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Once again, four to five hundred souls shoe-horned themselves into the Anderson Valley Grange Hall on Friday and Saturday evening for the 17^th Annual Variety Show.  What has me scratching my head is where were the other 3,000 or so Valley residents?  It is inconceivable to me to miss a minute of this late winter celebration of the talent, eccentricities, and community spirit that characterizes our little corner of the world.  No doubt about it, the Variety Show is an institution that never fails to hold its place as the  highlight of our annual entertainment calendar no matter how used to it we become after all these years.  I made a point this year of identifying several people who had never been to a Variety Show before, and checking in with them during intermissions and around town the next day, and was reassured that the Show still has the magic to absolutely astonish newbies by the overwhelming onslaught of local personages with talents, sometimes obscure and strange, in all kinds of disorienting contexts.  I can’t imagine there’s anything quite like it, anywhere.

Friday, March 7th

As always, this year’s show began with a set piece, a topical take-off on the candidate forums of this campaign season.  Presented by Boont-Tube, Patty Liddy, whose acting talents we have seen in both Grange Theatre Guild productions to date, (and with another one due later this spring) played the coifed and buffed teevee debate moderator Pepsi Roberts.  The format for the debate was questions and answers and a series of local luminaries were presented on video screen to ask the candidates questions about pressing issues of great import. Pepsi informed us that the audience was wired with secret probes in our chairs that would provide bio-feedback to the Crap-O-Meter, to detect the viewers visceral reaction to what the candidates had to say.  The Friday cast of interrogators were Fred Wooley, AVA publisher Bruce Anderson, local doc Mark Apfel, and Russ Emal, with the candidates portrayed by Rod Bashore, Dan Hauck, and Suzy Miller.  The candidates, all of whom obfuscated and bifurcated and dissembled in ways that were sure to antagonize Anderson Valley residents were all comically disposed of in one way or another, until the last questioner was introduced, our institution of an emcee, Captain Rainbow, appearing on the screen as a fumble fingered contractor on the job site, asking the rhetorical question:  Are you ready for a show?  Yes, indeed, Capitaine. We’ve been waiting 51 weeks.

Before getting caught up in the particulars of the two nights of spectacle, up-front kudos should go to the production crew who are often unseen but nevertheless indispensable to the smooth presentation of the more than  forty acts.  Bill Meyer, the main producer of the show, Tom Smith, Joansie, Robyn Spector, Robin and Bill Harper, and Mark Pitner pretty much keep the chaos backstage from infiltrating into the performances, and the technical chores were ably handled by sound guy Mitchell Holman, new “Mic Boy” Alex who did a superb job, while Jimmy on the Spot, Eric Frye, and Mathew handled lights.  Gail Meyer as always did an excellent job of decorating the stage, and Morgan Baynam again filled the thankless but necessary job of squeezing all those cars into the parking lot.  Special mention should be made to Tim Glidewell and his Top Hat Productions who produced the video segments for the opening piece on both nights.

And the pit band!  The Peanut Butter and Jam Band provided the pre-show and intermission music, and accompanied some of the acts.  Far from mere ‘filler’ music, some of the Valleys best known ‘go-to’ musicians played engaging sets on both nights, made up of Chris Rossi, Larry Smith, Ron O’Brien, Lynn Archambault, Rod DeWitt, Greg Krouse and Dean Titus.  Lauren Keating joined on vocals during the Saturday show.  Help yourself to a well-deserved round of applause.   

Friday night’s lineup of  twenty distinctly different acts then got underway with an energetic display of hip hop dancing performed by Angelica and Victor called “Crank That”.  Local carpenter David Jones showed off his lingual dexterity with some pretty extreme tongue-twisters, encouraging audience participation.  Next, the AV Elementary School Chorus, accompanied by Leslie and Michael Hubbert, sang two numbers, the immortal “Summertime” and an energetic Spanish language song. Many of the young vocalists took solos and showed great poise and confidence in winning the crowd’s favor.

More stylish singing was next as Sony Hatcher filled the room with her lovely voice on the uplifting “More Than I Can Be”. 

A few moments were then taken to pay tribute to Shorty Adams, Anderson Valley’s venerable school bus driver who has been on the job since 1958.  Several generations of Shorty’s passengers were assembled on stage, including old-timers Dean Titus and Chris Rossi, to welcome Shorty himself to the stage to accept the plaudits of the assembled community.  Not only has Shorty been ferrying AV’s school kids to and from school for fifty years, but in all that time has driven over 3 million miles without an accident or even a traffic ticket. 

The entertainment continued with piano wizard Bill Taylor next performing two of his own compositions, accompanied by drummer Blair Egress.  A comedy turn was then taken by “Bucky Navarro”, actually Hit and Run Theatre’s Doug Nunn, who portrayed a cheesy lounge singer/comic singing snippets of song parodies celebrating our region such as “I Left My Heart In Downtown Yorkville”.  Some serious singing was next with Rachel and Olivia, two young ladies with talent who performed separately in recent Variety Shows but combined forces to great effect on “Yesterday”.  David Durette of Elk, billed as Lollywagon, recited another of his fancifully poetic stories, this one about sea hags and gnomes,  while eliciting atmospheric music and other effects from his upright bass.   In one of those unplanned, only-in-the-Variety Show moments, as David was setup on the stage and ready to begin, Captain Rainbow made a stage announcement asking that the owner of a particular truck please move it as it was blocking another vehicle.  Of course, it belonged to the performer on stage but thankfully he was allowed to perform his piece before leaving to move the truck.  The first half of the Friday show then concluded with a rousing performance by Mariachi Santa Cecelia that sent the crowd into intermission on a real high note. 

 In addition to the snacks and beverages dispensed by the Grange Auxiliary, halftime entertainment on both nights included performances of fire dancing in the safer environs of the parking lot.  A large circle of attendees circled fire-spinners Julianne Maidran, Wendy Blankenheim, and Justin Laqua, awestruck by their exciting routines and the always present risk of self-immolation.

The audience reassembled inside the Grange hall to witness the second half which began with return performances of aerial dering-do by both John LaCampagne and Bones Newstead, the former on trapeze and the latter on silks, suspended over the audience.  The raffle drawing was next, the Friday night winner of $360 was Paula Kassenheimer, perennial Variety Show favorites Billy Owens and Sheila Hibbs, sometimes known as The Okie Hoedown, performed on banjo and guitar with Sheila singing “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with Billy taking the lead on a song about the “Navarro Log Train”, which included some yodeling.  Locally renowned author Bruce Patterson told a story of a character in Yorkville named Claude and his interaction with a greenhorn County trapper. 

The show then shifted back into a musical mode, first with two songs by Sara and Nahara, each singing a song of their own composition with the other providing sweet harmonies.  Two Mikeys was next, multi-instrumentalist (and instrument builder) Michael Hubbert and Michael DeSmidt performing some vigorous reels on fiddle and Irish pipes respectively.  The obligatory animal act, Carly the singing dachshund and her human Michael favored us with a few musical yowlings before yielding the stage to Raul Aguilara and his virtuosic mastery of the electric bass.  He is the nephew of local guitar legend Pilar Duran. 

The Friday show concluded with high school students from Jeanne Collins’ American Sign Language Class, with Holly Newstead taking the lead, signed and danced to Michael Frante’s “Power To The Peaceful”, which rocked the house and send us all home on an upbeat note and ready for more entertainment on Saturday night.

Saturday, March 8th

In a departure from past Variety Show practices, the opening set piece on Saturday night was not an exact duplicate from Friday’s.  The theme was the same but different Valley personages were seen on video asking the candidates questions and a different panel smarmy politicians were grilled and dispensed with.  The Saturday cast again included Patty Liddy as the moderator, and local questioners portrayed by Donna Pierson-Pugh, Angela DeWitt, Deputy Keith Squires, and Mike Shapiro and the obfuscating pols were Fred Wooley, Jimmy Humble, Adam Springwater, and Karen Bailey.

 The Saturday edition then roared out of the gate with ballet dancing from Noe Klein’s classes.  Two groups of youngsters performed, the 4 to 8 year olds cute and adorable, the older kids 10 to 12, polished and precise in their routines.  Next came a comedy sketch with a western motif, with celebrity trail chef C.C.Wills, played by Emil Rossi, preparing a meal for dubious range hands Nick Rossi and Jack Brumwell.  The belly dancing troupe Trillium Tribe was next, delighting the crowd once again with their undulating torsos, exotic costumes, and ensemble dance routine.  Then came three high school students from Ukiah, Pablo, Moises, and Kyra, who sang and danced to a Spanish hip hop number to great effect.  Monica and Marie next performed a comedy sketch of attempts to coax a kitten out of a tree.  It was back to terpsichore as Karen Bailey performed an airy, free form dance while swirling and waving silk streamers into beautiful patterns of motion. 

The next act, Wild Cats,  was actually the senior project of Danny Angulo, who directed some of his classmates in scenes from “High School Musical” which, as so many of the acts have in recent years, concluded with some inspired hip hop dancing.  Miguel Carillo, Mkensie McLain, Mariah Nunley, Jaylynne Leviletta, Amber Lopes, Emi Barragan, Sam Rose, and Leti Macias made up this ensemble.  Tamara Baxman Carsey, accompanied by Sarah Larkin, returned to the Variety Show stage to sing another of her compositions from her forthcoming CD “Born Naked”, this one entitled “Rose Colored Glasses”.   Also in a return performance, the Mendocino Ballet Company was warmly received with their presentation of “Take Me Out”.  The first half of the Saturday show was brought to a close with the spirited singing and gyrations of the Anderson Valley Pagan Gospel Choir, fronted by the Rt. Rev. Lovejive, portrayed by Emerald Earth resident Micah. 

There were still ten acts to go and the talent just kept on coming.  More aerial feats were in store as Sarah In The Silks, a 17 year old from Ukiah, performed beautiful  twists, stunts, and seemingly impossible acts of body articulation while suspended from the silk bands and floating over the audience.  This was followed by Amanda Grace who was performing on silks for the first time, but similarly amazed the audience with her control and, yes, grace as she hung upside down by her ankles to the accompaniment of  “Strawberry Fields Forever”. 

The raffle was next, and a whopping $480 went to a nice woman from Comptche (I think), but some sharp eyed little kid hecklers pointed out to the emcee that there was still some money in his pocket after he had presented the cash to the winner.  Protesting this canard, Rainbow reached into the pocket of his tuxedo coat and was seemingly astonished to find that the kids were right.  Forty bucks remained on his person, which was then properly returned to the winner.  But the raffle is an honest operation.  Really.

Flamenco Mendocino, with their colorful costumes and vibrant and intricate dance routines performed next, accompanied by Louis on guitar.  The dancers were Jeanne, Susan, Susan, Tara, and Sally.  Next, out of Comptche, was Bluesman Johnny Blanco, who performed “Darn That Dream” to the accompaniment of his own guitar and the “interpretation” by a comic mime named Scott. 

Jody Waseka, who absolutely wowed the audience last year with her inventive, elaborate interpretive dancing, was no less brilliant this year with a series of dances as a bored late-night janitor who discovers a trunk full of costumes and is inspired to try them on and become those different characters.  Another welcome returnee was CiCi Wilcoxon whom many will recall as Dusty Rhodes, the bass playing cowgirl singer.  This time she was the prissy and proper Edwina Pentwhistle Plushbottom, who daintily plucked at the bass, while wearing white gloves, natch, and favored us with a pursed lipped dissertation on poets and poetry.  Local cowboy Bud Johnson and his electric guitar then performed his own song about a local wine called Cowboy Red.  In the tradition of Will Rogers, the new wrangler at Highland Ranch, Bobby Kilgore showed off his skill twirling his lasso over, under, and around his body. 

 The show began to draw to a close with a spot-on duet performance of a difficult jazz piece, Chick Corea’s “Spain”, by two of the Valley’s most in-demand instrumentalists, Pilar Duran on guitar and Burton Segall on bass.  Finally, Oakland band 30 Aut Sicks, which includes locals Guy Kephart and Chris Thomasson, rattled windows and shook the walls with their raucous “9 Miles To Boonville”, a punkish, speedmetal story of a musician stuck on the road, trying to make it to the gig.  A rousing finish to two nights of solid, local talent.     

copyright Bruce Longstreet, 2008