|
|
|
|
Homegrown Sierra talent highlights June Lake Loop Mountain Music Festival |
|
|
Friday, 31 July 2009 |
Donations to benefit June Lake Loop Women’s Club Scholarship Fund
By Catherine Billey
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Submitted photo BadManBodie.jpg Bonnie Tamblyn at Bodie in the 1970s with her band, Blue Heaven, behind her. Drummer Bill Brumback, who will be at the festival, is above the word “Bad,” to his right is musical director Rick Huhnke, who will be on guitar, piano and mandolin at the festival, and Larry Robinson, who will be feature troubadour at “Fishtales and Old Friends” at the festival.
The June Lake Loop Mountain Music Festival debuts on Aug. 5, thanks to a collaboration between longtime friends and locals Bonnie Tamblyn and Candy Logue.
“It’s mainly comprised of local musicians. My band, Blue Heaven, performed up there in the 60’s and 70’s in Mammoth and June Lake - and all up and down Highway 395 - and we love the place,” Tamblyn said in a phone call. “June Lake never has had a music festival. We’ve had crafts fairs and things like that.”
The festival runs through Aug. 9 at three locations around the Loop. Profits and donations will support the June Lake Women’s Scholarship Fund.
“We give college or continuing education scholarships to the local June Lake kids that apply – not even just kids,” Logue said.
“What we’re trying to do first is pay all the musicians for coming – travel and lodging. And then if there’s something left, they’re going to make a donation.”
The kick-off outdoor concert begins at Trout Town Joe’s in the early afternoon on Wednesday with the bluegrass band Shady Rest and local talents Travis Rosenquist, Josh Mann, June Lake Jake and Megan Isabelle.
Next up, Thursday on the deck of Eagle’s Landing at the Dougle Eagle Resort & Spa will be award-winning cowboy poet Larry Maurice.
“We found him because of Robin Stater,” Logue said. “I asked her if she knew of a cowboy poet and she gave us his name.”
Those who don their dancing shoes can start moving to the sounds of the Horseshoe Canyon All-Star Band following the poetry. Tamblyn’s daughter Amber Rose Tamblyn, an actress and a poet, will make a special appearance.
Talent runs in the Tamblyn family. Husband and father Russ was discovered by Lloyd Bridges in the late 1940s and is perhaps best known for his performance in the 1961 movie musical West Side Story” as Riff, the leader of the Jets gang.
“He’s even going to do a little soft shoe in his cowboy boots,” his wife, Bonnie, laughed.
The following three days of the festival take place at the T-Bar at the Sierra Inn, built by Logue’s father and dating to 1973.
“We used to have entertainment there all the time in the 70s, 80s and 90s,” Logue said. “Bonnie used to play in the T-Bar years ago.”
The festival will be, in a sense, a revival of those good old days.
A “Songwriters Showcase” will go down on Friday from 8 p.m. until the midnight hour and feature Larry Quinn, Genie Lee B., Isabelle and unannounced, surprise guests.
The Saturday evening events at T-Bar will dovetail with the Annual Firemen’s Bar-B-Q beginning at noon at Gull Lake. “Fishtails and Old Friends” will go on stage at 8 p.m. through midnight and feature troubadour Larry Robinson, returning to play with the original Blue Heaven Band. Their musical collaboration dates to 1972.
Finally, the Jeff Lee Jamboree and Oh! Ridge Jamboree will complete the five-day festival, with a special performance by Lava Moon on Sunday.
Most events ask for a donation of anywhere from $5 to $10 at the door and all feature refreshments for purchase.
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 07 August 2009 )
|
|
|
|
