Music

C eltic, jazz, country — local music lovers will have their pick of genres when the annual Music in the Park summer program kicks off Monday at Memorial Park. Co-sponsored by the city of La Cañada Flintridge and the La Cañada Valley Sun, Music in the Park was launched in 1997 in conjunction with Fiesta Days, the city's annual Memorial Day weekend celebrations. It has since grown into one of La Cañada's signature events, attracting hundreds of picnic-toting families from throughout the Crescenta and San Gabriel valleys.

Father’s Day in La Cañada was a day of music and picnicking as families attended a barbecue and concert at Descanso Gardens and also a free concert at Memorial Park. Families picnicked on the lawn at Descanso as they listened to jazz standards performed by the Jet Set Quartet and ate barbecued ribs and mushroom burgers prepared by Patina Restaurant Group. “We were here last year for Father’s Day and we loved it; being out in the open, the music and that the people are really enjoying it. It’s very relaxing,” said Julie Schelvan, of Arcadia.

Today we have the Music in the Park concerts to entertain us on summer Sundays. In my youth, our family had to venture no farther than our front porch to get a free concert in the open air: the mellifluous sounds of the musical Marsteller family, practicing wind and brass instruments, often together, in their Paulette Place living room. The Marstellers' open windows and a quiet neighborhood not yet assaulted by the noise of the soon-to-be-built 210 Freeway made for a great listening experience.

Music was ringing through the halls of La Cañada High School over the weekend. The LCHS Orchestra Camp was in full swing starting Friday night and going until 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Dr. David Young, principal bassist for the L.A. Opera and teacher at the Colburn School of Music, was the guest coach and inspiration to the 90 students of LCHS Orchestra. Other coaches who donated their talent for the camp were Stacy and Mick Wetzel of the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra, Yao Zao of the San Diego Symphony, Lois Johnson, assistant conductor of the Pasadena Symphony along with David and Brendan Speltz.

"We're going to take you back, way back, to the '60s..." one of the members of band Palm Drive announced on July for the weekly Music in the Park at Memorial Park. Performing songs from the 1960s to the yet-unreleased Dixie Chicks' "Long Way Around," Palm Drive and its music attracted a large crowd despite the intolerably hot weather the town experienced earlier in the day. "I come here weekly and it's actually a very good crowd here," said La Cañada resident John Tosello, who had his hands full with his pet pig Porky.

Come one, come all, to St. George's "Music for Charity Event" at 7 p.m. on Feb. 3. Providing the night of snappy jazz, with torch songs and other favorites, will be Razzmatazz, featuring vocalist Jan Abell, and Steve Fry on keyboards, drummer Pete Lippman and tickling the trumpet Pete Peterson. St. George's Episcopal Church invites the community to put on its dancing shoes or just come enjoy some delightful jazz, wine and dessert to support a worthy cause. All net proceeds will go directly to Door of Hope, a privately funded, faith-based outreach for homeless families to help them regain their life and dignity in the community.

After more than 20 years away, the singer/songwriter/poet who stunned the world with his moving 1966 mega-hit "Elusive Butterfly" is coming back to California on the heels of a wildly successful mini-tour last fall. And once again, his music and unique singing style are drawing praise from critics ? and from a whole new generation of listeners. "Bob Lind rises above the songwriting of mere mortals and into poetry. I think he is one of America's premier poets. He is the real thing.

Instead of watching “Lord of the Rings,” “Chicago” or “Gladiator,” Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra will re-create the films’ music with an 84-member orchestra. The orchestra’s spring concert “Lights! Camera! Music!” will be Sunday in Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College. The performance will feature music from film genres including action, historical adventures, space odysseys, comedies and musicals. The orchestra has a more than 50-year tradition for students in 10th grade through college.

Singing in a chorus might not be rocket science, but that hasn't stopped Jet Propulsion Laboratory workers from forming their own company of singers. The JPL Chorus will make its debut at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in a free concert with the Pasadena City College Chamber Singers at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. The NASA research facility in La Cañada Flintridge formed its first choral group in February, the idea born out of a discussion between Stephen Kulczycki, JPL's deputy director of communications and education, and Pasadena Symphony Chief Executive Paul Zdunek.

Valentine's Day is coming in a few days, and I'm cruising the stores in La Cañada, looking for appropriate cards for my valentine. While I thumb through the selection of large, heart-shaped cards, I think about the girls in my youth I considered to be my valentine. Many were dance partners, because taking a date dancing was very romantic. But my biggest love affair was for the dance music. For me, that meant big bands and jazz. You never forget the music of your youth. It was the end of World War II and I was 16 years old, working after school on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Rainbow Rendezvous Dance Pavilion in Salt Lake City.

Supporters of the ceramics program offered at the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge gathered in the beautiful Meadow Grove area garden of Richard and Sandra Goodspeed on a recent Sunday evening to raise funds for the program through a silent auction. According to Marguerite Duncan-Abrams, chairman of Foothills Ceramics Support Guild, approximately $3,000 was raised at the event, which featured wine, hors d'oeuvres and the music of Misplaced Priorities, a band led by Tom Reynolds, president of the Community Center Board of Directors.

The 2011 Summer Music in the Park concert series drew to a close Sunday evening with the performance of Soca & Reggae Music Upstream in La Cañada's Memorial Park. Despite the heat of the day, where temperatures hovered in the upper 90s to low 100s, the concert was well attended and the park was crowded with families lounging in chairs and on blankets. Susie Goddard and Gary Evans have been attending the music series for six summers. “We've come for so long, we've seen other families grow up, from their children starting young to getting older,” Goddard said.

An hour before band camp began at La Cañada High School, a throng of freshmen and some returning band members tried on uniforms and stood on makeshift platforms to be fitted. As start time approached and more students filed into the band room, the explosive beats of a snare drum punctuated the excitement of friends reconnecting after the summer. The school's 10-day intensive band workshop took place from 1 to 8 p.m. every day this week and will continue at Cal Poly Pomona through the weekend and until Wednesday.

My goodness we are already into the dog days of summer, having experienced some sizzling days of triple-digit thermometer readings. However, unlike residents of the East Coast, we are blessed with cool nights. No, we don't have those magical lightning bugs to enchant us so we won't complain about how hot the night is. But in their place, I will accept an occasional mosquito bite and a heavenly cool breeze after the sun sets every summer night. These are busy times in and around our community and we certainly do enjoy our outdoor summer-evening concerts.

It's hard to imagine a country with just 13 swimming pools. Three years ago, when Jeremy Piasecki, a Marines warrant officer, began to dream of putting together a national water polo team in Afghanistan to boost the moral of the country's swimmers, that's all the fledgling team had to work with. Now, the dream has grown, and the Afghan team has its collective eye on qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. But how does a team with access to so few pools adequately train to compete against the world's best teams?

Hundreds of people enjoyed the cool stylings of the David Sagal Jazz Quintet at Memorial Park early Sunday evening. Although the free concerts are open to the casual passersby, some family groups have been going to the summer concert series for years, like Judy and David Van Wyk, who have been enjoying the Music in the Park concert series with their friends and kids for at least 13 summers. “The concert series is a La Cañada institution,” said Judy Van Wyk. Nine of their group — which is usually 20-strong — beat the heat Sunday by enjoying the cool lawn of the park.

Father’s Day in La Cañada was a day of music and picnicking as families attended a barbecue and concert at Descanso Gardens and also a free concert at Memorial Park. Families picnicked on the lawn at Descanso as they listened to jazz standards performed by the Jet Set Quartet and ate barbecued ribs and mushroom burgers prepared by Patina Restaurant Group. “We were here last year for Father’s Day and we loved it; being out in the open, the music and that the people are really enjoying it. It’s very relaxing,” said Julie Schelvan, of Arcadia.

With the advent of summer and the promise of longer, warmer days, Descanso Gardens will be open for extended hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays starting this week and ending Aug. 25. Usually open until 4:30 p.m., the Gardens will remain open mid-week until 8 p.m. “It gets so hot here in the summer that we thought it would be a good idea to keep the Gardens open longer because of the cooler evenings,” said Lisa Kurstin, Descanso’s manager...