CFTC-A Benefit for The Hutchinson Theatre Guild

Bob Colladay opens the show

 Concert For The Cause

By Lydia Lowe
(all photo's by Bob Hunter)

      It was an evening in three acts this past Saturday night at Concerts For The Cause.    Bob Colladay set the scene for the evening with The National Anthem as he sang the words to the song and accompanied himself on the ukulele. 

Jonathan Fleig

      From there the night transitioned to the first act of the evening which was a folk rock fusion of sorts as Jonathan Fleig took to the stage and delivered a spot on performance.  The early audience had come specifically to hear Fleig play as he has quite a following in Hutchinson.  Fleig’s voice has a unique quality to it and his performance is not the run of the mill type of performance that a person would expect when they hear the term folk music tossed around.  He peppers his tunes with scenes from his life, draws you in, and then plays a variety of folk and rock tunes, some original some not, until you’ve been completely taken in to the performance.  Your cares just seem to float away for that hour.  He plays The Metro frequently so if you missed him Saturday night, check him out at The Metro.

Colton Gartleman

       Act two featured Colton Gartleman from Victims of Spotlight (VOS).  He did an acoustic set without the band.  He’s done this before at various venues around town, although not nearly enough as far as I’m concerned.  The songs he picks pair perfectly with his voice and the way he plays that guitar.  Put that together with his overall look, and he had a lot of ladies in the crowd across the creek paying very close attention to everything he was doing.  Colton’s set ended far too soon.

Strange Night

    Then came act three, the final act of the night.  It was getting on to dark and time for some good ole rock and roll.  This happens to be the specialty of Strange Night.  They played a variety of oldies but goodies that the crowd could sing along with and they did.  From the crowd reaction to this group, I think they could have played all night and the crowd would have held their ground and stayed until dawn’s early light just listening to the music.  Crowd reaction even got an extended encore out of the band.  They held their crowd so well that it had to be announced, “Hey, the concert is over and it’s time to go home now.”

Diane Pettipas (vocals) created this shirt for the show; if you like it, let her know, maybe she can make one for you

     The Hutchinson Theatre Guild was the non-profit for the evening and it was one of the more successful fund raisers that CFTC has done this year.  The Theatre Guild and CFTC were both very thankful for the crowd and the donations raised for the cause.

Why shouldn't ukulele players decorate up their cases with travel stickers?

      Check out Avenue A Park every Saturday from June through August for another concert and another fine cause.  There’s music, food, drinks and fun, plus always some surprises.  You never know what will happen at a CFTC event.  

We nearly had a dog fight when a pit bull decided to follow some concert goers and their dog to the park