Celebrate Independence Day with some fine live music on a summer evening with the kick off of the Winters Friends of the Library 2024 Summer Concerts at the Gazebo.
The series begins with Bonanza King playing Western swing, old country and blues on Thursday, July 4 from 7 8:30 p.m. at Rotary Park in downtown Winters.
Powerhouse singer Kari King fronts the band, backed by top-notch guitar, bass, drums and steel guitar players. There might even be a patriotic sing along.
Bring a blanket or lawn chairs or sit on the grass. The concerts are free, but donations will be gratefully accepted. Cold drinks and tasty refreshments will be for sale, along with quality used books.
All proceeds will benefit the Winters Community Library. This year's series is sponsored by Waste Management and Oates Country Store. For more information, visit https://wfol.org/.
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The Woodland Opera House is set to host the Yolo Community Band in July for their performance of "Disney, Dances and Delights."
The family-friendly concert, taking place on July 13 at 2 p.m., will feature music from three popular Disney classics: "Beauty and the Beast," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Frozen."
"In addition, the audience will enjoy the sweeping melodies of Rossano Galante's 'Red Rock Mountain,' the high-spirited dances of 'Rikudim: Four Israeli Folk Dances' by Jan van der Roost and the entrancing melodies and drum rhythms of Brian Balmages' 'Arabian Dances,' said a press release from Yolo Community Band.
The Yolo Community Band is composed of amateur and professional musicians from all around Yolo County, including Woodland, Davis, Esparto, the Capay Valley, Dunnigan, Winters and beyond. The concert band meets weekly under the baton of music director and longtime Woodland resident Michael Loya, who also serves as the band director of Jesuit High School.
"It is a thrill to work each week with such talented and enthusiastic musicians and to share their music with the community," Loya said.
The band performed last fall with the UC Davis Concert Band at Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center. In May, they shared a stage with the musicians from Winters Middle School in an outreach concert to encourage those young musicians to continue to enjoy music as a part of their lives throughout and beyond their years in school.
Coming up in August, the band will perform at Gibson House in Woodland on Aug. 10 and at the Yolo County Fair on Aug. 14. This fall the community band will honor the memory of our veterans at the Veteran's Day ceremony at the historic Yolo County Courthouse in Woodland.
Ticket prices are $15 for adults, $10 for youth under 16 and seniors over 65. Balcony seating is $10. Children under 3 are free.
For tickets, contact the Woodland Opera House box office at (530) 666-9617 or visit https://woodlandoperahouse.org/portfolio_page/yolo-community-band/.
The band rehearses on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. and welcomes new members on all wind and percussion instruments throughout the year. For more information about these concerts or to join the band, contact yolocommunityband@gmail.com.
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The 2024-25 program for the Woodland Shakespeare Club is set to focus on challenged or banned books.
"Free People Read Freely" will focus on these challenged books whose numbers, according to the Americans Library Association, are growing rapidly.
The books chosen for the program seasons are: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson, "Othello" by William Shakespeare, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, "Looking for Alaska" by John Green, and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling.
"Hold on to your hats; this promises to be a riveting program season," said a press release from the Woodland Shakespeare Club.
The 2023-2024 season celebrated women behind the scenes, strong contributors who helped make the world the place it is today.
"Shining brightly, but often overshadowed by the more frequently documented achievements of men, the seven reading selections illustrate remarkable women," the press release continued.
The stories included: "Love and Fury, a Novel of Mry Wollstonecroft" by Samantha Silva, "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd, "The Bohemians" by Jasmin Darznik, "The Other Einstein" by Marie Benedict, "The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience" by Kirstin Downey, "A Woman of No Importance" by Sonia Purnell and "Just As I Am: A Memoir" by Cicely Tyson.
Longstanding WSC member Patt Pavao stated that "the goal of the club is to study and learn while also honoring traditions that were established when the club first began to meet." Those traditions date back to 1886 when WSC, the second oldest women's literary club in California, was organized.
Membership in WSC is limited to 50 members; prospective members are sponsored by active members who have been in the club at least five years.
Two occasions during the seven-meeting program year which begins in October include the January Tea and April Luncheon. These special meetings are open to guests invited by current members.
For more information, contact WSC president Berta Boegel at 746.43rab@gmail.com.
Center Stage is a column exploring the arts in and around Yolo County.
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