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Harry Aldrich, founder of the Parade Street Dixieland Jazz Band

Parade Street Jazz Band plays out 2012 Season

August 26, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The Parade Street Dixieland Jazz Band begins its Chautauqua debut performance at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater.

The seven-member band features Harry Aldrich, tenor banjo; Sonny Froman, drumset; Keith Lenz, trumpet; John Marszalek, clarinet; Marilyn Marszalek, piano; Kent Tucker, trombone; and Gary Viebranz, sousaphone.

The group will play a program of musical favorites in a jazz interpretation including “Hello Dolly,” “Armed Forces Medley” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Jazz favorites include “Bourbon Street Blues,” “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Dark Town Strutter’s Ball.”

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Sunday Afternoon Entertainment
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Hodgson

Breakfast in Chautauqua: Hodgson closes 2012 entertainment in Amp with Supertramp favorites

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 6 Comments

The moment I got it into my hands, my life changed forever,” said Roger Hodgson, legendary musician and songwriter, about the guitar his father gave to him.

Hodgson, formerly of the progressive rock band Supertramp, will rock the grounds 8:15 p.m. Saturday evening in the Amphitheater.

Hailing from Portsmouth, England, Hodgson was 12-years-old at the time his parents got divorced and he received that bittersweet parting gift.

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Evening Entertainment
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Straight No Chaser

Pitch Perfect: A capella to be served ‘Straight No Chaser’ to Chautauqua audience

August 24, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

A cappella is making a comeback.

In a world of the technically enhanced, society still has a fondness for purity. Raw talent takes the Amphitheater stage tonight in the form of 10 male voices who make up the a cappella group Straight No Chaser.

“I love seeing audience reactions,” said tenor Ryan Ahlwardt. “I love providing something that, in a way, allows an escape from daily realities.”

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Evening Entertainment
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The Lettermen

Lettermen to serenade audience with classic love ballads tonight at the Amp

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

In almost 50 years of performances with The Lettermen, Tony Butala has received a standing ovation every single show. But when the popular vocal group was formed in 1958, the members were paid $125 a week for 14 performances, and nobody knew their name.

“We could have been called The Three Ashtrays,” Butala said. “It meant nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Having recently completed their 76th album, The Lettermen are certainly more than nothing. The group became a hit in the 1960s, known for its love ballads such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “When I Fall In Love,” and “Goin’ Out of My Head / Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Overall, the group has 16 Top 10 singles and five Grammy nominations.

The Lettermen will perform at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater as part of the evening entertainment series.

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Evening Entertainment
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The Capitol Steps Submitted photo.

Political humor group brings laughs to Amp tonight

August 22, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

To Larry King, “they’re the best. There’s no one like them, no one in their league.” And according to President George H. W. Bush, “the Capitol Steps make it easier to leave public life.”

With endorsements like that, who needs an introduction? At 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater, the Capitol Steps will prove, once again, that politics does not take a holiday where humor is concerned.

No matter who or what is in the headlines, the Capitol Steps will tackle both sides of the political spectrum and all things equally foolish. What more would you expect from the group that puts the “mock” in “democracy”?

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Evening Entertainment
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The New Christy Minstrels

The New Christy Minstrels perform for presidential audience once more

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

While the Beatles were making their American television debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, The New Christy Minstrels were performing in the White House.

Forty-eight years later, the folk group will hold another presidential audience, performing during Chautauqua’s “Presidents Club”-themed week at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater.

Reminiscent of a band out of Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind, The New Christy Minstrels under the direction of Randy Sparks had great success as a folk ensemble in the 1960s, went through several restructured phases, and now resemble their original group again. Randy Sparks founded the group in 1961 in order to perform his music, following the example of composer Stephen Foster in the 19th century, who, when having trouble getting his music played, handed his repertoire over to the Christy Minstrels.

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Evening Entertainment
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A group in the Barbershop Harmony Parade perform last season in the Amphitheater. Daily file photo.

Barbershop Harmony Parade returns to Amp

August 18, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Barbershop quartets are not just a gleeful group of men wearing striped jackets and bow ties, singing songs from the past. They are a ferociously loyal assembly of men, or women, who capture music and weave it into a harmony bringing smiles to the faces of anyone listening.

Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Amphitheater, the Barbershop Harmony Parade will return to Chautauqua. The event will involve performances by some of the most accomplished barbershop quartets in the Seneca Land District, which is comprised of Upstate New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania.

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Sunday Afternoon Entertainment
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Gill

Gill brings Grammy-winning music back to Amp tonight

August 17, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

To kick off this season’s penultimate weekend, country music prince Vince Gill will return to the Chautauqua Institution at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater.

With a record 20 Grammy awards and 17 Country Music Association honors, including four “Song of the Year” titles, Gill is a legend far beyond his Nashville home. His more than 30-year career has traversed several genres, including a substantial tryst in bluegrass. Though his voice is not quite as high or lonesome as so many bluegrass stars, his tenor range and gentle but impressive talent with the guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and dobro make him an ample partner for the genre’s royalty, including Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless and newcomer Sarah Jarosz, who he performed with in June.

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Evening Entertainment
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