and minds of many; is always requested wherever he performs. Don has a unique style of writing, enhanced by his deep baritone voice. There is no greater compliment to him than when someone tells him that one of his songs spoke to him or her in some way. Once again, "The purpose of the artist is to bring light to the human heart." His song "For the the Promised Land" was performed while entertaing our troops in illisheim Army base in Germany and was very honored to learn that it was palyed at Arlington National Cemetary in memory of a soldier who died while serving our country while serving in Iraq. Don has two albums, "Taste the Wine," and his newest work, "Common Ol' Cowboy". With the exception of "Streets of Laredo," all songs on the albums were written by Eves. Don has two CDs with a third in the works. His first CD is a work of spiritual introspection called "Within The Stillness." It brings a quiet comfort. His second CD is "Romance, A Beautiful Mystery." The title pretty much says it all. "The soul exists to find romance" is a favorite quote of Don's and this CD mirrors that thought. SMOKIN JOE & BIG AL Big Al and Smokin Joe is a dual with Guitar and fiddle. Vocal with Harmony. Al Miller is on Guitar and vocals. He has played in the Garden City area for more than 30 years. Several bands plus college productions. Joe Irsik is on fiddle and vocals. Joe has also played in and around the Garden City area for 30 plus years. Also has worked in several bands. We play anything from Bluegeras, Country, Folk and anything that is fun. House Blend Eclectic Folk and Bluegrass Band The local acoustic music scene began prior to 2000, as musicians gathered at Kadee’s Coffee Break, a small coffee shop near downtown Garden City. Pickers and singers shared their songs and talents, developed friendships, and discovered the joy of making music together. From this musical activity, opportunities were created for local musicians to perform at social, church, and various community functions. House Blend began in 2004 when the three ladies of the band discovered their vocal harmony came easy and created an appealing sound to audiences. With the addition of stringed instruments, more vocals, and an interest in folk and bluegrass music, an easy listening style was created that has been popular for banquets, receptions, parties and numerous community events ever since. The musical style and selection of music has been influenced by the band's early beginning at the coffee shop. The blend of voices and instruments, and the influence of coffee shop culture, led to the name "House Blend", which was first suggested by a local radio personality. The first CD, House Blend Live at the Aberdeen, was released in the spring of 2009. It features 12 songs which have been favorites of the band and audiences as well. Willis Pracht & Dianne Vap Willis Pracht has been entertaining audiences for many years throughout Kansas, performing at festivals, trail rides, schools, public radio shows, and gatherings both as a single act and with many others. He has most recently recorded his second CD, "Friends", with Dianne Vap from Atwood, Kansas. While mostly a cover artist, his repertoire also includes original songs as well as traditional, gospel, and folk music. His preferred instrument is a 1976 S.L. Mossman Winter Wheat 12 string guitar built in the Mossman factory in Winfield by the late, great Stuart Mossman. Willis is from Garden City, Kansas. JF Stover Church choir and a neighborhood ragtime piano player planted early musical pleasures in JF Stover. A musical family helped too. He recalls Mom and Dad whistling close harmony swing tunes on car trips, and waking up to older sisters practicing Mozart before school on Western Kansas mornings. Mom taught piano lessons, Dad remembered songs from his days as a dance band saxophonist, and the whole family toured the town singing four-part Christmas carols in season. College during the sixties meant learning guitar, imitating The Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, and The Carter Family, and opening up to traditional music--folk, blues, bluegrass, and wider world sounds--which continued during a decade in Germany--soldiering, street singing, playing balalaika, and sampling show business. Banjo and fiddle sounds eventually lured him back to traditional American music, which he explores in several groups, playing bluegrass to blues, with even a bit of country and Celtic in the mix. Now, self-accompanied through loop pedal magic, it's fingerstyle guitar, old-time banjo, fiddle, mandolin, & autoharp; with songs from the church choir, the neighborhood pianist, the whistling car, new songwriters, his own perspectives, and teachers past and present. He performs for schools, churches, community gatherings and celebrations, family reunions, concerts, festivals, and in many of the region's friendlier kitchens and backyards. The music runs from solemn to silly; from 'the sacredness of all things' to 'life is too important to be taken seriously.' The songs are capsules of experience and imagination, opening the ordinary to uncover the miraculous, remembering what's been, noticing what's now, and pondering what's possible. RICK BRUNER Rick Bruner grew up here in western Kansas, living in Ashland, Meade, Dodge City and Fort Dodge. He took up drums in grade school, and guitar in junior high. After spending 3 years in Tacoma, Washington, Rick returned to Dodge City and began performing with area bands. Rick became a volunteer at High Plains Public Radio in 1984, hosting Jazztime and Blues After Hours, including the memorable experience of singlehandedly manning the station for an entire weekend in April 1988 when he was snowed in at the Pierceville studios. He moved to the Lawrence area in 1988, became a drummer on the local jazz scene, began working as a cartographer and developed a renewed interest in guitar and songwriting. In 2001 he won first place at the Heartland Songwriter’s Showcase in Kansas City and he has played regularly in the area ever since. In 2007 he released his first recording, Eight Hundred Miles. He is planning to release another recording later this year.