Ruth and Max Bloomquist Kick Off Frauenthal 80th Anniversary Series
Ruth and Max Bloomquist
Posted On March 22, 2010
Muskegon’s Frauenthal Center For the Performing Arts is having it’s 80th anniversary this year, and it was our honor to help kick off the celebratory series of events. Our March 20th concert there, billed as “Folk Night at the Frauenthal,” was doubly auspicious for us because it came less than three weeks after the release of our new CD, Turn Back A Page.
There’s a lot of history in the old place and we tailored our show to reflect that a bit by rediscovering a few popular gems from the 1960’s Folk Revival including Blowin’ In The Wind, Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound, Today, and others. We have some history with the Frauenthal, too, having once held our own concert and then opening for the Kingston Trio on her stage in the late 1980’s with our Amaryllis band. More recently, we opened a show for Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keillor there and have participated in all three of the Concert With Friends events produced by Bob Skolnik’s Mona Lake Productions.
Opening act for this concert was singer/songwriter Mike Snell. Mike sounded great, and the combination of his original songs, well chosen covers, and finger picking style on both six and twelve string guitar were reminiscent of the late John Denver.
In addition to the 1960’s covers, we played a number of songs from Turn Back A Page plus some of our favorite older originals and a couple of favorite covers. Ruth opened our second set with her solo medley of I Dream of Jeanie/Danny Boy.While the audience couldn’t hope to fill the near 1800 seat capacity of the Frauenthal Theater, they were warm and generous with their applause and support. With the house lights down and the stage lights up it had the energy and intimacy of a full house in a smaller venue. What a wonderful stage to play!
There will be more events in the Frauenthal Center’s 80th Anniversary Series. Watch for them and go. It’s a win/win situation. You’ll get a great show and support this beautifully and faithfully renovated old gem of a theater. It’s up to you to help keep live entertainment and wonderful venues like the Frauenthal alive.
