Variety Show

By Gretchen Abendschein

Old Home Day weekend in Acworth got off to a raucous start with the Variety Show that followed Friday Night Supper on the second weekend in August. Lots of great music, comic skits and poetry kept the audience engaged and entertained.

Jay Phinizy was the Master of Ceremonies. He kept the show rolling along by doing impressions and telling jokes and funny stories between acts. Many of the Coffeehouse favorites played music, such as Eno DePasquale on saxophone. Mike and Lillie LeBlanc played old-time folk songs on banjo and guitar. Lon Livengood, Mike LeBlanc and John Luther played popular tunes from the 1970s that had the audience singing along. Will Turner sang and played his unique style of electric guitar with Lon playing back-up on electric bass.

Alice Fogel, Sandra Binion and Jennifer Petersson read poetry. Alice read rain-themed selections from her book, Elemental, in keeping with the deluge we experienced in August from frequent heavy storms. Jennifer read a humorous and poignant poem that she wrote about living in an era of botox, describing faces that are rendered expressionless for the sake of vanity and superficial beauty.

The letter "p" dominated a skit performed by John Luther and Clint Gendron, in which they engaged in a particularly patriotic p-fone conversation about a political party picnic that demonstrated the tongue-twisting technique of alliteration. Ken Grant and Mike Blake also did a humorous skit in the Yankee tradition of spare interchange and dry wit (or sometimes witlessness).

The Actones were the final act of the night with a surprise guest appearance. For their first number, Sandra Binion, Donna Wentworth, Linda Brenneman, Kathi Bradt, Stella Herpel and Lillie LeBlanc appeared on stage in taffeta ball gowns. Then a mystery woman entered with long flowing red hair blocking her face and stood behind the line of other women with her back to the audience. As the Actones began the first strains of their backup chorus the mystery "woman", Victor Brandt, busted through the line of singers and belted out the song Respect, in tones every bit as earthy as Aretha Franklin.

The Actones proved that they are the Acworth version of the Dixie Chicks, as they have ventured into the realm of expressing their political viewpoint through their music. For their second number the Actones performed the controversial song, Support Our Selectboard, which is an original song written by Lillie LeBlanc about supporting the selectmen and other people who work for the town. Their final number was Fix the Road Jack, sung to the tune of Ray Charles’ popular song Hit the Road Jack with the lyrics changed to be a parody of road complaints in Acworth.