Cabaret 2001: ..."Have a Nice Day Cabaret"
Saturday, November 3rd, 2001
St. Joan of Arc is always a place where peace and love is practiced, but
never more so than at this year’s 70’s-themed Cabaret “Have A Nice
Day...It’s Yesterday Once More. Peace symbols, lava lamps, Afros, gaudy
colored furniture and fashion (authentically provided by some audience
members; yes, we did once dress that way!) all brought us back to a time
before cell phones, the Internet and CDs, when St. Joan of Arc was first
founded and when we all knew and understood the words to the songs.
As usual, the gifted bumper crop of regular SJA musicians and musical
friends of our community came through to give us an exciting evening. They
did it with flash, class, “chick singer” choruses in hippie garb and a
whole lotta camp every now and then. Saturday night’s lineup was a crowd
pleaser from start to finish. A few highlights:
- Julie “Edith” Madden and Bob “Archie” Hanson kicked it off with
one of the most memorable 70’s TV themes Those Were the Days.
- Debbie Duncan pulled out a 70’s Stevie Wonder chestnut, Knocks Me Off
Me Feet to get the crowd going.
- Dan “Piano Man” Chouinard got us feeling all right with the classic
Billy Joel tune.
- 70’s traveling minstrels Anna and Fred Vagle charmed the crowd; Anna
with the Crystal Gayle hit Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, and
Fred offered Stephanie's Waltz, a touching song about watching his young daughter dance many
years ago and wanting to freeze the moment.
- Gary Rue
and Prudence Johnson took on Sonny and Cher’s hit All I Ever
Need Is You (in costume!) Pru then soloed on If You Don’t Know Me By
Now and Gary led a tender version of Todd Rundgren’s classic Love Is
the Answer, backed by several cast members.
- Dare To Breathe got out their 70’s gear (David Moore-center right would have won a
Donny Osmond lookalike contest hands down!) and dazzled us with acapella
renditions of Summer Breeze and Drift Away.
- Billy McLaughlin, backed by “Elton Chouinard” played his favorite song
off his favorite 70’s album (Bennie and the Jets from "Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road"), then gave us true guitar wizardry with his own
Hold On To Forever.
- The Ladies of Rock and Roll brought back some of our musical heroes:
Nancy Stockhaus cut loose on a Linda Ronstadt hit; Deb Harley paid tribute
to Joni Mitchell; and many of us relived a vicarious fantasy courtesy of
Rachel Kroog, who with hairbrush mic in hand did a high energy, shoe-kicking
off version of Music In Me. Judi Donaghy gave us a unique slow ballad
arrangement of How Deep is Your Love.
- Steve Kremer reminded us we can’t think of the 70’s without John
Denver,
giving us Country Roads Take Me Home.
- Peter Ostroushko, minus 70’s garb (accompanied by Dirk Freymuth, in
his), gave us the beautiful instrumental Medicine Bow, inspired by a
drive from his first fiddle competition he entered in 1974. Peter O was back
later to help Pat Frederick bring the house down with twin fiddles for
Devil Went Down to Georgia.
- Dick Hedlund(right) showed off some hot bass licks and a Hendrix-inspired Star
Spangled Banner.
- Once again this year, Michael Hennessey got the audience involved and
enthralled with his mime storytelling.
- Mark Stillman and the ever musically multi-tasking Dan Chouinard gave us a
fun accordion duo version of Runaway.
- Ageless and timeless Cyril Paul got the crowd to its feet and dancing (no
excuses!) with some “shake and bake”, Trinidad style.
- Some mellower moments: Jim TenBensel offered If, played in tribute
to a friend who passed away; Lee Vague soloed on the Michael Johnson hit
Bluer Than Blue; Sima Shumilovsky sang I Just Fall In Love Again
(one of the first English songs she learned when she arrived in Minnesota);
Bob Hanson did a lovely job on Your Song.
- “St.Paul” Peterson returned again this year, rocking the house with
Sly Stone’s Thank You.
- And Dennis Spears wrapped it up in style with a campy version of
Let’s Get It On and formed us all into a gospel choir for Takin’
It To the Streets.
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| Writer, speaker, consultant, administrative professional, Wendy Vickers, has
been an active supporter and encourager of local musicians in the Twin Cities
music community for several years. Her online newsletter on local coffeehouse
performers and other music-related activities can be found on her website at
www.wendyv.com .
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A fun time was had by all, and we all made fun of ourselves throughout the
evening. You may cringe at some of the pop culture of the 70’s,especially
if you think about what you might have worn back then. But here’s a
thought for you: 20 or 30 years from now, will anything you hear on the
radio today be as memorable? Will it bring back the same sense of connect
that we all felt hearing those 70’s songs, with their lyrics a strong part
of our minds, memories and hearts?
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| Rick Spaulding is a photographer specializing in digital photography for the theater and works for National Camera Exchange. He is also an antique dealer and eBay afficianado who enjoys collecting marbles but his true joys in life are his two boys and his beautiful wife, Tinia.
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Think about that; and have a nice day!
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