NEWSLETTER

JUNE, 2006

There is so much to tell you about the café as we roll into summer that I hardly know where to start so I think that we will list the performers for June and give you the details later:

JUNE 1 – MARTHA’S TROUBLE. This wonderful duo from Ontario, Canada was a big hit here a couple of years ago.

JUNE 3 – BILL NOONAN BAND. Whatever band configuration Bill brings with him assures us of a fine evening of music.

JUNE 7 – JAZZ WITH THE UPTOWN JAZZ QUARTET. Standards from the golden era of jazz.

JUNE 8 – ROD MCDONALD. This Florida-based singer/songwriter and relatively new father returns.

JUNE 10 – MAD TEA PARTY. If you have never heard this wacky musical group, you need to treat yourself.

JUNE 14 – JAZZ WITH RUSS WILSON. Honkytonk ragtime.

JUNE 15 – BRUCE PIEPHOFF. This singer/songwriter from Greensboro, NC has been with us most of our musical existence.

JUNE 17 – MAMA SAID. This reconstituted band from the Shelby, NC area returns.

JUNE 21 – JAZZ WITH MARC YAXLEY AND FRIENDS. This incredible guitarist from Brevard returns for his second season of jazz at the café.

JUNE 22 – PEGGY RATUSZ & MIKE BARNES. This Asheville-based singer and guitarist are making their debut at the café.

JUNE 24 – UNCLE MOUNTAIN. You are going to love the enthusiasm and energy of this young group from Boone, NC, here for the first time.

JUNE 26 – ROBERT SEILER. Piano music for dinner with proceeds to the Children & Family Resource Center.

JUNE 28 – JAZZ WITH PATRICK BOLAND & PEGGY RATUSZ. Rhythm & blues. You also heard his fine piano work last summer.

JUNE 29 – divineMAGgees. This guitar and fiddle duo from Asheville, NC is a welcome new addition to our schedule.

JULY 1 – PHIL & GAYE JOHNSON. Their many fans welcome them back to the café.

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Now where were we? Yes, I know that you are already possibly over-stimulated from the quality of June’s performance schedule but we must press on.

For openers, we will now be open on Wednesdays (which would make the second piece of news irrelevant if we weren’t) through the summer and into the fall. Second, we are initiating our second summer of Wednesday night jazz series which will run through August. We would like to thank Rick Dowdeswell whose group The Uptown Jazz Quartet will open the series for arranging our jazz schedule this year. If you love jazz as we do, we also encourage you to get involved with the Western North Carolina Jazz Society which is doing such a terrific job of keeping jazz alive in this part of the country. Their web site is www.wncjazzsociety.org.

Now, as if this were not enough excitement for the month, Lee Griffin from Tryon’s Rockhouse Vineyards (www.rockhousevineyards.com) will be at the café on June 7 from 5 to 7 inviting you to taste some of their locally produced wines and demonstrating why western North Carolina is becoming well-known for its fine wines.

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I am writing this newsletter on Memorial Day as we commemorate the thousands of Americans who have died in wars for our country. It has brought to mind this poem by Toni Morrison:

There is a certain kind of peace

that is not merely the absence of war.

It is larger than that.

The peace I am thinking of

is not at the mercy of history’s rule

nor is it a passive surrender

to the status quo.

The peace I am thinking of

is the dance of an open mind

when it engages an equally open one.

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Robert Seiler

Purple Onion Café

www.purpleonionsaluda.com