Get ready to cut a rug Hep Cats because the San Luis Obispo Symphony is bringing the big band, boogie woogie rhythms of the 40’s to the Fremont Theater on Sunday, August 14 for POPS: The Greatest Generation. The shindig begins at 4 p.m., so get on the Ameche, say hi-de-ho, tell your friends to jump in the jalopy and join the Bobbysox Brigade for jivin’ music and swing a wing! And, don’t forget your lettuce cause tickets cost $30 for the bandstand section, $20 for the mid-mod section and a dime-note ($10) for the cheap seats (viewing impaired). Wear your best duds, bobby sox, zoot suit, Rosie overalls, hat or uniform of the period and you could win prizes better than clams! Tickets for POPS: The Greatest Generation is on sale now.
“We are over the moon to bring the ever-popular POPS to the cool climes of the Fremont for some hot sounds. The joint will be jumpin’ to the music that lifted Americans through the tough war years,” says Francie Levy, POPS prognosticator and Symphony general manager.
The cats will swing to the rhythms of the slush-pump, licorice stick, doghouse, skins, foghorn, and ivories to popular tunes “In the Mood,” “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” “Pennsylvania 6500,” “Satin Doll,” and “Tuxedo Junction” to name a few. Jitterbuggin’ at this frolic pad is encouraged!
Leading the cats in the band is Warren Balfour. Balfour is the hippest of the hepcats, having developed the Jazz Studies program at Cuesta College. He has professional experience as a trumpet player, backing up artists Jerry Lewis, Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Vinton, the Temptations and Diane Schuur.
Mitch Latting is blowin’ the sweet gabriel and he dishes a good tune. He has performed with The Temptations, Red Skelton, The Four Freshmen, Marvin Hamlish, Bobby Shew and Matt Catingub, to name a few, but he says he is most honored to be a charter member of the Royal Garden Swing Orchestra. Mitch has also played for the Manhattan Transfer and since 1979 has been with the San Luis Jazz Band as band leader, trumpet player and vocalist. He’s been on seven tours to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Dawn Lambeth is the canary and the cat’s meow! Her voice is the bees knees – belting it out or singing it low, she feels the songs of the greatest generation. She doesn’t imitate anyone, but the memorable singers of the era resonate through her own singular approach, gentle and unaffected. When she steps up to the microphone, she’s having a good time – one that she happily shares.
Joining the shindig will be a bunch of ducky shincrackers from SLO Dance to cut a rug and show all the dead hoofers a killer diller time!