ANOTHER NIGHT AT THE CANDLELIGHT

ANOTHER NIGHT AT THE

CANDLELIGHT

by

Ken Eliasberg

I am not the Examiner’s theatre critic or culture commentator, but I do like to share with my readers some of themore delightful benefits of being an American. It’s important to analyze our fight with radcial Islam, to be sure, but every now and then it’s just as mportant to keep in mind what we are fighting for—FREEDOM. The freedom to have a wonderful night out on the town. And that’s exactly what I did this past Thursday—treat myself and my wife to a cultural treat—Smokey Joe’s cafe at the Candlelight Pavilion. It was one of the few evenings when the entertainers ran out of gas before I did. That is, typically, when 10 or 10:30 PM rolls around, I’m ready for the entertainment to end and sleep to begin. But not on Smokey Joe’s watch; I was just warming up when the music ended. These guys were fantastic. I know that l frequently sound like a P.R. guy for Ben Bollinger’s productions, but, actually, I have never met the man, and, more often than not, superlatives don’t come easy to me—I will settle for nothing less than excellence, and Bollinger rarely makes it necessary for me to do so. Between the Candlelight (which is uniquely his creation) and Citrus’ Haugh Performing Center (in whose creation and operation, I have no doubt, he

Played an instrumental role), he has contributed mightily to the cultural continuity of the Inland Empire.

In all events, I whloleheartedly recommend the Candlelight’s latest offering, Smokey Joe’s café, which showcases the music of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, a prolific and outstanding songwriting team of the 50’s and 60’s. Lieber and Stoller were great contributors to the R&B movement, producing many songs that topped the charts during that era—many of which are featured in Smokey Joe’s Café. But songs are no better than the people who sing them; a good song in the hands of a bad singer is not likely to leave a memorable impression. That’s rarely a problem with a Bollinger production—his singers are invariably at least as good as the songs that they are called upon to sing. And that is certainly the case with every effort put forward in Smokey Joe’s. I don’t know where either Citrus or Bollinger find these young people, but they are teriffic,

Throughout the course of the evening, there was never a dull moment—no time to even get a bit restless; Smokey Joe’s café grabs you by the eyes and ears, and, for two magical and memorable hours, never lets go. The couple we went with are good friends, dear people, and my age—you know, seniors. Nonetheless, my friend got so enthused with the wonderful singing and dancing that I expected him, at any minute, to jump up on the table and break into some wild dance. It was infectious. These people sang beautifully and their dancing was reminiscent of the best I have seen on Broadway. It was wall to wall singing and dancing, and you never got tired. On the contrary, your energy built with theirs, and you found yourself wishing that the music would never stop. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was when it came to an end—as I indicated, I felt that I was just warming up when they called it a night.

We are so fortunate to have this sort of cultural activity so readily available to us. I drive 20 or 30 minutes, have no trouble (and no expense) parking , walk quickly to a beautiful theatre, get seated quickly and easily in comfortable surroundings, and just sit back and be entertained—and very well entertained at that. Then, when it’s over, I jump back in my car, and I’m home in less than a half hour, with no traffic problems on the way. I don’t have to drive an hour or more (to the Ahmanson or the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, both of which are quite nice to be sure, but too far away and too expensive). It doesn’t get any better than that!

Oh but it does! The convenience of it all pales into insignificance when compared with the quality of the performance. And Smokey Joe’s is just another example—albeit a superb one—of our good fortune. I know I sound like a Bollinger sycophant, but don’t take my word for it—go see Smokey Joe’s café. None of my words do justice to it—these young people are as good as anything you are going to see and hear.

And patronize the Candlelight and the Haugh Performing Center; we are so lucky to have these guys in our backyard. Very few communities are so fortunate, and, unless we take advantage of our good fortune, it may not last. These are profit-making undertakings, and, if we don’t take advantage of them, the time may come when they may not be available to us.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 11th, 2006 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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