DOWNIEVILLE - Home Grown Talent at The Yuba Theatre is always a surprise. This last holiday weekend was no exceptioPatrick Wilson was MC for the evening and did a fine job encouraging everyone to step up and show their talent. To start things off B.J Jordan played three original songs accompanied by stellar musician Joe Jimenez on bass and mandolin. Her song "Blood for Gold" was based on the life of her grandfather, miner Otto Strand, who was born in Forest City and spent his life as a hard rock miner in Sierra County. The folksy beat of her song harkened back to the days when the stamp-mill rhythm echoed through these canyons.
The Brennan family was an audience favorite with the popular "Whiskey and Propane". Three kids sang along with their dad and the audience joined in. This is not the first time that 7 year old Charly Brennan has graced our stage and she her solo rendition of "This is Me" was sweet and fearless.
Elijah Zuniga sang Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and there was no mistaking the Farmer Family talent as his aunts and cousins joined in from the audience. A short while later another Farmer Family singer, Avery Misita, made her premier performance with an amazing rendition of Jingle Bells. Under five and Avery already shows the famous Farmer Family timbre of her voice. We hope to see her and more of the talented Farmer singers on our stage in the future.
Patrick and Nick Martinelli decided it was time to give us their opinion on how they really feel about things in the original tune "People". We all survived the short chastisement that gave us pause to consider what music and entertainment is all about.
We were so grateful to have the graceful and inspiring songs of Lynn Zanetta return to the stage and fill our hearts with hope. In keeping with the mood of the evening she began with "Coffee" that had the whole audience singing along. Then she shared two more of her more intimate tunes including one that was shared and circulated with our troops in Iraq giving them love and hope for the future. As always, her heartfelt stylings were a delight to hear.
With a deep country tone Charles performed a few country tunes on guitar followed by Grace Boyd who played and sang two mesmerizing songs on her guitar in a sweet sultry whisper near the end of the evening. Gil Clark of Goodyears Bar played the guitar and sang. He dedicated his song to our local emergency medical personnel who recently saved his life.
The evening ended with a casual jam session featuring Patrick, Nick and Riley Pearmund on Karimba, showing us all that they actually love music and know how to carry a tune beautifully.
A special thank you to technical support by Tim Jordan, Kean Jordan, Patrick, Nick, and Riley who all helped to set up and make the evening possible. Thank you to the entire community, audience and performers who made Home Grown Talent an evening to remember. Home Grown Talent was an event of The Sierra County Arts Council. Information: www.sierracountyartscouncil.org.
