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“I am interested in how the wild beast lives in the jungle not in the zoo.”- Contemporary composer Morton Feldman; his metaphor for the nature of creative energy. I must say that the last 3 or 4 days have just been a wildly entertaining whirlwind between New York City and the Santa Clarita Valley. And it was all capped off with an incredibly enjoyable musical performance at The Wild Beast at CalArts and if you weren’t there with the 600 plus residents than you missed out on a wonderfully free evening.

  Stepping back, it all started with a business trip to New York City on Thursday. With the time change and traffic from JFK airport to my hotel in midtown Manhattan; I got into my room at around 5:30 PM. Just enough time to hang a few clothes in the walk-in closet and get changed for dinner with my sister Caroline.

We eat at the China Grill on 53rd Street next to the Museum of Modern Art. It was a kind of Chinese, Thai, and French fusion place that had great food and terrific service. We had a leisurely dinner and it was a short walk afterwards to the Broadway Theatre on the corner of 53rd and Broadway. I took her to see what else but…. Sister Act!

I would highly recommend Sister Act if you are in New York anytime soon. The play stars Patina Miller as Deloris Van Cartier and Victoria Clark as Mother Superior. It is a wonderful cast with very witty and smart songs with lyrics by Glenn Slater and a fantastic score by Alan Menken. The play was funny, touching and most of all uplifting and inspiring. I could not think of a better show to have seen that Thursday night with my sister!

Friday was filled with work related meetings and by the afternoon I was able to catch a train out to Long Island to visit with my parents. They still live in the six bedroom house I grew up in and have had that house now for 52 years; they have no intention of selling it anytime soon either.

We all went out to an early Father’s Day dinner at a beautiful and elegant seafood restaurant. The baked clams are just mouthwatering and I don’t ever remember having a bad meal at this establishment.

Saturday morning it was back to JFK for a flight back to Los Angeles which got me into LAX at around 2:30 PM. A very relaxing, uneventful flight home just the way I like it and I got home here in the valley by 4:00 PM. Which, buy the way, was perfect timing to drop in at the Wild Beast to see how the setup was going for the Bone Rhythms show that would start at 7:30 Saturday night.

I have to say that if you weren’t at The Wild Beast on Saturday night then you missed a truly fun evening under the stars. It was about as perfect an evening as you could ask for and there was a really terrific turn out of residents for this jazz music and dance concert event. The first in a series of five free concerts planned for the summer and early autumn.

The evening concert started out with the jazz ensemble Build An Ark which was founded in 2001 by Carlos Nino a Los Angeles based producer and musician. Build An Ark first played a melodic, soft jazz composition followed by a piece that had Carlos reading some poetry.

I have to admit that this was certainly a bit outside the entertainment comfort zone for a Santa Clarita Valley audience. In fact, Carlos had a Jesus-like look to him, with long brown hair and beard, as he shared the “vibrational message of Universal LOVE!” in the poetry reading. All I could do was think to myself; “oh God, this is supposed to be a family friendly concert please don’t start talking about physical love!!!” Thankfully my prayers were answered and the poetry was more amusing to the kids nearby than anything else. Hey, this is the CalArts campus where I went to school thirty years ago…. Maybe I was just having flashbacks.

The highpoint of the first set came with the last two songs that were performed with vocalist Dwight Trible. He was an animated and passionate singer who belted out the soulful lyrics to a riveted audience and it certainly was a crowd pleaser. It was the jazz music that these 600 plus residents was expecting and they were not disappointed by Mr. Trible.

After a brief intermission, the musicians came back out on stage but this time it was to accompany the Santa Clarita Ballet Company’s performance of Bone Rhythms. This was a piece choreographed and directed by Carol Guidry to a musical composition by Jim Lang. It was vibrant, graceful and transfixing to watch the more than a dozen dancers perform this original modern dance piece.

Mixed into the VIP seating area were: Michele and Richard Golden; Rosalind Wayman from Supervisor Antonovich’s office; Cheri and Don Fleming of Valencia Acura (one of the concert series sponsors); David Rosenboom, Dean of the Music School at CalArts; Santa Clarita Councilman Frank Ferry and his girlfriend; Bob Haueter of Congressman McKeon’s office and his wife Lynn; Steve, Dianne and Ryan Arklin; Kay and Don Whaley; among others.

The next concert is the series is the Mariachi Mystery Tour scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2011, at the COC Performing Arts Center. The Mariachi Mystery Tour is a group of highly accomplished musicians doing a repertoire of songs by The Beatles. They have re-imagined the music of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr through the melodic lenses of Mariachi! This will be another great show and all for FREE!

Attending these events is just rejuvenating, uplifting and inspiring; it’s an experience that you can share with your family and/or friends and it won’t cost you a dime thanks to Supervisor Antonovich; the LA County Arts Commission; Levitt Pavilion Foundation; the COC PAC; CalArts; The Stevenson Ranch Community Association; Valencia Acura; The Santa Clarita Ballet Company; and The West Ranch Beacon.

For a complete list of upcoming performances click here:  SCV World Music Concert Series       

Dave Bossert- Commentary 

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.