The Crowd: Ragtime and jug band music fill yacht club
They are a local treasure, a labor of musical love.
Hutchins Consort, a troupe of dedicated, quirky intellectuals who happen to master eight differently scaled violins from tiny to humongous, put on their 2017 gala fundraiser last week in Newport Beach. Led by founder and artistic director Joe McNalley, the Corona del Mar-based group entertained a full house of supporters at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club with a Sunday night concert and dinner.
The Hutchins fan base is a who’s who of local celebrity sponsors, including Julia and George Argyros, Pilar Wayne, Catherine Emmi, Eva and Fred Schneider, Elizabeth and John Stahr, Darrellyn and David Melilli, Marcia Kay and Ron Radelet, Elaine and Fritz Westerhout, Nora Jorgenson Johnson, and president of the Hutchins board Barbara Woods.
The crowd converged on BCYC at dusk for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, sampling crab-stuffed mushrooms and checking out a silent auction provided by a long list of local merchants. Spotted watching over the bidding were dedicated Hutchins committee members and volunteers Jan Landstrom, Susan Beechner, Suzi Lyons, Ruth Ann Burns, Margaret Gates, Alanna Woods, Bobbitt Williams and Sue Alexopoulos.
Each year the consort takes on a new theme as it explores the world of music, looking for the unusual and often forgotten. This year the focus was ragtime, and McNalley and friends invited The G Burns Jug Band to join the performance.
The show began following the reception, with the consort performing a series of familiar ragtime favorites from the early 1900s American songbook. In classic Hutchins style, the musicians were given an individual spotlight to showcase their unique talents and personalities. Enthusiastic applause rang out for Steve Huber, Bethany Grace, Christopher Woods, Erin Breene, Erdis Maxhelaku and Alex Greenbaum playing with McNalley.
Then came the G Burns Jug Band, a group formed by Clinton Davis and fellow scholars from UC San Diego sharing a passion for preserving an original American musical art form — the jug. Davis grew up in Louisville, Ky., and jug music was just part of his DNA. The tradition dates back almost two centuries, started by black musicians blowing into ceramic whiskey jugs and creating music. The G Burns Jug Band has released two albums, “The South Pacific” and the “Santa Fe.”
As the concert came to a close, the BCYC staff presented a three-course dinner featuring a starter salad infused with blue cheese and candied walnuts and a dual entrée of filet of beef and chicken in mushroom truffle sauce.
Enjoying the annual gathering were donors including Williams Amneus, Armine and Vahe Meghrouni, Susan and Thomas Neas and the founding mother of Hutchins Consort, the lovely Sharon McNalley of Corona del Mar.
B.W. COOK is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
