LAKEPORT, Calif. – The premiere performance of a new local variety show received a warm welcome last weekend, with the show’s creator promising more to come.
The “Lake County Live!” debut took place last Sunday, Jan. 29, in the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport, which is the show’s home.
The show was broadcast before a live audience on KPFZ 88.1 FM, as well as streamed over the Internet; the link can be found at the station’s Web site, www.kpfz.org.
The debut show will be rebroadcast on KPFZ from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, and on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The one-hour radio variety show is the brainchild of Doug Rhoades of Kelseyville, who also serves as the show’s host.
“The talent we assembled for our first show was above professional,” said Rhoades. “Their timing and conviviality made the show a pleasure to hear, watch and in which to participate. I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved, and there were many. They took my vision and made it even better than I could have wished.”
Rhoades, Suna Flores and Richard Smith wrote the show, which was in development for several months. The process to launch the show also involved the development of the show’s Web site, www.lakecountylive.com.
The show’s cast for its premiere performance included announcer Mitchell Hauptman, Smith, Flores, Chris Andre, Pamela Bradley, Vicky Parish Smith, Sarah Keezer Arnt, Judy Conard and Wally Holbrook.
Nick Reid acted as stage manager, with Nick Biondo working the sound board and Mike Chavez in charge of lighting. Mike Stempe did videography and photography at the show.
Rhoades estimated that 180 people were in the theater’s audience to watch the show, with KPFZ reporting that the number of listeners to its online stream tripled for the performance.
The show has a “Prairie Home Companion” meets wine country feel.
Liked its venerable Midwest counterpart, “Lake County Live!” features comedy skits, fake commercials – such as one for the American Society of Sociopaths, which assures potential members that “your behaviors are OK and those of others are not” – and even poetry, with Lake County Poet Laureate Emeritus Sandra Wade making an appearance on the first show to read her work.
A considerable portion of the show is dedicated to showcasing local musical performers.
Featured on the first show was the folk and bluegrass group “Three Deep,” which includes Jill Shaul, Sarah Tichava and Anna McAtee, who sang three original songs.
Shaul said the group got its name while waiting to perform at a recent Winter Musicfest. When they asked how much longer they had to wait to perform, they were told that acts were stacked up “three deep.”
Three Deep, which last fall appeared at the Old Time Bluegrass Festival in Lower Lake, will be going into the studio soon to complete a demo, and plans to make more music festival appearances in Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties, the group said during the Saturday show.
A cappella group EarReverence, featuring Nick and Valerie Reid, Bill Bordisso and Carol Cole Lewis, also performed, sharing its blend of powerful vocals on favorites such as “Your Love is Lifting Me Higher,” with a bit of comedy thrown in, in the form of comedian Steve Martin’s “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.”
The evening’s third musical group was “Polecat Rodeo,” whose members are April Knoll, Randy Johnsen, Janet Berrian, Jim Evan and Jon Hopkins.
Performing a mix of bluegrass, folk and country, Polecat Rodeo started out with a rendition of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” also performing an old-time tune, “Angeline the Baker” and a cowboy song, “Riding Down the Canyon.”
At the show’s end, the audience was invited to join in for a sing-along of the well-loved tune, “You Are My Sunshine.”
The next Lake County Live! performance will take place at the Soper-Reese on Sunday, Feb. 26, Rhoades said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .