Swing City II this week; The Ghost Notes up next

Idyllwild’s Summer Concert Series continues Thursday, July 21, with headliner Frank DiSalvo’s Swing City II. The Toasted Clovers will get the music started at 6:15 p.m. DiSalvo has been a regular at these series, and this year, Swing City will bring a tribute to Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, and Blood Sweat and Tears.

DiSalvo is an all-around musician at equal ease fronting his great Sinatra tribute band (12 years and counting at the Indian Wells Resort) or a straight-ahead rock and roll show, and has chops as a singer and guitarist. Swing City usually appears as a full-sounding, eight-piece show/dance band. Helping DiSalvo out with the high notes will be Terri Olsen. A veteran of Broadway and the Palm Springs Follies, she is the featured vocalist with her band The Perfect Blend. Anyone who has caught one of her shows at an exclusive night spot in “the desert” knows she puts everything she’s got into a song.

DiSalvo’s story is a long one. It started with family listening to recordings by the great crooners, dabbling in uke, clarinet and accordion, then came the British Invasion. A friend who owed his dad some money “worked off” the debt by giving young DiSalvo a few guitar lessons, and soon he and an uncle were out entertaining. Later, he discovered Clapton and Hendrix and all the rest, and as a young buck became known as one of the top guitarists in his hometown, Santa Cruz.

He paid his dues and got real professional experience fronting top 40 bands, then began studying jazz. During the ’80s he was frequently on the road — Reno, Tahoe, Vegas. For a while he backed up an Engelbert Humperdink style singer. He also led an all-Italian band in San Jose. He played it all, but still loved swing and jazz.

He thought about settling down. He opened up music stores around Redding. He taught and played, and music took him and his bands to Florida, Germany, Indonesia and Russia. Finally, another musician asked him to start a swing band, what would become the first Swing City. Then in 2009, a friend got the idea to play up his physical and sonic resemblance to another famous Frank, and so began the Sinatra tribute. After three years he decided to “take the plunge”; he rented a condo in La Quinta and worked the angles to “find a gig” in the desert. Within a week he was offered a contract at the Indian Wells Resort, where he continues a busy schedule. As if all this is not enough, he also is a talented luthier (guitar maker) and has been putting fine instruments in players’ hands since 1966.

Getting things started will be Idyllwild’s latest Irish sensations, the Toasted Clovers. They are an “offshoot” trio of St. Christopher’s Bazooka, made up of the versatile Sam Kesler on banjo and vocals, and Idyllwild legends John King and Steve D. Sam. They have performed together all over the Hill, have headlined celtic festivals, including the most recent Idyllwild Celtic Festival, and have been featured performers at Renaissance Faires throughout the country. They offer a blend of Irish traditional tunes, drinking songs, toasts and session music paired with some “rip-roarin’” solos, and “toe tappin’” tunes.

This will be the third year for the Summer Concert Series at the new Butterfield Amphitheater. Before Idyllwild had this venue the concerts were held wherever “the board” could make it happen. The first few happened on the land now occupied by the Village Centre shops, where the gazebo stands.

Summer Concert Board Vice President Pete Holzman filled in the rest of the chronology: “After the empty lot, we moved to the State Park in that grassy field, trying a few different configurations. These were the years when folks really started dancing, and there would be a huge dust cloud raised. One year there was a broken ankle due to the uneven ground, so the following year we tried a portable dance floor, but that wasn’t so great either.

“After just a few years, the park said we could not return due to liability and we were in a quandary as to where to go. The current site of the new recreation center was the answer. (Where the parking lots are now). There was a large concrete area initially used as a tennis court and we finally had a professional, multi-tiered stage. This was set up at one end of the concrete. Logistics have always been an issue, mainly power, but we were able to get a feed with enough power to add lights, so folks didn’t have to stumble around in the dark after or during the concert.”

Coming up next week (July 28) will be The Ghost Notes, Mike Hammon’s Grateful Dead tribute band, so get your tie-dyes ready and watch out for dancing bears. Opening will be Sandii Castleberry and fiddler Dan Sankey with special guest, Robert Hewitt on the rope drum. They will be bringing the bluegrass and Celtic tunes.

The Summer Concert Series started in 2000, the brainchild of bandleader and Idyllwild resident Ken Dahleen, whose crew provides the sound and lighting necessary for a professionally produced concert series.

Holzman reminds us: “Even though these are free concerts, we do ask for donations, both from businesses and individuals … we pass the hat at the concerts and those that can contribute do so. So far we have met our budgets every year, sometimes by the skin of our teeth.” This year’s budget is over $34,000, and the fundraising is just getting started.

2022 major contributors include: Linda and Manny Rider, Bob and Gisela Stearns, Stephanie Yost and Steve Olson, Donna McLain, Compass Realty, Idyllwild Brew Pub, Roland Gaebert, Will and Kathy Kleindienst, Phil Strong and Linda McCaughin, Mountain High Escrow, Doug and Pat Austin, Idyllwild Rotary, Town Crier, Tim McTavish, Desert Sotheby’s Realty, residents of Idyllwild Trailer Park and Idyllwild Pizza Co. Contributions may also be sent, checks payable to “Idyllwild Summer Concert Org,” to P.O. Box 1542, Idyllwild CA 92549-1542.

Remember that temperatures drop in the summer evening. Come prepared with an extra layer. Butterfield Amphitheater, 54201 Ridgeview Drive, access through the Idyllwild Community Center Playground Parking lot on Highway 243 just south of town.