Performing are Lila Garner, KT Tanner, Bev Buck, Jan Edwards, Marianne Johnson, Marcia Alderink and leader Maud Bones.
PebbleCreek Readers’ Theater on the road again
KT Tanner
Silly, crabby, happy or sad — everyone has moods that change. Jamie Lee Curtis’s wild and poignant book Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day describes in poetry form our wide range of emotions and how we identify and express them. Readers performed at Hacienda del Rey, a new assisted living and memory care community in Litchfield Park, and Mabel Padgett and Palm Valley Schools in the Litchfield Park Elementary School District. Participants talked about recognizing, understanding and responding to the moods of others and themselves. Expect changes. “Moods are just something that happen each day. Whatever I’m feeling inside is okay!”
Jamie Lee Curtis served as honorary chairperson for the program Building Resilience for Young Children Dealing with Trauma in Washington, D.C. Curtis was also given an award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Endowment for the Arts for her work for children through her charities and her children’s books.
Readers also performed How to Babysit a Grandma by Jean Reagan. Written as a guide for children with ways to entertain Grandma at the park and back at home, comfort her if she’s missing your parents, decorate her yummy meals and tuck her in bed for the night with sweet dreams. It’s a lively story of the special relationship between grandmas and their grandchildren. Seniors and children shared memories of special times together.
Performing are Lila Garner, KT Tanner, Bev Buck, Jan Edwards, Marianne Johnson, Marcia Alderink and leader Maud Bones. This summer PC Players Readers’ Theater plans to perform comedy scripts for our neighboring senior centers. If you’d like to join us, email KT Tanner at [email protected].
Chuck Stewart on The Ed Sullivan Show
Chuck Stewart at home in PebbleCreek
Musician of the Month: May 2017 – Chuck Stewart
Norma Whitley
Chuck Stewart of the PebbleCreek Big Band is Musician of the Month. He plays the tuba, trombone and trumpet.
Chuck was born in Newton, Massachusetts and started trumpet lessons in the fourth grade at age 10. When he entered junior high the band director told him there were too many trumpet players, so he chose the tuba. A 15 minute lesson from the music director taught him the fingering of the Eb tuba, the only lesson he needed.
At school Chuck met trumpeter Richard Sudhalter, author of several books on early jazz and pianist Roger Kellaway who later became Bobby Darin’s musical director, arranger for Count Basie and Academy Award nominee for his movie scores. Both Sudhalter and Kellaway played in a Dixieland band and listened to earlier jazz. When Chuck learned the early jazz bands used tubas he became hooked on jazz music.
Chuck attended Northeastern University evenings and worked during the day in the Information Technology business. He has a son, Ken, and a granddaughter and grandson, Amanda and Devon.
In 1960, while walking in Cape Cod, Chuck heard Dixieland music from inside a saloon. He went in to listen and observed that they had a tuba lying on the bandstand. The musicians let him sit in with them and hired him on the spot. In 1962 Chuck heard of a new banjo sing-along night club, The Red Garter, which had just opened so he auditioned and was hired there. That club eventually became Your Father’s Mustache.
Chuck played in the Boston, New York and Chicago clubs and toured the United States, Canada and South America with Your Father’s Mustache show band. On April 21, 1968 Chuck Stewart appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1975 Chuck met Peg, a lovely Southern belle, who had moved to Boston from Norfolk, Virginia with her son Bill. They married in 1977 and purchased a home in Easton, Massachusetts. Peg is a graduate of Lesley University and a retired Vice President and Controller of Multibank Leasing Company.
In 1982 Chuck joined The Rent Party Revellers jazz band to record and play at jazz festivals. In 1985 he joined the Paramount Jazz Band of Boston and continued to record and play at jazz festivals.
Chuck formed the Crackerjack Jazz Band, which played at jazz festivals and nightclubs, in 1993. The group also recorded a play-along CD for The Jazz Player magazine. Chuck rebuilt the band here in Arizona.
In October of 2000 Chuck and Peg retired and moved to Arizona. He was introduced to Dick Knutson and joined his Desert City Six jazz band; he also joined the Arizona Winds concert band.
To date Chuck Stewart has played at over 150 jazz festivals, on 16 jazz cruises and can be heard on 12 CDs. In 2011 he played a reunion show at Carnegie Hall in New York City with Your Father’s Mustache show band.
Chuck shared that he and his wife moved to PebbleCreek after visiting many adult communities since PebbleCreek is a good fit for their lifestyle. They also like the close proximity to Phoenix and major roadways.
The PebbleCreek Big Band
A crowd pleasing performance
Norma Whitley
If you were one of the fortunate people to secure tickets to one of the Burst of Music X tenth anniversary performances at the newly renovated Renaissance Theater in March, it was a show to remember.
Dressed in their tuxedos and formal wear, the PebbleCreek Big Band, directed by Bruce Birnel, opened the show with Strike Up the Band with Howard Brodbeck setting the beat on the drums. The Andrews Sisters – Pat Ingalls, Nancy Davis and Chanca Morrell – wooed the audience with their performances of Shoo-Shoo Baby and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy followed by a trumpet solo by Bill Throssell doing I Can’t Get Started.
Throughout the performance, Jerry Layne, ventriloquist, did an outstanding job hosting the big show while entertaining the audience with his sidekicks and comedic routines.
Next up was our own Barry Jeannelle engaging the audience with his moves and voice singing It’s Not Unusual and Love Me Tonight, the hits made popular by Tom Jones.
Opening the second half of the show following intermission was the PebbleRock Band with Robert Hover (guitar), Steve Jensen (bass), Gene Fioretti (keyboard) and Howard Brodbeck (drums). Popular favorites were performed including Long Tall Sally, Ramrod, California Sun, Pretty Woman, Wipe Out, Runaround Sue, Satisfaction and Old Time Rock and Roll.
Solo clarinet performances by Paul Engebretson during Sing, Sing, Sing captured the attention of the audience with beautiful melodic notes accompanied by the Big Band.
Jeff Buda, on saxophone, removed his tuxedo jacket to allow him to fully immerse himself in the moment belting out the notes during his performance of Tequila, which drew in the audience participation prompting them to shout out “Tequila” at the appropriate intervals.
A solo vocal performance by Pat Ingalls charmed the audience with It Had Better Be Tonight followed by Every Time I Hear Your Name with a solo by Dave Lymburner on trumpet.
Let’s not forget the stellar solo performances by Bruce Birnel (piano), Ed Buda (vibes/percussion), John Logan (trumpet) and Chuck Stewart (tuba), also the PebbleCreek Musician of the Month for April).
Other members of the PebbleCreek Big Band that put on fantastic performances were Jerry De Druif (clarinet), Mark Gorchesky (saxophone), Ray Kutz (saxophone), Jim Spence (saxophone), Darrel Bjornson (trombone), Steve Davis (trombone), Larry Tallant (trombone), Mike Briggs (trumpet), Stephanie Rubin (trumpet), Doug Bannochie (percussion), Gaylan Kindschy (bass) and Carl Halladay (guitar).
A special thank you to the production staff including Jane Cook (stage manager), Margot Gifford and Sue Tanner (stage crew), John McSwiggan (lighting design), Cliff Pappas and Ann Hamden (spotlights), Brian Honsberger (sound design), Bob Oswald and Steve Jensen (sound assistants), Rosellen Buda (house manager), Larry Tallant (ticket sales), Jim Workman (photographer), Keith Longley (house announcer), Bruce Birnel (production and technical coordinator, programs) and Norma Whitley (publicity).
The PebbleCreek community is blessed to have these talented musicians and vocalists to entertain us in the magnificent Renaissance Theater. Overall, the tenth anniversary of Burst of Music X was a performance to remember.
PC Singers Spring Concert
Donna Swagger
Marvelous music! Sensational singing! Exciting entertainment all describe PebbleCreek Singers 2017 spring concert Music Makes Me Feel—in April.
Music Makes Me Feel Alive, Mark Hayes’ brilliant celebration of music’s power to uplift, refresh and recharge our lives, was the opening number. The program featured several classic, time-tested songs from the 1920s, 30s and 40s that were written by some of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies, Jerome Kern’s The Way You Look Tonight, Cole Porter’s It’s De-Lovely, Johnnie Mercer’s Come Rain or Come Shine, Duke Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore and the Gershwin brothers’ Fascinatin’ Rhythm were a few of the selections from the Great American Songbook. The program also included a few inspirational numbers, several Broadway and movie tunes, some novelty songs and a hauntingly beautiful acapella number. What better way to bring the concert to a close than with some songs that paid tribute to our country and our flag? The finale, There She Stands, is a powerful patriotic anthem written by Michael W. Smith and Wes King after the 9/11 attacks. This stirring song is still relevant today as it talks about the unwavering American flag and the freedom for which it stands.
Director Gail Kennedy and the PebbleCreek Singers extend their thanks to all our friends and neighbors who attended the concert and supported the choristers. See you the first week in December for our annual Christmas concert.
Opportunity knocks
PC Singers
PebbleCreek Singers is accepting applications for all voice parts. If you would like to apply, please call Nancy Gustafson (623-215-3292). Auditions will take place beginning in May and until rehearsals start in August.