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Newsroom Performers The Two Gary's - Incredible USA Tour!
Newsroom Performers The Two Gary's - Incredible USA Tour! 
| The Two Gary's - Incredible USA Tour! |
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| Written by GB2 | |
| Monday, 19 July 2010 | |
 The Two Gary Blair's .
The Gary Blair Accordion Tour USA June/July 2010 The Two Gary's arrived in Portland Oregon on Sunday June 13th late in the evening. The very next morning they drove to Northern California ( a trip of 8 hours) to play at the Golden State Accordion Club, which was being held in The War Veteran's Memorial Hall in Fortuna, California. A huge crowd assembled and the audience were entertained with music from the Two Gary's and by the local Accordion Band, which Sr and Jr played along with. A brilliant night was had by both dancers and listeners .. Straight after the gig, they were back on the open road on an 8 hour drive through the night ( and through the magnificent Redwood Forests!) back to Geoff and Joyce Levear's house in Portland Oregon, so they could continue their journey another 5 hours, to Leavenworth , Washington . ( they actually travelled through 3 states in the one day, California, Oregon and Washington!) The Leavenworth International Accordion Celebration was being run this year by the North West Accordion Society and was very successful indeed. Gary Sr was booked as a judge, workshop leader and concert artiste. Over the 4 days of the festival, there were the usual Jam sessions in Andreas Keller and live music at the Gazebo on Front street. Other Artistes involved this year were Cory Pesaturo ( Rhode Island) , Patricia Bartell ( Spokane), Murl Allen Saunders of Seattle and a host of other well known accordionists from around North America. After the festival, the Blairs' had a couple of days rest with Heidi ( owner of Andreas Keller) and her daughter and son in Law, Allie and Jeff Glover. On Wednesday June 23rd they travelled to Spokane Washington where Sr gave two workshops to Patricia Bartell's pupils followed by a concert with Jr at the Lutheran Church in Spokane. Another great night with a very enthusiastic audience. On Thursday 24th they had what should have been a 7 hour trip to Sequim but due to a Sat-Nav malfunction ( and the odd brain malfunction!) they ended up taking 11 hours to make the trip. The Sequim concert was held in the Local Grange Hall on Friday 25th June and a very large crowd came out to support and enjoy the Duo. They were in hysterics when the organiser ( Steve Berg) forced Gary Sr to wear a "chicken hat" as he played " The Hen' s March O'er the Midden". A brilliant night with a great crowd of music lovers. Saturday was time to head back to Portland Oregon for a concert they were to play on Sunday afternoon at the Community Music Center . Again a great turn out and a very appreciative audience. Gary Sr was asked by some Snowboarders to autograph their baseball caps and even a Snow board ! It turns out that the guys listen to Gary's music on the way down the slopes ! Gary Sr was particularly pleased to see his friends Elvino and Carmen Signori in the audience as both had been extremely unwell for some time and hadn't ventured out much recently ( sadly Elvino passed away a couple of weeks after the concert). Monday June 28th they ( along with Joyce and Geoff Levear) travelled down to Eugene for what turned out to be the most amazing concert with a Huge crowd of people. This concert was held in the Memorial Building Williamette Street Eugene and was so busy that some of the audience had to stand out on the street and look in the windows just to get a look at the Scottish Duo! - http://garyblairsusa.tk/ That night they all stayed at the lovely " Secret Garden B&B " in The University of Oregon and at Breakfast, where they sat and chatted with two of the USA's leading Piano players, who were in town for the Bach Festival. The night before they also made friends with some Russian musicians who had turned up especially for their concert, the group were called "Trio Voronezh" Tueday 29th June , Father & Son travelled to Bend Oregon, to play at both a Concert and Dance combined. When the local "Desert Celtic Society" heard that the duo were coming, they asked if Gary Sr would play for the local Scottish Country Dance Team and play for a Ceilidh after the concert. This turned out to be a super night of both music and dancing . On Wednesday 30th, Geoff and Joyce headed down to Klamath Falls to pick up their granddaughter whilst the two Gary's headed back up to Leavenworth, Washington ( a 6 hour drive) just to spend some time with their friends in the town. They visited Seattle, Lake Chelan and on their travels around, saw many places where famous films had been shot on location ( Harry and the Henderson's, Deer Hunter, War Games, Tommy Boy, Twilight, Sleepless in Seattle and many others). On 4th July they headed back to Portland for the last time to stay with their friends Geoff and Joyce, who had organised a "4th of July Party" which featured accordion playing, fireworks and plenty of good food! Overall, this was one of the "Best Tours" to date. Gary Blair Sr & Jr would like to thank Geoff and Joyce Levear (close friends and tour managers) for their valuable time and kind assistance in organising the tour, and thanks also go to the many event organisers, pupils and audience members who came along to see and support them during this memorable visit to the USA ! Thanks Again Everyone! Gary & Gary Blair - Renfrew Scotland UK |
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