Basha Rahn and Steve Hunter opened their home at Big Lake Saturday, for an evening filled with music, spoken word and delicious food.
It was their second annual Chili Pot Social that “sort of just happened” last year. This year they planned for it.
Hunter had an extensive list of performers penciled into 20-minute time slots with Hunter starting off himself with some mellow classical guitar strumming. He was joined by flautists Jonas Petersen, 12, Christine Constabel and Nicola Bakker.
Next up were Sue Goglin (guitar), Howard Tallman (mandolin) and Barb Krimmer (bucket bass), playing some great twangy country numbers.
Then Sue Goglin read an excerpt from the memoirs she is compiling for her grandkids. Sue then accompanied Andrea MacDonald for some inspirational songs, and Steve Hunter backed up 16-year-old guitarist Sam Tudor.
A youthful contingent known as Jenny’s Jam Juniors took to the stage. They were nine-year-olds Ben Tudor, Jackson Briscoe and Olivia MacDonald (nearly 11), accompanied by Jenny Howell and some older members of Jenny’s Jam.
They demonstrated how quickly young minstrels can catch on to an instrument, under Jenny Howell’s tutelage only since November. Then the senior members of Jenny’s Jam took over, which included Jenny Howell (fiddle), Nicola Bakker (flute), Mike Tudor (guitar), Barb Krimmer (bucket bass), Howard Tallman (mandolin) and Brian Chubb (fiddle).
Throughout the evening, musical performances were interspersed with spoken word offerings. Christian Petersen read from his book All Things Drawn to Me; Rod Krimmer told a mind-numbing account of a horse wreck; Lorne Dufour recited some of his latest poignant poetry; and Graham Kelsey read a colourful excerpt from his son-in-law, Guillermo Verderchia’s book Fromteras Americanas.
Other musicians included Troy Forcier, Carmen Mutschele, Sage Birchwater, Eli Petersen, Ann Smith, Murray Boal, Jason Romero and Pharis Romero.
It was a sweet experience sitting in the intimacy of a living room listening to this repertoire of artists.
A big nod of appreciation goes out to Basha Rahn and Steve Hunter for making it happen.