President: Concert association is 'best deal in town' for wholesome, quality entertainment

Leaders of the Crawford County Community Concert Association are hoping for a season of back-to-normal — or almost normal.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many of the concert association's shows planned for 2020 and 2021 to be rescheduled, explained Linda Leyda, program coordinator and vice president. Because of that, scheduling the 2022-23 season has been "interesting."

"Normally, we try to have concerts in October, November and December and then we jump to April and May," Leyda said. "But because of COVID, this has been interesting -— we're going to have two concerts in October, one week apart. This has never happened before, but this was rescheduling and then working it in with the performers' schedules."

New Mexico-based ARTrageous — originally scheduled to perform in April 2021 — will lead off the season with an Oct. 4 performance.

That will be followed a week later by William Florian, Oct. 11; then Take 3 on Dec. 8; Gentri on April 27, 2023, and Linda Davis on May 11, 2023.

Two shows remain in the current season — the Pam Tillis Acoustic Trio, April 25; and Helen Welch's "Superstar," May 19.

All shows take place at 7 p.m. at the Bucyrus Elementary School Auditorium, 245 Woodlawn Ave. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.

Concert association memberships start at $80

The group is kicking off its annual membership drive, said Tom Holtshouse, the concert association's president.

"Most of the people that attend our concerts are there because they bought annual memberships, which is by far the most economical way for people to attend our concerts," he said.

Current association members will receive renewal applications. he said. People who wish to purchase new memberships can do so through the group's website, crawcocommconcert.com, where they can print out a form and submit it by mail.

The association offers various membership levels, and the lowest three are offered below cost, Holtshouse said, adding the support of community-minded sponsors and service clubs help make that possible. Membership prices start at $80 for all five shows. That's $16 a show, and on average, each seat costs the association $30.

"We're the best deal in town in terms of wholesome, quality entertainment," he said. "I don't think anybody can beat what we offer."

"What we're hoping people do over a period of time is once they get exposed to the programs we have available, they say to themselves, in effect, 'Wow, this is a really good deal,'" he said. Over time, people tend to migrate to higher membership levels.

Tickets for individual shows will be available through links the website starting July 15.

"But if you buy two or more, it really is a better deal to buy a membership; the membership is such a great deal," Holtshouse said.

A look at this season's performers

As programming coordinator, Leyda "spends hours and hours searching for things that we might have in our seasons," Holtshouse said. The association board then makes its selections from her recommendations.

Leyda said the ARTrageous performance "is going to be a wild evening."

"This is going to be like a circus on stage," she said. "They're going to have live art; a rock concert; there'll be dancing, singing and comedy, all at the same time. These people, while they're singing, they have 6-by-6-foot canvases and they're making paintings. And sometimes the paintings are upside down and you can't tell what they are until they flip them. But there's just so much going on in this concert that it's going to be like sensory overload; it's going to be wild.

"I think we're going to have at least eight people on stage most of the time. They'll be doing artwork using just their hands, brushes, objects. While they're painting, there'll be singing and dancing going on. And there will be puppetry also, life-size puppetry with black lights. So it's going to be a circus, really a circus."

ARTrageous also will do a performance for elementary school students earlier in the day, Holtshouse added.

"Super-fun show," Leyda said. "It will be a family-friendly show that everybody would have fun at."

One week later, on Oct. 11, William Florian will return by popular demand, Leyda said. "He was such a hit last fall."

This year, Florian's trio will present a tribute to Neil Diamond, featuring songs such as "Kentucky Woman," "Sweet Caroline," "Song Sung Blue" and others.

"He will be doing stories, songs and telling humorous things about Neil Diamond," she said.

Florian was a lead singer in the New Christy Minstrels, a '60s folk group, "so he's been around a long time and he's just absolutely engaging and has great stage presence and charisma," Leyda said. "People loved him. Our audience sang from the time he started until the show was over. It was a good sing-along."

On Dec. 8, Take 3 will perform. The trio — piano, cello and violin — will perform pop, Americana and classical favorites, she said. The musicians are constantly in motion.

"This is going to be another high-energy concert," Leyda said. "These are all super-talented, highly educated people. The piano player has a degree from Julliard. The lady that plays the cello actually has her degree from Oberlin College and a master's from the Cleveland Institute of music, so she's a little more local, although she lives in California now. And the other one was a graduate of the Los Angeles Conservatory. Super-talented people."

In 2023, Gentri will perform on April 27.

"Again, this is a group that's back by popular demand," Leyda said. "These guys are from Utah, and Gentri stands for a gentlemen trio. They have got the most incredibly beautiful arrangements and their voices blend beautifully. They're absolutely phenomenal. They all have extensive stage experience and they will do a blend of pop music, Broadway, movie themes. ... It will be a really nice blend."

The final concert of the season will be "Evening in the Round," featuring Linda Davis, Lang Scott and Bill Whyte. All three singer-songwriters are from Nashville, she said.

"I am really excited about this one," Leyda said. "Linda and Lang are married, and they're also the parents of Hillary Scott," one of the lead singers of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum.

"This will be a show of acoustic music," Leyda said. "Linda and Lang toured with Reba and Kenny Rogers for years, like the backup singer in the band. But then Linda had a really famous duet with Reba called 'Does He Love You?' that was a super-big hit a few years ago. They're both Grammy winners."

Bill Whyte is a famous radio host in the Nashville area, she said. He's also a comedian. "He adds the humor to the show; he's a little bit crazy," Leyda said.

"This one's going to be a really intimate setting with just the three of them onstage, telling stories, singing songs, and I just think it's going to be a really, really sweet evening," she said. "I'm really looking forward to this one a lot."

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Crawford County Community Concert Association announces season lineup