October 26, 2018

By Paul Mack
Photos by Dianne Risner

We played a fun gig on Friday October 26 at Atria Walnut Creek. We were situated in the dining room, and although it was a tight fit, we made room for all 25 of us. Our group included Red Higgins, Sheila Welt, Ardie Jarrett, Doug Johnson, Paul Mack, Dina Melamed, Clyde Dedmon, Debbie Hodson, Karen Hefter, Don Granberg, Chris Lardge, Linda Myers, Phil Myers, Garry Kerr, Kit Nelson, Bob Malucelli, Diane Malucelli, Rich Combs, Jan Ruzicka, Slavka Ruzicka, Tom Brunetti, Bob Ehrhorn, Betty David, Larry Risner and Guy Black.

It was very exciting to have both Karen and Betty performing with us again. In addition to their participation, the audience was looking forward to hearing their very own resident, longtime banjo club member Red Higgins.  She wowed the crowd when she sang “The Crawdad Song.” Toward the middle of the program Red and Kit performed “Bill Bailey” and had the crowd singing and clapping along. Later on Bob Ehrhorn and Red did a wonderful job with “ Darktown Strutter’s Ball.”

We ended with Sheila and Debbie parading through the audience while Don sang our traditional closing number, “When The Saints Go Marching In.” As we were packing up afterwards, a number of people told us how much they enjoyed the show. As the staff was busy getting the room ready for dinner, I looked at the menu and the entrees were Grilled Chicken, Lamb Chop or Salmon Piccata. Yum, yum.