|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
More than 1,500 music fans filled Lions Wayside and much of the adjacent Delucchi community parks on First Street Friday to enjoy the music of the Houserockers, a rock and roll band that had concert-goers dancing and tapping their feet for more than 90 minutes of almost-non-stop band rocking.
With the ever-popular Tommy & the 4 Speeds bringing their classic music from the 1950s and ’60s to the stage next Friday, Nickie Hoppe, events coordinator for the Pleasanton Downtown Association, expects the crowds could break all attendance records in the history of the summertime concerts.
Lions Wayside Park filled early when concert-goers put blankets on the ground starting at 6 a.m. By noon, there was little space left for those trying to reserve space for the evening concert, which started at 7 p.m. Many also placed card tables and chairs around both parks and then spent the evening enjoying home-cooked and restaurant-purchased meals, ranging from fried chicken to lasagna and loaves of French bread.
The Houserockers has been a favorite of Concerts-in-the-Park crowds, with Friday’s night’s sponsor Realtor Jim Walker and his Jim Walker Real Estate team from Keller Williams Realty staffing a cotton candy booth where they passed out hundreds of free cotton candy cones during the concert. At one point, the lid of the machine came off, spraying Walker and his team with cotton candy from head to toe, bringing laughs from the crowd. Walker was able to wipe the mess off before going on stage himself to announce the winner of a gift basket of wines that he raffled off.
Another highlight of the evening was the drawing of winners of special gifts donated by members of the PDA who had filled out coupons from last Friday’s Pleasanton Weekly. Hoppe held a shopping bag filled with hundreds of the coupons as seven were drawn.
The winners and their prizes were:
Martha Baker, a $100 gift certificate from the Blue Agave restaurant on Main Street; Carole Olson, a $20 gift certificate from Primrose Bakery; Charles Huff, two flights of the week’s featured wines from the Wine Steward; Maria Vargas, a canvass bag, water bottles, chip clip and letter opener from Valley Plumbing;
Annette Froelich, free consultation from Eastern Medical Center; Stacy Clark, a painted ponies T-shirt from Mesa Trading Co., and Peterson Li, two weeks of free training from Velocity Sports Performance.
New coupons will be printed in this week’s Weekly atop a promotion piece by the PDA for Tommy & the 4 Speeds, a concert that will be sponsored by Christen Sanchez and Hometown GMAC Real Estate.
The concert lineup for the rest of the summer is:
•Aug. 10–Finding Stella, rock and pop, featuring classic rock, 70s and 80s pop with a newer, warmer rock quality.
•Aug. 17–La Ventana, Latin rock and soul. This is a group of Bay Area musicians that performs a unique brand of Latin music described as “salsa rock.”
•Aug. 24–Magic Moments, 50s rock n’ roll. This band combines four tenors, three guitars, a keyboard, a sax, drums and vocals with three and four part harmonies.
•Aug. 31–The Tom Rose Band, R&B. Formerly known as Tom Rose and the Thorns, the current lineup plays anything from Hank to Howlin’ Wolf to Hendrix.
•Sept. 7–Public Eye, dance and top 40. The band returns for its fourth year to close the 2007 Concerts-in-the-Park season.
In addition to the PDA, the summertime concert series for 2007 is also sponsored by Zzippies, the city of Pleasanton and the Pleasanton Weekly.
– Jeb Bing
– Jeb Bing
-
Houserockers thrill more than 1,500 rock and roll fans at Friday’s Concert-in-the-Park at downtown’s Lions Wayside Park. -
Crowds listen to the rock and roll music of the Houserockers at Friday’s Cncert-in-the-Park. -
Friday night couldn’t be better for this group that took a delicious supper to Lions Wayside Park Friday night to also enjoy mnusic by the Houserockers rock and roll band. -
Cheers from this couple who toast readers who missed Friday night’s Concert-in-the-Park and the good cheer that goes with the music. -
Realtor Jim Walker (right) an his son Brian served hundreds of free cotton candy scoops at last Friday’s Concert in the Park, which the Jim Walker Real Estate Team at Keller Williams sponsored. -
John and Julie Finegan (from left) join British artist Martin Donlin and real estate businessman Tony Rivera at Friday’s Concert-in-the-Park. Donlin was in town to prepare for artwork at the new downtownew downtown Firehouse Arts Center. -
Jeanette and Erwin Ricafrente take a break from the Friday night concert to buy an ice cream cone from Ian at Meadowlark Dairy for their son Mikkel, 3. -
At the concert, British Artist Martin Donlin from East Sussex shows off last Friday’s Pleasanton Weekly’ Living Section, where he was featured for his creative glasswork that he will create for the marquee of the new downtown Firehouse Arts Center. -
Some fans at last Friday’s Concert-in-the-Park used the Houserockers as background music to catch up on their celebrity events reading.
