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The Rural Characters: Your Cheeks are Gonna Hurt.
"... this year’s show affirms that we remain undaunted in our refusal to be defined by any particular musical genre. Among other styles, we will be featuring Surfer Music, Love Ballads, Pop Covers, Sea Shanties, and a Vaudevillian tribute to Michael Nutt – all original or slightly edited to portray our slant on Island life. As always, we look forward to helping support fellow performers through the Local Artist Series." -- Randy Hudson
The Rural Characters are honored to host the annual Local Artists Series Benefit Concert which has become an important spring ritual for them as well as their audience. They attempt to portray island life through songs -- some original, some borrowed, some simply stolen -- and demonstrate how four humble Clintonites can take the stage and mangle both old and new music to fit their unique and undemanding standards. The old saying, “It’s hard to get more rural than
Clinton
” is as true as ever.
Running time: TBA
Recommended for ages 13 and above.
The Rural Characters -- Gordy Adams, Tom Fisher, Randy Hudson and Tom Walker -- have been singing together for 12 years, and for the past seven have hosted the Local Artists Series Benefit Concert at WICA. They were younger when they started, they refuse to retire, and they are generally invited to play only at benefits -- all of which results in a show featuring underpaid old guys.
But do they have fun! They are usually able to hornswaggle more talented artists to appear as guests, and they always feature a much-appreciated intermission. It’s a barnstormer of a show, and as with many storms in barns, there are tears as well as laughter, shallow fakery, and deep philosophy. And innovation -- like when Randy tried to get music out of a frog. The frog didn’t like it much either.
The Rural Characters will roll out their spectacular new show with all the droll wit and forgotten lyrics fans have come to expect. Watch for their newest song, “The Island is Wide -- Just Like Me”.
The Artists.
Tom Fisher has been rural on Whidbey since the nineteen eighties. He has engaged in unregulated and unmodulated singing for most of his life. His wife Mary and three children are his biggest fans. And, of course, he lives in
Clinton
.
Randy Hudson’s fifth grade teacher asked him to lip synch at the PTA concert. He refused, and to this day continues to pull everyone off-key. That’s the main reason the Characters don’t do audience sing-alongs. When not singing or messing with a new instrument, he pours bronze for his wife, sculptor Georgia Gerber.
What Gordy Adams likes about music is it's feeling, it's ability to transfer emotion from one person to another. He likes being a Rural Character because they take great pride in experiencing this emotion among themselves. Gordy loves all parts of life but the most important part, besides his wife Kitty, is the truth the Characters bring in the form of good sound and laughter.
Tom Walker is able sing and play guitar at the same time. Some of his songs are best appreciated in the privacy of his
Clinton
home, but he plays them in concert anyway. His wife Claudia and kids are all musicians, which is something the Characters aspire to.
Special Guests.
Siri Bardarson, Greg Deer, Deana Duncan, Barbara Dunn, Russel Link, Linda Morris, Jim Scullin, Seth Sobottka, and Claudia Walker
The Crew.
Stage Manager
TBA
Sound Board Operator
TBA
Light Board Operator
TBA
Stage Crew
TBA
Scenic Painters/Builders
TBA
Seamstresses
TBA
Technical Interns
TBA
special thanks
TBA
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Fri @ 7.30pm
Sat @ 7.30pm
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