Enjoy this LIVE entertainment
at the October 25th Festival!
ANN GIBSON
Vocalist Ann Gibson has been gracing Bay Area stages for over 15 years with her velvety voiced renditions of tunes from the 1920’s, ‘30’s and ‘40’s. Her love of American popular song has also brought her together with great piano artists such as Frederick Hodges and Tom Bopp.
She has also produced music reviews for the Art Deco Society of California acclaimed for their originality of content and attention to authentic detail in presenting popular music from between the great wars. She has performed for the Park Service at the 100th anniversary of Camp Curry and the 75th anniversary of the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite, and now is asked back on a yearly basis for their annual “Heritage Holidays” each spring.
Her work with Frederick Hodges, pianist, has opened up a new world of music for her. She has recently released her first CD, “Hello, Frisco” with Frederick Hodges' arrangements and masterful accompaniment. She can be heard with Mr. Hodges regularly at Pier 23 in San Francisco and several ragtime festivals in northern California.
RICK QUISOL - the Dimestore Dandy
Rick Quisol has been known around the Bay Area for decades as a vintage collector, drummer, and the bandleader of Atomic Cocktail.
When beginning his solo act, he adopted the stage name,The Dimestore Dandy, a title befitting his newfound persona as a Jazz-era troubadour--outfitted in fancy but well-worn vintage duds, a straw boater and a smile, happy to please anyone with a song.
His repertoire came to focus on obscure and classic songs from the heyday of Tin Pan Alley songwriters--the1920’-30’s. To his delight, these old musical gems got a second life being performed for modern day audiences. He discovered there were other people out there who also enjoyed hearing something unusually cheerful, peppy and optimistic.
SARA KLOTZ DE AGUILAR
Pianist and vocalist Sara Klotz de Aguilar specializes in the songs of the 1920’s, ’30’s and ‘40’s, the Golden Age of American popular music - the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, and a myriad of other composers. But what many people notice first about this vintage songstress is that she appears to have stepped out of the time of the tunes. From her marcelled hair to her tapping toes, arrayed in authentic costumes, she presents a visual accompaniment to the songs of the past.
A natural, mostly self-taught musician, Sara feels her piano style is most inspired by Teddy Wilson's recordings of the mid-'30s. Other influences suggest themselves - Jelly Roll Morton, early Earl Hines - but the whole effect is original: clean, sprightly and swinging, with both lyric delicacy and percussive power. Her voice is a sweet soprano with a surprising low end, and her playing varies from latin to stride to romantic, shimmering mood music. In 1989 she formed her own band, Sara & Swingtime, a favorite with dancers and listeners alike.
Sara performs regularly for the Art Deco Society of California, and many local country clubs, as well as venues such as Oakland's historic Paramount Theatre, the Redwood Room in the Clift Hotel, TheTop of the Mark located in the Hotel Mark Hopkins, San Francisco, and the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley. She is a featured performer at the yearly Art Deco Weekend aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and at the Ahwahnee Hotel's Heritage Holidays in Yosemite.
Sara also lectures on vintage fashion, creates vintage style graphic design, and is the webmistress of www.vintageclothingstylefestival.com.
RAUL CASTRO
Raul Castro has been active in the dance community since 1990. He began as a Swing dance instructor with Bay Area dance company Work That Skirt. He has taught innumerable group classes, couples, individuals, and wedding parties.
Specializing in Swing dancing, Raul also teaches and performs Classic Line Dances, Salsa and contemporary dance, often blending all four to create his own unique and compelling style. Beginning dancers learn to internalize essential steps and develop their own rhythm and musicality. Though he has provided charming choreography for many dancers, Raul’s instruction builds the skills dancers need to be strong leaders as well as followers who can improvise moves and make their partners look great on the dance floor.
Raul has taught and performed for such notables as Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Honda and Coca Cola.
