Concert

All concerts start at 6 p.m. unless indicated otherwise. Children, blankets and picnic dinners are welcome. • May 31, 4 p.m. : Rock 'n' roll oldies featuring Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries . • June 6 : Blues featuring L.A. Bluescasters. • June 13 : Classic rock featuring Misplaced Priorities . The concert will be preceded by a classic car show. Attendees are encouraged to drive and park their vintage cars.

The Music in the Park 2009 summer concert series officially got underway Monday afternoon as Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries blasted their way on to the stage in La Cañada’s Memorial Park at the close of the Memorial Weekend Fiesta Days celebration. Wearing bright red sequined tuxedo jackets, retro hairstyles and singing danceable tunes like Chubby Checkers’ “The Twist” and the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” with a nod to all the swing dancers with “Tuxedo Junction,” the Coronaries had the crowd on their feet.

Internationally renowned Welsh harpist Robin Huw Bowen will be in concert at the Sylvia Woods Harp Center in Glendale on May 5 at 8 p.m. Doors will open one half hour before the show. Ticket prices are $16 in advance and $18 at the door. The Harp Center is located at 915 N. Glendale Ave.; phone is 956-1363. Tickets may be purchased at the Harp Center, or may be ordered by phone or from the website at www.harpcenter.com. Advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended. Bowen is a master of the Welsh Triple Harp and a proponent of all things Welsh.

Anyone who enjoys listening to lively music under the oaks on a Sunday afternoon is sure to agree that Descanso's summer concert series in July 'Sounds Like Fun.' Three concerts, all by popular performers and all free with Gardens admission, will begin at 2 p.m. at the Under the Oaks Theater. Seats for each hour-long concert are first come, first served, and the music will entertain visitors throughout the open-air theater area. The first concert, Sunday, July 1, will feature the jazzy group Incendio with a polyrhythmic swirl of Latin American music forms (boleros, cumbias, salsa, tango, mambo and Peruvian valses criollos)

The Chamber Singers, a select group of the La Cañada-based Towne Singers, will be showcased at a special afternoon concert held at the Lanterman House Museum on Valentine?s Day. The afternoon will include a tour of the house at 1 p.m., a champagne tea served in the courtyard at 2 p.m., followed by a concert of love songs, ?Love Is In The Air? in the beautiful ballroom of the historic home at 3 p.m. Towne Singers? director Beth Richey, and Melissa Patton, director of the Lanterman House Museum Foundation, agree that community spirit is generated when two local organizations come together for a cause.

The next In Praise of Music concert will be performed June 20 at 4 p.m. Church of the Lighted Window in La Cañada. The concert will feature Patricia Cloud on flute; Jonathan Davis on oboe; Vincent Robles on baritone; Jenice Rosen on bassoon; and Deon Nielsen Price, Rebecca Rollins and David Zea on piano. The concert will include music from Mary Gardiner, George Gershwin, Michael Kibbe, Felix Mendelssohn, Zenobia Powell Perry, Jeannie Pool, Deon Nielsen Price, Dana Seusse and David Zea. A reception will follow the concert.

Trombone mega-star Bill Watrous will perform with the La Cañada High School jazz band in a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27 at Lanterman Auditorium. Watrous, a band leader, studio musician and club performer, will lead students in songs including "Mama Llama Samba," "Never Let Me Go," "Last Great Georgia Extravaganza" and "Village Dance." The LCHS concert band, symphonic band and wind ensemble will also perform. The concert will be a benefit to raise money for the Patio Project, an improvement project at LCHS in which lunch tables, benches and landscaping will be installed outside the new band room.

The Assistance League of Flintridge Fine Arts Academy Music program will present its final all-school spring concerts on May 16 and May 23 at Lanterman Auditorium. These concerts will be the culmination of the 2005-2006 year of music instruction. This year 251 La Cañada school students were enrolled in the program which included beginning strings, orchestra, beginning brass/percussion, beginning woodwinds and concert band classes. The May 16 concert will feature the beginning strings and orchestra conducted by lead teacher, Patricia Aiken.

A concert to benefit San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity will be held this weekend at St. George’s Episcopal Church. “Songs from the Heart” concert will feature Daniel Chaney, tenor soloist, and Richard Grayson, pianist. The evening will encompass songs from Bach to Peter Gabriel. “There is a big variety,” Chaney said. “I chose songs I know and love best.” Chaney is entering his third year as a member in the St. George’s choir.

La Cañada resident David Blasucci will be performing a special holiday concert at The Los Angeles LDS Temple this Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. Blasucci and special guests will be performing songs from his debut CD entitled "Someday," along with some holiday favorites. All ages are welcome and the concert is free and open to the public. An accomplished singer/songwriter and performer, Blasucci was nominated last year for Best New Artist by the Faith Centered Music Awards for his critically acclaimed debut album "Someday," which was produced by Marty Rifkin and another local resident, Marty Newton.

CLASSES Beginning Bridge — Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 7, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge, 4469 Chevy Chase Drive, offers Beginning Bridge to adults and seniors. Taught by a seasoned bridge player, Beginning Bridge offers an opportunity to those who are interested in joining a bridge group but who may not have the skills or confidence to do so. Lessons are $5 per person. Call the Community Center at (818) 790-4353 to reserve your spot or just show up. Square dancing — Thursdays, beginning Sept.

Wow! What a dramatic change we had over the weekend. At the beginning of last week, when the thermometer was in the high triple-digits, we were gasping for a breath of fresh cool air. Then, by Sunday we were shivering when there was an over 30-degree drop in temperature. There was a crispness to the air and it made me feel like autumn was certainly on its way — hooray. This year's Music-in-the-Park series was a wonderful one. The Valley Sun co-sponsors the concert series with the city, and has for several years.

With summer drawing to a close and the chaos of back-to-school season approaching, families and community residents eagerly gathered Sunday in Memorial Park for the final 2010 Music in the Park concert. The evening kicked off with a performance by Andre Thierry, a Northern California musician, and his band Zydeco Magic. Zydeco, a combination of both Cajun and Creole music, is rooted in Southwest Louisiana. "Here's a little zydeco music for you and it goes a little something like this," said Thierry to the enthusiastic crowd as his band kicked off its set. Though guests had comfortably settled into their lawn chairs, ready to relax and enjoy the show, many were in front of the gazebo dancing as soon as Zydeco Magic began playing.

For all of you summer lovers, at last you have been able to revel in the heat. The beginning of the week was exactly as August should be — HOT! Last Saturday night a sliver of a moon shone brightly with the planet Jupiter twinkling nearby, when the Pasadena Pops orchestra presented "All that Jazz," conducted by Maestra Rachael Worby. Opening up the jazzy night was vocalist Valarie Pettiford, who began her set with her sizzling rendition of the John Kander/Fred Ebb song, "And All that Jazz.

At this time of the year I'm usually complaining about the heat and how we are experiencing the dog days of summer. However, capricious Mother Nature has decided she was bored with the same old fare and is giving us what is up to now one of the coolest beginnings of August on record. Last week I was looking for my fuzzy slippers and this week I was donning a sweater in the early morning because I was shivering! I have been listening to the weather people patter on and on about how disappointing it is that summer hasn't arrived in Los Angeles yet. Yep, I've been liking things just the way they are. I just hope that those dog days don't hit us in September and October.

La Cañada's Memorial Park was the happening place last Sunday when Dean Colley's Hot August Nights Band, a Neil Diamond tribute band, rocked the town with the music of the famous singer. Instead of it being a hot August night, it was a temperate one with a gentle breeze wending its way in and out of the huge crowd that had come to listen to Diamond familiar tunes like "Sweet Caroline," "Crunchy Granola Suite," "Sing Sung Blues" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show."