Tag Archive for: entertainment

Tribe of the Red Horse Celebrating the Music of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Saturday, July 20

Celebrate the music of Neil Young and Crazy Horse this Saturday, July 20th at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center with the Sacramento-based group Tribe of the Red Horse.  Much more than a tribute or cover band, Tribe of the Red Horse delivers the guitar tone, harmonies, and raw energy that Neil Young and Crazy Horse are known and loved for.

The band is comprised of guitarist / vocalist Wayne “Tex” Whitzell, guitarist Frank Kenney, bass player Charles Williams, and drummer Ernie Belles.  Tex Whitzell has spent the last decade playing Texas blues and N’awlins funk with bands such as San Francisco’s Bodacious and Sacramento’s Cold Sweat.  An in demand acoustic player, Frank Kenney has a reputation for solid skills and a driving rhythm style. Charles Williams is a full-fledged funk-punk cowboy who has the chops and the wardrobe to play almost any kind of music.  Ernie Belles keeps the rhythm seated and the groove groovin’, but his high vocal harmonies are what bring sweet texture to the Tribe of the Red Horse sound.

“After playing blues and folk music for over a decade, I wanted to do something different.  Neil Young was a major reason why I picked up a guitar,” explains Whitzell when asked why he felt the urge to perform
the music of Neil Young.  “It is the kind of music that every generation needs to hear.”

Since forming in the summer of 2011, Tribe of the Red Horse has performed throughout Northern California at well known venues such as the Sutter Creek Theater, Marilyn’s on K in Sacramento, the Sacramento Music Festival and Creekside Friday’s in Mill Valley all the while steadily growing a fan base that Whitzell says appeals to both boomers and twenty-somethings who have discovered the music of Neil Young on their own.

“It is amazing to look out from the stage and see such a diverse group of people all grooving on the same music.  It is a true testament to the power and importance of Neil’s music,” says Whitzell.

Tribe of the Red Horse will perform two fifty minute electric sets with an intermission in between.  The set list reaches deep into the archives with a blend of feel good songs and Young’s more political songs. Throughout the performance the band also plays audio clips from well-known performances by Young including Woodstock.

“I consciously chose the “Live Rust” as the epicenter of the show because it is a seminal moment for Neil and then we go back to “Zuma” and then forward to “Freedom” and radiate from there,” explains Whitzell.  “We want to take a snap shot in time of different eras and reproduce them with accuracy.”

Live Rust is the live album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, recorded during his fall 1978 “Rust Never Sleeps” tour.  The album features the well-known tracks “Sugar Mountain”, “My, My, Hey Hey”, “Cinnamon Girl” and “Like a Hurricane.”  Zuma was Young and Crazy Horse’s seventh album that was released in 1975 and has an overall more upbeat, country-tinged rock vibe.  Released in 1989, Freedom  was Young’s 18th studio album.  The album effectively relaunched Young’s career and brought about commercial success with the single “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

“There are other Neil Young tribute bands, but the major difference between them and us is the guitar tone.  I’ve personally spent a lot of time to replicate that sound and with the help of my guitar tech Don Lopez at Uptown Music in Millbrae who has customized my guitars, I can,” says Whitzell.  “Tribe of the Red Horse is not a caricature of Neil Young, we are not dressing up to play the music; we are
celebrating the music.”

KNOW & GO
What: Tribe of the Red Horse celebration of the music of Neil Young
and Crazy Horse
When: Saturday, July 20, 2013, Doors 7:30pm, Show 8pm
Where: Miners Foundry Cultural Center, 325 Spring Street, Nevada City, CA 95959
Tickets: $16/Adv, $20/Door, and are available online, by phone (530)
265-5040, in person at the Miners Foundry, or at Briar Patch Co-Op.
Information: www.minersfoundry.org

Theater By The Book Returns With The Thriller SLEUTH – Wednesday, May 22

Theater by the Book, a series of informal play readings for the community co-presented by Sierra Stages and the Miners Foundry Cultural Center, returns Wednesday, May 22 with a reading of the Tony Award-winning play Sleuth, directed by Susan Mason and featuring local actors Jeffrey Mason and Danny McCammon.

“We kicked off the “Theater by the Book” series in April with a reading/singing of a children’s musical Stone Soup which has a musical score by Ken Hardin, Artistic Director of InConcert Sierra,” explains Peter Mason, board member of Sierra Stages. “We expected about fifty audience members, but had over one hundred and fifty in the attendance.  The feedback on the show was overwhelmingly positive.”

Sleuth has all the ingredients of a top-class thriller – a plot whose twists and turns are breathtakingly audacious and fiendishly cunning; suspense and excitement galore; and a brilliant parody of the Agatha Christie country-house thriller.  Written in 1970 by Anthony Shaffer the play is set in the English manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer, played by Mason.  Wyke’s home reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife’s lover, Milo Tindle played by McCammon, to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewelry, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke’s imagination ends and reality begins.

“I love Sleuth.  It is fun, interesting, and rarely ever done because of the production challenges,” explains Susan on why she suggested the play for the series. “The play reads very well and I’m interested in the creative process of reworking a familiar play in a way that is new to me and the audience.  Plus it was a great opportunity to work with my husband again.”

Susan grew up in Grass Valley and met Jeffrey while performing in a production of Oliver! at the Nevada Theatre in 1976.  Since then the two have worked together in over thirty shows and lived throughout California and Oregon.  The Mason’s threw themselves back in to local theatre two years ago after Jeffrey retired from teaching theatre arts at the university level.  Most recently, Susan directed Assassins for Sierra Stages and Alice in Wonderland for Quest Theatreworks and acted in Sierra Stages’ production Death of a Salesman, while Jeffrey has directed The Music Man and Death of a Salesman for Sierra Stages. Both also participated in the popular 24 Hour Plays produced by Sands Hall at the Miners Foundry.

“My love of theatre comes from my love of dramatic literature,” explains Susan.  “There is so much good literature out there, you can’t run out of good material.  I also love watching the audience see something come alive in person.”

Also in the cast is seasoned actor Danny McCammon. McCammon has performed in numerous local productions, including Sierra Stages’ Assassins and CATS’ Journey to the West. He also performs in the Best Friends Club Sketch Comedy Group, and will be seen in Sierra Stages’ summer production of the musical Avenue Q at the Nevada Theatre.

The Theater By the Book readings are FREE (with a $10 suggested donation). Each reading is on a Wednesday evening – doors open at 7 and the reading begins at 7:30.

“We thought it was important that the play readings be free, but we are also asking for a suggested contribution of $10 to cover royalties for each play and the promotion and fixed costs for the Foundry,” says Peter Mason.  “Although not designed as a fund raising event (after all, admission is free), any proceeds from the series will go to the Miners Foundry and Sierra Stages, which are both 501(c)(3) organizations with a goal to provide cultural activities for our community.”

The rest of the play reading series will be entertaining as well, with a wide variety of plays: Sleuth will be followed with a comedy (Lettice and Lovage), a drama (The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), a sprawling historical epic with music (Zoot Suit) and one reading to be announced. Jeffrey Mason will direct the Peter Shaffer comedy Lettice and Lovage the third installment of Theater By the Book on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at the Miners Foundry.