There's a tiny place out in Altadena called the Coffee Gallery Backstage and before this month is out, it will feature two different musical groups that we like a lot on this blog…
Monday, December 14 at 8 PM, it's Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys. Will is a good pal of mine, an expert cartoon voice actor and a gifted performer who's become America's Greatest Singing Cowboy, if only by default. His troupe plays clever and fun western tunes you never heard before and for this Christmas engagement, he and his band will be joined by the Saguaro Sisters…the Sweetest Singing West of the Great Divide! I've seen Will and his boys and they always put on a fine show.
Here's a quick clip from a past show of theirs. Will's the guy on the guitar playing what was probably the only song in that performance he didn't write. He's accompanying two guest stars who I don't imagine will be in the 12/14 show, though he'll have other surprises. It's Tony Anselmo, who's the current voice of Donald Duck, and Bill Farmer, who's the current voice of Goofy. (Will himself has been heard in many Disney cartoons including The Little Mermaid and Mickey's Christmas Carol)…
Okay, that's them. Then on Sunday, December 20 at 7 PM, the Coffee Gallery Backstage will welcome a wonderful musical group called Big Daddy. Basically, what these guys do is to take some current hit song — or even an older one not rendered in the style of the fifties — and rearrange it so it's in the style of the fifties. That usually makes it very funny but in an amazing percentage of the time, it also makes it a much better song. The gents who make up Big Daddy are superior musicians and their records, which were expertly arranged and produced, are wonderful.
For a long time, they were inactive but not long ago, aided by a lot of crowdfunding from readers of this site, they produced their first album in fifteen years — Smashing Songs of Screen and Stage. We liked it a lot and recommend it. This will be their first live gig since the mid-nineties! I have no idea what they'll be doing on that stage except that it'll be funny and wonderful and I hope to be there to hear it. Here's a little sample of what they do…
The Coffee Gallery Backstage is located at 2029 N. Lake, Altadena, CA. 91001. Reservations are only available by phone so call (626) 798-6236 between 10 AM and 10 PM and you don't need to give them a credit card number. In fact, they don't take credit cards at all so bring cash…but it won't cost you much of it to go, have some coffee or a snack and hear some fine, silly music. More info is available here.