Greg Parke: News

There is a very ambitious and dedicated group of people in my community who have worked very hard for the past few years restoring an old abandon church into a beautiful performance center for the arts. Since they don't have a presence on the internet yet, I offered to put their schedule of performances on my web site. They are adding new performances all the time, so check back often! Send me an email if you would like more info....

2008
Monthly Medley of Music

May

Trillium Chamber Group

Led by Janet Bowler on Flute and including 5 performers long with Lauri Drage-Vocalist

June

String of Pearls

Including our own Jerry Peterson on bass along with a 6 piece orchestra and vocalist

July

Arcato String Quartet

Including, Puget Islander, Carol Cole on violin, accompanied with 3 of her associates from Portland, OR.

August

All That Jazz

A six piece orchestra under the leadership of

Or own Jim Miller of Cathlamet.

September

The Columbia River Brass Quintet

From Vancouver. WA

Returning from last year when they nearly brought down the house with applause.

Other Programs

Results from receipt of recently received grant from The Washington State Arts Commission

Two programs, one each in March and April

First classical Violins Kim Angelis & Guitarist Josef will perform at Naselle Grays River Schools

for a Friday, March 21st Assembly

and the following Saturday Mach 22nd here Saturday evening 7:00 PM

The Second program will be a 5 piece Saxaphone Quintet from Seattle WA. They will perform at Wahkiakum Schools on Friday April 25th and the following, Saturday April 26th here at Saturday evening 7:00 PM

Tickets will be available for purchase in the community. Watch for more information in the newspapers and in your mailbox.

Finally, Just to let you know our performance don’t stop there. This year we have Steve & Krtisti Knebel performing here on the last weekend in February, Dave Carlson on Piano in October, Greg Parke in November and Con Amici String Quartet in December.

I did it again! I didn't have a gig on Thursday night, so I went into the studio for "just an hour or two". After working on some new material for a while, I figured it was maybe about 1-2:00 in the morning, so I decided to call it a night and get some sleep. I opened the door to step outside, and was greeted by a beautiful sunny morning.....turns out it was almost 6:00 am! Oh well. Time for breakfast, I guess!

I'm getting ready for tonights gig at the grand re-opening of the River Rat tavern in Cathlamet, Wa. If you've ever seen the movie "Men of Honor" starring Robert Deniro and Cuba Gooding Jr, then you have seen the River Rat. Several scenes from the movie were filmed here. Remember that scene where Robert and Cuba were having a breath holding contest inside those diving suits full of water, and the next scene where Cuba's girlfriend gave him the "I can't take this anymore so goodbye" speech and drove up the hill in an old car? Those were both done at the Rat Tap. I guess the movie "Snow Falling on the Cedars" also shot some scenes here. Hey, maybe some movie stars will show up tonight?? Could happen!

See ya,
Greg

The laryngitis is all gone, I'm happy to say! I am forever grateful to all of you who put up with my croaking voice, and even bought CD's as I assaulted your eardrums (special apologies to Kermit the Frog for comparing my voice to yours......drop by for a brew or a spot of wine sometime if you are not to mad at me!)

Some really fun gigs have come and gone this month. Come to think of it, they are all fun! Summerfest in Longbeach is always good for a real mixed crowd and smiling faces, and the two gigs I did there last weekend lived up to your reputation. I really enjoyed David dancing and singing and playing "air guitar" in front of the speakers. Man....where do you get all of that energy?? The Sea Pearl Lounge was a real kick. I saw a lot of old friends and met several new ones. By the way guys, spread the word...the Sea Pearl is definitly the place to be this New Years Eve. And Marilynn, make sure you use your "tippy cup"!!

Mark your calendars for this Saturday night, June 23. The River Rat Tavern in Cathlamet, Wa is having it's grand re-opening, under the new management of Jennifer Johnson. Now, I have never been to the "other side of heaven" (I do hope to make it someday!!) but I can definetly say that Jennifer has one of the most beautiful voices this side of heaven that you have ever heard. I am going to do my best to get her up on stage with me to sing a few songs throughout the evening.

I'm still doing preliminary stuff for my "Fingers To The Bone" project. This is going to a lot of fun if everything works. Check back for more info as things take shape.

It's Summer.......Get out and enjoy!
See Ya
Greg

All the entries in my journal were getting a bit old, so I decided to delete them all and start fresh......so here goes!
I just finished a 3 day run that started with the Olympia Farmers Market. This market has got to be one of the best that I have ever seen, and it just keeps getting better. This year they have added covered seating area in front of the stage, and people really seemed to enjoy getting out of the hot sun and listening to some tunes. The cover seems to have eliminated the slight echo from the building directly opposite of the stage, so now the sound is even better! Cool!
Friday night I performed for those nice folks at the Renton VFW. It's always an honor to do a show for them....we all owe our veterans so much.
Saturday evening found me at the Thousand Trails campground in Leavenworth, Wa, with a rather severe case of laryngitis. You know the old show biz saying..."the show must go on"... so with the help of a big thermos full of hot water, honey, and lemon juice, a bottle of singers throat spray, and a bag of throat lozenges, I was able to croak out an almost two hour show before my voice quit altogether. I'm sure I sounded like Kermit the frog trying to impress Miss Piggy, but the audience was great, and we all had a good time. Thousand Trails is a family oriented camping club, and as a result I had all ages in the audience, ranging from a little guy about 1 year old, on up to people in thier 80's. Ordinarily that might make the choice of what kind of music to play a bit of a challenge, but we all had so much fun watching the little kids dance and making jokes about my cracking voice that everything I played seemed to work. There were even members of a church choir there that wanted the music to my song "Faded Old Flag" so they could learn it! Faded Old Flag is kind of a rocker...it might be interesting to see what a choir could do with it!
One more thing......I may embark on something rather ambitious soon. Check back for more info on my "Fingers To The Bone" project.
See ya,
Greg