Outdoor concert season swinging

While marked by the possibility of showers, the outdoor concert season is in full swing.

On Friday, the first of the Bently Summer Concert Series in Minden Park kicked off with Outlaw Mariachi and a rainstorm.

Four more concerts are sponsored by Bently Nevada, Douglas County Recreation, the Town of Minden and Young at Heart through the summer.

The next concert features Beatles Flashback on June 16 and Ronstadt Revival on July 7.

A good crowd of “jazzheads” turned out last weekend for the second annual Jazz & Art Festival in Heritage Park despite dark clouds and the occasional thunder on bass.

The focus was on local talent, according to organizer Adam Cohen, who performs with the Gardnervillains as Shorty Garcia.

“We are using all local musicians,” he said on May 21. “Everybody here is from the Carson Valley area. Other music festivals bring in acts from outside, and we thought we have a lot of great musicians here and wanted to showcase them. The Mile High Jazz Band is from Carson City and Rosebud Dance Band is from right here in Gardnerville.”

The dance band is named after Rosebud the rescued burro, but the story behind the Gardnervillains tops that.

“When we first got together it was during COVID times and we were wearing bandanas over our faces and someone said we looked like a bunch of bandits or villains,” Cohen said.

A jazz guitarist, Cohen said he played professionally for nearly 20 years, mostly in California.

“When I retired and moved up here and my schedule eased up a little bit and I still was really lucky to tap into the music community here,” he said. “It’s just a really rich collection of people and so I’m playing some but on a more leisurely pace.”

The festival featured the Jazzettes, and the Mile High Jazz Band directed by David Bugli and featuring vocalist Jakki Ford, while the Gardnervillains performed between sets “just to keep the show going,” Cohen said.

The Gardnervillains are an instrumental group that plays around the Valley and will be at the Carson City Farmers Market next month.

In addition to Main Street Gardnerville and the Carson Valley Arts Council, sponsors included Carson Valley Health, Coffee on Main, KD Sound, Judy Larquier, Grandpa Archies Ice, China Spring Youth Camp and Blandhir Bakery & Café.

On June 2-4, the Backcountry Music takes place at the Corley Ranch in Gardnerville. Tickets are available at www.backcountryfest.com.

Genoa’s Concerts on the Green in the town park open 5-7 p.m. June 11 with Doug Lubushkin and The Lost Reverends.