Let’s take our act on the road! Oh, so many musicians live the gypsy life of perpetual travel down an endless road of diners, gas stations and cheap motels. Gas up your Winnebago and hit the highway over a cross country trek. The music inspired by traveling excursions surely provides a cavernous canon of rich treasures for the pickings and a mighty fine theme for a night of entertaining the masses.

SJA’s 12th annual Cabaret—The Road Show: Songs For Wayward Lovers opened Friday October 13th to a sold out and satisfied crowd. The fun began just outside in the front courtyard where displayed just before the public entrance were two gorgeous vintage 1960s maroon-colored cars, a Ford Mustang (owned by Don Lynch) and a Corvette Sting Ray (owned by Don Jerdee, license plate “Don66”). One complaint: raffle winners were sorely cheated by not being allowed the opportunity to get a spin in one of these beauties after the show.

Dazzling media designed by Todd Dalebroux and Lynn Dolan adorned SJA’s gym. Quite spectacular and certainly raising the standard from past SJA Cabaret design concepts, they featured prominent blown up images of black and white Americana that were framed in lights and mounted along the wall near both sides of the gym’s stage. A gray map of the United States with a cleverly outlined trail of Route 66 in red lights served as a backdrop for the stage. Cabaret Chairman Steve Boyle donated vintage Coca-Cola and Grain Belt signs along with neon-lighted words reading “Gas” and “Gasoline,” neatly hung from the basket ball hoops. Our singers and musicians made stylish entrances through the cool façade of a Winnebago—borrowed from set designer Joel Sass used in his recent Ivey Award winning Jungle Theater production Last of the Boys. Boyle jovially introduced tonight’s marathon length fundraiser that consisted of 34 performances over 3½ hours, not including a 20 minute raffle of door prizes and a 25 minute break. Our talented co-producer, piano player and music director Dan Chouinard and Peace & Justice Pastoral Ministry Coordinator Julie Madden launched the evening by playing Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Madden mimicked Lucy in all her glory—red wig, 50s polka dot housedress with apron and that high pitched voice and “whaaaaah” whine that could singe nasal hairs. The premise for their skit involved Lucy as the couple’s tour manager. Ricky complains to her, “We’re supposed to be playing in a classic cabaret in a church. This isn’t a church! It’s a gymnasium with a disco ball. Your approval ratings have sunk lower than George Bush. A disco church! You have some explaining to do!” Lucy replies, “They said we’ll be welcome wherever we are on our journey!”

The Frantzich Brothers took to the stage for a strong rendition of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” later joined by Chouinard and Madden in character warbling out subsequent verses. The entire cast hit the stage while folk-singer Jerry Rau delivered a bit of “On the Road Again.” Overall, a great opening.

What better choice than Gwen Matthews to cover Aretha Franklin’s big 1985 pop hit “Freeway of Love.” Turning the song into a sing-along was no surprise; what was a head turning surprise was her newly acquired short cropped hair cut, dyed flaming red no less. She looked fabulous, a fitting choice for her brash persona. Dick Hedlund grooved out a steady beat on bass while Lee Vague delivered expressive electric guitar playing.

Chouinard welcomed the crowd to “an evening of classic sing-alongs.” Well, plenty of obscure material for the taking as well. Cynthia Johnson, fitly buff as ever, wailed mightily on Robert Johnson’s “Home Sweet Chicago,” considered the classic Chicago Blues song. Too bad we couldn’t hear her. Her only accompanist, the fabulous Bobby Schnitzer with his slick electric guitar playing drowned out Johnson’s vocals. It’s a gymnasium Bobby, not an arena. Two other fine guitar players, Boyd Lee and Joe Cruz(right) worked out some engaging playing and tuneful harmony on “Let’s Go to Memphis” and they sure kept the momentum hot with an extended coda that positively exploded via the addition of Noah Hoehn’s exceptional harmonica playing.

“What hasn’t been written? What topics are there left to talk about? I don't think they’re enough songs about driving while eating!” quipped Folk singer-songwriter Ann Reed. With her wry sense of humor firmly in cheek, she whipped up hilarity with her original ditty “Meals on Wheels.” Such a way with a turn of phrase—“After you have it, It takes a week to shovel the garbage under your seat.” The sweetest performance came from Jerry Rau who delivered a— quiet as a pin dropping into water— performance of “Moon River” accompanied by his guitar and nicely ambient harmonica from Joe Savage. Pat Frederick, sounding like Don Henley, sang about the sun coming up and those freeways, cars and trucks with a solid cover of Tom Waits’ “O 55,” aided by Gary Rue on guitar and backup vocals. “Tonight, I’m gonna do some rock and roll,” announced Deb Harley and she did bluesy justice to Bonnie Raitt’s “The Road’s My Middle Name,” with rockin’ guitar playing from Schnitzer and Vague. Speaking of Vague, he admitted, “I had one guitar lesson in my life and it lasted 15 minutes.” A natural indeed and a mighty fine singer with Johnny Cash’s rockabilly tune “Big River.” Savage provided a terrific steel guitar solo as well.

A classic road song if ever, “Me and Bobby McGee” was a hit with Fred Vagle(right) handling vocals and lead guitar and Anna providing backup vocals and some good harmonica playing. This evening’s drummer and percussionist Peter Johnson got down to bare basics by tapping sticks on his tennis shoes. Russian singer Sima Shumilovsky coyly admitted, “I’m the only one singing a foreign language so you’ll have to trust it’s a travel song.” Accompanied by Chouinard on piano, she sang a Russian love song about the sea and she says, “traveling.” Jim TenBensel added dynamic trombone playing.

From rock, folk and foreign folk, Maria Jette changed the tone to some ethereal classical. Cradling a Michelin guide about France travel book, she sang an a cappella rendition of Howard Kaplan’s poem “Love and Travel.” This captivating singer talked about travel and the style of composer Herbert Bedford (b.1867) who felt harmony should be eliminated for the human voice and one should concentrate only on melody. This reporter says, “Perish the thought, Herbie!” Unaccompanied and ever so elegantly she then performed Bedford’s “Evangeline Passes.” Guitarist Dean Magraw brought some Irish flavor with two instrumentals, one he wrote and a lively cover of the Beatles “Norwegian Wood.” Gospel singer Robert Robinson said, “Talking about a road show, there’s really only one place I want to get to.” Heaven indeed is what Robinson refers to and sounds like with his feel good gospel handling of “I’ll Fly Away.” The crowd joyously clapped along building boisterously to the finish.

Chouinard referred to Carin Vagle as probably the best traveled of the Cabaret. Having studied six months in India, Vagle opened with the Folk spiritual “I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger” accompanied by Billy McLaughlin delicately strumming on guitar and Schnitzer playing with the miked echo effects of his electric guitar in the background. She segued aptly into a North Indian song sung in Hindu titled “Chaliya,” a song about going to the river, a song about transcendence. Beguiling, heart felt and direct, Vagle(right) shows an ease and command with this challenging material. McLaughlin said he was, “inspired by 18 lanes of traffic growing up in a town called LA.” He brought waves of texture, cadences of bustling movement and strong dynamics to his guitar playing along with some aerobic head movement to his instrumental about, “a day in the life of the Santa Monica Freeway on acoustic guitar.”

Steve Kremer, SJA’s local singer-guitarist, known for his kind and affable persona, threw in a curve ball with his take on John Stewart’s lyrically explicit 1968 composition “July, You’re a Woman.” Kremer stills sound assured and steadfast, but the content here, let’s just say would make John Denver blush in his grave. “When I saw the theme ‘Songs for Wayward Lovers’,” Kramer remarked, “You can’t get much wayward than this one.” It’s one of those, ‘Steve, I can’t believe you sang that but I glad you did’ songs. Cyril Paul closed the first act with a song about a crowded train in Trinidad titled “Last Train to San Fernando.” Vague, Rue and Kramer accompanied on guitar while TenBensel offered some peppy trumpet playing. Paul led a conga train into the receptive crowd that gladly joined in for the fun.

Associate Pastor Jim Cassidy welcomed everyone and called to mind a memory for our former Pastor Harvey Egan (1967-1986) who passed away this year. “We miss him in our journey,” said Cassidy, “We gather to acknowledge our journey.” The first act finished at 9:35 pm with two hours of entertainment. A twenty five minute intermission and twenty minute raffle followed.

Act II

Act II began at 10:20 pm with Michael Hennessey’s audience participation mime routine with Mark Stillman accompanying on accordion. Oh, the unsuspecting poor soul who gets chosen from the crowd. This time the honors went to a lady who was certainly up for the task. Jim TenBensel followed with a tribute, a beautiful valentine to a city on the road to recovery, “New Orleans.” TenBensel’s affection for the city of jazz and the music of Louis B. Armstrong rang true with his heartfelt baritone vocal and superb trombone solo. Chouinard accompanied on piano with smooth bass strumming from Hedlund.

Nancy Stockhaus and her daughter Amy(right) featured some spirited side stepping and brassy belting while singing a lively cover of Creedance Clearwater Revival’s classic “Travelin’ Band.” Chouinard and his piano, left to previous backup playing this evening, finally was featured in an evening of guitar driven material. He rocked with urgency, pounding his keyboard like Jerry Lee Lewis himself. Schnitzer and Vague cut some good licks from their guitars as well. Bobby Schnitzer and Chouinard reinvented The Eagles’ “Hotel California” as an instrumental for the two of them and giving it a distinctive Flamenco flavor, dripping in dynamic guitar flourishes and fine piano playing.

Having performed with the late Gene Pitney, singer-songwriter Gary Rue recently performed a tribute to this 1960s crooner as part of Illusion Theater’s Fresh Ink Series this past July. A song about traveling and penned by Pitney, “24 Hours to Tulsa” was Rue’s offering and he delivered an exceptional performance. Lee Vague’s guitar intro sounded identical to Billy Joe Royal’s 1965 pop hit “Down in the Boondocks.” Rachael Kroog, an eclectic all-around entertainer, never ceases to surprise at each Cabaret. This year she brought her friend, her side-kick dummy named Frederick. The two engaged in silly banter about “Jerry Oake: Karaoke for Seniors” before launching into the Roy Orbison ballad “Blue Bayou.” Frederick stayed by her side, of course, to add his own made up verses about losing his toupee back on Blue Bayou. Only Kroog could pull off such a feat keeping the routine fresh, fun and fearless. Savage offered some great steel guitar, too.

The great fiddle player and songwriter Peter Ostroushko admitted, “This evening I’m going to render a selection by Bob Dylan. [I’ve always said] I’d never do a song of his until he did one of mine. Neither one of us is getting any younger. Someone had to give.” Well, Ostroushko gamely delivered an earlier song by Dylan about mourning and loss with a familiar phrase that borrows a few lyrics from “Scarborough Fair.” Chouinard tinkled a number of lovely glissandos with his lovely piano accompaniment. Prudence Johnson performed a country flavored Pat Donohue composition “The Road to Kingdom Come,” a song I see perfectly suited for a Terrence Malick film like Badlands. Wonderfully sung, the song addresses the dynamics of love and hate. Chouinard accompanied on accordion, Rue on guitar and Ostroushko on mandolin.

Mark Stillman played a rousing version of Frank Weir’s 1954 hit “The Happy Wanderer” with Chouinard, both blissfully playing their accordions. The audience eagerly joined in for the chorus of “Valderi, Valdera.” Singer Mary Jane Alm contributed Oleta Adam’s ballad “Get Here (If You Can)” pretty much in a perfunctory mode. Only by the end did she get playful with her phrasing and attempt to sell the song. Singer-songwriter guitarist Larry Long made splendid music accompanied by musicians Anna Vagle on zippy recorder, Savage on steel guitar and Vague on guitar with Long’s composition “Travelin’ Song about the Monarch Butterfly” but was in for an unsuspecting upstaging. Cyril Paul donned a pair of butterfly wings and proceeded to dance about during the performance. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the sight of Cyril in wings playing air guitar! A folksy-sweet tune done with gleeful merriment.

Singer T Mychael Rambo took to the stage, looked out in the crowd and replied, “How great it is to see people get down and funky in this Church!” He made such an impact with Otis Redding’s classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” that you’d think he wrote it himself. Personable, joyous and oh so funky, Rambo’s ‘Dock’ is certainly one for recording. He owns this material when he performs and I’ve never seen it done so lively and energetic, a favorite of the evening. That cool and chic style of Dennis Spears(right) inspired Chouinard to introduce him as “Our penultimate performer singing a classic road song.” Spears didn’t disappoint either with a terrific performance of Bobby Troup’s 1946 classic first recorded by Nat King Cole, “Route 66.” Working the crowd, working his smile and selling that tune, Spears delivered a winning performance, admitting, “Ah, I love being here with you.” He ad-libbed plenty by singing Route 61-65 with new verses and joked about himself, “Oh, you better slow down, Dennis, before you get a ticket.” Savage sold an excellent steel guitar solo and Chouinard tightly moved the band in time.

The Frantzich Brothers came out last to perform. Paul quipped, “Fred will be handing out sleeping bags and tooth brushes.” Wishing the other Paul, as in Simon, a happy 65th birthday, Tim and Paul Frantzich, with their guitars, performed a supreme cover of the Simon and Garfunkel tune “Homeward Bound.” Chouinard accompanied with accordion and Savage on steel guitar. Co-Producer and performer Anna Vagle rounded up the entire cast for a medley of “Sentimental Journey,” “Happy Trails” and “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Taking us all home from a marathon of 34 performances, The Road Show covered some impressive mileage with thrilling road stops, few bumps and mighty smooth cruising on a journey that was exceptionally entertaining.

Michael Reinbold, a continuing web reporter, freelances as a writer and banquet caterer. A passionate believer in SJA's mission of social justice and collaborative ministry, Michael is an SJA Choir member, mass reader, Team Oz AIDS rider and Grace House volunteer cook. With an extensive background in theater, photography and fundraising, he relishes all aspects of the arts, staying fit and inspiring and working with people.

Thanks to Co-Producers Dan Chouinard and Anna Vagle for putting together one impressive lineup of entertainers this year and the 2006 Cabaret Volunteer Committee for running a smooth production behind the scenes as well.

Bill and Connie Cameron Bill was a pilot at Northwest Airlines for 32 years until his retirement in June of 2001. Also an attorney, Bill now practices law about half-time. The rest of his time is spent taking pictures (... a serious photography habit), playing tennis, and working on volunteer projects. Connie is an educational consultant and they have three adult sons.

Proceeds for St. Joan of Arc’s annual Cabaret go to the Justice Fund which provides grants to applicants who apply for the coming year.