Concert

GLENDALE — Mike Boyd felt helpless when he watched news reports of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I would look at the news every day and see kid, after kid, after kid dying,” Boyd said. “I felt so much for our U.S. troops who were dying.” Instead of wondering what he could do to help the troops, Boyd went into action. He founded a series of “American Soldier Thank You” concerts to help raise funds for military personnel. “It was something I needed to do for them, knowing all the things they have done for us,” said Boyd, the founder of Burbank-based Singboy Productions.

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 swing dancers with ?Tuxedo Junction,? the Coronaries had the crowd on their feet.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- Consider it a journey from the sacred to the secular, from the Bible to Broadway. Cantors from throughout the area will perform everything from sacred music to show tunes at a concert Sunday at Temple Sinai of Glendale. "Southern California is very eclectic, as far as their music, so we thought we'd have a little something for everybody," said Matthew Suddleson, chairman of the event. The concert is a fund-raiser being put on by the Sinai Seniors, a temple group whose members are 60 and older.

Marshall Allen LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Golden Bough, a musical group that performs Celtic music of Ireland and Scotland, will perform in a special benefit concert for Delphi Academy. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in the La Canada High School auditorium, 4463 Oak Grove Drive, La Canada Flintridge. In its 22nd year of performing, Golden Bough is a favorite at Celtic festivals and various Scottish and Irish gatherings throughout the United States and Europe.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- State Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale) will be the keynote speaker Saturday at a concert to promote peace. Schiff, chairman of the state Senate Select Committee on Juvenile Justice, plans to talk about combating youth violence at "Peace Through Music," sponsored by the Pasadena Human Relations Commission. The concert will feature several musicians and dancers, including pianist Vatche Mankerian and 11-year old violinist Christopher M. Ballard.

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.

Judy Seckler HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL -- Studying about French-speaking African countries gave Hoover High French teacher Kathy Angers' students an awareness of global poverty. A musical benefit concert organized Thursday evening by the school's French Club produced proceeds estimated at more than $1,000. Prior to the concert, $650 of those funds was raised in a week through decorated donation boxes placed in each classroom, Angers said. The money will go to orphan children, refugees from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo who are being sheltered at the Ebenezer School in Nairobi.

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Glendale Community College will be celebrating Women's History Month during March with several different events. Two events this week will include a concert and a play. Today, Rizzo, a two-woman alternative rock band will perform at noon in the college's Plaza Vaquero. On March 11 at 2 p.m., the play "Miss Julie" will be performed in the Studio Theatre Auditorium. The play by August Strindberg was banned in Stockholm in 1889.

JOYCE RUDOLPH The Musical Theatre Guild's next concert staged reading is the 1941 "Lady in the Dark" at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. With music by Kurt Weil, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by Moss Hart, the musical was inspired by Hart's personal experience with psychoanalysis. The score is made up of three extended dream sequences and features such classics as "My Ship," "The Saga of Jenny" and "Tchaikovsky." Starring as Liza Elliot is Broadway veteran Eileen Barnett.

Claudia Peschiutta HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL -- The school's chamber musicians are coming together to show off their talents at a concert on Sunday. The concert will feature performances by the Brass, Clarinet and Flute choirs and other ensembles. Many of the groups will play music set to be released later this year on a compact disc of Hoover High Christmas music. The event begins at 2 p.m. in the foyer of the auditorium at Hoover, at 651 Glenwood Road.

No one taught a young Arturo Sandoval more about the mysteries of bebop and how to approach a life in music than Dizzy Gillespie. At times during their long friendship, the jazz trumpeters referred to each other as father and son. “He was more than a teacher,” Sandoval says of the bop originator. “He was my hero first, and then he became my mentor. He helped me so much, man. Since the first day.” That first day came in May 1977, when Sandoval volunteered to drive the visiting American musician around Havana and the Cuban countryside, before revealing to Gillespie that he also played trumpet in an inspired young Latin fusion band called Irakere.

Violinist Jacqueline Suzuki is a one-woman wrecking crew. What she wants to “wreck” is Glendale's image of not being a city known for classical music. Starting its fifth year is the Glendale Noon Concert series Suzuki established in November 2008. The free concerts are offered on the first and third Wednesday of every month. The series' venue is the First Baptist Church of Glendale. The Church presents each concert and financially supports the series. Pastor Charles Updike is Suzuki's biggest fan. Each concert's costs are low thanks to Suzuki's thriftiness.

The Northwest Glendale Lions Club provided vision screenings during the third annual Glendale Health Festival sponsored by the Armenian American Medical Society of Southern California at the Pacific Community Center in November. The Lions have provided eye screenings at this event since it began, according to member Ross Adams. A total of 326 people were screened. Fifteen children, infants to age 6, were screened in the KidSight program. The Lions provided 100 certificates for free eyeglasses.

If you leave a phone message for guitarist/composer/arranger Greg Porée on a Monday or Tuesday, don't be surprised if you have to wait for a return call. Those days are taken up with providing the musical direction to a little enterprise called “Dancing with the Stars.” The hours are long and stressful, and when they're over, he needs time to himself. Drop into Andre Vener's welcoming Redwhite+Bluezz at 70 S. Raymond Ave. in Pasadena on a Wednesday night, though, and you'll find Porée and bassist Keith Jones providing engaging guitar-and-bass duets for the diners at that fine restaurant.

So you've just inherited a struggling communist nation from a dad who took synchronized gymnastics shows to a whole new level and you want to set a new party tone. For North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un, this is achieved with some help from Minnie Mouse and Tigger frolicking on stage. And because use of the characters wasn't authorized by the Walt Disney Co., the costumes aren't exact replicas of what you find at Disneyland, which means they look a little creepy. According to the Associated Press , Disney characters danced and pranced as footage from “Snow White,” “Dumbo,” “Beauty and the Beast” and other movies played on a massive backdrop.

If conductor Jeffrey Kahane led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra with even more vim and vigor than usual during last weekend's concert at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, he had good reason. The program of new and familiar music on Saturday, April 21 offered not only a celebratory wind up to the deeply respected Kahane's 15th anniversary season as LACO's music director - with the group's original founder, Sir Neville Marriner, in attendance - it marked the first time that he had conducted an orchestral work by his son, Gabriel Kahane, a critically acclaimed, rising young composer, singer-songwriter and musician.

Spencer Robinson was one of the early pioneers of Glendale, arriving here the same year Glendale became a city. He later served as the city's first mayor. Robinson brought with him an illustrious history. Not only was he descended from old American Colonial stock, he was an accomplished singer who had often appeared in concert. A native of Illinois, he was born to Dean and Julia (Spencer) Robinson. His mother was descended from a prominent English line, according to one of Robinson's relatives, Steve Hunt.

Eight Los Angles indie bands perform from 6 to 9 p.m. throughout the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles. Bands include Abe Vigoda, Big Search, Hands, Pollyn, Allah Las, Kitten, Mini Mansions and HoneyHoney. Admission for Los Angeles Zoo Assn. members costs $13 for adults and $8 for children ages six to 15. Admission for non-members is $17 for adults and $11 for children ages 6 to 15. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance. Call (323) 644-6042.

Two goofy but groovy bands will rock out under the night sky at Starlight Bowl on Saturday, giving Burbank residents a blast from the past. Donning belbottoms, afros and other disco swag, Boogie Knights will play covers from the swinging 70s. They'll be followed by the Spazmatics, who will resurrect 80s power ballads for the crowd. The Spazmatics' gang of super-nerds formed as a result of a wager that was placed on a String Theory debate. When high school teacher Kevin Stigwood of Alta Dena High in Thousand Oaks lost, he was forced to perform "She Blinded me with Science.

At last, Glendale has a pops orchestra with a tenured music director/conductor who can pull top names to headline concerts. And he sings beautifully too! Matt Catingub and the Glendale Pops Orchestra had their debut concert “The Premiere” on May 13 at the Alex Theatre. It was a chance to introduce the audience to the maestro and his musicians as well as showcase some of the guest talent on tap for the first season, which will be a mix of free concerts at the Americana at Brand and paid shows at the Alex.