Happy New Year and Welcome to 2021!
What, it’s not 2021 yet? We’re still stuck in 2020? Well, we can hope that the New Year will bring a way for us to get back to “normal” and the lives we all prefer instead of the chaos that was 2020.
Usually in December, I write an article that sums up our concerts and accomplishments during the past season. All the wonderful concerts we’ve played at the Orange County Fair, Segerstrom Performing Arts Center, Enderly Center for the Tustin Girls and Boys Club, etc. Not this year. What have we done? We started rehearsals in January and continued until the middle of March. That’s it. That’s as much as we could do before everything was shut down. But, fear not, that is not the end of my story…
The Golden West Pops, being the creative group that we are, and, under the leadership of Pollyanna Gorman, have continued to meet every week since we had to stop in-person rehearsals. Every Wednesday evening at 7:00, we have a Zoom video meeting. Some people attend most weeks, some attend when they can and other just once in a while. We’ve tried to stay connected as a group and share our stories like a lot of other families have during these trying times. Some of us are more technologically challenged than others but over the course of the last 9 months, we managed to make it work. We’ve also been holding our Board Meetings via Zoom so the business of the band continues.
That’s not to say that some members haven’t played their instruments. The Pollytechnic Brass Quintet has been rehearsing outside, 6 feet apart and have given 2 Concert On The Lawn performances on Polly’s lawn in Garden Grove. The audience has been socially distanced as well and we’ve all enjoyed a break from being locked in our regular routine. The Flute Group, Just Us III, performed at the last Concert On The Lawn as well. Both groups will perform one more time this year on Sunday, December 20 at 10:00 AM. If you’d like information, please contact info@gwpops.com .
One of our trumpet players, Linda Price, has been getting some brass players together at her condo in San Juan Capistrano and they’ve been playing on Monday nights near the tennis courts for residents and family members in the area. I think a few other members are also getting small groups together and playing outside.
We do have one more surprise for this year. (And it’s a good surprise!) We are doing a holiday concert this year! – The Best of the Holidays with the Golden West Pops. It’s a combination of several of our previous holiday concerts combined with new commentary between tunes by Pollyanna. This concert has been made possible by a generous donation and in conjunction with the Mount Prospect Public Library in Mount Prospect, IL. If you’d like to tune in, go to our website, www.gwpops.com and click on our only upcoming event, 12/20 Virtual Concert. Once you confirm your email address, you’ll receive your Ticket to attend. There is no cost to attend, you just need a ticket. If you plan on attending, please note – the concert is at 2:00 Central time which is 12:00 Pacific time, and will be about an hour long. Help us support The Mount Prospect Library and join us for some holiday cheer!
