PART I: The Beginning 2019-2020

Page 1: The beginning: 2019 - 2020

The idea of Collage was hatched in late 2019, after Richard Foss attended a charity event hosted by George Woytovich and Patti Kraakevik. Foss was an author and culinary historian who had been organizing concerts, lectures, and other events around Los Angeles for over thirty years, and Woytovich was a former graphic designer who was active in the San Pedro Arts scene. They bonded over a love of art and music, and Foss hatched an ambitious plan: to try running concerts in a vacant building owned by George and Patti. This had been a furniture store, architect’s office, photography studio, and other businesses, but was bare and empty - here’s what it looked like on March 1st, the day before our first show.

Richard cleaned up the space, borrowed chairs, dragged an old portable sound system out of his garage, and started contacting artists. As it happened, a pair of internationally known performers were coming to Los Angeles and looking for a place to play, so the booking was made. That first concert was held on March 2nd, 2020, with banjoist/guitarist Eugene Chadbourne and bassist Victor Krummenacher. Those who saw a banjo and upright bass and expected bluegrass were surprised when their repertoire included psychedelic improvisations and a six and a half minute version of Alice Coltrane’s avant-garde jazz piece “Journey to Satchidananda.”

Richard had five more shows booked and ambitious ideas about hosting music jams and organizing a program to help graduating music students, but fate intervened in the form of the pandemic. Two days after that first concert, every public theater was shut down by orders of the county health department. 

During the Pandemic

As the days stuck at home stretched on, Richard grappled with the questions everyone asked themselves - would this last six week, six months, maybe even six years? There were no answers, but Richard decided that if there was no other way to present the arts, Collage could become a broadcast studio for live events. He contacted George Van Wagner, a long-time friend and recording engineer who advised him about how to get the maximum performance on a tight budget. George gave his recommendations, and Richard started buying professional-grade mixing boards and video equipment using funds borrowed from George and Patti and some of his own money. It was done as cheaply as possible, with consumer grade cameras and tripods purchased at thrift stores, pawnshops, and garage sales. The rudimentary sound and video boards were placed in an upstairs area nicknamed the tech deck, and the first sound tests were run in early 2021.  

By the time the audio equipment was in place and working well, it was obvious that the pandemic restrictions would soon be loosened. Collage reopened on July 2nd 2021, to coincide with the return of San Pedro’s First Thursday Artwalks with a performance by soprano Christina Linhardt and pianist Bryan Pezzone. Their repertoire ranged from classical pieces to cabaret favorites from the 1930’s, and Pezzone played a solo “Gershwin mash-up” that envcapsulated most of the great composer’s career within seven minutes. The duo performed without amplification, and with Christina’s powerful voice, none was needed. The show was a success, and more followed soon

The “Frontier Follies” magic show on August 21 by Magic Castle members Joe Derry and Dennis Forel was our first non-music program, and played to an audience of all ages. They were delighted by the contrast between Forel’s smooth-talking expertise and the apparently befuddled Derry, who sometimes promised one trick but delivered another. Both kept the audience guessing, which is part of the magician’s art.

The early post-pandemic shows established Collage’s commitment to variety - besides Windy’s trademark blend of R&B and jazz, they included virtuoso acoustic guitarist Shane Parish, early jazz speakeasy tunes with Stacey Morse and Daniel Spector, and rollicking Balkan music and New Orleans jazz with the Swing Riots Quirktette. That group’s spontaneous humor and musical genius can be experienced on this recording of a tune made popular in the 1940’s  by the Andrews Sisters. The camera work in that video was shaky because it was done on a handheld video camera - the cabling for the sophisticated video system wasn’t done yet.

. San Pedro’s own Windy Barnes appeared on August 7th and in addition to presenting a superb show, she suggested that the performance space be moved. Until now they had been facing the west wall with the chairs set in a semicircle, which gave every audience member a close view but had some drawbacks. Windy wanted the performance space in the corner of the room, which slightly improved the acoustics while still maintaining good views for everyone. Her conert shifted mood over the course of the evening, from the balladry she perfected in her duets with Stevie Wonder to uptempo party music and a sultry Nina Simone cover.

Our shows in those days rarely did much more than break even, because only the most dedicated concert goers were attending indoor events, even when masked. Even so, we had a few successes. On August 14th the “Goodbye California” show by Kris Doron, a musician who was moving to Colorado and wanted to have one last performance in the area, was our first sold out event. It was also our longest - she came back for three encores and was on stage for almost four hours. The cut in this video, “The Homework Song”, was inspired by her first guitar lesson - but she doesn’t play guitar on it.

Our first non-Western music program followed only a few weeks later, as master sitarist Aloke Dasgupta and tabla player Bibu Pathak played both classical and improvised pieces. Since sitar players always sit cross-legged and we didn’t have a theater riser yet, they sat on a carpet on the floor. Here they improvise an Indian raga that goes on for over half an hour. At one point drummer Pathak gave the audience a lesson in Indian drumming that turned hilarious when he asked the audience to clap along with complex and unusual rhythms. Aloke wryly commented that if he kept listening to Bibu explain how to play Indian music, he might forget how to do it himself.

On September 30th Collage hosted a program that brought together secular and sacred music in an unlikely way. Richard knew a Jewish cantor who likes to sing show tunes and an Episcopal priest who had sung opera in Europe, and he invited them to do a show together. He suggested that they might have a duet or two for the finale. By the time Stacey Morse and Rev. Sharon Sheffield got through a few rehearsals with pianist Daniel Spector, most of the show was duets, the priest was singing in Hebrew, and the cantor was demonstrating that Jews wrote all the best Christmas songs. Here the trio sings a secular piece, Paul Stookey’s “There Is Love.”

Other highlights that fall included our first literary events with culinary authors Joshua Lurie and George Geary, modern Mexican music with Mariachi Quinto Sol, Tonga culture bearer Tina Calderon telling her people’s creation myth while artist Jessica Gudiel provided cut paper animation. It was a particular honor to host 98 year old singer Annette Warren, who began singing on Broadway in the 1940’s and told stories of her life in theater between songs.

We closed out the year in December with the first Collage show by the Salty Suites, whose novel folk-bluegrass fusion was a hit. The band debuted a new song called “Lovejoy” toward the end of the show, and as you can hear at the end of the song, it went over very well. By the last show in December of 2021 we had presented 34 public events, and had a full schedule after our holiday break.

By the end of the year, Collage was also beginning to grow as an organization. In August Silvia Askenazi came aboard as our administrator, and shortly afterward she joined our Board of Directors. Partly due to her effortson social media, we were beginning to build an audience beyond the Harbor area and looked forward to whatever was to come next.

TO BE CONTINUED