Sedona News – On Sunday June 26th at 6 pm at the Emerson Theater stage inside the Sedona Arts Academy at The Collective in the Village of Oak Creek, a group of exceptionally talented performers will present “Tales of a Traveling Troubadour.” With song, dance, and story this show will explore incidents in the life of Gary Scott, a firsthand glimpse at an era, its songs, ideas, history, and attitude.
Like Forrest Gump, Gary Scott was often at the right place at the right time to be at the center of dynamic change near the end of a turbulent century. He grew up on a California beach, was among the first Marines to serve in Vietnam, played rock and roll in San Francisco during the Summer of Love, received an award for being the first hippy to reach northern Alaska, and of course tales of drugs, sex, rock and roll and space aliens.
Wherever he went, our traveling troubadour always brought along one or two guitars. This show will feature plenty of anthemic rock and roll power chords with classic hits by Pink Floyd, The Doors, Ray Charles, as well as original songs written and performed by Gary Scott including his hit The Day is Hard, The Day is Long” for Doree records. The Zoot Suit Zebras will perform other songs. The Zoot Suit Zebras are comprised of Gary Scott and Gary Every, combining spoken word and classic rock. Fans of the Zoot Suit Zebras will be pleased to hear that classically trained flutist Cheryl Good will join the band and let her rock and roll soul soar.
Cheryl Good is a flutist, dancer and singer who has performed extensively throughout the United States and beyond. Her love of music and movement began early in childhood, and she continues to celebrate the joy of expression. Cheryl has performed as flutist with symphony orchestras and chamber groups and has recorded five albums of meditation music. She incorporates the healing power of music in her sessions at The Sanctuary at Sedona and in her private practice in Sedona.
To bring movement and visual excitement to the show Choreographer Cassie Mavis was added to the cast. raising the energy level onstage. The Sacred Art of Belly Dance has been part of Cassie’s healing/spiritual path for 30 years. She has taught and performed Belly Dance and Dance Your SASS, a class which empowers women to embrace their playful, sassy sensuality. A practitioner of the healing arts, she blends acupressure, ancestral healing and forgiveness, energy medicine, biodynamic cranial sacral with integrative massage therapy. She is a Reiki Master. Cassie considers life to be our greatest teacher reflecting all our human challenges and dance is one path towards cultivating self-confidence, freedom, and joy.
To tell the story of the Travelling Troubadour the producers of the show needed to find an actor who could provide a certain gravitas while also supplying an ironic sense of humor. Michael Gallagher fills the bill brilliantly. Michael Gallagher has been performing on stage since the late 1960s. A freelance cartoonist and writer, he scripted for Marvel and Archie Comics, MAD Magazine and currently creates surreal paintings which can be viewed at Michaelgallagherart.com.
Gary Every is proud to be a member of the Zoot Suit Zebras. Together he and Gary Scott helped run the Poetry and Prose Project literary reading series in Sedona for 8 years. In his spare time Mr. Every is an award-winning journalist, poet, and short story author.
This project was begun shortly after Gary Scott told Gary Every of a dream he had. The dream was so beautiful that Gary Every felt compelled to write it down. The two friends, founders of the Zoot Suit Zebras, comfortable collaborating with each other as musicians began to work together on a book of Gary Scott’s adventurous life. The book inspired the play, and the talented cast created a high energy rock and roll extravaganza telling the mischievous musical misadventures of a travelling troubadour.
Tales of a Travelling Troubadour will be presented Sunday, June 26th at 6pm on the Emerson Theater Stage inside the Sedona Arts Academy in The Collective in the Village of Oak Creek. Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/
Hope to see you there and if you do attend feel free to sing along. Any questions can be referred to garyevery@gmail.com