entertainment

Polka is one of those musical styles that just unavoidably brings a smile to your face. It was an appropriate choice to kick off a fun concert season in Jackson Square on Friday evening. And the Bedrock Boys didn't disppoint.

For more on upcoming shows, check the Jackson Square ad on the right side of the page. The series includes blues, rock, country and jazz and continues through August.

More pictures after the jump:

Students, faculty and staff of Batavia High gathered in the auditorium Wednesday night to show what they could do entertainment-wise to an appreciative and enthusiastic audience.

Here are a few photos of some of the performers.

More photos after the jump:

Last week, when the Grammy nominations were announced, the category for Best Country Instrumental Performance included the song Under The (Five) Wire, by Alison Brown.

Now, that may not mean much to most readers of The Batavian, but it means a lot to the Bohn family of Batavia.

The audio engineer on the recording was John J. Bohn, a 2003 graduate of Batavia High as well as a 2006 graduate of the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. 

Roger Bohn tells us that John lives in Nashville with is wife and son.

You can hear more of John's work on his MySpace page.

Down to Earth Approach, a rock band that landed the coveted record deal, released two CDs, toured all over the country, and won over more than a few fans, was formed in Batavia a decade ago.

The band hasn't played together since 2007, but for tonight they've booked a reunion show at (the former) Main Street Coffee.  Tickets are $15 at the door and 10 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Salvation Army.

The video above is from a previous show at Main Street Coffee.  There's more videos of the band on YouTube, including the fun one at the bottom of this post.

Pete Metzler, an original member of the band, e-mailed us this history of the group:

I, along with the other 4 members of the band are Batavia natives. We formed  in 2000 and after about a year or so we decided to go for it, and all dropped  out of college. We then packed up and moved to Los Angeles. We lived out  there for a couple years playing shows and trying to make a name for  ourselves and in late 2003 we signed a record deal with Vagrant Records. In  August 2004, our first record 'Another Intervention' was released. At that  point we commenced what turned into almost 4 years of touring the US and  Canada regularly. Over this time we played about 350 or 400 shows all over  the country including the entire Vans Warped Tour 2006. In 2007 we released  our second record 'Come Back to You'. Unfortunately life started to catch up  with us and we decided to call it a day right after our 2nd record was  released.

Here's the band's MySpace page, and more about the band on their record label's site.

Besides Metzler, band members include: John McCampbell, Daniel Shepard, Ryan McClurg and Jonathan Lullo.

Also on the bill tonight, The Hoodies and Justin Reynolds.

On Tuesday, December 1, tickets for Encore! Theatre Arts’ January production of Disney’s High School Musical will be on sale to the general public. Whether you’re buying a holiday gift for theatre goers or the East High “wildcat” in your life, tickets to Disney’s High School Musical are a perfect choice.

Tickets are available for $10 advanced sale at Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle (located at 8 Center St., Batavia) during regular business hours. After 3 p.m. on show dates, tickets will be available for $12 at the venue door.

The show premieres January 7-10, 2010 at Batavia High School (260 State St., Batavia).

For more information, hours or phone orders, call Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle at (585) 343-0548 or visit http://adammillertoyandbicycle.com.

We introduced Tyler Barrett as a young, local aspiring fiction writer some time back. Tonight, he sent a long a link to this video of him playing piano. The song he's playing is "Lux Aeterna,"  from the film Requiem for a Dream.

Geoff Clough, a talented entertainer from Geneseo performed a Tribute To Bob Hope at 400 Towers Thursday night.

He began with a brief biography of Mr. Hope which included:

Leslie Townes Hope was born in London in 1903, the fifth of seven sons. His father, a stonemason, moved them to Cleveland, Ohio in 1907. Hope performed locally for several years and was discovered by comedian Fatty Arbuckle in 1925. A year later, he met George Burns and they traveled the vaudeville circuit with a pair of tap-dancing conjoined twins. He performed on several musicals and by the mid-1930s had begun doing films. It was around this time Leslie Townes Hope changed his name to Bob Hope, in response to a persistent nickname following him around: “Hopelessly.” Most of Hope’s fame came from his long tenure with radio and television (his relationship with NBC lasted over 60 years). Though never an Oscar winner, Hope is remembered as one of the great hosts of the Academy Awards, hosting or co-hosting 18 in all.

Quotable: “Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it’s known at my house, Passover.”

Songs and stories filled the evening as we remembered Bob Hope in films, radio and TV.

"Do you know how many Presidents sat in office during Bob Hope's lifetime?"

The answer, 18. 

Residents enjoyed the sing-a-long, remembering songs that Bob Hope made famous.

The evening ended with Irving Berlin's "God Bless America".

My morning started at the Pok-A-Dot. Just as I sat down, so did another couple and the lady happened to mention she was visiting from California. Well, that caught my ear for sure. "Where are you from?" I asked.

"Temecula."

"Oh, one of my best friends is a math teacher in Temecula. I grew up in San Diego."

"What brought you out here?"

"The weather."

After she picked her jaw up off the countertop, we started chatting. It turns out she's a singer. You might have known her as Debbie Chamberlain. Now she performs as Debbie Voltura.

Debbie is in town for her daughter's wedding today.

After a while, Bill McDonald, on the right, above, walked in and the two musicians with deep roots in Batavia greeted each other warmly. Debbie asked her manager Marc Gabriel, left, to go out to the car and get a copy of her latest CD, "Live on Broadway."

Bill said, "This lady can sing." And can she. Check out some of the song samples here.  If you like swinging jazz, as Billie and I do, you'll love Debbie's music.

More from the OHMS Band here.

Pat Tehan sent us the links with this note:

I hope you don't mind this shameless self-promotion - I'm the piano player in The OHMS Band.  We played at Jackson Square on July 31 - the weather cooperated for once this summer and we had a good crowd because of it.  Melissa Eddings Mancuso videotaped it and made DVDs for the band - her husband, Bill Mancuso, played organ.  I posted 15 of the songs to youtube, I thought that some of your readers might enjoy it if they were there.  Some good crowd shots in the videos...  Guys in the band are Anthony DelPlato (drums, vocals), Charlie DelPlato (electric guitar, vocals), Chris Bartz (acoustic guitar, lead vocals), Joe Palmer (bass), Bill Mancuso (organ), Pat Tehan (piano)

We're always happy to promote local music.

 My friend from Oakfield Dave Nanni and his band,Redheaded stepchild.Tim Pitcher sat in.They played in Attica on Wednsday night,at the gazebo concert series.It's nice at the Attica park.They have an outdoor pool too.

The Stuart Steiner Theater at Genesee Community College has hosted many quality college productions over the years. However, these past three weeks, a younger group of thespians called it home.

They are members of GCC's theater camp who'll be performing “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” this Friday and Saturday.

The musical comedy features the beloved Peanuts characters from the late Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip. The gang's all here -- Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Schroeder and Snoopy, of course.

Maryanne Arena, director of Fine and Performing Arts at the college, says she picked the show because of its wide appeal and because it is a full-length musical.

“I felt we were ready to do a full-scale show,” she said. 

The 22 campers, who range in age from 8-16, say the past three weeks have been fun, but challenging. 

“It’s a great experience to be onstage, and it gives the kids the idea of what it’s really like," said Margaret Gayford, who is playing Lucy. "Everyone works really hard." 

This is the 13-year-old Warsaw native’s fourth year at the camp, and she says she enjoys seeing old friends year after year.

“We’re all like a family from working together so much,” Margaret said.

Spencer Hubbard, also 13, has the role of Linus. He says the camp has made him realize his love of live theater.

“I’ve learned that I really, really want to be an actor," Spencer said. "And now instead of acting on TV, I’d much rather do Broadway.”

“You shouldn’t be afraid to come out and show the world what you can do,” added 11-year-old Alix Young, with a grin, spreading her arms theatrically.

Alix has the part of Sally.

Arena says that she hopes the children will take away from the camp an appreciation for more than just the applause at the end of the show.

“I try to teach love for the process, not just the end result,"  said the director. "I try to teach respect for what goes into making a show.”

Performances of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” are Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at  2 p.m.. The college is located at 1 College Road in Batavia. Tickets are $5. For ticket reservations contact the Box Office at (585) 343-0055 x6814 or by email to BoxOffice@genesee.edu.

West Jackson Corners is name-sake of the same geographical locale as it was once known – say back around the turn of the last century.  West Jackson Corners village is located directly across the road from East Shelby Community Bible Church, and this Sunday, July 19th – the Annual Old Tyme Days – the population of the village will once again flourish as visitors come to get a look at life in a bygone era. 

Old Tyme Days, an annual event sponsored by Community Bible Church, always draws a good crowd. And why not, given the opportunity to step back in time, to the days when hot dogs and home-made pie cost a penny? When ice cream and lemonade were home-made and so was the bread. I almost forgot to mention the home-made jam, goats-milk fudge and home-made cheese.  

Not only can you eat for a penny – and eat well – there will be entertainment in the form of the West Jackson Players, the West Jackson Band of Renown and a barber shop quartet. Horse-drawn rides will be offered as well as weaving and spinning demonstrations, blacksmith and tinsmith shops and much more including old fashioned games and activities.

The family-oriented event lasts all day, beginning with an old fashioned worship service at East  Shelby Community Bible Church at 10 a.m.  West Jackson Corners is located seven miles southeast of Medina on the East Shelby Road. 

Photos courtesy of Jim Dolan.  You can see a full collection of Jim's photos at NewYorkStatePhoto.com 

John Birchler left Batavia a long time ago, but he's making headlines in Schenectady where he's starring as John Denver in a off-Broadway tribute musical called "Almost Heaven."

Birchler left Batavia to attend college in Albany, and landed a teaching job near the state capitol after graduation. He is now retired.

“I don’t try to sound like him. It’s just a matter of representing his songs in that John Denver musical style. We want to perform the songs and be as faithful to him as we can.”

Birchler is the only identified character in the show, which includes 29 of Denver’s tunes, some of them accompanied by an audio-visual presentation.

“There are no real characters, but I do portray a John Denver-like figure,” said Birchler. “There’s a bit of a narrative thread throughout the show, and that’s me talking a little bit as Denver about different things that happened in his life. Beyond my little dialogue and the music, there’s an A-V component that includes almost 130 images projected onto a screen. In some way, they illustrate the songs and much of Denver’s life.”