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San-Cap Revue enormous hit with community

6 min read

With a “Hi, Neighbor!” Coastal Blend (85 Proof), an award-winning barbershop quartet from Cape Coral, opened the ninth annual Kiwanis San-Cap Revue on March 28th. From its original billing as an island talent show, this annual production seems to gain new talent heights each and every year.

A tuxedo-clad MC, Kiwanian* Tom Uhler greeted the audience and many acts were punctuated by Kiwanian* Jim Gould parading across the stage with a sandwich board (made by Kiwanian* Bob Wimbush) announcing that the Kiwanis Two-for-One dinner books would be available on April 21st. That coupled with Joe Pacheco’s hilarious “The Night the Kiwanis Books Expire” should certainly remind everyone of this annual bounty afforded by our friends and neighbors in Kiwanis. Pacheco’s equally funny dissertation on Chartreuse was yet another example of the clever ways this past Literary Angel is able to use words and word play.

Who knew the Island Sun’s Poetic Voices columnist could also make things appear an disappear at will? Maybe that’s not a fair question Don Brown is a retired architect so, of course, he could make buildings more or less appear at will He is also a native Floridian, was once Poet Laureate of MIT and drumroll, please past president of the Society of American Magicians! He can accumulate so many golf balls so fast that even Renny Severence couldn’t lose them fast enough; if he were a blackjack dealer the house could never, ever lose (unless, of course, he came up with even more than the standard two or three decks); and, with his comely assistant, he could probably vie with Christo by wrapping the entire City/BIG Arts complex in yards and yards of diaphanous silk scarves that, of course , appear from inside an “empty” pyramid-shaped container

Steve Cramer (conducting, above), for his part, has breathed new life into the Sanibel Community Chorus – folksong and gospel arrangements, more soloists, ensembles and musical medleys. Cramer conducts with much the same flair and style as the great Paul Calloway did at Peabody Conservatory and Washington Cathedral in the ’50s – each member of the chorus, the accompanists (in this case, three of them) knows exactly what to do when. The end result was this amateur group certainly approached professional levels.

The BIG Arts Community Band is just that – former college, high school and professional musicians (some currently professional) playing for the fun of it in a community band. A very good rendition of the 90-year-old Karl King number, “The Walking Frog,” was followed by one of the funniest stage bits I’ve ever seen – Concerto for Triangle by Mike Hannickel, featuring the soloist to beat all soloists, Elaine Walker. No one in the March 28th Kiwanis Revue audience will ever forget her or her performance, I will guarantee and bet my last cent. On the outside chance that she might be persuaded to do it again next year, I have no intention of spoiling the performance for you. You might be able to convince someone else to attempt to describe it to you, but I wouldn’t even hazard a try in print.

Guitarist and singer Frank Lynch was another funny one. A retired golf ball an golf club designer, he might be able to give you some good golf advice, but the best thing you could do would be listen to him play and sing some of the humorous songs he’s picked up during his life. He had the audience rolling howling with Mike Snider”s “If my Nose was Running Money” and – bearing in mind that the month of March is pretty Irish – absolutely rolling on the floor during “No One’s as Irish as” Dressed in a T-shirt that featured the irish flag, and rattling off names like Gilroy, McDonald, O’Hare and O’Hara, he reached the inevitable “conclusion” that “No One’s as Irish as Barack O’Bama!”

Eighth Grade pianist Augustus Wright id himself (his piano instructor, his family, etc) proud on the very difficult third movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” The young man has great presence, great talent, and aspires to “go pro” when he can.

Terence Flannery is already a pro. Not only does he play an outstanding trombone, but he’s also a comedian and singer, having performed at Buckingham Palace, the Royal Palladium, and live on the BBC, to name just a few of his accomplishments. His rendition of “Joanna” was excellent, both vocally and emotionally.

Saying one remembers another person “way back when” is, usually, for a number of reasons, not a great idea. But “Our Jennnifer,” as the program billed Jennifer Valiquette, really was, once upon a time, an Explorer “cop” with the City of Sanibel. She now works at Sanibel-Captiva Community #Bank. As the program suggested, “perhaps inspired by the people she knew in Kiwanis, she pursued a degree in criminology at Florida State and did police work” before pursuing her real love, music, at the University of Central Florida. And it shows – first of all, she dressed the part of a jazz performer. But, more importantly, her rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” from The Blues Brothers and Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” brought down the house. If there hadn’t been time constraints and three people in line to follow her on the program, the audience would have been thrilled to keep “Our Jennifer” playing for the rest of the night – she’s that good.

Unfortunately, although the sound and lighting were handled very well over all by islander Chad Nave, both the performance by the Sanibel School Performing Artists, under the able direction of Joe Angelo, and that of island native Summer Kilgore could barely be heard and not understood at all because the backup music was way too loud.

Sponsored by Sanibel Captiva Trust Co., Johnny’s Pizza, Bank of the Islands and both The Islander and The Island Sun, this fabulous show at Schein Hall must have swelled the Kiwanis treasury by a significant amount. You shouldn’t miss this event next year.

*Kiwanians are “fined” or otherwise chastised if their names appear in print without club acknowledgement. For purposes of this article only, any Kiwanis member not so acknowledged should be allowed to have his or her fine waived. Kiwanis is dearly loved on these islands but, as is evident in the second paragraph, the name is just too long to include before every Kiwanis performer’s name. On March 28th, we were all Kiwanians! And, by the way, Kiwanian Bob Wimbush took the pictures!