I really have a very low tolerance for "music" mumbled or garbled with strange vocal qualities and lyrics comprehensible only if TV captions are on and which seem to be a common denominator of the trash hyped on most CBS morning shows and unfortunately with most late night TV shows.
Having seen nearly every Lawrence Welk show a half dozen times by now, even bubbly music sung clearly has gotten old.
But, last night on SDPB was a pleasant surprise. The group East of Westreville was on SDPB TV "No Cover, No Minimum" show. Good lively and crystal clear with what sounded to my aged and less than perfectly tuned ears to be beautiful harmony and always understandable lyrics. Take a look at what is apparently their web site. Better photos there than those I took of the TV screen.
Comfort Theater -- East of Westreville
If you did not hear the show or even if you did, you might want to buy their CD.
The regulars..apparently Brian Bonde, Kaija Bonde, Boyd Bristow, and Al Slaathaug were joined on a few numbers by Owen DeJong of SDPB classical music playing "fiddle" and Bruce Preheim playing harmonica. Most of the songs were familiar or of the kind you could sing along with if one does not mind embarrassing oneself in the privacy of one's own living room.
I was surprised to hear that Norma Brick Samuelson was Kaija Bonde's mother and her grandfather was Norman Westre of you guessed it Westerville. It has been around 50 years ago that I and a childhood friend decided we should ride our old balloon tire bicycles about 7 miles to Westerville to buy some firecrackers around July 4. I think our 4-H club may have played a game or two of softball in that area. My parents, grandparents, and some uncles are buried in a nearby cemetery now.
And, after all these years I finally put the family name "Westre" together with "Westreville?" even though "Westerville" shows up on SD maps. I wondered as a child what it was "wester" of anyway. The 1985 Wakonda Centennial Book has a few stories or articles about Lodi and Westerville and also the cemeteries near there. The "Norma Brick" and "Bob Samuelson" names perked up my ears since they were involved with Democratic politics back in the days when I did a little more than just bitch about politicians here at Dakota Today.
**Stay tuned even if you can't carry a tune--- Doug Wiken
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